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                                  THE
                               MINSTREL,
                                 WITH
                           SOME OTHER POEMS.


                            [Illustration]


                             THE MINSTREL;
                                  OR,
                        THE PROGRESS OF GENIUS.

                                 WITH
                           SOME OTHER POEMS.


                       By JAMES BEATTIE, LL. D.


                              EDINBURGH:
                     PRINTED BY JAMES BALLANTYNE,
                FOR WILLIAM CREECH, MANNERS AND MILLER,
                       AND A. CONSTABLE AND CO.
                                 1805.




                                  TO
                          SIR WILLIAM FORBES,
                         OF PITSLIGO, BARONET,
                AS A MARK OF RESPECT FOR HIS CHARACTER,
           AND AS AN APPROPRIATE TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE MOST
                     VALUED FRIENDS OF THE AUTHOR,
                             THIS EDITION
                                OF THE
                     POETICAL WORKS OF DR BEATTIE,
                            _IS INSCRIBED_
                                  BY
                            THE PUBLISHERS.




                               CONTENTS.


                                                                   Page.
The Minstrel, Book I.                                                 1
              Book II.                                               35

Retirement                                                           71

Elegy                                                                76

Ode to Hope                                                          81

Pygmaeo-gerano-machia: The Battle of the Pigmies and Cranes           89

Epistle to the Hon. C. B. 101

The Hares: A Fable                                                  105

Epitaph: being Part of an Inscription for a Monument,
to be erected by a Gentleman to the Memory
of his Lady                                                         118

Ode on Lord H***'s Birth-Day                                        119

To the Right Hon. Lady Charlotte Gordon, dressed in
a Tartan Scotch Bonnet, with Plumes, &c.                            125

The Hermit                                                          127

Ode to Peace                                                        130

Triumph of Melancholy                                               139




                       PREFACE TO THE MINSTREL.


The design was, to trace the progress of a Poetical Genius, born in a
rude age, from the first dawning of fancy and reason, till that period
at which he may be supposed capable of appearing in the world as a
MINSTREL, that is, as an itinerant Poet and Musician;--a character,
which, according to the notions of our fore-fathers, was not only
respectable, but sacred.

I have endeavoured to imitate SPENSER in the measure of his verse, and
in the harmony, simplicity, and variety, of his composition. Antique
expressions I have avoided; admitting, however, some old words, where
they seemed to suit the subject; but I hope none will be found that
are now obsolete, or in any degree unintelligible to a reader of
English poetry.

To those, who may be disposed to ask, what could induce me to write in
so difficult a measure, I can only answer, that it pleases my ear, and
seems, from its Gothic structure and original, to bear some relation
to the subject and spirit of the Poem. It admits both of simplicity
and magnificence of sound and of language, beyond any other stanza
that I am acquainted with. It allows the sententiousness of the
couplet, as well as the more complex modulation of blank verse. What
some critics have remarked, of its uniformity growing at last tiresome
to the ear, will be found to hold true, only when the poetry is faulty
in other respects.




                                  THE
                               MINSTREL;
                             IN TWO BOOKS.


    _Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae,
     Quarum sacra fero, ingenti perculsus amore,
     Accipiant.----_

                                         VIRGIL.




                                  THE
                               MINSTREL;
                                  OR,
                        THE PROGRESS OF GENIUS.




                              BOOK FIRST.


                          I.

      Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb
      The steep, where Fame's proud temple shines afar!
      Ah! who can tell how many a soul sublime
      Has felt the influence of malignant star,
      And waged with Fortune an eternal war!
      Checked by the scoff of Pride, by Envy's frown,
      And Poverty's unconquerable bar,
      In life's low vale remote has pined alone,
    Then dropt into the grave, unpitied and unknown!


                         II.

      And yet, the languor of inglorious days
      Not equally oppressive is to all.
      Him, who ne'er listened to the voice of praise,
      The silence of neglect can ne'er appal.
      There are, who, deaf to mad Ambition's call,
      Would shrink to hear th' obstreperous trump of Fame;
      Supremely ble