While these the combat's direful arts display,60 The various means that might his foe controul; THE GYMNASIAD. ARGUMENT. Stephenson enters the lists; a description of his FIRST, to the fight, advanc'd the charioteer: rage; He leaps the bar, and bounds upon the stage. sway, author here intended to celebrate a lamp-lighter, or a link-boy; but as there are heroes of both capacities at present in the school of honour, it is difficult to determine, whether the poet al Judes to a Wells, or a Buckhorse. Then thus indignant he accosts the foe, (While high disdain sat prideful on his brow :) "Long has the laurel-wreath victorious spread Its sacred honours round this hoary head; The prize of conquest in each doubtful fray, And dear reward of many a dire fought day. 40 Now youth's cold wane the vig'rous pulse has chas'd, [name! Froze all my blood, and ev'ry nerve unbrac'd; And inly groan'd the fatal words-'no more.' thor inculcates a 'fine moral, by showing how apt men are to mistake their talents; but were men only to act in their proper spheres, how often should we see the parson in the pew of the peasant, the author in the character of his hawker, or a beau in the livery of his footman! &c. V. 34. the badge its due.] A prize given by Mr. Dogget, to be annually contested on the first of August.-As among the ancients, games and sports were celebrated on mournful as well as joyful events, there has been some controversy, whether our loyal comedian meant the compliment to the setting or rising monarch of 1 Argument.] It was doubtless in obedience that day; but, as the plate has a horse for its to custom, and the example of other great poets, device, I am induced to impute it to the latter; that our author has thought proper to prefix an and, doubtless, he prudently considered, that, argument to each book, being minded that noas a living dog is better than a dead lion, the thing should be wanting in the usual parapher-living horse had, at least, an equal title to the nalia of works of this kind.--For my own part, I am at a loss to account for the use of them, unless it be to swell a volume, or, like bills of fare, to advertise the reader what he is to expect; that, if it contains nothing likely to suit his taste, he may preserve his appetite for the next course. V. 6, 7. He leaps the bar, &c. See the desThe roofs re-echo riptions of Dares in Virgil. } Nec mora, continuo vastis cum viribus effert same preference. V. 42. Froze all my blood,] See Virgil. V. 50. Fierce Grettonius to submit ;] Gretton, the most famous Athleta in his days, over whom our hero obtained his maiden prize. V. 53. Allenius too, &c.] Vulgarly known by the plebeian name of Pipes, which a learned critic will have to be derived from the art and mystery of pipe-making, in which it is affirmed this here A description of the battle; Stephenson is van- was an adept.-As he was the delicium pugnacis generis, our author, with marvellous judgment, represents the ring weeping at his defeat. V. 54. Whose blows, like hail, &c.] Virgil. Culminibus crepitant. V. 57. Then fell the swain,] Jeoffrey Birch, who, in several encounters, served only to augment the number of our hero's triumphs. V. 59. Next the bold youth] As this champion is still living, and even disputes the palm of manhood with our hero himself, I shall leave him to be the subject of immortality in some future Gymnasiad, should the superiority of his prowess ever justify his title to the corona pugnea. V. 63. This said, &c,] Virgil. tum : Hæc fatus, duplicem ex humeris rejecit amic[tosque Et magnos membrorum artus, magna ossa lacerExuit. 10 And whizzing, spent its idle force in air. 20 So wav'd the head, and now to left and right Both, fix'd as oaks, their sturdy trunks sustain. 31 40 Bold and undaunted up the hero rose, Fiercer his bosom for the combat glows; Shame stung his manly heart, and fiery rage New steel'd each nerve, redoubled war to wage. Swift to revenge the dire disgrace he flies, Again suspended on the hip he lies; Dash'd on the ground, again had fatal fell, Haply the barrier caught his flying heel; There fast it hung, th' imprison'd head gave way, And the strong arm defrauded of its prey. Vain strove the chief to whirl the mountain o'er; It slipt-he headlong rattles on the floor. V. 10. its idle force in air.] Virgil -vires in ventum effudit. V. 19. Like the young lion] It may be ob served, that our author has treated the reader. but with one simile throughout the two foregoing books; but, in order to make him ample amends, bas given him no less than six in this. Doubtless this was in imitation of Homer, and artfully action, as well as our admiration, towards the intended to heighten the dignity of the main conclusion of his work.