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REMARKS
The dedication of Albania to General Wade, in heroic couplets, seems to be the composition of the original editor. Aaron Hill thus addresses the editor of Albania:
Known, though unnamed, since shunning vulgar phrase,
Thy muse would shine, and yet conceal her rays;
Think thyself hid, and hope in vain to be
Unseen, like light, that shows us all we see.
But while thy readers are denied thy name,
They feel thy genius, and attest thy fame.
They pity too, in death, thy noteless friend,
Poor by the generous aid thy wealth would lend:
Prefaced by thee, his feeble lights expire;
Even in producing, thou obscurest his fire[1].
Thy muse would shine, and yet conceal her rays;
Think thyself hid, and hope in vain to be
Unseen, like light, that shows us all we see.
But while thy readers are denied thy name,
They feel thy genius, and attest thy fame.
They pity too, in death, thy noteless friend,
Poor by the generous aid thy wealth would lend:
Prefaced by thee, his feeble lights expire;
Even in producing, thou obscurest his fire[1].
In these verses, the "Dedication" to General Wade is clearly attributed to the editor; a circumstance which might almost have been inferred from the encomiastic strain in which Albania is mentioned in the Dedication. In the following verses, Hill declares the editor, as well as the author of Albania, to be a Scotsman:
More just thy mind, more generous is thy muse!
Albanian born, this English theme to choose:
No partial flattery need thy verse invade,
That in the ear of Scotland sounds a Wade.
Albanian born, this English theme to choose:
No partial flattery need thy verse invade,
That in the ear of Scotland sounds a Wade.
From the time of Aaron Hill, Albania remained unnoticed and unknown, till it was quoted by Dr. Beattie of Aberdeen, in a note to his Essays on Poetry and Music,
- ↑ Hill's Poems, ap. Anderson's British Poets, Vol. VII. p. 713.
