There is hardly any fubject in the universe to which poetry may not be applied, and which it will not render pleafing and brilliant. Like eiectricity, it illuminates and animates every thing it touches. Its great object, according to that eminent ancient Roman poet, HORACE, is either to inftruct or to please,

Aut prodeffe volunt aut delectare poetæ ; Although, according to a late celebrated modern British poet (Dr JAMES BEATTIE), its ultimate end is to pleafe, inftruction being only one of the means (and not always neceffary) to accomplish that ultimate end.

SECT. II. Of the STANDARD of POETICAL IN.

VENTION.

THE grand ftandard of Poetical Invention is Nature, and the perfection of the poetical art is a clofe imitation of it. Even poetical license itself does not admit of any great deviation from it. But this grand ftandard of the poet's and the painter's imitation and invention confifts of two important general divisions, viz. the inanimate and the animated objects of nature. In the mere outfide view of nature's works, in the inanimated part of the creation, there is a magnificence and Tplendour, to which even the most untutored minds often cannot attend unmoved. But the man of true genius and native tafte, feels, even in the earliest period of life, a peculiar and inexpreffible delight in contemplating the beauties of inanimated nature.

This amiable fenfibility to the beauties of nature should be cherished in young perfons. It leads them to contemplate the Creator in his works; it purifies and harmonizes the mind, and fits it for intellectual inftruction; it even contributes to bodily health; and by the analogy between material and moral beauty, leads the heart by an eafy tranfition from the former to the latter, and thus recommends virtue for its tranfcendent beauty, while it makes vice appear deteftable. An intimate acquaintance with the best defcriptive poets, fuch as Virgil, Milton, Spenfer, and Thomfon, will promote this happy fenfibility in early years, when novelty adds its charms to all the beauties of nature.

But though every part of the material univerfe abounds in objects of pleasurable contemplation, yet no part of it fo powerfully touches our hearts and feelings, or gives fo great a variety of exercife to our moral and intellectual faculties, as man. Human affairs and human feelings are univerfally interefting. Many have little relish for the poetry that delineates only irrational or inanimate beings; but to that which exhibits the fortunes, the conduct, and characters of men, there are few who do not liften with delight and sympathy. Hence the univerfaly cftablished reputation of SHAKESPEAR, who has drawn fuch a vaft variety of human characters to the life; and hence too the peculiar pleasure arifing from the numerous beautiful epifodes with which THOMSON has enlivened his defcriptive poem on the Seafons. ARISTOTLE Confiders the imitation of human action as effential to the poetic art; and it must be acknowledged effential to the most pleafing and

inftructive part of it, Dramatic and Epic com fition.

SECT. III. Of FICTION in POETRY. NOTWITHSTANDING the ftrict imitation of ture above recommended, yet we are neither expect nor defire that every human invention poetry, where the chief end is only to ple should be an exact copy of real exiftence. I enough that the mind acquiefce in it as proba or plaufible, or what might be expected to hap without any direct oppofition to the laws of ture: Or it is enough that it be confiftent, eit Ift, with general experience; or, 2dly, with pular opinions; or, 3dly, confiftent with it and connected with probable circumftances.

Upon thefe principles Fiction is admitted conformable to the ftandard of Poetical In tion. Popular opinions, however erroneous, not often apparently repugnant to nature. this account, as well as because they are fam to us from our infancy, the mind readily acquie in them, or at least yields them that degre credit which is necessary to render them plcal Hence Shakespeare's witches, ghosts, and fai are admitted as probable beings; and angels reprefented in religious paintings, although know they do not now appear in real life. Shakespeare's time these doctrines were not univerially believed throughout Europe, but established by law, and defended by authors in higheft ranks of life. King James I. wrote a t exprefsly upon Demonology, which is ftill ext But though thefe opinions are long ago explo the poems and plays, in which characters four on them are introduced, ftill afford pleasure to the moft learned of the prefent age. And u fimilar principles we alfo admit the theolog the ancient Greeks and Romans, with their g goddeffes, demigods, heroes, centaurs, fu gorgons, monfters, and the reft of thofe "bea ful wonders," as Horace ftyles them, which believed for many ages after the heroic when they were fuppofed to have happened. even admit the modern fables, the dæmons enchantments of Taffo, becaufe they are fuit to the notions that had for ages univerfally vailed throughout Europe, and were particu credited by the Italians in the 16th century. it is an abufe of fiction, and to the laft de ridiculous, for a modern poet, in writing up fubject in modern hiftory, to introduce hea deities, angels, dæmons, or ideal perfonages, the fcene of action in his poem. This is a ca error in Taffe's Ferufalem; and though BoiL banishes angels and devils, he introduces the of the heathens without limitation. In his upon the capture of Namur, he seriously whether the walls were built by Apollo or Nept And in relating the paffage of the Rhine, in 1 he defcribes the god of that river as fighting all his might to oppofe the French: whic confounding fiction with facts at a moft ridicu rate. But the French poets in general run this error; and even VOLTAIRE himself, the modern poet whom one should have fufpect fuch folly, is guilty of it in a most flagrant deg

