So pleas'd at firft, the tow'ring Alps we try, "Mount o'er the vales, and feem to tread the “sky, "Th'eternal fnows appear already past, "And the first clouds and mountains feem the "laft: "But, thofe attain'd, we tremble to furvey The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, "Th' increafing profpect tires our wand'ring 66 eyes, "Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arife!" The Effayift does not feem inclined to applaud this celebrated illuftration. The images, he obferves, are too general and indiftinct: but if the mind, as it enlarges itfelf in the purfuit of learning, be indeed in the ftate of a wearied traveller, when entered on the paffage of the Alps (as it is furely) could there be an apter fimilitude? And if, in the defcription of this journey, the images are too general and indiftinct, it is the fault of that barren and extenfive region, and not of the poet, who muft defcribe what he finds or conceives. But the Effayift would have him an INVENTOR at the expence of every other faculty of the poet or the man. In truth, however, though the fimile is, on the whole, very fine and appofite, yet it seems to be fpun out to a languid iteration of idea. The Alps rifing on Alps," is but an echo of "hills peeping o'er hills;" and there is too much in these lines of what the French call Verbiage: a word which I would not use, but that I do not know one in our own language fo expreffive of my meaning. Among other caufes which occafion wrong judgment, he reckons a narrow capacity; which may be expofed in judging either of the matter, or the manner, of the work. Of the matter, in judging by parts; or in preferring one favourite part, to a difregard of all the reft. Of the manner, in confining the attention only to conceit, language or numbers. The poet first exposes thofe phlegmatic critics, who, not entering into the spirit of their author, take a partial furvey, and are curious to detect trivial faults. "A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit "With the fame fpirit that its author writ: Survey the WHOLE, nor feek flight faults to "find "Where nature moves, and rapture warms the " mind; "Nor lose for that malignant dull delight, "The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with "wit. A critic, whofe capacity is not fufficiently comprehenfive to take in the whole, can never feel the lively impreffions with which a warm imagination is fmitten on a general furvey of nature, and must confequently confine his view to detached parts, which, to his short fight, will frequently frequently appear irregular. This, however, the poet himself admirably illustrates, "In Wit, as Nature, what affects our hearts (The world's just wonder, and ev'n thine, "No fingle parts unequally furprize, "All comes united to th' admiring eyes; "The Whole at once is bold, and regular." There is a most happy propriety in this illuftration, and perhaps it will not be too much to say, that there is even a fublimity in it, which excites our admiration of the noble structure which the poet defcribes. The folly of making the whole fubfervient to a part, is pleasantly ridiculed by the tale of La Mancha; which is told with incomparable humour, and is a strong proof of our author's various merit, which enabled him, with that happy facility, to flide imperceptibly from the gravity of the didactic, to the gaiety of the facetious narrative. The poet next expofes the limited talents of thofe who confine their attention to conceit and G 2 wit, wit, which he ridicules by a fimile drawn from a fifter art. "Poets, like painters, thus, unskill'd to trace "The naked nature and the living grace, "With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part, "And hide with ornaments their want of art. Having ridiculed the falfe, he describes the nature of the true fpecies of wit. "True Wit is Nature to advantage drefs'd." The dress which is moft becoming, the poet points out in the following beautiful illuftra tion. "As fhades more fweetly recommend the light, "So modeft plainnefs fets off sprightly wit." This is that delightful fimplicity, which adds grace and propriety to all the works of the finearts and the poet has fhewn great fkill in the conduct of thefe fimilies, by which the nature, both of true and falfe wit, are explained by images drawn from the fame art. An extraordinary attention to language falls next under our author's cenfure; and the abfurdity of it is finely exemplified in an admirable fimile. "Falfe eloquence, like the prifinatic glass, 5 "The "The face of Nature we no more furvey, "All glares alike, without diftinction gay." Imagination cannot conceive any thing more happily appropriated than this fimile, to ridicule the fantaftic glare of falfe eloquence. He then exposes the folly of too great a fondnefs for the harmony of numbers; ridiculing those who only haunt Parnaffus, to please their ear and next gives rules for true harmony, of which the chief is, that the found fhould be an echo to the sense; which precept he illuftrates by feveral examples of fmoothness, roughness, flowness, and rapidity. I cannot help thinking, that upon the whole, there is great merit in the following exemplifications; though I am free to confefs, that there is great juftice likewife in fome of the animadverfions, made by the ingenious author of the Rambler; though others are perhaps rather nice. and faftidious. "Soft is the ftrain when Zephyr gently blows, "And the fmooth stream in smoother numbers "flows; "But when loud furges lafh the founding fhoar,' * The hoarfe, rough verse fhould like the tor66 rent roar: "When Ajax ftrives fome rock's vaft weight "to throw, "The line too labours, and the words move flow: G 3 "Not |