This blear-eyed hag did hide : Here screeching owls oft made their nest, No wholesome herb could here be found; Her haggard face was foull to see; She nought devis'd, but neighbour's ill; All in her prime, have poets sung. From Glaston came a lerned wight, Sich mischief never had been known, He chauntede out his godlie booke, 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Full well 'tis known adown the dale : But tho' this lernede clerke did well; She left this curse behind : Should find no leman kind. For lo! even, as the fiend did say, That men are wondrous scant: Shall then sich maids unpitied moane ? Since Glaston now can boast no clerks ; Yet stay-nor thus despond, ye fair; 45 50 55 60 65 70 XV. BRYAN AND PEREENE, A WEST-INDIAN BALLAD, is founded on a real fact, that happened in the island of St. Christophers about the beginning of the present reign. The editor owes the following stanzas to the friendship of Dr. James Grainger, who was an eminent physician in that island when this tragical incident happened, and died there much honoured and lamented in 1767. To this ingenious gentleman the public are indebted for the fine "Ode on Solitude," printed in the ivth Vol. of Dodsley's Miscel. p. 229, in which are assembled some of the sublimest images in nature. The reader will pardon the insertion of the first stanza here, for the sake of rectifying the two last lines, which were thus given by the Author : "O Solitude, romantic maid, Whether by nodding towers you tread, Or starting from your half-year's sleep, Tadmor's marble wastes survey, &c. alluding to the account of Palmyra published by some late ingenious travellers, and the manner in which they were struck at the first sight of those magnificent ruins by break of day.t THE north-east wind did briskly blow, Young Bryan thought the boat's-crew slow, * Author of a poem on the Culture of the "Sugar-Cane," &c. published by Messrs. Wood & Dawkins. + So in pag. 235. it should be, "Turn'd her magic ray." Pereene, the pride of Indian dames, A long long year, one month and day, He dwelt on English land, Nor once in thought or deed would stray, Tho' ladies sought his hand. For Bryan he was tall and strong, Right blythsome roll'd his een, 10 Sweet was his voice whene'er he sung, 15 But who the countless charms can draw, Such charms the old world seldom saw, Nor oft I ween the new. 20 Her raven hair plays round her neck, Her cheeks red dewy rose buds deck, Soon as his well-known ship she spied, And to the palmy shore she hied, In sea-green silk so neatly clad, Her hands a handkerchief display'd, Her fair companions one and all, And almost touch'd the land. 25 30 35 40 Then through the white surf did she haste, When, ah! a shark bit through his waste: He shriek'd! his half sprang from the wave, And soon it found a living grave, Now haste, now haste, ye maids, I pray, 45 50 She falls, she swoons, she dies away, Now each May morning round her tomb So may your lovers scape his doom, XVI. GENTLE RIVER, GENTLE RIVER, TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH. 55 ALTHOUGH the English are remarkable for the number and variety of their ancient Ballads, and retain perhaps a greater fondness for these old simple rhapsodies of their ancestors, than most other nations; they are not the only people who have distinguished themselves by compositions of this kind. The Spaniards have great multitudes of them, many of which are of the highest merit. They call them in their language Romances, and have collected them into volumes under the titles of El Romancero, El Cancionero, * &c. Most of them relate to their conflicts with the Moors, and display a spirit of gallantry peculiar to that romantic people. But of all the Spanish ballads none exceed in poetical merit those inserted in a little * i. e. The ballad-singer. |