ful, So gloomily terrific is thrown, as without any exception to place it at the head of lyric poetry. If any effusions of the Grecian muse approach it in these respects, the choruses of Æschylus may be adduced; these certainly possess much of that tremendous painting, that mysterious solemnity, so vital in this lofty sphere of imagination, for to Æschylus perhaps adheres a peculiar character, a kind of savage and gigantic sublimity which stands. alone amid the literary records of Greece, and has only been rivalled by the war songs of the northern Scalds. The Gothic and Celtic superstitions indeed, possess imagery peculiarly appropriate to the higher efforts of lyric composition, and several of our poets have, with admirable effect, availed themselves of these sources of the sublime. What can exceed the thrilling horror of Gray's celebrated odes from the Norse, which first opened to English poetry a mine of the most wild yet terrific mythology! Since their appearance the fictions of the Edda have been seized upon with more freedom and avidity, and in the epic, dramatic and lyric productions of Hole and Sayers appear with renovated lustre. The features of the Celtic are certainly not of so striking a form,

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yet the dreadful rites of Druidrsm, and the noble imagery of Ossian, afford valuable materials for the lyric bard; the chorus of Mason, the songs of Richards, and some of the sketches of Sayers are masterly specimens of what they can effect. The more common superstitions too of modern Europe, the agency of ghosts and fairies and beings of another world, have thrown a solemn and a singularly impressive hue over many of our best pieces. Mr. Hole's Ode to Terror, and "Miss Williams's fine fragment, "Rise winds of Night" with Collins's Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands, evince their powerful operation on the mind, and their successful employment in this province of the art. Now, as the ancients had confessedly no superstition or mythology which in wild sublimity or sportive fancy, can be compared with that of the Goths and Celts, the moderns have in the higher walks of poetry, and especially in the ode, which demands so much enthusiasm, a manifest and decided superiority, so far as a more poetic and exalted superstition can be 'supposed to confer it. But even laying aside those compositions which are dependent on these more appropriate systems of fabling, it

will still, I think, be granted, that from neither Pindar nor Horace can be selected an ode, in beauty of colouring or strength of concep tion more estimable than Gray's on the Progress of Poetry, or Collins's to The Passions. In the ode of Gray indeed there are several imitations of Pindar, and one entire stanza almost literally translated from him, and the whole piece may in fact be considered as an admirable copy of, or attempt to rival his manner and style, yet such a one as Pindar would have been proud to own. As to Horace, I know not that from his large collection one ode truly sublime can be produced; many may be found that possess true grandeur of diction, and

*From the following passage in a letter of this exquisite poet, written to Dr. Hayes, Professor of Music in the University of Oxford, it would appear that he had composed another Ode for Music under the title of The Music of the Grecian Theatre. He thus speaks of this production after noticing the honour which had been conferred upon him at Oxford in selecting his former poem on The Passions: "I could send you one written on a nobler subject, and which, though I have been persuaded to bring it forth in London, I think more calculated for an audience in the University. The subject is the Music of the Grecian Theatre, in which I have, I hope naturally introduced the various characters with which the chorus was concerned, as Œdipus, Medea, Electra, Orestes, &c. &c. The composition too is probably more correct, as I have chosen the ancient Tragedies for my models, and only copied the most affecting passages in them."

much elevation of idea, as when he spiritedly bursts forthpp951

Quem virum, aut heroa, lyrâ vel acri.i or when describing the genius of Pindar

"Pindarum quisquis studet æmulari. but the finger of criticism cannot be placed upon one that fully dilates and astonishes the mind by the boldness and magnitude of the conception, or on one that with an unremitting blaze of splendor pours forth thoughts that "scatter wild dismay." Felicity of diction and versification, artful insinuation of moral, exquisite allusion to and description of the joys of love and wine, and an accurate perception of character, are the prominent features of this poet in his lyric capacity, who is, and ever will be, the favourite of cultivated taste. Not that he is devoid of enthusiasm, for several of his odes, and especially the fourth of the third book, powerfully convince every reader of the contrary; all we can affirm is this, that it is not of the highest tone, nor can he rank with a Pindar, a Gray, or a Collins. On the celebrated Ode of Dryden great and merited applause has been bestowed; much of it is certainly written with a glow and vigour of fancy

nearly unparalleled; it has the freedom and animation attributed to the ancient dithyrambic, and the imagery almost starts into existence, but I am far from conceiving it a perfect production, or agreed in allowing it to take the lead in modern lyrics: its language in many parts is defective and inharmonic, it preserves not the dignity so essential to the ode of this species, and even sometimes descends to the familiarity of a common drinking song. The phrases and lines alluded to it is unnecessary here to point out, as they are quoted and commented upon in a very ingenious paper in the Winter-Evenings of Dr. Knox, with whom in his estimate of the general merit of the poem I perfectly concur. Two or three of the odes of Akenside may be also mentioned as exhibiting some nervous and well selected. description; his odes to Lord Huntingdon and on Lyric Poetry claim alike from Liberty and the Muse the meed of immortality; the general cast however of his style in this department is of a kind far inferior to the two productions just mentioned, and by no means of the genuine lyric hue.

After taking this short view, and I trust