Imperial HOMER claims the earliest sway;

He penn'd a lofty and majestic lay;

Grandeur of thought and circumstance combine,

And richest language beams in every line;
Bright as the sun, and as the whirlwind strong,
His subject bears us gorgeously along :

"Theseids" were soon to dark oblivion cast,
But one sole" Iliad" brightens to the last.

Illustrious VIRGIL, lov'd in every age,
With splendid gracefulness adorns his page;
And if warm Nature, with bright art combined,
Gave but one perfect Poet to mankind,

Transcendent Maro! the award be thine,

Thou last resource of Taste in life's decline!

If not so faultless, in the censor's eye,

Yet soars our MILTON more divinely high;

With scheme more sacred, and with end more true,

His matchless Genius "blends the former two;"

As greatest therefore, of the immortal Three,
Applauding critics, MILTON! turn to thee.

* See "Milton's Epitaph," by Dryden.

Yet, brilliant Poets dignify the train;

Caesar's proud Triumph on Pharsalia's plain

Sang honour'd LUCAN; then, came LE TRISSIN, With borrow'd beauties, tho' with just design; Told how from darkness fair Italia rose,

While Belisarius chas'd her Gothic foes.

When Europe, long in mental slumbers bound,
Woke from Cimmerian darkness, at the sound
Of Gama's Indian world, the golden scheme
Call'd forth a CAMOENS to the splendid theme:
Shipwreckt on China's coast, with single hand,
He stemm'd the cruel surge, and reach'd the land;
While straining high his left, secure he bore
His "Lusiad," Lisbon's glory, to the shore.

Forth, clad with light, the great TORQUATO came, Victim of exile, poverty, and shame,—

And then, of Death, just in that doleful hour
When fortune 'gan (too late) her gifts to pour.
With fable varied, and description bold,

(But with too much of fairy frame-work told)

In language such as Tuscan ear delights,

Sang how Crusaders and victorious Knights
"Jerusalem deliver'd;" and, though we,
(Charm'd with the brilliance of his poetry)
His dazzling rival, ARIOSTO, praise,

The world must perish with her TASSO's lays.

In later times, with Gaul's proud Hero's fame,
The gentler" Henriade" prefers it's claim;
With language feeble for a Poet's pen,

The "Critic" wrote, but died the worst of men.
Great praise, albe, his modern Epic gains;
It leaves Mythologies to Gothic brains,

With richer sense their wonted place supplies,
And scorns the aid of such absurdities:

Were this thy only work, acute VOLTAIRE!

Europe had bless'd thee; now-she must forbear: Such curse attends thy name, the world were glad, With baser works, to lose thy Henriade.

F

THE BARDIAD.

CANTO II.