Dyes Her White Veil, Her Ivory Bosom Stains.-- --"Ah Me!" She Cried, And, Sinking On The Ground, Kiss'D Her Dear Babes, Regardless Of The Wound; "Oh, Cease Not Yet To Beat, Thou Vital Urn! "Wait, Gushing Life, Oh, Wait My Love'S Return!-- 295 "Hoarse Barks The Wolf, The Vulture Screams From Far! "The Angel, Pity, Shuns The Walks Of War!---- "Oh, Spare Ye War-Hounds, Spare Their Tender Age!-- "On Me, On Me," She Cried, "Exhaust Your Rage!"-- Then With Weak Arms Her Weeping Babes Caress'D, 300 And Sighing Bid Them In Her Blood-Stain'D Vest. From Tent To Tent The Impatient Warrior Flies, Fear In His Heart, And Frenzy In His Eyes; Eliza'S Name Along The Camp He Calls, Eliza Echoes Through The Canvas Walls; 305 Quick Through The Murmuring Gloom His Footsteps Tread, O'Er Groaning Heaps, The Dying And The Dead, Vault O'Er The Plain, And In The Tangled Wood, Lo! Dead Eliza Weltering In Her Blood!-- --Soon Hears His Listening Son The Welcome Sounds, 310 With Open Arms And Sparkling Eyes He Bounds:-- "Speak Low," He Cries, And Gives His Little Hand, "Eliza Sleeps Upon The Dew-Cold Sand; "Poor Weeping Babe With Bloody Fingers Press'D, "And Tried With Pouting Lips Her Milkless Breast; 315 "Alas! We Both With Cold And Hunger Quake-- "Why Do You Weep?--Mama Will Soon Awake." --"She'll Wake No More!" The Hopeless Mourner Cried Upturn'D His Eyes, And Clasp'D His Hands, And Sigh'D; Stretch'D On The Ground Awhile Entranc'D He Lay, 320 And Press'D Warm Kisses On The Lifeless Clay; And Then Unsprung With Wild Convulsive Start, And All The Father Kindled In His Heart; "Oh, Heavens!" He Cried, "My First Rash Vow Forgive! "These Bind To Earth, For These I Pray To Live!"-- 325 Round His Chill Babes He Wrapp'D His Crimson Vest, And Clasp'D Them Sobbing To His Aching Breast. Two Harlot-Nymphs, The Fair Cuscutas, Please With Labour'D Negligence, And Studied Ease; [Cuscuta. L. 327. Dodder. Four Males, Two Females. This Parasite Plant (The Seed Splitting Without Cotyledons), Protrudes A Spiral Body, And Not Endeavouring To Root Itself In The Earth Ascends The Vegetables In Its Vicinity, Spirally W.S.E. Or Contrary To The Movement Of The Sun; And Absorbs Its Nourishment By Vessels Apparently Inserted Into Its Supporters. It Bears No Leaves, Except Here And There A Scale, Very Small, Membranous, And Close Under The Branch. Lin. Spec. Plant. Edit. A Reichard. Vol. I. P. 352. The Rev. T. Martyn, In His Elegant Letters On Botany, Adds, That, Not Content With Support, Where It Lays Hold, There It Draws Its Nourishment; And At Length, In Gratitude For All This, Strangles Its Entertainer. Let. Xv. A Contest For Air And Light Obtains Throughout The Whole Vegetable World; Shrubs Rise Above Herbs; And, By Precluding The Air And Light From Them, Injure Or Destroy Them; Trees Suffocate Or Incommode Shrubs; The Parasite Climbing Plants, As Ivy, Clematis, Incommode The Taller Trees; And Other Parasites, Which Exist Without Having Roots On The Ground, As Misletoe, Tillandsia, Epidendrum, And The Mosses And Funguses, Incommode Them All. Some Of The Plants With Voluble Stems Ascend Other Plants Spirally East-South-West, As Humulus, Hop, Lonicera, Honey-Suckle, Tamus, Black Bryony, Helxine. Others Turn Their Spiral Stems West-South-East, As Convolvulus, Corn-Bind, Phaseolus, Kidney-Bean, Basella, Cynanche, Euphorbia, Eupatorium. The Proximate Or Final Causes Of This Difference Have Not Been Investigated. Other Plants Are Furnished With Tendrils For The Purpose Of Climbing: If The Tendril Meets With Nothing To Lay Hold Of In Its First Revolution, It Makes Another Revolution; And So On Till It Wraps Itself Quite Up Like A Cork-Screw; Hence, To A Careless Observer, It Appears To Move Gradually Backwards And Forwards, Being Seen Sometimes Pointing Eastward And Sometimes Westward. One Of The Indian Grasses, Panicum Arborescens, Whose Stem Is No Thicker Than A Goose-Quill, Rises As High As The Tallest Trees In This Contest For Light And Air. Spec. Plant A Reichard, Vol. I. P. 161. The Tops Of Many Climbing Plants Are Tender From Their Quick Growth; And, When Deprived Of Their