Again renew'd by Thought's creative spells, In all her pomp thy city, Theseus! towers: Within, around, the light of glory dwells On art's fair fabrics, wisdom's holy bowers. There marble fanes in finish'd grace ascend, The pencil's world of life and beauty glows; Shrines, pillars, porticoes, in grandeur blend, Rich with the trophies of barbaric foes; And groves of platane wave in verdant pride, The sage's blest retreats, by calm Ilissus' tide.

1 "We are assured by Thucydides that Attica was the province of Greece in which population first became settled, and where the earliest progress was made toward civilisation." -MITFORD'S Greece, vol. i. p. 35.

2 Fata Morgana. This remarkable aërial phenomenon, which is thought by the lower order of Sicilians to be the work of a fairy, is thus described by Father Angelucci, whose account is quoted by Swinburne :

"On the 15th August 1643, I was surprised, as I stood at my window, with a most wonderful spectacle: the sea that washes the Sicilian shore swelled up, and became, for ten miles in length, like a chain of dark mountains, while the waters near our Calabrian coast grew quite smooth, and in an instant appeared like one clear polished mirror. On this glass was depicted, in chiaro-scuro, a string of several thousands of pilasters, all equal in height, distance, and degrees of light and shade. In a moment they bent into arcades, like Roman aqueducts. A long cornice was next formed at the top, and above it rose innumerable castles, all perfectly alike; these again changed into towers, which were shortly after lost in colonnades, then windows, and at last ended in pines, cypresses, and other trees."-SWINBURNE's Travels in the Two Sicilies.

LXXVI.

But oh! what words the vision may portray, The form of sanctitude that guards thy shrine? There stands thy goddess, robed in war's array, Supremely glorious, awfully divine!

With spear and helm she stands, and flowing vest,

And sculptured ægis, to perfection wrought; And on each heavenly lineament imprest, Calmly sublime, the majesty of thought— The pure intelligence, the chaste reposeAll that a poet's dream around Minerva throws.

LXXVII.

Bright age of Pericles! let fancy still
Through time's deep shadows all thy splendour
trace,

And in each work of art's consummate skill
Hail the free spirit of thy lofty race:
That spirit, roused by every proud reward
That hope could picture, glory could bestow,
Foster'd by all the sculptor and the bard
Could give of immortality below.

Thus were thy heroes form'd, and o'er their

name,

Thus did thy genius shed imperishable fame.

LXXVIII.

Mark in the throng'd Ceramicus, the train
Of mourners weeping o'er the martyr'd brave:
Proud be the tears devoted to the slain,
Holy the amaranth strew'd upon their grave ! 1
And hark! unrivall'd eloquence proclaims
Their deeds, their trophies, with triumphant
voice!

Hark! Pericles records their honour'd names ! 2
Sons of the fallen, in their lot rejoice:
What hath life brighter than so bright a doom?
What power hath fate to soil the garlands of the
tomb?

1 All sorts of purple and white flowers were supposed by the Greeks to be acceptable to the dead, and used in adorning tombs; as amaranth, with which the Thessalians decorated the tomb of Achilles.-POTTER's Antiquities of Greece, vol. ii. p. 232.

2 Pericles, on his return to Athens after the reduction of Samos, celebrated in a splendid manner the obsequies of his countrymen who fell in that war, and pronounced himself the funeral oration usual on such occasions. This gained him great applause; and when he came down from the rostrum the women paid their respects to him, and presented him with crowns and chaplets, like a champion just returned victorious from the lists.-LANGHORNE'S Plutarch, Life of Pericles.

LXXIX.

Praise to the valiant dead! for them doth art Exhaust her skill, their triumphs bodying forth; Theirs are enshrined names, and every heart Shall bear the blazon'd impress of their worth. Bright on the dreams of youth their fame shall rise,

Their fields of fight shall epic song record; And, when the voice of battle rends the skies, Their name shall be their country's rallying word!

While fane and column rise august to tell How Athens honours those for her who proudly fell.

LXXX.

