the Persians and Arabs, and other eastern nations, preserved, in verse, their history and politics, as well as the principles of their religion.

Poetry is the most excellent of the fine arts: it existed long before music and painting; for music was invented to accompany poetry, and painting to illustrate it. A person of taste, with moderate ability, may compose smooth and easy verses; "but," as has been prettily observed, "nature herself must frame the lay that quickens the pulse, flushes the cheek, warms the heart, expands the soul, and plays upon the passions." It is not, as Aristotle has asserted, an imitative art, but an inspiration from heaven. Mr. Hazlitt remarks of poetry, "that it is that fine particle within us that expands, rarefies, refines, raises our whole being. It is the universal language which the heart holds with nature, and he who has a contempt for poetry cannot respect even himself. It relates to whatever gives pleasure or pain to the human mind; it comes home to the bosoms and businesses of men, for nothing but what so comes home can be a subject for poetry. It is not a frivolous accomplishment; it has been the study and delight of mankind in all ages. It is not a branch of authorship, it is the stuff of which our life is made;' for all that is worth remembering in life is the poetry of it. Fear is poetry, hope is poetry, love is poetry, hatred is poetry; contempt, jealousy, remorse, admiration, wonder, pity, despair, and madness, are all poetry."

6

Poetry has been divided into different kinds, according to the subject and mode of it; the chief of these are the Lyric, the Pastoral, the Didactic, the Descriptive, the Elegiac, the Epic, and the Dramatic.

OF LYRIC POETRY.

Lyric poetry is so called because it was anciently the custom to accompany this species of composition with a lyre. It is undoubtedly the earliest kind of poetry attempted, and was originally applied, by the Hebrews, to the purpose of expressing sentiments of gratitude to the Almighty; while the heathen nations addressed their deities in a similar manner. Even to the present day is continued the custom of invoking the muses at the commencement of certain poems.

Lyric poetry is usually divided into four kinds: the first consists of sacred odes, the second of heroic odes, or such as are employed to celebrate the praises of heroes and heroic actions, the third of moral and philosophical odes, and the fourth of amatory and festive odes, songs, &c.

The principal English writers of lyric poetry are Dryden, Pope, Addison, Gray, Collins, and Montgomery." Although Lord Byron is not celebrated as a lyric poet, some of his Hebrew melodies are most beautiful compositions, and shew that he might have excelled in this kind of poetry.

The finest odes in the English language are Dryden's Alexander's Feast, Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, and Collins's Ode on the Passions.

The best lyric poet amongst the Greeks was Pindar; he was called the Father of Lyric Poetry. The best amongst the Romans was Horace. Pindar is said to have led his followers into wildness and enthusiasm, while Horace is considered to be, in every particular, correct, harmonious, and happy.

OF PASTORAL POETRY.

The object of pastoral poetry is to describe the pleasures of rural life; whence it takes its name.

Theocritus was the first pastoral poet, and is distinguished for the simplicity of his sentiments, and the richness of his scenery; but he is occasionally vulgar and immodest. Moschus and Bion also excelled in this kind of composition. Virgil's Eclogues are of the pastoral character, but in many particulars they are close imitations of Theocritus. No poet, either ancient or modern, has surpassed Shenstone, who has particularly excelled in combining simplicity with delicacy of sentiment. Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd is also highly esteemed as a pastoral piece, and the Idylls of Gessner, a poet of Switzerland, have received the greatest encomiums.

The principal characters introduced into pastoral poetry should be described as they are understood to have existed in the earlier ages, when from wealth, consisting chiefly in cattle, the possessors, who tended them, although far from being of refined manners, were much more respectable than those who perform the same offices at the present day.

the Persians and Arabs, and other eastern nations, preserved, in verse, their history and politics, as well as the principles of their religion.

Poetry is the most excellent of the fine arts: it existed long before music and painting; for music was invented to accompany poetry, and painting to illustrate it. A person of taste, with moderate ability, may compose smooth and easy verses; "but," as has been prettily observed, "nature herself must frame the lay that quickens the pulse, flushes the cheek, warms the heart, expands the soul, and plays upon the passions." It is not, as Aristotle has asserted, an imitative art, but an inspiration from heaven. Mr. Hazlitt remarks of poetry," that it is that fine particle within us that expands, rarefies, refines, raises our whole being. It is the universal language which the heart holds with nature, and he who has a contempt for poetry cannot respect even himself. It relates to whatever gives pleasure or pain to the human mind; it comes home to the bosoms and businesses of men, for nothing but what so comes home can be a subject for poetry. It is not a frivolous accomplishment; it has been the study and delight of mankind in all ages. It is not a branch of authorship, it is the stuff of which our life is made;' for all that is worth remembering in life is the poetry of it. Fear is poetry, hope is poetry, love is poetry, hatred is poetry; contempt, jealousy, remorse, admiration, wonder, pity, despair, and madness, are all poetry."

