Edward.

The Muses, in yon cloister'd fhade, Bound on his maiden thigh the martial blade; Bade him the fteel for British freedom draw, And Oxford taught the deeds that Creffy faw. 210

And fee, great father of the facred band, The Patriot King before me feems to stand. He by the bloom of this gay vale beguil'd, That cheer'd with lively green the fhaggy wild, Hither of yore, forlorn forgotten maid; The Muse in prattling infancy convey'd ;

Pope defcribes Edward III. as poetically, and perhaps with more propriety, by

The lilies blazing on the regal fhield. Windf. For. ver. 306. A circumftance of which Whitehead has happily availed himself, where he fays, in the true dramatic ftyle of lyric poetry, in the perfon of Britannia,

""Twas thus of old

"My warlike fons, a gallant train,

"Call'd forth their genuine ftrength, and spread
"Their banners o'er the tented mead;

"'Twas thus they taught perfidious France to yield,"
She cries, and fhows the lilies on her fhield.

Ode for King's Birth-Day, 1778.

V. 207. The Muses, in yon cloister'd shade, &c.] Edward the Black Prince, as well as Henry V. whom, by the way, there was a good opportunity of mentioning in this place, was a member of Queen's College; perhaps out of compliment to the new foundation, which was denominated after his mother, Queen Philippa.

V. 212. The Patriot King] Alfred. The tradition refpecting the foundation of the University of Oxford by him is well known.

From Vandal rage the helpless virgin bore,
And fix'd her cradle on my friendly fhore:
Soon grew the maid beneath his fostering hand,
Soon stream'd her bleffings o'er the enlighten'd

land.

220

Though fimple was the dome where first to dwell
She deign'd, and rude her early Saxon cell,
Lo! now fhe holds her ftate in fculptur'd bowers,
And proudly lifts to heav'n her hundred towers.
'Twas Alfred firft, with letters and with laws, 225
Adorn'd, as he advanc'd, his country's cause:

V. 223. fculptur'd bowers,] This combination appears harsh, unless it is remembered that the word "bower" anciently fignified a chamber, perhaps an inner chamber, and that the appropriate fenfe, which it now bears, of a canopy of trees, is grafted on the old one. See Grave of Arthur, ver. 97. I fubjoin here two or three ftriking inftances from our Poet, in which he uses the word in its old fignification:

On the Birth of the Prince of Wales, ver. 13.

Yet future triumphs, Windfor, ftill remain,
Still may thy bowers receive as brave a train.
Sonnet V. ver. 1.

From Pembroke's princely dome, where mimic Art
Decks with a magic hand the dazzling bowers.

Ode on Summer, ver. 242.

Of that proud cattle's painted bowers.

Ode for New Year, 1788, ver. 52. Of Windfor Castle,
Proud Caftle, to thy banner'd bowers.

But inftances might readily be multiplied.

V. 224. And proudly lifts to heav'n her hundred towers.] The fame idea is repeated in Mons Catharina:

Et centum oftentet finuofo in margine turres.

He bade relent the Briton's ftubborn foul,
And footh'd to foft fociety's controul
A rough untutor'd age. With raptur'd eye
Elate he views his laurel'd progeny :

230

Serene he fmiles to find, that not in vain
He form'd the rudiments of learning's reign:
Himself he marks in each ingenuous breast,
With all the founder in the race expreft:
Confcious he fees fair Freedom ftill furvive 235
In yon bright domes, ill-fated fugitive!
(Glorious, as when the goddess pour'd the beam
Unfullied on his ancient diadem ;)
Well-pleas'd, that at his own' Pierian fprings
She refts her weary feet, and plumes her wings; 240
That here at last she takes her deftin'd stand,
Here deigns to linger, ere fhe leave the land.

V. 242. Here deigns to linger, ere fhe leave the land.] So Virgil defcribes the country as the last refidence of Justice upon earth : -extrema per illos

Juftitia excedens terris veftigia fecit. Georg. ii. 473.

It has been observed to me, that the line is taken almost word for word from Pope; but I cannot refer to the paffage.

ELE GY

ON THE DEATH OF THE LATE

FREDERIC PRINCE OF WALES.

(Written in 1751.)

I..

● FOR the warblings of the Doric ote, That wept the youth deep-whelm'd in ocean's tide!

ELEGY, &c.] Till within a few years past, on great public occafions, collections of verses, in the way of condolence, congratulation, &c. were ufually made by the Universities. In the Oxford collection upon the death of the late Frederic Prince of Wales, Father of his prefent Majefty, in 1751, this Elegy appeared, with no very material variations, under the name of John Whetham, Fellow Commoner of Trinity College. This fpecies of delufion was not uncommon. The fame collection contains an Elegy, profeffedly written by James Clitherow, of All Souls College, but in reality by the late Judge Blackftone; and a very elegant copy of Latin Hendecafyllables, said to be by George Brome, Gentleman Commoner of Christ-Church, the author of which was the prefent Archbishop of York. There is also a copy of Latin Hexameters by Warton, under his own name; for which fee the Latin Poems. V. 1. O for the warblings of the Doric ote, &c.] Mr. Headley refers to Shakfpere's Prologue to Henry V.

O! for a Mufe of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention !

Or Mulla's mufe, who chang'd her magic note To chant how dear the laurel'd Sidney died! Then should my woes in worthy ftrain be fung, And with due cyprefs-crown thy herse, O Frederic, hung.

II.

6

But though my novice-hands are all too weak To grafp the founding pipe, my voice unskill'd The tuneful phrase of poesy to speak, Uncouth the cadence of my carols wild;

And to Paradife Loft, iv. 1.

O! for that warning voice, which he, who faw

The Apocalypse, heard cry in heaven aloud.

The propriety of the expreffion" the Doric ote," when alluding to Milton's Lycidas, is obvious. Milton himself speaks of his ote in ver. 88.

But now my oat proceeds.

And in another place he entitles his poem a "Doric lay:"

With eager thought warbling his Doric lay. Ver. 189. In Ode for June 4, 1786, we have " the Doric oat" of Theocritus, ver. 27. See also ver. 50. "O for a ftrain from these fublimer

bards."

V. 3. Or Mulla's mufe, who chang'd her magic note

To chant how dear the laurel'd Sidney died.] See Spenfer's Aftrophel, &c. on the death of Sir Philip Sidney. Dr. Jofeph Warton, in his Ode on the death of his Father, has a reference to the fame poem :

Each night indulging pious woe,
Fresh roses on thy tomb I ftrow,

And wish for tender Spenfer's moving verfe
Warbled in broken fobs o'er Sidney's herfe.