Chapter 57

237. SeeLouvet’sRécit de mes Périls.

238. This philosophic coxcomb is the idol of those who admire the French Revolutionup to a certain point.

239. This little anecdote is not generally known.—It is strikingly pathetic.—Garathas recorded this circumstance in a very eloquent sentence—“O toi, qui arrêtas la main avec laquelle tu traçais le progrès de l’esprit humain, pour porter sur tes lèvres le breuvage mortel, d’autres pensées et d’autres sentimens out incliné ta volonté vers le tombeau, dans ta dernière délibération.—(Garat, it seems, did not choose to poisonhimself.)—Tu as rendu à la liberté éternelle ton âme Républicaine par ce poison qui avait été partagé entre nous comme le pain entre des frères.”“Oh you, who stayed the hand with which you were tracing the progress of the human mind, to carry the mortal mixture to your lips—it was by other thoughts and other sentiments that your judgment was at length determined in that last deliberated act. You restored your republican spirit to an eternal freedom, by that poison which we had shared together, like a morsel of bread between two brothers.”

“Oh you, who stayed the hand with which you were tracing the progress of the human mind, to carry the mortal mixture to your lips—it was by other thoughts and other sentiments that your judgment was at length determined in that last deliberated act. You restored your republican spirit to an eternal freedom, by that poison which we had shared together, like a morsel of bread between two brothers.”

240.Isosceles—An equi-crural triangle—It is represented as aGiant, because Mr.Higginssays he has observed that procerity is much promoted by the equal length of the legs, more especially when they are long legs.

241.Mathesis—The doctrine of mathematics—Pope calls hermad Mathesis.—VideJohnson’s Dictionary.

242.Hallucinating—The disorder with which Mathesis is affected is a disease ofincreased volition, callederotomania, orsentimental love. It is the fourth species of the second genus of the first order and third class; in consequence of which, Mr. Hackman shot Miss Reay in the lobby of the playhouse.—VideZoonomia, vol. ii., pp. 363, 365.

243.Galvanic fires—Dr. Galvani is a celebrated philosopher at Turin. He has proved that the electric fluid is the proximate cause of nervous sensibility; and Mr.Higginsis of opinion that by means of this discovery, the sphere of our disagreeable sensations may be, in future, considerably enlarged. “Since dead frogs (says he) are awakened by this fluid to such a degree of posthumous sensibility as to jump out of the glass in which they are placed, why not men, who are sometimes so much more sensible when alive? And if so, why not employ this new stimulus to deter mankind from dying (which they so pertinaciously continue to do) of various old-fashioned diseases, notwithstanding all the brilliant discoveries of modern philosophy, and the example of Count Cagliostro?”

244.Internal Angles,&c.—This is an exact versification of Euclid’s fifth theorem.—VideEuclid in loco.

245.Asses-Bridge—Pons Asinorum—The name usually given to the before-mentioned theorem—though, as Mr. Higgins thinks, absurdly. He says, that having frequently watched companies of asses during their passage of a bridge, he never discovered in them any symptoms of geometrical instinct upon the occasion. But he thinks that with Spanish asses, which are much larger (videTownsend’s Travels through Spain), the case may possibly be different.

246.Fare—A person, or a number of persons, conveyed in a hired vehicle by land or water.

247.Badged boatman—Boatmen sometimes wear abadge, to distinguish them, especially those who belong to the Watermen’s Company.

248.Alp, orAlps—A ridge of mountains which separate the North of Italy from the South of Germany. They are evidently primeval and volcanic, consisting of granite, toadstone, and basalt, and several other substances, containing animal and vegetable recrements, and affording numberless undoubted proofs of the infinite antiquity of the earth, and of the consequent falsehood of the Mosaic chronology.

249.Turn the stiff screw, &c.—The harmony and imagery of these lines are imperfectly imitated from the following exquisite passage in theEconomy of Vegetation:“Gnomes, as you now dissect, with hammers fine,The granite rock, the noduled flint calcine;Grind with strong arm the circling Chertz betwixt,Your pure Ka—o—lins and Pe—tunt—ses mixt.”Cantoii. line 297.

249.Turn the stiff screw, &c.—The harmony and imagery of these lines are imperfectly imitated from the following exquisite passage in theEconomy of Vegetation:

“Gnomes, as you now dissect, with hammers fine,The granite rock, the noduled flint calcine;Grind with strong arm the circling Chertz betwixt,Your pure Ka—o—lins and Pe—tunt—ses mixt.”

“Gnomes, as you now dissect, with hammers fine,

The granite rock, the noduled flint calcine;

Grind with strong arm the circling Chertz betwixt,

Your pure Ka—o—lins and Pe—tunt—ses mixt.”

Cantoii. line 297.

250. [The windmill, &c.—This line affords a striking instance of the sound conveying an echo to the sense. I would defy the most unfeeling reader to repeat it over without accompanying it by some corresponding gesture imitative of the action described.—Editor.]

