The language and imagery of both are very beautiful; but the scene and figures described, in the strophe of the Ode to Mercy, are exquisitely striking, and would afford a painter one of the finest subjects in the world. ODE TO LIBERTY. The ancient states of Greece, perhaps the only ones in which a perfect model of liberty ever existed, are naturally brought to view in the opening of the poem: "Who shall awake the Spartan fife, And call in solemn sounds to life, The youths, whose locks divinely spreading, Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue." There is something extremely bold in this imagery of the locks of the Spartan youths, and greatly superior to that description Jocasta gives us of the hair of Polynices: Βοστρυχων τε κυανοχρωτα χαιτας Πλοκαμον–––– ~Bostrychôn te kyanochrôta chaitas Plokamon------~ "What new Alcæus, fancy-blest, Shall sing the sword, in myrtles drest," &c. This alludes to a fragment of Alcæus still remaining, in which the poet celebrates Harmodius and Aristogiton, who slew the tyrant Hipparchus, and thereby restored the liberty of Athens. The fall of Rome is here most nervously described in one line "With heaviest sound, a giant statue, fell." The thought seems altogether new, and the imitative harmony in the structure of the verse is admirable. After bewailing the ruin of ancient liberty, the poet considers the influence it has retained, or still retains, among the moderns; and here the free republics of Italy naturally engage his attention.--Florence, indeed, only to be lamented on account of losing its liberty under those patrons of letters, the Medicean family; the jealous Pisa, justly so called, in respect to its long impatience and regret under the same yoke; and the small Marino, which, however unrespectable with regard to power or extent of territory, has, at least, this distinction to boast, that it has preserved its liberty longer than any other state, ancient or modern, having, without any revolution, retained its present mode of government near fourteen hundred years. Moreover the patron saint who founded it, and from whom it takes its name, deserves this poetical record, as he is, perhaps, the only saint that ever contributed to the establishment of freedom. "Nor e'er her former pride relate To sad Liguria's bleeding state." In these lines the poet alludes to those ravages in the state of Genoa, occasioned by the unhappy divisions of the Guelphs and Gibelines. "----When the favour'd of thy choice, The daring archer heard thy voice." For an account of the celebrated event referred to in these verses, see Voltaire's Epistle to the King of Prussia. "Those whom the rod of Alva bruised, Whose crown a British queen refused!"