fire of Lord Lanfdown, to whom it is addreffed, as may be inferred from the motto *.

The author of the effay above-mentioned; opens his criticifm on this piece, by faying that Defcriptive poetry was by no means the fhining talent of POPE."

In this premature manner does the effayift cenfure our poet.---A hard cenfure, which even his own citations contradict.

He admits, for instance, that though, speaking of old FATHER THAMES, the trite and obvious infignia of a river god are attributed to him, yet there is one circumstance in his appearance highly picturesque, which is

3

His fea-green mantle waving with the wind."

He confeffes likewife that the relievo upon his urn is finely imagined

The figur'd ftreams in waves of filver roll'd, "And on their banks Augufta rofe in gold."

Our critic is farther obliged to acknowledge, that the poet has with exquifite skill selected only thofe rivers as attendants on Thames, who

Non injuffa cano: Te noftrae, Vare, myricae,
Te Nemus omne canet; nec Phoebo gratior ulla eft,
Quam fibi quae Vari praefcripfit fagina nomen.

are his fubjects, his tributaries, or neighbours. The paffage alluded to, is too beautiful to be omitted.

"Firft the fam'd authors of his ancient name, "The winding Isis and the fruitful Tame : "The Kennet fwift, for filver eels renown'd; "The Lodden flow, with verdant alders crown'd; "Cole, whofe dark streams his flow'ry islands "lave;

"And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave: "The blue, tranfparent Vandalis appears; "The gulphy Lee his fedgy treffes rears; "The fullen Mole, that hides his diving flood; "And filent Darent, ftain'd withDanish blood."

The following fpecimen likewife of pure de fcription may be added to fhew how little our bard was deficient in this talent.

"In genial fpring, beneath the quiv'ring fhade,
"Where cooling vapours breathe along the
"mead,

"The patient fisher takes his filent stand,
"Intent, his angle trembling in his hand:
"With looks unmov'd, he hopes the fcaly breed,
"And eyes the dancing cork, and bending reed.
"Our plenteous ftreams a various race fupply,
"The bright-ey'd perch, with fins of Tyrian die,
"The filver cel, in fhining volumes roll'd,
"The yellow carp, in fcales bedrop'd with gold:
"Swift trouts, diverfify'd with crimson stains,
And pykes, the tyrants of the watry plains."

The

The other sports likewife of fetting, fhooting, and hunting are defcribed with great beauty.

The following lines are finely defcriptive, and at the fame time pathetic. After having defcribed a pheasant shot, he gives way to the following moving exclamation.

“Ah! what avail his gloffy, varying dyes, "His purple creft, and fcarlet-circled eyes, "The vivid green his fhining plumes unfold, "His painted wings, and breast that flames " with gold?"

The following lines in the ftag-chase, likęwife are inimitably fine,

"Th' impatient courfer pants in ev'ry vein, "And pawing, seems to beat the distant plain *: "Hills, vales, and floods appear already crofs'd, "And ere he starts, a thousand steps are loft."

The firft two lines are tranflated from Statius.

"Stare adeo miferum eft, pereunt veftigia mille
"Ante fugam, abfentemque ferit gravis ungula campum.”

These lines, Mr. Dryden, in his preface to his translation, of Frefnoy's Art of Painting, calls wonderfully fine; and fays, "they would coft him an hour, if he had the leifure, "to tranflate them, there is so much beauty in the original ;' which probably excited Mr. POPE to try his art with them..

E 3

"See

"See the bold youth ftrain up the threat'ning ❝fteep,

"Rush through the thickets, down the valleys "fweep,

"Hang o'er their courfers heads with eager

fpeed,

"And earth rolls back beneath the flying steed."

Many other, and more ftriking inftances of Mr. POPE's talent for defcription, appear in the course of his works, and fome will be taken notice of in their proper places.

It is certain, that defcriptive poetry can claim but a very fubordinate rank in the scale of poetical excellence. As the learned editor of his works has obferved, it is the office of a pictorefque imagination to brighten and adorn good fenfe; fo that to employ it only in description, is like childrens delighting in a prism for the fake of its gaudy colours, which when frugally managed and skilfully difpofed, might be made to represent and illuftrate the nobleft objects in nature.

Indeed our poet himself thought meanly of defcriptive poetry, which he humorously obferved was a compofition as abfurd as a feaft made up of fauces: And in his epifle to Dr. Arbuth not, he speaks flightly of this fort of merit, where he fays

"----Who

-Who could take offence

"While pure Defcription held the place of "Senfe ?"

Mr. POPE, however, has not failed in this piece to take every occafion of adorning good fense; and he fometimes, as our critic obferves, introduces moral fentences and inftructions in an oblique and indirect manner, in places where one expects only painting and amusement. Thus we have virtue, as our poet himfelf remarks, put upon us by furprize, and are pleased to find a thing where we fhould never have looked to meet with it.

Among other specimens of this diftinguishing excellence, our critic has candidly felected the following, where, after speaking of hare-hunting, the poet fubjoins

"Beafts, urg'd by us, their fellow-beasts pursue, "And learn of man each other tot undo."

The manly indignation and generous freedom likewife with which our poet speaks of the ravages of the Norman kings, deferves to be admired. After defcribing the beauties of the foreft, he thus breaks forth

*Iliad, b. 16. in the notes, ver. 465.

↑ To undo is unpoetical, and the expletive To makes the line halt.