251.Sweet Enthusiast, &c.—A term usually applied in allegoric or technical poetry to any person or object to which no other qualifications can be assigned.—Chambers’s Dictionary.

252. [Anne Plumptre, who made herself known as one of the first introducers of German plays, said: “People are talking about an Invasion. I am not afraid of an Invasion; I believe the country would be all the happier ifBuonapartewere to effect a landing and overturn the Government. He would destroy the Church and the Aristocracy, and his government would be better than the one we have”. Crabb Robinson’sDiary(1810), i. 298.—Ed.]

253.The smiling infant—Infancy is particularly interested in the diffusion of the new principles. See the “Bloody Buoy”. See also the following description and prediction:“Here Time’s huge fingers grasp his giant mace,And dash proud Superstition from her base;Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, &c.· · · · ·While each light moment, as it passes by,With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye,Feeds from its baby-hand with many a kissThe callow-nestlings of domestic bliss.”—Botanic Garden.

253.The smiling infant—Infancy is particularly interested in the diffusion of the new principles. See the “Bloody Buoy”. See also the following description and prediction:

“Here Time’s huge fingers grasp his giant mace,And dash proud Superstition from her base;Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, &c.· · · · ·While each light moment, as it passes by,With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye,Feeds from its baby-hand with many a kissThe callow-nestlings of domestic bliss.”—Botanic Garden.

“Here Time’s huge fingers grasp his giant mace,And dash proud Superstition from her base;Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, &c.

“Here Time’s huge fingers grasp his giant mace,

And dash proud Superstition from her base;

Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, &c.

· · · · ·

While each light moment, as it passes by,With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye,Feeds from its baby-hand with many a kissThe callow-nestlings of domestic bliss.”—Botanic Garden.

While each light moment, as it passes by,

With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye,

Feeds from its baby-hand with many a kiss

The callow-nestlings of domestic bliss.”—Botanic Garden.

254.The monster’s back—Le Monstre Pitt, l’ennemi du genre humain.See Debates of the legislators of the Great Nation, passim.

255.Atque illud prono præceps agitur decursus.—Catullus.

256.Stone.—Better known by the name ofWilliams.

257. We decline printing this rhyme at length, from obvious reasons of delicacy; at the same time that it is so accurate a translation ofpictis puppibus, that we know not how to suppress it, without doing the utmost injustice to the general spirit of the poem.

258. [Jean Bon St. André, deputy to the Convention for the Department of Lot, during the reign of Terror, rivalled Marat and Robespierre in cruelty. Having been appointed to remodel the Republican Navy, he was present at the action of June 1, 1794, in which he shewed excessive cowardice. He was afterwards Consul at Smyrna, where he was arrested by the Turks, but released on the peace. Napoleon subsequently commissioned him to organise the four departments of the Rhine, in which he succeeded. He was created a Baron, a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and Prefect of Maure. He died in 1813 of a contagious malady caught while performing charitable offices for the sick!—Ed.]

259. Henry VI. crowned at Paris.

260. The Black Prince.

261. The Spanish Armada.

262. Oliver Cromwell.

263. Louis XIV.

264. William III.

265. Blenheim, Ramilies, &c., &c.

266. American War.

267. Lord Heathfield.

268. [Parodied from Pope’s Prologue toCato.—Ed.]

269. SeeThe Robbers, a German tragedy [bySchiller], in which robbery is put in so fascinating a light, that the whole of a German University went upon the highway in consequence of it.

270. SeeCabal and Love, a German tragedy [bySchiller], very severe against prime ministers and reigning Dukes of Brunswick. This admirable performance very judiciously reprobates the hire of German troops for theAmericanwar in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a practice which would undoubtedly have been highly discreditable to that wise and patriotic princess, not to say wholly unnecessary—there being no American war at that particular time.

271. SeeThe Stranger; or, Reformed Housekeeper, in which the former of these morals is beautifully illustrated; andStella, a genteel German comedy [byGoethe], which ends with placing a manbodkinbetweentwo wives, likeThamesbetween histwo banksinThe Critic. Nothing can be more edifying than these two dramas. I am shocked to hear that there are some people who think them ridiculous.

272. These are the warnings very properly given to readers, to beware how they judge of what they cannot understand. Thus if the translation runs, “lightning of my soul, fulgation of angels, sulphur of hell,” we should recollect that this is not coarse or strange in the German language when applied by a lover to his mistress; but the English has nothing precisely parallel to the originalMulychause Archangelichen, which means ratheremanation of the archangelic nature—or toSmellmynkern Vankelfer, which, if literally rendered, would signifymade of stuff of the same odour whereof the devil makes flambeaux. See Schüttenbrüch on the German idiom.

