Eneid, where fcarce a fingle incident can be found which is not copied from Homer: Neither is there greater originality in the executive parts of the poem, than in the conftructive; with this difference only, that he has copied paffages from various authors, Roman as well as Greek, though from Homer the moft. Amongst the Greeks, the dramatic poets Æfchylus, Sophocles, and principally Euripides, have had the greatest share of his attention; Ariftophanes, Menander, and other comic authors, Callimachus and some of the lyric writers, alfo may be traced in his imitations. A vaft collection of paffages from Ennius chiefly, from Lucretius, Furius, Lucilius, Pacuvius, Suevius, Nævius, Varius, Catullus, Accius and others of his own nation, has been made by Macrobius in his Saturnalia, where Virgil has done little else but put their fentiments into more elegant verfe; so that in strictness of speaking we may say of the Æneid, "that it is a miscellaneous "compilation of poetical paffages, compof

ing all together an epic poem, formed upon the model of Homer's Iliad and Odyffey; abounding in beautiful verfification,

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cation, and juftly to be admired for the "fine acquired taste of its author, but de"void of originality either of construction

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or execution." Befides its general inferiority as being a copy from Homer, it particularly falls off from its original in the conception and prefervation of character: It does not reach the fublimity and majesty of its model, but it has in a great degree adopted the fimplicity, and entirely avoided the rufticity of Homer.

Lucan and Claudian in later ages were perhaps as good verfifiers as Virgil, but far inferior to him in that fine acquired tafte, which he excelled in: They are ingenious, but not fimple; and execute better than they contrive. A paffage from Claudian, which I fhall beg the reader's leave to compare with one from Virgil (where he perfonifies the evil paffions and plagues of mankind, and posts them at the entrance of hell, to which Æneas is defcending) will exemplify what I have faid; for at the fame time that it will bear a difpute, whether Claudian's description is not even fuperior to Virgil's in poetical merit, yet the judicious manner of introducing it in one cafe, and the evi

dent

dent want of judgment in the other, will help to fhew, that the reason why we prefer Virgil to Claudian, is more on account of his fuperiority of taste than of talents.

Claudian's defcription ftands in the very front of his poem on Ruffinus; Virgil's is woven into his fable, and will be found in the fixth book of his Æneid, as follows:

Veftibulum ante ipfum, primifque in faucibus Orci,
Luctus, et ultrices pofuere cubilia Curæ ;

Pallentefque habitant Morbi, trifiifque Senectus,
Et Metus, et malefuada Fames, et turpis Egeftas,
Terribiles vifu forma; Lethumque, Laborque ;
Tum confanguineus Lethi Sopor, et mala mentis
Gaudia, mortiferumque adverfo in limine Bellum,
Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Difcordia demens
Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis.

Juft in the gates, and in the jaws of Hell,
Revengeful Cares and füllen Sorrows dwell,
And pale Difeafes, and repining Age;
Want, Fear, and Famine's unrefifted rage;

(VIRGIL.)

Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep,
Forms terrible to view, their centry keep:
With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind,
Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind:
The Furies iron beds, and Strife that shakes
Her hifing treffes, and unfolds her fnakes.

(DRYDEN.)

Protinus

Protinus infernas ad limina tetra forores

Concilium deforme vocat; glomerantur in unum
Innumera peftes Erebi, quafcunque finiftro
Nox genuit fætu: Nutrix Difcordia belli;
Imperiofa Fames; leto vicina Senectus ;
Impatienfque fui Morbus; Livorque fecundis
Arxius, eft fciffo Mærens velamine Lulus,
Et Timor, et cæco præceps Audacia vultu ;
Et luxus populator opum; cui femper adhærens
Infelix humili greffu comitatur Egeftas ;
Fadaque Avaritia complexæ pectora matris
Infomnes longo veniunt examine Curæ.

(CLAUDIAN.)

ر

"The infernal council, at Alecto's call
"Conven'd, affemble in the Stygian hall;
"Myriads of ghaftly plagues, that fhun the light,
"Daughters of Erebus and gloomy Night:
"Strife war-compelling; Famine's wafting rage;
"And Death juft hovering o'er decrepid Age;"
"Envy, Profperity's repining foe,
"Reftless Disease, and felf-difhevell❜d Woe,
"Rashness, and Fear, and Poverty, that ftcals
"Clofe as his fhadow at the Spendthrift's heels;
"And Cares, that clinging to the Mifer's breaft,
"Forbid his fordid foul to tafte of rest."

The productions of the human genius will borrow their complexion from the times in which they originate. Ben Jonfon fays, that the players often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespear, that in his writing (what foever VOL. III.

F

he

he penned) he never blotted out a line. My anfwer hath been (adds he) Would he had blotted out a thoufand! which they thought a malevolent fpeech. I had not told pofterity this, but for their ignorance, who chofe that circumftance to commend their friend by, wherein he moft faulted; and to justify mine own candour, for I loved the man, and do honour his memory on this fide idolatry as much as any: He was indeed honeft, and of an open and free nature;. had an excellent phantafie, brave notions and gentle expreffions, wherein he flowed with that facility, that fometime it was necessary he should be flopped; Sufflaminandus erat, as Auguftus faid of Haterius: His wit was in his own power; would the rule of it had been fo

too!

I think there can be no doubt but this kind of indignant negligence with which Shakespear wrote, was greatly owing to the flight confideration he had for his audience. Jonfon treated them with the dictatorial haughtiness of a pedant; Shakespear with the careleffness of a gentleman who wrote at his ease, and gave them the firft flowings of his fancy without any dread of their correction. These were times in which the poet in

dulged