for in the 6th canto of his Henriade, he introduces the ghost of St Lewis, who terrifies the foldiers; in the 7th canto, St Lewis fends the god of fleep to Herry; and in the 10th the demons of Difcord, Fanaticifm and War, &c. affift Aumale in a fingle combat with Turenne, and are driven away by a good angel, brandishing the fword of God!

When poetry, however, is in all other respects true and according to nature; when it gives an accurate difplay of thofe parts of nature about which men in all ages have entertained the fame opinions, viz. the appearance of the visible creation and the feelings of the human mind, we are inclined to be indulgent to what is fictitious in it, and to grant a temporary allowance to any fyf. tem of fable which the poet pleases to adopt; provided he lays the fcene in a diftant country, or fres the date in a remote period. In this view even the birth and character of Calyban in the Tempe may pafs for probable, when we know, that in Shakespeare's time, it was generally believed, that a connection between a dæmon and a witch was not contrary to the laws of nature. For fimilar reafons, the Lilliputians of SWIFT may pafs for probable beings, not only becaufe a beef in pigmies was once pretty current in the world, though the pygmies of the ancients were believed to be at leaft thrice as tall as thofe whom Calliver vifited, but becaufe every circumftance pecting them is confiftent with another, and connected with their whole national fize and charder: their country, towns, fhips, feas, hills, &c. being all exact in proportion to the diminutive fize of the people; their theological and poitical principals, their polemical disputes, their paflions, manners, customs, and conduct in geperal, being equally fuited to the littlenefs and vity of the people. A fimilar degree of credit feems due to his giants. But when he erects his ext fable upon a contradiction in nature; when ⚫be creates a nation of rational brutes and irrationalmen; when he reprefents horfes building houfes, milking cows riding in carriages drawn by men, and reafoning on the laws and politics of Europe, not all the genius of Swift, exerted as it is to the stmoft, can reconcile us to fo monftrous a fiction. We may indeed be pleafed with his ftile, we may fmile at his abfurdities, and the malevoIt may relifh his fatire; but no person can be pleased with his fable, because it is unnatural and contradictory; and fill lefs can any perfon hh his naftinefs and brutality. LuCIAN'S True Hery is alfo a heap of extravagancies put together without connection or order. His ravings have no better right to the name of fable, than a bill of rubbish has to that of a palace, being def tirate of every colour of plausibility. Animal tres, fhips failing in the air, armies of monfters travelling between the fun and moon upon a pave. Best of cobwebs, rival nations of men inhabiting woods and mountains in a whale's belly, &c. resemble the dreams of a madman more than the iarentions of a rational being.

Os the whole, we cannot conclude this branch our fubject, without remarking, that in fome fpecies of poetical invention a more strict attention to probability is required than in others. CoMEDY for inftance, whether dramatic or narra

tive, muft feldom deviate from the ordinary course of human affairs, because it exhibits the manners of real and even familiar life..... FIELDING'S Tom Jones, Jofeph Andrews, and Pamela, are examples of what may be called the Epic or Narrative Comedy, or perhaps more properly, the Comic Epopee. But the TRAGIC POET, because he imitates characters more exalted, and generally refers to events long paft or little known, must be allowed a wider range; but muft never attempt the fictions of the epic mufe, because he addreffes his work, not only to the paffions and imaginations of men, but also to their eyes and ears, which are not easily impofed on by any thing that does not come very near the truth. The EPIC FORM may claim much more ample privileges, becaufe its fictions are not fubject to the fcrutiny of any outward fenfe, and because it conveys information both of the highest human characters, and the moft important events, and alfo of the affairs of unfeen worlds and fuperior beings. Nor are the various fpecies of dramatic poetry restricted to the fame degree of probability; for FARCE is allowed to be lefs probable than regular Comedy; the MASQUE than the regular Tragedy; and the MIXED EPIC, fuch as the Fairy Queen, and Orlando Furiofo, than the pure Epopee of HOMER, VIRGIL, and MILTON. (See THEATRE.) Eut on the whole nothing unnatural can please.

