THE BARD. A PINDARIC ODE. [The rude music of a Welsh harper in the streets of Cambridge suggested to Gray the idea which eventually developed itself into this truly excellent lyric. It is founded on a tradition of Wales, that Edward I., while engaged in conquering the country, ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death. The original plan of the work is thus recorded in one of the author's common-place books: "The army of Edward, as they march through a deep valley (and approach Mount Snowdon), are suddenly stopped by the appearance of a venerable figure, seated on the summit of an inaccessible rock, who, with a voice more than human, reproaches the king with all the misery and desolation which he had brought on his country; foretells the misfortunes of the Norman race; and, with prophetic spirit, declares that all his cruelty shall never extinguish the noble ardour of poetic genius in this island; and the men shall never be wanting to celebrate true virtue and valour in immortal strains, to expose vice and infamous pleasure, and boldly censure tyranny and oppression. His song ended, he precipitates himself from the mountain, and is swallowed up by the river that rolls at its foot." King Edward's vengeance upon the bards is said to have been aroused by his recognising that they tended to stimulate the warlike spirit of the Welsh mountaineers, and to incite them to offer a determined resistance to the invading armies of England.] I. I. "Ruin seize thee, ruthless King! Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing, Nor e'en thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, From Cambria's curse, from Cambria's tears!" 3 1 "Mocking the air with colours idly spread."—"King John," act v., scene 1. 2 The hauberk was a texture with steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail that sat close to the body, and adapted itself to every motion. 3 Cambria, the ancient name of Wales. Such were the sounds that o'er the crested pride 1 Of the First Edward scattered wild dismay. As down the steep of Snowdon's shaggy side 2 He wound with toilsome march his long array. Stout Glo'ster stood aghast in speechless trance: "To arms!" cried Mortimer, and couched his quivering lance. I. II. On a rock whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Robed in the sable garb of woe, With haggard 5 eyes the Poet stood; Streamed like a meteor, to the troubled air),¤ "Hark, how each giant oak and desert cave, To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay." 1 "The crested adder's pride."-Dryden's "Indian Queen." 2 Snowdon was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract which the Welsh themselves call Craigian-eryri (Crags of the Eagles); it included all the highlands of Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire, as far east as the river Conway. 3 Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, son-in-law to King Edward. 4 Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore. 5 O. E., hauk, hawk, and affix ard. ; literally, wild as the eyes of an untamed falcon or hawk. 6 "Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind."-Milton. 7 Hoel, son of Owen Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, and brother of David and Madoc. His extant poems have been translated by Southey. Llewellyn, a Welsh prince, ally of Simon de Montfort in his rebellion against Henry III. Llewellyn offered a brave resistance to Edward I., but was slain in 1282. His head was subsequently exposed on the Tower. B I. III. Cold is Cadwallo's 1 tongue, That hushed the stormy main : Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topt head. Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes, On yonder cliffs a grisly band, I see them sit, they linger yet, Avengers of their native land: With me in dreadful harmony they join, And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy line. II. I. "Weave the warp and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race, Give ample room and verge enough The characters of hell to trace. Mark the year and mark the night, When Severn shall re-echo with affright The shrieks of death, through Berkley's roof that ring,3 Shrieks of an agonising king! She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs,* 1 Ancient Welsh Bards. 2 The shores of Caernarvonshire, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. 3 Edward II., cruelly murdered in Berkley Castle in 1327. 4 Isabel of France, Edward's second wife, who, in conjunction with her favourite Roger Mortimer, is accredited with having accomplished the murder of her royal husband. That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled mate, What terrors round him wait! Amazement in his van, with Flight combined, II. II. "Mighty victor, mighty lord! Low on his funeral couch he lies!1 No pitying heart, no eye afford Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead. The swarm, that in thy noontide beam were born? Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows," In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes ; Youth on the prow, and pleasure at the helm : Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey. II. III. "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare. Reft of a crown he yet may share the feast; Close by the regal chair Fell thirst and famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest.1 Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse? Long years of havoc urge their destined course, 1 Death of Edward II., abandoned by his children, and even robbed in his last moments by his courtiers and his mistress. 2 Edward the Black Prince, dead sometime before his father. 3 Magnificence of the reign of Richard II. (See Froissart, and other contemporary writers.) 4 Richard II. starved to death in Pontefract Castle in 1400.; And through the kindred squadrons mow their way.1 Twined with her blushing foe we spread; Wallows beneath the thorny shade. Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom, III. I. Edward, lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) Half of thy heart we consecrate.8 (The web is wove. The work is done.)" Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn : But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height 1 In allusion to the wars of the Roses, 1455-1485. 2 Henry VI., George Duke of Clarence, Edward V., Richard Duke of York, &c., believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of the structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar. 3 Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown. 4 Henry VI., very near being canonised. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown. 5 The white and red Roses, devices of York and Lancaster. 6 The Silver Boar was the badge of Richard III., whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the Boar. 7 In allusion to the murder of the deposed boy King Edward V. and his brother Richard in the Tower, 1483. 8 Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and sorrow for the loss of her are still to be seen at Northampton, Eaddington, Waltham, and other places. |