56

When stands th' embattled hoft in banner'd pride;
O'er the vext plain when the fhrill clangors run,
And the long phalanx flashes in the fun;
When now no dangers of the deathful day
Mar the bright fcene, nor break the firm array;
Full oft, too rafhly glows with fond delight
The youthful breast, and asks the future fight; 60
Nor knows that Horror's form, a fpectre wan,
Stalks, yet unfeen, along the gleamy van.

May no fuch rage be thine: no dazzling ray Of fpecious fame thy ftedfaft feet betray.

Dryden' Palamon and Arcite, B. ii.

And pleafing was the terror of the field.

V. 54. When ftands th' embattled hoft in banner'd pride ;] Milton, Par. Loft, ii. 885.

V. 62. van."

a banner'd boft,

Under fpread enfigns marching.

the gleamy van.] Par. Loft, vi. 107: " The cloudy

V. 63. May no fuch rage be thine: no dazzling ray, &c.] Apparently imitated from the ftrong and mauly verfes of Ep. Lowth (at that time Fellow of New College and Poetry Profeffor) on the death of Frederic Prince of Wales, in the Epicedia Oxonienfia. After defcribing several famous conquerors, whom he confiders as fcourges in the hand of Providence to punish the crimes of mankind, he thus addresses the surviving fon of the Prince :

Let no fuch frantic thirst thy foul inflame,

Of hateful glory and of guilty fame.

Britain from thee no fuch mean triumphs craves,

Britain difdains a fubject world of flaves, &c.

It is to be lamented that the poems of fo good a man and fo ner

Be thine domeftic glory's radiant calm,

63

Be thine the fceptre wreath'd with many a palm: Be thine the throne with peaceful emblems hung, The filver lyre to milder conqueft ftrung!

70

Inftead of glorious feats achiev'd in arms, Bid rifing arts difplay their mimic charms! Juft to thy country's fame, in tranquil days, Record the paft, and roufe to future praife: Before the public eye, in breathing brafs, Bid thy fam'd father's mighty triumphs pafs: Swell the broad arch with haughty Cuba's fall, 75 And clothe with Minden's plain th' historic hall.

vous a writer as the late Bp. of London fhould, from the fmallnese of their number, be likely to be loft to the world.

V. 71. Juft to thy country's fame, in tranquil days, &c.] Coinpare the following from Pope's Windfor Foreft:

Or raife old warriors, whofe ador'd remains
In weeping vaults her hallow'd earth contains,
With Edward's acts adorn the thining page,

Stretch his long triumphs down through every age,

Draw monarchs chain'd and Creffi's glorious field, &c. Ver. 301. Pope's judgment might have prevented him from adopting the error, which Verrio had fallen into, in having reprefented the Kings of France and Scotland chained, in his picture of the triumph of the Black Prince at Windfor. The courteous manner, in which Edward the IIId and his fon behaved to their royal prifoners, is their great glory and diftinction.

V. 73.in breathing brafs,] Virg. Æn. vi. 847. "Spirantia

@ra."

Then mourn not, Edward's Dome, thine an

cient boast,

Thy tournaments, and lifted combats loft! From Arthur's Board, no more, proud castle,

mourn

Adventurous Valour's Gothic trophies torn! 80
Thofe elfin charms, that held in magic night
Its elder fame, and dimm'd its genuine light,
At length diffolve in Truth's meridian ray,
And the bright Order bursts to perfect day:
The myftic round, begirt with bolder
peers, 85
On Virtue's base its rescued glory rears;
Sees Civil Prowess mightier acts achieve,
Sees meek Humanity distress relieve;

Adopts the Worth that bids the conflict ceafe,
And claims its honours from the Chiefs of Peace.

V. 84. the bright Order] Horace has " lucidus Ordo," but in a fenfe altogether different. Art. Poet. ver. 41.

V. 85. The myftic round,] Arthur's round table, called above, ver. 79. " Arthur's board." Tradition confiders the Order of the Garter, as a revival of Arthur's fabled inftitution of the round table.

VERSES

ON

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS's PAINTED WINDOW

AT NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD.

(Written in 1782.)

AH, ftay thy treacherous hand, forbear to trace
Thofe faultlefs forms of elegance and grace!
Ah, cease to spread the bright transparent mass,
With Titian's pencil, o'er the speaking glass!
Nor fteal, by strokes of art with truth combin'd,
The fond illufions of my wayward mind!
For long, enamour'd of a barbarous age,
A faithlefs truant to the claffic page;

Long have I lov'd to catch the fimple chime
Of minstrel-harps, and spell the fabling rime; 10

V. 3. the bright tranfparent mafs,] Pope's Epifile to Jervas : Or blend in beauteous tints the colour'd mafs.

Ibid.

-to catch the fimple chime

Of minftrel-harps, and fpell the fabling rime ;]

By the "chime of minftrel-harps" is meant the music, and by the "fabling rime" the legendary poetry, which conftantly accompa

To view the feftive rites, the knightly play,
That deck'd heroic Albion's elder day;

To mark the mouldering halls of barons bold,
And the rough castle, caft in giant mould;
With Gothic manners Gothic arts explore,
And mufe on the magnificence of yore.

15

But chief, enraptur'd have I lov'd to roam, A lingering votary, the vaulted dome, Where the tall fhafts, that mount in maffy pride, Their mingling branches fhoot from fide to fide;

nied feftivals and tournaments (" the festive rites and knightly "play"). Milton diftinguishes the two fpecies of entertainment, where he fays

What never yet was heard in tale or fong. Comus, ver. 44. V. 14. And the rough castle, caft in giant mould;] Ode on firft of April, ver. 13:

Scarce a fickly firaggling flower

Decks the rough caftle's rifted tower.

Grave of Arthur, ver. 35:

Round the rough caftle thrilly fung

The whirling blast, &c.

Compare alfo Ode for New Year, 1788. ver. 17:
Unchang'd through many a hardy race
Stood the rough dome in fullen grace.

Ibid. —giant mould;] So in Collins's Ode to Fear;
Danger, whofe limbs of giant mould

What mortal eye can fix'd behold?

V. 18. A lingering votary-] Dr. Warton's Ode to Evening: O modeft Evening, oft let me appear

A wandring votary in thy penfive train.