273. A manifest error, since it appears from the Waiter’s conversation (p.211) that Rogero was not doomed to starve on water-gruel, but on pease-soup, which is a much better thing. Possibly the length of Rogero’s imprisonment had impaired his memory; or he might wish to make things appear worse than they really were; which is very natural, I think, in such a case as this poor unfortunate gentleman’s.—Printer’s Devil.

274. VideThe Stranger.

275.Lovers’ Vows.

276. This is an excellent joke in German; the point and spirit of which is but ill-Renderedin a translation. ANoddy, the reader will observe, has two significations, the one aknave at All-fours, the other afoolorbooby. See the translation by Mr. Render ofCount Benyowsky, or the Conspiracy of Kamschatka, a German Tragi-Comi-Comi-Tragedy, where the play opens with a scene of a game at chess (from which the whole of this scene is copied), and a joke of the same point, and merriment about pawns,i.e., boors being amatchfor kings.

277. This word in the original is strictlyfellow-lodgers—“Co-occupants of the same room, in a house let out at a small rent by the week”. There is no single word in English which expresses so complicated a relation, except perhaps the cant term ofchum, formerly in use in our Universities.

278. [The above song is a parody on that pathetic one—given below—written by Sheridan, and introduced into Kotzebue’s drama ofThe Stranger, to be overheard by the latter. It was sung by Mrs. Bland—as Annetta—to a melody by the Duchess of Devonshire, in a manner, it is said, that thrilled every heart.“I have a silent sorrow here,A grief I’ll ne’er impart;It breathes no sigh, it sheds no tear,But it consumes my heart.This cherish’d woe, this lov’d despair,My lot for ever be;So my soul’s lord, the pangs I bearBe never known by thee!“And when pale characters of deathShall mark this alter’d cheek;When my poor wasted trembling breathMy life’s last hope would speak;I shall not raise my eyes to heaven,Nor mercy ask for me,My soul despairs to be forgiv’n,Unpardon’d, love, by thee!”—Ed.]

“I have a silent sorrow here,A grief I’ll ne’er impart;It breathes no sigh, it sheds no tear,But it consumes my heart.This cherish’d woe, this lov’d despair,My lot for ever be;So my soul’s lord, the pangs I bearBe never known by thee!“And when pale characters of deathShall mark this alter’d cheek;When my poor wasted trembling breathMy life’s last hope would speak;I shall not raise my eyes to heaven,Nor mercy ask for me,My soul despairs to be forgiv’n,Unpardon’d, love, by thee!”—Ed.]

“I have a silent sorrow here,

A grief I’ll ne’er impart;

It breathes no sigh, it sheds no tear,

But it consumes my heart.

This cherish’d woe, this lov’d despair,

My lot for ever be;

So my soul’s lord, the pangs I bear

Be never known by thee!

“And when pale characters of deathShall mark this alter’d cheek;When my poor wasted trembling breathMy life’s last hope would speak;I shall not raise my eyes to heaven,Nor mercy ask for me,My soul despairs to be forgiv’n,Unpardon’d, love, by thee!”—Ed.]

“And when pale characters of death

Shall mark this alter’d cheek;

When my poor wasted trembling breath

My life’s last hope would speak;

I shall not raise my eyes to heaven,

Nor mercy ask for me,

My soul despairs to be forgiv’n,

Unpardon’d, love, by thee!”—Ed.]

279. SeeCount Benyowsky; where Crustiew, an old gentleman of much sagacity, talks the following nonsense:Crustiew [with youthful energy, and an air of secrecy and confidence]. “To fly, to fly, to the isles of Marian—the island of Tinian—a terrestrial paradise. Free—free—a mild climate—a new-created sun—wholesome fruits—harmless inhabitants—and liberty—tranquillity.”

279. SeeCount Benyowsky; where Crustiew, an old gentleman of much sagacity, talks the following nonsense:

Crustiew [with youthful energy, and an air of secrecy and confidence]. “To fly, to fly, to the isles of Marian—the island of Tinian—a terrestrial paradise. Free—free—a mild climate—a new-created sun—wholesome fruits—harmless inhabitants—and liberty—tranquillity.”

280. SeeCount Benyowsky, as before.

281. SeeCount Benyowsky.

282. SeeCount Benyowskyagain; from which play this and the preceding references are taken word for word. We acquit the Germans of such reprobate silly stuff. It must be the translator’s.

283. We believe this song to be copied, with a small variation in metre and meaning, from a song inCount Benyowsky; or, the Conspiracy of Kamschatka, where the conspirators join in a chorus,for fear of being overheard.

AD SIRMIONEM PENINSULAM.[284]Peninsularum Sirmio, Insularumque,Ocelle! quascunque in liquentibus stagnis,Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus;[285]Quam te libenter, quamque lætus inviso,Vix mi ipse credens Thyniam, atque BithynosLiquisse campos,[286]et videre te in tuto.[287]O quid solutis est beatius curisCum mens onus reponit, ac peregrinoLabore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum.[288]Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto?Hoc est, quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.[289]Salve! O venusta Sirmio! atque hero gaude;Gaudete! vosque Lydiæ lacus undæ;Ridete[290]quicquid est domi cachinnorum!

