THE ALLIANCE

OF

EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT;

A FRAGMENTa.

-Ποταγ' φ γαθε ταν γαρ αοιδαν
Ουτι πω εις Αιδαν γε τον εκλελαθοντα φυλάξεις.

THEOC. Id. i. 63.

ESSAY I.

As sickly plants betray a niggard earth,
Whose barren bosom starves her generous birth,

a Mr. Gibbon has expressed his opinion of this Poem of our Author in the following exclamation of regret. If there is any censure implied in the question, it is to be feared that Mr. Mitford's remarks will not obviate it.

Instead of compiling tables of chronology and natural history, why did not Mr. Gray apply the powers of his genius to finish the Philosophic Poem, of which he has left us such an exquisite specimen ?"-Decl. and Fall, vol. iii. p. 248. 4to. ed.

Ver. 1. As sickly plants betray a niggard earth.] If any copies of this Essay would have authorised me to have made an alteration in the disposition of the lines, I would, for the sake of perspicuity, have printed the first twelve in the following manner; because I think the poetry would not have been in the

Nor genial warmth, nor genial juice retains,

Their roots to feed, and fill their verdant veins:
And as in climes, where Winter holds his reign, 5
The soil, though fertile, will not teem in vain,
Forbids her gems to swell, her shades to rise,
Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies:
So draw mankind in vain the vital airs,
Unformed, unfriended, by those kindly cares,
That health and vigour to the soul impart,
Spread the young thought, and warm the opening

heart:

So fond Instruction on the growing powers

Of nature idly lavishes her stores,

10

If equal Justice with unclouded face
Smile not indulgent on the rising race,

15

And scatter with a free, though frugal hand,
Light golden showers of plenty o'er the land:

least hurt by such a transposition, and the poet's meaning would have been much more readily perceived. I put them down here for that purpose:

As sickly plants betray a niggard earth,

Whose barren bosom starves her generous birth,

Nor genial warmth, nor genial juice retains
Their roots to feed, and fill their verdant veins :

So draw mankind in vain the vital airs,

Unformed, unfriended by those kindly cares,

That health and vigour to the soul impart,

Spread the young thought, and warm the opening heart.
And as in climes, where Winter holds his reign,
The soil, though fertile, will not teem in vain,

Forbids her gems to swell, her shades to rise,
Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies:
So fond Instruction, &c.

MASON.

But Tyranny has fixed her empire there,

To check their tender hopes with chilling fear, 20 And blast the blooming promise of the year.

This spacious animated scene survey,

25

From where the rolling orb, that gives the day,
His sable sons with nearer course surrounds
To either pole, and life's remotest bounds,
How rude so e'er th' exterior form we find,
Howe'er opinion tinge the varied mind,
Alike to all, the kind, impartial Heaven
The sparks of truth and happiness has given:
With sense to feel, with memory to retain,
They follow pleasure, and they fly from pain;
Their judgment mends the plan their fancy draws,
Th' event presages, and explores the cause;
The soft returns of gratitude they know,

By fraud elude, by force repel the foe ;

30

35

Ver. 24. His sable sons with nearer course surrounds.] Horace has characterized the regions of the south in a similar

manner:

Solis.

-Sub curru nimium propinqui

Lib. i. Od. 22.

Ver. 27. Howe'er opinion tinge the varied mind.] It is possible that the mere mention of opinion recalled to the Author's mind a couplet in the "Essay on Man," which for beauty of imagery, and sedate harmony of versification, has seldom been equalled. It is in reference to the trifles which form the business of human life that the Poet speaks:

"Meanwhile opinion gilds, with varying rays,
Those painted clouds that beautify our days."

Ep. ii. 283.

While mutual wishes, mutual woes endear
The social smile and sympathetic tear.

40

Say, then, through ages by what fate confined To different climes seem different souls assigned? Here measured laws and philosophic ease Fix, and improve the polished arts of peace; There Industry and Gain their vigils keep, Command the winds, and tame th' unwilling deep: Here Force and hardy deeds of blood prevail; There languid Pleasure sighs in every gale. Oft o'er the trembling nations from afar Has Scythia breathed the living cloud of war;

45

Ver. 36. While mutual wishes, mutual woes endear.] The Deity, in the language of the poet already alluded to,

"On mutual wants built mutual happiness."

Essay on Man, Ep. iii. 112. "Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally

The common interest, and endear the tie."

Ep. ii. 253.

Ver. 47. Has Scythia breathed the living cloud of war.] The most celebrated of the early irruptions of the Scythians into the neighbouring countries is that under the conduct of Madyes, about the year of the creation 3350, when they broke into Asia, during the reign of Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and conqueror of the Assyrians, plundered it at discretion, and kept possession of it during twenty-eight years. Many successive incursions, attended with every kind of desolation, are enumerated by historians; particularly those, in A.D. 252, during the reign of Gallus and Volusianus, and in 261, under that of Gallienus. Under the Greek emperors also, to mention only the years 1053 and 1191, it appears that the Scythians still continued their accustomed ravages. In later times, the like spirit of sudden and destructive invasion has constantly prevailed; and these same

away.

And, where the deluge burst, with sweepy sway
Their arms, their kings, their gods were rolled
As oft have issued, host impelling host,
The blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast.
The prostrate South to the destroyer yields
Her boasted titles, and her golden fields:
With grim delight the brood of Winter view
A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue;

50

55

Scythians, under their modern name of Tartars, have, at different periods, over-run Asia, and even some parts of Europe: it is sufficient, on this point, to recall to the reader's memory the name of Gingis-Chan, Octaï, and Tamerlane.-MASON.

Ver. 50. As oft have issued, host impelling host.] Mr. Mitford quotes from Thomson's Liberty :

"Hence many a people, fierce with freedom rushed
From the rude iron regions of the north

iv. 803.

To Libyan deserts, swarm protruding swarm." Ver. 51. The blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast.] The different nations of Germans, who inhabited or bordered on this coast, have been always distinguished by their various emigrations in search of a better soil and climate, and of a more commodious settlement. The reader will readily recollect the expedition of the Teutones, who joined the Cimbri, when they invaded the Roman territories to the united amount, it is said, of 300,000 fighting men; the many inroads of the Germans into Gaul, under the conduct of Ariovistus; and the numerous irruptions, into the Roman empire, of the Suevi, the Goths, the Vandals, and lastly of the Lombards; most of which nations came originally from the coasts here mentioned. The epithet 'blue-eyed" exhibits a distinguishing feature of the ancient Germans; and is particularly remarked by Tacitus and Juvenal. "Truces et cærulei oculi," observes the former, "de Popul. German." cap. 4.; and the latter, " Cærula quis stupuit Germani lumina? Sat. 13. ver. 164.-MASON.

Ver. 54. With grim delight the brood of Winter view.] It