Acrimony By Boiling, Are An Agreeable Article Of Food. The Hop-Tops Are In Common Use. I Have Eaten The Tops Of White Bryony, Bryonia Alba, And Found Them Nearly As Grateful As Asparagus, And Think This Plant Might Be Profitably Cultivated As An Early Garden-Vegetable. The Tamus (Called Black Bryony), Was Less Agreeable To The Taste When Boiled. See Galanthus.] In The Meek Garb Of Modest Worth Disguised, 330 The Eye Averted, And The Smile Chastised, With Sly Approach They Spread Their Dangerous Charms, And Round Their Victim Wind Their Wiry Arms. So By Scamander When Laocoon Stood, Where Troy'S Proud Turrets Glitter'D In The Flood, 335 Raised High His Arm, And With Prophetic Call To Shrinking Realms Announced Her Fatal Fall; Whirl'D His Fierce Spear With More Than Mortal Force, And Pierced The Thick Ribs Of The Echoing Horse; Two Serpent-Forms Incumbent On The Main, 340 Lashing The White Waves With Redundant Train, Arch'D Their Blue Necks, And (Hook Their Towering Crests, And Plough'D Their Foamy Way With Speckled Breasts; Then Darting Fierce Amid The Affrighted Throngs, Roll'D Their Red Eyes, And Shot Their Forked Tongues,-- 345 --Two Daring Youths To Guard The Hoary Fire Thwart Their Dread Progress, And Provoke Their Ire. Round Sire And Sons The Scaly Monsters Roll'D, Ring Above Ring, In Many A Tangled Fold, Close And More Close Their Writhing Limbs Surround, 350 And Fix With Foamy Teeth The Envenom'D Wound. --With Brow Upturn'D To Heaven The Holy Sage In Silent Agony Sustains Their Rage; While Each Fond Youth, In Vain, With Piercing Cries Bends On The Tortured Sire His Dying Eyes. 355 "Drink Deep, Sweet Youths" Seductive Vitis Cries, The Maudlin Tear-Drop Glittering In Her Eyes; Green Leaves And Purple Clusters Crown Her Head, And The Tall Thyrsus Stays Her Tottering Tread. --Five Hapless Swains With Soft Assuasive Smiles 360 The Harlot Meshes In Her Deathful Toils; "Drink Deep," She Carols, As She Waves In Air The Mantling Goblet, "And Forget Your Care."-- O'Er The Dread Feast Malignant Chemia Scowls, And Mingles Poison In The Nectar'D Bowls; 365 Fell Gout Peeps Grinning Through The Flimsy Scene, And Bloated Dropsy Pants Behind Unseen; Wrapp'D In His Robe White Lepra Hides His Stains, And Silent Frenzy Writhing Bites His Chains. [Vitis. 1. 355. Vine. Five Males, One Female. The Juice Of The Ripe Grape Is A Nutritive And Agreeable Food, Consisting Chiefly Of Sugar And Mucilage. The Chemical Process Of Fermentation Converts This Sugar Into Spirit, Converts Food Into Poison! And It Has Thus Become The Curse Of The Christian World, Producing More Than Half Of Our Chronical Diseases; Which Mahomet Observed, And Forbade The Use Of It To His Disciples. The Arabians Invented Distillation; And Thus, By Obtaining The Spirit Of Fermented Liquors In A Less Diluted Slate, Added To Its Destructive Quality. A Theory Of The Diab'Tes And Dropsy, Produced By Drinking Fermented Or Spirituous Liquors, Is Explained In A Treatise On The Inverted Motions Of The Lymphatic System, Published By Dr. Darwin. Cadell.] So When Prometheus Braved The Thunderer'S Ire, 370 Stole From His Blazing Throne Etherial Fire, And, Lantern'D In His Breast, From Realms Of Day Bore The Bright Treasure To His Man Of Clay;-- High On Cold Caucasus By Vulcan Bound, The Lean Impatient Vulture Fluttering Round, 375 His Writhing Limbs In Vain He Twists And Strains To Break Or Loose The Adamantine Chains. The Gluttonous Bird, Exulting In His Pangs, Tears His Swoln Liver With Remorseless Fangs. [Prometheus, L. 369. The Antient Story Of Prometheus, Who Concealed In His Bosom The Fire He Had Stolen, And Afterwards Had A Vulture Perpetually Gnawing His Liver, Affords So Apt An Allegory For The Effects Of Drinking Spirituous Liquors, That One Should Be Induced To Think The Art Of Distillation, As Well As Some Other Chemical Processes (Such As Calcining Gold), Had Been Known In Times Of Great Antiquity, And Lost Again. The Swallowing Drams Cannot Be Better Represented In Hieroglyphic Language Than By Taking Fire Into One'S Bosom; And Certain It Is, That The General Effect Of Drinking