words and sentiments, as cannot be sufficiently admired. I shall close my reflections upon this book with observing the masterly transition which the poet makes to their evening worship in the following lines: 'Thus at their shady lodge arriv'd, both stood, The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heav'n, Most of the modern heroic poets have imitated the ancients, in beginning a speech without premising that the person said thus or thus; but as it is easy to imitate the ancients in the omission of two or three words, it requires judgment to do it in such a manner as they shall not be missed, and that the speech may begin naturally without them. There is a fine instance of this kind out of Homer, in the twenty-third chapter of Longinus. L. END OF VOL. IV. Plummer and Brewis, Printers, Love Lane, Eastcheap. |