XXXIX. nected thought, and good fenfe, with the highest LECT beauties of Poetry. He does not often afpire beyond that middle region, which I mentioned as belonging to the Ode; and those Odes, in which he attempts the fublime, are perhaps not always his best *. The peculiar character, in which he excels, is grace and elegance; and in this Style of Compofition, no Poet has ever attained to a greater perfection than Horace. No Poet fubports a moral fentiment with more dignity, touches a gay one more happily, or poffeffes the art of trifling more agreeably when he chooses to trifle, His language is fo fortunate, that with a fingle word or epithet, he often conveys a whole defcription to the fancy. Hence he ever has been, and ever will continue to be, a favourite Author with all perfons of taste. AMONG the Latin Poets of later ages, there have been many imitators of Horace. One of the most diftinguished is Cafimir, a Polish Poet of the laft century, who wrote four books of Odes. graceful ease of expreffion, he is far inferior to the In • There is no Ode whatever of Horace's, without great beauties. But though I may be fingular in my opinion, I cannot help thinking that in fome of those Odes which have been much admired for fublimity (fuch as Ode iv. Lib. 4. "Qualem "miniftrum fulminis alitem," &c.) there appears somewhat of a strained and forced effort to be lofty. The genius of this amiable Poet fhews itself, according to my judgment, to greater advantage, in themes of a more temperate kind. XXXIX. LECT. Roman. He oftener affects the fublime; and in the attempt, like other Lyric Writers, frequently becomes harsh and unnatural. But, on feveral occafions, he discovers a confiderable degree of original genius, and poetical fire. Buchanan, in fome of his Lyric Compofitions, is very elegant and claffical. AMONG the French, the Odes of Jean Baptiste Rouffeau have been much and justly celebrated. They poffefs great beauty, both of fentiment and expreffion. They are animated, without being rhapfodical; and are not inferior to any poetical productions in the French language. In our own Language, we have feveral Lyric Compofitions of confiderable merit. Dryden's Qde on St. Cecilia, is well known. Mr. Gray is diftinguifhed in fome of his Odes, both for tendernefs and fublimity; and in Dodfley's Mifcellanies, feveral very beautiful Lyric Poems are to be found. As to profeffed Pindaric Odes, they are, with a few exceptions, fo incoherent, as feldom to be intelligible. Cowley, at all times harsh, is doubly fo in his Pindaric Compofitions. In his Anacreontic Odes, he is much happier. They are smooth and elegant; and, indeed, the most agreeable, and the most perfect, in their kind, of all Mr. Cowley's Poems. LECTURE XL. DIDACTIC POETRY-DESCRIPTIVE POETRY. HAVING treated of Paftoral and Lyric Poetry, LECT. I proceed next to Didatic Poetry; under which is included a numerous Clafs of Writings. The ultimate end of all Poetry, indeed of every Compofition, fhould be, to make fome ufeful im preffion on the mind. This useful impreffion is most commonly made in Poetry, by indirect methods; as by fable, by narration, by representation of characters; but Didatic Poetry openly profeffes its intention of conveying knowledge and inftruction. It differs therefore, in the form only, not in the scope and fubftance, from a philofophi, cal, a moral, or a critical treatise in Profe. At the fame time, by means of its form, it has feveral advantages over Profe Inftruction. By the charm of Verfification and Numbers, it renders instruction more agreeable; by the defcriptions, episodes, and other embellishments, which it may interweave, it detains and engages the fancy; it XL. LECT. fixes alfo ufeful circumttances more deeply in the XL. memory. Hence, it is a field, wherein a Poet may gain great honour, may difplay both much genius, and much knowledge and judgment. Ir may be executed in different manners. The Poet may choose fome inftructive fubject, and he may treat it regularly, and in form; or without intending a great or regular work, he may only inveigh against particular vices, or make fome moral obfervations on human life and characters, as is commonly done in Satires and Epiftles. All thefe come under the denomination of Didactic Poetry. THE highest fpecies of it, is a regular treatise on fome philofophical, grave, or useful fubject. Of this nature we have feveral, both antient and modern, of great merit and character: fuch as Lucretius's fix Books De Rerum Natura, Virgil's Georgics, Pope's Effay on Criticism, Akenfide's Pleafures of the Imagination, Arniftrong on Health, Horace's, Vida's, and Boileau's Art of Poetry. In all fuch works, as inftruction is the profeffed object, the fundamental merit confifts in found thought, juft principles, clear and apt illustrations. The Poet must instruct; but he must study, at the fame time, to enliven his inftructions, by the XL. introduction of fuch figures, and fuch circum LECT ftances, as may amufe the imagination, may conceal the drynefs of his fubject, and embellish it with poetical painting. Virgil, in his Georgics, presents us here with a perfect model. He has the art of raifing and beautifying the moft trivial circumstances in rural life. When he is going to say, that the labour of the country must begin in spring, he expreffes himself thus: Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus humor INSTEAD of telling his hufbandman in plain language, that his crops will fail through bad management, his language is, Heu magnum alterius fruftra spectabis acervum, * While yet the Spring is young, while earth unbinds DRYDEN. On others crops you may with envy look, And shake for food the long abandoned oak. DRYDEN. INSTEAD |