M° An ESSAY upon LYRIC POETRY. Onfieur de Montefquieu, who has written an excellent treatise upon tafte, and whofe talents for criticism few have prefumed to call in question, has expreffed the utmost contempt for lyric poetry, and dogmatically afferted it to be nothing but a rhapfody of harmonious folly: his ipfe dixit will not however, in our opinion, be admitted by judicious critics. Lyric poetry, tho' the most antient, muft be allowed to be the most noble and elevated species of poetical compofition, as it contains more impaffioned fallies, and rapturous enthufiafm, than the tragic, or even the epic itself. The nobleft compofitions of this kind are, without difpute, those of the royal Pfalmift, which have not hitherto been tolerably tranflated into any modern language, but may be read with pleasure even in profe, and contain much of their original fublimity and spirit, in the verfion of our countryman Buchanan, who has compofed many original Latin odes, in a much purer and more claffical ftyle, than that of Cafimire, or any of the modern Italians. Pindar furpaffed all the Greeks his countrymen, in the fublime and elevated ftrains of lyric poetry; and Horace has moft happily imitated him in the following stanza, which contains a poetic fire, worthy of the author whom he praises. Pindarum quifquis ftudet æmulari Alexander had fo great a veneration for this excellent poet, that when he facked Thebes, he gave particular directions to spare the house which had been formerly occupied by Pindar. As Pindar excelled in the fublime, Sappho excelled in the fofter part of lyric poetry; and Horace has exactly copied the manner of both, tho' he could never fully attain to the excellence of either. Anacreon's eafy manner is inimitable; and tho' he may not, perhaps, have been as much admired as any of the above-mentioned authors, his odes have been found as generally pleafing by all readers of tafte. Amongst the moderns, Petrarch deferves the preference to all the Italian lyric poets, and Rouffeau to all thofe of France. The tenderness of the odes addreffed by the former to Laura is admirable, and juftly merits that panegyrick of Monf. de Voltaire, who speaking of Vauxclufe, a place in Provence, where Petrarch refided whilft he compofed them, expreffes himself as follows, Lieux ou dans ces beaux jours, Petrarch fufpiroit fes vers et fon amour. Rouffeau has excelled chiefly in the fublime, of which, his odes to Fortune, and to the Marquis de la Fare, are fhining inftances. Alexander's feaft entitles our countryman Dryden to a diftinguished place among the greatest lyric poets; and Waller has come nearer the manner of Anacreon, than any of his numerous imitators. But no poet, antient or modern, has furpaffed Milton in this way of writing, as is evident from his L'allegro and It penferofo, penferofo, which contain fuch various and exquifite imagery, as would prove him to be one of the greatest poets the world ever produced, if he had not compofed his Paradife Loft. That the lyric contains more... of the true spirit of poetry than any other fpecies, appears evidentlyfrom this circumftance, that no eri tic has ever been able to lay down virtus. The Weakness of Human Reason, a RHAPSODY. Friend! vouchfafe to furnish me with a clue, which may guide my footsteps thro' this labyrinth; you who walk in the paths of Horace, without ever turning afide; who, by the aid of Ariftippus's leffons, have foftened the roughness of Chryfippus's wisdom, and have fhewn us virtue accompanied with all the attractions of pleafure, fuch as the formerly appeared in the happy days when Aftrea refided upon earth. Reafon, that facred fire which the daring Prometheus ftofe from heaven, might render mortal man almoft equal to the gods; whence comes it then, my friend, that fo noble and excellent a gift fhould be productive of evil to the human fpecies? How can a light derived from heaven, be to us the fource of a deplorable blindnefs? When Minerva granted her affiftance to the fage Ulyffes, the Cyclops, and the Leftrigons vainly attempted to deftroy him: aided by her counfels, he triunphed over Neptune, who was ir ritated against him; by her means he escaped the alluring Syrens, and the cup of Circe. This is a fymbolical emblem of the prudence which preferves us. Every mortal has his Minerva, which should ferve to en lighten him in all his undertakings; but that propitious deity conftantly. walked before Ulyffes, and ferved to guide and fupport him; whereas man is now become her conductor, the follows after him, and they both fall together. Reafon is fo far from inftructing us and directing our actions, that we have contrived to make her plead the