Select Works of the British Poets, in a chronological series from Falconer to Sir Walter Scott (from Southey to Croly) . With biographical and critical notices. Designed as a continuation of Dr. Aikin's British Poets

Front matter

sama-s-ir "XY ps MB (MR -o OK Til K B IK IlTll S MI IPilDETS, F K I > ,M b*-i> ©mcDa^ "ITH :b:i d aiKi^im tail msm cirsairicAiL ipiEiEipiac es mt ffi 1,1312 Sf* IPmiLABIElsIPIEIlLfis. 'J'^D-iLC^i-IS 'Wj! IBID ID. IS 83 SOTTi'l sPfflUJlEIPIEl STUSIBBT, 1 P. 1. \\ SELECT WORKS OF THE BRITISH POETS, IN A CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES FROM SOUTHEY TO CROLY: WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTICES. DESIGNED AS A CONTINUATION Of DE. AIKIFS BRITISH POETS. PHILADELPHIA : THOMAS W A R D L E. STEREOTYPED BY C. W. MURRAY AND CO. 1845.

ADVERTISEMENT.

. This Volume is a continuation of the series of British Poets, of which the First Volume in the chronological order was compiled by Dr. Southey, and includes the Poets from Chaucer to Ben Jonson ; the Second, by Dr. Aikin, includes those from Jonson to Beattie; the Third, by the compiler of the present Volume, comprises those from Falconer to Scott. This Volume, the Fourth, begins with Southey and ends with Croly. One more Volume will complete the series. The original plan of giving entire Poems, instead of extracts and mutilations, has been adhered to throughout; and intrinsic merit, so far as it has been understood by the compiler, has been .made the ground of selection. The Biographical Notices are copied with slight variations from Mrs. S. C. Hall's " Book of Gems ." CONTENTS. Pige Pafe ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Canto I

I 1. Jenner ! forever shall thy honour's! name Among the children of mankind be bless'd ; Who by thy skill hast taught us how to tame One dire disease, — the lamentable pest Which Africa sent forth to scourge the West, As if in vengeance for her sable brood So many an age remorselessly oppress'd. For that most fearful malady subdued Receive a poet's praise, a father's gratitude. right. 2. Fair promise be this triumph of an age That was a day, whose influence far and wide The struggling nations felt ; it was a joy Wherewith all Europe rung from side to side. Yet hath Pamplona seen, in former time, A moment big with mightier consequence, Affecting many an age and distant clime. That day it was which saw in her defence, Contending with the French before her wall, A noble soldier ofGuipuzcoa fall.

When Man, wilh vain desires no longer blind, And wise, though late, his only war shall wage, Again3t the miseries which afflict mankind, Striving with virtuous heart and strenuous mind Till evil from the earth shall pass away. Lo, this his glorious destiny assign'd ! For that bless'd consummation let us pray, And trust in fervent faith, and labour as we may. 3. Sore hurt, but not to death. For when long care Restored his shatter'd leg, and set him free, He would not brook a slight deformity, As one who, being gay and debonnair. In courts conspicuous as in camps must be ; So he, forsooth, a shapely boot must wear ; And the vain man, with peril of his life, Laid the recover' d limb again beneath the knife. The hideous malady which lost its power When Jenner's art the dire contagion stay'd, Among Columbia's sons, in fatal hour, Across the wide Atlantic wave convey'd, Its fiercest form of pestilence display'd : Where'er its deadly course the plague began, Vainly the wretched sufferer look'd for aid ; Parent from child, and child from parent ran, For tyrannous fear dissolved all natural bonds of man.

Long time upon the bed of pain he lay, Whiling with books the weary hours away ; And from that circumstance and this vain man A train of long even's their course began, Whose term it is not given us yet to see. Who hath not he-ard Loyola's sainted name, Before whom Kings and Nations bow'd the knee? Thy annals, Ethiopia, might proclaim What deeds arose from that prolific day ; And of dark plots might shuddering Europe tell. 4. A feeble nation of Guarani race. Thinn'd by perpetual wars, but unsubdued, Had taken up at length a resting place Among those tracks of lake, and swamp, and wood, Where Mondai, issuing from its solitude, Flows with slow stream to Empalado's bed. It was. a region desolate and rude ; Shall swathe the sleeper for his bed of earth, Now tractable as when a bahe at birth ? But thither had the horde for safety fled, And being there conceal' d, in peace their lives they led.

