Swift moves the field; the tide of armour flames; Immortal dead! with musing awe, thy foes No stoneless sod shall hold that mighty shade, Whose life could man's wide universe pervade. No mouldering prison of sepulchral earth, In dumb oblivion shall confine thy worth; The battle heath shall lift thy marble fame, And grow immortal, as it marks thy name. Heaven's holiest tears shall nightly kiss thy dust, That dawn's first smiles may gem the hero's bust; And pilgrim Glory, in remotest years, Shall seek thy tomb, to read the tale it bears. FROM THE RULING PASSION." WERE the wild brood, who dwell in glade and brake, Some kindred character of man to take; FROM THE SAME. To fame unknown, and happy fortune born, The blithe Savoyard hails the peep of morn: And while the fluid gold his eye surveys, The hoary glaciers fling their diamond blaze; Geneva's broad lake rushes from its shores, Arve gently murmurs, and the rough Rhone roars. Mid the cleft Alps, his cabin peers from high, Hangs o'er the clouds, and perches on the sky. O'er fields of ice, across the headlong flood, From cliff to cliff he bounds in fearless mood. While, far beneath, a night of tempest lies, Deep thunder mutters, harmless lightning flies; While, far above, from battlements of snow, Loud torrents tumble on the world below; On rustic reed he wakes a merrier tune, Than the lark warbles on the "Ides of June." Far off let Glory's clarion shrilly swell; He loves the music of his pipe as well. Let shouting millions crown the hero's head, And Pride her tesselated pavement tread; More happy far, this denizen of air Enjoys what Nature condescends to spare; His days are jocund, undisturb'd his nights; His spouse contents him, and his mule delights! FROM THE "INVENTION OF LETTERS." FOR place or power while demagogues contend, i Whirl'd in their vortex, sinks each humbler friend. See Crispin quit his stall, in Faction's cause To cobble government, and sole the laws! See Frisseur scent his dust, his razor set, To shave the treaty, or to puff Genet! In doubtful mood, see Mulciber debate, To mend a horse-shoe, or to weld the state! The whip's bold knight in barn his truck has laid, To spout in favour of the carrying trade! While Staytape runs, from hissing goose, too hot, To measure Congress for another coat; And still, by rule of shop, intent on pelf, Eyes the spare cloth, to cabbage for himself! WASHINGTON ALLSTON. [Born 1779.] THIS great artist is the oldest of the living "Poets of America,” being now in the sixty-third year of his age. He was born in South Carolina, of a family which has contributed some eminent names to our annals, though none that sheds more lustre upon the parent stock than his own. When very young, by the advice of physicians, he was sent to Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained until he entered Harvard College, in 1796. In his boyhood he exhibited evidences of that genius for which he has since been distinguished, and before the completion of his education he gained laurels in both poetry and painting. A Scottish gentleman named BowMAN, discovered in some verses written while he was in the university, and in a head of St. Peter painted during the same period, such promise of after eminence, that he offered him one hundred pounds a year while he should remain abroad; but ALLSTON declined the generous aid, having already sold his paternal estate for an amount of money sufficient to defray his looked-for expenses; and with a brother artist embarked for London in the summer of 1801. Soon after his arrival in that great metropolis, he became a student of the Royal Academy, then under the presidency of our countryman, WEST, with whom he contracted an intimate and lasting friendship. His abilities as an artist, brilliant conversation, and gentlemanly manners, made him a welcome guest at the houses of the great painters of the time. Within a year from the beginning of his residence in London, he was a successful exhibitor at Somerset House, and a general favourite with the most distinguished members of his profession. In 1804, having passed three years in England, ALLSTON accompanied JOHN VANDERLYN, another eminent American painter, to Paris. After spending a few months in that capital, he proceeded to Italy, where he remained four years. Among his fellow-students and intimate associates at Rome, were VANDERLYN, and the world-renowned Danish sculptor, THOR WALDSEN. Another friend with whom he became acquainted here, was the great philosopher and poet, COLERIDGE. In one of his letters he says: To no other man do I owe so much, intellectually, as to Mr. COLERIDGE, with whom I become acquainted in Rome, and who has honoured me with his friendship for more than five-and-twenty years. He used to call Rome the silent city; but I never could think of it as such, while with him; for, meet him when or where I would, the fountain of his mind was never dry, but, like the far-reaching aqueducts that once supplied this mistress of the world, its living stream seemed specially to flow for every classic ruin over which we wandered. And when I recall some of our walks under the pines of the Villa Borghese, 6 I am almost tempted to dream that I had once listened to PLATO in the groves of the Academy." In 1809, ALLSTON returned to America, and was soon after married at Boston to a sister of the celebrated Doctor CHANNING. In 1811, he went a second time to England. His reputation as a painter was now well established, and he gained by