moment upon the most heedless observer. We shall, however, only generally observe, that their conception of a character seems to be equally correct; in the execution, where dignity is to be represented, or terrour impressed, Mrs. Siddons stands unrivalled; where pity and the softer passions are to be infused, Mrs. Whitlock is not surpassed. We more familiarly sympathize in the feelings of the latter; by the grander bursts of the former we are terrified and over-awed. The acting of the one has more of general nature, that of the other more of occasional sublimity.

throughout, were only surpassed by those of the audience at the fall of the curtain. We never saw Elliston, or H. Siddons more happily exert themselves; but the whole attention was absorbed by the novelty of the night, which drew an overflowing house at a very early hour.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

For The Port Folio.

MR. CLDSCHOOL,

The favourable reception of my first production has induced me to make a second essay, which I send

ed actresses, what the British Adrastus says of Dryden and Pope. We behold Mrs. Siddons with frequent astonishment; Mrs. Whitlock with perpetual delight. If we are to point out any passage of her last night's performance, it is not the more prominant ones of the piece, where every performer is ambitious of exertion, but those short and simple ones, where judgment and feeling are of ten most happily marked; of this description we shall for the present particularise but two-the one where Lord Raby asks—

"Should some rash man, regardless of thy fame,

And in defiance of thy marriage vows, Presume to plead a guilty passion for thee, What would't do?"

Elwina answered, with most impressive energy,

"What honour bids me do." And again, when in her first interview with Percy, she hesitates to disclose her situation to him, and he impatiently exclaims, "Speak, say what art thou?" the pause that intervened, and the lowered tone in which she expressed the word "married," was given with a force and discrimination which was universally felt and universally applauded. Indeed the enthusiastick plaudits that accompanied her performance

among

Poetica Licentia.

ADDRESSED TO MISS MARGARET F**,

Mirth, with thee I mean to live." One Summer eve, by Cynthia's light, Attracted, I in merry plight, Sauntered to seek my favourite grove, Musing o'er former scenes of love: And as by deepening thought enchained, My honeysuckle bower I gained, The nightingale's enchanting note Had lulled me to a sleep remote. Methought, while Morpheus held his sway, And as in partial death I lay, A female rose whose gladsome air Drove from the soul's fair seat, dull Care. Her step was as the zephyrs light, And in fantastick form bedight, A goblet her right hand compressed, Which sparkled bright as Phebus' crest. "Thou favoured youth," she smiling said, "Shalt win the heart of some fair maid, At Grief's low shrine bow not the knee, To Mirth a cheerful vot'ry be." She said, and raised the goblet high, A lure to my delighted eye,

46

Behold," she cried, in wildest strain, "Let this with joy infuse each vein." Eager I snatched the antique cruse, And quafied, with wild delight, its juice, My thirsty soul each drop did drain, And to her hand returned it vain.

with transport now each scene I viewed, Each youthful freak now seemed renewed, The Goddess smiled, " by Fame renown'd May all thy future life be crowned.”

The magick words all fears disarm,
O'er my light soul now spreads the charm,
Now to my heart is joy instilled,
And all my thoughts with pleasure filled.
And with the fair sex, Nature's pride,
In cheery converse I'll abide,
And pass the light and dulcet hours,
In airy groves and shady bowers.

But when in "mazy dance" I seek
To lead young Margaret, my cheek
The fervour of my heart betrays,
And shows the latent spark a blaze.

For us, fair Margaret, combine
Their sweets the Rose and Eglantine,
And in fantastick windings wreathe,
To form a shady grot beneath.

Whilst thou, sweet Margaret, art a Rose,
The Queen of every flow'r that blows,
Oh! let me be the Eglantine

Which twines its sportive arms with thine.
STANLEY.

Vol. V.

MISCELLANY.

For The Port Folio.

A TREATISE ON

ORIENTAL POETRY.
(Continued from page 54.)

