their operations, while they left it to meaner hands choose for themselves; for persons whose profesto carry the muster-roll. I have followed their sions turn them to different pursuits, or who, not manner, rejecting the numerous fables which they yet arrived at sufficient maturity, require a guide adopted, and adding the improvements of the mod- to direct their application. To our youth, particuerns, which are so numerous, that they actually larly, a publication of this sort may be useful; make up the bulk of natural history. since, if compiled with any share of judgment, it The delight which I found in reading Pliny, may at once unite precept and example, show them first inspired me with the idea of a work of this what is beautiful, and inform them why it is so; nature. Having a taste rather classical than sci- I therefore offer this, to the best of my judgment, entific, and having but little employed myself in as the best collection that has as yet appeared; turning over the dry labours of modern system- though, as tastes are various, numbers will be of a makers, my earliest intention was to translate this very different opinion. Many, perhaps, may wish agreeable writer, and, by the help of a commentary, to see it in the poems of their favourite authors, to make my work as amusing as I could. Let us others may wish that I had selected from works less dignify natural history ever so much with the generally read, and others still may wish that I had grave appellation of a useful science, yet still we selected from their own. But my design was to must confess, that it is the occupation of the idle give a useful, unaffected compilation; one that and the speculative, more than of the ambitious might tend to advance the reader's taste, and not part of mankind. My intention was to treat what impress him with exalted ideas of mine. Nothing I then conceived to be an idle subject, in an idle is so common, and yet so absurd, as affectation in manner; and not to hedge round plain and simple criticism. The desire of being thought to have a narrative with hard words, accumulated distinc more discerning taste than others, has often led tions, ostentatious learning, and disquisitions that writers to labour after error, and to be foremost in produced no conviction. Upon the appearance, promoting deformity. however, of M. Buffon's work, I dropped my former plan and adopted the present, being convinced by his manner, that the best imitation of the ancients was to write from our own feelings, and to imitate nature. In this compilation, I run but few risks of that kind; every poem here is well known, and possessed, or the public has been long mistaken, of peculiar merit; every poem has, as Aristotle expresses it, a beginning, a middle, and an end, in which, howIt will be my chief pride, therefore, if this work ever trifling the rule may seem, most of the poetry may be found an innocent amusement for those in our language is deficient. I claim no merit in who have nothing else to employ them, or who re- the choice, as it was obvious, for in all languages quire a relaxation from labour. Professed natu- best productions are most easily found. As to the ralists will, no doubt, find it superficial; and yet I short introductory criticisms to each poem, they should hope, that even these will discover hints are rather designed for boys than men; for it will and remarks, gleaned from various reading, not be seen that I declined all refinement, satisfied wholly trite or elementary; I would wish for their with being obvious and sincere. In short, if this approbation. But my chief ambition is to drag up work be useful in schools, or amusing in the closet, the obscure and gloomy learning of the cell to the merit all belongs to others; I have nothing to open inspection; to strip it from its garb of aus- boast, and at best can expect, not applause but terity, and to show the beauties of that form, which pardon. only the industrious and the inquisitive have been hitherto permitted to approach. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Compilations of this kind are chiefly designed I have heard a very judicious critic say, that he for such as either want leisure, skill, or fortune, to had a higher idea of Milton's style in poetry, from the two following poems, than from his Paradise | Lost. It is certain, the imagination shown in them is correct and strong. The introduction to both in irregular measure is borrowed from the Italians, and hurts an English ear. AN ELEGY, WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD. This is a very fine poem, but overloaded with epithet. The heroic measure, with alternate rhyme, is very properly adapted to the solemnity of the subject, as it is the slowest movement that our language admits of. The latter part of the poem is pathetic and interesting. LONDON, IN IMITATION OF THE THIRD SATIRE OF JUVENAL. This poem of Mr. Johnson's is the best imitation of the original that has appeared in our language, being possessed of all the force and satirical resentment of Juvenal. Imitation gives us a much truer idea of the ancients than even translation could do. THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS, IN IMITATION OF SPENSER. This poem is one of those happinesses in which a poet excels himself, as