Ah! Bright Are the Glances [pp. 169]

Ah! Bright are the Glances.
and uniformly supported between the
seeming unkindness of the man, and the
unconquerable attachment and fidelity of
the woman, whose amiable compliance
unexpectedly defeats every objection, and
continually furnishes new matter for our
love and compassion. At length our
fears subside in the triumph of suffering
innocence and patient sincerity. The
MAN whose hard speeches had given us
so much pain, suddenly surprises us
with a change of sentiment, and becomes
equally an object of our admiration and
esteem. In the disentanglement of this
distressful tale, we are happy to find that
all his cruelty was tenderness, and his
inconstancy the most invariable truth;
his levity an ingenious artifice, and his
perversity the friendly disguise of the
firmest affection. He is no longer an
unfortunate exile,-the profligate companion of the thieves and ruffians of the
forest, but an opulent Earl of Westmoreland and promises, that the lady who
is a Baron's daughter, and whose constancy he had proved by such a series of
embtrrassing proposals, shall instantly be
made the partner of his riches and his
bonours. Nor should we forget to commend the invention of the poet in imagining the modes of trying the lady's patience, and in feigning so many new sit
uations,-which at the same time open
a way to description, and to a variety of
new scenes and images.
"I cannot help observing here, by the
way, that Prior has misconceived and essentially marred his poet's design by
softening the sternness of the MAN, which
could not be intended to admit of any
degree of relaxation. Hlenry's hypocrisy is not characteristically nor consistently sustained. He frequently talks
in too respectful and complaisant a style.
Sometimes he calls Emma, my tender
maid, and my beauteous Emma; he fondly dwells on the ambrosial plenty of her
flowing ringlets, gracefully wreathed with
variagated ribbands, and expatiates with
rapture on the charms of her snowy
bosom, her slender waist and harmony
of shape. In the ancient poem the concealed lover never abates his affectation of
rigour and reserve, nor ever drops an expression, which may tend to betray any
traces of tenderness. He retains his severity to the last, in order to give force
to the conclusion of the piece, and to
heighten the effect of his final declaration of love. Thus by diminishing the
opposition of interests, and by giving too
great a degree of uniformity to both
characters, the distress is in some measure destroyed by Prior."
AH! BRIGHT ARE THE GLANCES.
BY WM. W. TURNER.
Ah! bright are the glances that flash from thine eye,
As ardent as sunbeamns that pour from the sky;
Soul-melting, entrancing, transfixing they dart,
Bewildering, thrilling the quivering heart.
Like tenderest rose-buds, from which the bee sips,
His sweet store of nectar, thy rich pouting lips,
With the spirit of Love around them display
Such smiles as spread over the landscape of May.
The low sigh how tender that heaves thy fair breast!
Like the whispering zephyr that comes from the WestYet strong as a tempest it sweeps o'er the soul,
And billows of passion obey its control.
1860.]
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