Selected Poems (158 page)

And the sun did shine so cold,’ &c. &c., p. 129.

2.
Coleridge’s Poems, p. 11, Songs of the Pixies, i.e. Devonshire Fairies; p. 42, we have, ‘Lines to a young Lady:’ and, p. 52, ‘Lines to a young Ass.’

3.
For every one knows little Matt’s an M.P.’ – See a poem to Mr Lewis, in ‘The Statesman,’ supposed to be written by Mr Jekyll.

1
. The reader, who may wish for an explanation of this, may refer to ‘Strangford’s Camoëns,’ p. 127, note to p. 56, or to the last page of the Edinburgh Review of Strangford’s Camoëns.

2.
It is also to be remarked, that the things given to the public as poems of Camoëns are no more to be found in the original Portuguese, than in the Song of Solomon.

1
. Hayley’s two most notorious verse productions are ‘Triumphs of Temper,’ and ‘The Triumph of Music.’ He has also written much comedy in rhyme, epistles, &c. &c. As he is rather an elegant writer of notes and biography, let us recommend Pope’s advice to Wycherley to Mr H. ’s consideration, viz. ‘to convert his poetry into prose,’ which may be easily done by taking away the final syllable of each couplet.

2
. Mr Grahame has poured forth two volumes of cant, under the name of ‘Sabbath Walks,’ and ‘Biblical Pictures.’

1.
See Bowles’s ‘Sonnet to Oxford,’ and ‘Stanzas on hearing the Bells of Ostend.’

2.
‘Awake a louder,’ &c., is the first line in Bowles’s ‘Spirit of Discovery;’ a very spirited and pretty dwarf-epic. Among other exquisite lines we have the following: –

‘A kiss

Stole on the list’ning silence, never yet

Here heard; they trembled even as if the power,’ &c. &c.

That is, the woods of Madeira trembled to a kiss; very much astonished, as well they might be, at such a phenomenon. – [‘Misquoted and misunderstood by me; but not intentionally. It was not the “woods,” but the people in them who trembled – why, Heaven only knows – unless they were overheard making the prodigious smack.’ – B. 1816.]

1
. The episode above alluded to is the story of ‘Robert a Machin‘ and ‘Anna d’Arfet,’ a pair of constant lovers, who performed the kiss above mentioned, that startled the woods of Madeira.

2.
Curll is one of the heroes of the Dunciad, and was a bookseller. Lord Fanny is the poetical name of Lord Hervey, author of ‘Lines to the Imitator of Horace.’

3.
Lord Bolingbroke hired Mallet to traduce Pope after his decease, because the poet had retained some copies of a work by Lord Bolingbroke – the ‘Patriot King,’ – which that splendid, but malignant, genius had ordered to be destroyed.

4
. Dennis the critic, and Ralph the rhymester. –

‘Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,

Making night hideous: answer him, ye owls!’ –
Dunciad.

1.
See Bowles’s late edition of Pope’s works, for which he received three hundred pounds. Thus Mr B. has experienced how much easier it is to profit by the reputation of another, than to elevate his own.

2.
[‘Fresh fish from Helicon!’ – ‘Helicon’ is a mountain, and not a fishpond. It should have been ‘Hippocrene.’ – B. 1816.]

3
. Mr Cottle, Amos, Joseph, I don’t know which, but one or both, are sellers of books they did not write, and now writers of books they do not sell, have published a pair of epics. ‘Alfred,’ – (poor Alfred! Pye has been at him too!) – ‘Alfred,’ and the ‘Fall of Cambria.’

1.
Mr Maurice hath manufactured the component parts of a ponderous quarto, upon the beauties of ‘Richmond Hill,’ and the like: – it also takes in a charming view of Turnham Green, Hammersmith, Brentford, Old and New, and the parts adjacent.

2.
Poor Montgomery, though praised by every English Review, has been bitterly reviled by the Edinburgh. After all, the bard of Sheffield is a man of considerable genius. His ‘Wanderer of Switzerland’ is worth a thousand ‘Lyrical Ballads’ and at least fifty ‘degraded epics.’

