. Thus reputation is a spur to wit, † (08m sả♥ And some wits flag through fear of losing ît bloa A

Give me the line, that ploughs it's stately course I 1 Like a proud swan, conq'ring the stream by force; That, like some cottage beauty, strikes the heart,A Quite unindebted to the tricks of art. wont b quotë When Labour and when Dulness, club in hand, ¿À Like the two figures at St. Dunstan's stand,loodė Beating alternately, in measur'd time,pls conÀ The clock-work tintinabulum of rhime, Exact, and regular the sounds will be; But such mere quarter-strokes are not for meg or From him, who rears a poem lank and long,T To him who strains his all into a song; stode baÅ Perhaps some bonny Caledónian air, a ze znudona I All birks and braes, though he was never there;il Or, having whelp'd a prologue with great pains) ¤ A ́ Feels himself spent, and fumbles for his brains on Z A prologue interdash'd with many a stroke An art contriv'd to advertise a joke, *** wode So that the jest is clearly to be seen, Not in the words but in the gap between Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, w wode sås ME The substitute for genius, sense, and with RAY TO To dally much with subjects mean and low Proves that the mind is weak, or makes it so Neglected talents rust into decay, turalni pasi ni And ev'ry effort ends in pushpin play 010939

A

The man, that means success, should soar above
A soldier's feather, or a lady's glove;
Else, summoning the muse to such a theme,
The fruit of all her labour is whipp'd cream.
As if an eagle flew aloft, and then-
Stoop'd from it's highest pitch to pounce a wren.
As if the poet, purposing to wed,

Should carve himself a wife in gingerbread.

Ages elaps'd ere Homer's lamp appear'd,
And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard.
To carry nature lengths unknown before,
To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.
Thus Genius rose and set at order'd times,
And shot a dayspring into distant climes,
Ennobling ev'ry region that he chose;
He sunk in Greece, in Italy he rose :
And, tedious years of Gothic darkness pass'd,
Emerg'd all splendour in our isle at last.
Thus lovely halcyons dive into the main,
Then show far off their shining plumes again.

A. Is genius only found in epic lays ?
Prove this, and forfeit all pretence to praise.
Make their heroic pow'rs your own at once,
Or candidly confess yourself a dunce...

B. These were the chief: each interval of night Was graced with many an undulating light. In less illustrious bards his beauty shone :

A meteor, or a star; in these the sun is yo

The nightingale may claim the topmost bough, H While the poor grasshopper must chirp below Like him unnotic'd, I, and such as I, aut Spread little wings, and rather skip than fly Perch'd on the meagre produce of the land, osƒÂ An ell or two of prospect we commanded afT But never peep beyond the thorny bound, on) asd W Or oaken fence, that hems the paddock round. »1⁄2

In Eden, ere yet innocence of heart and gorgus Had faded, poetry was not an artenson to 309769 Language, above all teaching, or, if taught, s word Only by gratitude and glowing thought, toodi W Elegant as simplicity, and warm, bas tab edT As ecstasy, unmanacled by form, mofis qi've b'ghul Not prompted, as in our degen'rate days, ni,9819V By low ambition and the thirst of praise, mul as W Was natural as is the flowing stream, and nodw 308 And yet magnificent A God the themelor amis bra That theme on Earth exhausted, though above (30T 'Tis found as as everlasting as his love, ate foun ofT Man lavish'd all his thoughts on human things (7 The feats of heroes, and the wrath of kings But still, while Virtue kindled his delight, The song was moral, and so far was rights 10 "Twas thus till Luxury seduc'd the india mê To joys less innocent, as less refin'de 139 Then Genius dane'd a bacchanal; he crown'd mo The brimming goblet, seiz'd the thyrsus, bound 10

TABLE TALK.

His brows with ivy, rush'd into the field
Of wild imagination, and there reel'd,

The victim of his own lascivious fires,

And, dizzy with delight, profan'd the sacred wires.
Anacreon, Horace play'd in Greece and Rome
This bedlam part; and others nearer home.
When Cromwell fought for pow'r, and while he reign'd
The proud protector of the pow'r he gain'd,
Religion harsh, intolerant, austere,

Parent of manners like herself severe,
Drew a rough copy of the Christian face
Without the smile, the sweetness, or the grace;
The dark and sullen humour of the time
Judg'd ev'ry effort of the muse a crime;
Verse, in the finest mould of fancy cast,

Was lumber in an age so void of taste :
But when the second Charles assum'd the sway,"
And arts revivid beneath a softer day,"

* T

like a bow long forc'd into a curve,' Then, The mind, releas'd from too constrain'd a nerve," Flew to it's first position with a spring, That made the vaulted roofs of Pleasure ring." His court, the dissolute and hateful school is tud Of Wantonness, where vice was taught by rule, Swarm'd with a scribbling herd, as deep inlaid ~~'I' With brutal lust as ever Circe made. Layor T From these a long succession, in the ragesd asdT Of rank obscenity, debauch'd their age

Nor ceas'd, till, ever anxious to redress.janon jedT The abuses of her sacred charge, the press on Ja The muse instructed a well-nurtur'd train

Of abler votaries to cleanse the stain, bos won tw And claim the palm for purity of song,

some That Lewdness had usurp'd and worn so long. Then decent Pleasantry and sterling Sense, W That neither gave nor would endure offence, Whipp'd out of sight, with satire just and keen, q The puppy pack, that had defil'd the scene In front of these came Addison. In him sta Humour in holiday and sightly trim, Sublimity and attic taste, combin'd,it ; llidsrodɔ To polish, furnish, and delight, the mind. "Cunsq al Then Pope, as harmony itself exact, & odil baA In verse well Il disciplin'd, complete, compact, 2'N Gave virtue and morality a grace,prend to boftil That, quite eclipsing Pleasure's painted face face, buA Levied a tax of wonder and applause, ad vui bral sh Ev'n on the fools that trampled on their laws.

But he (his musical finesse was such,

So nice his ear, so delicate his touch)
Made poetry a mere mechanic art;
And ev'ry warbler has b

his tune by heart, purvuą odi

Nature imparting her satiric gift,

Her serious mirth, to Arbuthnot and Swift,
With droll sobriety they rais'd a smile

At Folly's cost, themselves unmov'd the while.