the Gentle Shepherd is a national pastoral; the locality of its manners and language makes it such; they constitute its chief ingredients of national merit; they increase its interest by circumscribing its reputation among the people for whom it was written. "Had its manners been general, its language pure English, and its scenes Arcadian, it would have had less characteristic beauty, but it might have merited the applause of Europe.' Indeed! There are hills and dales, woods and streams, and sentient natures, in Britain; and Arcadia could boast no more. At all events, there is one national pastoral in the world; or, in other words, the glory of this species of poetry hath not fallen with the genius of Greece.

584. Of all the moderns, M. Gessner, a poet of Switzerland, has been the most successful in his pastoral compositions. He has introduced into his Idylls (as he entitles them) many new ideas. His rural scenery is often striking, and his descriptions are lively.

Obs. He presents pastoral life to us, with all the embellishments of which it is susceptible; but without any excess of refinement. What forms the chief merit of this poet, is, that he writes to the heart; and he has enriched the subject of his Idylls with incidents which give rise to much tender sentiment. Scenes of domestic felicity are beautifully painted. The mutual affection of husbands and wives, of parents and children, of brothers and sisters, as well as of lovers, are displayed in a pleasing and touching manner.

CHAPTER IV.

LYRIC POETRY.

585. LYRIC poetry, to which we now proceed, included, in ancient times, every poetical composition accompanied with music, whether of the voice or of instruments.

Ilus. 1. It was called lyric, from the lyre, with which it was commonly attended; and it acquired the name of ode, because it was also designed to be sung. It is a short, occasional, animated effort of genius.

2. The author may assume any tone he chooses; he may be sublime, familiar, gay, serious, passionate, moral, tender, or witty, with equal propriety, and he may even intermix several of these strains in the same poem.

3. Panegyric, however, is the principal field it has occupied in all ages; for the praises of the gods, and of heroes, have furnished more odes than all other subjects put together.

Example 1. The Psalms of David were lyric productions, and were sung in the celebration of the Jewish worship.

2. The Odes of Pindar were composed in praise of the gods, or heroes, or victors in the games of Greece.

3. Some of those of Horace are dedicated to the honour of the gods, others form elegant complimentary addresses to his country, to eminent individuals, or to friends.

* Blair.

Obs. Modern times have not been so prolific in this species of composition, as those of antiquity; they are not, however, destitute of some very conspicuous specimens.

586. Lyric poetry is susceptible of different ornaments, suitable to the nature of the subjects it treats. It admits sometimes the boldest and warmest figures of imagination and passion; at other times, it delights in the playful and pleasant images of fancy and feeling. Sometimes the expression is ardent, concise, and vehement; at other times, it is simple and diffuse; but at all times, it must be pure, picturesque, and correct.

Obs. 1. The style should be more finished, perhaps, than that of any other species of poetry; for the attention of the reader is neither powerfully nor long diverted by the sentiment. He soon turns it toward the expression; and he is so scrupulous, that he will not excuse the slightest impropriety. The capital characteristics of the ode, then, are magnificence, or passion or ingenuity in the thought, and perfect elegance in the style.

2. Greece has left some conspicuous monuments of lyric composition, in the odes of Pindar, Sappho, and Anacreon; the first remarkable for vehemence and sublimity; the two last for sensibility, pleasantry, and vivacity.

3. Horace is the only Roman poet of the lyric tribe whose works have descended to modern times; and, it seems, we have little reason to regret the loss of the rest, for, if we may rely on the opinion of Quinctilian, Horace alone merited immortality.

587. No modern poets have composed volumes of odes like Pindar and Horace, but many of them have occasionally attempted this species of composition. The chief of these in English are Dryden, Pope, Addison, Gray, and Akènside.

Obs. 1. The first three are distinguished by their odes to St. Cecilia, in praise of the powers of music; the subjects of the last two are miscellaneous. As the first three have attempted successively to adorn the same theme, it affords a good opportunity of comparing their merits.