AD SIRMIONEM PENINSULAM.

[284]Peninsularum Sirmio, Insularumque,Ocelle! quascunque in liquentibus stagnis,Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus;[285]Quam te libenter, quamque lætus inviso,Vix mi ipse credens Thyniam, atque BithynosLiquisse campos,[286]et videre te in tuto.[287]O quid solutis est beatius curisCum mens onus reponit, ac peregrinoLabore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum.[288]Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto?Hoc est, quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.[289]Salve! O venusta Sirmio! atque hero gaude;Gaudete! vosque Lydiæ lacus undæ;Ridete[290]quicquid est domi cachinnorum!

[284]Peninsularum Sirmio, Insularumque,

Ocelle! quascunque in liquentibus stagnis,

Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus;

[285]Quam te libenter, quamque lætus inviso,

Vix mi ipse credens Thyniam, atque Bithynos

Liquisse campos,[286]et videre te in tuto.

[287]O quid solutis est beatius curis

Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino

Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum.

[288]Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto?

Hoc est, quod unum est pro laboribus tantis.

[289]Salve! O venusta Sirmio! atque hero gaude;

Gaudete! vosque Lydiæ lacus undæ;

Ridete[290]quicquid est domi cachinnorum!

291. [The followingLetterprobably alludes to theAssociation for promoting the Discovery of the interior parts of Africa, of which Sir John Sinclair was the presiding genius. “The result of their labours,” says Hugh Murray, in his Account of African Discoveries, “has thrown new lustre on the British name, and widely extended the boundaries of human knowledge.”—Ed.]

292. [Buonaparte’s Bulletin.—Ed.]

293. [Sir John Sinclair, the celebrated author of theHistory of the Public Revenue, the Statistical Account of Scotland, and many useful agricultural and other works.—Ed.]

294. [Dr. Parr’s noted Latin Preface to his edition ofBellendenus de Statu. T. De Quincey, in his famous dissection of Dr. Parr and his writings, beseeches the “gentle reader” of Bellendenus to pronounce the penultimate syllableshort, andnot long, as is usually done.—Ed.]

295. [I.e., fromBob Adair,a dull fool, toNicholl[Nicholls],a wretched goose.—Ed.]

296. [Sir Geo. Aug. Wm. Shuckburgh, M.P., F.R.S., author of papers in the Phil. Trans.—Ed.]

297. [Sir John Sinclair.—Ed.]