Who now the ample funeral urn shall knead. And, burying it beneath his proper hearth, Deposit there with careful hands the dead, And lightly then relay the floor above his head? 5. There had the tribe a safe asylum found, Amid those marshes wide and woodlands dense, With pathless wilds and. waters spread around, And labyrinthine swamps, a sure defence From human foes, — but not from pestilence. The spotted plague .appear* d, that direst ill; How brought among them none could tell, or 11. Unwept, unshrouded, and unsepulchred, The hammock, where they hang, for winding sheet And grave suffices the deserted dead : There from the armadillo's searching feet Safer than if within the tomb's retreat. The carrion birds obscene in vain essay To find that quarry : round and round they beat The air, but fear to enter for their prey, whence ; The mortal seed had Iain among them still, And quicken'd now to work the Lord's mysterious will. 6.

And from the silent door the jaguar turns away. Alas, it was no medicable grief Which herbs might reach ! Nor could the jug- 12. gler's power, With all his antic mummeries, bring relief. Faitli might not aid him in that ruling hour, Himself a victim now. The dreadful stour None could escape, nor aught iss force assuage. The marriageable maiden had her dower From death ; the strong man sunk beneath its But nature for her universal law Hath other, surer instruments in store, Whom from the haunts of men no wonted awe Withholds as with a spell. In swarms they pour From wood and swamp ; and when their work is o'er, On the white bones the mouldering roof will fall; Seeds will take root, and spring in sun and rage, And death cut short the thread of childhood and shower ; of age. And Mother Earth ere long with her green pall, Resuming to herself the wreck, will cover all. * 7.

No time for customary mourning now; With hand close clinch'd to pluck the rooted 13. Oh ! better thus with earth to have their part, Than in Egyptian catacombs to lie, hair, To beat the bosom, on the swelling brow Inflict redoubled blows, and blindly tear The cheeks, indenting bloody furrows there, The deep traced signs indelible of woe ; Then to some crag, or bank abrupt, repair, And giving grief its scope, infuriate throw The impatient body thence upon the earth below. Age after age preserved by horrid art, In ghastly image of humanity ! Strange pride that with corruption thus would vie ! And strange delusion that would thus maintain The fleshly form, till cycles shall pass by, And in the scries of the eternal chain, 8. The spirit come to seek its old abode again. Devices these by poor, weak nature taught, Which thus a change of suffering would obtain ; And flying from intolerable thought, And piercing recollections, would full fain Distract itself by sense of fleshly pain From anguish that the. soul must else endure.

Easier all outward torments to sustain, Than those heart wounds whicli only time can 14. One pair alone survived the general fate; Left in such drear and mournful solitude, That death might seem a preferable state. Not more depress'd ihe Arkite patriarch stood, When landing first on Ararat he view'd, Where all around the mountain summits lay, Like islands seen amid the boundless flood : Nor our first parents more forlorn lhan they, cure, And he in whom alone the hopes of man arc sure. Through Eden when they took their solitary way* 9. 15. None sorrow'd here; the sense of woe was sear'd, Alike to them it seem'd, in their despair, Whither they wander'd from the inserted spot. When every one endured his own sore ill. The prostrate sufferers neither hoped nor fear'd; Chance might direct their steps; they took no care ; The body labour'd,.but the heart was still ~ — So let the conquering malady fulfil Come well or ill to them, it matter' d not !

Left as they were in that unhappy lot. The sole survivors they of all their race, They reck'd not when their fate, nor where, Its fatal course, rest cometh at the end? Passive they lay with neither wish nor will For aught but this; nor did they long attend That welcome boon from death, the never-failing friend. nor what, In this resignment to their hopeless ease, Indifferent to all choice or circumstance of place. 10. Who is there to make ready now the pit, The house that will content from this day forth Its easy tenant ? Who in vestments fit 16. That palsying stupor past away ere long, And as the spring of health resumed its power, They felt that life was dear, and hope was strong. What marvel? 'Twas with them the morning 22. And how to macerate the bark she knew, And draw apart its beaten fibres fine, And bleaching them in sun, and air, and dew, From dry and glossy filaments entwine, With rapid twirl of hand, the lengthening line ; Next interkniiting well the twisted thread, In many an even mesh its knots combine, And shape in tapering length the pensile bed, Light hammock there to hang beneath the leafy hour.