Fermented Or Spirituous Liquors Is An Inflamed, Schirrous, Or Paralytic Liver, With Its Various Critical Or Consequential Diseases, As Leprous Eruptions On The Face, Gout, Dropsy, Epilepsy, Insanity. It Is Remarkable, That All The Diseases From Drinking Spirituous Or Fermented Liquors Are Liable To Become Hereditary, Even To The Third Generation; Gradually Increasing, If The Cause Be Continued, Till The Family Becomes Extinct.] The Gentle Cyclamen With Dewy Eye 380 Breathes O'Er Her Lifeless Babe The Parting Sigh; And, Bending Low To Earth, With Pious Hands Inhumes Her Dear Departed In The Sands. "Sweet Nursling! Withering In Thy Tender Hour, "Oh, Sleep," She Cries, "And Rise A Fairer Flower!" 385 --So When The Plague O'Er London'S Gasping Crowds Shook Her Dank Wing, And Steer'D Her Murky Clouds; When O'Er The Friendless Bier No Rites Were Read, No Dirge Slow-Chanted, And No Pall Out-Spread; While Death And Night Piled Up The Naked Throng, 390 And Silence Drove Their Ebon Cars Along; Six Lovely Daughters, And Their Father, Swept To The Throng'D Grave Cleone Saw, And Wept; [Cyclamen. 1. 379. Shew-Bread, Or Sow-Bread. When The Seeds Are Ripe, The Stalk Of The Flower Gradually Twists Itself Spirally Downwards, Till It Touches The Ground, And Forcibly Penetrating The Earth Lodges Its Seeds; Which Are Thought To Receive Nourishment From The Parent Root, As They Are Said Not To Be Made To Grow In Any Other Situation. The Trifolium Subterraneum, Subterraneous Trefoil, Is Another Plant, Which Buries Its Seed, The Globular Head Of The Seed Penetrating The Earth; Which, However, In This Plant May Be Only An Attempt To Conceal Its Seeds From The Ravages Of Birds; For There Is Another Trefoil, The Trifolium Globosum, Or Globular Woolly-Headed Trefoil, Which Has A Curious Manner Of Concealing Its Seeds; The Lower Florets Only Have Corols And Are Fertile; The Upper Ones Wither Into A Kind Of Wool, And, Forming A Bead, Completely Conceal The Fertile Calyxes. Lin. Spec. Plant, A Reichard.] Her Tender Mind, With Meek Religion Fraught, Drank All-Resigned Affliction'S Bitter Draught; 395 Alive And Listening To The Whisper'D Groan Of Others' Woes, Unconscious Of Her Own!-- One Smiling Boy, Her Last Sweet Hope, She Warms Hushed On Her Bosom, Circled In Her Arms,-- Daughter Of Woe! Ere Morn, In Vain Caress'D, 400 Clung The Cold Babe Upon Thy Milkless Breast, With Feeble Cries Thy Last Sad Aid Required, Stretch'D Its Stiff Limbs, And On Thy Lap Expired!-- --Long With Wide Eye-Lids On Her Child She Gazed, And Long To Heaven Their Tearless Orbs She Raised; 405 Then With Quick Foot And Throbbing Heart She Found Where Chartreuse Open'D Deep His Holy Ground; [Where Chartreuse. L. 406. During The Plague In London, 1665, One Pit To Receive The Dead Was Dug In The Charter-House, 40 Feet Long, 16 Feet Wide, And About 20 Feet Deep; And In Two Weeks Received 1114 Bodies. During This Dreadful Calamity There Were Instances Of Mothers Carrying Their Own Children To Those Public Graves, And Of People Delirious, Or In Despair From The Loss Of Their Friends, Who Threw Themselves Alive Into These Pits. Journal Of The Plague-Year In 1665, Printed For E. Nutt, Royal-Exchange.] Bore Her Last Treasure Through The Midnight Gloom, And Kneeling Dropp'D It In The Mighty Tomb; "I Follow Next!" The Frantic Mourner Said, 410 And Living Plunged Amid The Festering Dead. Where Vast Ontario Rolls His Brineless Tides, And Feeds The Trackless Forests On His Sides, Fair Cassia Trembling Hears The Howling Woods, And Trusts Her Tawny Children To The Floods.