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The following nations offer a rich field of and disjointed story, and Sparta in the civil and religious costume:

The Jews.

The Scandinavians.

The Persians.

Celtic superstition is too little understood, and the documents of Celtic manners are scanty. Still there is an outline. The British Brutus has been too often thought upon, to remain for ever without his fame.

The Hindoo is a vile mythology, a tangle of thread fragments which require the touch of a faery's distaff to unravel and unite them. There is no mapping out the country, no reducing to shape the chaotic mass. It is fitter for the dotage dreams of Sir William Jones, than the visions of the poet. Let the wax-nose be tweaked by Volney

on one side and Maurice on the other!

The Greenlanders are stupid savages, or there is a favourable wildness in their belief and in their country.

The Amortam might be the groundwork of a Hindoo poem, but the draught of im

It is hardly necessary to say that here are the first ideas for Roderick, the Last of the Goths.-J. W. W.

wrong, that must not be! Lycurgus? the conqueror of human nature, perhaps the amender. The great Alexander? alas all perished with the mighty Macedonian.

Better some lesser story, imaginary, or of obscure record. The Pythoness, Endymion, not ill handled by Gombauld, but of much promise.

Stories connected with the Manners of
Chivalry.

Feudalism. ROBIN HOOD.1 The establishment of the Inquisition, St. Domingo's the prominent personage.

body well. Saints and angels through the The superstitions of the dark ages would whole hierarchy, and every order of demonology. They have rarely been used well, or never, the cursed itch of imitation has made them parodies of the Greek gods.

Runic.

THE Conquests of Odin were suggested by

Since published-a Fragment--by Mrs. Southey, who took a part in it.-J. W. W.

Gibbon; but Odin must be the god, not the hero. The story must be wholly imaginary. The history of savages is never important enough to furnish an action for poetry.

Persian.

ZOROASTER was a bad and bloody priest. Other personage their history offers not, for Cyrus is anterior to the system of the Zendavesta.

Thus then: A Persian Satrap, persecuted by the powers of darkness. Every calamity that they inflict developes in him some virtue which prosperity had smothered, and they end in driving him to emigrate with a Greek slave, and becoming a citizen of Athens. Here then the whole mythology, and the whole hatefulness of oriental tyranny come into the foreground. The Athenian slave, who chuses his master, for his pupil and son-in-law, may be as Jacobinical as heart could wish.

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Hindoo.

THERE is a singular absurdity in this system, prayers and penance have an actual, not a relative value; they are a sterling coin for which the gods must sell their favours, as the shopkeeper supplies the thief for ready money, Some of the most famous penitents have been actuated by ambition and cruelty.

By penance and prayer any gift may be compelled from the gods; add immortality, and there may exist an enemy formidable even to heaven.

The search of the Amortam by such a man, call him for the present Keradon-he is a Bramin. An injured Paria-Cartamenfollows him, finds him in the very presence of Yamen, who alone dispenses the draught

Here again we have the first germ of the Curse of Kehama. Writing to his early and valued friend, CHARLES DANVERS, May 6, 1801, Southey says, "I have just and barely begun the Curse of Keradon."-J. W. W.

of immortality, and immortalizes him in a more natural way.

On the coast of Malealon, Cartamen may meet Parassourama, who still exists there. The God for the sake of his mother Mariatale, may befriend the Paria.

Stung by some violent provocation, Cartamen kills the brother of Keradon. Mariatale, the despised goddess, protects the despised Paria, and preserves him from death. He is condemned to bear about the Bramin's skull, and eat and drink out of it; but his punishment is his glory.

The Hindoos admit the truth of all religions,-Turk, Christian, Jew, or Gentile may therefore be introduced.

A daughter of the Paria shall be a prominent character,—a Grindouver descends for her love. Seevajee claims her for the wife of the god, that is, a temple-prostitute. Cartamen in vain alleges that their god is not the god of the Parias, hence the murder. She has nurst a young crocodile, to save herself she leaps into the river, the beast receives her.

Funeral of Seevajee. His ghost appears to Keradon, and tells him he cannot destroy Ledalma till the Amordam has made him equal with the gods. Keradon then curses the murderer, commands all the evil powers to persecute him, and forbids any good one to assist him.

When he is on the rocks near Mount Merou,—the fine incident of the bitch that left her whelps for want.

It is Kalya who saves herself and her father, when they are about to be executed, by calling on Mariatale, the mixed power. She with her father is cast out, but he leaves her when she is asleep, that she may not partake his sufferings. The Mouni-Willo-the wisps-misleads her. She sinks under a manchineel; then Eelia, the Grindouver, sees and saves her.

Parassourama advises Ledalma to appeal to Bely, the just governor of Padalon. Seevajee cannot be judged till the term appointed for his natural life had elapsed. His spirit therefore is at leisure to be mis

chievous. Ledalma may see Bely on the night when he visits earth, or attempt to descend by Yamen's throne.

The Sorgon might be conquered by Keradon and Padalon. Yamen calmly awaits him unmoved at his post, and gives him the cup, the consummation of his conquests.

