ON COLLINS'S ODE ON THE PASSIONS, AS RECITED BY MRS ESTEN Susanna Blamire Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Blamire, Susanna, 1747-1794. The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire “The muse of Cumberland.” Now for the first time collected by Henry Lonsdale, M.D. with a preface, memoir, and notes by Patrick Maxwell, ... Edinburgh John Menzies, 61 Princes Street; R. Tyas, London; D. Robertson, Glasgow; and C. Thurnam, Carlisle. MDCCCXLII. 1842 pp. 125-127.

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ON COLLINS'S ODE ON THE PASSIONS , AS RECITED BY MRS ESTEN Mrs Esten was thought by some to combine in her own person a considerable portion of the dignity of Mrs Siddons , with the brilliant gaiety of Miss Farren . She is still remembered for her admirable recitation of the " Ode on the Passions , " and " Alexander's Feast . " BENEATH a sad and silent shade Afflicted Poetry was laid ; The shepherd train , the virgin choir , No longer listen'd to her lyre ; But , all neglected and alone , Her feeling and her fire were gone . No zephyr fondly sued her breast , No nightingale came there to rest ; The faded visions fled her eyes — The visions of her ecstasies . And if perchance she sought delight , It was amid the gloom of night , — It was the hour the screechowls cry , Or roaring whirlwinds rend the sky , To pour her melancholy strain , And catch a pleasure from the pain . Esten beheld her haggard air At twilight as she wander'd there , And felt the sympathetic woe That Taste and Feeling ever know ; Then eager sought the city's throng To vindicate the force of song . She chose an ode divinely wild , Wrote by the Muses' favourite child ; From Collins was the magic lay , That subject Passions all obey : The crowd the varying influence prove Of Rage , and Hope , and Fear , and Love ; They still implor'd her to rehearse , And own'd the thrilling power of verse ! O thou , sweet Bard ! who now mayst be A shadow fleeting o'er the sea , A vapour on the morning rose , A whispering wind at evening's close ; Or if thy spirit love to dwell Awhile within the violet's bell , Then , in beatitude of change , From star to star exulting range ; Live in the lustre of the day , Or float upon the lunar ray ; Or rapturous join the hallow'd voice Where endless Seraphim rejoice ; O Collins ! whatsoe'er thou art , Deign , deign to bless thy Esten's heart ; A portion of those joys reveal Which sure she well deserves to feel !