Nature, in awe to HIM *, Had dofft her gawdy trim. And afterwards obferves, in a very epigrammatic and forced thought, unfuitable to the dignity of the fubject and of the rest of the ode, that, "the wooed the air, to hide her guilty front with innocent fnow," And on her naked shame †, Pollute with finful blame, The faintly veil of maiden white to throw, Should look fo near upon her foul deformities. "C'eft affez, to apply the words of the fenfible Voltaire, d'avoir cru appercevoir quelques erreurs d'invention dans ce grand genie; c'est une confolation pour un esprit auffi bornè que le mien, d'etre bien perfuadé que le plus grands hommes fe trompent comme le vulgaire." *This conceit, with the reft, however is more excufable, if we recollect how great a reader, especially at this time, Milton was of the Italian Poets. It is certain that Milton, in the beginning of the ode, had the third fonnet of Petrarch strong in his fancy, Era 'l giorno, ch'al fol fi fcoloraro Per la pietà del fuo fattore i rai; + Milton's Miscellaneous Poems, vol. ii. pag. 19. B IT would be unpardonable to conclude these remarks on descriptive poefy, without taking notice of the SEASONS of Thomson, who had peculiar and powerful talents for this fpecies of compofition. Let the reader therefore pardon a digreffion, if such it be, on his merits and character. THOMSON Was bleffed with a strong and copious fancy; he hath enriched poetry with a variety of new and original images, which he painted from nature itself, and from his own actual observations: his descriptions have therefore a diftinctness and truth, which are utterly wanting to thofe, of poets who have only copied from each other, and have never looked abroad on the objects themselves. Thomson was accuftomed to wander away into the country for days and for weeks, attentive to," each rural fight, each rural "found;" while many a poet who has dwelt for years in the Strand, has attempted to defcribe fields and rivers, and generally fucceeded accordingly. Hence that naufeous repetition of the fame circumftances; hence that disgusting impropriety of introducing what may be called a fet of hereditary images, without proper regard to the age, or climate, or occafion, in which they were formerly used. Though the diction of the SEASONS is fometimes harsh and inharmonious, and sometimes turgid and obfcure, and though in many inftances, the numbers are not fufficiently diverfified by different pauses, yet is this poem on the whole, from the numberless strokes of nature in which it abounds, one of the most captivating and amufing in our language, and which, as its beauties are not of a fugacious kind, as depending on particular customs and manners, will ever be perufed with delight. The scenes of Thomfon are frequently as wild and romantic as thofe of Salvator Rofa, pleafingly varied with precipices and torrents, and "caftled cliffs," and deep vallies, with piny mountains, and the gloomieft caverns. Innumerable are the little circumstances in his defcriptions, totally unobferved by all his pre deceffors. deceffors. What poet hath ever taken notice of the leaf, that towards the end of autumn, Inceffant ruftles from the mournful grove *, Or who, in speaking of a fummer evening hath ever mentioned, The quail that clamouers for his running mate? Or the following natural image at the fame time of the year? Wide o'er the thiftly lawn, as fwells the breeze, Amufive floats +. In what other poet, do we find the filence and expectation that precedes an April shower insisted on, as in ver. 165 of SPRING? Or where, The ftealing fhower is fcarce to patter heard, * Ver. 1000. + Ver. 1645. Ver. 176. G 2 How How full, particular and picturesque is this affemblage of circumstances that attend a very keen froft in a night of winter! Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects The village dog deters the nightly thief; In no one fubject are common writers more confused and unmeaning, than in their defcriptions of rivers, which are generally faid only to wind and to murmur, while their qualities and courfes are feldom accurately marked. Examine the exactness of the enfuing description, and confider what a perfect idea it communicates to the mind. Around th 'adjoining brook, that purls along A various groupe the herds and flocks compofe, * Winter, Ver. 735. +Summer, Ver. 477. A groupe |