A God, a God! the vocal hills reply, The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity. REMARKS. 35 On the other hand, the prophet has been fometimes particular, when Pope has been only general. "Lift up thine eyes round about, and fee; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee:- -The multitude of camels fhall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah: all they from Sheba fhall come: they fhall bring gold and incenfe, and they fhall fhew forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar fhall be gathered together unto thee; the rams of Nebaioth shall minifter unto thee t." In imitating this paffage, Pope has omitted the different beasts that in fo picturefque a manner characterise the different countries which were to be gathered together on this important event; and fays, only in undistinguishing terms, See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend; VER. 26.] An improper and burlesque image! VER. 35. With heads declin'd,] All is here uniformly folemn, and majeftic; not debafed by any of those mean images that Cowley has fo unaccountably introduced into his imitation of the 34th Ipfi laetitia voces ad fydera jactant Intonfi montes, ipfae jam carmina rupes, Ipfa fonant arbufta, Deus, deus ille Menalca!" Ecl. v. ver. 62. "Oh come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great encrease of Jove! The Ifaiah, ch. lx. v. 4, 6, 7. Meff. v. 94. H 2 The The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold! REMARKS. 40 34th chapter of this fublime prophet. The fword of God is called the Scarlet Glutton. And fee the marvellous burlesque in the following lines; The lion then fhall to the leopard say, Brother leopard come away! The vultures fhall find the bus'nefs done! VER. 39. He from thick films fhall purge the visual ray,] The fenfe and language fhew, that by visual ray, the poet meant the fight, or, as Milton calls it, indeed fomething lefs boldly, tho' more exactly, the vifual nerve. However, no critic would quarrel with the figure which calls the inftrument of vifion by the name of the caufe. But tho' the term be noble and fublime, yet the expreffion of thick films is faulty; and he fell into it by a common neglect of the following rule of good writing, "That when a figurative word is ufed, 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 fight or eye; and not to that from which it is taken, namely, a ray of light coming to the eye. He fhould have faid thick clouds, which would have agreed with both. But these inaccuracies are not to found in his later poems. IMITATIONS. W. It The uncultivated mountains fend fhouts of joy to the ftars, the very rocks fing in verfe, the very fhrubs cry out, A God, a God!" Isaiah, ch. xl. v. 3, 4. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make ftraight in the defert a high way for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill fhall be made low, and the crooked fhall be made ftraight, and the rough places plain." Ch. iv. v. 23. "Break forth into finging, ye mountains! foreft, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Ifrael." g Ifai. xliii. v. 18. Ch. xxxv. v. 5, 6. P. "Tis "Tis he th' obftructed paths of found shall clear, No figh, no murmur the wide world fhall hear, 45 From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear. h In adamantine chains fhall death be bound, i And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. REMARKS. 50 55 It is remarkable, that this obfervation bears a close resemblance to what Concanen says of this paffage, p. 23. of his Supplement to the Profund. 1728. VER. 46. This line was thus altered by Steele. VER. 53. HE, is redundant. 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 ftyle of the New Teftament, in which the kingdom of the Meffiah is called the age of the world to come; Mr. Pope, therefore, has, with great judgment, adopted the sense of the LXX, which, it is ftrange, his commentator, who is a divine, has not observed. Ifal. xxv. v. 8. i Ch. xl. v. II. * Ch. ix. v. 6. Ch. ii. v. 4. Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover❜d o'er, m And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field. о Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed, IMITATIONS. VER. 67. The Swain in barren deferts] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 28. "Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arista, Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uva, бо 65 70 75 "The fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks shall distil honey like dew." Ifaiah, Ch. xxxv. v. 7. "The parched ground fhall become a pool, and the thirsty lands fprings of water: In the habitation where dragons lay, fhall be grafs, and reeds and rushes."-Ch. lv. v. 13. "Inftead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle-tree." m Ifai. lxv. v. 21, 22. Ch. xli. v. 19. and Ch. lv. v. 13. A Ch. xxxv. v. 1, 7. P. The The lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flow'ry banks the tiger lead; The steer and lion at one crib fhall meet, ૧ And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet. The smiling infant in his hand shall take The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake, Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales furvey, r 80 And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife! 85 Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes! IMITATIONS. VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] Virg. Ecl. iv. ver. 21. "Ipfae lacte domum referent diftenta capellae Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni Occidet.". "The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent fhall die, and the herb that conceals poifon fhall die." Ifaiah, Ch. xi. v. 16, &c. "The wolf fhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child fhall lead them.-And the lion fhall eat ftraw like the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice." VER. 80. From the words occidet & ferpens, it was idly concluded the old ferpent, Satan, was meant. P. VER. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!] The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above those general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftieft parts of his Pollio. |