-Finis coronat opus. V. 24. Arms in arms entwine ;] Virgil. Immiscentque manus manibus, pugnamque lacessunt. V. 35. Bold and undaunted, &c.] Virgil. V. 42. Haply the barrier, &c.] Our author, like Homer himself, is no less to be admired in the character of an historian than in that of a poet: we see him here faithfully reciting the most minute incidents of the battle, and informing us, that the youthful hero, being on the lock, must again inevitably have come to the ground, had not is heel catched the bar; and that his antagonist, by the violence of his straining, slipt Around the ring loud peals of thunder rise, And shouts exultant echo to the skies. 51 Uplifted now inanimate he seems, As when two monarchs of the brindled breed Till with returning strength new rage returns, Again their arms are steel'd, again each busom burns. Incessant now their hollow sides they pound, Loud on each breast the bounding bangs resound; Their flying fists around the temples glow, 70 Dragging its limbs, they bear the body forth, Mash'd teeth and clotted blood came issuing from his mouth. Thus then the victor-" O celestial pow'r! No more in combat this proud crest shall rise; High soar'd applause on acclamation's wing. V. 88. No more in combat, &c.] Virgil. Till on the part where heav'd the panting breath,"LOAD, load the pallet, boy!" hark! Hogarth A fatal blow impress'd the seal of death. 80 his arm over his head, and by that means received the fall he intended the enemy.-I thought it incumbent on me as a commentator to say thus much, to illustrate the meaning of our author, which might seem a little obscure to those who are unacquainted with conflicts of this kind. V. 48. echo to the skies, &c.] Virgil. It clamor cœlo The learned reader will perceive our author's frequent allusions to Virgil; and whether he intended them as translations or imitations of the Roman poet, must give us pause: but as, in our modern productions, we find imitations are generally nothing more than bad translations, and translations nothing more than bad imitations; it would equally, I suppose, satisfy the gall of the critic, should these unluckily fall within either description. V. 63. Incessant now, &c.] Virgil. Multa viri nequicquam inter se vulnera jactant: Multa cavo lateri ingeminant, & pectore vastos Dant sonitus, erratque aures & tempora circum Crebra manus: duro crepitant sub vulnere malæ. V. 79. His faithful friends] Virgil. At illum fidi æquales, genua ægra trahentem, Jactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruo rem Ore rejectantem, mistosque in sanguine dentes, Ducunt ad naves. cries, "Fast as I paint, fresh swarms of fools arise! Groups rise on groups, and mock the pencil's pow'r, To catch each new-blown folly of the hour." While hum'rous Hogarth paints each fully dead, Shall vice triumphant rear its hydra head? "But what avails the poignance of the song, Since all," you cry, "still persevere in wrong. Would courtly crimes to Mulgrave's' muse sub. mit? Or blush'd the monarch though a Wilmot writ? Will harpy Heathcote, from his mould'ring store, glow, Still let me mark him to mankind a foe: 'Translator of Horace's Art of Poetry, and afterwards duke of Buckingham. • Earl of Rochester. Strike but the deer, however slight the wound, Great in her laurel'd sages Athens see, Guilt still is guilt, to me, in slave or king, Fetter'd in cells, or garter'd in the ring: And yet behold how various the reward, Wild falls a felon, Walpole3 mounts a lord! The little knave the law's last tribute pays, While crowns around the great one's chariot blaze. Blaze meteors, blaze! to me is still the same The cart of justice, or the coach of shame. Say, what's nobility, ye gilded train! Does nature give it, or can guilt sustain ? Blooms the form fairer, if the birth be high? Or takes the vital stream a richer dye; What! though a long patrician line ye claim, Are noble souls entail'd upon a name? Anstis may ermine out the lordly