-- [Rolls His Brineless Tide. L. 411. Some Philosophers Have Believed That The Continent Of America Was Not Raised Out Of The Great Ocean At So Early A Period Of Time As The Other Continents. One Reason For This Opinion Was, Because The Great Lakes, Perhaps Nearly As Large As The Mediterranean Sea, Consist Of Fresh Water. And As The Sea-Salt Seems To Have Its Origin From The Destruction Of Vegetable And Animal Bodies, Washed Down By Rains, And Carried By Rivers Into Lakes Or Seas; It Would Seem That This Source Of Sea-Salt Had Not So Long Existed In That Country. There Is, However, A More Satisfactory Way Of Explaining This Circumstance; Which Is, That The American Lakes Lie Above The Level Of The Ocean, And Are Hence Perpetually Desalited By The Rivers Which Run Through Them; Which Is Not The Case With The Mediterranean, Into Which A Current From The Main Ocean Perpetually Passes.] [Caffia. L. 413. Ten Males, One Female. The Seeds Are Black, The Stamens Gold-Colour. This Is One Of The American Fruits, Which Are Annually Thrown On The Coasts Of Norway; And Are Frequently In So Recent A State As To Vegetate, When Properly Taken Care Of, The Fruit Of The Anacardium, Cashew-Nut; Of Cucurbita Lagenaria, Bottlegourd; Of The Mimosa Scandens, Cocoons; Of The Piscidia Erythrina, Logwood-Tree; And Cocoa-Nuts Are Enumerated By Dr. Tonning. (Am'N. Acad. 149.) Amongst These Emigrant Seeds. The Fact Is Truly Wonderful, And Cannot Be Accounted For But By The Existence Of Under Currents In The Depths Of The Ocean; Or From Vortexes Of Water Passing From One Country To Another Through Caverns Of The Earth. Sir Hans Sloane Has Given An Account Of Four Kinds Of Seeds, Which Are Frequently Thrown By The Sea Upon The Coasts Of The Islands Of The Northern Parts Of Scotland. Phil. Trans. Abridged, Vol. Iii. P. 540. Which Seeds Are Natives Of The West Indies, And Seem To Be Brought Thither By The Gulf-Stream Described Below. One Of These Is Called, By Sir H. Sloane, Phaseolus Maximus Perennis, Which Is Often Also Thrown On The Coast Of Kerry In Ireland; Another Is Called, In Jamaica, Horse-Eye-Bean; And A Third Is Called Niker In Jamaica. He Adds, That The Lenticula Marina, Or Sargosso, Grows On The Rocks About Jamaica, Is Carried By The Winds And Current Towards The Coast Of Florida, And Thence Into The North-American Ocean, Where It Lies Very Thick On The Surface Of The Sea. Thus A Rapid Current Passes From The Gulf Of Florida To The N.E. Along The Coast Of North-America, Known To Seamen By The Name Of The Gulf-Stream. A Chart Of This Was Published By Dr. Francklin In 1768, From The Information Principally Of Capt. Folger. This Was Confirmed By The Ingenious Experiments Of Dr. Blagden, Published In 1781, Who Found That The Water Of The Gulf-Stream Was From Six To Eleven Degrees Warmer Than The Water Of The Sea Through Which It Ran; Which Must Have Been Occasioned By Its Being Brought From A Hotter Climate. He Ascribes The Origin Of This Current To The Power Of The Trade-Winds, Which, Blowing Always In The Same Direction, Carry The Waters Of The Atlantic Ocean To The Westward, Till They Are Stopped By The Opposing Continent On The West Of The Gulf Of Mexico, And Are Thus Accumulated There, And Run Down The Gulf Of Florida. Philos. Trans. V. 71, P. 335. Governor Pownal Has Given An Elegant Map Of This Gulf-Stream, Tracing It From The Gulf Of Florida Northward As Far As Cape Sable In Nova Scotia, And Then Across The Atlantic Ocean To The Coast Of Africa Between The Canary-Islands And Senegal, Increasing In Breadth, As It Runs, Till It Occupies Five Or Six Degrees Of Latitude. The Governor Likewise Ascribes This Current To The Force Of The Trade-Winds Protruding The Waters Westward, Till They Are Opposed By The Continent, And Accumulated In The Gulf Of Mexico. He Very Ingeniously Observes, That A Great Eddy Must Be Produced In The Atlantic Ocean Between This Gulf-Stream And The Westerly Current Protruded By The Tropical Winds, And In This Eddy Are Found The Immense Fields Of Floating Vegetables, Called Saragosa Weeds, And Gulf-Weeds, And Some Light Woods, Which Circulate In These Vast Eddies, Or Are Occasionally Driven Out Of Them By The Winds. Hydraulic And Nautical Observations By Governor Pownal, 1787. Other Currents Are Mentioned By The Governor In This Ingenious Work, As Those In The Indian Sea, Northward Of The Line, Which Are Ascribed To The Influence Of The Monsoons. It Is Probable, That In Process Of Time The Narrow Tract Of Land On The West Of The Gulf Of Mexico May Be Worn Away By This Elevation Of Water Dashing Against It, By Which This Immense Current Would Cease To Exist, And A Wonderful Change Take Place In The Gulf Of Mexico And West Indian Islands, By The Subsiding Of The Sea, Which Might Probably Lay All Those Islands Int One, Or Join Them To The Continent.] 