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fefs the means of affording them fuccour, when that fuccour is moft wanted.

In the unfortunate affair of the 19th of laft month, it must be remembered that this excellent officer was victorious, though he was afterwards obliged to relinquifh the advantages he had gained. This affords no ground for cenfure; it was the fortune of war, against which no mortal can provide !

The loffes of that day, however, were redeemed by the action of the 2d of October, in which the fubject of our Memoir bore a moft diftinguished part. The battle (horrible to think) lafted from fix o'clock in the morning till fix in the evening. During this interval he was unceasing in his activity, and contributed, in an eminent degree, to the fuccefs of this bloody conteft. He is fpoken of by the DUKE of YORK, in the Gazette, in terms of the most unreferved approbation. The panegyric, indeed, is likewife extended to lieutenant-general Dundas, in conjunction with himself, and is too remarkable to be here omitted:

"The points where this well fought battle was principally contested, were (fays His Royal Highnefs) from the fea-fhore, in front of Egmont, extending along the fandy defert or hills, to the heights above Bergen; and it was fuftained by the BRITISH COLUMNS, under the command of those highly diftinguished officers SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE, and Lieutenant-general Dundas, whofe exertions, as well as the gallantry of the brave troops they led, cannot have been furpassed by any former inftance of BRITISH VALOUR."

Before we close this Sketch, it may be proper to mention, that this great officer appears to have been in the very heat of the engagement for he had two horses Shot under him! How imminent, therefore, must have been his danger! How much would it have been regretted, had the future fervices of this brave general been loft to his country! His efcape then is moft un

doubtedly

doubtedly a matter of rejoicing, and we congratulate the public on the event. Long may he live, and extenfive may be his usefulness in advancing the true welfare and real profperity of Britain!

Such is our brief Memoir of SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE, whofe talents and virtues every impartial reader must applaud. We moft fincerely regret the flaughter by which the reduction of Holland is attended. But we are not fo unjust as to deny the tribute of applaufe to the merits of an officer, who by his courage and skill on other great occafions, has enfured to himfelf our admiration.

THE REFLECTOR.

[No. XXXII.]

THE EPODES OF HORACE.

Defcend from Heav'n, and in a lengthen'd ftrain,
Queen of melodious founds, and long maintain
Or on the voice, high-rais'd, the breathing flute,
The lyre of golden tone, or fweet Phæbean lute.
Hark! the celestial voice I raptur'd hear!
Or, does a fweet enthusiasm charm mine ear?
Thro' hallow'd groves I fray, where streams beneath,
From lucid fountains flow, and zephyrs balmy breathe.
HORACE.

UPO

PON the Odes of HORACE we have already, at fome length, defcanted. Their nature and tendency were explained, nor were their merits difregarded. The high and lofty tone which this kind of poetry affumes, was alfo mentioned; and fpecimens. brought forward for the instruction and entertainment of our readers.

We now, therefore, proceed to the Epodes, between which and the Odes little difference obtains. The former are rather upon a lower key, but yet full of beau

tiful

tiful strokes and excellent imagery. They breathe the fame divine fpirit by which the other works of Horace are impregnated, and for which they have always been fo much and fo juftly admired.

It is amufing to examine the various conjectures which the learned have offered on the origin of the term Epode. That it is involved in a degree of obfcurity must be confeffed; but we have diverted ourselves by recollecting the labyrinths of controverfy in which the enquirer has been involved.

Some grammarians have contended, that these poems were called Epodes, because in the first ten of them a fhort verfe fucceeds a longer; but this trait, in general, belongs to all kinds of poetry. Others fay, that as the Grecian Epode clofed the fong, fo, in Latin poetry, the fenfe is here concluded by the fhort verfe, which follows the longer. But this is not true in fact. The Grecians, indeed, divided their ode into three parts, Strophe, Antiftrophe, and Epode; but the Latins have no fuch parts in their poems. We may therefore fairly infer, that the Romans had no right to the title which is here adopted.