2. Alexander's Feast, by Dryden, has gained universal fame, and it seems to deserve all the reputation it has attained. It is difficult to decide whether the sentiments or the composition merit the most praise. The sentiments are admirably suited to the personages whom they describe, and the composition is fitted with equal propriety to the sentiments. The sentiments are artfully contrasted, a circumstance which, added to their natural excellence, displays them in the most captivating light.

3. A train of grand and sublime thoughts is succeeded by a series of gay and pleasant ones; a set of outrageous and furious conceptions, is contrasted with a group of gentle and tender ones. The poet shakes the spheres with Jupiter, revels with Bacchus, raves and destroys with the furies, and drops a tear with his hero over the misfortunes of Darius.

4. Pope has attempted, in his ode in honour of St. Cecilia, the inventress of the organ, to introduce different passions, and to contrast

both the sentiments and the versification, as had been done by Dryden He has very happily selected for his subject the fable of Orpheus and Eurydice, a story naturally tender and pathetic, of which the reverse of fortune is great, and the different parts are strongly opposed.

5. Addison was fond of the fame of a poet, though he enjoyed not the best powers for acquiring it. He wished, it is said, to rival Pope as a translator of Homer; he even wished to rival him in lyric merit. He ventured to appear on the same ground which Pope and Dryden had occupied with so much lustre; and his ode to St. Cecilia exhibited him in a contrast which could not fail to hurt his reputation; for of all the poetry which Addison has written, he has scarcely composed any thing so indifferent as this ode.

6. The odes of Gray are entitled to high praise, though they are unequal in their merit, which is also the fate of different stanzas of the same ode. His sentiments are conceived with great vigour and propriety, and his versification is the most laboured, perhaps, in the English language. He frequently attempts the Pindaric magnificence and sublimity, and he never fails to appropriate some of its darkness and obscurity.

7. Akenside aims at ease, ingenuity, and elegance, and he is not unsuccessful. His imagination is delicate and picturesque, his versification is smooth and melodious. He is not defective in sentiment, and in ornament he has a claim to high applause.

CHAPTER V.

DIDACTIC POETRY.

588. DIDACTIC poetry discusses some branch of useful science, some beneficial art, or some system of prudential or moral conduct, by which the reader may improve his knowledge, his wisdom, or his virtue; and it recommends the discussion by all the merits of imagination, and all the charms of poetical composition.

Illus. 1. In executing the useful part of the task, it collects all the best theories and most approved practices, and arranges them, with the reasons of them, in that distinct and lucid order in which they are most likely to make the deepest impression. It sometimes adds the most sagacious reflections, pleasant speculations, or important discoveries, which have resulted from the research or the ingenuity of the author. It condescends also to recapitulate and expose vulgar or irrational principles and practices; which have derived their origin from a necessity, perhaps, that no longer exists, or which remain fostered and cherished by prejudice or by ignorance.

2. In executing the ornamental parts, it illustrates every theory and practice with simplicity and vivacity; but that the familiarity or the lowliness of the topics of which it must sometimes treat, may not offend the nicest reader, it is extremely solicitous to add dignity to the illustration by the use of figurative and descriptive phraseology. It

seldom calls common objects by their proper names. It employs elevated and metaphorical appellations, or it describes them by their causes or their effects. It bestows much attention to enliven its descriptions and scenes, by throwing into them all the animation with which they are any way connected. Many of the inanimate objects are personified; all the irrational animals are endued with character, sentiment, and design; the human actors are rendered respectable by the activity and virtue of their lives, the sagacity of their judgments, the utility of their occupations; or they are held up as objects of aversion, that the reader may learn, from their folly, absurdity or criminality, to avoid that conduct which has rendered them ridiculous, odious, or unhappy.

3. But the great ornaments of didactic poetry are beautiful or interesting episodes. To vary and adorn his subject, the author is allowed frequently to shift the scene, and to introduce any moral, philosophical, or sentimental relation or discussion with which it is connected. No other species of poetry admits so much latitude in this article. If the episodes are properly varied in length, and if they are not very violently forced into his service, the author will not incur much reprehension, though he often depart from his principal subject, and though the sum of the episodes, taken together, even exceed in extent the didactic part of the poem.

