"Pope formed his style on that of Dryden. He has less enthusiasm, less majesty, less force of thought, than his great model; but he has more delicacy of feeling, more refinement, and more correctness. If he never soared to the height which Dryden reached when 'the full burst of inspiration came,' he never sinks so low as his master ofttimes fell. While soothed by the exquisitely sweet, but somewhat monotonous, couplets of Pope, we occasionally long for the bolder and more varied music of Dryden's lines."

Thomson.

Though substantially an English poet, Thomson was in reality a native of Scotland, having been born in the parish of Ednam, in Roxburghshire, on the 11th of September, 1700, of which parish his father was minister. He received the early part of his education at Jedburgh, and was thence removed to Edinburgh, with the view of being educated for the Church. His very poetical style, however, was reckoned by the professor of the day to be not at all in accordance with the functions of the ministry; and he was led to the conclusion, it is said, that, in order to find scope and acceptance for his natural tendencies, he must launch forth on the "wide sea" of London. As might have been expected, he had considerable difficulties to encounter there before he

could secure for himself a comfortable footing. Industry and perseverance, however, prevailed, he had written himself into fame; and, by the kindness of his friend Mr. Lyttleton, had attained a comfortable independence for life, by a sinecure appointment worth £300 a-year. This, added to a pension which he had previously received from the Prince of Wales of £100 a-year, might have enabled him to enjoy the autumn of his life in serene repose. But, alas! it was not long granted him to possess it; for taking cold in an aquatic excursion between Kew and London, fever supervened and cut him off, in August 1748—that is, before he had attained his fiftieth year. His favourite residence was at Rosedale House, Richmond; his familiarity with the beautiful scenery of that neighbourhood being easily gathered from his works. His description of the view from Richmond Hill is one of the most beautiful, elaborate, and correct instances of word-painting-of literary photography-which we possess, while there are many other passages which make it abundantly evident that the characteristics of Richmond scenery had taken full possession of his soul, and had left their impress there. Objections have been taken to his principal work, "The Seasons," on the ground of the monotonous pomposity of the style, and the frequent episodical digressions which they contain; but such objections as these, if indeed the latter is an objection at all, which might

well be disputed, weigh little against the general excellence of the work, and have certainly had no power to abate its popularity, which has proved both permanent and wide. His love of nature was a ruling passion with him; and his pictures of scenery and of rural life are so exquisite and true, that they have gained for him the name of the “Claude” of poets. This was his great faculty, and he seems for the most part to have been aware of it. He says,―

"I, solitary, court

The inspiring breeze, and meditate the book

Of Nature, ever open; aiming thence,

Warm from the heart, to pour the moral song."

He attempted the dramatic form, indeed, but with indifferent success. He wanted the strong fire and energy for the depicting of the passions, and his tragedies are cold, vapid, and declamatory. His allegory of the "Castle of Indolence" is in a much happier vein, and is probably the most strictly poetical of his productions. His national song of "Rule Britannia" is also a highly successful effort, rising to a note more grand and stirring than might have been expected from a bard of generally such gentle mien. His only prose work was an Essay on Descriptive Poetry; which was at first advertised as a separate production, but was printed in the form of a preface to the second edition of his "Winter." The aim of the essay was to show that poetry should be