Eenia, after seeking other aid in vain, dares to appeal to Eswara, and complain that there is injustice in the world. Eswara tells him Death alone can aid Laderlad.

Eenia takes Kalyal1 to the Sorgon, and shows her all its joys; but she asks to be restored to her father. He knows not where he is, but asks Arounin, the charioteer of the sun. Thus Arounin's answer brings up the lee-way, and the clumsiness of a reverting story is avoided.

Eenia asks Manmadin to wound Kalyal also. The Love God cannot, her heart is full of stronger feelings.

Kalyal is exposed to violation in a temple. Eenia guards her, and kills whoever attempts her. He daily tells her of her father.

Keradon takes Laderlad and leads him through Padalon to see with living eyes his after pain. Sure that Yamen must give the draught, he drags his conquered enemies to the spot of triumph, drinks, and dies. The wrath-eye of Eswara is on him.

When the father and daughter are about to be executed at Naropi's grave, Laderlad despairs, and therefore is abandoned. Kalyal is for piety exempted from the curse. Naropi's spirit, animating his corpse, persecutes Laderlad and his daughter. When alone, she is led into a house where the spectre awaits her, and escaping from his Incubus attempt sinks at the foot of the manchineel tree.

Keradon's curse.-May he be shunned by all his own cast, and be in the same abomination to them that they are to the rest of the world; the sun shine to scorch him; no wind cool him; no water wet his lips. He shall

The reader will observe that in this early MS. the characters are variously spelt. In the poem itself we have Kalyal and Glendoveernot Kalya and Grindouver.-J. W. W.

thirst, and the cool element fly from his touch; he shall hunger, and all earthly food refuse its aid. He shall never sleep, and never die, till the full age of man be accomplished.

When the dead Naropi attempts Kalyal, the eye of Eswara falls upon him and consumes him.

Keradon has obtained that none can destroy him but himself.

After Kalyal has fed her father with the Sorgon fruits, Keradon strikes her with leprosy, that the Grindouver may loath her. Then it is that Eenia flies to the throne of the Destroyer-God.

The Cintra cistern might be well painted. Laderlad lying by the water.

Kalyal is taken to the Sorgon to be recovered.

The giants join Keradon to get the Amor

tam.

The frozen bay by Parassourama's cave of sleep. Thence he may embark for the end of the world, to Yamen.

Thus then the arrangement. Funeral and

curse.

Its gradual effects till Laderlad leaves Kalyal asleep. Her adventure with the dead Naropi. Eenia bears her to the Sorgon. Search of her father. Arounin's account. The meeting. Keradon smites her with leprosy. First he exposes her in the temple. Eenia defends her. His request to Manmadin. Keradon then taints her with the leprosy. He attempts to destroy her. Mariatale saves her. After the disease Eenia goes to Eswara, as he is leading both to Yamen. The giants seize them. Parassourama wakes to their rescue. Their voyage. On the shore Keradon captures them. His triumph in Padalon, and the end. 1. The curse. 2. The manchineel. 3. The Sorgon. 4. The meeting. 5. The prostitution. 6. The leprosy. 7. The appeal to Eswara. 8. Parassourama. 9. The captivity. 10. The catastrophe.

Eenia's appeal to Eswara. An allusion to the fruitless attempt of Brahma and Vichenon to measure the greater god. The Grindouver finds him soon. Allegory, whom

curious presumption cannot discover, af- | ballads, double rhymes the more the better. flicted earnestness instantly finds.

The meeting with Bely might be in his ruined city Mavalipuram. Its sea scenery would be impressive.

Kalyal comes to the Lake Asru-tirt'ha, by bathing there she would lose all worldly affections and go to Vishu's paradise; for her father's sake she refuses, and thus is reserved for a higher bliss.

I shall write this romance in rhyme, thus to avoid any sameness of style or syntax or expression with my blank verse poems, and to increase my range and power of language.1

But the chain must be as loose as possible, an unrhymed line may often pass without offending the ear. Like the Emperor of China's lying fiddler, he may be silent in the noise of his companions. A middle rhyme may be used, not merely to its own termination but to that of another verse. The octave line is of more hurrying rapidity than the decimal, and may be varied at pleasure with that of six, and with the fuller close of ten or twelve. In short lines a repetition of rhymes is pleasant; even in long ones, as Warner proves to my ear, and the Spanish

"It is begun in rhymes, as irregular in length, cadence, and disposition as the lines of Thalaba. I write them with equal rapidity, so that on the score of time and trouble that is neither loss nor gain. But it is so abominable a sin against what I know to be right, that my stomach turns at it. It is to the utmost of my power vitiating, or rather continuing the corruption of public taste-it is feeding people on French cookery, which pleases their diseased and pampered palates, when they are not healthy enough to relish the flavour of beef & mutton. My inducements are-to avoid any possible sameness of expression, any mannerism, and to make as huge an innovation in rhymes as Thalaba will do in blank verse. But I am almost induced to translate what is already done into the Thalaban metre."-MS. Letter to C. Danvers, Lisbon, May 6, 1801.