When bliss appears to be the natural dower Of all the creatures of this joyous earth ; And sorrow, fleeting, like a vernal shower, Scarce interrupts the current of our mirth ; Such is the happy heart we bring with us at birth. 17. shed. ■ Though of his nature and his boundless love Erring, yet tutor'd by instinctive sense, They righily deem'd the Power who rules above Had saved them from the wasting pestilence. That favouring • power would still be their desence : 23. Time had been when, expert in works of clay, She lent her hands the swelling urn to mould, And fill'd it for the appointed festal day With the beloved beverage which the bold QuafTd in their triumph and their joy of old ; The fruitful cause of many an uproar rude, When, in their drunken bravery uncontroll'd, Some bitter jest awoke the dormant feud, Thus were they by their late deliverance taught To place a child like trust in Providence, And in their state forlorn they found this thought Of natural faith with hope and consolation fraught.

And wrath, and rage, and strife, and wounds, and death ensued. 18. And now they built themselves a leafy bower, Amid a glade, slow Mondai's stream beside, Screen'd from the southern blast of piercingpower ; Not like their native dwelling, long and wide, By skilful toil of numbers edified, The common home of all, their human nest, Where threescore hammocks, pendant side by side, Were ranged, and on the ground the fires were dress' d ; 24. These occupations were gone by ; the skill Was useless now, which once had been her pride. Content were they, when thirst impell'd. to fill The dry and hollow gourd from Mondai's side ; The river from its sluggish bed supplied A draught for repetition all unmeet ; Howbeit the bodily want was satisfied ; No feverish pulse ensued, nor ireful heat ; Their days were undisturb'd, their natural sleep was sweet.

Alas, that-populous hive hath now no living guest ! 19. 25. A few firm stakes they planted in the ground, Circling a narrow space, yet large enow ; These, strongly in ter knit, they closed around With basket work of many a pliant bough. The roof was like the sides ; the door was low, And rude the hut, and trimm'd with little care, For little heart had they to dress it now ; Yet was the humble structure fresh and fair, And soon its inmates found that love might sojourn there. She too, had leam'd in youth how best to trim The honor'd Chief for his triumphal day, And coveringwith soft gums the obedient limb And body, then with feathers overlay, In regular hues disposed, a rich display. Well pleased the glorious savage stood, and eyed The growing work ; then, vain of his array, Look'd with complacent frown from side to side, Stalk'd with elater step, and swell' d with statelier pride. 20. 26.

Quiara could recall to mind the course Of twenty summers ; perfectly he knew Whate'er his fathers taught of skill or force. Right to the mark his whizzing lance he threw, And from his bow the unerring arrow flew With fatal aim: and when the laden bee Buzz'd by him in its flight, he could pursue Its path with certain ken, and follow free Feasts and carousals, vanity and strife, Could have no place with them in solitude To break the tenor of their even life. Quiara day by day his game pursued, Searching the air, the water, and the wood, With hawk like eye, and arrow sure as fate ; And Monnema prepar'd the hunter's food: Cast with him here in this forlorn estate, Until he traced the hive in hidden bank or tree. In all things for the man was she a fitting mate. 21. 27. Of answering years was Monnema, nor less Expert in all her sex's household ways.

The Indian weed she skilfully could dress ; And in what depth to drop the yellow'maize She knew, and when around its stem to raise The lighten' d soil ; and well could she prepare Its ripen'd seed for food, her proper praise; Or in the embers turn with frequent care The Moon had gather'd oft her monthly store Of light, and oft in darkness left the sky, Since Monnema a growing burden bore Of life and hope. The appointed weeks go by * And now her hour is come, and none is nigh To help : but human help she needed none. A few short throes endured with scarce a cry, Upon the bank she laid her new born son, Then slid into the stream, and bathed, and all Its succulent head yet green, sometimes for was done. daintier fare. 28. 34. Might old observances have there been kept, Then should the husband to that pensile bed, Like one exhausted with the birth, have crept, And laying down in feeble guise his head, For many a day been nursed and dieted With tender care, to childing mothers due.

