The reader will instantly perceive, that these propositions are connected and consecutive; and to prevent the possibility of their being understood otherwise, I added, as illustrations, the following instances, equally connected and consecutive.

"A description of a forest is more poetical "than a cultivated garden; and the passions "which are pourtrayed in the EPISTLE OF "ELOISA, render such a poem more poetical,

(whatever might be the difference of merit in "point of composition) intrinsically more poetical, "than a poem founded on the characters, inci"dents, and modes of artificial life; for instance, "the Rape of the Lock."

The reader will see, in this statement, a general proposition connected with its illustrations. Further, to prevent misconception, I added,

"Let me not, however, be considered as "thinking that the subject alone constitutes "6 poetical excellency.

The execution is to be

"taken into view at the same time; for, with "Lord HARVEY, we might fall asleep over "the CREATION of BLACKMORE, but be "alive to the touches of animation and satire in "Boileau.' By execution, I mean not only the "colours of expression, but the design, the con"trast of light and shade, the masterly manage"ment, the judicious disposition, and, in short,

every thing that gives to a GREAT SUBJECT "INTEREST and animation."

"The SUBJECT and the EXECUTION are equally to be considered; the one, respecting "the poetry; the other, the art and talents of the

66

poct. With regard to the first, POPE cannot "be placed among the HIGHEST ORDER of "POETS: with regard to the second, NONE 66 WAS EVER HIS SUPERIOR.*"

This was my first proposition. I do not think that any thing, Sir, you have advanced, at all shakes it; and, moreover, I do not doubt I shall be able to prove that you have misconceived my meaning; il supported your own arguments; confounded what I had distinguished; and even given me grounds to think you had replied to propositions which you never read, or, at least, of which you could have read only the first sentence, omitting that which was integrally and essentially connected with it.

In an article of the Edinburgh Review, the same mis-statement was made, and the same course of arguments pursued. I feel, indeed, bound to thank Mr. JEFFRY, if he wrote the article, for the liberal tribute he paid to my poetry, at the expense of my canons of criticism. But in truth, from the coincidences here re

This admission is liable to exception, but it is a fault on the right side.

marked, I might be led to think Mr. CAMP.BELL wrote the Review, were I not more disposed to think he drew his knowledge of my criticism on POPE, not from the criticism itself, but, at second-hand, from the criticism on the criticism in that Review, inadvertently involving himself in all its misconceptions and misrepresentations,

"

For, I beg you to observe, Sir, that, in my first proposition, I do not say that WORKS OF ART are in no instance poetical; but only that "what is sublime or beautiful in works of nature "is MORE SO!" The very expression " more so' is a proof that poetry belongs, though not in the same degree, to both. I must also beg you to remark, that, having laid down this position, I observe, in the very next sentence, (lest it should be misunderstood as it now is, and was by a writer in the Edinburgh Review,) substantially as follows,-that the general and loftier passions of human nature are more poetical than artificial manners; the one being eternal, the other local and transitory. I think the mere stating of these circumstances will be sufficient to shew, that both the Edinburgh Review and yourself have completely misrepresented my meaning. With respect to the images FROM ART, which you have adduced as a triumphant answer to what I laid down, I shall

generally observe, that your own illustrations are against you. The Edinburgh Review, in the same manner, had spoken of the Pyramids. Now the Pyramids of Egypt, the Chinese Wall, &c. had occurred to me, at the time of writing, as undoubtedly POETICAL in WORKS of ART; but I supposed that any reflecting person would see that these were poetical, not essentially as works of art, but from associations both with the highest feelings of nature, and some of her sublimest external works. The generations swept away round the ancient base of the Pyramids, the ages that are past since their erection, the mysterious obscurity of their origin, and many other complex ideas, enter into the ima. gination at the thought of these wonderful structures, besides the association with boundless deserts; as the Wall of China is associated with unknown rocks, mountains, and rivers. Build a pyramid of new brick, of the same dimensions as the pyramids of Egypt, in Lincoln's Inn fields, and then say how much of the poctical sublimity of the immense and immortal piles in the deserts of Egypt is derived, not from art, but from the association with GENERAL NATURE! Place your own image of the

68 GIANT OF THE WESTERN STAR" upon such a pyramid, if it could be made as HIGH as the Andes, and say whether it would be considered

as poetical as now it appears, " looking from its throne of clouds o'er half the world."* I had often considered these and such instances generally and specifically; and think, if you reflect a moment, you will agree with me, that though they are works of art, they are rendered roETICAL chiefly by those moral or physical associ• ations of GENERAL NATURE, with which they are connected.

But to come to your most interesting example. Let us examine the ship which you have described so beautifully. On what does the poetical beauty depend? not on art, but NATURE. Take away the waves, the winds, the sun, that, in association with the streamer and sails, make them look so beautiful! take all poetical associations away, ONE will become a strip of blue bunting, and the other a piece of coarse canvass on three tall poles!!

You speak also of the poetical effect of the drum and fife! Are the drum and fife poetical, without other associations? In the quotation from Shakspeare which you adduce, the fife is "ear piercing," and the drum is "spirit stirring;" and both are associated, by

the

consummate art of Shakspeare-with

In this very poetical image, a part of its sublimity is instantly lost by the introduction, for the sake of the rhyme, of "unfurl'd!"

I mention this noble image, not to criticise, but to illustrate my meaning. Can any one doubt that it would not have been more sublime without the “standard unfurl'd!"