ODE VI. THE BARDa PINDARIC. I. 1 "RUIN seize thee, ruthless King! a This Ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the First, when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the Bards that fell into his hands to be put to death.-GRAY. Ver. 1. Ruin seize thee, ruthless King.] This abrupt execration plunges the reader into that sudden fearful perplexity which is designed to predominate through the whole. The irresistible violence of the prophet's passions bears him away, who, as he is unprepared by a formal ushering in of the speaker, is unfortified against the impressions of his poetical frenzy, and overpowered by them, as sudden thunders strike the deepest. All readers of taste, I fancy, have felt this effect from the passage; they will be pleased, however, to see their own feelings so well expressed as they are in this note.-MASON. Dr. Johnson, although he does not condemn the abruptness of this exordium, endeavours to undervalue it as a mere technical beauty, and creditable only to the inventor.-WAKEFIELD. Ver. 4. They mock the air with idle state.] Mocking the air with colours idly spread." Shakspeare's King John.-GRAY. Helm, nor hauberk's twisted mail, Nor e'en thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail 5 10 He wound with toilsome march his long array. Stout Glo'ster stood aghast in speechless trance: "To arms!" cried Mortimer, and couch'd his quivering lance. Ver. 5. Helm, nor hauberk's twisted mail.] The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail, that sat close to the body, and adapted itself to every motion.-GRAY. The initial resemblance or alliterations, "ruin, ruthless, helm or hauberk," are below the grandeur of a poem that endeavours at sublimity.-JOHNSON. Ver. 9. Such were the sounds, that o'er the crested pride.] "The crested adder's pride." Dryden's Indian Queen.-GRAY. Ver. 11. As down the steep of Snowden's shaggy side.] /Snowden was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract which the Welch themselves call Craigian-eryri: it included all the highlands of Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire, as far east as the river Conway. R. Hygden, speaking of the castle of Conway, built by King Edward the First, says, "Ad ortum amnis Conway ad clivum montis Erery;" and Matthew of Westminster, (ad ann. 1283.) " Apud Aberconway ad pedes montis Snowdoniæ fecit erigi castrum forte."-GRAY. Ver. 13. Stout Glo'ster stood aghast in speechless trance.] Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, son-in-law to King Edward.-GRAY. Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air ;) 20 Ver. 14. "To arms!" cried Mortimer, and couch'd his quivering lance.] Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore. They both were Lords Marchers, whose lands lay on the borders of Wales, and probably accompanied the king in this expedition.-GRAY. Ver. 15. On a rock.] The turbulent impetuosity of the preceding stanza, and the sedate majesty of this, form a most pleasing and animated contrast.-Wakefield. -Whose haughty brow.] So Homer, επ' opρvσi kaλλıκολωνης-επ' οφρυος, et επ' οφρυσι-αιγιαλοιο-Mosetus, et Apollonius Rhodius: and St. Luke-rηs oppvos Tov Opovs iv. 29. of his Gospel.-" Ecce! supercilio clivosi tramitis." Virg. —Homer says with greater boldness, Mwg oppvoɛσσa: but Mr. Gray's correspondent term, frowns, is a happy continuation of the figure.-Wakefield. Ver. 17. Robed in the sable garb of woe.] 66 Perpetuo mærore, et nigra veste senescant.' Ver. 19. Loose his beard, and hoary hair.] The image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphael, representing the Supreme Being in the vision of Ezekiel : there are two of these paintings, both believed to be originals; one at Florence, the other in the Duke of Orleans' collection at Paris.-GRAY. Mr. Gray never saw the large Cartoon, done by the same divine hand, in the possession of the Duke of Montagu, at his seat at Boughton, in Northamptonshire, else I am persuaded he would have mentioned it in this note. The two finished And with a master's hand, and prophet's fire, "Hark, how each giant oak, and desert cave, pictures abroad (which I believe are closet-pieces) can hardly have so much spirit in them as this wonderful drawing; it gave me the sublimest idea I ever received from painting. Moses breaking the tables of the law, by Parmegiano, was a figure which Mr. Gray used to say came still nearer to his meaning than the picture of Raphael.-MASON. See Sir Joshua Reynolds's Works, vol. ii. p. 195. It has been observed as somewhat singular, that the two figures here mentioned, as having suggested the idea of the Bard, are themselves widely different from one another in their general expression. Ver. 20. Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air.] 'Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl'd The imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd, Shone, like a meteor, streaming to the wind." Par. Lost, i. 535.-WAKEFIELD. A line yet more resembling the above occurs in Heywood's "Four 'Prentices of London." "In Sion's towers hangs his victorious flag, Like a red meteor in the troubled air." Mr. Mitford quotes several passages in which long hair is compared to a meteor. The following are two of the number : "His tawny beard was th' equal grace Both of his wisdom and his face. * * This hairy meteor did denounce The fall of sceptres, and of crowns." Hudibras, Pt. i. Cant. i. 247. d Vocal no more, since Cambria's fatal day, To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay." I. 3. "Cold is Cadwallo's tongue, That hush'd the stormy main: "Which holy vow he firmly kept: A grisly meteor on his face." 30 Butler's Remains, p. 135. Ver. 27. Vocal no more, since Cambria's fatal day.] Mr. Wakefield quotes, as an analogous expression, the "auritas fidibus querens" of Horace; and for further remarks upon the word, the reader may consult Huntingford's Apology for his Monostrophies, p. 31. Ver. 28. To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay.] Hoel," observes Mr. Mitford, " is called high-born, as being the son of Owen Gwynedd, prince of North Wales." See Jones's Relics, vol. ii. p. 36. Evans's Specimens, p. 36. and Southey's Madoc, vol. ii. p. 162. Llewellyn's poetry, we are told, was characterized by his countrymen as a soft lay, and the Bard is himself styled the tender-hearted prince. Dr. Evans mentions Cadwallo and Urien among those Bards of whom no works remain: see his "Dissertatio de Bardis,” p. 78. Mr. Mitford supposes that Modred was changed by our Author, euphoniæ gratia, from Myrddin ab Morvryn, called Merlin the Wild. There is a Poem of his called the "Orchard," in Jones's Relics, vol. i. p. 24. He fought under King Arthur in 542, at the battle of Camlau, and accidentally slew his own nephew. Ver. 30. That hush'd the stormy main.] "Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song." Mids. Night's Dream.-WAKEFIELD. |