3
. Arthur’s Seat; the hill which overhangs Edinburgh.

1
. [‘Too ferocious – this is mere insanity.’ – B. 1816.]

2
. [‘All this is bad, because personal.’ – B. 1816.]

3.
In 1806, Messrs Jeffrey and Moore met at Chalk-Farm. The duel was prevented by the interference of the magistracy; and, on examination, the balls of the pistols were found to have evaporated. This incident gave occasion to much waggery in the daily prints.

1
. The Tweed here behaved with proper decorum; it would have been highly reprehensible in the English half of the river to have shown the smallest symptom of apprehension.

2
. This display of sympathy on the part of the Tolbooth (the principal prison in Edinburgh), which truly seems to have been most affected on this occasion, is much to be commended. It was to be apprehended, that the many unhappy criminals executed in the front might have rendered the edifice more callous. She is said to be of the softer sex, because her delicacy of feeling on this day was truly feminine, though, like most feminine impulses, perhaps a little selfish.

1
. His lordship has been much abroad, is a member of the Athenian Society, and reviewer of ‘Gell’s Topography of Troy.’

2
. Mr Herbert is a translator of Icelandic and other poetry. One of the principal pieces is a ‘Song on the Recovery of Thor’s Hammer:’ the translation is a pleasant chant in the vulgar tongue, and endeth thus: –

‘Instead of money and rings, I wot,

The hammer’s bruises were her lot.

Thus Odin’s son his hammer got.’

3
. The Rev. Sydney Smith, the reputed author of Peter Plymley’s Letters, and sundry criticisms.

4.
Mr Hallam reviewed Payne Knight’s ‘Taste,’ and was exceedingly severe on some Greek verses therein. It was not discovered that the lines were Pindar’s till the press rendered it impossible to cancel the critique, which still stands an everlasting monument of Hallam’s ingenuity.
Note added to second edition
. – The said Hallam is incensed because he is falsely accused, seeing that he never dineth at Holland House. If this be true, I am sorry – not for having said so, but on his account, as I understand his lordship’s feasts are preferable to his compositions. – If he did not review Lord Holland’s performance, I am glad, because it must have been painful to read, and irksome to praise it. If Mr Hallam will tell me who did review it, the real name shall find a place in the text; provided, nevertheless, the said name be of two orthodox musical syllables, and will come into the verse: till then, Hallam must stand for want of a better.

5.
Pillans is a tutor at Eton.

1
. The Hon. George Lambe reviewed ‘Beresford’s Miseries,’ and is moreover, author of a farce enacted with much applause at the Priory, Stanmore; and damned with great expedition at the late theatre, Covent Garden. It was entitled, ‘Whistle for It.’

2
. Mr Brougham, in No. XXV, of the Edinburgh Review, throughout the article concerning Don Pedro de Cevallos, has displayed more politics than policy; many of the worthy burgesses of Edinburgh being so incensed at the infamous principles it evinces, as to have withdrawn their subscriptions.

3
. I ought to apologise to the worthy deities for introducing a new goddess with short petticoats to their notice: but, alas! what was to be done? I could not say Caledonia’s genius, it being well known there is no such genius to be found from Clackmanan to Caithness; yet, without supernatural agency, how was Jeffrey to be saved? The national ‘kelpies’ are too unpoetical, and the ‘brownies’ and ‘gude neighbours’ (spirits of a good disposition) refused to extricate him. A goddess, therefore, has been called for the purpose; and great ought to be the gratitude of Jeffrey, seeing it is the only communication he ever held, or is likely to hold, with any thing heavenly.

4
. See the colour of the back binding of the Edinburgh Review.

1.
[‘Bad enough, and on mistaken grounds too.’ – B. 1816.]

