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Coast of FRANCE. The Poem succeeded from the moment it appeared; its Author was deservedly called a second HOMER; and the Duke of YORK, eager to honour FALCONER with every possible mark of his favour, advised him to quit the Merchant Service for the Royal Navy: accordingly, before the summer had elapsed, he was rated a Midshipman on board Sir EDWARD HAWKE'S Ship, the ROYAL GEorge. †

During the same year the following opinion of THE SHIPWRECK was delivered by a celebrated Literary Journal; which, as it considerably tended to increase the fame of FALCONER, deserves mention in this Memoir:

:

"It has frequently been observed, that true Genius will surmount every obstacle which opposes its exertion how unfavourable soever the situation of a Seaman may be thought to the Poet, certain it is the two characters are not incompatible; for none but an able Seaman could give so didactic an account, and so accurate a description of the Voyage and catastrophe

It was in this Ship that Governor HUNTER, then a Midshipman, commenced an acquaintance with FALCONER, which continued until his death: being both of them from the same part of Scotland, their friendship and intimacy soon increased.

here related; and none but a particular favourite of the Muses could have embellished both with equal harmony of numbers, and strength of imagery.

"The main subject of the Poem is the loss of the Ship BRITANNIA, a Merchantman, bound from ALEXANDRIA to VENICE, which touched at the Island of CANDIA; whence proceeding on her voyage, she met with a violent Storm that drove her on the Coasts of GREECE, where she suffered shipwreck near Cape COLONNE; three only of the Crew being left alive.

"The Ship putting to sea from the Port of CANDIA, the Poet takes an opportunity of making several beautiful marine descriptions; such as the prospect of the Shore; a shoal of Dolphins; a Water-Spout; the method of taking an Azimuth; and working the Ship. In the Second Canto, the Ship having cleared the Land, the Storm begins; and with it the consultation of the Pilots, and operations of the Seamen; all which the Poet has described with an amazing minuteness, and has found means to reduce the several technical terms of the marine into smooth and harmonious numbers. HOMER has been admired by some for reducing a Catalogue of Ships into tolerably flowing verse; but who, except a poetical Sailor, the nursling of APOLLO,

educated by NEPTUNE, would ever have thought of versifying his own sea-language? what other Poet would ever have dreamt of Reef-Tackles, Haliards, Clue-garnets, Bunt-lines, Lashings, Laniards, and fifty other terms equally obnoxious to the soft Sing-Song of modern poetasters.

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Many of his descriptions are not inferior to any thing in the ÆNEID; many passages in the third and fifth books of which our Author has had in view: they have not suffered by his imitation; and his Pilot арpears to much greater advantage than the PALINURUŞ of VIRGIL.

"Nor is the Poet's talent confined to the description of inanimate Scenes: he relates, and bewails, the untimely fate of his Companions in the most animated and pathetic strains. The close of the Master's address to the Seamen, in the time of their greatest danger, is noble and philosophical. It is impossible to read the circumstantial account of the unfortunate end of the Ship's Crew, without being deeply affected by the Tale, and charmed with the manner of the relation."+

+ Monthly Review, vol. xxvii. p. 197.

The beauty of this Poem may perhaps appear in a still more favourable light to the learned reader, if I subjoin the following passages from the First Canto, which the taste of an honourable and classic Native of Ireland has lately clothed in Virgilian verse:

"If e'er with trembling Hope I fondly stray'd."
(Introduction, Canto I, p. 2, 1.9.)

"Si quondam, speransque simul trepidusque, vagabar,
Vitæ mane novo, vestris impunè sub umbris,
Aure bibens cithara suspiria suavè dolentis,
(Nescio quá mæstâ raptus dulcedine) mollesve
Illecebras vocum, dum conscia sylva susurrus
Elysios dedit-O per inania murmura Venti
Aerias querulo sonitu verrentia chordas,
Per Fluctum, cui longa volumina rupe sub istá
Spumea vis torquet, refluoque immurmurat æstu,
Tendite opem, vivisque ardere coloribus insit
Carminibus;-summum, et miserabile pignus amoris !
Sit desiderio licitum plorare fideli

Mille via casus, et naufraga fata per undas.”

"The Vessel parted on the falling Tide."-(P. 32, 1.6.)

"Jamque Ratis, pelagi sensim refluentibus undis,
Labitur e Portu, nec deerat amoribus hora.
Nox tacita incedit, Thamesinque argentea veste
Luna tegit; mediis spes fervet anhela tenebris
Nocturnam explorâsse viam, et me reddit amata
Virginis in gremium; vestigia nota per aures

Instrepuere; venit, venit ipsa Puella! fidelem
Fertur in amplexum! at quæ vis, aut mellea linguæ
Gratia delicias, et mutua gaudia dicat?

Vos, quibus ingenuo mollità Cupidine flammam
Corda fovent, tenuesque animi sensere tumultus,
Cum tremula, suavique simul, formidine languet
Ebria mens, nimiâque liquescit imagine pectus,
Dicite, (nam scitis) quæ blandimenta per omnes
Tunc fluitant nervos, quæ furtim infusa vagantes
Alta domant sensus oblivia, dum prece blandâ

Suadet Amor, magicâque animam dulcedine solvit.

"Now Morn, with gradual pace, advanced on high."-(P.42, 1.3.)

Nunc matutinos oriens AURORA vapores

Luce nová tingit, dubiique crepuscula cœli;

Non Pompa, et radiis induta superbit, at instat
Frontem horrenda minis, torvisque obducta tenebris."

The elegant manner in which these lines are rendered into Latin, gives a new and an additional effect to the poetry of THE SHIPWRECK; and will prove, even to the pedant, that the distance between VIRGIL and FALCONER is not so great as he may have imagined.

The Poem of THE SHIPWRECK is of inestimable value to this Country, since it contains within itself the rudiments of Navigation: if not sufficient to form a complete Seaman, it may certainly be considered as the Grammar of his professional Science. I have

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