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Yet, Muse of Shakspeare,1 whither wouldst thou fly,
With hurried step, and dove-like trembling eye?
Thou, as from heav’n, that couldst each grace dispense,
Fancy’s rich stream, and all the stores of sense;
Give to each virtue face and form divine,
Make dulness feel, and vulgar souls refine,
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1 It is not meant to say, that even Shakspeare followed invariably a correct and chastized taste, or that he never purchased public applause by offering incense at the shrine of public taste. Voltaire, in his Essays on Dramatic Poetry, has carried the matter too far; but in many respects his reflections are unquestionably just. In delineating human characters and passions, and in the display of the sublimer excellencies of poetry, Shakspeare was unrivalled.
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| 952 | LETTERS OF C. AND M. LAMB |
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Wake all the passions into restless life,
Now calm to softness, and now rouze to strife?
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Sick of misjudging, that no sense can hit,
Scar’d by the jargon of unmeaning wit,
The senseless splendour of the tawdry stage,1
The loud long plaudits of a trifling age,
Where dost thou wander? Exil’d in disgrace,
Find’st thou in foreign realms some happier place?2
Or dost thou still though banish’d from the town,
In Britain love to linger, though unknown?
Light Hymen’s torch through ev’ry blooming grove,3
And tinge each flow’ret with the blush of love?
Sing winter, summer-sweets, the vernal air,
Or the soft Sofa, to delight the fair?4
Laugh, e’en at kings, and mock each prudish rule,
The merry motley priest of ridicule?5
With modest pencil paint the vernal scene,
The rustic lovers, and the village green?
Bid Mem’ry, magic child, resume his toy,
And Hope’s fond vot’ry seize the distant joy?6
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1 Pomp and splendour a poor substitute for genius. 2 The dramatic muse seems of late years to have taken her residence in Germany. Schiller, Kotzebue, and Goethé, possess great merit both for passion and sentiment, and the English nation have done them justice. One or two principles which the French and English critics had too implicitly followed from Aristotle, are indeed not adopted, but have been, I hope, successfully, counteracted by these writers; yet are these dramatists characterised by a wildness bordering on extravagance, attendant on a state of half-civilization. Schiller and Kotzebue, amid some faults, possess great excellencies. With respect to England, it has long been noticed by very intelligent observers, that the dramatic taste of the present age is vitiated. Pope, who directed very powerful satire against the stage in his time, makes Dulness say in general terms,
It would be the highest arrogance in me to make such an assertion, with my slender knowledge in these matters; ready too, as I am, to admire some excellent pieces that have fallen in my way; and to affirm, that there is by no means a deficiency of poetic talent in England. Aristotle observes, that all the parts of the Epic poet are to be found in tragedy, and, consequently, that this species of writing is, of all others, most interesting to men of talents. (Περι ωοιητικης.) And baron Kotzebue thinks the theatre the best school of instruction, both in morals and taste, even for children; and that better effects are produced by a play, than by a sermon. See his life, written by himself, just translated by Anne Plumptre. How much then is it to be wished, that so admirable a mean of amusement and instruction might be advanced to its true point of excellence! But the principles laid down by Bishop Hurd, though calculated to advance the love of splendour, will not, I suspect, advance the True Province of the Drama. 3 Loves of the Plants, by Dr. Darwin. 4 The Task, by Cowper: written at the request of a lady. The introductory poem is entitled, The Sofa. 5 Dr. Walcot [Wolcot: Peter Pindar], whose poetry is of a farcical and humorous character. 6 The Pleasures of Memory, by Rogers; and the Pleasures of Hope, by Campbell. |
| 953 |
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Or dost thou soar, in youthful ardour strong,
And bid some female hero live in song?1
Teach fancy how through nature’s walks to stray,
And wake, to simpler theme, the lyric lay?2
Or steal from beauty’s lip th’ ambrosial kiss,
Paint the domestic grief, or social bliss?3
With patient step now tread o’er rock and hill,
Gaze on rough ocean, track the babbling rill,4
Then rapt in thought, with strong poetic eye,
Read the great movement of the mighty sky?
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Or wilt thou spread the light of Leo’s age,
And smooth, as woman’s guide, Tansillo’s page?5
Till pleas’d, you make in fair translated song,
Odin descend, and rouse the fairy
throng?6
Recall, employment sweet, thy youthful day,
Then wake, at Mithra’s call, the mystic lay?7
Unfold the Paradise of ancient lore,8
Or mark the shipwreck from the sounding shore?
Now love to linger in the daisied vale,
Then rise sublime in legendary tale?9
Or, faithful still to nature’s sober joy,
Smile on the labours of some Farmer’s Boy?10
Or e’en regardless of the poet’s praise,
Deck the fair magazine with blooming lays?11
Oh! sweetest muse, oh, haste thy wish’d return,
See genius droop, and bright-ey’d fancy mourn,
Recall to nature’s charms an English stage,
The guard and glory of a nobler age.
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1 Joan of Arc, by Southey;—a volume of poems with an introductory sonnet to Mary Wolstonecraft, and a poem, on the praise of woman, breathes the same spirit. 2 Alludes to the character of a volume of poems, entitled Lyrical Ballads. Under this head also should be mentioned Smythe’s English Lyrics. 3 Characteristic of a volume of poems, the joint production of Coleridge, Lloyd, and Lamb. 4 Descriptive Poems, such as Leusden hill, by Thomas Crowe; and the Malvern hills, by Joseph Cottle. 5 Roscoe’s Reign of Leo de Medici is interspersed with poetry. Roscoe has also translated, The Nurse, a poem, from the Italian of Luigi Tansillo. 6 Icelandic poetry, or the Edda of Saemund, translated by Amos Cottle; and the Oberon of Wieland, by Sotheby. 7 Thomas Maurice, the author of the Indian Antiquities, is republishing his poems; the Song to Mithra is in the third volume of Indian Antiquities. 8 The Paradise of Taste, and Pictures of Poetry, by Alexander Thomson. 9 There is a tale of this character by Dr. Aikin, and the Hermit of Warkworth, by Bishop Percy. It will please the friends of taste to hear, that Cartwright’s Armine and Elvira, which has been long out of print, is now republishing. 10 The Farmer’s Boy, a poem just published, on The Seasons, by Robert Bloomfield. 11 Many of the anonymous poetical pieces thrown into magazines, possess poetical merit. Those of a young lady in the Monthly Magazine, will, I hope, in time be more generally known. Those of Rushton, of Liverpool, will also, I hope, be published by some judicious friend:—this worthy man is a bookseller, who has been afflicted with blindness from his youth. |
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