solace of his age, when he wept over his weakness-and ness and the emblematic figures of which were to lay the foundations of heraldry, which the pride of nobility, and the servility of their dependants, have dignified with such import

ance.

A system of manners romantic yet noble; bold yet tender, was soon to be sullied. The ardour of devotion and of love, which warmed the breast of the pious and enamoured knight, did not escape the watchful eye of priesthood, and the ministers of a pure and holy religion were to belie their humble master, by practising upon unguarded sensibility. Devotion and love were so intimately connected, that the priest, in discharging the functions of the one, too often interfered in the affairs of the other; he not only undertook to prepare the mind for the joys of heaven, but he assumed the province of administering to earthly pleasures, became conversant in the mysteries of love; and it is to be feared, that instead of the solemn cares of his profession,

Far other dreams his erring soul employ
Far other raptures of unholy joy.

It was at this period that society was to be insulted by an abuse of its brightest ornament;

that the fairest of the creation were to be im mured in the

"Deep solitude," and "the awful cell;"

1

that the eye of beauty was to be obscured in monasteries and in silence, or to light the un hallowed ardours of priesthood. Happily, in more recent times, the piety, the moral con. duct, and the profound learning, of the minis ters of our religion, have wiped off the stain which we are obliged, though reluctantly, to impute to their predecessors; and have shewn themselves not unworthy of that master, who has exhibited an example to the world which cannot be imitated without the security of immortal happiness.

The discovery of America, and the voyages that explored the coasts of India; commerce, with its various and endless details, and navigation, its sister art, produced a change in the manners of Europe, that was hostile to the delusions of chivalry, and to the impositions of priestcraft: they were to be dispelled by the bright rays of knowledge; and the enchanted castle, with its Elysian gardens, were to vanish at the touch of reason. Thus have we endeavoured to trace the various stages of improvement and decline in the history of nations;

and if the subject has appeared to be rather grave, for the generality of readers, let it, at the same time, be remembered, that to know that a people have been great, and the means by which they have risen to that greatness; to know that they have fallen, and the causes that have produced their fall, are events of an instructive nature, in the present scenes of convulsion that exist in Europe; and let us, living under a free government, while we cast a weeping eye towards the misery that afflicts, or has afflicted surrounding states, learn to avoid the unhappiness which we deplore; and, while we reflect on the splendour of Greece and Rome, let us rival their worth,

"Live o'er each scene,"

and be what we admire.

THE INDIAN OBSERVER, No. 19, Jan. 14, 1794.

No. CLXXIV.

Το γαρ γέρας εστι θανόντων.

HOMER.

We pay this tribute to the departed.

WHEN you desire me to tell you what is poetry, and who are the best poets in the English language, you impose a task that would require talents far superior to mine, to execute in a proper and satisfactory manner. I shall not, therefore, attempt to answer your queries particularly, but shall merely offer a few hints that may tend to lead you into what I should deem a just train of thought, when you yourself shall think proper, at a future period of your life, to prosecute the subject more fully, than I can pretend, or have ever attempted to do.

Every person, when he hears of poetry and prose contrasted to each other, at first sight, would believe that there could be no difficulty, in distinguishing the one from the other, on all occasions; yet here, as in many other cases, when he comes to investigate the subject nearly, he finds it a matter of no small difficulty to

mark exactly the limits that distinguish the one from the other.

Mankind are pretty generally agreed in admitting, that the most essential characteristics of poetry are, that the ideas should be striking or sublime, the language bold and figurative; and its disposition such as to admit of being uttered with ease, in a flowing melodious manner, and with some sort of rhythmical or measured cadence. The last circumstance here mentioned, the rhythmical cadence, is the most obvious peculiarity, and therefore it has been by many persons considered as the peculiar distinguishing characteristic of poetry; and numerous devices that have been extremely dissimilar, have been adopted at different times, and in different nations, for giving this rhythmus. This diversity of practice shows that every system of rhythmical construction that has been adopted, is merely artificial, being the creature of fancy and imitation alone; and that, of course, no one system of rhythmical arrangement that has ever been adopted can be supposed to constitute the essential characteristic of poetry.

Among the Greeks and Romans, who were the only civilised nations in early times, with whose writings we are well acquainted, the hythmical cadence of poetry was produced in