"Or when the settling moon, in crimson dyed,
Hung o'er the dark and melancholy deep,
To haunted stream, remote from man, he hied,
Where fays of yore their revels wont to keep;
And there let Fancy rove at large, till sleep
A vision brought to his entrancëd sight.
And first a wildly murmuring wind gan creep
Shrill to his ringing ear; then tapers bright,
With instantaneous gleam, illumed the vault of night.

"Anon in view a portal's blazing arch
Arose; the trumpet bids the valves unfold;
And forth a host of little warriors march,
Grasping the diamond lance and targe of gold.
Their look was gentle, their demeanor bold,
And green their helms, and green their silk attire;
And here and there, right venerably old,
The long-robed minstrels wake the warbling wire,
And some with mellow breath the martial pipe inspire."[53]

The influence of Thomson is clearly perceptible in these stanzas. "The
Minstrel," like "The Seasons," abounds in insipid morality, the
commonplaces of denunciation against luxury and ambition, and the praise
of simplicity and innocence. The titles alone of Beattie's minor poems
are enough to show in what school he was a scholar: "The Hermit," "Ode to
Peace," "The Triumph of Melancholy," "Retirement," etc., etc. "The
Minstrel" ran through four editions before the publication of its second
book in 1774.