298. [The following are Dr. Darwin’s instructions for thetransportation of Ice Islands:—“There, Nymphs! alight, array your dazzling powers,With sudden march alarm the torpid hours;On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails,Hinge the strong helms, and catch the frozen gales.The winged rocks to feverish climates guide,Where fainting zephyrs pant upon the tide;Pass, where to Ceuta Calpé’s thunder roars,And answering echoes shake the kindred shores;Pass, where with palmy plumes, Canary smiles,And in her silver girdle binds her isles;Onward, where Niger’s dusky Naiad lavesA thousand kingdoms with prolific waves,Or leads o’er golden sands her threefold trainIn steamy channels to the fervid main;While swarthy nations crowd the sultry coast,Drink the fresh breeze, and hail the floating frost:Nymphs! veil’d in mist, the melting treasure steer,And cool with arctic snows the tropic year.”“If the nations who inhabit this hemisphere of the globe, instead of destroying their seamen and exhausting their wealth in unnecessary wars, could be induced to unite their labours to navigate these immense masses of ice into the more southern oceans, two great advantages would result to mankind, the tropic countries would be much cooled by their solution, and our winters in this altitude would be rendered much milder, for perhaps a century or two, till the masses of ice became again enormous.”—Ed.][Dr. Thomas Beddoes, born at Shiffnal in 1760, was a scientific Physician far in advance of his age; hisPopular Essay on Consumption, 1779, his tracts entitledHygeia, 1801, &c., may still be studied with profit. He paid particular attention to the medical use of the permanently Elastic Fluids, and avows that as “one rash experiment on a patient would demolish a plan on which the hope of relieving mankind from much of their misery is founded,” he made preliminary experiments on himself in the case ofOxygeneandConsumption, as alluded to in the text,À proposof the artificial distribution of disease, it may be mentioned that inThe Batchelor, p. 189, is a method for “discharging the Plague”.He wrote much on the political topics of the day, always taking the liberal side, and attackingPittwith great virulence and eloquence. The principles of the French Revolution were at first advocated by him with the utmost enthusiasm, but he was soon disgusted by the excesses committed. He was a student of German literature, and much admired by Immanuel Kant. He was also an intimate friend of Darwin’s, whose political opinions he shared, and whose works were intrusted to his revision in manuscript. A few months after the publication of Darwin’sBotanic Garden, its magnificent imagery and harmonious versification inspired some admirers to say that the style of this work was a stylesui generis, and that it defied imitation. Dr. Beddoes maintained an opposite opinion. Much as he admired the poem in question, he thought that the Darwinian structure of verse might be imitated by a writer possessed of inferior poetical powers, and in a few days he produced in the same circle part of the manuscript ofAlexander’s Expedition to the Indian Oceanas an unpublished work of the author of theBotanic Garden. The deception completely succeeded, and some enthusiastic admirers of the latter work pointed out with triumph “certain passages as proofs of the position that the author in his happier efforts defied imitation”. Beddoes’s success was the more extraordinary, as in the “Introduction” to a considerable extract from his poem which he printed in theAnnual Anthologyfor 1796, he states that he had never before written twice as many lines of verse as the composition under notice consisted of.AsBeddoes’simitation ofDarwinis seldom met with, it may not be out of character in a work of the present nature to give a specimen of it.AN IMITATION OF DARWIN.“Now the new Lord of Persia’s wide domain,Down fierce Hydaspes seeks the Indian main;High on the leading prow the Conqueror stands,Eyes purer skies and marks diverging strands.A thousand sails attendant catch the wind,And yet a thousand press the wave behind;Two veteran hosts, outstretched on either hand,Wide wave their wings and sweep the trembling land.Each serried phalanx Terror stalks beside,And shakes o’er crested helms his blazing pride;While Victory, still companion of his way,Sounds her loud trump and flaunts her banners gay.”Further on, the Hero’s attention is attracted to the surrounding landscape, which he thus apostrophizes:—“Ye fields for ever fair! Thou mighty stream!Bright regions! blessed beyond the muse’s dream!Thou fruitful womb of ever-teeming earth!Ye fostering skies that rear each beauteous birth!Trees, that aloft uprear your stately height,Whose sombrous branches shed a noontide night!Groves, that for ever wear the smile of spring!Gay birds that wave the many-tinted wing!Of reptiles, fishes, brutes, stupendous forms!And ye, of nameless insects glittering swarms!Sons of soft toil, whose shuttle beauty throws,Whose tints the Graces’ earnest hands dispose,Whose guileless bosom Care avoid and Crime,Gay as your groves, and cloudless as your clime!Primæval piles, that rose in massive pride,Ere Western Art her first faint efforts tried!Ye Brachmans old, whom purer æras bore,Ere Western Science lisped her infant lore!How will your wonders flush the Athenian sage?How ray with glory my historic page?”In a letter to Hannah More, Horace Walpole says: “The poetry is most admirable; the similes beautiful, fine, and sometimes sublime; the author is a great poet, and could raise the passions, and possesses all the requisites of the art.” In another lively epistle to the Misses Berry (28th April, 1789), he says: “I send you the most delicious poem upon earth. I can read this Second Part over and over again for ever; for though it is so excellent, it is impossible to remember anything so disjointed, except you consider it as a collection of short enchanting Poems. ‘The Triumph of Flora,’ beginning at the fifty-ninth line, is most beautifully and enchantingly imagined, and the twelve verses that by miracle describe and comprehend the creation of the universe out of chaos, are, in my opinion, the most sublime passage in any author, or in any of the few languages with which I am acquainted.”—Ed.][Darwin was acquainted with Rousseau. He was a man of great bodily and intellectual vigour, irascible and imperious, a strong advocate of temperance, and for many years an almost total abstainer. His professional fame was such that George III. said he would take him as his physician if he would come to London. He formed a botanical garden at Lichfield, about which Miss Seward wrote some verses which suggested hisBotanic Garden. TheLoves of the Plantshad a singular success, and was praised in a joint poem by Cowper and Hayley. It was translated into French, Portuguese, and Italian. Darwin himself is said by Edgeworth to have admired the parody (Monthly Magazine, June and Sept., 1802, p. 115). Coleridge (Biographia Literaria, 1817, p. 19) speaks of the impression which it made even upon good judges.In theAnti-Jacobin Review, vol. i. (1799), pp. 718–721, appear some Latin verses [by Ben. Frere] which are thus introduced: “Among the copies of verses which are annually produced as a public exercise calledTripos, at Cambridge, we have selected the following as a beautiful composition. The subject is Dr.Beddoes’sFactitious Air applied to the Case of Consumptions.”—Ed.]

