BATTLE OF SHERIFF-MUIR.

295

The profusion of rivers is quite remarkable, and, if a fact, should be differently managed. One river can be pictured, or two, as in Milton's 'Temptation,' but an indefinite plurality overpowers us; and we simply accept the vague suggestions as isolated touches, each carrying a certain emotional association.

The author now makes a fresh commencement.

Ever charming, ever new,

When will the landscape tire the view?
The fountain's fall, the river's flow,
The woody valleys, warm and low;
The windy summit, wild and high,
Roughly rushing on the sky!

The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tower,
The naked rock, the shady bower;
The town and village, dome and farm,
Each give each a double charm,

As pearls upon an Æthiop's arm.

We have had most of these particulars already; and the repetition, while confusing the picture, contributes little to the feeling. The last line but one is an admirable expression of what may be gained by picturesque description, when both full and intelligible; each part increasing the charm of its neighbour: a beautiful valley heightens the interest of the streams that flow in it; and is itself repaid with increase.

The poet next turns to the southern side, and proceeds in the same style.

The poetry of battles has descended from Homer, and may have flourished long before him. The picturesque is aimed at by the usual arts-felicitous snatches, with more or less of comprehensiveness. Campbell's 'Hohenlinden,' as we saw, depends on broad effects, and gives little attention to the opposite sides and the changing phases of the fight. When more closely viewed, a battle belongs to the class of active ongoings that present a wide area to the eye at the same moment; while the changing phases involve the narrative of succession. The 'Battle of Sheriff-Muir' (included among BURNS's poems, though only an improved version of an older form), is illustrative of the successes and failures of description in one of the most difficult of subjects.

I saw the battle sair and tough,
And reekin' red ran mony a sheugh,
My heart, for fear, gaed sough for sough,
To hear the thuds, and see the cluds,
O' clans frae woods, in tartan duds,

Wha glaum'd at kingdoms three, man.

The personality of the spectator, well introduced, is a help to the picture, as well as to the emotion. The phrase, 'clans frae woods, in tartan duds,' helps us to conceive the gathering and aspect of the highlanders; the 'thuds' and 'cluds' (clouds) are suggestive aids to the picture. The other side is given in the next stanza.

The red-coat lads, wi' black cockades,

To meet them were na slaw, man;

They rush'd and push'd, and blude outgush'd,

And mony a bouk did fa', man;

The great Argyle led on his files,

I wat they glanced for twenty miles;

They hack'd and hash'd, while broad swords clash'd,
And thro' they dash'd, and hew'd and smash'd,
Till fey men died awa, man.

The Argyle force is given on the large scale by the line glanced twenty miles,' and the picturesque detail by the first line. The action is represented by rush'd and push'd,' with the suggestive accessories, blude outgush'd,' and 'mony a bouk (body) did fa". The three last lines are merely a repetition of the foregoing; the hand-to-hand fight being pretty well exhausted in a few leading circumstances. The succeeding stanza returns to the side of the highlanders, and is still more effective in combining a comprehensive view with energetic particulars.

In lines extended lang and large,

When bayonets o'erpowered the targe,
And thousands hastened to the charge,
Wi' Highland wrath they frae the sheath
Drew blades o' death, till, out o' breath,
They fled like frighted doos, man.

This does more to make us conceive the battle than either of the foregoing stanzas. The poet keeps steadily to the pictorial representation, while the emotional details are aids and not hindrances to the effect. What follows is the rout, and is not illustrative of the picturesque to the same degree.

THOMSON'S SEASONS.

297

Picturesque strokes of a more general character are abundant in Burns. They are often combined with humour, as in 'Tam o' Shanter' and 'Death and Doctor Hornbook'. The following is of a different nature

Ayr, gurgling, kiss'd his pebbl'd shore,

O'erhung with wild woods thickening green,
The fragrant birch, and hawthorn hoar,
Twin'd amorous round the raptur'd scene;
The flow'rs sprang wanton to be press'd,
The birds sang love on every spray-
Till too, too soon the glowing west
Proclaim'd the speed of winged day.

The scene of the lovers' parting is first set before us comprehensively, by the pictures of the river and the overhanging woods; and the spot on the river bank is more specifically described as surrounded by birch and hawthorn. Note, in the details, the variety of the aids offered to the imagination, including suggestive points of sight-the 'pebbl'd shore,' the woods thickening green,' the 'hawthorn hoar'; appropriate sounds-' Ayr gurgling,' and the 'birds singing'; and a characteristic odour--the fragrant birch'. Further, the object of the description is intensely emotional, as expressed in the immediately following lines.

Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes,

And fondly broods with miser care.

Accordingly, the language is strongly emotional, and the features of the description are expressed with special reference to the emotion of love, which is in view: 'Ayr kiss'd his shore,' the trees 'twin'd amorous round the raptur'd scene,' 'the flowers sprang wanton to be press'd,' 'the birds sang love'. Thus, the emotional harmony is complete, while the intellectual conception is more vividly presented than is usual in pictures so charged with emotion.

THOMSON is reckoned one of the foremost of our nature poets, as regards both the date of his appearance and the felicity of his style. He is not, however, an example of the descriptive art, further than by his poetic touches. His scenic views are generalized and representative; he exemplifies the characteristics of each of the four seasons, as realized in all places alike. This brings out a certain kind of individuality, but seldom presents a concrete picture in

all its circumstantials. He is the poet of nature in general,
and of no place in particular. The degree of pictorial con-
creteness attained by him is easily seen.
The following are
two brief examples. The first is on Winter.

And see where surly Winter passes off,
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts:
His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill,
The shattered forest, and the ravaged vale;
While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch,
Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost,

The mountains lift their green heads to the sky.

The individual touches are admirable, but there is no scenic fulness; it is a narrative series of effects due to natural agency, and is simply the picturesque of single-threaded action.

The next example is the influence of Spring on the garden.

At length the finished garden to the view

Its vistas opens, and its alleys green.

Snatched through the verdant maze, the hurried eye
Distracted wanders: now the bowery walk

Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day

Falls on the lengthened gloom, protracted sweeps ;
Now meets the bending sky, the river now
Dimpling along, the breezy-ruffled lake,

The forest darkening round, the glittering spire,
The ethereal mountain, and the distant main.

This is more of a composed picture, but wants the art that would give coherence to the particulars, and make it easy to conceive the whole. The 'vistas' and the alleys green,' are well put for a comprehensive view so far; but the lines that follow pass to the 'verdant maze' without giving it a definite place. The same with the 'bowery walk'; it has an independent place in the picture. So with the river and the lake; each has its characteristic touch— 'dimpling,' 'breezy-ruffled'; but the aggregation of particulars into an imaginable whole is not aimed at. Probably, the poet considered that such a result would not have repaid the labour.

COWPER is often bracketed with Thomson, as nature poets of a kindred. Their merits are closely compared by Campbell. The conclusion is that Cowper's landscapes have less of the ideally beautiful than Thomson's,' but they

have an unrivalled charm of truth and reality'. The generalizing of scenic effects, under the influence of season, was, however, no part of Cowper's plan. He described the actual scenes where he was accustomed to ramble, and, while he put forth the genius of description, which he undoubtedly possessed, he intermingled his pictures so profusely with sentiment that they seldom exemplify descriptive method at its utmost; yet, allowing for interruptions, they often attain very high excellence no less in method than in genius. In short de riptions, there is seldom a want of comprehensive outline. Thus

Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain

Of spacious meads, with cattle sprinkled o'er,
Conducts the eye along his sinuous course

Delighted.

The test of descriptive power is the prospect from a

And, posted on this speculative height,
Exults in its command. The sheepfold here
Pours out its fleecy tenants o'er the glebe.
At first, progressive as a stream, they seek
The middle field; but, scattered by degrees,
Each to his choice, soon whiten all the land.

There from the sunburnt hay-field homeward creeps
The loaded wain; while lightened of its charge,
The wain that meets it passes swiftly by ;
The boorish driver leaning o'er his team

Vociferous and impatient of delay.

Nor less attractive is the woodland scene,
Diversified by trees of every growth,

Alike, yet various. Here the gray smooth trunks
Of ash, or lime, or beech distinctly shine,
Within the twilight of their distant shades;
There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood
Seems sunk, and shortened to its topmost boughs.
No tree in all the grove but has its charms,
Though each its hue peculiar; paler some,
And of a wannish gray; the willow such,
And poplar, that with silver lines his leaf,
And ash far stretching his umbrageous arm;
Of deeper green the elm; and deeper still,
Lord of the woods, the long-surviving oak.

This is a case where detail is everything. Still, he introduces the enumeration of the various kinds of trees, with a comprehensive view-'Not less attractive is the woodland scene'.