IN the class of the Love odes of the Arabs, we ought to place the descriptions of feasts and pleasures, subjects upon which their poets often exercise themselves. The following is an example:

"In the laughing season, when the young Roebuck bounds upon the hills, and the sweet breath of the fresh gale announces the reign of the rose, the rivulets murmur agreeably, and the branches bow themselves to adore him, who has reclothed them with their green robes. Then we assemble in a garden beauties capable of inflaming the Universe with love. The liberal clouds cover the plains with their liquid pearls and transparent chrystals, and spread their precious drops upon the fields decked with vegetable rubies. The shining teeth of these beautiful maidens sparkle like jasper. Their eyes are clear as the pure silver, and are never obscured by sleep. The odoriferous branches enrich us with their treasures. The birds perched in groves

No. 5.

of flowers delight us by their songs, and the air is embalmed with Musk. Oh! charming Paradise! in which my beloved shines like the full moon! Oh! what pleasures! what enchantment! It is here where eternity itself resides, at the height of felicity. The soft sound of kisses, voluptuous cooings, the tender sigh of Lovers, in this place alone strikes our ravished ears: all the united charms of Nature are the only objects which present themselves to our eyes, and the vivifying cup reanimates our senses oppressed with pleasure. Every thing enchants, every thing pleases around

us.

If the solitary Dervise could see this garden, he would immediately quit his retreat, he would without remorse break his former vows. Rise, my companion, fill the wine, sorrow ought not in this place to seize upon our hearts, a bumper of this divine liquor ought to cleanse them from all pain. Oh! how much the wine, the verdure of these fields, these beautiful maidens have of sweetness. Do not obey the Censor, he is full of deception and carries the publick enemy in his breast. May all deceit be banished from this place."

The Arabs also have a species short odes, which much resemble Persian odes; they often consist four lines like the European Sonnets. and it is probable that this kind of versification was brought from the East into Spain, and thence pass

I

ed into Provence and Italy. That which we now give is found in the original of the Arabian Tales of the thousand and one nights, and it is replete with those comparisons and images, which ornament with so much beauty the canticles of Solomon.

66

By the arched bows which guard her eyes, and by her eyes which dart enchanting arrows with their glances; By her delicate form, and by the cutting cimeter of her looks; by the shining majesty of her deportment, and the dark shade of her hair; By her languishing eyes, which charm sleep, and give laws to the Empire of Love;

By the ringlets of her black hair, which like Scorpions lanch into the heart, the arrows of despair;

By the Roses and Lillies which bloom upon her cheeks, by the lively carnation of her smiling lips, and her teeth of dazzling pearls ;

By the odour of her musky hair, and by the streams of wine and honey which run from her lips when she speaks; By her neck like that of a Roebuck, by her stature equal to the Cypress, by her bosom swelled and rounded like a pomegranate;

By the graces which accompany her steps,

and by the lightness of her form, By the silky softness of her bosom, the sweetness of her lips and all the beauties with which she is ornamented: By the affability of her manners, the truth

of her words, the nobility of her birth, and the greatness of her Fortune; By all these rare gifts, I swear, that the

odour of Musk is less agreeable than that of her tresses, and that the breath of the Zephyrs, steals its perfume from her hair;

That the meridian Sun is less resplendent than her cheek, that the new moon is less beautiful than her forehead."

In some ancient collections made by Abu Teman Talebi, and by other authours, are many Love verses written occasionally, which are very neat and elegant, such as these four stanzas of Dhuel Remma upon an Antelope :

"Thou art recalled to my remembrance,

Oh! Maïa, when the bounding Antelope outstrips iny courser, and fixes upon me its large shining eyes. An Antelope which inhabits the Sandy hills, whose skin is reddish, and who has a face like the Sun in its meridian.

It resembles Maia by its delicate form, by the beautiful roundness of its neck, by the lustre of its black eyes: but Maia shines with more splendour and with more charms;

When it shows its ornaments of Ivory, they seem to wave like the branches of the tree Ochar, when agitated by a torrent rolling in the valley."

We must now come to the Persians and the Turks, but there is little to say of these last, because the greater part of their odes are anfimitation of the Persian, although it must be acknowledged that the Turks have verses of an original turn, and very elegant of which this is an example : Kamer hemchere si di gabgabinung Cheker hemchihre si di lablerinung, Gulini sumbuling kilmish perichân Asilmich ber kiline bing del u geân, Lebing den lalung olmichdi yeri senk, Dehaning den cheker kalmichde diltenk. "The light of the Moon was equalled by the splendour of her countenance, and her lips were sweet as honey. The hyacinths of her tresses were scattered upon the Roses of her cheeks, and a thousand hearts were suspended to a single ringlet of her beautiful hair. The ruby, compared to her lips appeared only as a common stone, and her mouth took from sugar the prize of sweetness."