SECT. IV. Of POETICAL CHARACTERS. MUCH has been written upon this fubject, but we humbly apprehend to very little purpose. The true poetic genius, the Poeta natus, will require no directions to draw fuch characters; and the reader who has naturally no peculiar tafte for poetry, will hardly underftand or relish them, when drawn. Thofe who wish to acquire fuch a tafte, we would advife to ftudy the best poets; and by frequent reading and reflecting on the various characters drawn by HOMER, VIRGIL, HORACE, MILTON, and the numerous modern poets, whofe works have done honour to the laft and prefent age, they will acquire it more effectually, than by all the directions that could be laid down, even by thefe divine poets themselves, were they alive.

SECT. V. Of POETICAL LANGUAGE.

WORDS in poetry are chofen, ift for their fenfe, and 2dly for their found. Every body allows, that the firft of thefe grounds of choice is to be preferred. Yet found is to be attended to even in profe, and in poetry demands particular attention.

But the fubject is already so completely discussed with regard to both thefe heads, under the articie LANGUAGE, Sec. VII. that we need not add a fyllable farther upon it. And with regard to the PURITY of the modern English language, we would earneftly recommend to both poets and profe writers, the moft particular attention to Section VIII. of the same article.

Many directions have been given by writers on poetry refpecting the ufe of thofe peculiar words, which are now no longer ufed in profe, but continued by our beft poets, and therefore called Poetical words; fuch as anon, aye, beheft, lambkin,

lore,

have had its fource from religious gratitude; being early employed to exprefs, with becoming fervour, the grateful fenfe men entertained of the bleffings daily flowing from the Fountain of all Goodnefs: hence the harveft hymns, &c.

It was afterwards employed, not only to praife the Almighty for bounties received, but to folicit him in time of trouble, as is plain from the odes written by K. DAVID, ÁSAPH, &c. and collected by EZRA into the books of Pfalms. Many other nations imitated the Ifraelites in fongs of praife and petitions addreffed to their deities. This afterwards gave rife to the custom of the heathen poets invoking the Mufes; ftill ridiculously kept up by modern Chriftian poets, as if thefe ideal deities of Parnaffus had a real existence.

This fancied inspiration led the ancient Lyric Poets to indulge in a more unbounded liberty in this than in any other fpecies of poetry; foaring in fudden tranfitions, bold digreffions, and lofty excurfions, fometimes away from their subject altogether. But PINDAR, the moft daring and lofty of all the Lyric poets, in his fublimeft flights, and amidst all his raptures, returning to his fubject again, has preferved harmony, and often uniformity in his verfification: yet fo great is his variety of meafures, that the traces of famenefs are hardly perceptible; and this is one of the excellencies for which he is admired, and which, though seemingly void of art, requires fo much, that he has feldom been fuccefsfully imitated.

Among the ancients, the ode fignified no more than a fong, but with the moderns they are reckoned different compofitions; the ode being ufually appropriated to grave, lofty, and folemn fubjects. HORACE has pointed out the fubjects proper for both, in few words:

Gods, heroes, conquerors, Olympic crowns, Love's pleafing care, and the free joys of wine, Are proper fubjects for the Lyric fong. The Odes of ANACREON and SAPPHQ are well known, and much efteemed. A fragment of this poetefs, preferved by LONGINUS, and happily tranflated by PHILIPS, is to be found in moft mufical mifcellanies:

Bleft as th' immortal gods is he,
The youth who fondly fits by thee, &c.

SECT. III. Of the ELEGY.

THE ELEGY is a plaintive and mournful, yet fweet and engaging kind of poem. It was firft invented to bewail the death of a friend; and afterwards used to exprefs complaints of lovers, or any other melancholy fubject. In time not only matters of grief, but withes, prayers, expoftulaone, reproaches, admonitions, and almost every fabject, not excepting joy, were admitted into elegy. But funeral lamentations and disappointed love feem moft agreeable to its character. Of elegies on the fubject of death, that by Mr GRAY, written in a country church-yard, is the beft, and is esteemed a mafter-piece.

