Evening cannot with any propriety be faid to paint the form of things. Fancy may be thought to have a better claim to the title, but to her, fome of morality; apofition, a not in the above circumstances are not appli cable. That Fancy, however, was really designed, is a fact that can be fully afcertained. Few readers are perhaps apprized that Grongar Hill was originally written, and even printed, as an irregular ode. There is a Mifcellany volume of poems, collected and published by the celebrated Richard Savage, in the year 1726, in which it appears in that form, very incorrect, and with the initial lines as follows: he is givr of his ing fome d his af ould not re con never Langhen he of the Delphi, ur Poet be in ompofithough This This Eclogue is very incorrect; it is in that respect the worst of the four. V. 1. Ye Perfian maids attend your poet's lays, And hear how shepherds pass their golden days; Well may your hearts believe the truth I tell, Thus Selim sung, by sacred truth inspir'd; The poet who proposes a subject, should always endeavour to discuss it. The Persian maids are here called on to hear • how shepherds pass their golden days, but how those days are passed, they are not told: from such an introduction, some description or narration of rural life might be expected in the subsequent quent part of the piece; but none such appears. This introduction also, has no proper relation to its context; it does not at all prepare the reader to expect the axiom, that' Virtue makes the bliss where' er we dwell.' The last couplet of the quotation, 'Or taught the fwains, &c.' is little better than a fuperfluous repetition of the same sentiment. The Author besides has not happily expressed his meaning; he undoubtedly defigned to intimate, that a rural fituation, however favourable to a virtuous life, would not necessarily produce it; but his language will eafily admit of cavil; it may be faid, that surely it is needless to teach any man that 'groves and streams cannot These two paragraphs, 'Ye Persian Maids, &c. Thus Selim fung, &c.' which , now stand as a beginning, are ill-placed ; the first forms a disjointed and anticipatory part of the Shepherd's fong, and V. 29. Who trust alone in beauty's feeble ray, Boaft but the worth Bassora's pearls display : Drawn from the deep we own their surface bright, But dark within, they drink no lustrous light: Such are the maids, and such the charms they boaft, By sense unaided, or to virtue loft. Self-flattering fex! your hearts believe in vain, That love shall blind when once he fires the Or hope a lover by your faults to win, Our Author's genealogy and defcription of the Virtues, is conceived and expressed with no great propriety or precifion. It is one of the many instances in which smooth verse recommends very slovenly compofition: V. 43. Blest were the days when Wisdom held her reign, And shepherds fought her on the filent plain; O hafte O haste fair maids! ye virtues come away, -Come thou whose thoughts, as limpid springs, To lead the train, sweet Modesty appear: Here make thy court amidst our rural scene, And shepherd girls shall own thee for their queen. With thee be Chastity, of all afraid, Diftrusting all, a wise suspicious maid; But man the most-not more the mountain doe Holds the fwift falcon for her deadly foe. Cold is her breast, like flowers that drink the dew, A filken veil conceals her from the view. No wild defires amidst thy train be known, And Love the last: by these your hearts ap- These are the virtues that must lead to love. The prosopopoiea 'Truth' 1. 45, &c. is an ambiguous character: truth as a fimple substantive, has various senses, such as constancy, honesty, contrariety to falsehood, &c. but in none of these senses |