Certes a custom strange, and yet far spread 'Through many a savage tribe, howe'er it grew, And once in the old world known as widely as Lighter that burden lay upon the heart When this dear babe was born to share their lot ; They could endure to think that they must part. Then too a glad consolatory thought Arose, while gazing on the child they sought With hope their dreary prospect to delude, Till they almost believed, as fancy taught, How that from them a tribe should spring re the new. new'd, To people and possess that ample solitude. 29. This could not then be done ; he might not lay 35. The bow and those unerring shafts aside ; Nor through the appointed weeks forego the Such hope they felt, but felt that whatsoe'er The undiscoverable to come might prove, Unwise it were to let that bootless care Disturb the present hours of peace and love.

For they had gain'd a happiness above The state which in their native horde was prey, Still to be sought amid those regions wide, None being there who should the while provide That lonely household with their needful food ; 'So, still Quiara through the forest plied His daily task, and in the thickest wood Still laid his snares for birds, and still the chase known : No outward causes were there here to move Discord and alien thoughts ; being thus alone From all mankind, their hearts and their desire's pursued. were one. 30. 36. But seldom may such thoughts of mingled joy, A father's agitated breast dilate, As when he first beheld that infant boy. Who hath not proved it, ill can estimate The feeling of that stirring hour,— the weight Of that new sense, the thoughtful, pensive bliss. In all the changes of our changeful state, Even from the cradle to the grave I wis, The heart doth undergo no change so great as this.

Different their love in kind and in degree From what their poor depraved forefathers knew, With whom degenerate instincts were left free To take their course, and blindly to pursue, Unheeding they the ills that must ensue, The bent of brute desire. No moral tie Bound the hard husband to his servile crew Of wives ; and they the chance of change might 31. try. All love destroy'd by such preposterous liberty. A deeper and unwonted feeling fill'd These parents, gazing on their new born son. Already in their busy hopes they build On this frail sand. Now let the seasons run, And let the natural work of time be done With them, — for unto them a child is born ; And when the hand of Death may reach the 37. Far other tie this solitary pair - Indissolubly bound; true helpmates they, In joy or grief, in weal or woe to share, In sickness or in health, through life's long day ; And reassuming in their hearts her sway Benignant Nature made the burden light.

It was the Woman's pleasure to obey, The Man's to ease her toil in all he might ; So each in serving each obtain' d the best delight* one, The other will not now be left to mourn, A solitary wretch, all utterly forlorn. 32. Thus Monnema and thus Quiara thought, Though each the melancholy thought repress'd; They could not choose but feel, yet utter'd not The human feeling, which in hours of rest Often would rise, and fill the boding breast With a dread foretaste of that mournful day, When, at the inexorable Power's behest, The unwilling spirit, called perforce away, Must leave, forever leave, its dear connatural clay. 38. And as connubial, so parental love Obey'd unerring Nature's order here, For now no force of impious custom strove Against her law ; — such as was wont to sear The unhappy heart with usages severe, Till harden'd mothers in the grave could lay Their living babes with no compunctious tear ; Sq monstrous men become, when from the way Of primal light they turn through heathen paths 33.

Link'd as they were, where each to each was all, How might the poor survivor hope to bear That heaviest loss which one day must befall, Nor sink beneath the weight of his despair ? Scarce could the heart even for a moment dare That miserable time to contemplate, astray. 39. Deliver'd from this yoke, in them henceforth The springs of natural love may freely flow: New joys, new virtues with that happy birth Are born, and with the growing infant grow. Source of our purest happiness below Is that benignant law which hath entwined Dearest delight with strongest duty, so When the dread Messenger should find them there, From whom is no escape, — and reckless Fate, Whom it had bound so close, forever separate. That in the healthy heart and righteous mind Ever they co-exisi, inseparably combined. Five happy yetirs ; — and ere tho Moon which then Hung like a Sylphid's light canoe on high, Should fill its circle, Monnema, again, 40.