415 Cinctured With Gold While Ten Fond Brothers Stand, And Guard The Beauty On Her Native Land, Soft Breathes The Gale, The Current Gently Moves, And Bears To Norway'S Coasts Her Infant-Loves. --So The Sad Mother At The Noon Of Night 420 From Bloody Memphis Stole Her Silent Flight; Wrapp'D Her Dear Babe Beneath Her Folded Vest, And Clasp'D The Treasure To Her Throbbing Breast, With Soothing Whispers Hushed Its Feeble Cry, Pressed The Soft Kiss, And Breathed The Secret Sigh.-- 425 --With Dauntless Step She Seeks The Winding Shore, Hears Unappall'D The Glimmering Torrents Roar; With Paper-Flags A Floating Cradle Weaves, And Hides The Smiling Boy In Lotus-Leaves; Gives Her White Bosom To His Eager Lips, 430 The Salt Tears Mingling With The Milk He Sips; Waits On The Reed-Crown'D Brink With Pious Guile, And Trusts The Scaly Monsters Of The Nile.-- --Erewhile Majestic From His Lone Abode, Embassador Of Heaven, The Prophet Trod; 435 Wrench'D The Red Scourge From Proud Oppression'S Hands, And Broke, Curst Slavery! Thy Iron Bands. Hark! Heard Ye Not That Piercing Cry, Which Shook The Waves And Rent The Sky!-- E'En Now, E'En Now, On Yonder Western Shores 440 Weeps Pale Despair, And Writhing Anguish Roars: E'En Now In Afric'S Groves With Hideous Yell Fierce Slavery Stalks, And Slips The Dogs Of Hell; From Vale To Vale The Gathering Cries Rebound, And Sable Nations Tremble At The Sound!-- 445 --Ye Bands Of Senators! Whose Suffrage Sways Britannia'S Realms, Whom Either Ind Obeys; Who Right The Injured, And Reward The Brave, Stretch Your Strong Arm, For Ye Have Power To Save! Throned In The Vaulted Heart, His Dread Resort, 450 Inexorable Conscience Holds His Court; With Still Small Voice The Plots Of Guilt Alarms, Bares His Mask'D Brow, His Lifted Hand Disarms; But, Wrapp'D In Night With Terrors All His Own, He Speaks In Thunder, When The Deed Is Done. 455 Hear Him Ye Senates! Hear This Truth Sublime, "He, Who Allows Oppression, Shares The Crime." No Radiant Pearl, Which Crested Fortune Wears, No Gem, That Twinkling Hangs From Beauty'S Ears, Not The Bright Stars, Which Night'S Blue Arch Adorn, 460 Nor Rising Suns That Gild The Vernal Morn, Shine With Such Lustre As The Tear, That Breaks For Other'S Woe Down Virtue'S Manly Cheeks." Here Ceased The Muse, And Dropp'D Her Tuneful Shell, Tumultuous Woes Her Panting Bosom Swell, 465 O'Er Her Flush'D Cheek Her Gauzy Veil She Throws, Folds Her White Arms, And Bends Her Laurel'D Brows; For Human Guilt Awhile The Goddess Sighs, And Human Sorrows Dim Celestial Eyes. Interlude Iii. Bookseller. Poetry Has Been Called A Sister-Art Both To Painting And To Music; I Wish To Know, What Are The Particulars Of Their Relationship? Poet. It Has Been Already Observed, That The Principal Part Of The Language Of Poetry Consists Of Those Words, Which Are Expressive Of The Ideas, Which We Originally Receive By The Organ Of Sight; And In This It Nearly Indeed Resembles Painting; Which Can Express Itself In No Other Way, But By Exciting The Ideas Or Sensations Belonging To The Sense Of Vision. But Besides This Essential Similitude In The Language Of The Poetic Pen And Pencil, These Two Sisters Resemble Each Other, If I May So Say, In Many Of Their Habits And Manners. The Painter, To Produce A Strong Effect, Makes A Few Parts Of His Picture Large, Distinct, And Luminous, And Keeps The Remainder In Shadow, Or Even Beneath Its Natural Size And Colour, To Give Eminence To The Principal Figure. This Is Similar To The Common Manner Of Poetic Composition, Where The Subordinate Characters Are Kept Down, To Elevate And Give Consequence To The Hero Or Heroine Of The Piece. In The South Aile Of The Cathedral Church At Lichfield, There Is An Antient Monument Of A Recumbent Figure; The Head And Neck Of Which Lie On A Roll Of Matting In A Kind Of Niche Or Cavern In The Wall; And About Five Feet Distant Horizontally In Another