sick man, by main force hurried him away to prison. The costly furniture was torn down and cast in heaps, and all was ruin and disorder. -When, in an instant, the whole vanished, and a pleasant country appeared before me, where people, whose ruddy countenances discovered health, were singing merrily to their labour. It seemed the middle of wheat harvest, for some were reaping, others binding up the sheaves, and others carting it away. I stood, methought, to look at them with great delight; till, leaving off their work, they joined together in rustic dances, whilst a supper was preparing for them. After entertaining themselves some time with this wholesome exercise, one, who appeared somewhat superior to the rest, approached me, and, with a smiling countenance, desired me to go with them to a thatched cottage that he shewed me at a little distance. I accepted the invitation, and found a table covered with homely, but clean and wholesome plenty. There were joints, both boiled and roasted, which they sat down to with lusty appetites; and a large plumbpudding crowned the board. They had no such thing as wine, but well-brewed ale went round in wooden canns; and, in compliment to me, the honest farmer brought forth a bottle of choice cyder, which his own orchard had produced. I took an opportunity of putting on my spectacles, that I might discover truth from falsehood; and, to my great satisfaction, found in all the dishes hearty nourishment, sound health, and quiet sleep. Their merriment also, upon the strictest examination, appeared sincere and unaffected, coming directly from the heart, which, tormented by no avaricious cares or anxious thoughts, enjoyed that real peace and true content the rich and great in vain seek after. In short, I was charmed with that simplicity and honesty I found among them. The farmer, who had employed them, entertained them with a friendly welcome, and they regarded him with thankfulness and esteem; but void of those forms and professions that are so often made use of, and so often put in practice, by those who call themselves polite. I was contemplating the felicity of these happy people, when a loud knocking at the door waked me. UNIVERSAL SPECTATOR, vol. ii. p. 140. No. XLII. Be thou the first true merit to befriend: His praise is lost, who stays till all commend. POPE BOOKSELLERS are the best judges whether poetry is a thriving branch of trade; and authors, whether they find a Mecænas to reward their studies: but this the whole age is sensible of, that there never were more adventurers to Parnassus than at present; and all who have taste and candour must acknowledge several late performances have a legitimate title to their applause. Not to mention the works of our arch-poet, who is celebrated by every pen as well as his own; we have been obliged with an excellent Essay on Human Nature, by Lord Paget; several miscellaneous pieces, by Mr. Lyttleton; the Chace, by Mr. Somerville; the Economy of Love, by an ingenious Physician; Leonidas, and London, by Mr. Glover; Grisselda, by Mr. Ogle; a canto of Spenser's Fairy Queen, by Mr. W- ; and, within these few days, the Ruins of Rome, by a Gentleman, who, together with all those first mentioned, has only to communicate his name, to render it immortal. This is one of those poems that is founded on a subject that carries inspiration along with it: Lo! the resistless theme, imperial Rome, Fall'n, fall'n, a silent heap! And it requires no great courage to say, never author did his subject nobler justice.-If the image is sublime, the language is equal, and the measure everywhere accommodated to both, Deep lies in dust the Theban obelisk, Immense along the waste, minuter art, The last line but one errs in quantity, by being a syllable too long; and the last line of the following passage is equally defective, by being a syllable too short, The clefted domes Tremble to ev'ry wind. The pilgrim oft, Puny critics may, if they please, cavil with these liberties; but they are such as only a mas terly hand is capable of; and demand not excuse, but applause. Neither is his method inferior to his diction or versification. He sets out with the morning. The solemn scene Elates the soul, while now the rising sun Flames on the ruins, in the purer air Tow'ring aloft, Like broken rocks, a vast circumference! And, from the top of the Palatine hill, points out to us every relict that art and antiquity have conspired to render sacred and venerable. Nor is the scene itself more romantically beautiful than he has painted it. Hence, over airy plains, by crystal founts, That weave their glitt'ring waves with tuneful lapse |