It is not forcing the evidence of language too much to say that a similar increasing interest in external nature finds expression in some of the compound epithets to be found in much of the minor poetry of the period. Thus Moses Mendez (d. 1758)[181] has in his poem on the various seasons (1751) such conventional epithets as
On every hill the purple-blushing vine,
but others testify to first hand observation as
The pool-sprung gnat on sounding wings doth pass.
Richard Jago (1715-1781)[182], in his “Edgehill” (1767), has such instances as “the woodland-shade,” “the wave-worn face,” and “the tillag’d plain wide-waving.” The Rev. R. Potter,[183] who imitated Spenser in his “Farewell Hymn to the Country” (1749), has happy examples like “mavis-haunted grove” and “this flowre-perfumed aire.” In William Whitehead’s poems[184] there are numerous formations like “cloud-enveloped towers” (“A Hymn”) and “rock-invested shades” (“Elegy,” IV). A few new descriptive terms appear in the work of John Langhorne (1735-1779),[185] “flower-feeding rills” (“Visions of Fancy,” I), “long-winding vales” (“Genius and Valour”), etc. Michael Bruce (1746-1767) in his “Lochleven”[186] has, e.g., “cowslip-covered banks,” and fresh observation of bird life is seen in such phrases as “wild-shrieking gull” and “slow-wing’d crane.” James Graeme (1749-1772)[187] has at least one new and happy compound in his line
The blue-gray mist that hovers o’er the hill.
(“Elegy written in Spring”)
John Scott (1730-1783)[188] makes more use of compound formations than most of his minor contemporaries. He has many instances of Type IV (noun plus participle), including “rivulet-water’d glade” (Eclogue I), “corn-clad plain,” “elder-shaded cot” (“Amwell”). His few instances of Type VI (e.g. “wildly-warbled strain,” (“Ode” IV)), and of Type VII (e.g. “trefoil-purpled field” (“Elegy,” III)); “may-flower’d hedges” (“Elegy,” IV); and “golden-clouded sky,” (“Ode,” II), are also worthy of notice.
Meanwhile another aspect of the rising Romantic movement was revealing itself in the work of Chatterton. With the “antiquarianism” of the Rowley poems we are not here concerned, but the language of both the “original” work and of the “discovered” poems contains plenty of material relevant to our special topic. Chatterton, indeed, seems to have had a predilection for compound formations, though he has but few instances of compound substantives (e.g. “coppice-valley” (“Elegy”), and instances of Type II (noun plus adjective) are also rare. The other types of epithets are, however, well represented: “echo-giving bells” (“To Miss Hoyland”), “rapture-speaking lyre” (“Song”), etc. (Type III), though it is perhaps in Type IV that Chatterton’s word-forming power is best shown: “flower-bespangled hills” (“Complaint”), “rose-hedged vale” (“Elegy at Stanton-Drew”), etc., where the first compound epithet is a new and suggestive descriptive term. His examples of Type V are also worth noting: “verdant-vested trees” (“Elegy,” V), “red-blushing blossom” “Song”), whilst one of the best of them is to be found in those lines, amongst the most beautiful written by Chatterton, which reflect something of the new charm that men were beginning to find in old historic churches and buildings: