"Their conceptions are the most daring and most "remote from all vulgar ideas, or common fenfe ; "they feem to fly from all method; they affect "tranfitions, which appear to be void of all art, "though in them there is a great deal; they are ❝ fond of neglecting all connections; they begin and "end their poem in a manner abrupt, fudden, and "unexpected; and with a madness superior to all "the laws and rules of writing, dash about from (c one thing to another, without obtaining pardon,

or even condescending to afk it." These rules have been obferved with great diligence, and some fuccefs, by most of the writers of modern Odes; but have never been adhered to with that happy exactness, as in the piece which is now before us. It begins in a manner the most abrupt and unexpected, and ends as abruptly as it begins. It opens with a moft fublime fpeech of a giant, fuppofed to have run mad from fome difappointment in ambition or love; and this, in conformity to the ftricteft laws of criticifm, and the example of our most admired writers of Odes, is fo artificially contrived, that the reader, however

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however fagacious he may be, cannot poffibly difcover, before he arrives at the end of the fecond ftanza, whether it is the fpeech of the giant or the poet, or any speech at all.

The tranfition from the giant's speech, to that beautiful defcription of the morning, is truly Pindaric; the fudden apoftrophe to the fun, is perfectly fublime; and that to the moon no lefs tender and pathetic: the defcriptions of the four seasons are wonderfully picturefque, and are not, as ufual, copies drawn from the fcenery of Italian groves, and the plains of Arcadia, but true originals, taken on the fpot in Old England, and formed of ideas entirely new. And the address to Liberty, which concludes this admirable Ode, is far fuperior to any thing of that kind, with which we are fo frequently entertained by our most admired poets; as it is more expreffive of the true fenfe and spirit of an Englishman.

Juft and lively pictures are the very effence of an Ode, as well as of an Auction-room, whether there are any proper places to hang them in or not; and fuch there are in the narrow compafs of this little piece,

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piece, of every thing that is great and beautiful in nature; of the morning rifing from the ocean; of the fun, the moon, and the planetary fyftem; of a giant and a hermit; of woods, rocks, and mountains, and the feafons of the revolving year: and in all these, the images are fo entirely new, the tranfitions fo fudden and unexpected, fo void of all apparent art, yet not without much of that which is quite invifible; the thoughts are so fublime, fo diftant from all vulgar ideas, or common fenfe, that the judicious reader will fcarcely find in it a fingle deviation from the fevereft laws of juft criticism; and if he can peruse this incomparable work without an enthufiaftic admiration, he ought to conclude, that whatever delight he may receive from poetry of other kinds, he is one of thofe unfortunate. genius's who have no tafte for that most fublime fpecies of it, the Ode.

ODE.

D

E.

'LL combat Nature, interrupt her course,

I'LL

And baffle all her ftated laws by force; Tear from its bed the deeply-rooted pine, And hurl it up the craggy mountain's fide; Divert the tempeft from its deftin'd line,

And ftem the torrent of th' impetuous tide; Teach the dull ox to dance, the ass to play, And even obftinate Americans t' obey.

Like fome dread Herald, tygers I'll compel
In the fame field with ftags in peace to dwell:
The rampant lion now erect shall stand,

Now couchant at my feet fhall lie depreft;
And if he dares but question my command,

With one strong blow I'll halve him to a crest. Thus spoke the giant Gogmagog: the found Reverberates from all the echoing rocks around.

Now Morning, rob'd in faffron-colour'd gown,
Her head with pink and pea-green ribbands drest,

Climbs the celestial staircase, and looks down
From out the gilt balcony of the East ;
From whence around the fees

The cryftal lakes and tufted trees,

The lawns all powder'd o'er with ftraggling flocks,
The fcarce-enlighten'd vales, and high o'er-fhadowing

rocks.

Enamour'd with her newly-dawning charms,
Old Ocean views her with defiring eyes,
And longs once more to clasp her in his arms,
Repenting he had fuffer'd her to rife;

Forth from his tumbled bed,

From whence fhe just had fled,

To the flow, loitering hours he roars amain,
To haften back the lovely fugitive again.

Parent of life! refulgent lamp of day!
Without whofe genial animating ray
Men, beafts, the teeming earth, and rolling feas,
Courts, camps, and mighty cities, in a trice
Muft fhare one common fate, intenfely freeze,

And all become one folid mafs of ice;

Ambition

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