Short-lived possession! but the record fair, The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestowed By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glowed ;— Not scorned in heaven, though little noticed here. I pricked them into paper with a pin, (And thou wast happier than myself the while, Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion's coast So thou, with sails how swift! hast reached the shore And, while the wings of fancy still are free, Cowper. 1 ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE. YE3 distant spires! ye antique towers! Where tempests, &c.-This line is taken-Cowper himself tell us in a note -from a poem by Dr. Garth. 2 Arrive-a Gallicism, from the French arriver, to happen. 3 Ye, &c.-The first fourteen lines form a sort of complicated vocative case, the grammatical construction remaining incomplete until we reach the line 'I feel the gales, &c." 4 Henry's holy shade-Henry VI founded Eton College, in 1441. shade," on account of the saintliness of character attributed to him. "Holy And ye,1 that from the stately brow His silver-winding3 way ;— Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade! Where once my careless childhood strayed, I feel the gales that from you blow . As waving fresh their gladsome wing, Say, father Thames !6 for thou hast seen The captive linnet 7 which enthral ? 1 Ye-i. e. ye towers of Windsor Castle. 2 Whose turf, &c.-These nouns pair with those in the previous line, thus:— the turf of whose lawn, the shade of whose grove, the flowers of whose mead. In a similar style Shakspere writes: "The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword." 3 Silver-winding-literally winding like silver, which would be absurd. The word means, shining like silver as it winds along. In vain-to no purpose, since he was obliged to leave them. 5 Redolent-from the Latin redolens, emitting a smell-smelling sweetly. The word is here used metaphorically, and means in connection with "of joy and youth," fraught with the influences of, &c. A beautiful expression. 6 Father Thames-Dr. Johnson pettishly says that "this supplication is useless and puerile. Father Thames has no better means of knowing than himself." The great critic, however, in his own "Rasselas," makes one of the characters thus address the Nile:-" Great father of waters! tell me, &c." The captive, &c.--Some think this expression tautologous, but it may perhaps be thus explained:-Who imprison the captive (or captured) linnet? i. e. who catch and cage the linnet? A somewhat similar idiom is pointed out in note 5, p. 106. To chase the rolling circle's speed, While some, on earnest business bent, 'Gainst graver hours that bring constraint Some bold adventurers disdain The limits of their little reign, And unknown regions dare descry: Gay hope is theirs, by fancy fed, And lively cheer, of vigour born; Alas! regardless of their doom, Yet see how all around them wait The ministers3 of human fate, And black Misfortune's baleful train! Ah, show them where in ambush stand, Snatch a fearful joy-A happy combination of words. A fearful joy! 2 Buxom-in Old English, boughsome; i. e. easily bent or bowed to one's willpliant, easily moved, elastic, agile, merry. 3 Minister-from the Latin minister, an attendant-an official servant. "The ministers of human fate" are the dangers of human life, appointed by the supreme power, who is here, somewhat heathenishly, called fate. Ah! tell them, &c.-The conception of the grim ministers of fate-the murderous band—awaiting in ambush the approach of their heedless victim, is very striking, whatever opinion may be formed of the view of life which it suggests. These shall the fury Passions tear,2 And Shame that skulks behind; Ambition this shall tempt to rise, The stings of Falsehood those shall try, That mocks the tear it forced to flow, Lo! in the vale of years beneath The painful family of Death,5 More hideous than their queen : 6 This racks the joints, this fires the veins, That every labouring sinew strains, 1 These-some of these-in contrast with "this" and "those" in the next stanza. 2 Fury passions-This stanza presents, in a short compass, a graphic sketch of the passions-those "vultures of the mind." They are mostly characterised by their effects, as "pallid Fear," i. e. fear that makes pale; "faded Care,' i. e. care that makes the cheek fade, &c. 3 Sorrow's piercing dart-An instance of anti-climax, or bathos. A climax is an ascending series of thoughts or illustrations, rising in interest from one step to another. An anti-climax, on the contrary, is a descending series. In the sorrow" is tame after the bold personification of present case, "Grim-visaged comfortless despair." See also note 5, p. 63. 4 Moody Madness, &c.-In contrast with the close of the last stanza, this may be characterised as a very striking climax. 5 Family of Death-diseases. 6 Queen-There is a fault here in making Death feminine; and it is believed that no other such instance occurs in our language. |