Opening Or Cavern In The Wall Are Seen The Feet And Ankles, With Some Folds Of Garment, Lying Also On A Matt; And Though The Intermediate Space Is A Solid Stone-Wall, Yet The Imagination Supplies The Deficiency, And The Whole Figure Seems To Exist Before Our Eyes. Does Not This Resemble One Of The Arts Both Of The Painter And The Poet? The Former Often Shows A Muscular Arm Amidst A Group Of Figures, Or An Impassioned Face; And, Hiding The Remainder Of The Body Behind Other Objects, Leaves The Imagination To Compleat It. The Latter, Describing A Single Feature Or Attitude In Picturesque Words, Produces Before The Mind An Image Of The Whole. I Remember Seeing A Print, In Which Was Represented A Shrivelled Hand Stretched Through An Iron Grate, In The Stone Floor Of A Prison-Yard, To Reach At A Mess Of Porrage, Which Affected Me With More Horrid Ideas Of The Distress Of The Prisoner In The Dungeon Below, Than Could Have Been Perhaps Produced By An Exhibition Of The Whole Person. And In The Following Beautiful Scenery From The Midsummer-Night'S Dream, (In Which I Have Taken The Liberty To Alter The Place Of A Comma), The Description Of The Swimming Step And Prominent Belly Bring The Whole Figure Before Our Eyes With The Distinctness Of Reality. When We Have Laugh'D To See The Sails Conceive, And Grow Big-Bellied With The Wanton Wind; Which She With Pretty And With Swimming Gate, Following Her Womb, (Then Rich With My Young Squire), Would Imitate, And Sail Upon The Land. There Is A Third Sister-Feature, Which Belongs Both To The Pictorial And Poetic Art; And That Is The Making Sentiments And Passions Visible, As It Were, To The Spectator; This Is Done In Both Arts By Describing Or Portraying The Effects Or Changes Which Those Sentiments Or Passions Produce Upon The Body. At The End Of The Unaltered Play Of Lear, There Is A Beautiful Example Of Poetic Painting; The Old King Is Introduced As Dying From Grief For The Loss Of Cordelia; At This Crisis, Shakespear, Conceiving The Robe Of The King To Be Held Together By A Clasp, Represents Him As Only Saying To An Attendant Courtier In A Faint Voice, "Pray, Sir, Undo This Button,--Thank You, Sir," And Dies. Thus By The Art Of The Poet, The Oppression At The Bosom Of The Dying King Is Made Visible, Not Described In Words. B. What Are The Features, In Which These Sister-Arts Do Not Resemble Each Other? P. The Ingenious Bishop Berkeley, In His Treatise On Vision, A Work Of Great Ability, Has Evinced, That The Colours, Which We See, Are Only A Language Suggesting To Our Minds The Ideas Of Solidity And Extension, Which We Had Before Received By The Sense Of Touch. Thus When We View The Trunk Of A Tree, Our Eye Can Only Acquaint Us With The Colours Or Shades; And From The Previous Experience Of The Sense Of Touch, These Suggest To Us The Cylindrical Form, With The Prominent Or Depressed Wrinkles On It. From Hence It Appears, That There Is The Strictest Analogy Between Colours And Sounds; As They Are Both But Languages, Which Do Not Represent Their Correspondent Ideas, But Only Suggest Them To The Mind From The Habits Or Associations Of Previous Experience. It Is Therefore Reasonable To Conclude, That The More Artificial Arrangements Of These Two Languages By The Poet And The Painter Bear A Similar Analogy. But In One Circumstance The Pen And The Pencil Differ Widely From Each Other, And That Is The Quantity Of Time Which They Can Include In Their Respective Representations. The Former Can Unravel A Long Series Of Events, Which May Constitute The History Of Days Or Years; While The Latter Can Exhibit Only The Actions Of A Moment. The Poet Is Happier In Describing Successive Scenes; The Painter In Representing Stationary Ones: Both Have Their Advantages. Where The Passions Are Introduced, As The Poet, On One Hand, Has The Power Gradually To Prepare The Mind Of His Reader By Previous Climacteric Circumstances; The Painter, On The Other Hand, Can Throw Stronger Illumination And Distinctness On The Principal Moment Or Catastrophe Of The Action; Besides The Advantage He Has In Using An Universal