his picture of the "Dead Man Raised by Elisha's Bones," a prize of two hundred guineas, at the British Institution, where the first artists in the world were his competitors. A long and dangerous illness succeeded his return to London, and he removed to the village of Clifton, where he wrote The Sylphs of the Seasons," and some of the other poems included in a volume which he published in 1813. Within two weeks after the renewal of his residence in the metropolis, in the last mentioned year, his wife died, very suddenly; and the event, for a time, affected seriously his physical and mental powers. In 1817, he accompanied LESLIE to Paris, and in the autumn of the following year came back to America, having been previously elected an associate of the Royal Academy of England. He has since that time resided principally at Cambridgeport, near Boston, where he has been engaged on various works of art, one of which is "Belshazzar's Feast, or the Handwriting on the Wall," a picture sixteen feet long, and twelve feet wide, commenced nearly twenty years ago. This is said to be nearly finished now; but it has never been seen by any one save the artist. In 1830, he married his present wife, a sister of the poet DANA. His last literary work was the beautiful story entitled “Monaldi,” published in 1841. A great painter is a true poet, though he may lack the power to express in beautiful language his conceptions. Poet and painter must study still nature and humanity, and must look upon the world with an affectionate spirit. "The Sylphs of the Seasons," ALLSTON's longest poem, in which he describes the scenery of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and the effects of each season on the mind, shows that he has regarded nature with a curious eye, and has power to exhibit her beauties with singular distinctness and fidelity. "The Two Painters," an admirable satire, intended to ridicule the attempts to reach perfection in one excellency in the art of painting, to the neglect of every other, proves equally his descriptive powers. These poems, and the "Paint King," a singularly wild, imaginative story, evidence, also, his creative genius. They are all original, in their fable, style, and cast of thought; and all have the purest and most cheerful influences upon the mind. * This work he subsequently sold to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, for thirty-five hundred dollars. D 2 41 Swift moves the field; the tide of armour flames; Immortal dead! with musing awe, thy foes No stoneless sod shall hold that mighty shade, Whose life could man's wide universe pervade. No mouldering prison of sepulchral earth, In dumb oblivion shall confine thy worth; The battle heath shall lift thy marble fame, And grow immortal, as it marks thy name. Heaven's holiest tears shall nightly kiss thy dust, That dawn's first smiles may gem the hero's bust; And pilgrim Glory, in remotest years, Shall seek thy tomb, to read the tale it bears. FROM THE "RULING PASSION." WERE the wild brood, who dwell in glade and brake, Some kindred character of man to take; FROM THE SAME. To fame unknown, and happy fortune born, Enjoys what Nature condescends to spare; FROM THE "INVENTION OF LETTERS." FOR place or power while demagogues contend, Whirl'd in their vortex, sinks each humbler friend. See Crispin quit his stall, in Faction's cause To cobble government, and sole the laws! See Frisseur scent his dust, his razor set, To shave the treaty, or to puff Genet! In doubtful mood, see Mulciber debate, To mend a horse-shoe, or to weld the state! The whip's bold knight in barn his truck has laid, To spout in favour of the carrying trade! While Staytape runs, from hissing goose, too hot, To measure Congress for another coat; And still, by rule of shop, intent on pelf, Eyes the spare cloth, to cabbage for himself! WASHINGTON ALLSTON. [Born 1779.] THIS great artist is the oldest of the living "Poets of America," being now in the sixty-third year of his age. He was born in South Carolina, of a family which has contributed some eminent names to our annals, though none that sheds more lustre upon the parent stock than his own. When very young, by the advice of physicians, he was sent to Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained until he entered Harvard College, in 1796. In his boyhood he exhibited evidences of that genius for which he has since been distinguished, and before the completion of his education he gained laurels in both poetry and painting. A Scottish gentleman named BowMAN, discovered in some verses written while he was in the university, and in a head of St. Peter painted during the same period, such promise of after eminence, that he offered him one hundred pounds a year while he should remain abroad; but ALLSTON declined the generous aid, having already sold his paternal estate for an amount of money sufficient to defray his looked-for expenses; and with a brother artist embarked for London in the summer of 1801. Soon after his arrival in that great metropolis, he became a student of the Royal Academy, then under the presidency of our countryman, WEST, with whom he contracted an intimate and lasting friendship. His abilities as an artist, brilliant conversation, and gentlemanly manners, made him a welcome guest at the houses of the great painters of the time. Within a year from the beginning of his residence in London, he was a successful exhibitor at Somerset House, and a general favourite with the most