Bear Britain's thunder, and her Crofs display, 391 Led by new ftars, and borne by fpicy gales! The pearly shell its lucid globe infold, And Phoebus warm the rip'ning ore to gold. 395 Whole NOTES. finished defign of Inigo Jones. The four great sheets are evidently made up from general hints, nor could fuch a fource of invention and talle, as the mind of Inigo, ever produce so much fameness. The strange kind of cherubims on the towers at the end are prepofterous ornaments, and whether of Inigo or not, bear no relation to the reit. The great towers in the front are too near, and evidently borrowed from what he had feen in Gothic, not in Roman buildings. The circular court is a picturesque thought, but without meaning or utility." WALPOLE. VER. 385. Thy trees, fair Windfor!] This return to the trees of Windfor Forelt, his original fubject, is mafterly and judicious; and the whole fpeech of Thames is highly animated and poetical, forcible and rich in diction, as it is copious and noble in imagery. VER. 391.] Here is almoft a prophecy of thofe difcoveries of new islands and continents which this country of late years has had the honour to make. WARTON. VER. 398. Unbounded Thames, &c.] A wifh that London may be made a FREE PORT. POPE. 400 Whole nations enter with each fwelling tide, Reap their own fruits, and woo their fable loves, 405 Peru once more a race of Kings behold, 411 And other Mexico's be roof'd with gold. 415 420 VER. 409.] NOTES. There To hear the favage youth repeat In loofe numbers wildly fweet, Their feather-cinctured chiefs, and dufky loves, fays Mr. Gray, most beautifully in his ode; dusky loves is more accurate than fable; they are not negroes. WARTON. There Faction roar, Rebellion bite her chain, And gafping Furies thirst for blood in vain. 426 Here cease thy flight, nor with unhallow'd lays Touch the fair fame of Albion's golden days: The thoughts of Gods let GRANVILLE's verse recite,. And bring the fcenes of op'ning fate to light. My humble Mufe, in unambitious strains, Paints the green forefts and the flow'ry plains, Where Peace defcending bids her olive spring, And scatters bleffings from her dove-like wing. Ev'n IMITATIONS. VER. 423. Referre fermones Deorum et Magna modis tenuare parvis." NOTES. Hor. VER. 422. in vain.] This conclufion both of Horace and of Pope is feeble and flat. The whole fhould have ended with this fpeech of Thames at this line, 422. Pope, it seems, was of opinion, that defcriptive poetry is a compofition as abfurd as a feaft made up of fauces: and I know many other persons that think meanly of it. I will not presume to fay it is equal, either in dignity or utility, to those compofitions that lay open the internal conftitution of man, and that imitate characters, manners, and fentiments. I may however remind fuch contemners of it, that, in a fifter art, landfcape-painting claims the very next rank to hiftory-painting, being ever preferred to fingle portraits, to pieces of ftill-life, to droll figures, to fruit and flowerpieces; that Titian thought it no diminution of his genius, to spend much of his time in works of the former species; and that, if their principles lead them to condemn Thomson, they must also condemn the Georgics of Virgil, and the greatest part of the nobleft defcriptive poem extant; I mean that of Lucretius. WARTON. Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, 431 A POEM purely defcriptive has certainly no claim to excellence. But which is at once moral, historical, and picturesque ; or, a poem in other words, where defcription is made fubfervient to the delighted fancy, the cultivated understanding, and the improved heart, furely no real judge of Poetry would condemn. What beautiful and interefting pieces would fuch a decifion exclude! How many animating or tender fentiments, how many affecting incidents, how much interefting information, are often connected with local scenery! The genuine Poet furveys every prospect with the and enthusiasm of a Painter; but does he only paint? He connects with the fcenery he defcribes, morality, antiquity, hiftory, the wildest traditions in fancy, or the sweetest feelings of tenderness, or patriotifm. If we feel interested by the picture of an Arcadian landscape, which conveys its moral by the introduction of a fhepherd's tomb, and the infcription "Et ego in Arcadia ;" in like manner should we regard a defcriptive poem, connected at the fame time with wider information, and diverfified with more pointed morality. eye Pope in his Windsor Foreft has description, incident, and history. The defcriptive part, however, is too general and unappropriate the incident, or ftory-part, is fuch as only would have been adopted by a young man, who had just read Ovid; but the hiftorical part is very judiciously and fkilfully blended, and the conclufion highly animated and poetical; nor can we be infenfible to its more lofty tone of verfification. ODE ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY, MDCCVIII. AND OTHER PIECES FOR MUSIC. There are few Odes completely adapted to Mufic in our language. Milton, though a musician, has written nothing, I believe, entirely with this view; but happily his divine Penferofo and l'Allegro have found in Handel a compofer worthy of the Poetry. His mufic of "Let the bright Seraphim in burning row," is inadequate to the fplendor of the expreffions, and fublimity of the subject. In general, all epithets that paint, such as " bright Seraphim"-" burning row,"—are not so proper for mufic; as such words, while they animate Poetry, impede and delay the fentiment intended to be conveyed by mufic. Dr. Morell, who wrote the words for Handel's Oratorios, has much greater merit than is generally imagined.-How affecting, and yet how excellently adapted to musical expreffion, are his words: "In fweetest harmony they liv❜d! Nor death their union could divide ; VOL. I. M Who |