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The circumstances of grief and horror in which the Bard is represented, those of terror in the preparation of the votive web, and the mystic obscurity with which the prophecies are delivered, will give as much pleasure to those who relish this species of composition, as any thing that has hitherto appeared in our lan guage, the Odes of Dryden himself not excepted."* *

I. 2.

"On a rock, whose haughty brow

Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood,

Rob'd in the sable garb of Woe,

With haggard eyes the Poet stood;

(Loose his beard and hoary hair

Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air,)
And with a master's hand, and prophet's fire,
Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre.

Hark how each giant-oak, and desert cave,

Sighs to the torrent's awful voice beneath!
O'er thee, O King! their hundred arms they wave,
Revenge on thee in hoarser murmurs breathe;
Vocal no more, since Cambria's fatal day,

To high-born Hoel's harp, or lost Llewellyn's lay.

I. 3.

"Cold is Cadwallo's tongue,

That hush'd the stormy main:

Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed:

Mountains, ye mourn in vain

Modred, whose magic song

Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topp'd head.

*["One of the greatest poets of this century, the late and much lamented Mr. Gray of Cambridge, modestly declared to me, that if there was in his own numbers any thing that deserved approbation, he had learned it all from Dryden."--BEATTIE.]

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On dreary Arvon's shore they lie,
Smear'd with gore, and ghastly pale:
Far, far aloof th' affrighted ravens sail;
The famish'd eagle screams, and passes by.
Dear lost companions of my tuneful art,
Dear, as the light that visits these sad eyes,
Dear, as the ruddy drops that warm my heart,
Ye died amidst your dying country's cries-

No more I weep. They do not sleep.
On yonder cliffs, a grisly band,

I see them sit, they linger yet,

Avengers of their native land:

With me in dreadful harmony they join,

And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy line.

II. 1.

"Weave the warp, and weave the woof,

The winding-sheet of Edward's race.

Give ample room, and verge enough,

The characters of hell to trace.'"

When the prophetic incantation is finished, the Bard thus nervously concludes.

66 6

Enough for me: with joy I see
The different doom our fates assign.
Be thine despair, and sceptred care,
To triumph, and to die, are mine.'

He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height
Deep in the roaring tide he plung'd to endless night."

VIII.-WISE'S INQUIRIES CONCERNING THE FIRST INHABITANTS, LANGUAGE, RELIGION, LEARNING, AND LETTERS OF EUROPE.*

[From the Monthly Review, 1758. "Some Inquiries concerning the First Inhabitants, Language, Religion, Learning, and Letters of Europe. By a Member of the Society of Antiquaries in London. Printed at the Theatre, Oxford, 4to."] EVERY search into remote antiquity inspires us with a pleasure somewhat similar to what we feel upon the recollection of the earlier occurrences of our younger days: dark, indeed, and very confused the remembrance; yet still we love to look back upon those scenes, in which innocence and tranquillity bear, or seem to bear, so great a proportion. But how agreeable soever inquiries of this nature may prove in gratifying our curiosity, the advantage would be trifling if they rested only here. They are further useful in promoting the advancement of other kinds of learning; for, an acquaintance with the causes whence arts and sciences had their rise, will probably direct us to the methods most conducive to their perfection. Nor is the historian less than the philosopher indebted to the antiquarian. It is from that painful collection of opinions, and the seemingly tedious inductions of the last, that the first draws his materials for the ascertainment of truth, gathers order from confusion, and justly marks the features of the age.

* [Francis Wise, B.D., and F.S.A., many years fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, was born in 1695. In 1726, the Earl of Guildford, who had been his pupil, presented him to the vicarage of Ellesfield, in Oxfordshire. Besides the above work, he published "Annales Alfredi Magni," "Observations on the History and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages," &c. "He died," says Mr. Nicholls, "at his favorite retreat, at Ellesfield, October 1767, aged seventytwo, universally beloved and esteemed, on account of his great merit and learning."-Lit. Anec., vol. v. p. 527.]

It is true, however, that as researches into antiquity are beyond the abilities of the many, so are they calculated only for the entertainment and instruction of the few. The generality of readers regard investigations of this nature as an uninformed rustic would view one of the India warehouses; where he sees a thousand things, which, being ignorant of their uses, he cannot think convertible to any valuable purpose; and wonders why people travel so far, and run such hazards, to make so useless a collection. Experience would, however, convince him, that from such acquisitions as these, different artists take the materials of their different occupations; and that the mistake lay not with the collectors, but in the observer.

The more polite every country becomes, the fonder it seems of investigating antiquity; yet it happens somewhat unfortunately for this branch of science, that it is always cultivated to most advantage at those times when a people are just beginning to emerge from primeval obscurity. The first writers have the materials of many preceding ages to choose from, and all that remains for their successors is to glean what they have left behind. From hence, therefore, we may infer, the great indulgence that should be shown to a writer, who, in an age so enlightened as ours, continues to cultivate so laborious a part of learning. As his materials, in such a case, are not of his own choosing, he may often seem triflingly minute, many conjectures will be offered upon slight probabilities, and those opinions which he supposes peculiarly his own, may appear to be the repeated observations of former writers.

As to our author in particular, his learning is extensive, and his candor, good sense, and modesty, serve to adorn it. He professes himself not bigoted to any opinion, but willing to have his own examined, though not deserving of controversy: such talents

cannot fail of rendering a search after truth pleasing, even though the inquiry should prove abortive.

He draws the origin of the inhabitants of Europe from the northern parts of Asia, anciently called Scythia; whose colonies spreading southward, settled near the Euxine Sea, under the general name of Cimmerians-by whom, in all probability, the other parts of Europe were afterwards peopled. The first Europeans whose history is transmitted to us are the Greeks, who had their original from Scythia, as appears from what Strabo relates, that the Greeks were anciently called Barbarians; but Scythia and Barbarian were synonymous terms, and consequently, how much soever that polite people might have been ashamed of their rude progenitors, they could be derived from no others. Their very gods, whom they seemed so fond of making natives of Greece, were probably of Scythian original: and it deserves notice, that some of the greatest nations, in all ages, have valued themselves upon being descended from Scythian conquerors. Thus the modern Moguls boast their descent from Tamerlane; almost all the royal families of Europe claim kindred with the Goths; and we may see by our own history, how careful the Saxon princes were to trace up their several pedigrees to Woden. The Greeks, Phoenicians, and Egyptians did the same, only with this difference, they would have it thought that the gods were natives of their respective countries; and there is no doubt but each had as good a right to them as the other. However, whether the Titans, or gods, were originally Scythians, the posterity of Japhet, or whether they were Phoenicians, descendants of Ham, our author thinks it certain, that they were temporal sovereigns, that they possessed large territories, and were otherwise greatly interested in the affairs of Europe: but probably, in their times, one common language prevailed over Europe; and that the remains. of such a language are still to be found in different places, par

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