Oh '. bliss for them when in that infant face Laying her burden down, must bear a mother's pain. They now the unfolding faculties descry, And fondly gazing, trace — or think they trace — The first faint speculation in that eye, 46. Alas, a keener pang, before that day, Must by the wretched Monnema be borne ! In quest of game Quiara went his way To roam the wilds, as he waB wont, one morn ; She look'd in vain at eve for his return. By moonlight, through the midnight solitude, She sought him ; and she found his garment torn, His bow and useless arrows in the wood, Which hitherto hath roll'd in vacancy! Oh ! bliss in that soft countenance to seek Some mark of recognition, and espy The quiet smile which in the innocent cheek Of kindness and of kind its consciousness doth speak ! • 41. For him, if born among their native tribe, Some haughty name his parents had thought good, As weening that wherewith they should ascribe The strength of some fierce tenant ofthe wood, The water, or the aerial solitude, Marks of a jaguar's feet, a broken spear, and blood.

Jaguar or vulture, waterwolf or snake, CANTO IT. The beast that prowls abroad in search of blood, 1. Or reptile that within the treacherous brake 0 thou who, listening to the Poet's song, Dost yield thy willing spirit to his sway, Look not that I should painfully prolong The sad narration of that fatal day With tragic details : all too true the lay ! Nor is my purpose e'er to entertain The heart with useless grief; but, as I may, Blend in my calm and meditative strain Waits for the prey, upcoil'd, its hunger to aslake. 42. Now soften'd as their spirits were by love, Abhorrent from such thoughts they turn'd away; And with a happier feeling, from the dove, They named the child Yeruti. On a day, When, smiling at his mother's breast in play, They in his tones of murmuring pleasure heard- A sweet resemblance ofthe stock-dove's lay, Fondly they named him from that gentle bird ; Consolatory thoughts, the balm for real pain. 2.

O Youth or Maiden, whosoe'er thou art, Safe in my guidance may thy spirit be ; I wound not wantonly the tender heart ; And if sometimes a tear of sympathy Should rise, it will from bitterness be free — Yea, with a healing virtue be endued, As thou, in this true tale, shalt hear from me Of evils overcome, and grief subdued, And soon such happy use endear'd the fitting word. 43. Days past, and moons have wax'd and waned, and still This dovelet, nestled in their leafy bower, Obtains increase of sense, and strength, and will, And virtues springing up like flowers in solitude. As in due order many a latent power Expands, — humanity's exalted dower ; And they, while thus the days serenely fled, Beheld him flourish like a vigorous flower, Which, lifting from a genial soil its head, 3. The unhappy Monnema, when thus bereft, Sunk not beneath the desolating blow.

Widow'd she was ; but still her child was left, For him must she sustain the weight of woe, Which else would in that hour have laid her low. Nor wish' d she now the work of death complete; Then only doth the soul of woman know Its proper strength, when love and duty meet ; Invincible the heart wherein they have their seat By seasonable suns and kindly showers is fed. 44. Erelong the cares of helpless babyhood To the next stage of infancy give place, That age with sense of conscious growth endued, 4. When every gesture hath its proper grace : Then come the unsteady step, the tottering pace; And watchful hopes and emulous thoughts The seamen who, upon some coral reef, Are cast amid the interminable main, Still cling to life, and, hoping for relief, Drag on their days of wretchedness and pain.

In turtle shells they hoard the scanty rain, And eat its flesh, sun dried for lack of fire, Till the weak body can no more sustain Its wants, but sinks beneath its sufferings dire ; appear ; The imitative lips essay to trace Their words, observant both with eye and ear, In mutilated sounds which parents love to hear. 45. Most miserable man who sees the rest expire ' Serenely thus the seasons pass away ; And, oh ! how rapidly they seem to fly With those for whom to-morrow, like to-day, Glides on in peaceful uniformity ! Five years have since Yeruti's birth gone by, 5. He lingers there while months and years go by, And holds his hope though months and years have past ; Something of what in Eden might have been Was shadow'd there imperfectly, I ween, In this fair creature : safe from all offence, Expanding like a shelter'd plant serene, Evils that fret and stain being far from thence, And still at morning round the farthest sky, And still at eve his eagle glance is cast, If there he may behold the far-off mast Arise, for which he hath not ceased to pray.

