The Spectator Volume I Part 59

[Footnote 3: 'Paradise Lost', Bk. I.]

[Footnote 4: The story is in 'The Remedy of Love' Stanzas 5--10.]

No. 74. Friday, May 25, 1711. Addison.

'... Pendent opera interrupta ...'

Virg.

In my last _Monday's_ Paper I gave some general Instances of those beautiful Strokes which please the Reader in the old Song of _Chevey-Chase_; I shall here, according to my Promise, be more particular, and shew that the Sentiments in that Ballad are extremely natural and poetical, and full of [the [1]] majestick Simplicity which we admire in the greatest of the ancient Poets: For which Reason I shall quote several Pa.s.sages of it, in which the Thought is altogether the same with what we meet in several Pa.s.sages of the _aeneid_; not that I would infer from thence, that the Poet (whoever he was) proposed to himself any Imitation of those Pa.s.sages, but that he was directed to them in general by the same Kind of Poetical Genius, and by the same Copyings after Nature.

Had this old Song been filled with Epigrammatical Turns and Points of Wit, it might perhaps have pleased the wrong Taste of some Readers; but it would never have become the Delight of the common People, nor have warmed the Heart of Sir _Philip Sidney_ like the Sound of a Trumpet; it is only Nature that can have this Effect, and please those Tastes which are the most unprejudiced or the most refined. I must however beg leave to dissent from so great an Authority as that of Sir _Philip Sidney_, in the Judgment which he has pa.s.sed as to the rude Stile and evil Apparel of this antiquated Song; for there are several Parts in it where not only the Thought but the Language is majestick, and the Numbers [sonorous; [2]] at least, the _Apparel_ is much more _gorgeous_ than many of the Poets made use of in Queen _Elizabeth's_ Time, as the Reader will see in several of the following Quotations.

What can be greater than either the Thought or the Expression in that Stanza,

_To drive the Deer with Hound and Horn Earl_ Piercy _took his Way; The Child may rue that was unborn The Hunting of that Day!_

This way of considering the Misfortunes which this Battle would bring upon Posterity, not only on those who were born immediately after the Battle and lost their Fathers in it, but on those also who [perished [3]] in future Battles which [took their rise [4]] from this Quarrel of the two Earls, is wonderfully beautiful, and conformable to the Way of Thinking among the ancient Poets.

'Audiet pugnas vilio parentum

Rara juventus'.

Hor.

What can be more sounding and poetical, resemble more the majestic Simplicity of the Ancients, than the following Stanzas?

_The stout Earl of_ Northumberland _A Vow to G.o.d did make, His Pleasure in the_ Scotish _Woods Three Summers Days to take.

With fifteen hundred Bowmen bold, All chosen Men of Might, Who knew full well, in time of Need, To aim their Shafts aright.

The Hounds ran swiftly thro' the Woods The nimble Deer to take, And with their Cries the Hills and Dales An Eccho shrill did make_.

... Vocat ingenti Clamore Cithseron Taygetique canes, domitrixque Epidaurus equorum: Et vox a.s.sensu nemorum ingeminata remugit.

_Lo, yonder doth Earl_ Dowglas _come, His Men in Armour bright; Full twenty Hundred_ Scottish _Spears, All marching in our Sight_.

_All Men of pleasant Tividale, Fast by the River Tweed, etc_.

The Country of the _Scotch_ Warriors, described in these two last Verses, has a fine romantick Situation, and affords a couple of smooth Words for Verse. If the Reader compares the forgoing six Lines of the Song with the following Latin Verses, he will see how much they are written in the Spirit of _Virgil_.

_Adversi campo apparent, hastasque reductis Protendunt longe dextris; et spicula vibrant; Quique altum Preneste viri, quique arva Gabinae Junonis, gelidumque Anienem, et roscida rivis Hernica saxa colunt: ... qui rosea rura Velini, Qui Terticae horrentes rupes, montemque Severum, Casperiamque colunt, Forulosque et flumen Himellae: Qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt_ ...

But to proceed.

_Earl_ Dowglas _on a milk-white Steed, Most like a Baron bold, Rode foremost of the Company, Whose Armour shone like Gold._

Turnus ut antevolans tardum precesserat agmen, &c. Vidisti, quo Turnus equo, quibus ibat in armis Aureus ...

_Our_ English _Archers bent their Bows Their Hearts were good and true; At the first Flight of Arrows sent, Full threescore_ Scots _they slew.

They clos'd full fast on ev'ry side, No Slackness there was found.

And many a gallant Gentleman Lay gasping on the Ground.

With that there came an Arrow keen Out of an_ English _Bow, Which struck Earl_ Dowglas _to the Heart A deep and deadly Blow._

aeneas was wounded after the same Manner by an unknown Hand in the midst of a Parly.

_Has inter voces, media inter talia verba, Ecce viro stridens alis allapsa sagitta est, Incertum qua pulsa manu ...

But of all the descriptive Parts of this Song, there are none more beautiful than the four following Stanzas which have a great Force and Spirit in them, and are filled with very natural Circ.u.mstances. The Thought in the third Stanza was never touched by any other Poet, and is such an one as would have s.h.i.+ned in _Homer_ or in _Virgil_.

So thus did both those n.o.bles die, Whose Courage none could stain: An _English_ Archer then perceived The n.o.ble Earl was slain.

He had a Bow bent in his Hand, Made of a trusty Tree, An Arrow of a Cloth-yard long Unto the Head drew he.

Against Sir _Hugh Montgomery_ So right his Shaft he set, The Gray-goose Wing that was thereon In his Heart-Blood was wet.

This Fight did last from Break of Day Till setting of the Sun; For when they rung the Evening Bell The Battle scarce was done.

One may observe likewise, that in the Catalogue of the Slain the Author has followed the Example of the greatest ancient Poets, not only in giving a long List of the Dead, but by diversifying it with little Characters of particular Persons.

And with Earl _Dowglas_ there was slain Sir _Hugh Montgomery_, Sir _Charles Carrel_, that from the Field One Foot would never fly:

Sir _Charles Murrel_ of Ratcliff too, His Sister's Son was he; Sir _David Lamb_, so well esteem'd, Yet saved could not be.

The familiar Sound in these Names destroys the Majesty of the Description; for this Reason I do not mention this Part of the Poem but to shew the natural Cast of Thought which appears in it, as the two last Verses look almost like a Translation of _Virgil_.

... Cadit et Ripheus justissimus unus Qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus aequi, Diis aliter visum est ...