SECT. IV. Of the PASTORAL. PASTORAL poetry is fo named from paflor, a Shepherd, the fubject relating to rural life, and the speakers introduced being either fhepherds or sther ruftics. They are alfo called Bucolics, from

Buxoros, a herdsman; and eclogues, from Exλoya', choice pieces. This fpecies of poetry, when happily executed; pleafes, because innocence and fimplicity always please, and the scenes are generally laid in the country where every thing is charming. The characters are drawn in that fimplicity, innocence, and delicacy, which was fuppofed to prevail in the primeval ages, and an air of piety fhould run through the whole. Riddles, parables, proverbs, antique phrafes, and fuperfti tious fables, are fit materials to be intermixed. The ftyle ought to be humble, yet pure; neat, but not florid; eafy, yet lively; and the numbers fthooth. A paftoral fhould feldom exceed 100 lines..

SECT. V. Of DIDACTIC, or PRECEPTIVE POE

THE method of writing precepts in verfe, had its rife from a confideration of the frailties of human nature, and was intended to engage the affections, to improve the mind, and amend the heart. Didactic poetry may, therefore, be employed in all cafes where inftruction is defigned. What the profe-writer fays, ought to be done, the didactic poet often conveys in the form of a narration or defcription, and communicates his advice indirectly.

Didactic poems are ufually divided into 4 kinds: Thofe that refpect, 1. Our moral duties: 2. Our philofophical fpeculations: 3. Our bufinefs and pleafures: 4. Poetry and criticism. The principal among the ift clafs are POPE's Efay on Man, his Ethic Epiftles, and YOUNG'S Night Thoughts: in the 2d Dr AKENSIDE's Pleasures of the Imagination, and Dr DARWIN'S Botanic Garden; in the 3d VIRGIL'S Georgics; GAY'S Rural Sports; and ARMSTRONG's Art of Preferving Health; and in the 4th HORACE's Art of Poetry, and POPE's Effay on Criticism. The ftyle of all fuch poems ought to be rich, agreeable and animated.

1 SECT. VI. Of EPISTOLARY POETRY.

THIS fpecies of writing admits of great latitude; but the true character of Epiftolary Poetry, like that of letter-writing in profe, is elegance and eafe. It is fuitable to every fubject, and fhould have nothing forced or unnatural; as all the affairs of life and refearches into nature may be introduced. Excellent examples are to be found in the works of ADDISON, POPE, SWIFT, PHILIPS, &c.

SECT. VII. Of DESCRIPTIVE POETRY.

DESCRIPTIVE poetry is of univerfal ufe, as there is nothing in nature or art but what may be defcribed. They are ornamented by fimilies, and allufions to ancient fables, and hiftorical facts. MILTON'S L'Allegro and Il Penferofo, DENHAM'S Cooper Hill, POPE's Windfor Foreft, and THOMSON'S Seafons, are excellent Defcriptive Poems.

SECT. VIII. Of ALLEGORICAL POETRY. THIS fubject has been difcuffed under ALLEGORY, and ORATORY, § 192. We need only add to what is there faid, that the poet ought to take care that there be a natural and exact refem

blance

No method of inftruction is more ancient, more univerfal, or perhaps more effectual, than by APOLOGUE or FABLE. (See thefe articles.) As to the actors in this little drama, the fabulift may prefs into his fervice every kind of exiftence under Heaven: not only beafts, birds, infects, and all the animal creation, but flowers, fhrubs, trees, and vegetables of all kinds. Even mountains, minerals, foffils, and the inanimate works of nature, difcourfe at his command, and act the part he affigns them. The virtues, vices, and properties of beings are alfo perfonified. In fhort, he may beftow life, fpeech, and action, on whatever he pleafes. Fontaine's Fables are the beft examples of the genteel familiar, the proper ftyle for this fpecies, and Sir Roger L'Etrange affords the groffeft of the indelicate and low. Gay published an elegant little collection of Fables in English Heroics.

SECT. X. Of SATIRE.

THIS fpecies of poetry is very ancient. HoRACE fays, it was introduced by way of interlude in the Greek tragedies, by way of relief from too deep fcenes. The perfons were Satyrs, Fauns, rural deities, peafants, and other ruftics.

