Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers ;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears : 30
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.

Lo, REMARKS. of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee *.". In imitating this passage, Pope has omitted the different beasts that in so picturesque a manner characterise the different countries which were to be gathered together on this important event; and says, only in undiftinguishing terms,

See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings;

And heap'd with products of Sabxan springs t. VER. 31. A God, a God!-] The repetition is in the true fpirit of Poetry, “ Deus, Deus ipse;"—the whole passage in. deed is finely worked up, from “Lofty Lebanon" to the magnifi. cent and powerful appeal, “ HARK! A GLAD Voice," &c. It must be however observed, that the line

“ See nodding forests on the mountains dance," is too particular ; it brings the image too close, and, by exhibiting the action stronger than poetical propriety and fublimity required, destroys the intended effect. In images of this fort, the greatest care should be taken just to present the idea, but not to detail ito otherwise it becomes, in the language of Shakespear, like

* AMBITION that o'ER-LEAPs itself."

46.

IMITATIONS.
VER. 29. Hark! a glad voice, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver.
“ Aggredere ô magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,

Cara deậm foboles, magnum Jovis incrementum-
Ipfi lætitia voces ad fydera jactant
Intonfi montes, ipsæ jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa fonant arbusta, Deus, deus ille Menalca !”

Ecl. v. ver. 62.

Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies !
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rise ;
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay; 35
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold!
Hear him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall

purge
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day: 40

the visual ray,

Tis

REMARKS.

VER. 35. With heads declin'd, &c.] This line is faulty, for the fame reason as given in the remark on " nodding forests ”-The atlion is brought too near, and for that reason the image no longer appears grand. Dr. Warton observes, “the Prophet is fometimes particular where Pope is general, and vice versa:" the fact is, one of the greatest proofs of poetical judgment is knowing upon what occasions it is necessary to be general, and when it is more proper to be particular and specific.

Ver. 39. He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,] The fenfc and language fhew, that by visual ray, the poet meant the fight, or, as Milton calls it, indeed something less boldly, though

more

IMITATIONS.

“ Oh come and receive the mighty honours : the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, Ogreat encrease of Jove! The uncultivated mountains send fhouts of joy to the fars, the very rocks fing in verse, the very fhrubs cry out, a God, a God!"

Ifaiah, ch, xl. ver. 3, 4. “ The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make straight in the desert a high way for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and bill shall be made low, and the crooked fball be made fraight, and the rough places plain" Ch. iv. ver. 23. “Break forth into singing, ye mountains! O forest, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Ifrael."

Pope. & Ilai. ch. xliii. ver, 18. ch. XXXV. ver. 5.6.

'Tis he th'obstructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new music charm th’unfolding ear :
The dumb shall fing, the lame his crutch'forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, 45
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good shepherd' tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest paiture and the purest air,

50

Explores REMARKS. more exactly, the visual nerve. However, io critic would quarrel with the figure which calls the instrument of vision by the name of the cause. But though the term be noble and sublime, yet the expression of thick films is faulty; and he fell into it by a commun neglect of the following rule of good writing, “ That when a figurative word is used, whatsoever is predicated of it ought not only to agree in terms to the thing to which the figure is applied, but likewise to that from which the figure is taken.” Thick films agree only with the thing to which it is applied, namely, to the right or eye ; and not to that from which it is taken, namely a ray of light coming to the eye. He should have said thick clouds, which would have agreed with both. But these inaccuracies are not to be found in his later poems.

WARBURTON. It is remarkable, that this observation bears a close resemblance to what Concanen says of this passage, p. 23. of his Supplement to the profound. 5728.

Warton. VER.

R. 45. No figh, no murmur the wide world shall bear,] I wonder Dr. Warton had not here pointed out the force and the beauty of this most comprehensive and striking line.

Ver.46 From ev'ry face, &c.] This line was thus altered by Steele.

WARTON. “ The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.”-Ifai. Thence Milton in Lycidas, " And wipe all tears for ever from his eyes.” bi Ifai. ch. xxv, ver, &.

55

65

Explores the loft, the wand'ring sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd * Father of the future age.
No more shall' nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;

60
But ufeless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow-share end.
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful "Son
Shall finish what his short-liv'd Sire begun ;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field.
The fwain in barren" deserts with surprise
See lilies spring, and fudden verdure rise ;

And REMARKS. Ver. 53. HE, is reduodant.

WARTON. VER. 56. The promis’d father of the future age.] In Isaiah ix. it is the everlasting Father; which the LXX render, The Father of the world to come ; agreeably to the style of the New Testament, in which the kingdom of the Messiah is called the age of the world to come; Mr. Pope, therefore, has, with great judgment, adopted the sense of the LXX, which his commentator has not observed.

WARTON. IMITATIONS. VER. 67. The swain in barren deferts] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 28. “ Molli paulatim flavescet campus arifta, Incultisque rubens pendebit fentibus uva,

70

And start, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulruch nods.
Waste sandy o valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn;
To leafless shrubs the flow'ring palms succeed, 75
And od’rous myrtle to the noisome weed.
The P lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead,
And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead;

The

REMARKS. VER. 77. The words of Isaiah'are, “ The wolf shall dwell with the lamb ;” but Pope, by carrying the image farther, and making the wolf graze with the lamb, has inadvertently given an inconsistency to the passage.—This was written before I had seen Mr. Stevens's remark, who, quoting the passage, aks, “ whether wolves are graminivorous ?”

IMITATIONS. ". The fields shall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape shall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oak fall difil honey like dew."

Isaiah, ch. xxxv. ver. 7. “ The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty lands springs of water : In the habitation where dragons lay, fball be grass, and reeds and russes.”—Ch. lv. ver. 13.“ In. stead of the thorn Mall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar Jhall come up the myrtle-tree.”

Pope. VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 21. “ Ipfæ lacte domum referent diftenta capella

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones--
Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni
Occidet."

" The

• Ifai. ch. xli. ver. 19. and Ch. Iv. ver. 13.

P. Ch. xi. ver. 6,7,8,

VOL. I.