earth, Virtue's the herald that proclaims its worth. Hence mark the radiance of a Stanhope's star, And glow-worm glitter of thine, D***r: Ignoble splendour! that but shines to all, The humble badge of a court hospital. Let lofty L**r wave his nodding plume, Boast all the blushing honours of the loom, Resplendent bondage no regard can bring, 'Tis Methuen's heart must dignify the string. Vice levels all, however high or low; And all the diff'rence but consists in show. Who asks an alms, or supplicates a place, Alike is beggar, though in rags or lace; Alike his country's scandal and its curse, Who vends a vote, or who purloins a purse; Thy gamblers, Bridewell, and St James's bites, The rooks of Mordington's, and sharks at White's. 3 Though the person here meant has indeed paid the debt of nature, yet, as he has left that of justice unsatisfied, the author apprehends that the public are indisputably entitled to the assets of his reputation. Affords the town no sins but sins of state? If guided by a brother of the Bath? Honour's a mistress all mankind pursue; Yet most mistake the false one for the true: Lur'd by the trappings, dazzled by the paint, We worship oft the idol for the saint. Courted by all, by few the fair is won; Those lose who seek her, and those gain who shun; Naked she flies to merit in distress, And leaves to courts the garnish of her dress. The million'd merchant seeks her in his gold; In schools the pedant, and in camps the bold: The courtier views her, with admiring eyes, Flutter in ribbons, or in titles rise: Sir Epicene enjoys her in his plume; Mead, in the learned wainscot of a room: By various ways all woo the modest maid; Yet lose the substance, grasping at the shade. Who, smiling, sees not with what various strife Man blindly runs the giddy maze of life? Report, though vulture-like the name it bear, Through life's wild ocean, who would safely roam, And bring the golden fleece of glory home, Yet, on this sea, how all mankind are tost! For one that's sav'd, what multitudes are lost! Misguided by ambition's treach'rous light, Through want of skill, few make the harbour right. Hence mark what wrecks of virtue, friendship, fame, For four dead letters added to a name ! George the Second. Say, the proud title meant to plume the son, No toilsome dews pollute the rev'rend brow, O bounteous Heav'n! yet Heav'n how seldom shares The titheful tribute of the prelate's pray'rs ! Who seeks on merit's stock to graft success, Let folly still be fortune's fondling heir, O! once-lov'd youths! Britannia's blooming hope, Fair freedom's twins, and once the theme of Fope; Though Walpole, Carteret, or a Pelham reign? If justice waves o'er fraud a lenient hand, Sunk in these bonds, to Britain what avails, Who wields her sword, or balances her scales? Veer round the compass, change to change sucBy every son the mother now must bleed [ceed, Vain all her hosts, on foreign shores array'd, Though lost by Wentworth, or preserv'd by Wade. Fleets, once which spread through distant worlds her name! Now ride inglorious trophies of her shame®; 6 Alluding to the ever-memorable no-fight in While fading laurels shade her drooping head And mark her Burleighs, Blakes, and Marlbro's dead! Such were thy sons, O happy isle! of old, Sleep our last heroes in the silent tomb? Ere Britain fell to mimic modes a prey, And took the foreign polish of our day, Train'd to the martial labours of the field, Our youth were taught the massy spear to wield; In halcyon peace, beneath whose downy wings The merchant smiles, and lab'ring peasant sings, With civil arts to guard their country's cause, Direct her counsels, and defend her laws: Hence a long race of ancient worthies rose, Adorn'd the land, and triumph'd o'er our foes. Ye sacred shades! who through th' Elysian grove, With Rome's fam'd chiefs, and Grecian sages rove, Through foreign climes exotic vice explore, Sick of a land where virtue dwells no more, the Mediterranean: as the nation was unluckily the only victim on that occasion, the lenity of our aquarian judicature has, I think, evidently proved, that a court-martial and a martial-court are by no means synonymous terms. 7 The reader will readily conclude these lines were written before our worthy admirals Anson and Warren had so eminently distinguished themselves in the service of their country. |