Language, Which Can Be Read In An Instant Of Time. Thus Where A Great Number Of Figures Are All Seen Together, Supporting Or Contrasting Each Other, And Contributing To Explain Or Aggrandize The Principal Effect, We View A Picture With Agreeable Surprize, And Contemplate It With Unceasing Admiration. In The Representation Of The Sacrifice Of Jephtha'S Daughter, A Print Done From A Painting Of Ant. Coypel, At One Glance Of The Eye We Read All The Interesting Passages Of The Last Act Of A Well-Written Tragedy; So Much Poetry Is There Condensed Into A Moment Of Time. B. Will You Now Oblige Me With An Account Of The Relationship Between Poetry, And Her Other Sister, Music? P. In The Poetry Of Our Language I Don'T Think We Are To Look For Any Thing Analogous To The Notes Of The Gamut; For, Except Perhaps In A Few Exclamations Or Interrogations, We Are At Liberty To Raise Or Sink Our Voice An Octave Or Two At Pleasure, Without Altering The Sense Of The Words. Hence, If Either Poetry Or Prose Be Read In Melodious Tones Of Voice, As Is Done In Recitativo, Or In Chaunting, It Must Depend On The Speaker, Not On The Writer: For Though Words May Be Selected Which Are Less Harsh Than Others, That Is, Which Have Fewer Sudden Stops Or Abrupt Consonants Amongst The Vowels, Or With Fewer Sibilant Letters, Yet This Does Not Constitute Melody, Which Consists Of Agreeable Successions Of Notes Referrable To The Gamut; Or Harmony, Which Consists Of Agreeable Combinations Of Them. If The Chinese Language Has Many Words Of Similar Articulation, Which Yet Signify Different Ideas, When Spoken In A Higher Or Lower Musical Note, As Some Travellers Affirm, It Must Be Capable Of Much Finer Effect, In Respect To The Audible Part Of Poetry, Than Any Language We Are Acquainted With. There Is However Another Affinity, In Which Poetry And Music More Nearly Resemble Each Other Than Has Generally Been Understood, And That Is In Their Measure Or Time. There Are But Two Kinds Of Time Acknowledged In Modern Music, Which Are Called Triple Time, And Common Time. The Former Of These Is Divided By Bars, Each Bar Containing Three Crotchets, Or A Proportional Number Of Their Subdivisions Into Quavers And Semiquavers. This Kind Of Time Is Analogous To The Measure Of Our Heroic Or Iambic Verse. Thus The Two Following Couplets Are Each Of Them Divided Into Five Bars Of Triple Time, Each Bar Consisting Of Two Crotchets And Two Quavers; Nor Can They Be Divided Into Bars Analogous To Common Time Without The Bars Interfering With Some Of The Crotchets, So As To Divide Them. 3 Soft-Warbling Beaks ' In Each Bright Blos ' Som Move, 4 And Vo ' Cal Rosebuds Thrill ' The Enchanted Grove, ' In These Lines There Is A Quaver And A Crochet Alternately In Every Bar, Except In The Last, In Which The In Make Two Semiquavers; The E Is Supposed By Grammarians To Be Cut Off, Which Any One'S Ear Will Readily Determine Not To Be True. 3 Life Buds Or Breathes ' From Indus To ' The Poles, 4 And The ' Vast Surface Kind ' Les, As It Rolls. ' In These Lines There Is A Quaver And A Crotchet Alternately In The First Bar; A Quaver, Two Crotchets, And A Quaver, Make The Second Bar. In The Third Bar There Is A Quaver, A Crotchet, And A Rest After The Crotchet, That Is, After The Word Poles, And Two Quavers Begin The Next Line. The Fourth Bar Consists Of Quavers And Crotchets Alternately. In The Last Bar There Is A Quaver, And A Rest After It, Viz. After The Word Kindles; And Then Two Quavers And A Crotchet. You Will Clearly Perceive The Truth Of This, If You Prick The Musical Characters Above Mentioned Under The Verses. The Common Time Of Musicians Is Divided Into Bars, Each Of Which Contains Four Crotchets, Or A Proportional Number Of Their Subdivision Into Quavers And Semiquavers. This Kind Of Musical Time Is Analogous To The Dactyle Verses Of Our Language, The Most Popular Instances Of Which Are In Mr. Anstie'S Bath-Guide. In This Kind Of Verse The Bar Does Not Begin Till After The First Or Second Syllable; And Where The Verse Is Quite Complete, And Written By A Good Ear, These First Syllables Added To The