rican prifoners, confined in this country, muft ftamp a leffon on the minds of those unfortunate captives, and our American brethren in general, that they should not withdraw all national affection from a country, the bulk of whose inhabitants have not withdrawn all national affection from them." Ꮐ . f ART. XV. Poems and Miscellaneous Pieces, with a free Tranflation o the Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles. By the Rev. Thomas Maurice' A. B. of University College, Oxford. 4to. 10 s. 6d. DodЛley' 1779. MOST OST of the poems contained in this volume have already appeared in print, and have been noticed in our Review. We obferved in them a genuine poetical fpirit, and melodious verfification, with a mixture of inequality and incorrectness. We remember to have remarked, on one occafion, that as the Author was of inexperienced age, we might hope for better things; and, accordingly, feveral of the original pieces in this collection demonftrate that our hopes were not without foundation. The Great have been too frequently addreffed, even by good poets, in ftrains of fervile adulation. Mr. Maurice's verfes to the Marquis of Blandford, after having feen Blenheim-house, afford a manly, decent compliment. After a natural introduction of the great Marlborough's triumphs, the poet thus proceeds: Here BLANDFORD, oft, as to thy wond'ring eyes The fituation of Blenheim affording occafion, he mentions the ftory of Henry II. and Rosamond; which not inelegantly finishes the piece : But fhort the blifs unholy joys afford, Hinda, an Eastern elegy, is not, as the Author informs us, a particular imitation of any Afiatic poet, but was written when See Hagley, a defcriptive poem, Monthly Review, vol. Ivi. p. 156. his imagination had been animated with the perufal of those beautiful fpecimens of Eaftern poetry given to the world by Mr. Jones and Mr. Richardfon. This elegy is the complaint of an Arabian lover, for the lofs of his deceafed bride. The Oriental character is, in general, well fuftained, most of the images are local, and the language is marked by dignity and cafe: Led by the ftar of evening's guiding fires, Where groves of fpikenard greet his fenfe in vain ; After an apoftrophe to happier Nymphs and Swains,' the Soliloquift thus difclofes the caufe of his grief: "HINDA, once fairest of the virgin train, "To that dear fpot, when day's declining beam, "Conftant as eve, my forrows I renew, "And mix my tears with the descending dew, "Kifs the cold fhrine, and clasp the mould'ring clay." Reflecting on paft pleasures, he then epifodically introduces a kind of epithalamium: "Prepare, I cried, prepare the nuptial feaft, Bring all the treafures of the rifled East: "The choiceft gifts of ev'ry clime explore, "Let Aden + yield her tributary flore; "Let Saba all her beds of fpice unfold, "And Samarcand fend gems, and India gold, "To deck a banquet worthy of the bride, "Where mirth fhall be the guest, and love prefide." Then expatiating on his own poffeffions, and defcribing the perfon of his beloved, his digreffion concludes with the following paffage, in which the luxuriant pictures of Eaftern poetry are happily imitated; Aden and Saba are both cities of Arabia Felix, celebrated for the gardens and fpicy woods with which they are furrounded.' A bower "A bower I have, where branching almonds fpread, "Where all the seasons all their bounties shed; "The gales of life amidst the branches play, "And mufic bursts from ev'ry vocal spray, "Its verdant foot a ftream of amber laves, "And o'er it Love his guardian banner waves: "There fhall our days, our nights in pleasure glide, "Friendship shall live, when paffion's joys fubfide; "Increafing years improve our mutual truth, "And age give fanction to the choice of youth." His complaint is thus beautifully refumed: Thus fondly I of fancied raptures fung, Swift as the shades of night the vifion fled, And from these widow'd arms a treasure tore, There appears to be fomething exceptionable in the termination of this little poem. That an act of fuicide fhould be produced by fuch a permanent, mellowed grief as the general tenor of the poem points out, is, we think, improbable. We have also a doubt whether the practice is confiftent with Arabian manners. Confidered in a moral light, perhaps even fictitious examples of fuicide, in general, are not favourable to virtue. They may tend to familiarize the human mind to an act which the fevere preffure of misfortune too often induces men to commit. The Profpect of Life, an ode, paints the dark fide of things ftrongly, and juftly. Perhaps it might have been improved by contraction, and a different arrangement. We fhould, also, have approved it more, had it been written in regular stanzas. Cowley's mif-titled Pindaric, in which he was followed by every rhimer, is now, in general, properly difcarded, and we are forry whenever we fee attempts made to revive the use of it, by any who merit the name of poet. The following picture of fome of the miferies of life, is well drawn, and highly coloured : Ah! why the catalogue of ills prolong, And fwell with complicated woes the fong? When all the paffions, fierce and unconfin'd, Adds her keen edge-prefents an infant train, Stern Stern fate, perhaps, determin'd to destroy All that was precious, all thou with'd to fave, Or gives thy bofom friend to an untimely grave.' The tranflation of the Oedipus Tyrannus being profeffedly a FREE one, its fidelity to the original does not come properly before us. We apprehend, however, that it will afford the English reader a pretty competent idea of the work of Sophocles. Confidered merely as a poem, it has much merit, the language not being deficient either in ftrength or melody; as will appear from the following quotations : As a fpecimen of the Lyric parts of this tragedy, we shall give the second strophe and antiftrophe of the chorus, Act I. The pride of Thebes is levell'd with the ground, The fruits of earth lie blasted on the plain : And her streets groan beneath the heaps of flain. • The mother with convulfive tortures torn, Imbibes pollution with his earliest breath. But hark! in louder bursts the pæans break; The shares with wilder acclamations ring, Mad with the flames that revel through their blood. And fwift as rapid fire, or torrent flood, By myriads rufh to Lethe's gloomy lake.' Of the colloquial parts, with quick returns of dialogue, our Readers will judge from the following interesting scene: Oedipus. Delay not, but inform me, didft thou give An infant to this man! ་ Shepherd. I did, and oh! Death had that moment been my happiest boon. Oed. This day thou dieft, unless I know the whole Of this dark scene. Shep. Ah fpare the dire recital: 'Tis death to tell thee. Whence came he? Was he thine by birth, or who Confign'd him to thy charge? Shep. He was not mine; I had receiv'd him from another hand. Ord. What other? Speak his name, and where he dwells. I do conjure thee. Oed. If I afk again, Wretch, thou fhalt die. Shep. In yonder palace born Oed. Sprung from a flave, or was the king his fire ? Yet fpeak Oed. Oh! Death to hear! Shep. He was fuppos'd the king's own fon. Qed. Didit thou from her Receive the child? Shep. 'Twere fruitless to deny What fate itself reveals. Oed. What was her purpose? Shep. That I fhould kill it. Ord. What, deftroy the child? Bloody, inhuman parent! Shep. Dire affright, From dreadful oracles, compell'd the queen To this unnatural deed. Oed. How, oracles? What did they threaten? Shep. That this fon fhould flay Those who begat him. Oed. But if fuch her fears, Why didst thou give it to this fhepherd's care? Oed. 'Tis done; the tenfold mystery bursts to light; Thou fun, farewell; why fmile thy beams on me, A father flain, a mother's bed defil'd! Come night, come horror, fhield me from his rays; Black as my crimes, and boundless as my guilt. From the longer fpeeches, we shall extract part of the pathetic address of Oedipus to his daughters: Come near, my daughters; fhudder not to touch Yet |