caufe of our palfions. Reafon is become a fophifter which impofes upon us, a bafe flatterer, willing to be hired to all the fools in the world; who affuming the mask of wisdom, endeavour to authorize their abfurd conduc by fo facred a name. "Tis this overweening reafon that perfuades us that all things muft yield to our power, that puffs us up with vainglory upon áccount of imaginary knowledge, that by a thousand ftratagems contrives to hide us from ourselves, and lulls us to fleep amidst our vices, makes the defperate man look upon himself as an Achilles, the artful knave as a man of true prudence, and the atheift as an unbiaffed philofopher. O mistaken mortals! who think you hold the first place amongst mankind, and pity the profound ignorance in which fo many nations are immersed; who think the wild Indian upon a level with the brute, because he lives in a hut and poffeffes faculties little fuperior to inftinct: lay afide your prejudices, and tell us which is truly in a state of barbarifm; he who is guided by inftinct, or he who is led aftray by reafon? Allbounteous Nature, careful to preferve the favage, furnishes him with all things neceffary for his fubfiftance. Satisfied with the favours beftowed upon him by heaven, he leads a life free from care and trouble; and if his climate denies him fome enjoyments which are abufed by the inhabitants of Europe, they are no enjoyments to him. Stretch ed at eafe in his ruftic cavern, he braves the rigour of the North, and his strength was never enervated by the luxury which prevails amongst He regrets not the want of those arts which men have difcover ed with fo much toil and labour, and which being now become ne cessary to us, have only encreafed our mifery by multiplying our wants. He defpifes the vain ftudy of a poring philofopher, who whilft he labours under doubt and uncertain ty, boasts of his extraordinary knowledge; he asks no fcience, but that which the Almighty has thought proper to endow him with, and knows that heaven created men to avail themselves of its works, and not to pry into them. He never ་་ imbibes the poifon of a dangerous error, and his reafon was never de praved by our falfe philofophy: he never voluntarily blinds his eyes, by a fyftem calculated to conceal the truth. Guilt appears to him in its true colours, and nothing criminal can impofe upon him under the mafk of equity. Now fertile countries, fage mortals, happy people, lament the darkness and ignorance, which thefe Hyperborean nations are immerfed in; you who think all happiness centered in luxury, vain diftinctions, and all the pride of life; you whose infamous avarice is never to be fatisfied by accumulated treasure. O avarice! detefted monfter, inexorable tyrant of mankind, by thee we are prevented from ever attaining true happinefs. Let a man's acquifitions be ever fo great, he is lefs rich by what he poffeffes, than poor by the confideration of what ftill remains to be acquired. Avarice is not more deftructive of human happinefs than our vain curiofity, the fource of all our follies, the mother of our vanity. We wander in thick darknefs, where oft a glimmering light ferved only to dazzle us; let us endeavour to be what the Author of Nature intended us for, and not lofe in vain attempts to acquire knowledge that time which was deftined for enjoyment. A CONSOLATORY ADDRESS, to a Friend lying under the Pref Jures of MISFORTUNES. Friend! who wert born to fet a great example to thofe, whose hearts are fired with the love of true virtue; wherefore do you May, 1761. yield yourself a prey to an habitual grief, why do you become your own tormentor, and contribute to encreafe your own misfortunes? НК Chace Chace from your mind this volunary despair, manfully struggle with the calamity that oppreffes you, and let a well-grounded hope fortify you against all fear and uneafinefs. The inquietude which now preys upon you, may be one day converted into a pleafing tranquillity; you may confider it as a troublesome dream, difpelled by the return of a joyful morning. Hope always, let your courage never be caft down. If the pilot dreads a ftorm, when Neptune ruffles the face of the deep, the hopes of a calm confole him, tho' the winds and the thick darknefs fill the failors with confternation. I am aware, that the wife man, when attacked by misfortunes, may wish that his virtue were attended with profperity; but in a course of uninterrupted happiness, virtue often degenerates into languor. Unfeeling wealth is ufually accompanied by pride, infolence, and hardness of heart. I would not infinuate that your wisdom, lulled to fleep by good fortune, ever had occasion for so severe a remedy, or that