298. [The following are Dr. Darwin’s instructions for thetransportation of Ice Islands:—

“There, Nymphs! alight, array your dazzling powers,With sudden march alarm the torpid hours;On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails,Hinge the strong helms, and catch the frozen gales.The winged rocks to feverish climates guide,Where fainting zephyrs pant upon the tide;Pass, where to Ceuta Calpé’s thunder roars,And answering echoes shake the kindred shores;Pass, where with palmy plumes, Canary smiles,And in her silver girdle binds her isles;Onward, where Niger’s dusky Naiad lavesA thousand kingdoms with prolific waves,Or leads o’er golden sands her threefold trainIn steamy channels to the fervid main;While swarthy nations crowd the sultry coast,Drink the fresh breeze, and hail the floating frost:Nymphs! veil’d in mist, the melting treasure steer,And cool with arctic snows the tropic year.”

“There, Nymphs! alight, array your dazzling powers,

With sudden march alarm the torpid hours;

On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails,

Hinge the strong helms, and catch the frozen gales.

The winged rocks to feverish climates guide,

Where fainting zephyrs pant upon the tide;

Pass, where to Ceuta Calpé’s thunder roars,

And answering echoes shake the kindred shores;

Pass, where with palmy plumes, Canary smiles,

And in her silver girdle binds her isles;

Onward, where Niger’s dusky Naiad laves

A thousand kingdoms with prolific waves,

Or leads o’er golden sands her threefold train

In steamy channels to the fervid main;

While swarthy nations crowd the sultry coast,

Drink the fresh breeze, and hail the floating frost:

Nymphs! veil’d in mist, the melting treasure steer,

And cool with arctic snows the tropic year.”

“If the nations who inhabit this hemisphere of the globe, instead of destroying their seamen and exhausting their wealth in unnecessary wars, could be induced to unite their labours to navigate these immense masses of ice into the more southern oceans, two great advantages would result to mankind, the tropic countries would be much cooled by their solution, and our winters in this altitude would be rendered much milder, for perhaps a century or two, till the masses of ice became again enormous.”—Ed.]

[Dr. Thomas Beddoes, born at Shiffnal in 1760, was a scientific Physician far in advance of his age; hisPopular Essay on Consumption, 1779, his tracts entitledHygeia, 1801, &c., may still be studied with profit. He paid particular attention to the medical use of the permanently Elastic Fluids, and avows that as “one rash experiment on a patient would demolish a plan on which the hope of relieving mankind from much of their misery is founded,” he made preliminary experiments on himself in the case ofOxygeneandConsumption, as alluded to in the text,À proposof the artificial distribution of disease, it may be mentioned that inThe Batchelor, p. 189, is a method for “discharging the Plague”.

He wrote much on the political topics of the day, always taking the liberal side, and attackingPittwith great virulence and eloquence. The principles of the French Revolution were at first advocated by him with the utmost enthusiasm, but he was soon disgusted by the excesses committed. He was a student of German literature, and much admired by Immanuel Kant. He was also an intimate friend of Darwin’s, whose political opinions he shared, and whose works were intrusted to his revision in manuscript. A few months after the publication of Darwin’sBotanic Garden, its magnificent imagery and harmonious versification inspired some admirers to say that the style of this work was a stylesui generis, and that it defied imitation. Dr. Beddoes maintained an opposite opinion. Much as he admired the poem in question, he thought that the Darwinian structure of verse might be imitated by a writer possessed of inferior poetical powers, and in a few days he produced in the same circle part of the manuscript ofAlexander’s Expedition to the Indian Oceanas an unpublished work of the author of theBotanic Garden. The deception completely succeeded, and some enthusiastic admirers of the latter work pointed out with triumph “certain passages as proofs of the position that the author in his happier efforts defied imitation”. Beddoes’s success was the more extraordinary, as in the “Introduction” to a considerable extract from his poem which he printed in theAnnual Anthologyfor 1796, he states that he had never before written twice as many lines of verse as the composition under notice consisted of.

AsBeddoes’simitation ofDarwinis seldom met with, it may not be out of character in a work of the present nature to give a specimen of it.

AN IMITATION OF DARWIN.

“Now the new Lord of Persia’s wide domain,Down fierce Hydaspes seeks the Indian main;High on the leading prow the Conqueror stands,Eyes purer skies and marks diverging strands.A thousand sails attendant catch the wind,And yet a thousand press the wave behind;Two veteran hosts, outstretched on either hand,Wide wave their wings and sweep the trembling land.Each serried phalanx Terror stalks beside,And shakes o’er crested helms his blazing pride;While Victory, still companion of his way,Sounds her loud trump and flaunts her banners gay.”

“Now the new Lord of Persia’s wide domain,

Down fierce Hydaspes seeks the Indian main;

High on the leading prow the Conqueror stands,

Eyes purer skies and marks diverging strands.

A thousand sails attendant catch the wind,

And yet a thousand press the wave behind;

Two veteran hosts, outstretched on either hand,

Wide wave their wings and sweep the trembling land.

Each serried phalanx Terror stalks beside,

And shakes o’er crested helms his blazing pride;

While Victory, still companion of his way,

Sounds her loud trump and flaunts her banners gay.”