4. Through the whole of his poem, the author may display much knowledge of the particular subject he treats, and of many other useful and ornamental sciences and arts; much acquaintance with nature, society, manners, and the human heart. He may be grave, gay, sublime, easy, austere, pathetic, as shall best suit his genius and his mat

ter.

The versification must be always correct and melodious; and it may be elevated occasionally to a high degree of energy and dignity. It is also susceptible of every ornament, addressed to the imagination or the passions, of which the different topics or episodes admit. Metaphors, comparisons, personifications, apostrophes, may all be incidentally introduced; and if they are pertinently applied, their appearance will add grace and interest to the composition.

Scholia. 1. When this species of poetry promises so much improvement and entertainment to the reader, and when the author possesses so many favourable opportunities of displaying his knowledge, his genius, and his taste, we will not be surprised that it has been attempted by poets of high fame in different ages. Aratus discussed in Greek the phenomena of the heavens, and Lucretius in Latin the philosophy of Epicurus. Virgil has treated the whole theory and practice of agriculture, and Armstrong the art of preserving health. The writers on morals and manners are mostly satirical; yet Pope has avoided satirism in his elegant system of morals in the Essay on Man. The capital satirists, ancient and modern, are Horace, Juvenal, Pope and Young. 2. Armstrong possessed a large portion of the genius of Virgil, and, like him, has adorned the history of health, a subject naturally unpromising, with all the embellishment of fine versification and elegant fancy. He elevates and beautifies every precept, and he is fortunate in episodes. The true spirit of poetry is conspicuous in all he writes, and his compositions cannot be perused without instruction and pleasure. He appears to be one of the best didactic poets in the English language, and not inferior to any ancient author in the same line, except Virgil.

3. The Essay on Man admitted fewer embellishments and episodes than the poems which we have mentioned. The author's design was more serious than that of any other writer of his class. Instruction was his main object, and no ornaments are introduced but what are manifestly subservient to this end. He employs metaphors frequently, and sometimes comparisons, but they are never mere addresses to the fancy of the reader; they always contribute to illustrate and impress the matter.

4. This famous essay is literally a system of morals, founded on the celebrated doctrine first broached by Plato, and afterwards explained and recommended by Leibnitz and Lord Shaftesbury, that no evil is admitted into the system of nature but what is inseparable from its existence; and that all possible_provision is made for the happiness of every creature it contains. The author acknowledges that the gravity of his subject was more adapted to a discussion in prose, than a treatise in verse, but that he preferred the latter, because it was more adapted to his genius, and was more likely to engage the attention and recollection of the reader.

5. The discussion is ingenious and instructive. We, however, desiderate that distinct and lucid arrangement which we discern in the productions of the other two eminent moderns. Neither has the versification all the merits which shine in his other works; it is frequently abrupt, if not obscure, and possesses not the melody and flow of his other poetry. The abstract nature of the subject, perhaps, and his sincere desire to instruct, rather than to please, may furnish an apology.

589. SATIRISTS are a species of negative didactic poets, who teach and amuse by censuring what is wrong, and exposing what is foolish. They seldom attempt to inculcate positively what is good, or to recommend what is decent; they leave this task to moralists and public instructors. They would be most reputable and useful writers, were they successful in what they undertake, to banish iniquity and folly from society. They are divided into two classes.

Illus. 1. One class attacks immorality and impropriety with a stern look and severe reprehension. It paints them in all their deformity as objects of aversion, and it fails not to inflict upon them that censure which they deserve. It allows few of those excuses and alleviations which are usually urged for the errors of men. It delineates them as bad as they really are, and is sometimes inclined rather to exaggerate than to apologise. It wishes to deter mankind from vicious or foolish actions or sentiments, by the odium, the misery, the disapprobation which attend them.

2. The other class assaults vice and folly with ridicule. It exposes the whims, the oddities, the absurdities, and the crimes of men, in such a manner as to make them ashamed. But if ridicule does not succeed, it relinquishes them as incorrigible. An author of this class is never angry; he is never even serious. When a crime should rouse the resentment of the former class, and draw from them severe chastisement, they remain unmoved, and smile at the culprit as a fool. Horace altogether, and Pope in some measure, are satirists of the latter class; Juvenal and Young belong to the former.