which are very remotely connected with the subject. In Shakspeare's Hamlet, the fine soliloquy "To be or not to be," &c. seems forced in, as there is no other part in the action where it is noticed that Hamlet entertained a notion of destroying himself, and it is altogether inconsistent with his engagements to the ghost of his father. 2d. Trite and common thoughts, or reflexions, however moral they may be, instead of beauties are blemishes. In poetry we expect novelty and ingenuity both in thought and expression. When the poet says of Shak speare "Each change of many colour'd life he drew, We find not less of novelty than of grandeur in the image; and in this of Shakspeare— "Cowards die many times before their deaths, The sublimity of the thought is rather in creased than diminished by the ingenious turn which is given to it. Satan's address to the Sun in Milton is finely imagined, and the turn which is given to it, while it is highly in character, enlivens by a kind of emotion of surprize "O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd, To shew how vulgar and common images debase a subject, I need only quote the following lines from no less a poet than Dryden— "The rage of jealousy then fir'd his soul, Again " Nought profits him to save abandon'd life, "Nor vomits upward aid, nor downward laxative." IBID. No man excelled Mr. Pope in ingenuity of thought "Friend to my life (which did not you prolong "How can I Pulteney, Chesterfield forget, "Is that too little? Come then I'll comply, Yet Mr. Pope could write this execrable couplet- "Grac'd as thou art with all the pow'r of words, 3dly. However we may prize ingenuity of thought, too much caution cannot be exerted in avoiding conceit or affectation. One of the worst conceits upon record is that of Cicero, happily ridiculed by Juvenal "O fortunatam natam, me Consuli, Romam !" DRYDEN. In the Troas of Seneca, which however con tains some good passages, could we expect to find Hecuba lamenting the manner of her lord's death in two miserable puns "Ille tot regum parens "Caret sepulchro Priamus, & flamma indiget "The father of a race of kings "Now lacks a grave, nor finds a fun'ral torch, Among the conceits of modern poetry, I cannot but reckon a thought which has been admired, when the poet terms the evening dew “The tears of the day for the loss of the sun." You will find innumerable examples of this blemish in the learned criticisms of Martinus Scriblerus. The LANGUAGE or dialect of poetry is essentially different from that of prose. This every person who reads it feels and acknowledges, though few are able to assign the reasons. They appear to me to result partly from poetry, being of a more durable character, and partly from whatever is addressed more to the passions than to the reason, requiring a higher colouring. 1st. The first remarkable difference between poetry and prose is, that the former admits of the use of words and expressions which in the latter would be accounted obsolete. This principally arises from the permanent or stationary character of poetry. Milton, Shakspeare, and even Spencer may be still read with pleasure, while the prose writers of their time would scarcely be endured. The reason is plain— Prose in some measure imitates and depends on the style of conversation, and that is varying almost every day. We find expressions even in the Spectator, which from their having become colloquial would be accounted vulgar in any prose composition. Poetry survives these vicissitudes, and therefore many words in Shakspeare and Milton, which perhaps the age immediately succeeding would have regarded as low, are now consecrated by time. A further reason why words almost obsolete are tolerated in poetry is, that they serve to raise it above common language, and therefore impart to it a kind of dignity and elevation. Mr. Gray, in one of his letters, selects from Dryden the following instances of poetical licence in the revival of old words and phrases |