A commentator of HORACE, however, has difplayed his critical fagacity in wifely fuppofing that the term Epode is given to this book, because fome exceptionable pieces are contained in it. But furely this is a reafon which can by no means be admitted; for the reprobated parts are not fo numerous as to entitle this part of the Poet's writings to fo much infamy.

Mr. FRANCIS, the ingenious tranflator of HORACE, fuggefts, with great probability, that these Odes were collected after our Poet's death, and added to his other productions. Hence they were called Epodes, or the Book after the Odes. This circumftance alfo, in his opinion, accounts for its inequality, a trait by which it undoubtedly ftands characterized. There are, notwithstanding, many very pleafing parts, in which the playfulness and hilarity of the Poet are difcernible.

cernible. Every claffic reader of tafte will admit the truth of our obfervation, which, indeed, cannot be feriously difputed.

A variety of paffages from the Epodes might be felected; but we will confine ourselves to ONE ENTIRE EPODE, from which it will appear that our commendatory remarks are not without foundation.

The fecond Epode is entitled The Praises of a Coun try Life; a favourite topic with the poets in all ages and all nations of the world. We will felect it in diftinct paffages, that its beauties may be more apparent to the eye.

The happiness of fuch a life is thus described at the commencement of the poem:

Like the first mortals, bleft is HE,

From debts, and mortgages, and business free;
With his own team, who plows the foil,

Which grateful once confefs'd his father's toil;
The founds of war nor break his fleep,

Nor the rough ftorm that harrows up the deep;
He fhuns the courtier's haughty doors,

And the loud fcience of the bar abjures.

The employments of the rural character are then thus pleafingly delineated:

Sometimes his marriageable vines

Around the lofty bridegroom elm he twines,
Or lops the vagrant boughs away,

Ingrafting better as the old decay;

Or in the vale, with joy furveys

His loving herd fafe wand'ring as they graze,
Or careful ftores the flowing gold,

Preft from the hive, or cheers his tender fold;
Or when with various fruits o'er-spread,
The mellow autumn lifts his bounteous head,
His grafted pears or grapes that vie
With the rich purple of the Tyrian dye,
Grateful he gathers, and repays

His guardian Gods on their own feftal days;

Sometimes

Sometimes beneath an ancient shade,

Or on the matted grafs fupinely laid,
Where pours the mountain ftream along, |

And feather'd warblers chaunt the foothing fong;
Or where the lucid fountain flows,

And with its murmurs courts him to repose.

The Poet next proceeds to fpecify the Amusements of the Field, which have always been in great repute, with the more rural claffes of fociety:

But when the rain and fnows appear,

And wintry Jove loud thunders o'er the year,
With hounds he drives into the toils

The foaming boar, and triumphs in his spoils;
Or for the greedy thrush he lays

His nets, and with delufive baits betrays;
Artful he fets the springing snare,

To catch the stranger crane, or tim❜rous hare.

Having thus sketched, with masterly hand, thefe enjoyments; he then, with exquifite delicacy, compliments Domeftic Life in these animated ftrains :

But if a chafte and virtuous wife
Affift him in the tender cares of life;
Of fun-burnt charms, but honest fame,
(Such as the Sabine or Apulian dame)
Fatigu'd, when homeward he returns,
The facred fire with cheerful luftre burns;
Or if the milk her fwelling kine,

Or in their folds his happy flocks confine;
While unbought dainties crown the feast,
And luscious wines from this year's vintage preft.
-No more fhould curious oyfters please,

Or fish, the luxury of foreign feas,

(If eastern tempefts, thund'ring o'er

The wintry wave, fhall drive them to our shore ;)
Or wild-fowl, of delicious tafte,

From diftant climates brought to crown the feaft,
Shall e'er fo grateful prove to me,

As olives gather'd from the unctuous tree;

And

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