6

Poetry has been divided into different kinds, according to the subject and mode of it; the chief of these are the Lyric, the Pastoral, the Didactic, the Descriptive, the Elegiac, the Epic, and the Dramatic.

OF LYRIC POETRY.

Lyric poetry is so called because it was anciently the custom to accompany this species of composition with a lyre. It is undoubtedly the earliest kind of poetry attempted, and was originally applied, by the Hebrews, to the purpose of expressing sentiments of gratitude to the Almighty; while the heathen nations addressed their deities in a similar manner. Even to the present day is continued the custom of invoking the muses at the commencement of certain poems.

Lyric poetry is usually divided into four kinds: the first consists of sacred odes, the second of heroic odes, or such as are employed to celebrate the praises of heroes and heroic actions, the third of moral and philosophical odes, and the fourth of amatory and festive odes, songs, &c.

The principal English writers of lyric poetry are Dryden, Pope, Addison, Gray, Collins, and Montgomery. Although Lord Byron is not celebrated as a lyric poet, some of his Hebrew melodies are most beautiful compositions, and shew that he might have excelled in this kind of poetry.

The finest odes in the English language are Dryden's Alexander's Feast, Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, and Collins's Ode on the Passions.

The best lyric poet amongst the Greeks was Pindar; he was called the Father of Lyric Poetry. The best amongst the Romans was Horace. Pindar is said to have led his followers into wildness and enthusiasm, while Horace is considered to be, in every particular, correct, harmonious, and happy.

OF PASTORAL POETRY.

The object of pastoral poetry is to describe the pleasures of rural life; whence it takes its name.

Theocritus was the first pastoral poet, and is distinguished for the simplicity of his sentiments, and the richness of his scenery; but he is occasionally vulgar and immodest. Moschus and Bion also excelled in this kind of composition. Virgil's Eclogues are of the pastoral character, but in many particulars they are close imitations of Theocritus. No poet, either ancient or modern, has surpassed Shenstone, who has particularly excelled in combining simplicity with delicacy of sentiment. Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd is also highly esteemed as a pastoral piece, and the Idylls of Gessner, a poet of Switzerland, have received the greatest encomiums.

The principal characters introduced into pastoral poetry should be described as they are understood to have existed in the earlier ages, when from wealth, consisting chiefly in cattle, the possessors, who tended them, although far from being of refined manners, were much more respectable than those who perform the same offices at the present day.

2 B

Gay, Spencer, Collins, and Bloomfield, have particularly excelled in this kind of poetry.

OF DIDACTIC POETRY.

The chief aim of didactic poetry is to convey information on a particular subject, in an agreeable manner. The highest species of didactic composition is a versified treatise on some philosophical subject; the only point in which it occasionally differs, consists in the introduction of episodes and other ornamental matter.

Didactic poetry is usually divided into four kinds : 1. That which regards moral duties; 2. Philosophical speculations; 3. Business or pleasure; 4. Poetry or criticism.

Aratus used this kind of poetry to convey astronomical information, and Lucretius to elucidate the philosophy of Epicurus and Empedocles, which prevailed much in his

time.

Virgil's Georgic's, and Horace's Ars Poetica are of the didactic kind, as also Young's Night Thoughts, Pope's Essay on Criticism, Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination, Armstrong on Health, Blackmore's Creation, &c.

The Satire is a species of didactic poetry, its object being to ridicule and chastise the vices and follies of man. The most celebrated satirists of the Greeks was Aristophanes; of the Romans, Horace and Juvenal; and of our own poets, Dryden and Young.

OF DESCRIPTIVE POETRY.

The office of descriptive poetry is, so to delineate objects of nature or art, that the reader may become intimately acquainted with them, and feel, in a degree, the impressions he would if he actually beheld them. Description is generally introduced as an ornament to other kinds of poetry, although some works rank more immediately under this head.

The principal poems that are peculiarly descriptive, are the Georgics of Virgil, Thomson's Seasons, Pope's Windsor Forest, and Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy.

OF ELEGIAC POETRY.

The elegy is a mournful kind of poetry, originally used in funeral lamentations, but is now more generally made to include all poems of a plaintive nature.