"If, after all, you like better to write in rhyme, what is done may be easily translated. In proof of the practicability, the first seventy pages of Kehama underwent this metamorphosis." MS. Letter to Caroline Bowles, 10th May, 1824.-J. W. W.

Anaranya, like Crispin the Conjurer, follows them on the water.

The Wrath Eye is reserved for the catastrophe. As Keradon drinks, it falls upon him, and fills him with fire, red hot.

Eenia will be better winged, like the Glums, than with feathers. His application to Cama must be in the Sorgon.

Living Careatades might support the throne of Yamen.

After Anaranya's body is by Mariatale destroyed, he might still persecute a shadow dark in the evening light; but his eyes were bright, like stars in the haze of mist. The moon was gone; the clouds moved on. Then the shadow he grew light in the darkness of the night, and his eyes like flame were red.2

Indra will not allow Eenia to bring Laderlad to the Sorgon, fearing sooner to exasperate Keradon. But Kalyal builds her father a cane hut, and Eenia daily brings him the fruits of the Sorgon. At last he comes not, and a hurricane tears up the hut.

Kehama orders her to be thrown into the river at once. May not the very curse save her, by enabling Laderlad to get her out of the river? This idea strikes him, and he runs instantly as he is freed.

Derla and Vedilya, wives of Arvelan, burnt; one patiently, and with no love of life, which never had been happiness; the other younger, and with strugglings. They also wander in spirit, being untimely slain; and in the Jaggernat temple save Kalyal from the force of their tyrant, for Arvelan there appears in body.

Kohalma discovers that of Kalyal an immortal babe shall be born; hence he may save her at last, deeming that by him it must be begotten.

Lake of Crocodiles. She is throned on one; before the espousals with the idol, the angelic increase of beauty given by the Sorgon fruits occasion her election.

An hour passes in the Sorgon, but it is

2 As it is so written in the original MS. I have not thought it necessary to divide the lines.-J. W. W.

an hour of the blessed; and Laderlad has had a year's wandering. Only into Laderlad's hand may the cup of Amreeta be given. Thus hath it been decreed, and that not for himself is he to receive it. A reason for his presence. Laderlad's must pass through the dark portal. |

Crocodiles are kept in a moat or tank that surrounded a town in the East Indies, as guards. So I heard from a man who had been an officer in that service; and so it was at Goa.-ALBOQ. BARROS.

Laderlad might at last rise in open hostility to Kehama.

Among the ornaments of Major Cartright's magnificent temple is the self moved vessel of the Phœacians. The body of the living bark is like a scollop shell; instead of a helm, it grows into a human head, to see and direct the way.

She is thrown under the wheels of Jagrenat's car to be destroyed; but he who lies next her is Laderlad, and Death knew Kehama's Curse.

Notes for Madoc.1

SILENT, apart from all and musing much. -VIEIRA LUSITANO, canto 8, p. 278.

Bird Omen.-CARLOS MAGNO, p. 23. But not understandable, like the Mexican prodigy.

Priests running into the battle.-Corte Real. Seg. Cerco de Diu. canto 11, p. 143. Canto 18, p. 289.

Oronoco Indian's trial.-MARIGNY Revol. vol. 1, p. 52. Also the case of Judkin Fitzgerald, Esq.

Ashes of the kings.-Ibid. p. 99. So the flight from Almanzor.

"L. Martio et Sex. Julio consulibus in agro Mutinensi duo montes inter se concurserunt, crepitu maximo assultantes et recedentes, et inter eos flamma fumoque exeunte. Quo concursu villæ omnes elisæ sunt, animalia permultæ quæ intra fuerant, exanimata sunt."-TEXTOR'S Officina, 210 ff.

"For my harp is made of a good mares skyn, The strynges be of horse heare, it maketh a good dyn."

BORDE's Introduction to Knowledge, quoted in WALKER's Bards.

"CORTES made the Zempoallans pull downe their idolls, and sepulchres of their Cassikz, which they did reverence as Gods.”—Conquest of the Weast Indies.

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Where apple blossoms scent the fragrant air I've snatch'd soft kisses from the wanton fair. "Once more, sweet maid, together let us stray,

And in soft dalliance waste the fleeting day. Through hazel groves, where clust'ring nuts invite,

Sunless world, a phrase correspondent to And blushing apples charm the tempted

mine, p. 2.

Endymion de Gombauld.

Early navigator. Capt. James's poem in danger.-2 c. 98.

Death of Coatel. Tale in Niebuhr.

p. 58.

Water of Jealousy. Pierre Faifen, cap. 22, John Henderson at Downend.

By referring to the notes on Madoc, the reader will see how small a portion of his great collections Southey was in the habit of using up. See Life and Correspondence, vol. v. 172.—

J. W. W.

sight."

THE Irish horsemen were attended by servants on foot, commonly called Daltini,' armed only with darts or javelins, to which thongs of leather were fastned, wherewith to draw them back after they were cast.SIR JAMES WARE's Antiquities of Ireland.

1 DU CANGE quotes Ware and Stanihurst in V. SPELMAN in his Gloss. gives the explanation at length.-J. W. W.

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