The central gazette. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1820-1827, 1825-01-01
From the Ne,c.Yo,k 1meTicdn.
PAINS OF IMAGINATION

ana Is strongly marked with the pure TASTE,
and pcnsive, ana almost melancholy turn of
mind that cha, actcrises that gentleman. It's,
as win be at once ina gned. a sort of pendant
~ Akcnside's "Plcasuies OF lmagination,
and follows, with unequal steps, IN the
Same path In making the following extracts,
bv Which our readers will he enabled to Judge
Of the business OF our praise, wr have rather
heen guided 10y reference TO thePecuiiar topics,
than by any pu pose to select them, as sePe'
Nor 10 other passages in the poem.
The first passage refers. as will he perceived
TO the "chequered scenes" OF STE.
What contradictions in osr being jar,
Mystei ious contrasts, elemental war!
The soul ethereal, image of its God,
Chained to the grossness oil an earthly ciodi
Powers that TO glory|s heights aerial climb,
Spurn at control, and conquer space and tiine'
Blended with weakness, which degrade the
man
TO childhood's wants, and mocks each gene
rcus plan;
Frailties that cloud the bright celestia, spark,
And leave its prison cherries, bleak and dark;
PASSIONS for high and god, like object, born,
Or prone to baseness, in amy, and scorn,
Affections pure rs seraph bosoms swell,
Or fierce as rend the ras!ng hend' OF hell.
The following lines will find RESP onsive feel
inss in every bosom--tho' few. probably,
could have given utterance to them in the
same p!aintive elegance.
Oh who hath not, in melancholy mood,
Missing at eve, in some scquesteret wood,
Or where the torrents foaming waters pour,
On" oc-''"'s h'bows ",nrmur on the shore g
Oh who hath not, in such a moment, saz'd,
AS heavens bright hosts in cloudlcss glory
bIaz'd.
And felt sadness steal upon his heart.
h IL n n Ia .tl. r.
part
That while those pillows heave, those waters
Those SaInIShed skies refulgent still shall glow,
He, that once watch'd them, shall have Psss'd
away,
His name forgot his ashc. blent with clay,
Unlike those glittering orbs, those quenchless
fires,
Ordain d to .oll. ill time itself expires +!
After describing the vario is horrors of an
hereafter, which superstition has created, and
fancy masniGed, the poet makes this just and
moral reaexion.
These. and the thousand woes, by heather
crecds
Drdain'd in punishment of guilty deeds,
Are but the shadows genius has desisn'd,
To paint the hel which lives within The mind
Then comes, after glowing invocation to
Greece, this fine address 20 TIC Shade OF ID yron
Shade Of departed genius! can | turn
From Greece, without attribute to thine urn.
Byron sad illustration Of my theme
Haunted and curst by fancy > wildering dream,
With talents, learning, fortune, honours ,blest;
Che idol OF the world, and yet its jest
y peer, a vagrant: husband without wife;
Lord of estates, housecss bard for life;
Pride of thy friends, and OF thy native laud,
A wandering exile on foreign strand;
For greatness, use[ulacss, and glory born,
First winning "reaths, then tramphng them
in scorn;
The friend OF freedom, generous, bold, and
brave
10 nothing save thy maynard will slave.
Peace Ia thy shade thy troubled dreams are
Ger
Fhc world shall: praise, condemn, admire Mo
more
The transition from scene and cause like
these naturally lead the poet to expatiate on
'he blessings Of freedom, when his mind is
suddenly crossed by the hideous spectre ofne-
gro slavery.
Hark in the murmur. of the southern gale,
Breaks on the ear the negros hollow wall
hear the drivers lash, the dismal clank
OF chains, resound along Mssouri's bank,
As on he hastens to the sable fold
His herd Of victims to be bought and sold;
see The slave, in mind, in soul akin,
In all beside the tinctu,e OF The skin,
Doom'd, like the brute, to turn the arid soil,
In hopeless, thank less, unrequitted toll;
see him, weary, at the beat of drum,
His only curfew, hurried 20 his home,
TO find in dreams, upon his bed of straw,
a land OF right, Of liberty, and law
Remorseless servitude, OF ills the worst,
OF crimes the deepest with which earth is
c,,TEtf
Act the kind master mingic as he will
The bitter chalice, it is slavery still
The hand OF mercy cannot pluck the thorn,
That arms the pillow Of the wretch forlorn,
Nor bland philanthropy assuage the pain,
Or dry the tear Of him who wears a chain.
Shame on progenitors, whose crimes entaird
blot, curse, their children have bewaifd
Shar : that one man, who breathes the inspir
ing air
Of freedom, and who tastes her boon, should
dare
To lift his voice, the advocate Of wrong,
And seek, from sordid pretexts, to prolong
This stain upon country great and free,
Glorious IN arts and arms, the home OF Liberty!
This extract concludes, as shall our com
nnents and extracts, with an address TO the
scenes Of early youth, to the academic groves,
and ''classic bowers" which all who have ad
yanced somewhat into this troubled world
live over again in memory, with unceasing
delight.