The fatire we now have is of Roman invention. It was first introduced without the decorations of scenes and action; but written in verfes of different measures by ENNIUS, and afterwards moulded into the form we now have it by LuciLIUS, whom Horace efteemed and imitated. It is divided into two fpecies; the jocofe, or that which ridicules vice and folly; and the ferious, or that which is fevere and acrimonious. HoRACE is a perfect mafter of the firft fpecies; and JUVENAL is much admired for the fecond. The foibles of mankind are the objects of the former; their deteftable crimes are fatirized by the latter. From a due confideration of the writings of thefe two eminent poets, we may define Satire, a free, and often jocofe, witty and biting poem, wherein the follies and vices of men are ridiculed, and lafhed, with a view to their reformation. Its fubjects are every thing that merits contempt or abhorrence, that is abfurd or ridiculous, or fcandalous and repugnant to virtue and religion;-though fometimes, by a strange perversion of talents, religion and virtue are profanely made its objects.

In writing fatire, care fhould be taken, that it be true and general; levelled at abufes in which numbers are concerned; for when fatire becomes perfonal, it degenerates into fcandal. A fatirift ought to be a man of humour, addrefs, fagacity, eloquence, and good nature. It is this laft qua lity which renders this kind of writing agreeable. It produces that difdain of all bafenefs, vice and folly, which prompts the poet to exprefs himself with true wit and fmartnefs against the faults of men, but without bitterness to their perfons. The poet fhould, alfo, while endeavouring to correc the guilty, avoid ufing fuch expreffions as might tend to corrupt the innocent. Horace and Juve

Among our modern fatirifts, SWIFT and YOUNG are the chief. Swift's Verses on his own death, and Young's Love of Fame, are equal to any thing in antiquity. The latter abounds with morality and good fenfe; the characters are well felected; the ridicule is high, and the fatire well pointed. BURLESQUE Poetry is a fpecies of fatire, of which we have an excellent example in Philips's Splendid Shilling, wherein the author handles a low fubject in a lofty and fublime ftile.

There is another fpecies of verfe and ftyle, of the fatirical kind, often used in treating any fubject ludicrously, called HUDIBRASTIC; from BUTLER'S inimitable poem entitled Hudibras, written in ridicule of the follies of the 17th century. It is a kind of burlesque epic poem, which, for the oddity of the rhymes, the quaintnefs of the fimilies, the novelty of the thoughts, and that fine raillery which runs through the whole poem, is unparalleled.

SECT. XL Of the EPIGRAM.

THE EPIGRAM is a fhort poem, treating of one thing only, whofe diftinguishing characters are brevity, beauty, and point.

The word epigram, yeaμμa, fignifies inscription; being firft ufed for fhort infcriptions placed by the ancients on their ftatues, pillars, temples, triumphal arches, &c. which at firft were in profe, but afterwards in verfe, and gradually lengthened. The ufual limits of an epigram are from two to 20 verfes, though fometimes 50; but the fhor. ter the better, and the more perfect. The beauty of an epigram confifts in its harmony, agreement in all its parts, fimplicity, and polite language. The point is a fharp, lively, unexpected turn of wit, with which an epigram ought to be concluded. Some critics deny this, and CATULLUS, indeed, diffufes the thought through the whole poem; but the point is moft agreeable to the general tafte, and MARTIAL makes it the chief characteristic of his epigrams. This fpecies of poetry admits of all fubjects, provided beauty, brevity, and point are preferved; but it is generally employed either in panegyric or fatire.

The beft epigrams are comprised in two or 4 verfes; but both ancients and moderns have made them confiderably longer. We fhall give a few fhort ones by way of fpecimen :

1. Written by Mr POPE on a pane of glass, with Lord CHESTERFIELD's pencil:

Accept a miracle inttead of wit;

See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ. 2. On a COMPANY of BAD DANCERS to GOOD MUSIC:

How ill the motion with the music fuits! So Orpheus fiddl'd, and fo danc'd the brutes. 3. On the erection of a marble monument to the memory of the author of HUDIBRAS, in Weftminifter Abby.

While BUTLER, needy wretch, was yet alive,
No gen'rous patron would a dinner give,
See him, when starv'd to death and turn'd to
duft,

Prefented with a monumental bust!

The