THUS, my Lord, we have taken a view of the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients, as it appeared originally in the works of the earliest Poets, and as it was afterwards employed to enliven a train of more elegant and delicate sentiment. I have attempted, in the courfe of this enquiry, to follow the lights which Antiquity throws on this fubject as closely as poffible, to explain facts by placing them in connection, and to illuftrate reafoning by example.

YOUR Lordship's acquaintance with the principles of civil Government, and your experience of the effects of education, have enabled you to obferve the Character, which the Manners of an Age ftamp upon the productions of the Authors who live in it. Experience will convince us, that these general revolutions resemble more nearly, than we are apt to imagine at first view, the circumstances of an Individual at the different periods of life. In one age he is captivated by the beauties of description, at another he is fond of the deductions of Philofophy; his opinions vary with his years; and his actions, as directed by thefe, are proportionably diverfified. In all these circumstances however, the original bias which he received from Nature remains unalterable; and the peculiarity of his character appears confpicuous, notwithstanding the accidental diverfity of fluctuating fentiments.

fentiments. It is to be expected in such a fituation, that changes fimilar to these will usually take place in arts, which are fufceptible of perpetual mutation; and of this a particular instance is exhibited in the preceding detail. Another branch of this subject remains to be confidered, and on this I fhall give your Lordship the trouble of perufing a few remarks in a subsequent letter. Permit me only to obferve, from what hath already been advanced, that the ingredients of Genius are often bestowed by Nature, when the polish of Art is wanted to mould the original materials into elegant proportion. He who poffeffeth the former in the highest degree, may be a Shakespear or an Æfchylus; but both were united in forming the more perfect characters of Demofthenes and Homer.

LETTER

LETTER II.

HE view, my Lord, of the Lyric Poetry of the

T been

Ancients, which has been taken in the preceding part of this Effay, may probably have suggested a Queftion to your Lordship, to which it is neceffary that an answer should be given, before I enter upon

that part

of

From the

the fubject which remains to be confidered. obfervations formerly made, I am afraid that your Lordship has been looking upon my procedure, as you would have viewed that of the honest Irishman, who pulled an old house about his ears, before he had reflected that it was neceffary to fubftitute a better in its room. In the fame manner you will perhaps think, that I have taken a good deal of pains to point out the Defects of Lyric Poetry, and to affign the Causes which originally produced them; without however establishing the rules of this branch of the Art, and without enquiring what proportion of poetic embellishment naturally belongs to it, confidered as distinguished from every other fpecies.

PERMIT me therefore to obferve, that

my intention

in the preceding remarks will be greatly mistaken, if,

5

when

when I have been endeavouring to expose the Abuse of imagination, it should be thought, either that I would wholly repress the excurfions of this noble Faculty, or that I would confine its exercise within narrow limits. It must be obvious to every person who reflects on this subject, that Imagination prefides over every branch of the Poetic Art, and that a certain infusion of her peculiar beauties is neceffary to conftitute its real and essential character. The Poet therefore of every denomination may be faid, with great propriety, in an higher fenfe than the Orator,

to paint to the eyes, and touch the foul, and combat " with fhining arms." It is from this confideration that Horace fays, fpeaking of Poetry in general,

Defcriptas fervare vices, operumque colores, “Cur ego fi nequeo ignoroque, Poeta falutor'?"

But if, thro' weakness, or my want of art,
I can't to ev'ry diffrent ftile impart

The proper ftrokes and colours it may claim,
Why am I honour'd with a Poet's name?
FRANCIS.

Les grands Orateurs n'emploient que des expreffions riches capables de faire valoir leurs raifons. Ils tachent d'eblouir les yeux, & l'efprit, & pour ce fujet ils ne com

battent qu'avec des armes brillantes. Lam. Rhet. liv. iv. c. 13.

Hor. de Arte Poet..

THOUGH

THOUGH the influence of imagination on every species of Poetry is fo obvious, as not to ftand in need of illuftration, yet we must observe at the fame time, that this power is exerted in different degrees, as the Poet is led by the nature of that subject to which his Genius hath received the most remarkable bias. Thus the fimple beauties of the Eclogue would appear in the fame light, when transposed to the Epopee, as plants brought to forced vegetation in a Green-house must do to those who have seen them flourishing in their native foil, and ripened by the benignity of an happier climate. In the one cafe they are confidered as unnatural productions, whose beauty is furpaffed by the Natives of the foil; in the other they are regarded as just and decent ornaments, whose real excellence is properly estimated. The fame remark may be applied indifcriminately to all the other branches of this art. Though they are originally the offspring of one Parent, yet there are certain characteriftic marks, by which a general resemblance is fully distinguished from perfect fimilarity.

It is neceffary to obferve in general on this fubject, that whatever degree of fuperiority the reasoning Faculty ought ultimately to poffefs in the sphere of Composition,

Una cuique propofita lex, fuus decor eft. Habet tamen omnis Elo

quentia aliquid commune. Quintil. Inftit. lib. x. c. II.