Further on, the Hero’s attention is attracted to the surrounding landscape, which he thus apostrophizes:—

“Ye fields for ever fair! Thou mighty stream!Bright regions! blessed beyond the muse’s dream!Thou fruitful womb of ever-teeming earth!Ye fostering skies that rear each beauteous birth!Trees, that aloft uprear your stately height,Whose sombrous branches shed a noontide night!Groves, that for ever wear the smile of spring!Gay birds that wave the many-tinted wing!Of reptiles, fishes, brutes, stupendous forms!And ye, of nameless insects glittering swarms!Sons of soft toil, whose shuttle beauty throws,Whose tints the Graces’ earnest hands dispose,Whose guileless bosom Care avoid and Crime,Gay as your groves, and cloudless as your clime!Primæval piles, that rose in massive pride,Ere Western Art her first faint efforts tried!Ye Brachmans old, whom purer æras bore,Ere Western Science lisped her infant lore!How will your wonders flush the Athenian sage?How ray with glory my historic page?”

“Ye fields for ever fair! Thou mighty stream!

Bright regions! blessed beyond the muse’s dream!

Thou fruitful womb of ever-teeming earth!

Ye fostering skies that rear each beauteous birth!

Trees, that aloft uprear your stately height,

Whose sombrous branches shed a noontide night!

Groves, that for ever wear the smile of spring!

Gay birds that wave the many-tinted wing!

Of reptiles, fishes, brutes, stupendous forms!

And ye, of nameless insects glittering swarms!

Sons of soft toil, whose shuttle beauty throws,

Whose tints the Graces’ earnest hands dispose,

Whose guileless bosom Care avoid and Crime,

Gay as your groves, and cloudless as your clime!

Primæval piles, that rose in massive pride,

Ere Western Art her first faint efforts tried!

Ye Brachmans old, whom purer æras bore,

Ere Western Science lisped her infant lore!

How will your wonders flush the Athenian sage?

How ray with glory my historic page?”

In a letter to Hannah More, Horace Walpole says: “The poetry is most admirable; the similes beautiful, fine, and sometimes sublime; the author is a great poet, and could raise the passions, and possesses all the requisites of the art.” In another lively epistle to the Misses Berry (28th April, 1789), he says: “I send you the most delicious poem upon earth. I can read this Second Part over and over again for ever; for though it is so excellent, it is impossible to remember anything so disjointed, except you consider it as a collection of short enchanting Poems. ‘The Triumph of Flora,’ beginning at the fifty-ninth line, is most beautifully and enchantingly imagined, and the twelve verses that by miracle describe and comprehend the creation of the universe out of chaos, are, in my opinion, the most sublime passage in any author, or in any of the few languages with which I am acquainted.”—Ed.]

[Darwin was acquainted with Rousseau. He was a man of great bodily and intellectual vigour, irascible and imperious, a strong advocate of temperance, and for many years an almost total abstainer. His professional fame was such that George III. said he would take him as his physician if he would come to London. He formed a botanical garden at Lichfield, about which Miss Seward wrote some verses which suggested hisBotanic Garden. TheLoves of the Plantshad a singular success, and was praised in a joint poem by Cowper and Hayley. It was translated into French, Portuguese, and Italian. Darwin himself is said by Edgeworth to have admired the parody (Monthly Magazine, June and Sept., 1802, p. 115). Coleridge (Biographia Literaria, 1817, p. 19) speaks of the impression which it made even upon good judges.

In theAnti-Jacobin Review, vol. i. (1799), pp. 718–721, appear some Latin verses [by Ben. Frere] which are thus introduced: “Among the copies of verses which are annually produced as a public exercise calledTripos, at Cambridge, we have selected the following as a beautiful composition. The subject is Dr.Beddoes’sFactitious Air applied to the Case of Consumptions.”—Ed.]

299. [This piece has not hitherto formed a portion of the editions ofThe Poetry.—Ed.]

300. [This spirited song refers toLord Moira’smotion in the Irish House of Commons, 19th of February, 1798, for an address to the Lord Lieutenant, complaining of the excesses committed by the government authorities, civil and military, and recommending that conciliatory measures should be devised. He took occasion to praise the loyalty of his own tenants atBallynahinch; but, unfortunately for him, shortly after, an insurrection broke out at this very place, and a large number of pikes were found secreted by the peasantry in his own woods. On June 12, General Nugent attacked the rebels, 5000 strong, commanded by Munro, near Ballynahinch, and routed them with great slaughter. This victory quelled the rebellion in the north.—Ed.]

301. [TheEarl of Moirawas a gallant soldier, an eloquent orator, and a sagacious as well as honest statesman. Having early in life achieved much reputation for skill and courage during the American War, and afterwards in Flanders, he subsequently turned his attention to politics, particularly those of Ireland, his native country, which drew on him repeated attacks from the Ministerial press. In 1812 he was appointed Governor-General of India, and createdMarquis of Hastings. He was the patron ofThomas Mooreon his arrival in London. He died in 1825.—Ed.]

