Interea dum ludicro Tempus datis spectaculo, Frontem severam ponite, Frontem serenam sumite 30. A book entitled Viola by Wenceslaus Clemens à Lybeo Monte, contains several hymns and psalms translated into Leonine verse, for the use of protestants. It was printed in 1637, and is dedicated to William Juxon, bishop of London: PSALM THE SIXTH. Dum furor ardet diris Ignibus, et in iris Æstuat avidus, Me tot age dolorum Plaustra pati fidus-etc. Ad Jesum crucifixum suspirium autoris è morbo gravitèr decumbentis-In Horatian metre of the eleventh epode: Cruci meo suffixe fædo crimine, Ah! ne perenni fulmine Obrue me, Domine. 30 Moreau Prolegom. p. 41. Neu me misellum torvus ore despice Et hoc in æstu, quo ferè contabui, Nunc miserere tui! Audi vocatus tot subacti cladibus: Solve tuis manibus. In the whole there are thirty-two stanzas. Another poem written at the beginning of the year 1637, is in Horatian iambics, beginning, Sat lacrimarum! Jam veni Jesu! veni! Gregi tuoque subveni. Atroce quid nos, O misellos, sub cruce As sounder learning, and classical literature, were introduced into Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, this kind of verse began to be considered as barbarous, and gave way to the beautiful poetry of the Italian bards. To this change perhaps the colloquy of Erasmus, a dialogue between Thalia and Barbarism, might not a little contribute. The goddess of barbarism is introduced bestowing her praises upon the seminary of Zwol, in the following characteristic lines: Zwollenses tales, quod eorum Theutonicales, Discunt clericuli nimiùm benè verba novelli. Thalia annihilates her tasteless and ignorant, but conceited rival, by this elegant and satirical reply: Tale sonant insulsa mihi tua carmina, vates, Quale sonat silvis vox irrudentis onagri: Annue, Barbaries, tuque hanc sine cornua circùm 31 Florum auctor is Floresta, some of whose monkish verses we have given. This dialogue was written when Erasmus was young, and he did not publish it in his Colloquies, because probably he thought it too severe upon the neighbouring town of Zwol. When the pure writers of the Augustan age thus first emerged from the dust and cobwebs of the libraries of Germany and Italy, they excited a degree of admiration approaching to idolatry. One extreme usually produces the contrary. Erasmus, who could censure the wretched and corrupt taste of the works which had occupied their place, found it equally necessary, in his dialogue of Ciceronianus, to counterbalance the opposite fashion, which then prevailed, of a too pedantic and confined imitation of the classic writers. When the restoration of Grecian architecture produced an abhorrence of whatever was considered as unclassical in building, the noble edifices in the Gothic style, better adapted perhaps for the purposes of religion than those by which they were displaced, were totally neglected. In the same manner the rhyming verses of the middle ages, though venerable for their antiquity, and not without their peculiar merit and their Gothic beauties, were despised and forgotten. In two instances only have they since obtained notice; in hymns, and in some modern ludicrous imitations. Most of these rhyming hymns have been consecrated in the magnificent services of the Romish church. In themselves simple, clear, pathetic, or sublime, their effect upon the pious hearers has been rendered irresistible by the charms of music, the elevated compositions of Leo, Pergolesi, and older masters. Here they still form some of the most affecting parts of a solemn ritual, so well calculated to excite the deepest feelings of devotion, that we may exclaim with the poet Cowper-O si sic omnia! Amongst the innumerable number of them thus retained, we may select as specimens of different styles, not as the best, but as some of the most rhythmical, two truly Roman catholic hymns, one on the Sacrament, the other addressed to the Virgin Mary. To which may be added some others, not peculiar to that church, but accommodated to all pious christians: an historical hymn on the resurrection, a prayer to the Holy Ghost, the celebrated hymn for the dead, to which due justice has been rendered by the elegant taste of Matthias, and is quoted, though imperfectly, in the Quarterly Review for July 1828, and the Stabat Mater, so well known for the exquisite music which has been adapted to it: FOR THE DAY OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT. Pange, lingua, gloriosi 32 Corporis mysterium, Quem in mundi pretium, Fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit gentium. 32 There is another hymn beginning with the first line. |