SECT. II.

Of WINDSOR - FOREST, and

DES

LYRIC Pieces.

ESCRIPTIVE Poetry was by no means the shining talent of POPE. This affertion may be manifefted by the few images introduced in the poem before us, which are not equally applicable to any place whatsoever. Rural beauty in general, and not the peculiar beauties of the foreft of Windfor, are here defcribed. Nor are the sports of fetting, shooting, and fishing, included between the ninety-third and one hundred and forty-fixth verfes, to which the reader is referred, at all more appropriated. The ftag-chase, that immediately follows, although fome of the lines are incomparably good *, is not fo full, fo animated, and fo circumftantiated, as that of Somerville.

THE digreffion that defcribes the demolition of the thirty villages by William the Conqueror, is well imagined; particularly,

*See particularly, ver. 151.

Round

Round broken columns clasping ivy twin'd,
O'er heaps of ruin ftalk'd the stately hind;
The fox obfcene to gaping tombs retires,
And favage howlings fill the facred quires *.

Though I cannot forbear thinking, that the following picture of the ruins of GodftowNunnery, drawn, it should feem, on the spot, and worthy the hand of Paul Brill, is by no means excelled by the foregoing.

Qua nudo Rofamonda humilis fub culmine tecti
Marginis obfcuri fervat inane decus,

Rara intermiffæ circum veftigia molis,
Et fola in vacuo tramite porta labat:
Sacræ olim fedes riguæ convallis in umbra,
Et veteri pavidum religione nemus.
Pallentes nocturna ciens campana forores

Hinc matutinum fæpe monebat avem ;
Hinc procul in media tarde caliginis hora
Prodidit arcanas arcta feneftra faces:
Nunc mufcofa extant fparfim de cespite saxa,

Nunc muro avellunt germen agrefte boves +.

VOLTAIRE, that lively maintainer of many a paradox, is inclined to difpute the truth of

* Ver. 69. + Carmina Quadragef. Oxon. 1748. pag. 3.

the

the devastation imputed to William I. but for a reafon very strange and inconclufivè. "Une telle action, fays he, eft trop infenfée pour etre vraisemblable. Les hiftoriens ne font pas attention qu'il faut au moins vingt années pour qu'un nouveau plan d'arbres devienne une forêt propre a là chaffe. On lui fait femer cette forêt en 1080, il avoit alors 63 ans. Quelle apparence y a-t-il, qu'un homme raifonable ait à cet âge détruit des villages pour femer quinze lieues en bois, dans l'espérance d'y chaffer un jour *?" There is indeed fome probability that, the character of this prince has been mifreprefented, and his oppreffions magnified. The law of the curfeu-bell, by which every inhabitant of England was obliged to extinguish his fire and candles at eight in the evening, has been usually alleged as the inftitution of a capricious tyrant. But this law, as Voltaire + rightly observes, was fo far from being abfurdly tyrannical, that it was an ancient custom established among all

* Abregé de l'Hiftoire Univerfelle, &c. tom. 1. pag. 280. + Ibid.

the

the monafteries of the north. Their houses were built of wood, and fo cautious a method to prevent fire, was an object worthy a prudent legiflator. A more amiable idea than POPE has here exhibited of the Conqueror, is given us of the fame prince, by that diligent enquirer into antiquity the President Henault, in a paffage that contains fome curious particulars, characteristical of the manners of that age. "This monarch protected letters, at a time, when books were fo rare and uncommon, that a countess of Anjou gave for a collection of homilies, two hundred sheep, a measure of wheat, another of rye, a third of millet, and a certain number of the skins of martens *." But to return. The ftory of Lodona is prettily Ovidian; but there is scarcely a fingle incident in it, but what is borrowed from fome transformation of Ovid. The picture of a virtuous and learned man in

* Novel Abregé Chronologique de l'Hiftoire de France. tom. 1. pag. 126. To this ufeful and entertaining work Voltaire has often been deeply indebted, without confeffing his obligation.

+ Ver, 171.

retirement

}

retirement is highly finished, as the poet
was here in his proper element, recommend-
ing integrity and fcience. He has no where
discovered more poetic enthusiasm, than
where, fpeaking of the poets who lived or
died near this fpot, he breaks out,

I feem through confecrated walks to rove,
I hear foft mufic die along the grove;
Led by the found I roam from shade to fhade,
By godlike poets venerable made +.

The enumeration of the princes who were
either born or interred at Windfor is judici-
oufly introduced. Yet I have frequently
wondered, that he fhould have omitted the
opportunity of defcribing at length it's vene-
rable ancient caftle, and the fruitful and ex-
tensive prospects which it commands. He
flides with dexterity and address from speak-
ing of the miseries of the civil war to the

The great improvements lately made near Windfor-lodge, by the Duke of Cumberland, particularly the magnificent lake and cascade, highly deserve to be celebrated by fome future POPE; and would have contributed not a little to the beauty of the poem now before us.

bleffings