there is nothing in all Shenstone which any way approaches it in merit; and, though I dislike the imitations of our old English poets in general, yet, on this minute sub ject, the antiquity of the style produces a very ludicrous solemnity. COOPER'S HILL. This poem by Denham, though it may have been exceeded by later attempts in description, yet deserves the highest applause, as it far surpasses all that went before it; the concluding part, though a little too much crowded, is very masterly. ELOISA TO ABELARD. A LETTER FROM ITALY TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES Few poems have done more honour to English genius than this. There is in it a strain of politi cal thinking that was, at that time, new in our poetry. Had the harmony of this been equal to that of Pope's versification, it would be incontestably the finest poem in our language; but there is the pleasure excited both by the poet's judgment a dryness in the numbers, which greatly lessens and imagination. ALEXANDER'S FEAST; OR, THE POWER OF MUSIC. AN ODE IN HONOUR OF ST. CECILIA'S DAY. This ode has been more applauded, perhaps, than it has been felt; however, it is a very fine one, and gives its beauties rather at a third or fourth, than at a first perusal. ODE FOR MUSIC ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. This ode has by many been thought equal to the former. As it is a repetition of Dryden's manner, it is so far inferior to him. The whole hint of Orpheus, with many of the lines, has been taken from an obscure Ode upon Music, published in Tate's Miscellanies. THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK, IN SIX PASTORALS. These are Mr. Gay's principal performance. They were originally intended, I suppose, as a burlesque on those of Phillips; but perhaps, without designing it, he has hit the true spirit of pastoral poetry. In fact he more resembles Theocritus than any other English pastoral writer whatsoever. The harmony of numbers in this There runs through the whole a strain of rustic is poem very fine. It is rather drawn out to too tedious a pleasantry, which should ever distinguish this spelength, although the passions vary with great cies of composition; but how far the antiquated judgment. It may be considered as superior to expressions used here may contribute to the huany thing in the epistolary way; and the many mour, I will not determine; for my own part, translations which have been made of it into the could wish the simplicity were preserved, without modern languages, are in some measure a proof of recurring to such obsolete antiquity for the manner this. of expressing.it. AN EPISTLE FROM MR. PHILIPS TO THE EARL OF DORSET. MAC FLECKNOE. I The severity of this satire, and the excellence of its versification, give it a distinguished rank in this species of composition. At present, an ordinary The opening of this poem is incomparably fine. reader would scarcely suppose that Shadwell, who The latter part is tedious and trifling. is here meant by Mac Flecknoe, was worth being chastised; and that Dryden, descending to such am told, had no good original manner of his own, game, was like an eagle stooping to catch flies. The truth however is, Shadwell at one time held divided reputation with this great poet. Every age produces its fashionable dunces, who, by following| the transient topic or humour of the day, supply talkative ignorance with materials for conversation. ON POETRY.-A RHAPSODY. Here follows one of the best versified poems in our language, and the most masterly production of its author. The severity with which Walpole is here treated, was in consequence of that minister's yet we see how well he succeeds when he turns an imitator; for the following are rather imitations than ridiculous parodies. A NIGHT PIECE ON DEATH. The great fault of this piece, written by Dr. Parnell, is, that it is in eight syllable lines, very improper for the solemnity of the subject; otherwise, the poem is natural, and the reflections just. A FAIRY TALE. BY DR. PARNELL. Never was the old manner of speaking more hap having refused to provide for Swift in England, pily applied, or a tale better told, than this. when applied to for that purpose, in the year 1725 (If I remember right). The severity of a poet, however, gave Walpole very little uneasiness. A man whose schemes, like this minister's, seldom extended beyond the exigency of the year, but little regarded the contempt of posterity. OF THE USE OF RICHES. This poem, as Mr. Pope tells us himself, cost much attention and labour; and from the easiness that appears in it, one would be apt to think as much. PALEMON AND LAVINIA. Mr. Thomson, though in general a verbose and affected poet, has told this story with unusual simplicity: it is rather given here for being much esteemed by the public than by the editor. THE BASTARD. Almost all things written from the heart, as this certainly was, have some merit. The poet here describes sorrows and misfortunes which were by of thinking through this poem, without which it no means imaginary; and thus there runs a truth would be of little value, as Savage is, in other respects, but an indifferent poet. THE POET AND HIS PATRON. FROM THE DISPENSARY.