;

Th' angelical, foft trembling voices made To th' inftruments divine refpondance meet; The filver-founding inftruments did meet With the base murmure of the water's fall The water's fall with difference difcreet, Now foft, now loud unto the wind did call, The gentle warbling wind low anfwered to all." Book ii. cant. 12. f. 71. These images, one would have thought, were peculiarly calculated to have struck the fancy of our young imitator with so much admiration, as not to have fuffered him to make a kind of travesty of them.

The next stanza of Pope reprefents fome allegorical figures, of which his original was fo fond:

"Hard by a fty, beneath a roof of thatch,

Dwelt Obloquy, who in her early days

Baskets of fish at Billingfgate did watch,

Cod, whiting, oyster, mackrel, sprat, or plaice;

There learn'd she speech from tongues that never cease.
Slander befide her, like a Magpie, chatters,

With Envy, (fpitting Cat) dread foe to peace;
Like a curs'd Cur, Malice before her clatters,

And vexing ev'ry wight, tears cloaths and all to tatters."

Eut these perfonages of Obloquy, Slander, Envy, and Malice, are not marked with any diftinct attributes; they are not those living figures, whose attitudes and behaviour Spenfer has minutely drawn with fo much clearness and truth, that we behold them with our eyes as plainly as we do on the cieling or the banquetinghouse. For, in truth, the pencil of Spenfer is as powerful as that of Rubens, his brother allegorift; which two artists resembled each other in many refpects: but Spenfer had more grace, and was as warm a colourist.

WARTON

II.

SPENSER.

THE ALLEY.

I.

IN ev'ry Town, where Thamis rolls his Tyde,
A narrow Pass there is, with Houses low;
Where ever and anon, the Stream is ey'd,
And many a Boat foft fliding to and fro.
There oft are heard the notes of Infant Woe,
The short thick Sob, loud Scream, and fhriller Squall:
How can ye, Mothers, vex your Children fo?
Some play, fome eat, fome cack against the wall,
And as they crouchen low, for bread and butter call-

5

II.

And on the broken pavement, here and there,
Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie;
A brandy and tobacco fhop is near,

10

And hens, and dogs, and hogs are feeding by ;
And here a failor's jacket hangs to dry.
At ev'ry door are fun-burnt matrons seen,
Mending old nets to catch the scaly fry;
Now finging fhrill, and scolding eft between ;
Scolds anfwer foul-mouth'd fcolds; bad neighbour.

hood I ween.

U 2

H

LA

The

III.

The fnappifh cur (the paffengers annoy)
Clofe at my heel with yelping treble flies;
The whimp'ring girl, and hoarser-screaming boy,
Join to the yelping treble, fhrilling cries;
The scolding Quean to louder notes doth rise,
And her full pipes. thofe fhrilling cries confound;
To her full pipes the grunting hog replies;
The grunting hogs alarm the neighbours round,
And curs, girls, boys, and fcolds, in the deep bafe
are drown'd.

20

V.

Her dugs were mark'd by ev'ry Collier's hand,
Her mouth was black as bull-dogs at the stall:

25

IV.

Hard by a Sty, beneath a roof of thatch,
Dwelt Obloquy, who in her early days
Baskets of fish at Billingfgate did watch,
Cod, whiting, oyster, mackrel, sprat, or plaice:
There learn'd fhe fpeech from tongues that never cease.
Slander befide her, like a Magpie, chatters,

With Envy, (fpitting Cat) dread foe to peace;
Like a curs'd Cur, Malice before her clatters,
And vexing ev'ry wight, tears clothes and all to tatters.

35

30

She

NOTES.

VER. 30. Bafkets of fifb] How different from thofe enchanting imitations of Spenfer, The Castle of Indolence and the Minstrel!

WARTON.

She scratched, bit, and fpar'd ne lace ne band,
And bitch and rogue her anfwer was to all;

40

Nay, e'en the parts of shame by name would call :
Yea, when the paffes by or lane or nook,

Would greet the man who turn'd him to the wall,
And by his hand obfcene the porter took,

Nor ever did afkance like modest Virgin look.

VI.

Such place hath Deptford, navy-building town,
Woolwich and Wapping, fmelling strong of pitch;
Such Lambeth, envy of each band and gown,
And Twick'nam fuch, which fairer scenes enrich,
Grots, ftatues, urns, and Jo-n's Dog and Bitch,
Ne village is without, on either fide,

All

45

up the filver Thames, or all adown; Ne Richmond's felf, from whofe tall front are ey'd Vales, fpires, meand'ring ftreams, and Windfor's tow'ry pride.

III.

W ALL E R.

POPE has imitated Waller with elegance, especially in the verses on a Fan of his own defign; for he defigned with dexterity and tafte.

The application of the ftory of Cephalus and Procris is as ingenious as Waller's Phoebus and Daphne. Waller abounds, perhaps to excess, in allufions to mythology and the ancient claffics. The French, as may be imagined, complain that he is too learned for the ladies. The following twelve lines contain three allufions, delicate indeed; but fome may deem them to be too far-fetched, too much crouded, and not obvious to the lady to whom they were ad dreffed, on her finging a song of his compofing:

66

Chloris, yourself you so excell,

When you vouchfafe to breathe my thought,
That like a fpirit with this spell
Of my own teaching I am caught.
That eagle's fate and mine are one,
Which on the shaft that made him die,
Efpy'd a feather of his own
Wherewith he wont to foar fo high.
Had Echo with so sweet a grace
Narciffus' loud complaints return'd,
Not for reflection of his face,

But of his voice, the boy had burn'd.”

Here is matter enough compreffed together for Voiture to have fpun out into fifty lines. Were I to name my favourite among Waller's fmaller pieces, it should be his Apology for having loved before. He begins by faying, "That they who never had been ufed to the furprifing juice of the grape, render up their reason to

the