The Persians, above all, excel in their Love odes of which we have already given a specimen in the first section. It is surprising how much the odes of Hafiz resemble the fragments which we have, of the Lyrical Poets of Greece. We may assert with truth, that this poet has all the agreeableness and vivacity of Anacreon, with the softness and charms of Sappho. In general this kind of poems celebrate love and pleasure, and are interspersed with reflections upon the instability of Fortune, and the vanity of human wishes; they are called Gazels, and rarely contain less than five strophes each, or more than sixteen.

Although these Gazels or odes are worthy the curiosity of people of taste, it must be acknowledged that the ideas are often monotonous. The fertility of the language and the richness of the expressions, make this de

fect disappear in the original, to which consequently it is impossible to render justice. After these considerations, and the assertion of those who pretend that poetry can never be well expressed by prose, the authour of this treatise had at first given the ornament of Rhyme to these Gazels, but having then been forced to depart sometimes from an absolutely literal translation, he at last judged

As

that the inconvenience attached to this circumstance would be obviated by adding at the end of the treatise the same odes in verse that were to be here given in prose. If this repetition should appear strange, it ought by no means to be attributed to vanity, but to the desire of giving an idea of what we can make of the Oriental Poetry, and thus to open a career which others can pursue much better. it was difficult to make a choice in the excellent collection of the odes of Hafiz, we have taken those at random, in imitation of the Orientals, who to decide as well on the least as on the most considerable occasions, fortuitously open a book and leaving all to chance, hold themselves to that which first strikes their sight. We have taken notice* of the confidence which these people have in this species of divination, when in the History of Nadir Shahf we have seen this

This treatise was subjoined to a history of Nadir Shah.

† Après que l'illustre guerrier se fut reposé des fatigues qui'l avoit soutenu pour se rendre maître d'Hamadan et de Kermanchahan, il congut un vif désir de prendre Tauris. Rempli de ce dessein, il essaya d'en decouvrir le succès, en consultant les poëmes du divin Hafiz; et à l'ouverture du livre, le sort lui prèsenta une ode qui non seulement repondit à la présente situation des affaires mais dont la dernière strophe (que voici) étoit frappante :

"O Hafiz' toi que Fars, toi qu'Irak admirérent.

Quand de tes vers touchans les sons melo

dieux,

T'armèrent d'un pouvoir divin, victorieux, Et ces fameux pays á la fois subjuguèrent;

prince, determine upon two famous seiges, by two verses of the same Hafiz of which we will join the entire ode to those we have just spoken of.‡

ODE I.

'My bosom is filled with Roses; I have wine in my head, my beloved yields to my desires. The monarch of the world is this day my slave.

Listen, do not bring flambeaux into our as

sembly, for the Moon of the cheeks of my Favourite is at its full in this banquet.

Do not burn perfumes in our banquetting chamber, for my soul finds no pleasure except in the embalmed odour of thy hair.

Do not speak of the savour of sugar and honey, for I desire only to taste the sweetness of thy lips.

In our apartments Wine is permitted, but,

Oh! Cypress, decked with the most beautiful shades! without thee it is forbidden.

When thou art absent, and the weights of

affliction oppress my heart, I always retire into the corner of my cell. Why dost thou speak to me of reputation? hold it not in estimation; why dost thou tell me of my name? what is that

to me?

My ear is constantly attentive to the melo

dy of the Flute and the notes of the Harp; my eyes are always fixed upon thy ruby lips, and upon the circulating cup.

We love good Wine with obstinacy, we are amorous, our eyes are lascivious, but throughout the city, where is he who is not subject to the same faults? Do not for these offences accuse us to the magistrate, he loves as well as we a bumper of this vivifying wine. Do not seat thyself, Hafiz, without thy beloved at thy side, and wine in thy cup, for it is the season of the Rose and Jasmine, it is the feast of Spring.

ODE II.

"Shiraz, I salute thee' Oh city so deliciously situated! may Heaven preserve thee from ruin!

Qu'à Bagdad, qu'à Tauris, les cieux te reser

vèrent."