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In Gray the introduction of the Owl is proper. Parnell's Ravens might have found another place to croak in than a church-yard, and another time than night. But the part the Owl acts in the Elegy is impertinent and foolifh; and exhibits an example of a writer fpoiling a fine image, by piecing it. On fome fine evening Gray had feen the moon fhining on a tower fuch as is here defcribed. An owl might be peeping out from the ivy with which it was clad: Of the obferver, the station might be fuch, that the Owl, now emerged from the mantling, prefented itself to his eye in profile, fkirting with the Moon's limb. All this is well. The perfpective is ftriking and the picture well defined. But the poet was not contented. He felt a defire to enlarge it? And, in executing his purpofe, gave it accu mulation without improvement. The idea of the Owl's complaining is an artificial one; and the views on which it proceeds abfurd. Gray fhould have seen, that it but ill befitted the Bird of Wif dom to complain to the Moon of an intrusion, which the Moon could no more help than herfelf.

I fufpect this idea, of the Owl complaining to the Moon, to have been a borrowed one, though I do not certainly know from whom. Addifon, whofe piety deterred him from doubting that Religion was capable of poetic embellish

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embellishment, has made the Moon tell a story, and the Stars and Planets fing a devotional catch. But of fancies approaching to Gray's, I find no one that approaches so closely, as that contained in the children's book, where the little dog is drawn barking at the moon. It is expoftulation in the one cafe, and fcolding in the other. Gray has chofen the most respectful. But enough of this. Criticism is content to check a curiofity that wants an adequate object, and would fpare Poetry the mortification of finding herself tracked to the lanes and blind allies where her trappings were firft picked up.

Though the complaint of the Owl is unreafonable, her distress is characteristical, and prettily expreffed; yet "bower" is rather a gay term for an Owl's eyry; and of the application of "reign," where there are none to reign over, the propriety admits of doubt.

A few words more on the expression, in these three ftanzas. "Leaves the world to darkness and to me," is quaint, and puts us in mind of great Anna, who

Does fometimes counfel take, and fometimes tea † ; but quaintnefs is what every reader comes prepared to meet with in Gray. It is one of the most marked features in his poetical character, and fometimes extends to his profe .

* Spectator, N° 465. † Pope. ‡ Mafon's Collection.

"I am come," (fays he, in one of his letters to his friend)" to town, and better hopes of feeing you." "How little are the Great," was the clo-! fing line of a ftanza in that Ode*, where it is said, that "they that creep and they that fly, fhall end where they began:" and fo he suffered it for fome time to ftand, in application, no doubt, of his own idea of a closing thought, which ought, as he expreffes himselft, "to have a flower ftuck in it," or to be twirled off into an apophthegm." The flower, however, in time, ceased to please him: yet, with fo faultering a hand did he pluck it out, and fo awkwardly did he re-adjust the parts that remained, that, as his Editor obferves, the change was for the worse, and the thought lost its original poignancy .

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When I am told that "all the Air a folemn ftillness holds," I hesitate, and endeavour to discover which of the two is the holder, and which is the held. If it is the Air that holds. the ftillness, too great liberty is taken with the verb; and if it is the ftillness that holds the Air, the action is too violent for fo quiet a perfonage: but the found was neceffary, to affift the bell-wedders to complete the lulling of the folds.

* Ode on Spring. + Mafon.

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Ibid.

Having

Having cleared the way in the preceding ftanzas, he now enters upon his ground, and, lays out his Church-yard in form. Here Criticism is pofed, unable to answer the question, "What is the moft proper Church-yard ?", Whether there be a Tafte in Church-yards; and a felection of Capabilities required in this, as well as in other modifications of terrene furface, I am uncertain. Nor do I know that Kent, or the other English architects, ever laid out a Church-yard; though it appears that the Scotch, who are eager to make the moft of every thing, have taken even that into their general plan of pleasure ground. Gray's Church-yard has been defigned: But the fancy of Cipriani, wedded to the foftnefs of Bartolozzi, has not been able to produce from it any thing that makes a decifive appeal to any one feeling of the heart.

Neither of Parnell, nor of Gray, does the Church-yard contain any thing that any churchyard might not contain. Of Parnell, the Churchyard and its environs are thus presented to the Reader's view. In diftant prospect, a lake: "refting on its bofom, the Moon, furrounded by Stars, having for ground a.sky deep "azure: on the right, rifing grounds, "retiring "in dimness from the fight:" on the left, the Church-yard; or (as he, in imitation of the

Called by them POLICY.

<< Hebrew

"Hebrew fimplicity, calls it) the Place of "Graves, furrounded by a wall, which is lav"ed by a filent ftream: a fteeple, belonging "no doubt to the Church: a charnel-house, "over-canopied with yew: graves, with their "turf ofier-bound: other graves, with smooth flat ftones infcribed: and others ftill, fplen"didly done out with marble, &c."

Gray's Church-yard is thus connected with its adjuncts, and prefented to the Reader's eye. "In near prospect, a Village: herds and la"bourers returning home: glimmering landσε scape tower ivy-mantled, having for crest an owl, in profile and perspective, fkirting "the moon rugged elms: fhady yew: "old thorn; and the furface fwelling here " and there with common graves. Hard by is "a wood, a nodding beach, and a brook "running over pebbles."

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Of the two Designs, taken in a general view, that of Parnell feems the more perfect. The affemblage takes in every thing that a Churchyard fhould contain; and a gradation of graves is introduced, with due attention to the diftinction of ranks, which is not loft even in a Church-yard. In this refpect Gray's Churchyard is imperfect, and the imperfection has deprived his meditation of fome of its interest. It has, befides, no charnel-house. In other refpects it is much as it fhould be, which, at

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best,