STUDIES IN ENGLISH POETRY. PART I. Miscellaneous Poems and Extracts. PRAYER FOR DIVINE AID. AUTHOR of Good! to thee I turn: Oh let thy fear within me dwell, And oh! by Error's force subdued, Not to my wish, but to my want, Do thou thy gifts apply; Unasked, what good thou knowest, grant; What ill, though asked, deny. Merrick. (1) Thy love, &c.-let my love towards thee (not thy love towards me) guide my ootsteps, i. e. influence my actions. (2) The line in Racine's "Athalie " in which Joad says, " Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte," has been deservedly admired, but the above expression conveys the same sentiment with at least equal force. (3) And oh! &c.-i. e. and oh! since my stubborn will, subdued by the force o error, often preposterously shuns, &c. (4) Specious-from the Latin species, an appearance; hence specious ill is evil which has the appearance of good. B BOADICEA. WHEN the British warrior queen, Sage, beneath the spreading oak, "Princess! if our aged eyes Weep upon thy matchless wrongs, "Rome shall perish-write that word "Rome, for empire far renowned, "Other Romans shall arise, Heedless of a soldier's name; (1) This passage is somewhat obscure. The Druid's "burning words" which follow seem inconsistent with the assertion that the "terrors of his tongue" were "tied" or restrained. The meaning may perhaps be thus represented :-Princess, you find us weeping over your wrongs in private, instead of denouncing the perpetrators in public, blame us not, for our silence hitherto has arisen from the very intensity of our indignation.-Your personal appeal, however, demands that we should now give utterance to it :-Rome shall perish, &c.-This interpretation is based on the conjecture that "ties" is used for "has hitherto tied." Another explanation may be found in the Appendix, Note A. (2) In the blood-that is, with the blood, as we say, to write in ink. (3) Gaul-It does not appear that the Gauls were among the nations that swept over the Roman empire in the fifth century.-Perhaps "Goth" should be real for "Gaul." Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize; "Then the progeny that springs "Regions Cæsar never knew Such the bard's prophetic words, She, with all a monarch's pride, "Ruffians! pitiless as proud, Heaven awards the vengeance due; Empire is on us bestowed, Shame and ruin wait for you." Cowper. THE STARTLED STAG. THE stag at eve had drunk his fill, Where danced the moon on Monan's5 rill, (1) In allusion to the love of the Italians for music. As a striking indication of the change in character above referred to, it may be mentioned that the word virtus, which among the ancient Romans meant "active courage," is used by the modern Romans in the softened form of virtù, to signify "a taste for the fine arts." (2) Progeny, &c.-the ships of England. (3) They-the British, not the Romans. (4) According to Tacitus, Boadicea poisoned herself. (5) Monan-a spring in the district of Menteith, Perthshire, Scotland. |