to have left his naval retreat at Chatham for an abode in the metropolis of a less comfortable kind. Here depressed by poverty, but occasionally soothed by friendship, and by the affectionate attentions of his wife, he subsisted for some time on various resources. I must however except "a small pittance for writing in the Critical Review under Mr. Mallet," concerning which Mr. Clarke has been misinformed. Neither Mallet nor Falconer ever contributed to that Review. Falconer was long a welcome guest at the liberal table of Mr. Hamilton, the proprietor of the Critical Review, and was always an inmate in his family, but never discovered talents which could induce Mr. Hamilton to require his aid as a critic. In 1768, Falconer received proposals from the late Mr. Murray, the bookseller, to be admitted a partner in the business which that gentleman afterwards established. No reason can be assigned with more probability for his refusing this liberal offer, than his appointment, immediately after, to the pursership of the Aurora frigate, which was ordered to carry out to India, Messrs. Vansittart, Scrofton, and Forde, as supervisors of the affairs of the company. He was also promised the office of private secretary to those gentlemen, a situation from which his friends conceived the hopes that he might eventually obtain lasting advantages. Dis aliter visum. The Aurora sailed from England on the 30th of September, 1769, and after touching at the Cape, was lost during the remainder of the passage in a manner which left no trace by which the cause of the calamity could be discovered. The most probable conjecture is, that she foundered in the Mosambique channel. When we reflect that a shipwreck inspired the poem which has immortalized Falconer's name, and that a shipwreck terminated his life, we are strongly reminded that The paths of glory lead but to the grave. "In person" says Mr. Clarke, "Falconer was about five feet seven inches in height, of a thin light make, with a dark weather-beaten complexion, and rather what is termed hard-featured, being considerably marked with the small-pox; his hair was of a brownish hue. In point of address, his manner was blunt, awkward, and forbidding; but he spoke with great fluency; and his simple yet impressive diction was couched in words which reminded his hearers of the terseness of Swift. Though he possessed a warm and friendly disposition, he was fond of controversy, and inclined to satire. His observation was keen and rapid: his criticisms on any inaccuracy of language, or expression, were frequently severe, yet this severity was always intended eventually to create mirth, and not by any means to show his own superiority, or to give the smallest offence. In his natural temper he was cheerful, and frequently used to amuse his messmates by composing acrostics on their favourites, in which he particularly excelled. As a professional man he was a thorough seaman, and, like most of that profession, was kind, generous, and benevolent. He often assured governor Hunter, that his education had been confined merely to reading English, writing, and a little arithmetic: notwithstanding which he was never at a loss to understand either French, Spanish, Italian, or even German.” As a poet, Falconer's fame must rest entirely on The Shipwreck. His other pieces generally exhibited greater proofs of taste and judgment in the sculpture, with which their ships are decorated, than the English; the same candour and impartiality obliges us to confess their superior dexterity in this movement." could never have survived the occasion which produced them, and could have ranked him only among the versifiers of a day, while The Shipwreck bids fair for immortality. In the powers of description, he has scarcely a superior, and has bid defiance to comparison by choosing a subject with which accident only can make a poet acquainted, a subject which may be described, for he has described it in all its awful dignity, but which surpasses the common reach of imagination. The distant ocean, and its grand phenomena, have often employed the pens of the most eminent poets, but they have generally produced an effect by indefinite outlines, and imaginary incidents. In Falconer, we have the painting of a great artist taken on the spot, with such minute fidelity as well as picturesque effect, that we are chained to the scene with all the feelings of actual terrour. In the use of imagery, Falconer displays original powers. His Sun-set, Midnight, Morning, &c. are not such as have descended from poet to poet. He beheld these objects under circumstances in which it is the lot of few to be placed. His images cannot therefore be transferred or borrowed: they have an appropriation which must not be disturbed, nor can we trace them to any source but that of genuine poetry. Although we may suspect that he had studied the Eneid, there are no marks of servile imitation, while he has the high merit of enriching English poetry by a new train of ideas, and conducting the imagination into an undiscovered country. The principal objection to this poem, is the introduction of sea-terms, and although it must be confessed that he has softened these by an exquisite harmony of numbers, some of his descriptions must ever remain unintelligible to indolent readers. But Falconer did not need to be told of this objection. In his introduction, he deprecates what he had full reason to expect: Then censure not severe the native song, Though jarring sounds the measur'd verse prolong, Though terms uncouth offend the softer ear. He allows that his Muse was a ...... Voice attempting themes, before unknown and he was aware how difficult it would be .......... in ornamental verse to dress The harshest sounds that terms of art express. If, however, we attend to his design, it will become evident that the introduction of seaterms was absolutely necessary. The Shipwreck is didactic, as well as descriptive, and may be recommended to a young sailor, not only to excite his enthusiasm, but to improve his knowledge of the art of seamanship. Mr. Clarke, whose judgment on this subject may be followed with safety, and whose zeal for the reputation of the British navy does honour both to his head and heart, says, that