LUKE MILBOURNE

Was Rector of St. Ethelburga's, and Lecturer of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch. His Translation of the Psalms was published 1698. He died 1720.

He attacked Dryden's Translation of Virgil, in a volume of notes; and is styled by Pope "the fairest of critics, because he exhibited his own version to be compared with that which he condemned."-Johnson's Life of Dryden.

* This is in the spirit of the truest humour. The keen wit of Swift, and the chaste humour of Addison are justly proverbial. Pope's humour has, I think, never been duly praised; the happiest instance of it is to be found in the celebrated paper of the Guardian, in which he draws a comparison between the merits of Philips's Pastorals, and his own ; and while he seems to bestow the palm on those of his rival, in truth throughout prefers and recommends his own; this Johnson has pronounced to be "unprecedented and unparalleled."

Another happy specimen occurs in a letter of Pope's to Lord Burlington, in which he admirably delineates the character of "the enterprising Mr. Lintot, the redoubtable rival of Mr. Tonson."

SIR RICHARD BLACKMORE,

A pious man, and laborious writer: the year of his birth is not known; he died in 1729. Dr. Johnson has written his life, in which he generously attempts to rescue him from that obscurity in which the ridicule of Dryden and Pope had unhappily involved him.

The preface to his Psalms shews him to be a better critic (* on this subject at least) than poet. His idea of what a translation of the Psalms ought to be is very just, and entitled to the attention of future translators; how feebly he has executed his task, even the partiality of his great biographer will not allow him to dissemble.

"The lovers of musical devotion (says Johnson) have always wished for a more happy metrical version than they have yet obtained of the Book of Psalms; this wish the piety of Blackmore led him to gratify, and he produced (1721) a New Version of the Psalms of David, fitted to the Tunes used in Churches;" which, being recommended by the archbishops, and many bishops, obtained a license for its admission into public worship; but no ad* For he elsewhere praises Dennis as equal to Boileau in poetry!

mission has it yet obtained, nor has it any right to come where Brady and Tate have got possession. Blackmore's name must be added to those of many others, who, by the same attempt, have obtained only the praise of meaning well."

I have selected two psalms from his translation,. and I believe they are two of his best.

ISAAC WATTS, D. D.

This eminently pious man, and very useful writer, was born in 1674, and died in 1748.

"Few men," says Dr. Johnson, "have left behind them such purity of character, or such monuments of laborious piety. He has provided instruction for all ages, from those who are lisping their first lessons to the enlightened readers of Malebranche and Locke: he has left neither corporeal, nor spiritual nature unexamined; but has taught the art of reasoning, and the science of the stars."

Watts's Psalms have been highly commended: but, in my opinion, far beyond their real merits; passages highly poetical occur indeed in every page, but are they not intermingled with, and disgraced by, low allusions, colloquial phrases, and

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even sometimes absolute vulgarisms? He surprizes and delights by occasional beauties, but perpetually disappoints us by falling below the dignity of his subject. His devotional poetry," says Johnson, "is, like that of others, unsatisfactory." Bút our critic, instead of passing that censure on the poet, which he so well deserves, unfairly imputes the blame to his subject. The paucity of its topics enforces perpetual repetition, and the sanctity of the matter rejects the ornaments of figurative diction. It is sufficient for Watts to have done better. than others what no man has done well."

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Dr. Johnson, I am inclined to think, had a very slight acquaintance with Watts's poetry; had he properly examined it, he could not have included his life among those of our eminent poets. The science of the philosopher, and the virtues of the saint,might justly recommend this excellent man to the notice of the great biographer, and claim immortality from his pen; but surely nothing to be found in his Psalms, his Hymns, or his volume of Lyrics can justify our British Plutarch in ranking Watts among the chief poets of his country. Johnson has raised the temple of poetic fame, and placed the statue of Watts in that niche, which Chaucer, Spenser, or Drayton should have graced,

Mr. Cottle, in the excellent preface to his own

version, after paying an elegant tribute to "the genius and piety of Watts, justly observesfDr. Watts's, for the most part, cannot be considered as a version of the Psalms, but must be regarded as a paraphrase of particular parts, blended with all the language peculiar to the New Testament. This distinguishing character in Dr. Watts's Psalms, where David is made to speak so generally in the language of an apostle, has appeared to some persons to be an inconsistency, and such it would be in a professed version; but Dr. Watts is not to be condemned in this respect, for his Psalms arè precisely what he declared them to be. He acknowledged them to be imitated only, in the language of the New Testament, which allowed him a latitude of expression, from which he who gives a faithful

"Whilst I express my approbation of Dr. Watts's Psalms, and acknowledge that they are admirably suited to the pur pose for which they were designed, it cannot for a moment be admitted, that the Psalms, in their striet and literal sense, are not, also, in the highest degree, calculated to express the sentiments of Christians; and concerning which, every doubt must vanish, when it is recollected that the Psalms of David are not only the language of inspiration, but, as part of the Jewish liturgy, were sung by our Saviour himself, during his humiliation on earth, by the apostles, by the primitive Christians, and have been adopted by the Church in all ages'