Volume Ii Part 12 (1/2)

_Pope's Abelard._

And secondly, as most of our nouns have the article _a_ or _the_ prefixed to them in prose-writing and in conversation, they in general become personified even by the omission of these articles; as in the bold figure of s.h.i.+pwreck in Miss Seward's Elegy on Capt. Cook:

But round the steepy rocks and dangerous strand Rolls the white surf, and s.h.i.+PWRECK guards the land.

Add to this, that if the verses in our heroic poetry be shorter than those of the ancients, our words likewise are shorter; and in respect to their measure or time, which has erroneously been called melody and harmony, I doubt, from what has been said above, whether we are so much inferior as is generally believed; since many pa.s.sages, which have been stolen from antient poets, have been translated into our language without losing any thing of the beauty of the versification.

_B._ I am glad to hear you acknowledge the thefts of the modern poets from the antient ones, whose works I suppose have been reckoned lawful plunder in all ages. But have not you borrowed epithets, phrases, and even half a line occasionally from modern poems?

_P._ It may be difficult to mark the exact boundary of what should be termed plagiarism: where the sentiment and expression are both borrowed without due acknowledgement, there can be no doubt;--single words, on the contrary, taken from other authors, cannot convict a writer of plagiarism; they are lawful game, wild by nature, the property of all who can capture them;--and perhaps a few common flowers of speech may be gathered, as we pa.s.s over our neighbour's inclosure, without stigmatizing us with the t.i.tle of thieves; but we must not therefore plunder his cultivated fruit.

The four lines at the end of the plant Upas are imitated from Dr. Young's Night Thoughts. The line in the episode adjoined to Ca.s.sia, ”The salt tear mingling with the milk he sips,” is from an interesting and humane pa.s.sage in Langhorne's Justice of Peace. There are probably many others, which, if I could recollect them, should here be acknowledged. As it is, like exotic plants, their mixture with the natives ones, I hope, adds beauty to my Botanic Garden:--and such as it is, _Mr. Bookseller_, I now leave it to you to desire the Ladies and Gentlemen to walk in; but please to apprize them, that, like the spectators at an unskilful exhibition in some village-barn, I hope they will make Good-humour one of their party; and thus theirselves supply the defects of the representation.

THE

LOVES

OF

THE

PLANTS

CANTO IV.

Now the broad Sun his golden orb unshrouds, Flames in the west, and paints the parted clouds; O'er heaven's wide arch refracted l.u.s.tres flow, And bend in air the many-colour'd bow.-- 5 --The tuneful G.o.ddess on the glowing sky Fix'd in mute extacy her glistening eye; And then her lute to sweeter tones she strung, And swell'd with softer chords the Paphian song.

Long ailes of Oaks return'd the silver sound, 10 And amorous Echoes talk'd along the ground; Pleas'd Lichfield listen'd from her sacred bowers, Bow'd her tall groves, and shook her stately towers.

”Nymph! not for thee the radiant day returns, Nymph! not for thee the golden solstice burns, 15 Refulgent CEREA!--at the dusky hour She seeks with pensive step the mountain-bower,

[_Pleas'd Lichfield._ I. 11. The scenery described at the beginning of the first part, or economy of vegetation, is taken from a botanic garden about a mile from Lichfield.

_Cerea._ l. 15. Cactus grandiflorus, or Cereus. Twenty males, one female.

This flower is a native of Jamaica and Veracrux. It expands a most exquisitely beautiful corol, and emits a most fragrant odour for a few hours in the night, and then closes to open no more. The flower is nearly a foot in diameter; the inside of the calyx of a splendid yellow, and the numerous petals of a pure white: it begins to open about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, and closes before sun-rise in the morning.

Martyn's Letters, p. 294. The Cistus labdiniferus, and many other flowers, lose their petals after having been a few hours expanded in the day-time; for in these plants the stigma is soon impregnated by the numerous anthers: in many flowers of the Cistus lubdiniferus I observed two or three of the stamens were perpetually bent into contact with the pistil.

The Nyctanthes, called Arabian Jasmine, is another flower, which expands a beautiful corol, and gives out a most delicate perfume during the night, and not in the day, in its native country, whence its name; botanical philosophers have not yet explained this wonderful property; perhaps the plant sleeps during the day as some animals do; and its odoriferous glands only emit their fragrance during the expansion of the petals; that is, during its waking hours: the Geranium triste has the same property of giving up its fragrance only in the night. The flowers of the Cucurbita lagenaria are said to close when the sun s.h.i.+nes upon them. In our climate many flowers, as tragopogon, and hibiscus, close their flowers before the hottest part of the day comes on; and the flowers of some species of cucubalus, and Silene, viscous campion, are closed all day; but when the sun leaves them they expand, and emit a very agreeable scent; whence such plants are termed noctiflora.]

Bright as the blush of rising morn, and warms The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms.

There to the skies she lifts her pencill'd brows, 20 Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows; Eyes the white zenyth; counts the suns, that roll Their distant fires, and blaze around the Pole; Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car O'er Heaven's blue vault,--Herself a brighter star.

25 --There as soft Zephyrs sweep with pausing airs Thy snowy neck, and part thy shadowy hairs, Sweet Maid of Night! to Cynthia's sober beams Glows thy warm cheek, thy polish'd bosom gleams.

_In crowds_ around thee gaze the admiring swains, 30 And guard in silence the enchanted plains; Drop the still tear, or breathe the impa.s.sion'd sigh, And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye.

Thus, when old Needwood's h.o.a.ry scenes the Night Paints with blue shadow, and with milky light; 35 Where MUNDY pour'd, the listening nymphs among, Loud to the echoing vales his parting song; With measured step the Fairy Sovereign treads, Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads; Round each green holly leads her sportive train, 40 And little footsteps mark the circled plain; Each haunted rill with silver voices rings, And Night's sweet bird in livelier accents sings.

Ere the bright star, which leads the morning sky, Hangs o'er the blus.h.i.+ng east his diamond eye, 45 The chaste TROPAEO leaves her secret bed; A saint-like glory trembles round her head;

[_ Where Mundy._ l. 35. Alluding to an unpublished poem by F. N. Mundy, Esq. on his leaving Needwood-Forest.