"Not fo, when swift Camilla fcours the plain, "Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along "the main."

"The verfe," this author obferves, "intended to represent the whisper of the vernal breeze, "muft furely be confeffed not much to excel in foftness and volubility; and the smooth stream "runs with a perpetual clash of jarring con"fonants."

But notwithstanding the authority of this criticism, a man may, with good reafon, perhaps, be fuppofed to have a very fingular ear who does not discover a peculiar foftness, in the firft verfe; and as to volubility, that might indeed have been neceffary, had the poet been deferibing the rushing of a whirlwind; but why it fhould be effential in representing the gently blowing breeze, is difficult to conceive. Gentle and voluble are oppofite terms, and to have represented the one by the other, would have been a very prepofterous attempt. At the fame time it must be admitted, that the line intended to describe the fmooth ftream, though there is nothing jarring in it, yet nevertheless, when confidered as an example of smoothness, it abounds too much with confonants to render the exemplification striking.

"The noife and turbulence of the torrent," this writer continues, "is indeed diftinctly imagined; for," he adds, "it requires very "little fkill to make our language rough.

"But,"

"But," he proceeds, "in the lines which men"tion the effort of Ajax, there is no particular "heaviness or delay.”

This laft cenfure, however, feems to be ill founded. It is fcarce poffible to read thefe lines with any degree of fluency and volubility.

Nothing can be more tardy, nor move with greater profaic drag, than thefe lines, which abound with fluggish monofyllables; which are particularly adapted to exprefs the tardy motion of a laborious effort *.

"The fwiftnefs of Camilla," the writer adds, "is rather contrafted than exemplified. Why "the verfe should be lengthened to exprefs fpeed, "will not eafily be difcovered. In the dactyls "ufed for that purpose by the antients, two short fyllables were pronounced with fuch rapidity, "as to be equal only to one long; they therefore <6 naturally exhibit the art of paffing through a "long space in a fhort time. But the Alexan"drine, by its pause in the midft, is a tardy and "ftately measure; and the word unbending, one "of the most fluggish and flow which our language affords, cannot much accelerate its mo❝tion."

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Thefe remarks, it must be allowed, are not without propriety. But though the Alexandrine

*Monofyllables likewife, as Mr. PORE fome-where ob.. ferves, may be happily employed to express melancholy.

is in this place rendered faulty by the choice of words, which cannot be pronounced with rapidity, yet if it was compofed of epithets which would run with fluency, the Alexandrine would be the measure beft calculated to exemplify swiftnefs; because it would then moft naturally exhibit the act of paffing through a long space in a fhort time. It may, on this occafion, be worth remarking too, that though unbending be indeed fluggish, and ill-adapted, by its found, to exemplify fwiftnefs; yet, if we attend to the fenfe, it will appear, that nothing could be more happily chofen. It is impoffible to convey a higher idea of the rapidity of Camilla's motion, than by defcribing her to have flown fo faft, that the corn did not even bend to the impreffion fhe made in her flight. The fame happiness of expreffion is likewife obfervable in the clofe of the line, where fhe is reprefented fkimming along the

main.

But one of the beft exemplifications of celerity, is to be found in the celebrated line of the Odyffey.

σε Αυτις επειτα πεδονδε Κυλινδετολάας αναιδής.”

Yet, after all, perhaps, the adapting the found of the words to the fenfe, is, in moft cafes, more the effect of chance, than art; nay, I know not whether, in defcribing boifterous images efpecially, fuch adaption is not rather a matter of receffity, than defign: for I believe it would be difficult to exprefs fuch images in words, which

are

are not rough and fonorous. In fhort, the fkill, in the feveral inftances of adapting the found to the fenfe, feems to lie rather in the arrangement, than in the choice of the words.

The laft caufe which the poet enumerates, as tending to obftruct the judgment, is Partiality; which he confiders in its various branches, as it begets prejudices against particular things or perfons: Firft, as it induces critics to prefer foreign writers, before our own; the antients, before the moderns

"And force that fun but on a part to shine, "Which not alone the southern wit fublimes, "But ripens fpirits in cold northern climes."

Thefe lines are very poetical, and convey a just cenfure of a failing, to which not only the unlearned, to whom the poet particularly applies them, but even the learned, are too apt to incline. When men have beftowed a great deal of time and attention to make themselves acquainted with claffic lore, they frequently fet too high a value on the acquifition. They are often partial to the merit of the antients, while they difregard excellence among the moderns. Perhaps felf-love may induce them, to prefer what has coft them moft pains to acquire.

Our author next proceeds to expose the inftances of partiality in the learned, fuch as fingularity and novelty, and in the laft place expreffes

his indignation against party rage and envy, for which he had a natural abhorrence. The comparison between envied merit, and the fun eclipfed, is moft happily conceived, and the last Mines are even fublime.

"Envy will merit, as its fhade, pursue ;

"But like a shadow, proves the Subftance true: "For envy'd Wit, like Sol eclips'd, makes "known

"Th' oppofing body's groffnefs, not its own. "When first that fun too pow'rful beams dif"plays,

"It draws up vapours which obfcure its rays; "But ev❜n thofe clouds at laft adorn its way, "Reflect new glories, and augment the day."

Having expofed thofe deteftable principles, our author next, with an amiable liberality of mind, warns the true critic to be the first to befriend true merit. As our language, he obferves, is failing and changeable, the date of modern fame is in its nature fhort. This he illuftrates by a comparison, which is moft incomparably fine.

"So when the faithful pencil has defign'd "Some bright Idea of the mafter's mind, "Where a new world leaps out at his com"mand,

"And ready Nature waits upon his hand: "When the ripe colours foften and unite, "And sweetly melt into just shade and light;

"When