considerable to have served, like Pope's Ode on Solitude, or Cowley's Constantia and Philetus, as a presage of that future excellence which placed him, when he had attained his fortieth year, in the first rank of the lyric poets of Greece.
The encomiums which our poet often lavishes on the wealthy have sometimes been mentioned as a subject of reproach; but if Pindar's chaste and decorous muse delighted to panegyrize kings, demi-gods, and heroes, in common with the poets of his time, we shall not be able to find throughout his odes any instance of vice in high station flattered, or prosperous wickedness enriched by the golden dews of poetical adulation. In the sincere and judicious advice which he fearlessly bestows on Micro or Arcesilaus, the reader will be reminded of our own Chaucer, who, in the independent spirit of true genius, concludes his "Ballade sent to King Richard" by this grave admonition to the reigning monarch:—
"Prince, desire to be honourable,
Cherish thy folk, and hate extortion," &c.
It is to the bold and animated language of the Theban bard that we are in a great measure indebted for the feeling and interest that accompany the contemplation of those magnificent festivals which, being interwoven with the structure of the
