Page images
PDF
EPUB

in his writings; nor are there many traits of a bold and vigorous imagination; but there is a beauty, a delicacy, and an amenity in his style. and versification, which charm the more by repeated consideration. "Those compositions," remarks Hume, "which we read the oftenest, and which every man of taste has gotten by heart, have the recommendation of simplicity, and have nothing surprising in the thought, when divested of that elegance of expression and harmony of numbers with which it is clothed. If the merit of a composition lies in a point of wit, it may strike at first; but the mind anticipates the thought in the second perusal, and is no longer affected by it. When I read an epigram of MARTIAL, the first line recals the whole; and I have no pleasure in repeating to myself what I know already. But each line, each word in CATULLUS has its merit; and I am never tired with the perusal of him. It is sufficient to run over COWLEY once; but PARNELL, after the fiftieth reading, is as fresh as at the first."*

The prose of Parnell is but small in quantity, nor is it in quality equal to his verse. Independent of what he wrote in the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, he published the Life of Homer, prefixed to Pope's version, and a severe but just

* Vide Hume's Essay on Simplicity and Refinement.

satire on Dennis, under the title of the Life of Zolius. He contributed, likewise, both to the SPECTATOR and GUARDIAN; in the former work, he wrote two numbers, N° 460 and N° 501, both visions; the first, a description of the Paradise of 'Fools; the second, an allegorical picture of Patience under the pressure of affliction. The style of these papers is by no means so sweet and flowing as might have been expected from the author of the Hermit; they exhibit, however, considerable powers of imagination; and the Grotto of Grief, in N° 501, discloses a group, which from its circumstantiality and minute finishing might be easily transferred to the canvass.

In the Guardian, Nos. 56 and 66, are from the pen of our author; and, like those in the Spectator, consist of visions or allegories, a mode of composition which Addison had rendered fashionable. N° 56 contains the Vision of Reproof and Reproach; between which, though the resemblance be considerable, the proper distinction is well marked, and supported with appropriate imagery. N° 66 details the Vision of Common Fame, in which the scandal and loquacity of the tea-table are satyrised with much force and ingenuity.

"In the middle of the hall of Common Fame,” says the author, "stood a table painted after the

*

manner of the remotest Asiatic countries, upon which the lamp, the silver vessel, and cups of a white earth, were planted in order. Then dried herbs were brought, collected for the solemnity in moon-shine; and water being put to them, there was a greenish liquor made, to which they added the flower of milk, and an extraction from the canes of America, for performing a libation to the powers of Mischief. After this, Curiosity, retiring to a withdrawing room, brought forth the victims, being to appearance a set of small waxen images, which she laid upon the table one after another. Immediately then Talkactiveness gave each of them the name of some one, whom for that time they were to represent, and Censoriousness stuck them all about with black pins, still pronouncing at every one she stuck, something to the prejudice of the person represented. No sooner were these rites performed, and incantations uttered, but the sound of a speaking trumpet was heard in the air, by which they knew the deity of the place was propitiated and assisting. Upon this the sky grew darker, a storm arose, and murmurs, sighs, groans, cries, and the words of grief or resentment, were heard within it. Thus the three sorceresses discovered, that they whose names they had given

In moonshine, typical of witchcraft and sorcery.

to the images, were already affected with what was done to them in effigy. The knowledge of this was received with the loudest laughter, and in many congratulatory words they applauded one another's wit and power."

To these visions, as published in the Spectator and Guardian, a fifth was added by Pope, when he collected the works of his friend. It may be entitled the Vision of a Library of Books, and can justly establish a claim to the epithets ingenious and amusing.

8. HENRY GROVE, a nonconformist divine of great literature and piety, was born on the 4th of January, 1683, at Taunton, in Somersetshire. He was decended from the Groves of Wiltshire and the Rowes of Devonshire, families of great antiquity and respectability, and who had suffered much under Charles and James the IId. for their zealous and firm attachment to the rights of conscience, and the cause of religious freedom.

His parents, who were highly esteemed for their singular worth and christian virtues, early impressed the mind of their son with an ardent love for religion and morality. To this, the best foundation for future excellence, were added the accomplishments of a classical education; and such rapid proficiency did he make at the gram

mar school, that, at the age of fourteen, he was deemed fully qualified to enter upon a course of academical study. The taste which he had acquired at this period for the elegant authors of Greece and Rome, he cultivated through life with unwearied fondness and assiduity, and with a success which rendered him a very acute and perspicacious critic, and which imbued his compositions with much of the fine flavour, and many of the happy graces of antiquity.

Upon leaving school, he was placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. Warren, of Taunton, who for many years presided over an academy at that place with high reputation; and with this gentleman, whose opinions were liberal and unfettered by prejudice, he studied philosophy and theology, and obtained an intimate and critical knowledge of the sacred scriptures.

On the conclusion of his course with Mr. Warren, he removed to London, and prosecuted his literary career under the superintendence of his near relation, the Rev. Thomas Rowe. Here he made himself master of the systems of Descartes and Newton, and applied himself with such diligence to the acquirement of the Hebrew language, as enabled him, in a short time, to peruse the Old Testament in the original. He formed, likewise, during his residence in the metropolis,

« PreviousContinue »