2.
Lord Holland has translated some specimens of Lope de Vega, inserted in his life of the author. Both are bepraised by his
disinterested
guests. –

3.
Certain it is, her ladyship is suspected of having displayed her matchless wit in the Edinburgh Review. However that may be, we know, from good authority, that the manuscripts are submitted to her perusal – no doubt, for correction.

4.
In the melo-drama of Tekeli, that heroic prince is clapt into a barrel on the stage; a new asylum for distressed heroes.

1
. All these are favourite expressions of Mr Reynolds, and prominent in his comedies, living and defunct.

2
. Mr T. Sheridan, the new manager of Drury Lane theatre, stripped the tragedy of Bonduca of the dialogue, and exhibited the scenes as the spectacle of Caractacus. Was this worthy of his sire? or of himself? –

1
. Mr Greenwood is, we believe, scene-painter to Drury-lane theatre – as such, Mr Skeffington is much indebted to him.

2
. Mr [now Sir Lumley] Skeffington is the illustrious author of the ‘Sleeping Beauty;’ and some comedies, particularly ‘Maids and Bachelors:’ Baccalaurii baculo magis quam lauro digni.

3
. Naldi and Catalani require little notice; for the visage of the one and the salary of the other, will enable us long to recollect these amusing vagabonds. Besides, we are still black and blue from the squeeze on the first night of the lady’s appearance in trousers.

1
. To prevent any blunder, such as mistaking a street for a man, I beg leave to state, that it is the institution, and not the duke of that name, which is here alluded to. A gentleman, with whom I am slightly acquainted, lost in the Argyle Rooms several thousand pounds at backgammon. [‘True. It was Billy Way who lost the money. I knew him, and was a subscriber to the Argyle at the time of the event.’ – B. 1816.] It is but justice to the manager in this instance to say, that some degree of disapprobation was manifested: but why are the implements of gaming allowed in a place devoted to the society of both sexes? A pleasant thing for the wives and daughters of those who are blest or cursed with such connections, to hear the billiard-tables rattling in one room, and the dice in another! That this is the case I myself can testify, as a late unworthy member of an institution which materially affects the morals of the higher orders, while the lower may not even move to the sound of a tabor and fiddle, without a chance of indictment for riotous behaviour.

2
. Petronius ‘Arbiter elegantiarum’ to Nero, ‘and a very pretty fellow in his day,’ as Mr Congreve’s ‘Old Bachelor’ saith of Hannibal.

1
. I knew the late Lord Falkland well. On Sunday night I beheld him presiding at his own table, in all the honest pride of hospitality; on Wednesday morning, at three o’clock, I saw stretched before me all that remained of courage, feeling, and a host of passions. He was a gallant and successful officer: his faults were the faults of a sailor – as such, Britons will forgive them. He died like a brave man in a better cause; for had he fallen in like manner on the deck of the frigate to which he was just appointed, his last moments would have been held up by his countrymen as an example to succeeding heroes.

2
. [‘Yes: and a precious chase they led me.’ – B. 1816.]

3
. [‘
Fool
enough, certainly, then, and no wiser since.’ – B. 1816.]

4.
What would be the sentiments of the Persian Anacreon, Hafiz, could he rise from his splendid sepulchre at Sheeraz, (where he reposes with Ferdousi and Sadi, the oriental Homer and Catullus,) and behold his name assumed by one Stott of Dromore, the most impudent and execrable of literary poachers for the daily prints?

1
. The Earl of Carlisle has lately published an eighteen-penny pamphlet on the state of the stage, and offers his plan for building a new theatre. It is to be hoped his lordship will be permitted to bring forward any thing for the stage – except his own tragedies.

2
. ‘Doff that lion’s hide,And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs.’
Shak. King John
.Lord Carlisle’s works, most resplendently bound, form a conspicuous ornament to his book-shelves: –‘The rest is all but leather and prunella.’

3.
[‘Wrong also – the provocation was not sufficient to justify the acerbity.’ – B. 1816.]

1.
‘Melville’s Mantle,’ a parody on ‘Elijah’s Mantle,’ a poem.