Ode to Fear, that on the Poetical Character, and "The Manners," an ode, have always appeared to me the most original and interesting, though none of them can be perused by any reader of taste without real pleasure. We have many other beautiful modern proAuctions of this kind. Some of the Odes in Mr. Mason's Caractacus and Elfrida, are very fine, particularly that in the former "to Death." I may particularly add Mr. Wharton's Ode to Fancy, Dr. Akenside's on Lyric Poetry, and the Ode to Superstition, by a living author, already mentioned in a former letter with I hope becoming respect. The second description of lyric poems includes those on love, conviviality, and all the lighter subjects. The two fragments which we have of Sappho, though love is the subject, are yet in a style as polished and sublime as any production whatever of the lyric muse. Those of Anacreon (though I cannot praise their morality) are fascinating beyond expression, both for the vivacity of the thoughts, and the unrivalled harmony of his verse. Among the most beautiful of his productions I may specify the 3d, the 28th, and the 46th. The Dove and the Swallow are also charming. Cowley is among the best of his translators; and, as Cowley is not in every body's hands, I will transcribe a short but spirited ode, embellished, or defaced as you may please to call it, by the luxuriant genius of Cowley— THE GRASHOPPER. 66 Happy insect, what can be "In happiness compar'd to thee? "Nature self's thy Ganimed. "Thou dost drink, and dance, and sing; "Happier than the happiest king! "All the fields which thou dost see, "All the plants belong to thee, "All that summer hours produce, "Nor does thy luxury destroy; "The shepherd gladly heareth thee, "More harmonious than he. "Thee country hinds with gladness hear, Prophet of the ripened year! "Thee Phoebus loves, and does inspire; "To thee, of all things upon earth, "Life is no longer than thy mirth. "Dost neither age nor winter know. "But when thou'st drunk, and danc'd, and sung Thy fill, the flow'ry leaves among, "Sated with thy summer feast, 66 In this ode Ολίγην δροσου πεπωκώς, is beautifully translated— "Fed with nourishment divine, "The dewy morning's gentle wine." Θερεος γλυκυς προφήτης is almost literally, but excellently given— 66 Prophet of the ripened year." "Farmer he, and landlord thou," is in the peculiarly playful stile of Cowley. Horace has also many odes of the gay and sprightly kind, of great beauty and excellence; but in no language whatever are so many to be found as in our own. With us they have been distinguished from the first by the name of SONGS, as most of them have been set and sung to music. Dr. Aikin, in an excellent collection which he has made, and which is preceded by a judicious essay on song-writing, has classed them under the following heads: 1st. Ballads and pastoral songs; 2d. Passionate and descriptive songs; 3d. Ingenious and witty songs. To this arrangement I do not mean to object; yet it appears to me that another class might be added-Patriotic and war songs; such as the celebrated Greek odes of Alcæus and Tyrtæus, which inspired their heroic countrymen with the spirit of liberty and the ardour of patriotism. The English ballad will scarcely rank under the description of lyric poetry; and I place it here rather because I know not where else to assign it a station, than from any sense of the propriety of the collocation. An elegant poetess of the present time, who was so kind as to write the article Poetry for my Dictionary, has furnished us with the real origin of our ballad. "In the age of Charlemagne, the minstrels of Provence, or, as they were called, the trouba dours, introduced the metrical tales or ballads, which, from the dialect in which they were written, were called also romances. Their poems were all written in rhyme; but whether this practice was borrowed from the Goths or Arabs is uncertain." But though the first ballads might have for their subjects tales, or simple narratives, such as Chevy Chace, the Children in the Wood, &c., yet we find the term was soon extended to various subjects of love or morals. The ballad of "Death and the Lady," which yet occupies a place in the chimney of many a farm-house, is a moral dialogue. Dr. Aikin has therefore, with propriety, classed among the ballads the popular songs of Mr. Gay, which are real lyrics, and of which Blackeyed Susan is perhaps the best. The little songs in our comic operas have as much a claim to the title of lyric as the choruses in the Greek tragedies, and indeed are more naturally introduced, for singing corresponds better with a representation of joy than of sorrow. Of❝ Passionate and descriptive songs," the number is very great in our language, as you will see in Dr. Aikin's collection, and yet this does not include the whole. Amidst such an |