-CANTO VI. This sixth canto of the Dispensary, by Dr. Garth, has more merit than the whole preceding part of the poem, and, as I am told, in the first edition of this work, it is more correct than as here exhibited; but that edition I have not been able to Mr. Moore was a poet that never had justice find. The praises bestowed on this poem are more done him while living; there are few of the mothan have been given to any other; but our appro-derns have a more correct taste, or a more pleasing bation at present is cooler, for it owed part of its fame to party. SELIM; OR, THE SHEPHERD'S MORAL. manner of expressing their thoughts. It was upon AN EPISTLE TO A LADY. The following eclogues, written by Mr. Collins, are very pretty; the images, it must be owned, are not very local; for the pastoral subject could not well admit of it. The description of Asiatic mag-ing. nificence and manners is a subject as yet unat- of the tempted among us, and, I believe, capable of furnishing a great variety of poetical imagery. HANS CARVEL. This bagatelle, for which, by the by, Mr. Prior THE SPLENDID SHILLING. has got his greatest reputation, was a tale told in all This is reckoned the best parody of Milton in the old Italian collections of jests, and borrowed from our language: it has been a hundred times imi- thence by Fontaine. It had been translated once tated without success. The truth is, the first thing or twice before into English, yet was never rein this way must preclude all future attempts; for garded till it fell into the hands of Mr. Prior. A nothing is so easy as to burlesque any man's man- strong instance how much every thing is improved ner, when we are once showed the way. in the hands of a man of genius. A PIPE OF TOBACCO. IN IMITATION OF SIX SEVERAL AUTHORS. BAUCIS AND PHILEMON. This poem is very fine, and, though in the same Mr. Hawkins Browne, the author of these, as I strain with the preceding, is yet superior. TO THE EARL OF WARWICK, ON THE DEATH OF MR. ADDISON. This elegy (by Mr. Tickell) is one of the finest in our language: there is so little new that can be said upon the death of a friend, after the complaints of Ovid and the Latin Italians in this way, that one is surprised to see so much novelty in this to strike us, and so much interest to affect. COLIN AND LUCY.-A BALLAD. Through all Tickell's Works there is a strain of ballad-thinking, if I may so express it; and in this professed ballad he seems to have surpassed himself. It is, perhaps, the best in our language in this way. THE TEARS OF SCOTLAND. This ode, by Dr. Smollett, does rather more honour to the author's feelings than his taste. The mechanical part, with regard to numbers and language, is not so perfect as so short a work as this requires; but the pathetic it contains, particularly in the last stanza but one, is exquisitely fine. ON THE DEATH OF THE LORD PRO TECTOR. fonder of dazzling than pleasing; of raising our admiration for his wit than our dislike of the follies he ridicules. A PASTORAL BALLAD. The ballads of Mr. Shenstone are chiefly commended for the natural simplicity of the thoughts, and the harmony of the versification. However, they are not excellent in either. PHOEBE.-A PASTORAL This, by Dr. Byron, is a better effort than the preceding. A SONG. "Despairing beside a clear stream. " This, by Mr. Rowe, is better than any thing of the kind in our language. AN ESSAY ON POETRY. This work, by the Duke of Buckingham, is enrolled among our great English productions. The precepts are sensible, the poetry not indifferent, but it has been praised more than it deserves. CADENAS AND VANESSA. This is thought one of Dr. Swift's correctest MIND. Our poetry was not quite harmonized in Wal-pieces; its chief merit, indeed, is the elegant ease ler's time; so that this, which would be now look-with which a story, but ill conceived in itself, is ed upon as a slovenly sort of versification, was, told. with respect to the times in which it was written, almost a prodigy of harmony. A modern reader ALMA; OR, THE PROGRESS OF THE will chiefly be struck with the strength of thinking, and the turn of the compliments bestowed upon the usurper. Every body has heard the answer our poet made Charles II. who asked him how his poem upon Cromwell came to be finer than his panegyric upon himself? "Your Majesty," replies Waller, "knows that poets always succeed best in fiction." THE STORY OF PHOEBUS AND The French claim this as belonging to them. To whomsoever it belongs, the thought is finely turned. NIGHT THOUGHTS. BY DR. YOUNG. These seem to be the best of the collection; from whence only the first two are taken. They are spoken of differently, either with exaggerated applause or contempt, as the reader's disposition is either turned to mirth or melancholy. SATIRE I. Young's Satires were in higher reputation when published than they stand in at present. He seems Παντα γέλως, και παντα κυνις, και παντα το μέδι What Prior meant by this poem I can't understand: by the Greek motto to it, one would think it was either to laugh at the subject or his reader. There are some parts of it very fine; and let them save the badness of the rest. PREFACE ΤΟ A COLLECTION OF POEMS, FOR YOUNG LADIES, DEVOTIONAL, MORAL, AND ENTERTAINING. [First Printed in the year 1767.] DR. FORDYCE'S excellent Sermons for Young Women in some measure gave rise to the following compilation. In that