What Man, what Hero wilt thou claim, What Godhead, Muse? For whom inspire Thy warbling Pipe or Lyre? Oldsworth.
Since, then, it is incumbent upon me to bear a Part in this Solemnity, let me prevail with my usual Audience, and those additional Guests that make up this chearful Assembly, to restrain their Impatience for the Verses and Orations, that are to follow, only while I lay before them the Original and Antiquity of Lyric Poetry, the distinguishing Properties of it, the Variety of its Matter, and the Difference between modern Writers in this Way, and the ancient.
That this is the most ancient Kind of Poem, is pretty evident. Jubal, in sacred Writ, is said to be the first Inventor of musical Instruments; and little Doubt is to be made, but vocal Music was added to them. And we are farther told, by a Jewish Author, of venerable Antiquity[282], tho' his Works are not admitted into the Canon, that the same which found out musical Tunes, recited Verses in Writing. We have before observ'd, that Poetry took its Rise from those Festival Hymns which were sung at the Conclusion of Harvest, in Gratitude to the Deity. Odes, therefore, and Poetry, date their Original from the same Æra: And, in Truth, if we consider the internal Motions of the Soul, it will seem very probable that Poetry, which is so peculiarly adapted to express the several Emotions of Joy, or Praise, or Gratitude, owes its Rise to Nature herself, and was therefore join'd with Music. We have no Instance of Poetry older than the celebrated Song, or rather Ode, of Moses[283]. The Antiquity of the other Hymns mention'd in sacred History, and, particularly, the Collection of them in the Book of Psalms, is so well known, that I shall dwell no longer upon this Particular.
As to the Nature of the Lyric Poem, it is, of all Kinds of Poetry, the most poetical; and is as distinct, both in Style, and Thought, from the rest, as Poetry in general is from Prose. I have before observ'd, the Peculiarity of its Diction; the Thought, only, now comes under Consideration. Now this is the boldest of all other Kinds, full of Rapture, and elevated from common Language the most that is possible; so that what Horace says at the Beginning of one of his Odes, may not improperly be applied to all the rest:
[284] Odi profanum vulgus, & arceo.
I hate, I scorn the Vulgar Throng.
Some Odes there are, likewise, in the free and loose Manner, which seem to avoid all Method, and yet are conducted by a very clear one; which affect Transitions, seemingly, without Art, but, for that Reason, have the more of it; which are above Connexion, and delight in Exclamations, and frequent Invocation of the Muses; which begin and end abruptly, and are carried on thro' a Variety of Matter with a sort of divine Pathos, above Rules and Laws, and without Regard to the common Forms of Grammar.
Hence, then, we learn the chief Property of Lyric Poetry, viz. that it abounds with a Sort of Liberty which consists in Digressions and Excursions. Pindar set his Successors this Example, insomuch that this Style, when applied to Odes, is generally call'd Pindaric; not that he is to be esteem'd the Inventor of it: For it is plain that he, and the rest of the Grecians, receiv'd their Learning from the Nations of the East, the Jews and Phœnicians: And it is well known, the eastern Eloquence abounded not only with Metaphors, and bold Hyperboles, but in long Digressions; as is sufficiently evident from the sacred Writings. The Roman Pindar often imitates the Theban, and sometimes exceeds him, even in his characteristic Excellence. Thus in that Ode, where he addresses himself to the Ship that bore so valuable a Freight as Virgil,
[285] Sic te, Diva potens Cypri, &c.
at the Conclusion of the eighth Verse, he inveighs against the Temerity of Mankind, and pursues this Argument to the End of the Ode, which is not a very short one. So, again, speaking of the Tree which had like to have fallen upon him,