Ode is founded on a Tradition current in Wales, that Edward the I, when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all Bards that fell into his hands to be put to death.]

I. 1.

RUIN seize thee, ruthless King [1]!
Confusion on thy banners wait;
no' fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing,
They mock the air with idle state (e).

The Bard" (says Johnson) appears, at the first view, to be, as rotti and others have remarked, an imitation of the prophecy of eus. Algarotti thinks it superior to its original, and, if preference ends only on the imagery and animation of the two poems, his ment is right. There is in The Bard' more force, more thought, more variety."

Of this noble exordium, an anonymous Critic thus eloquently ses his admiration: "This abrupt execration plunges the reader that sudden fearful perplexity which is designed to predominate gh the whole. The irresistible violence of the prophet's passions 5 him away, who, as he is unprepared by a formal ushering-in of peaker, is unfortified against the impressions of his poetical nzy and overpowered by them, as sudden thunders strike the

est."

(e) They mock the air with idle state!

Mocking the air with colours idly spread.
Shakespeare's King John.

first Edward scatter'd wild dismay,
the steep of Snowdon's shaggy side (h)
and with toilsome march his long array.

(f) Helm, nor Hauberk's twisted mail.

rk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, t of mail that sat close to the body, and adapted itself to

1. 2.

a rock, whose haught

so'er old Conway's f od in the sable garb o aggard eyes the Poet se his beard, and hoary

'd, like a meteor(m), t

(i) Stout Glo'ster stood agh de Clare, surnamed the Red, How to King Edward.

(h) As down the steep of Snowdon's shaggy side. as a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract lsh themselves call Craigian-eryri: it included all the Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire, as far as the river Hygden, speaking of the castle of Conway, built there by the First, says, "Ad ortum amnis Conway ad clivum y;" and Matthew of Westminster, (ad ann. 1283)" Apud y ad pedes montis Snowdoniæ fecit erigo castrum

(1) To arms cried Mortin Edmond de Mortimer, Lord ch were Lords Marchers, wh d probably accompanied the (1) Loose his beard, and ho mage was taken from a well-k

Supreme Being in the visio tings, both believed origina

(m) Stream'd, like a mete Shone, like a meteor

es breaking the tables of ich Mr. Gray used to say can are of Raphael.

D

n a rock, whose haughty brow
wns o'er old Conway's foaming flood,
ob'd in the sable garb of woe,
n haggard eyes the Poet stood;

se his beard, and hoary hair (1)

m'd, like a meteor (m), to the troubled air) [3]

(i) Stout Glo'ster stood aghast

ert de Clare, surnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, law to King Edward.

(k) To arms! cried Mortimer

Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore.

both were Lords Marchers, whose lands lay on the borders of and probably accompanied the King in this expedition.

(1) Loose his beard, and hoary hair.

image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphael, reprethe Supreme Being in the vision of Ezekiel. There are two of paintings, both believed original, one at Florence, the other at

(m) Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air.

Shone, like a meteor, streaming to the wind.

Milton's Paradise Lost.

Moses breaking the tables of the law, by Parmegiano, was a which Mr. Gray used to say came still nearer to his meaning than cture of Raphael.

D

ave,

ge on thee in hoarser murmurs breathe; more, since Cambria's fatal day,

porn Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay.

1. 3.

s Cadwallo's tongue,

hush'd the stormy main :

rien sleeps upon his craggy bed: tains, ye mourn in vain

ed, whose magic song

ge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-top'd head. reary Arvon's shore (») they lie,

(n) On dreary Arvon's shore

Caernarvonshire opposite to the isle of Anglesey.

ar as the ruddy dro "Ye died amidst your

No more I weep [4].

*On yonder cliffs, a
see them sit, they lin
Avengers of their n

(0) The famish'd eagle s
den and others observe, tha
ng the rocks of Snowdon,
med by the Welsh Craigia
day I am told) the highe
est. That bird is certain
d the people of Cumberla
has built its nest in the Pea
published by Ray.)
(1)Dear as the light tha
As dear to me as are t
That visit my sad hear

S

Here says an anonymous C bly made to ensue, after Breaks double rhym

xalted ferocity of languag umultuous workings of th

1

Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart, - Ye died amidst your dying country's criesNo more I weep [4]. They do not sleep. On yonder cliffs, a grisly band,

see them sit, they linger yet,

- Avengers of their native land:

(0) The famish'd eagle screams, and passes by.

mden and others observe, that eagles used annually to build their among the rocks of Snowdon, which from thence (as some think) named by the Welsh Craigianeryri, or the crags of the eagles. his day (I am told) the highest point of Snowdon is called the e's nest. That bird is certainly no stranger to this island, as the and the people of Cumberland, Westmoreland, &c. can testify: en has built its nest in the Peak of Derbyshire. (See Willoughby's hol. published by Ray.)

(p) Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes.

As dear to me as are the ruddy drops

That visit my sad heart

Shakespeare's Ful. Cæsar.

Here (says an anonymous Critic) a vision of triumphant revenge liciously made to ensue, after the pathetic lamentation which pres it. Breaks-double rhymes-an appropriated cadencean exalted ferocity of language forcibly picture to us the unconable tumultuous workings of the prophet's stimulated bosom.