distinguished members of his profession. In 1804, having passed three years in England, ALLSTON accompanied JOHN VANDERLYN, another eminent American painter, to Paris. After spending a few months in that capital, he proceeded to Italy, where he remained four years. Among his fellow-students and intimate associates at Rome, were VANDERLYN, and the world-renowned Danish sculptor, THOR WALDSEN. Another friend with whom he became acquainted here, was the great philosopher and poet, COLERIDGE. In one of his letters he says: "To no other man do I owe so much, intellectually, as to Mr. COLERIDGE, with whom I become acquainted in Rome, and who has honoured me with his friendship for more than five-and-twenty years. He used to call Rome the silent city; but I never could think of it as such, while with him; for, meet him when or where I would, the fountain of his mind was never dry, but, like the far-reaching aqueducts that once supplied this mistress of the world, its living stream seemed specially to flow for every classic ruin over which we wandered. And when I recall some of our walks under the pines of the Villa Borghese, 6 I am almost tempted to dream that I had once listened to PLATO in the groves of the Academy." In 1809, ALLSTON returned to America, and was soon after married at Boston to a sister of the celebrated Doctor CHANNING. In 1811, he went a second time to England. His reputation as a painter was now well established, and he gained by his picture of the "Dead Man Raised by Elisha's Bones," a prize of two hundred guineas, at the British Institution, where the first artists in the world were his competitors. A long and dangerous illness succeeded his return to London, and he removed to the village of Clifton, where he wrote "The Sylphs of the Seasons," and some of the other poems included in a volume which he published in 1813. Within two weeks after the renewal of his residence in the metropolis, in the last mentioned year, his wife died, very suddenly; and the event, for a time, affected seriously his physical and mental powers. In 1817, he accompanied LESLIE to Paris, and in the autumn of the following year came back to America, having been previously elected an associate of the Royal Academy of England. He has since that time resided principally at Cambridgeport, near Boston, where he has been engaged on various works of art, one of which is "Belshazzar's Feast, or the Handwriting on the Wall," a picture sixteen feet long, and twelve feet wide, commenced nearly twenty years ago. This is said to be nearly finished now; but it has never been seen by any one save the artist. In 1830, he married his present wife, a sister of the poet DANA. His last literary work was the beautiful story entitled "Monaldi," published in 1841. A great painter is a true poet, though he may lack the power to express in beautiful language his conceptions. Poet and painter must study still nature and humanity, and must look upon the world with an affectionate spirit. "The Sylphs of the Seasons," ALLSTON's longest poem, in which he describes the scenery of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and the effects of each season on the mind, shows that he has regarded nature with a curious eye, and has power to exhibit her beauties with singular distinctness and fidelity. The Two Painters," an admirable satire, intended to ridicule the attempts to reach perfection in one excellency in the art of painting, to the neglect of every other, proves equally his descriptive powers. These poems, and the "Paint King," a singularly wild, imaginative story, evidence, also, his creative genius. They are all original, in their fable, style, and cast of thought; and all have the purest and most cheerful influences upon the mind. * This work he subsequently sold to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, for thirty-five hundred dollars. D2 41 THE SYLPHS OF THE SEASONS, A POET'S DREAM. LONG has it been my fate to hear My indolence reprove. And seeming scarce to move: For, mounted on the poet's steed, O'er mountain, wood, and stream: And oft, within a little day, Mid comets fierce, 't is mine to stray, But would the man of lucre know One night, my task diurnal done, O'er burning sands, o'er snows,) Fatigued, I sought the couch of rest; My wonted prayer to Heaven address'd; But scarce had I my pillow press'd, When thus a vision rose : Methought, within a desert cave, It seem'd of sable night the cell, Where, save when from the ceiling fell 'An oozing drop, her silent spell No sound had ever broke. There motionless I stood alone, Or like (so solid and profound The darkness seem'd that wall'd me round) Thus fix'd, a dreadful hour I pass'd, A voice pronounce my name: Nor long upon my ear it dwelt, Quick circling o'er my frame. Nor long I felt the blinding pain; I gazed with wonder new. Now, at the castle's massy gate, The mountain-plain it shook around, Then entering, from a glittering hall That bade me "Ever reign! And now I paced a bright saloon, So mellow was the light. Rear'd in the midst, a double throne Transfix'd me to the ground. And thus the foremost of the train: Be thine the throne, and thine to reign O'er all the varying year! But ere thou rulest, the Fates command, That of our chosen rival band A Sylph shall win thy heart and hand, "For we, the sisters of a birth, Then spake the Sylph of Spring serene, "When thou, at call of vernal breeze, And beckoning bough of budding trees, Hast left thy sullen fire; |