are clogged with materials that press heavy on the patience of the critical reader, and abound in puerilities and conceits which would blast the reputation of any writer of the present day.

The beauties of these writers are certainly above all praise, but let not their faults, which are in a great measure to be attributed to the age in which they lived, be thrown into the shade for the purpose of enhancing the lustre of their genius, when placed in competition with that of their successors.

It is not to be believed that in any art, perfection is to be found, nor ought we to look for it, in first attempts. That in the infancy of society, or in the infancy of arts, efforts may be made, which, when every thing is considered, are calculated to excite our admiration, will readily be allowed; but it would be arguing against all our observation to say, that the same degree of genius will not produce something more excellent, when aided by information and experience, than when left entirely to its own resources.

Dr. Aikin has justly observed, that "simplicity of language in a rude age, or in one approaching towards civilization, is merely casual; for a simple age is never sensible of the merit of its own simplicity, but on the contrary is fond of laying on with profusion all the ornament it possesses. That exquisite

selection of style and thought, which stamps such attraction on many of the first rate productions of our own period, is the result of systematic refinement, and of the progress of language toward perfection. It would be no difficult task to prove, that with regard to poetry, the last fifty or sixty years have not been inferior to any preceding era. We can scarcely produce a truly correct poet before Gray, for even Pope has illegitimate rhymes and gross grammatical inaccuracies."

To Pope and his contemporaries, however, it must be admitted, that our poetry is indebted for a polish and harmony in its versification, which till his time was scarcely known.

Nearly sixty years before Pope lived Dryden, who possessed great versatility of poetical talent, and whose versification, though sometimes careless and incorrect, exhibits an ease and variety scarcely to be met with in any other poet. Of this, a remarkable proof might be adduced in his celebrated Ode, named Alexander's Feast.

From the birth of Dryden to that of Prior, a period of more than thirty years, scarcely a name appears on the records of poetic fame. But in the thirty following, were born Philips, Addison, Parnell, Young, Tickell, Gay, Pope, Somervile, and Green, in all of

whom was kindled the fire of genius, though in some it burned with more strength and brightness than in others. Of this number, Young, Gay, and Pope, may be considered the chief, but each of the others possessed a large portion of poetical talent. During the thirty succeeding years, a greater number claims to be enrolled in the annals of poetry. Of these we may name Thomson, Dyer, Lyttelton, Johnson, Hammond, Shenstone, Gray, Collins, Akenside, Mason, Warton, Goldsmith, Churchill, and Cowper. In this list, Thomson, Gray, Akenside, and Cowper, stand pre-eminent; their merits are well known to all the lovers of genuine poetry, and every unprejudiced reader will admit that their efforts, with the elegant, though less brilliant productions of inferior poets, have given to English poetry, a copiousness and variety scarcely to be met with in any language. To remark on the peculiar merits of each author, would extend this sketch to a length inconsistent with the intended brevity of the work. Let it suffice to say, that since the time of Cowper we can furnish a list of recent, or of living poets, of whom any nation might justly boast, and whose works will continue to be read while the language is read.

Of Versification.

THE syllables of which words are composed, are, when pronounced, either long or short, accented or unaccented; these, being arranged in a certain order, constitute what are termed feet; and such a number of feet, as custom has assigned to particular kinds of poetic composition, form a verse. Of poetic feet, there are commonly reckoned eight varieties; four of two syllables each; and four of three. Those of two syllables are the trochee, the iambus, the spondee, and the pyrrhic; those of three syllables are the dactyl, the anapast, the amphibrach, and the tribrach.

A trochee consists of a long syllable followed by a short; an iambus, of a short followed by a long; a spondee, of two long; and a pyrrhic, of two short syllables.

A dactyl consists of one long syllable and two short; an anapæst, of two short syllables, and one long; an amphibrach, of a short, a long and a short; and a tribrach, of three short syllables.

The feet chiefly used in English poetry are the trochee, the iambus, and the anapast; of each of these we have whole verses, but the other five are only

Of Trochaic Verse.

The poems composed of trochaic feet are generally short, and for the most part, lively effusions; verses of this kind are seldom long, and have generally an odd syllable at the end, which is termed a cæsura, or cutting. The following lines of Milton's L'Allegro, or Merry Man, afford an example of the most common kind of trochaic verse; each verse consists of three feet and a cæsura.

"Haste thee nymph, and bring with thee,

Jest and youthful jollity;

Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles,

Nods and becks, and wreathed smiles;

Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,

And love to live in dimple sleek ;
Sport, that wrinkled care derides,

And Laughter holding both his sides."

Though this is the ordinary kind of trochaic measure, it is not necessarily confined to such a number of feet, but admits of considerable variety, both in the length of the verse, and in the arrangement of the rhymes. The following stanza from the first of Moore's Irish Melodies, is a beautiful specimen of this species of metre. The verses regularly consist of three trochees, and the manner in which the rhymes are arranged produces an effect peculiarly pleasing.