Part 111 (1/2)

'Now, Muse, let's sing of _rats_!

And what increased the ridicule was, that one of the company, slily overlooking the reader, found that the word had been originally 'mice,'

but had been changed to rats as more dignified.

Boswell goes on to record Johnson's opinion of Grainger. He said, 'He was an agreeable man, a man that would do any good that was in his power.' His translation of Tibullus was very well done, but 'The Sugar- cane, a Poem,' did not please him. 'What could he make of a Sugar-cane?

one might as well write ”The Parsley-bed, a Poem,” or ”The Cabbage Garden, a Poem.”' Boswell--'You must then _pickle_ your cabbage with the _sal Attic.u.m_.' Johnson--'One could say a great deal about cabbage. The poem might begin with the advantages of civilised society over a rude state, exemplified by the Scotch, who had no cabbages till Oliver Cromwell's soldiers introduced them, and one might thus shew how arts are propagated by conquest, as they were by the Roman arms.' Cabbage, by the way, in a metaphorical sense, might furnish a very good subject for a literary _satire_.

Grainger died of the fever of the country in 1767. Bishop Percy corroborates Johnson's character of him as a man. He says, 'He was not only a man of genius and learning, but had many excellent virtues, being one of the most generous, friendly, benevolent men I ever knew.'

Grainger in some points reminds us of Dyer. Dyer staked his reputation on 'The Fleece;' but it is his lesser poem, 'Grongar Hill,' which preserves his name; that fine effusion has survived the laboured work.

And so Grainger's 'Solitude' has supplanted the stately 'Sugar-cane.'

The scenery of the West Indies had to wait till its real poet appeared in the author of 'Paul and Virginia.' Grainger was hardly able to cope with the strange and gorgeous contrasts it presents of cliffs and crags, like those of Iceland, with vegetation rich as that of the fairest parts of India, and of splendid suns.h.i.+ne, with tempests of such tremendous fury that, but for their brief continuance, no property could be secure, and no life could be safe.

The commencement of the 'Ode to Solitude' is fine, but the closing part becomes tedious. In the middle of the poem there is a tumult of personifications, some of them felicitous and others forced.

'Sage Reflection, bent with years,'

may pa.s.s, but 'Conscious Virtue, void of fears,'

is poor.

'Halcyon Peace on moss reclined,'

is a picture; 'Retrospect that scans the mind,'

is nothing; 'Health that snuffs the morning air,'

is a living image; but what sense is there in 'Full-eyed Truth, with bosom bare?'

and how poor his 'Laughter in loud peals that breaks,'

to Milton's 'Laughter, holding both his sides!'

The paragraph, however, commencing 'With you roses brighter bloom,'

and closing with 'The bournless macrocosm's thine,'

is very spirited, and, along with the opening lines, proves Grainger a poet.

ODE TO SOLITUDE.

O solitude, romantic maid!

Whether by nodding towers you tread, Or haunt the desert's trackless gloom, Or hover o'er the yawning tomb, Or climb the Andes' clifted side, Or by the Nile's coy source abide, Or starting from your half-year's sleep From Hecla view the thawing deep, Or, at the purple dawn of day, Tadmor's marble wastes survey, You, recluse, again I woo, And again your steps pursue.

Plumed Conceit himself surveying, Folly with her shadow playing, Purse-proud, elbowing Insolence, Bloated empiric, puffed Pretence, Noise that through a trumpet speaks, Laughter in loud peals that breaks, Intrusion with a fopling's face, Ignorant of time and place, Sparks of fire Dissension blowing, Ductile, court-bred Flattery, bowing, Restraint's stiff neck, Grimace's leer, Squint-eyed Censure's artful sneer, Ambition's buskins, steeped in blood, Fly thy presence, Solitude.

Sage Reflection, bent with years, Conscious Virtue, void of fears, m.u.f.fled Silence, wood-nymph shy, Meditation's piercing eye, Halcyon Peace on moss reclined, Retrospect that scans the mind, Rapt, earth-gazing Reverie, Blus.h.i.+ng, artless Modesty, Health that snuffs the morning air, Full-eyed Truth, with bosom bare, Inspiration, Nature's child, Seek the solitary wild.

You, with the tragic muse retired, The wise Euripides inspired, You taught the sadly-pleasing air That Athens saved from ruins bare.

You gave the Cean's tears to flow, And unlocked the springs of woe; You penned what exiled Naso thought, And poured the melancholy note.

With Petrarch o'er Vaucluse you strayed, When death s.n.a.t.c.hed his long-loved maid; You taught the rocks her loss to mourn, Ye strewed with flowers her virgin urn.

And late in Hagley you were seen, With bloodshot eyes, and sombre mien, Hymen his yellow vestment tore, And Dirge a wreath of cypress wore.

But chief your own the solemn lay That wept Narcissa young and gay, Darkness clapped her sable wing, While you touched the mournful string, Anguish left the pathless wild, Grim-faced Melancholy smiled, Drowsy Midnight ceased to yawn, The starry host put back the dawn, Aside their harps even seraphs flung To hear thy sweet Complaint, O Young!

When all nature's hushed asleep, Nor Love nor Guilt their vigils keep, Soft you leave your caverned den, And wander o'er the works of men; But when Phosphor brings the dawn By her dappled coursers drawn, Again you to the wild retreat And the early huntsman meet, Where as you pensive pace along, You catch the distant shepherd's song, Or brush from herbs the pearly dew, Or the rising primrose view.