PREFACE.

THE design was, to trace the progress of a poetical genius, born in a rude age, from the first dawning of fancy and reason, till that period at which he may be supposed capable of appearing in the world as a Minstrel, that is, an itinerant Poet and Musician-a character which, according to the notions of our forefathers, was not only respectable, but sacred.

I have endeavoured to imitate Spenser in the measure of his verse, and in the harmony, simplicity, and variety of his composition. Antique expressions I have avoided; admitting, however, some old words, where they seemed to suit the subject: but I hope none will be found that are now obsolete, or in any degree not intelligible to a reader of English poetry.

To those who may be disposed to ask, what could induce me to write in so difficult a measure, I can only answer, that it pleases my ear, and seems, from its Gothic structure and original, to bear some relation to the subject and spirit of the Poem. It admits both simplicity and magnificence of sound and of language, beyond any other stanza that I am acquainted with. It allows the sententiousness of the couplet, as well as the more complex modulation of blank verse. What some critics have remarked, of its uniformity growing at last tiresome to the ear, will be found to hold true only when the poetry is faulty in other respects.

THE MINSTREL.

Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musa, Quarum sacra fero, ingeti perculsus amore, Accipiant.- Virg.

BOOK I. I.

AH! who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines
afar;

Ah! who can tell how many a soul sublime
Has felt the influence of malignant star,
And waged with Fortune an eternal war
Checked by the scoff of Pride, by Envy's frown,
And Poverty's unconquerable bar,

In life's low vale remote has pined alone,
Then drop'd into the grave, unpitied and unknown!

II,

And yet, the languor of inglorious days
Not equally oppressive is to all:

Him, who ne'er listened to the voice of praise,
The silence of neglect can ne'er appal.
There are, who deaf to mad Ambition's call,
Would shrink to hear the obstreperous trump of

Fame;

Supremely blessed, if to their portion fall Health, competence, and peace. Nor higher aim Had he whose simple tale these artless lines pro

claim.

III.

The rolls of fame I will not now explore; Nor need I here describe in learned lay, How forth the minstrel fared in days of yore, Right glad of heart, though homely in array; His waving locks and beard all hoary gray: While, from his bending shoulder, decent hung His harp, the sole companion of his way, Which to the whistling wind responsive rung; And ever, as he went, some merry lay he sung.

IV.

Fret not thyself, thou glittering child of pride,
That a poor villager inspires my strain;
With thee let Pageantry and Power abide:
The gentle Muses haunt the sylvan reign;
Where through wild groves at eve the lonely
swain

Enraptured roams, to gaze on Nature's charms:
They hate the sensual, and scorn the vain,
The parasite their influence never warms,
Nor him whose sordid soul the love of gold alarms.
V.

Though richest hues the peacock's plumes adorn,

Yet horror screams from his discordant throat. Rise, sons of harmony, and hail the morn, While warbling larks on russet pinions float; Or seek at noon the woodland scene remote, Where the gray linnets carol from the hill: O let them ne'er, with artificial note, To please a tyrant, strain the little bill, But sing what heaven inspires, and wander where they will.

VI.

Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand; Nor was perfection made for man below: Yet all her schemes with nicest art are planned, Good counteracting ill, and gladness wo. With gold and gems of Chilian mountains glow; If bleak and barren Scotia's hills arise: There plague and poison, lust and rapine grow: Here peaceful are the vales, and pure the skies, And freedom fires the soul, and sparkles in the eyes.

VII.

VIII.

Canst thou forego the pure ethereal soul In each fine sense so exquisitely keen, On the dull couch of Luxury to loll, Stung with disease and stupified with spleen; Fain to implore the aid of Flattery's screen, E'en from thyself thy loathsome heart to hide, (The mansion then no more of joy serene) Where Fear, Distrust, Malevolence, abide, And impotent Desire, and disappointed Pride!

IX.

O, how canst thou renounce the boundless store Of charms which Nature to her votary yields! The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields; All that the genial ray of morning gilds, And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of heaven, O how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven!

X.

These charms shall work thy soul's eternal health,
And love, and gentleness, and joy, impart:
But these thou must renounce, if lust of wealth
E'er wins its way to thy corrupted heart;
For, ah! it poisons like a scorpion's dart;
Prompting the ungenerous wish, the selfish
scheme,

The stern resolve, unmoved by pity's smart, The troublous day, and long distressful dreamReturn, my roving Muse, resume thy purposed theme.

XI.

There lived in gothic days, as legends tell,
A shepherd-swain, a man of low degree:
Whose sires, perchance, in fairy-land might
dwell,

Sicilian groves, or vales of Arcady.

But he, I ween, was of the north countrie:* A nation famed for song, and beauty's charms; Zealous, yet modest; innocent, though free; Patient of toil; serene, amidst alarms; Inflexible in faith; invincible in arms.

XII.

The shepherd-swain of whom I mention made,
On Scotia's mountains fed his little flock;
The sickle, scythe, or plough, he never swayed;
An honest heart was almost all his stock;

⚫ There is hardly an ancient ballad, or romance, wherein minstrel or harper appears, but he is characterized, by way of eminence, to have been "of the north countrie." It is pro

bable, that under this appellation were formerly comprehend

ed all the provinces to the north of the Trent-See Percy's Essay on the English Minstrels.