The Harp of Erin :: :: University of Virginia Library

O! quaint-ey'd nymph, of buxom port,
Where dost thou hold thy jovial court?
Where tread the gay Romance's wizard round?
Now Sympathy, with blubber'd face,
And zoneless breast, usurps thy place,
And sighs, and throbs, and moans, o'ercome thy merry sound.

In drawling lethargy of woe,
Solemn, serene, and sad, and slow,
The novel Muse her fire-drawn rapture deals,
Meanwhile he cherry ribbon'd maid,
Of lewd town rakes but half afraid,
Beats her tumultuous bosom, pants, and feels.

It was not so thou sweetest lass,
When from thy rosy dimpling glass

The ancient sons of Humour quaff'd,
And wrote, and shook their sides, and laugh'd.
When Mancha's puissant errant urg'd
His famous steed, with heel of armour scourg'd;
And dapper Sancho, curious wight,
With fulminating proverbs burst,
How didst thou bless Dulcinea's tender name,
From whence his knightly ardour came,
And titled him of all thy sons the first.

As through the laureate arch he rode,
Grim issuing to th' ideal castle,
And many a death-denouncing fight;
In that blest moment you forgot all past ill,
And smil'd, exulting, on the comic wrestle.

Nor did the Gallic wit thy influence want,
Who him of Santillane recorded;
Nor to choice Scarron wert thou scant
Of laughing merchandize, so lately hoarded.
But oh, when civil dudgeon first grew high,
And folks fell out they knew not why,

Then did thy knight abandon dwelling,
And sally forth a colonelling;
While politics (who now refuses),
Trudg'd cheek by jole with the nine muses;
And the new light shone most serenely,
On Ralpho's garb, dress'd neat and cleanly.
Ill-fated bard of whim and frolic,
Sore troubled oft with pursy colic,
Inhaler mild of ale Pierian,
Of quack Apol droll pickle-hcrring;
Thou shalt delight all future ages,
Though forced to dine on Hudibrastic pages.

Next the gymnastic Parson caught the smile,
In cassock'd wisdom, but resistless mirth;
Created to inform, and glad the earth,
And half allay the pastor's gloomy toil.
But soon the sun of Laughter rose;
Burst through a cloudy host of foes,
And rainbow wreaths of varying hues combin'd;
With sweet instruction sooth'd the aching mind;

Brisk sprightly warmth, a nymph divine,
Flam'd in the radiance of each artless line.
Amelia's harrowing tale lay yet untold,
Ripe in design, and in pure judgment bold:
Domestic love there breathes his tender soul,
And anxious nature trembles o'er the whole.

In thy bright sky another planet shone,
With joy-imparting vigour, all his own;
The scenes of life his ready hand
Bade in sweet succession stand,
And left their checquer'd chances to the eye:
Satire stood blinking nigh,
And while he strove to mend the loaded crew,
Dash'd with malignant gall the liveliet hue.
His fabling fancy too, fantastic arm'd
Stout Chivalry's enthusiast, grizzly chief!
Erst wont to urge the plough, with porter warm'd,
Or deal with falchion dread deep gash to bleeding beef.

How alter'd soon; in steel 'ycased,
With mettlesome trot he paced
The sober charger, while behind
His gallant 'squire the luncheon'd bag assaulted;
And tilting tournaments of wind,
O'er some unlucky oak's o'erhanging branches vaulted.
The maniac marine their well-earn'd honours saw,
Right envious of the murd'rous field;
And buckling helm around his sturdy jaw,
Couch'd his elastic pole, and rung his brazen shield.

Another Quixote join'd the madding row,
Lad of th' uplifted eye, and willing spirit;
Replete with methodistic merit,
He soft commands the saintly bosom glow;
Fresh from the rustic bench, behold he mounts
The pulpit-thrones of Whitefield's, Wesley's, courts,
And midst his strugglings dire, thou Goddess, spy,
O'erflowing sanctity illume his eye!

Again resum'd the hobbling rhime,
Thou rose o'er Envy and old Time,

And breath'd, with loose poetic pride,
Thy influence o'er the pleasing guide.

Grey-tressed Age shook hands with rose-cheek'd Mirth,
And antic Humour, on the smoaky hearth,
Pourtray'd the courtly tricks of dance and ball;
Meanwhile the cottage seem'd a new Vauxhall.

The dormant feelings too 'gan weave
Their choicest web in Goldsmith's simple tale;
What time he sought with nat'ral hand to save
The Vicar mild from Wakefield's silent vale;
The pensive Pleasures on the hist'ry hung,
And smil'd betimes, and wept, as Auburn's minstre, sung.

O! form'd in ev'ry dress to charm,
Thou, gentle tyrant of the breast,
Couldst with resistles indignation warm
Or sink the soul in fancy'd woe deprest:

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Nature's own hand shall deck thy humble tomb,
And bid her dewy wild-flow'rs weep around;
Pity's own pencil milden the dread gloom,
And harmless Jest frequent the darling ground.

But thou art fled; despis'd, and scorn'd,
With every winning grace adorn'd:
No more thou deign'st t' inspire the Bard,
His heart-felt balm, his bright reward,
Oh! frolic tut'ress, gay coquette,
The pedant bookworm's mouldy crust forget,
The prude Philosophy disdain,
And o'er my favour'd bosom reign;
Weave wild the probable design,
Harsh stricture rude to wit refine,
And bright'ning into smiles of day,
The night of Dulness chase away.

This was an original attempt at a new eccentric species of poetry, and may be styled the irregular comic ode.

Cervantes.

Le Sage.

Author of the comic romance.

Hudibras, by Butler.

Parson Adams, chief character in the romance of Joseph Andrews, by Fielding.

Tom Jones, by the same.

A novel, by Fielding.

Smollet.

See his Launcelot Greaves, a most admirable comic performance. The following lines allude to incidents in the romance, which the reader will not regret to be referred to.

The Spiritual Quixote.

Alluding to Anstey's Bath Guide, which, though in the form of an epistolary poem, may be reckoned a romance, as a small plot runs through the whole.