City of Theseus! bursting on the mind,
Thus dost thou rise, in all thy glory fled!
Thus guarded by the mighty of mankind,
Thus hallow'd by the memory of the dead:
Alone in beauty and renown-a scene
Whose tints are drawn from freedom's loveliest

ray.

"Tis but a vision now-yet thou hast been More than the brightest vision might portray; And every stone, with but a vestige fraught Of thee, hath latent power to wake some lofty thought.

LXXXI.

Fall'n are thy fabrics, that so oft have rung
To choral melodies and tragic lore;
Now is the lyre of Sophocles unstrung,
The song that hail'd Harmodius peals no more.
Thy proud Piræus is a desert strand,

Thy stately shrines are mouldering on their hill,

Closed are the triumphs of the sculptor's hand, The magic voice of eloquence is still; Minerva's veil is rent 3-her image gone; Silent the sage's bower-the warrior's tomb o'erthrown.

3 The peplus, which is supposed to have been suspended as an awning over the statue of Minerva in the Parthenon, was a principal ornament of the Panathenaic festival; and it was embroidered with various colours, representing the battle of the gods and Titans, and the exploits of Athenian heroes. When the festival was celebrated, the peplus was brought from the Acropolis, and suspended as a sail to the vessel, which on that day was conducted through the Ceramicus and principal streets of Athens, till it had made the circuit of the Acropolis. The peplus was then carried to the Parthenon, and consecrated to Minerva.-See CHANDLER'S Travels, STUART'S Athens, &c.

But when shall earth again exult to see Visions divine like theirs renew'd in aught like thee?

XC.

Lone are thy pillars now-each passing gale
Sighs o'er them as a spirit's voice, which moan'd
That loneliness, and told the plaintive tale
Of the bright synod once above them throned.
Mourn, graceful ruin on thy sacred hill,
Thy gods, thy rites, a kindred fate have shared:
Yet art thou honour'd in each fragment still
That wasting years and barbarous hands had
spared;

Each hallow'd stone, from rapine's fury borne, Shall wake bright dreams of thee in ages yet unborn.

XCI.

Yes! in those fragments, though by time defaced And rude insensate conquerors, yet remains All that may charm th' enlighten'd eye of taste, On shores where still inspiring freedom reigns. As vital fragrance breathes from every part Of the crush'd myrtle, or the bruised rose, E'en thus th' essential energy of art There in each wreck imperishably glows!1 The soul of Athens lives in every line, Pervading brightly still the ruins of her shrine.

XCII.

Mark on the storied frieze the graceful train,
The holy festival's triumphal throng,
In fair procession to Minerva's fane,
With many a sacred symbol, move along.
There every shade of bright existence trace,
The fire of youth, the dignity of age;
The matron's calm austerity of grace,
The ardent warrior, the benignant sage;
The nymph's light symmetry, the chief's proud

mien

Each ray of beauty caught and mingled in the scene.

XCIII.

Art unobtrusive there ennobles form,
Each pure chaste outline exquisitely flows;

1 "In the most broken fragment, the same great principle of life can be proved to exist, as in the most perfect figure," is one of the observations of Mr Haydon on the Elgin Marbles.

2"Every thing here breathes life, with a veracity, with an exquisite knowledge of art, but without the least ostentation or parade of it, which is concealed by consummate and masterly skill."-CANOVA's Letter to the Earl of Elgin.

3 Mr West, after expressing his admiration of the horse's head in Lord Elgin's collection of Athenian sculpture, thus proceeds :-"We feel the same, when we view the young equestrian Athenians, and, in observing them, we are insensibly carried on with the impression that they and their horses actually existed, as we see them, at the instant when they were converted into marble."-WEST'S Second Letter to Lord Elgin.

4 Mr Flaxman thinks that sculpture has very greatly improved within these last twenty years, and that his opinion is not singular-because works of such prime importance as the Elgin Marbles could not remain in any country without a consequent improvement of the public taste, and the talents of the artist. See the Evidence given in reply to Interrogatories from the Committee on the Elgin Marbles.