you ever took for your model, that wretch who fwelled with an unweening pride, never knew any other misfortune, but that of having lived in conftant prosperity. But if grief and ill fuccefs afford us not inftruction, when our happiness has not made us pass the bounds of virtue, one good effect they always have; they render our fucceeding felicity more exquifite, when we compare it to our paft afflictions; and their tragical inflence roufes us from that lethargy of mind, which a conftant tranquillity always produces.. What purpose can it serve to fatigue the heavens with never-ceafing complaints? All things in the universe are subjected to the cruel reverses of fortune. Mortal man refembles the Twins ranked by the antients amongst their deities, who alternately inhabited the abyss of hell, and the loftieft regions of heaven. Thus Fortune, according to her capricious will, leads us from the most exquifite pleasures, to the moft infupportable mifery; our only remedy is to meet all her turns with fteadiness, and to confider her in the fame light as an incon stant harlot, unworthy of a serious attachment, who lightly forfakes us, and returns thro' meer inconftancy, when we think least about her. The Subftance of a Memoir, read by Mr. Gleditsch, to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin.. [R. Gleditsch fome time fince and this fooner or latter, according of fciences at Berlin, a memoir, the fubftance of which may not be difagreeable to your readers, especially the rural clafs, as explaining a phænomenon which they may have often obferved: it is, that a dead mole being left on the ground, after a few days is no longer to be feen, foil. Mr. Gleditsch, in the month of May, left in his garden a mole, on a moist, soft, and black earth; two days after he found it a hand's breadth deep in the ground, and the day following this cavity was half filled up; examining further, under under the corpfe he found four beetles, which he immediately conjectured to be the gravediggers; this was further confirmed about a week after, when, within the mole, he faw three or four core whitish maggots, unquestionably the iffue of the beetles, who had there provided them with plenty of fuftenance in their infantine ftate. Further, by repeated experiences, this indefatigable naturalift has been frequently entertained with the fight of beetles, from the fame parental florge, interring moles, frogs, birds, fithes, &c. and concludes with this pious obfervation: that animals, when become unfit for the ufes annexed to their life, immediately after their death acquire others; and thus even in their deftruction, concur to the univerfal defign of the Creator, whofe wifdom and good nefs is over all his works. Give me leave, Sir, to add, that the reading the hiftory and memoirs of foreign academies of fciences, muft neceffarily remove a conceit too common of the vast superiority of the English in fcientific abilities and improvements, to a contempt of foreigners, like the narrow question of Nathanael, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? On the other hand, as there may be foreigners, though I believe very few, infected with like national prejudices, I would refer them to our tranfactions and other publications, as fhining proofs that the poet did not flatter his country when he fays, its natives are In genius and fubftantial learn- Some Account of the New Farce, acted at Drury-Lane, called the Register-Office. R. Harwood, a gentleman of At a lofs how to find her, he con ing on the death of his wife, taken as a house-keeper a young gentlewoman, named Maria, who had been deprived of a fortune of 5000l. by a will, which there was reafon to fufpect was far from being genuine, is ftrongly attached to her; but pride hinders his marrying a woman without money, his fervant too. He makes use of every artifice to feduce her, but in vain. At length, having one night proceeded to unwarrantable liberties, Maria the next morning leaves his houfe. His paflion being now more violent than ever, he follows her to town, with a determination to make her his wife hints to him, that as he is out of money and a stranger, she may poffibly be feeking out for a fervice, and that a Register-Office will be no improbable place to hear of her. They accordingly repair to one Gullwell's office, where, by means of one Williams, the chief clerk, a fchoolfellow of Mr. Harwood's, they are fecreted in a place, where they over-hear all the proceedings of the Regifter.Office. The first scence that paffes here is between Gullwell and Williams, in which the latter, who is on the point of leaving the former, in a feries of remonftrances lays open Hha fome |