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TO THE REV. WILLIAM WAY,

WITH

A COPY OF THE AUTHOR'S POEMS.

Præsenti tibi maturos largimur honores.-HORAT.

GREAT wits in this our iron age may mourn
That country gentlemen write not like Bourne :
One gentle bard I know whose graphic pen
Describes, as Poussin painted, god-like men.

Maturing taste, that in thy early years

Gave thee distinction 'mong thy bright compeers, (Thine is the wit of Atticus, the verse

Horace might own, thine Martial's language terse,)
At feasts Apician be thou host, or guest,
Thy muse to wines Falernian adds a zest.

Where flower-crown'd mirth is; in her robe of hues

Various plays Fancy sages to amuse.

Thy genius loves before our minds to place "Ex re fabellas," with a classic grace;

A A

As around Grecian vases figures clear

Are grouped, the narratives distinct appear.
Gell in thy muse had seen the maiden Greek,
So beautiful her dress is, à l'antique.

Fresh from the spring, and not through channels wrought

By pedantry to rust its virtues brought,

Flows of thy song the stream in rapid tide :
Apollo favours thee at covert-side;

Though oft the cheering cry of "gone away"
Mars the fine close of thy Alcaic lay.

Attend thy muse the graces with their zone;
How chaste is of her poetry the tone.
The graceful forms with which mythology
Creative peopled air, and earth, and sky,
All, in thy spirit-stirring odes survive,
And seem, as bright existences, to live.

Thessalian Tempe of thy mind the home
Is, or the Via Sacra of old Rome.
Diana buskin'd, Daphne through the glades
Pursued, gods canopied by loftiest shades,
Deities fabled in heroic song

Charm thee, or Horace genial friends among;
With these, the laughter-moving quick rebound
Of wit, and music's care-dispelling sound.
Things beautiful, familiar yet to sight,
By thee are in Arcadian colours dight.

By thy example taught we strive to hold,

Snatch'd from time's stream descending, grains of gold.

It is perchance a crime, since life is short, 'Mid vivid recollections to disport

Of all that was in bygone ages fair,

And dream of Greece while breathing British air.
It is a greater sin for thee to waste

Thought on our modern projects—with thy taste.
Then strike the Theban lyre with master-hand,
And homage from our laurell'd youth command:
Unite Greek metres to our native rhyme,
Links of thought-picturing language, gay, sublime.

The scholar and the gentleman combin'd,
That test of excellence, in thee we find;
A love for harmony of numbers, pure
Taste, nice discernment, and a judgment sure;
And a benevolence of heart that true
Politeness is, which Chesterfield ne'er knew.

Then lay aside thy criticism's spear,

Its touch a worthier muse than mine may bear. Thee I propitiate,-if thou canst, protect

These leaves from blasts of scorn, blight of neglect.

March 6, 1839.

NOTES

ON

LINES ADDRESSED "TO THE REV. WILLIAM WAY."

P. 353, 1. 1.

Great wits in this our iron age may mourn

That country gentlemen write not like Bourne.

The Reverend Sydney Smith, in his witty and clever pamphlet on the Ballot, makes the following comfortable remarks, which, no doubt, the Gentlemen of England" will know how to appreciate.

"I long for the quiet times of King Log, when all the English common people are making calico, and all the English Gentlemen are making long and short verses, with no other interruption of their happiness than when false quantities are discovered in one or the other.”— Ballot, by the Rev. Sydney Smith, page 21.

Vincent Bourne, the well-known admirable writer of Latin Poems, original and translations. The Poet Cowper had a very high opinion of his merits as a writer and as a man. His Thyrsis and Chloe (a translation of the William and Margaret of Mallet) is an exquisitely finished production.

P. 353, 1. 5.

Maturing taste, that in thy early years

Gave thee distinction 'mong thy bright compeers.

Some of the most beautiful contributions to the "Musa Etonenses" are from the pen of Mr. Way.

P. 354, 1. 3.

Gell in thy muse had seen the maiden Greek,

So beautiful her dress is, à l'antique.

The late Sir William Gell, a most accomplished Hellenist.

P. 354, 1. 15.

All, in thy spirit-stirring odes survive,
And seem, as bright existences, to live.

Gratia te, Venerisque lepos, et mille colorum,

Formarumque chorus sequitur, motusque decentes.

GRAY, De Principiis Cogitandi.

Such forms as glitter in the Muse's ray
With orient hues unborrow'd of the sun.

GRAY, Progress of Poetry.

P. 355, 1. 7.

Then strike the Theban lyre with master-hand,
And homage from our laurell'd youth command.

Fidibusque Latinis

Thebanos aptare modos studet, auspice Musâ?

HORAT.

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