TEMORA : AN EPIC POEM. BOOK VIII. As when the wintry winds have seized the waves of the mountain-lake, have seized them, in stormy night, and clothed them over with ice'; As when the wintry winds have seized the waves of the mountain lake, have seized them in stormy night, and clothed them over with ice.] THOMSON'S Winter. Hence at eve With the fierce rage of winter deep suffused, An icy gale, oft shifting o'er the pool, Breathes a blue film, and in its mist career Arrests the bickering stream. The loosened ice, Till seized from shore to shore white, to the hunter's early eye, the billows still seem to roll 2. He turns his ear to the sound of From pole to pole the rigid influence falls Till morn, late rising o'er the drooping world, "The hunter's early eye;" and the waves of a mountain lake suddenly frozen, or "seized by wintry winds, in stormy night, and clothed over with ice," (o'er the pool breathes a blue film) is a variation merely, of "The falling stream of Tromo, which nightly winds bind over with ice." Supra, iii. ". The passages omitted there, and introduced here, render the imitation of Thomson indisputable. 2 White to the hunter's early eye, the billows still seem to roll.] Ibid. Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze- Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread Of early shepherd. But, "The billows still seem to roll." Then appears The various labours of the silent night, Prone from the dripping cave, and dumb cascade, Whose idle torrents only seem to roar. "Towards it he turns his ear, and wonders why it is so silent.” Supra, iii. ". "He turns his ear to the sound of each unequal ridge. But each is silent, gleaming-so silent shone to the morn ing, the ridges of Morven's host." The various labour of the silent night Wide spouted o'er the hill the frozen brook, A livid tract, cold gleaming on the morn. each unequal ridge. But each is silent, gleaming, strewn with boughs and tufts of grass, which shake and whistle to the wind, over their grey seats of frost. So silent shone to the morning the ridges of Morven's host, as each warrior looked up from his helmet towards the hill of the king; the cloud-covered hill of Fingal, where he strode, in the folds of mist. At times is the hero seen, greatly dim in all his arms. From thought to thought rolled the war, along his mighty soul. Now is the coming forth of the king. First appeared the sword of Luno; the spear half is "The boy sees it on high, gleaming to the early beam." Supra, iii. ". The waves of a mountain lake suddenly frozen into the form of ridges, are undoubtedly picturesque; and the only objection to an image, "familiar," as it seems, "to those only who reside in a cold and mountainous country," is, that it never yet was realized, as every lake must acquire a plain superficies when frozen. The falling stream of Tromlo, to which the boy turns his ear, might be silent, like Thomson's frozen brook, or dumb cascade, "whose idle torrents only seem to roar;" but the mountain lake, whose billows, to the hunter's early eye, still seem to roll, implies a physical impossibility; that the waves were seized and arrested as they rose, by a sudden frost, and each billow clothed with ice before it could subside. Such is the result of imitation, when Thomson's descriptions are turned into similies. suing from a cloud, the shield still dim in mist. But when the stride of the king came abroad, with all his grey, dewy locks in the wind; then rose the shouts of his host over every moving tribe. They gathered, gleaming, round, with all their echoing shields. So rise the green seas round a spirit, that comes down from the squally wind. The traveller hears the sound afar, and lifts his head over the rock 3. He looks on the troubled bay, and thinks he dimly sees the form. The waves sport, unwieldy, round, with all their backs of foam. 3 So rise the green seas round a spirit that comes down from the squally wind. The traveller hears the sound afar, and lifts his head over the rock.] POPE's Iliad, iv. 522. The distant shepherd, trembling, hears the sound. "As when from a rock's lofty brow, a shepherd beholds a cloud coming forward along the main, beneath the blast of the western wind. Dark as night it seems afar to his eyes; and rushing over the whitening waves, brings a whirlwind inclosed in its womb." MACPHERSON'S Homer, i. 108 As the shepherd from the rock's lofty brow, is the traveller lifting his head from the rock; so the cloud, coming forward along the main, beneath the blast of the western wind, over the whitening waves, with a whirlwind inclosed in its womb, is the spirit coming down from the squally wind, while "the green seas rise around him, and the waves sport unwieldy, round, with all their backs of foam. ΕΥΡΕΑ ΝΩΤΑ θαλασσης. ΗOMER. Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait. MILTON. |