Their virtual grandeur could not be erased; It clothes them still, though veil'd from common eyes.

They once were gods and heroes1-and beheld As the blest guardians of their native scene; And hearts of warriors, sages, bards, have swell'd With awe that own'd their sovereignty of mien. Ages have vanish'd since those hearts were cold, And still those shatter'd forms retain their godlike mould.

XCVII.

Midst their bright kindred, from their marble throne

They have look'd down on thousand storms of time;

Surviving power, and fame, and freedom flown, They still remain'd, still tranquilly sublime! Till mortal hands the heavenly conclave marr'd. The Olympian groups have sunk, and are forgotNot e'en their dust could weeping Athens guard; But these were destined to a nobler lot! And they have borne, to light another land, The quenchless ray that soon shall gloriously expand.

XCVIII.

Phidias supreme in thought! what hand but thine,

In human works thus blending earth and heaven, O'er nature's truth had spread that grace divine, To mortal form immortal grandeur given? What soul but thine, infusing all its power In these last monuments of matchless days, Could from their ruins bid young Genius tower, And Hope aspire to more exalted praise; And guide deep Thought to that secluded height Where excellence is throned in purity of light?

XCIX.

And who can tell how pure, how bright a flame,
Caught from these models, may illume the west?
What British Angelo may rise to fame,2
On the free isle what beams of art may rest?

1 The Theseus and Ilissus, which are considered by Sir T. Lawrence, Mr Westmacott, and other distinguished artists, to be of a higher class than the Apollo Belvidere, "because there is in them a union of very grand form, with a more true and natural expression of the effect of action upon the human frame than there is in the Apollo, or any of the other more celebrated statues."-See The Evidence, &c.

2 "Let us suppose a young man at this time in London, endowed with powers such as enabled Michael Angelo to advance the arts, as he did, by the aid of one mutilated specimen of Grecian excellence in sculpture, to what an eminence

Deem not, O England! that by climes confined, Genius and taste diffuse a partial ray; 3 Deem not the eternal energies of mind Sway'd by that sun whose doom is but decay! Shall thought be foster'd but by skies serene? No! thou hast power to be what Athens e'er hath been.

C.

But thine are treasures oft unprized, unknown, And cold neglect hath blighted many a mind, O'er whose young ardours had thy smile but shone,

Their soaring flight had left a world behind! And many a gifted hand, that might have wrought

To Grecian excellence the breathing stone, Or each pure grace of Raphael's pencil caught, Leaving no record of its power, is gone! While thou hast fondly sought, on distant coast, Gems far less rich than those, thus precious, and thus lost.

CI.

Yet rise, O Land, in all but art alone!

Bid the sole wreath that is not thine be won! Fame dwells around thee-Genius is thine own; Call his rich blooms to life-be thou their sun! So, should dark ages o'er thy glory sweep, Should thine e'er be as now are Grecian plains, Nations unborn shall track thine own blue deep

To hail thy shore, to worship thy remains; Thy mighty monuments with reverence trace, And cry, "This ancient soil hath nursed a glorious race!"

might not such a genius carry art, by the opportunity of studying those sculptures, in the aggregate, which adorned the temple of Minerva at Athens?"-WEST's Second Letter to Lord Elgin.

3 In allusion to the theories of Du Bos, Winckelmann, Montesquieu, &c., with regard to the inherent obstacles in the climate of England to the progress of genius and the arts. -See HOARE's Epochs of the Arts, p. 84, 85.

EXTRACTS FROM CONTEMPORARY REVIEWS.

Blackwood's Magazine.—“ In our reviews of poetical productions, the better efforts of genius hold out to us a task at once more useful and delightful than those of inferior merit. In the former the beautiful predominate, and expose while they excuse the blemishes. But the public taste would receive no benefit from a detail of mediocrity, relieved only by the censure of faults uncompensated by excellencies. We have great pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to the beautiful poem before us, which we believe to be the work of the same lady who last year put her name to the second edition of another poem on a kindred subject, "The Restoration of the