Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1821-01-23
Miscellaneous.
WINTER
81 lsve thee, all unlo,ely, as thou


it's discontents; but the triunphs and
the desoIations Of Winter are peculiar
Iy and signalIy its own. Many arc
the cpithets which have fallen upon the
bIcaci,ed head OF this "Rulcr of the in
verted years" and many are they that
reject his dominion, though they &C
knowledge his power. But the wei
Corners and tho hearty drprecators of
his approach arc after all about equal
ly divided and comfnrtIess as is his
aspect. he has as true friends and fol.
lowers as most of the Icsitimates of our
time.
| remember seeing once in All old al
manack. an mathematical representa-
ton of Winter from a rude wood cut
discovering an i'll dressed female, dri-
ven furiously on by the wind, her
garments torn. her cOuntenance wild
and stern, her right arm distended. Il
brandishing aloft the remnant of a
pointed icicle. Considering her sex,
and installing the icicle for broom
stick. looked upon the puncture as an
apt though unfinished type of scold,
until my eye was arrested by the in
scription (something after the manner
of the countryman's sign) "This is
Winter" Numerous have been the
aIlegorical representations of Winter !;
but the brief personification and apos
trophe by Cowper, the true poet Of ma
ture, are must to my taste
go Winter, ruler of the inverted
year,
Thy scattered hair, with sleet like ash
cs fiIl'd
Thy breath congeard upon thy lips,
thy cheeks
Fringed with beard made white with
other SHOWS
Than those of age, thy forehead wrapt
in clouds;
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy
throne
A sliding Car, indebted to no wheels,
But urged by storm along its slippery
way"
There is an aptness and beauty in
this that one cannot avoid feeling the
force of; and as slightly as | regard
the pageants of royalty in general, |
cannot but love The titulary monarch
of this season of good gifts and good
cheer. Though he comes often in
storms and tempests; yet he comes no.
bly-thcre is a statriiness and gran
deur in his whole demeanour. that add
wonderfully to the effect Of his presence
and there is even in his sternness an
unflattering annunciarion of the i'll and
good which We are to brave and to
hone for. And then there are the un-
gathered joys and blessings; and the
Mirth and Pleasantly, that ever &C
company him; to say nothing of the
bright eyes and cheerful minds which
reject so much the more powerfully at
his bidding and in his presence. Who
then are the haters and the reyilers of
wiDteri
Not the poet for although The sea-
son of spring produces more sprishtli-
ness of thought and conduct,lther is
yet moral sobernes per-, aiding the pre-.
.ence of Winter, which abundantly
compensates for feelings Of more rap.
turous kind, and is mol. the less allied
to the conceptions of poetry. The ore
produces thought chastened by moral
reflection; the other feeling, heightened
and expanded by the external appear
ance of nature Burns wrote best in
Nov. and5 tho imagination of Cow
per was more expansive and vigorous
in the depth Of Winter. The former,
in one Of his fugitive productions,
BAYS:
i" The sweeping blast the sky o'ercast.
The j0yless inter day.
Let others fear--tp me more dear
Than all the pride of May"
The poets from Chauccr aud Spen-
ser, To Scott and Words~ orth, and
Culeriage. have distinguished winter
as the seasoned 'myrthe and iilarities,'
and when Hhe heart all chastened loves
TO muse One of the sweetest of our
modern poets Bernard Barton) has
published the following appropriate
Sonnet to Winter :"
"Thuu hast thy beauties, sterner ones
own,
Than those of thy precursors yet
to thee
Belong the charms Of solemn majesty,