The Shipwreck "is of inestimable value to this country, since it contains within itself the rudiments of navigation: if not sufficient to form a complete seaman, it may certainly be considered as the grammar of his professional science. I have heard many experienced officers declare, that the rules and maxims delivered in this poem, for the conduct of a ship in the most perilous emergency, form the best, indeed the only opinions which a skilful mariner should adopt." With such views it was impossible to exclude a language which is uncouth only where it is not understood, and which, as being the language of those heroes who have elevated the character of their country beyond all precedent and all comparison, merits higher veneration than the technical terms of common mechanics, and, upon this account, The Ship wreck ought not to involve the blame which attaches to the Cyder of Philips, or the Fleece of Dyer. No art can give dignity to such subjects, nor did they demand the aid of poetry to render them more useful or more pleasing. Falconer's subject was one of the most sublime inflictions of Providence. He described it for those who might be destined to behold it, and he knew that if among sailors he found no acute critics, he would find intelligent and sympathizing readers. When therefore we consider his whole design, the objection may admit of some apology even from those who will yet regret that a poet of such genuine skill should have narrowed his fame by writing for a class. In this poem, a fastidious eye may perhaps discover some small defects in point of correctness, and occasionally an improper or degrading epithet. In the third canto, it may be thought that the continuity of the story is broken by the introduction of the decline and fall of ancient Greece, however just and poetically beautiful the reflections are. To me it appears that these digressions are not wanted to relieve the reader, because he is impatient to know the fate of those whom he has left on the brink of destruction. Yet with scholars, the classical enthusiasm displayed will be sufficient to atone for the length of the interruption. It only remains to be mentioned that Falconer does not appear to have been one of those poets who think themselves exempted from the labour of revision and correction. Although he could profit very little by the opinion of the public critics, who bestowed only praise, he appears to have consulted his better judgment in making corrections and some very considerable additions to the second impression published in 1764. The personification of Memory, in the Introduction, and, if I mistake not, the description of the ship's losing sight of land, and the Occasional Elegy, were among these additions. In preparing a third edition, he also made a few changes, but is said to have left the copy in the hands of Mallet who took some improper liberties. Mr. Clarke, by a careful collation of the several editions, appears to have restored the text to all the purity and correctness of which it is now capable, It is perhaps necessary to acquaint the public, that the author of this poem designed not at first to enlarge the work with so many notes, and, to avoid this, proposed to refer his readers to any one of the modern dictionaries, which should be thought most proper for explaining the technical terms occasionally mentioned in the poem; but after strict examination of them all, including a silly inadequate performance that has lately appeared by a seaofficer', he could by no means recommend their explanations, without forfeiting his claim to the character assumed in the title-page, of which he is much more tenacious than of his reputation as a poet. Although it is so frequent a practice to take the advantage of public approbation, and raise the price of performances that have been much encouraged, the author chooses to steer in a quite different channel: it being a considerable time since the first edition sold off, (notwithstanding the high price, and the singularity of the subject) he might very justly continue the price; but as it deterred a number of the inferior officers of the sea from purchasing it, at their repeated request it has been printed now in a smaller edition: at the same time, Can a sea-officer be so ignorant as to mistake the names of the most common things in a ship? the author is sorry to observe, that the gentlemen of the sea, for whose entertainment it was chiefly calculated, have hardly made one-tenth of the purchasers. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. DATED FROM SOMERSET HOUSE, OCTOBER 1, 1769, тня YEAR IN WHICH FALCONER SAILED FOR INDIA. THE favourable reception which this performance has hitherto met with from the public, has encouraged the author to give it a strict and thorough revision; in the course of which, he flatters himself, it will be found to have received very consi derable improvements. INTRODUCTION TO THE POEM. WHILE jarring interests wake the world to arms, Immortal train! who guide the maze of song, Or in lamenting elegies express If e'er with trembling hope I fondly stray'd Smote by the freezing, or the scorching blast, But while he measur'd o'er the painful race Still o'er the victim hung with iron sway, Or where pale Famine blasts the hopeful year, Or where, all-dreadful in th' embattled line, Her left a silver wand on high display'd, She sails; and swifter than the course of light And calls the wand'ring thought from Lethe's shores; She shares her pow'r, and Memory is her name. THE SHIPWRECK. CANTO I. The scene of which lies near the city of Candia. TIME, ABOUT FOUR DAYS AND AN HALF. THE ARGUMENT. I. Retrospect of the voyage...Arrival at Candia... State of that island...Season of the year described...II. Character of the master, and his officers, Albert, Rodmond, and Arion... Palemon, son to the owner of the ship...Attachment of Palemon to Anna the daughter of Albert...Noon ...III. Palemon's history...IV. Sun set...Midnight...Arion's dream...Unmoor by moonlight... Morning. Sun's azimuth taken... Beautiful appearance of the ship, as seen by the natives from the shore. I. A SHIP from Egypt, o'er the deep impell'd Thrice had the Sun, to rule the varying year, Across th' equator roll'd his flaming sphere, |