ftriking. And, in this refpect, Marcello is truly excellent: if ever he feems to FALL, it is only to RISE with more astonishing majesty and greatnefs *." It may be pertinent to fubjoin Rofcommon's remark on the fame fubject, Far the greatest part Of what some call neglect, is ftudy'd art. 14. Hail bards triumphant born in happier days ‡. DOCTOR Warburton is of opinion, that "there is a pleasantry in this title, which alludes to the state of WARFARE, that all true genius muft undergo while here on earth." Is not this interpretation of the word triumphant very far-fetched, and foreign to the author's meaning? Who, I conceive, ufed the word, to denote merely the TRIUMPH, which arose from fuperiority. * Avifon's Effay on Musical Expreffion, edit. ii. pag. 103. + Effay on Transl. Verfe. T + Ver. 189. 15. The laft, the meanest of your fons inspire *. "THIS word laft, fays the fame commentator, spoken in his early youth, as it were by chance, seems to have been OMINOUS.” I am not perfuaded that all true genius died with POPE for one would be tempted to think, that the Seasons of Thomson, and Pleafures of Imagination, and the Odes of Akenfide, the Night-thoughts of Young, the Leonidas of Glover, the Elegy of Gray, and Ode on Eton College, the truly pathetic Monody on lady Lyttleton, together with many Pieces in Dodfley's Mifcellanies, were not published when Dr. Warburton delivered this infinuation of a failure of poetical abilities. 16. So pleas'd at first the towring Alps we try, Mount o'er the vales, and feem to tread the sky, And the firft clouds and mountains feem the laft: THIS comparison is frequently mentioned, as an instance of the ftrength of fancy. The images however appear too general and indiftinct, and the last line conveys no new idea to the mind. The following picture in Shaftesbury, on the fame fort of subject, appears to be more full and ftriking. "Beneath the mountain's foot, the rocky country rifes into hills, a proper bafis of the ponderous mass above: where huge embodied rocks lie piled on one another, and feem to prop the high arch of heaven. See! with what trembling steps poor mankind tread the narrow brink of the deep precipices! From whence with giddy horror they look down, mistrusting even the ground that bears them; whilst they hear the hollow found of torrents underneath, and fee the ruin of the impending rock; with falling trees, which hang with their roots upwards, and seem to draw more ruin after them*". See Livy's picturesque description of Annibal paffing the Alps. * The MORALISTS. Characteristics, vol. ii. pag. 253: 17. A perfect judge will read each word of wit, With the fame spirit, that it's author writ*. To be able to judge of poetry, fays Voltaire, a man must feel strongly, must be born with fome sparks of that fire, which animates the poet whom he criticises. As in deciding upon the merit of a piece of mufic, it is not enough, it is indeed nothing, to calculate the proportion of founds as a mathematician, but we must have an ear and a foul for mufic+. 18. Thus when we view fome well-proportion'd dome, (The world's just wonder, and ev'n thine, O Rome!) No fingle parts unequally surprise, All comes united to th' admiring eyes; No monftrous height, or breadth, or length appear, THIS is justly and elegantly expreffed ; and though it may feem difficult to speak of the fame fubject after fuch a defcription, yet Akenfide has ventured, and nobly fucceeded. Ver. 233 + Ubi fupra, pag. 361. + Ver. 247. Mark, Mark, how the dread PANTHEON ftands, Amid the domes of modern hands! Amid the toys of idle state, How fimply, how feverely great! 19. Once on a time, La Mancha's knight, they fay, A certain bard encountring on the way †. t. By this fhort tale POPE has fhewed us, how much he could have excelled in telling a ftory of humour. The incident is taken from the fecond part of Don Quixote, first written by Don Alonzo Fernandez de Avellanada, and afterwards tranflated, or rather imitated and new-modelled, by no less an author than the celebrated Le Sage ‡. The book is not fo contemptible as fome authors infinuate; it was well received in France, Ode to L. Huntington. + Ver. 267. Le Sage generally took his plans from the Spanish writers, the manners of which nation he has well imitated. Le Diable Boiteux was drawn from the Diabolo Cojuelo of Guevara; his Gil Blas from Don Gufman D' Alfarache. Le Sage made a journey into Spain to acquaint himself with the Spanish cuftoms. He is a natural writer, of true humour. He died in a little houfe near Paris, where he supported himself by writing, 1747. He had been deaf ten years. and |