Last Complete The Bar, Exactly In This Also Corresponding With Many Pieces Of Music; 2 Yet ' If One May Guess By The ' Size Of His Calf, Sir, 4 He ' Weighs About Twenty-Three ' Stone And A Half, Sir. 2 Master ' Mamozet'S Head Was Not ' Finished So Soon, 4 For It ' Took Up The Barber A ' Whole Afternoon. In These Lines Each Bar Consists Of A Crotchet, Two Quavers, Another Crotchet, And Two More Quavers: Which Are Equal To Four Crotchets, And, Like Many Bars Of Common Time In Music, May Be Subdivided Into Two In Beating Time Without Disturbing The Measure. The Following Verses From Shenftone Belong Likewise To Common Time: 2/4 A | River Or A Sea | Was To Him A Dish | Of Tea, And A King | Dom Bread And Butter. The First And Second Bars Consist Each Of A Crotchet, A Quaver, A Crotchet, A Quaver, A Crotchet. The Third Bar Consists Of A Quaver, Two Crotchets, A Quaver, A Crotchet. The Last Bar Is Not Complete Without Adding The Letter A, Which Begins The First Line, And Then It Consists Of A Quaver, A Crotchet, A Quaver, A Crotchet, Two Quavers. It Must Be Observed, That The Crotchets In Triple Time Are In General Played By Musicians Slower Than Those Of Common Time, And Hence Minuets Are Generally Pricked In Triple Time, And Country Dances Generally In Common Time. So The Verses Above Related, Which Are Analogous To Triple Time, Are Generally Read Slower Than Those Analogous To Common Time; And Are Thence Generally Used For Graver Compositions. I Suppose All The Different Kinds Of Verses To Be Found In Our Odes, Which Have Any Measure At All, Might Be Arranged Under One Or Other Of These Two Musical Times; Allowing A Note Or Two Sometimes To Precede The Commencement Of The Bar, And Occasional Rests, As In Musical Compositions: If This Was Attended To By Those Who Set Poetry To Music, It Is Probable The Sound And Sense Would Oftener Coincide. Whether These Musical Times Can Be Applied To The Lyric And Heroic Verses Of The Greek And Latin Poets, I Do Not Pretend To Determine; Certain It Is, That The Dactyle Verse Of Our Language, When It Is Ended With A Double Rhime, Much Resembles The Measure Of Homer And Virgil, Except In The Length Of The Lines. B. Then There Is No Relationship Between The Other Two Of These Sister-, Painting And Music? P. There Is At Least A Mathematical Relationship, Or Perhaps I Ought Rather To Have Said A Metaphysical Relationship Between Them. Sir Isaac Newton Has Observed, That The Breadths Of The Seven Primary Colours In The Sun'S Image Refracted By A Prism Are Proportional To The Seven Musical Notes Of The Gamut, Or To The Intervals Of The Eight Sounds Contained In An Octave, That Is, Proportional To The Following Numbers: Sol. La. Fa. Sol. La. Mi. Fa. Sol. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet, 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 16 10 9 16 16 9 Newton'S Optics, Book I. Part 2. Prop. 3 And 6. Dr. Smith, In His Harmonics, Has An Explanatory Note Upon This Happy Discovery, As He Terms It, Of Newton. Sect. 4. Art. 7. From This Curious Coincidence, It Has Been Proposed To Produce A Luminous Music, Confiding Of Successions Or Combinations Of Colours, Analogous To A Tune In Respect To The Proportions Above Mentioned. This Might Be Performed By A Strong Light, Made By Means Of Mr. Argand'S Lamps, Passing Through Coloured Glasses, And Falling On A Defined Part Of A Wall, With Moveable Blinds Before Them, Which Might Communicate With The Keys Of A Harpsichord; And Thus Produce At The Same Time Visible And Audible Music In Unison With Each Other. The Execution Of This Idea Is Said By Mr. Guyot To Have Been Attempted By Father Cassel Without Much Success. If This Should Be Again Attempted, There Is Another Curious Coincidence Between Sounds And Colours, Discovered By Dr. Darwin Of Shrewsbury, And Explained In A Paper On What He Calls Ocular Spectra, In The Philosophical Transactions, Vol. Lxxvi. Which Might Much Facilitate The Execution Of It. In This Treatise The Doctor Has Demonstrated, That We See Certain Colours, Not Only With Greater Ease And Distinctness, But With Relief An