Oh! lyre divine, what daring fpirit
Wakes thee now? though he inherit
Nor the pride, nor ample pinion,
* That the Theban eagle bear
Sailing with fupreme dominion
Through the azure deep of air:
Yet oft before his infant eyes would run
Such forms, as glitter in the Mufe's ray
With orient hues, unborrow'd of the fun :
Yet fhall he mount, and keep his distant way
Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate,
Beneath the good how far-but far above the great.

Aids πpage oρrixa sov. Olymp. 2. Pindar compares himself to that bird, and his enemies to ravens that croak and clamour in vain below, while it purfues its flight, regardless of their noife.

THE

THE

BAR D.

A PINDARIC ODE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following Ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the Firft, when he compleated the conqueft of that country, ordered all the Bards, that fell into his hands, to be put to death.

I. I.

'RUIN feize thee, ruthless king!

• Coufufion on thy banners wait,

Though, fann'd by Conqueft's crimson wing,
* They mock the air with idle state.
Helm, nor + hauberk's twisted mail,

• Nor e'en thy virtues, tyrant, shall avail
To fave thy fecret foul from nightly fears,
From Cambria's curfe from Cambria's tears!

*Mocking the air with colours idly spread.

SHAKESPEARE'S KING JOHN, The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail, that fat clofe to the body, and adapted itself to every motion.

Such were the founds, that o'er the * crested pride
Of the firft Edward scatter'd wild dismay,
As down the steep of + Snowdon's fhaggy fide
He wound with toilfome march his long array.
Stout Glo'fter food aghaft in speechlefs trance:
To arms! cried & Mortimer, and couch'd his quivering
lance.

I. 2.

On a rock, whofe haughty brow

Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood,

Rob'd in the fable garb of woe,

With huggard eyes the Poet ftood;

(Loofe his beard, and hoary hair

**Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air)

The crefted adder's pride. Dryden's Indian Queen.

Snowdon was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract, which the Welsh themselves call Craigian-eryri: it included all the highlands of Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire, as far east as the river Conway. R. Hygden, fpeaking of the caftle of Conway, built by King Edward the firft, fays, "Ad ortum

amnis Conway ad clivum montis Erery;" and Matthew of Westminster, (ad ann. 1283,)" Apud Aberconway ad pedes "montis Snowdoniæ fecit erigi caftrum forte."

Gilbert de Clare, furnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, fon-in-law to King Edward.

Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore.

They both were Lords-Marchers, whofe lands lay on the borders of Wales, and probably accompanied the king in his expedition.

The image was taken from the well-known picture of Raphael, reprefenting the Supreme Being in the vifion of Ezekiel : there are two of these paintings (both believed original,) one at Florence, the other at Paris.

*** Shone, like a meteor, ftreaming to the wind. MILTON'S PARADISE LOST.

And

5

And with a master's hand, and prophet's fire,
Struck the deep forrows of his lyre.

Hark, how each giant-oak, and defert cave,
Sighs to the torrent's aweful voice beneath!

O'er thee, oh King! their hundred arms they weave,
Revenge on thee in hoarfer murmurs breathe;

• Vocal no more, fince Cambria's fatal day,

To high-born Hoel's harp, or foft Llewellyn's lay,

I. 3.

Cold is Cadwallo's tongue,

That hush'd the stormy main;

Brave Urien fleeps upon his craggy

• Mountains, ye mourn in vain

Modred, whofe magic fong

bed:

Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-top'd head, * On dreary Arvon's fhore they lie,

• Smear'd with gore, and ghaftly pale:

Far, far aloof th' affrighted ravens fail:

The famifh'd + eagle fcreams, and passes by.

*The fhores of Caernarvonshire oppofite to the ifle of Anglesey.

+ Camden and others obferve, that eagles ufed annually to build their aerie among the rocks of Snowdon, which from thence (as fome think) were named by the Welsh Craigian-eryri, or the crags of the eagles. At this day (I am told) the highest point of Snowdon is called The Eagle's Neft. That bird is certainly no stran ger to this island, as the Scots, and the people of Cumberland, Weftmoreland, &c. can testify: it even has built its nest in the Peak of Derbyshire. [See Willoughby's Ornithol, published by Ray.]

P 3

** Dear

Dear loft companions of my tuneful art,
* Dear, as the light that vifits these fad eyes,
Dear, as the ruddy drops that warm my heart,
Ye died amidst your dying country's cries-
No more I weep. They do not sleep.
On yonder cliffs, a griefly band,

I fee them fit, they linger yet,

4 Avengers of their native land :

With me in dreadful harmony they join,

And † weave with bloody hands the tiffue of thy line.

II. 1.

"Weave the warp, and weave the woof,

"The winding-sheet of Edward's race.

"Give ample room, and

verge enough

"The characters of hell to trace.

"Mark the year, and mark the night,

When Severn fhall re-echo with affright

"The fhrieks of death, thro' Berkley's roofs that ring; "Shrieks of an agonizing King;

66

She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs,

✦ As dear to me as are the ruddy drops,

That vifit my fad heart.

SHAKESP. JUL. Cæsar.

See the Norwegian Ode, that follows.

Edward the fecond, cruelly butchered in Berkley-castle.
Ifabel of France, Edward the Second's adulterous Queen.

"That