work, where he so judiciously points out all the defects of female conduct to remedy them, and all the proper studies which they should pursue, with a view to improvement, | differ in this, that he mutilated with a bad design, poetry is one to which he particularly would at- I from motives of a contrary nature. tach them. He only objects to the danger of pur- It will be easier to condemn a compilation of this suing this charming study through all the immo-kind, than to prove its inutility. While young laralities and false pictures of happiness with which dies are readers, and while their guardians are soit abounds, and thus becoming the martyr of inno-licitous that they shall only read the best books, cent curiosity. there can be no danger of a work of this kind beIn the following compilation, care has been taken ing disagreeable. It offers, in a very small comto select not only such pieces as innocence may pass, the very flowers of our poetry, and that of a read without a blush, but such as will even tend kind adapted to the sex supposed to be its readers. to strengthen that innocence. In this little work, Poetry is an art which no young lady can or ought a lady may find the most exquisite pleasure, while to be wholly ignorant of. The pleasure which it she is at the same time learning the duties of life; gives, and indeed the necessity of knowing enough and, while she courts only entertainment, be de- of it to mix in modern conversation, will evince the ceived into wisdom. Indeed, this would be too usefulness of my design, which is to supply the great a boast in the preface to any original work; highest and the most innocent entertainment at the but here it can be made with safety, as every poem smallest expense; as the poems in this collection, in the following collection would singly have pro- if sold singly, would amount to ten times the price cured an author great reputation. of what I am able to afford the present. They are divided into Devotional, Moral, and Entertaining, thus comprehending the three great duties of life; that which we owe to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves. CRITICISM ON MASSEY'S TRANSLATION OF THE FASTI OF OVID. In the first part, it must be confessed, our English poets have not very much excelled. In that department, namely, the praise of our Maker, by which poetry began, and from which it deviated by time, we are most faultily deficient. There are one or two, however, particularly the Deity, by Mr. Boyse; a poem, when it first came out, that lay for some time neglected, till introduced to pub- Ir was no bad remark of a celebrated French lic notice by Mr. Hervey and Mr. Fielding. In lady,* that a bad translator was like an ignorant it the reader will perceive many striking pictures, footman, whose blundering messages disgraced his and perhaps glow with a part of that gratitude which seems to have inspired the writer. a [Published in the year 1757.] master by the awkwardness of the delivery, and frequently turned compliment into abuse, and In the moral part I am more copious, from the politeness into rusticity. We can not indeed see same reason, because our language contains a large an ancient elegant writer mangled and misreprenumber of the kind. Voltaire, talking of our poets, sented by the doers into English, without some gives them the preference in moral pieces to those degree of indignation; and are heartily sorry that of any other nation; and indeed no poets have bet- our poor friend Ovid should send his sacred kalenter settled the bounds of duty, or more precisely dar to us by the hands of Mr. William Massey, determined the rules for conduct in life than ours. who, like the valet, seems to have entirely forgot In this department, the fair reader will find the his master's message, and substituted another in Muse has been solicitous to guide her, not with its room very unlike it. Mr. Massey observes in the allurements of a syren, but the integrity of his preface, with great truth, that it is strange that friend. this most elaborate and learned of all Ovid's works In the entertaining part, my greatest difficulty should be so much neglected by our English translawas what to reject. The materials lay in such tors; and that it should be so little read or regarded, plenty, that I was bewildered in my choice: in this whilst his Tristia, Epistles, and Metamorphoses, are case, then, I was solely determined by the tenden- in almost every schoolboy's hands. "All the critics, cy of the poem: and where I found one, however in general," says he, "speak of this part of Ovid's well executed, that seemed in the least tending to writings with a particular applause; yet I know distort the judgment, or inflame the imagination, not by what unhappy fate there has not been that it was excluded without mercy. I have here and use made thereof, which would be more beneficial, there, indeed, when one of particular beauty offer-in many respects, to young students of the Latin ed with a few blemishes, lopped off the defects; tongue, than any other of this poet's works. For and thus, like the tyrant who fitted all strangers to though Pantheons, and other books that treat of the bed he had prepared for them, I have inserted some, by first adapting them to my plan: we only Madame La Fayette. |