And if perchance a ship should come at last, And bear him from that dismal bank away, Her heart in peace and joy retain'd its innocence. He blesses God that he hath lived to see that day. 12. At first the infant to Yeruti proved A cause of wonder and disturbing joy. A stronger tie fhan that of kindred moved His inmost being, as the happy boy Felt in his heart of hearts, without alloy, The sense of kind : a fellow creature she, In whom, when now she ceased to be a toy For tender sport, his soul rejoiced to see 6. So strong a hold hath life upon the soul, Which sees no dawning of eternal light, But subject to this mortal frame's control, Forgetful of its origin and right, Content in bondage dwells and utter night. By worthier ties was this poor mother bound To life ; even while her grief was at the height, Then in maternal love support she found, Connatural powers expand, and growing sympathy. .

And in maternal cares a healing for her wound. 7. 13. For now her hour is come : a girl is born, Poor infant, all unconscious of its fate, How passing strange, how utterly forlorn ! The genial season served to mitigate, In all it might, their sorrowful estate, Supplying to the mother, at her door, From neighbouring trees, which bent beneath their weight, A full supply of fruitage now mature ; So in that time of need their sustenance was sure. For her he cull'd the fairest flowers, and sought Throughout the woods the earliest fruits for her. The cayman's eggs, the honeycomb he brought To this beloved sister, — whatsoe'er, To his poor thought, of delicate or rare, The wilds might yield, solicitous to find. They who affirm all natural acts declare Self-love to be the ruler ofthe mind, Judge from their own mean hearts, and foully wrong mankind. 8. 14.

Nor then alone, but alway did the Eye Of Mercy look upon that lonely bower. Days past, and weeks ; and months and years went by, And never evil thing the while had power To enter there. The boy, in sun and shower, Rejoicing in his strength, to youthhed grew ; And Mooma, that beloved girl, a dower Of gentleness from bounteous nature drew, With all that should the heart of womankind Three souls in whom no selfishness had place Were here ; three happy souls, which undefiled, Albeit in darkness, still retain'd a trace Of their celestial origin. The wild Was as a sanctuary where Nature smiled Upon these simple children of her own, And, cherishing whate'er was meek and mild, Call'd forth the gentle virtues, such alone, The evils which evoke the stronger being unknown. imbue. 15. 9. What though at birth we bring with us the seed Of sin, a mortal taint, — in heart and will Too surely felt, too plainly shown in deed, — Our fatal heritage ; yet are we still The tears which o'er her infancy were shed Profuse, resented not of grief alone : Maternal love their bitterness allay'd, And with a strength and virtue all its own, Sustain'd the breaking heart.

A look, a tone, A gesture of that innocent babe, in eyes With saddest recollections overflown, Would sometimes make a tender smile arise, Like sunshine opening through a shower in vernal skies. The children ofthe All Merciful ; and ill They teach, who tell us that from hence must flow God's wrath, and then, his justice to fulfil, Death everlasting, never-ending woe : O miserable lot of man if it were so ! 16. Falsely and impiously teach they who thus Our heavenly Father's holy will misread ! In bounty has the Lord created us, In love redeem'd. From this authentic creed Let no bewildering sophistry impede 10. No looks but those of tenderness were sound To turn upon that helpless infant dear ; And as her sense unfolded, never sound Of wrath or discord brake upon her ear. Her soul its native purity sincere Possess'd, by no example here defil'd ; From envious passions free, exempt from fear, Unknowing of all ill, amid the wild Beloving and beloved she grew, a happy child.

The heart's entire assent, for God is good. Hold firm this faith, and, in whatever need, Doubt not but thou wilt find thy soul endued With all-sufficing strength of heavenly fortitude 1 17. 11. By nature peccable and frail are we, Easily beguiled ; to vice, to error prone ; But apt for virtue too. Humanity Is not a field where tares and thorns alone Yea, where that solitary bower was placed, Though all unlike to Paradise the scene, (A wide circumference of woodlands waste,) Are left to spring ; good seed hath there been sown But distant far beyond their world of wood Were tribes and powerful nations of their kind ; And of the old observances which bind People and chiefs, the lies of man and wife, The laws of kin religiously assign'd, With no unsparing hand. Sometimes the shoot Is choked with weeds, or withers on a stone ; But in a kindly soil it strikes its root, And flourisheth, and bringeth forth abundant fruit.