302.Hibernice proFrench.

303. [A quite literal translation of this poem would be out of the question. The fact is, the sentiment is superior to the execution.Canningcould write much better if he chose. He might wish to fabricate an ultra-patriotic schoolboy, and so wrote like one; but it is certain that as a schoolboy he has written far better things. Either he wrote in a hurry, or cooked up a school exercise; the introduction looks like it, and the Latin Prose is as prosy as the verse is common-place.—A. F. W.]

304. The Isle of Wight.

305. [This valedictory Address, and the portion entitledForeign Intelligencewhich follows the Poem, have never hitherto formed a part of editions of the Poetry.—Ed.]

306. We see with some pleasure, that what we anticipated is beginning to take effect. ANew MagazineandReviewis already advertised, under the same Name which We had adopted, and professedly on the same Principles. We have no knowledge of the undertaking, but from report, which speaks favourably of it; but We heartily wish this, and every work of a similar kind, a full and happy success.

307. Published byHébert.

308. Published byMarat.

309. See the Remarks on the Treaties ofPilnitzandPavia, &c.; onTate’sManifesto; on Neutral Navigation; on the Treatment of Prisoners; on the Continuation of the War for a Spice Island, &c., &c., &c.

310. See the motto prefixed toThe Baviad, a satirical poem, by W. Gifford, Esq., unquestionably the best of its kind since the days of Pope:Nunc in oviliaMox in reluctantes dracones.

310. See the motto prefixed toThe Baviad, a satirical poem, by W. Gifford, Esq., unquestionably the best of its kind since the days of Pope:

Nunc in oviliaMox in reluctantes dracones.

Nunc in ovilia

Mox in reluctantes dracones.

311. The author ofThe Pursuits of Literature. [Now known to be T. J. Mathias, editor of various Italian works, and teacher of Italian to the family of K. George III.—Ed.]

312. The Manes of Vercengetorix are supposed to have been very much gratified by the invasion of Italy and the plunder of the Roman territory. The defeat of the Burgundians is to be revenged on the modern inhabitants of Switzerland. But the Swiss were a free people, defending their liberties against a tyrant. Moreover, they happened to be in alliance with France at the time. No matter;Burgundyis since become a province of France, and the French have acquired a property in all the injuries and defeats which the people of that country may have sustained, together with a title to revenge and retaliation to be exercised in the present or any future centuries, as may be found most glorious and convenient.

313. The speech ofGeneral Fitzpatrick, on his motion for an Address of the House of Commons to the Emperor of Germany, to demand the deliverance ofM. La Fayettefrom the prison of Olmütz, was one of the most dainty pieces of oratory that ever drew tears from a crowded gallery, and the clerks at the table. It was really quite moving to hear the General talk of religion, conjugal fidelity, and “such branches of learning”. There were a few who laughed indeed, but that was thought hard-hearted, and immoral, and irreligious, and God knows what. Crying was theorder of the day. Why will not theOppositiontry these topics again?La Fayetteindeed (the more’s the pity) is out. But why not a motion for a general gaol-delivery of all state prisoners throughout Europe? [This wasFitzpatrick’smaster-speech, and extorted the applauses ofPitthimself, who nevertheless resisted its arguments.Burkesaid thatLa Fayette, “instead of being termed an ‘illustrious exile,’ ought always to be considered, as he now was, an outcast of society; who, having no talents to guide or influence the storm which he had laboured to raise, fled like a dastard from the bloodshed and massacre in which he had involved so many thousands of unoffending persons and families”.—Ed.]

314. “Now all the while did not this stony-heartedCURshed one tear.”—Merchant of Venice.[John Curwen—member for the city of Carlisle, from 1786 till 1812. He was a skilful agriculturist, and his operations may be said to have given a new character to the business of farming. He died in 1828, aged 73.—Ed.]

315. See page72, in the note, for a theft more shameless, and an application of the thing stolen more stupid, than any of those recorded of Irish story-tellers by Joe Miller.

316. SeeRécit de mes Périls, byLouvet;Mémoires d’un Détenu, byRiouffe, &c. The avidity with which these productions were read, might, we should hope, be accounted for upon principles of mere curiosity (as we read theNewgate Calendar, and the history of theBuccaneers), not from any interest in favour of a set of wretches infinitely more detestable than all the robbers and pirates that ever existed.

317. Every lover of modern French literature, and admirer of modern French characters, must remember the rout which was made aboutLouvet’sdeath andLodoiska’spoison. The attempt at self-slaughter, and the process of the recovery, the arsenic and the castor oil, were served up in daily messes from the French papers, till the public absolutely sickened.

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