Yet touched by Winter's horizontal beam, To whisper youth,-how beautiful the brow Not such thy fate, Romille! an early blast Where sable rocks frown o'er the straitened flood, Here, here thou sunk'st; the insatiate torrent's prey. Fearless of danger, ardent in the chase, I mark thee nimbly speeding down the hill; Mark the keen eye; the flush that lights thy face; Mark the gay, gallant, elegant Romille. And now, thy greyhound leashing to thy side, I hear thee breathe;-thou pausest where I stand: Collect'st thy force to span the impetuous tide ;' The tide by thee which never shall be spanned. I see the huntsman's cap, the huntsman's spear; The gaitres to the midleg dashed with dew: The doubtful whimpering of thy hound I hear; Afraid to leap,-yet anxious to pursue. And lo! thou dar'st the bold, the dreadful bound; Say! powers unseen, that love to linger near; Awful transition!-Now-brisk, joyous, bold: A step; and but a step, 'twixt thee and death*. How grieved the parents, when the pale cold corse If some lone wanderer should its tale rehearse, Thou, who shalt stand on this dark flood to gaze, * Vid. 1 Sam. xx. 3. THE MINSTREL: A POEM, IN FIVE BOOKS. THE FIRST TWO BOOKS BY DR. BEATTIE; THE THREE LAST BY THE REV. R. POLWHELE. ANALYSIS OF THE POEM. I.-First and Second Books. THE progress of GENIUS in boyism and in youth; as, through the medium of the senses, the fancy is influenced by universal nature, as the memory is stored with knowledge, and as the judgment is improved by education-Its wilder energies. II.-Third Book. GENIUS, as the fancy and the passions of youth are influenced by external objects, particularly by female beauty-assuming a more decided form in music, painting, and poetry. III.-Fourth and Fifth Books. The sister arts thus called into action;-their operation in the enterprising spirit of the lover and the warriour; and their effect (both in public and private life) viz; to the Minstrel, the acquisition of riches, power, and beauty; and to his country, through his instrumentality, emancipation from tyranny, and restoration to liberty and peace. NOTE. The second stanza in Beattie's first book should be re-written. To accommodate the sentiment to the conduct of Edwin when brought into action, we should say, "But the fire of genius will often break through all the obstructions of fortune, where there is scope to expatiate through universal nature." THE MINSTREL. BOOK THE THIRD. Genius [as the fancy and the passions are influenced by external objects, particularly by female beauty,] assuming a more decided form in music, painting, and poetry. Yes, it is meet to pour afresh the tear*, Which mourns, in pale regret, the parted friend! Him, who to all the choral sisters dear Would to my earliest notes assistance lend, And breathing inspiration, kindly bend O'er each weak effort, as I tun'd the rhyme! E'en now, I own that influence, and ascend To heights where Edwin's genius towers sublime: He nurs'd the boy's first bloom, the stripling's vigorous prime. * It may not, perhaps, be improper for the editor to insert here the closing stanza of Dr. Beattie's second book, in order that the connection of the second and third books may be immediately perceived. Art thou, my Gregory, for ever fled! And am I left to unavailing woe! When fortune's storms assail this weary head, Where cares long since have shed untimely snow, No more thy soothing voice my anguish cheers: My hopes to cherish, and allay my fears! 'Tis meet that I should mourn: flow forth afresh my tears. E The eye 11. that kindled, as the sod is cold! The sod shall wake in blossoms! but no more Unclos'd, shall that illumin'd eye behold My Minstrel on the sky-ting'd mountain hoar, Or now, (where lorn amidst the Yarrow's roar, Yet can I fancy, so benign and arch, That smile, my friend, effus'd upon thy face, Where Edwin, midst his desultory march, Would pause, then run, and slackening then his pace, From sorrow snatch the muse's pensive grace; And from his moody melancholy start, And clasp some lovely form with fond embrace, As if for ever from that form to part, And rue the vision vain, and sigh forth all the heart. IV. Sad exile from his hills, no more the crook, |