mon pains afterwards to revife, left they fhould be unconnected with his main defign. His Traveller, Deferted Village, Hermit) and Retaliation, are the chief foundation of his fame. The Traveller is one of those delightful poems, that allure by the beauty of their fcenery, a refined elegance of fentiment, and a correfpondent happiness of expreffion. In the addrefs to his brother, to whom the poem is infcribed, it is impoffible not to be pleafed with the untravelled heart, and the happy image of the lengthening chain. The fimile of the rainbow, is equally juft as magnificent; and is one of those real beauties in imagery, which have the pow er of pleasing univerfally, by being at once obvious to the mind, and at the fame time poffeffing native dignity enough to fecure them from that indifference, with which things frequently contemplated are beheld. The Traveller fits him down (as he expreffes it) on an eminence of the Alps, and from thence takes a view of the feveral king doms that lie around him, not with the contracted eye of a reclufe, but with the liberal Spirit of a man who rightly confiders and embraces the general bleffings of Providence. For me your tributary stores combine, He then inquires, whether fuperior happinefs be the lot of any particular country, but concludes, that, though every man thinks most favorably of his own, nature has, in general, q) Diefes Gedicht kommt in Vicar felbft vor, und zwar im sten Kap. S. 52. vor, obferved an equality in the diftribution of her bounties. The defcription of the people of Italy is not lefs juft, than that of their country is picturefque and harmonious: but the moralist may object to the conclufion, as unfavourable to the interefts of virtue. Each nobler aim repreft by long controul The beauties of the description of the Swifs are fo natural and obvious, that no eye can overlook them. Whether the feverity of a Helvetian winter chills the lap of May, when no zephyr fooths the breaft of the mountain; whether the hardy Swifs fees his little lot, the lot of all; breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes, drives his ploughfhares to the steep, or drags the struggling favage into day; the whole is beautiful. Whether he fits down the monarch of a fhed, farveys his children's looks, that brighten at the blaze, or entertains the pilgrim, whole tale repays the nightly bed, the whole is ftill beautiful; but the file of the babe is fomething more; there is a grandeur as well as beauty in the application of it. and But having found that the rural life of a Swifs has its evils as well as comforts, he turns to France, and defcribes a people al most of a different fpecies. He next makes a tranfition to Holland, and from thence proceeds to Britain. The characteristics of the different nations, are just and ingenuous; but the defcriptions are neither full nor perfect. He has contented himself with exhibiting them in thofe points of view in which they are generally beheld; but the lights are much strengthened by the powers of poetic genius. The Deferted Village, is a performance of diftinguifhed merit. The general idea it inculcates is this, that commerce, by an enor mous introduction of wealth, has augmented the number of the rich, who, by exhaufting the provifion of the poor, reduce them to the neceffity, of emigration. The poem opens with an apoftrophe to its fubject, with which the imagination may be pleafed, but which will noth fully fatisfy the judgment. The village deverfions are perhaps infifted on with too much prolixity and amplification. But we are recompenfed for this generality and redundance, by the claffical and beautiful particularity and concifenefs of the context; the dancing pair, the fwain miftruftlefs of his Imutted face, the bafhful virgin, etc. The paragraph in general has much inaccuracy, efpecially a disgusting identity of diction; the word bowers occurs twice, the word fweet thrice, and charms and fport ingular or plural, four times. We have fo toil remitting, and toil taught to pleafe, fucceeding fports, and Iports with fweet fucceffion. The paragraph beginning, I fares the land, etc. has great merit, the fentiment is noble, and the expreffion little inferior. The following one asserts what has been repeatedly denied, that there time in England, when every rood of ground maintained its man. Wherever there is property, there muft of was neceffity be poverty and riches. The apoftrophe to Retirement is beautiful, but fanciful; for him who retires into the country to crown a youth of labour with an age of eafe, the mine must be explored, the deep tempted, and. * The pale artift ply the fickly trade. a The paragraph beginning, Sweet was the found etc. has uncommon merit. The circumstances it defcribes are obvious in nature, but never in poetry; and they are described with great force and elegance. The particulars are most happily felected; and they bear one uniform confiftent character, that of a sober or lerene cheerfulness. The Matron gathering water creffes, is fine picture. When Auburn is defcribed as florifhing, the village preacher is very properly introduced and characterifed in a manner which feems almost unexceptionable, both for fentiment and expreffion. His contentment, hospitality and piety, are pointed out with fufficient particularity, yet without confufion or redundance. The copfe, the torn fhrubs, and' the garden flower that grows wild, are fine natural ftrokes. The good man, attended by his venerating parishioners, and with a kind of dignified complacence, even permitting the familiarites of their children, is strongly and diftinctly represented. The fimiles of a bird teaching her young to fly, and the mountain that rifes above the storm, are not eafily to be paralleled. The last has been much admired; and is indeed a happy illuftration, fo far as immaterial objects can be illuftrated by material. poem The fchoolmafter, though a fecondary character, is defcribed with great force and precision. The description of the village ale-houfe, is drawn with admirable propriety and force. The fine poetical inventory of the furniture, is fully equalled by the character of the guests, and the details of their amufements. It is not poetical fiction, but historical truth. But though nothing is invented, fomething is fuppressed. The ruftic's hour of relaxation is too rarely fo innocent; it is too often contaminated with extravagance, anger, and profanity; defcribing vice and folly, however, will not prevent their exifting; and, it is agreeable to forget for a moment, the reality of their existence. The reft of the confifts of a defcant on the mifapplication of wealth, luxury, and the variety of artificial pleasures, and the miseries of thofe, who, for want of employment at home, are driven to fettle new colonies abroad. Tumultuous grandeur, and her rattling chariots, glaring torches, etc. are finely contrasted with the diftrefsful fituation of a poor proftitu te. There is beauty in the fimile of the primrofe, and pathos in the mention of the unhappy girl laying her head at the door of her betrayer. The detail of the emigration, beginning, Do thine fweet Auburn etc., animated, and in general correctly drawn. The paragraph, Good Heaven what forrow etc. has many beauties. The heart must be infenfible, indeed, which does not feel the force of pathos, in the circumstances of the daughter relinquifhing her lover, in order to attend her father; and the mother clafping her thoughtless babes with additional tenderness. is |