such adjuncts and epithets as a painter or statuary might work after; he fays only ultrices CURE, mortiferum BELLUM, mala MENTIS GAUDIA; particularly, malefuada is only applied to FAMES, instead of a word that might represent the meagre and ghaftly figure intended. I make no fcruple of adding, that in this famous paffage, Virgil has exhibited no images fo lively and diftinct, as these living figures painted by POPE, each of them with their proper infignia and attributes. ENVY her own fnakes fhall feel *, And PERSECUTION mourn his broken wheel; A PERSON of no fmall rank has informed me, that Mr. Addison was inexpreffibly chagrined at this noble conclufion of WINDSORFOREST, both as a politician and as a poet, As a politician, because it fo highly celebrated that treaty of peace which he deemed fo pernicious to the liberties of Europe; and as a • Ver. 417. et feq. poet, poet, because he was deeply conscious that his own CAMPAIGN, that gazette in rhyme, contained no ftrokes of fuch genuine and sublime poetry as the conclufion before us. It is one of the greatest and most pleasing arts of defcriptive poetry, to introduce moral fentences and instructions in an oblique and indire manner, in places where one naturally expects only painting and amufement. We have virtue, as POPE remarks *, put upon us by furprize, and are pleafed to find a thing. where we should never have looked to meet with it. I must do a noble English poet the juftice to observe, that it is this particular art that is the very diftinguishing excellence of COOPER'S-HILL; throughout which, the defcriptions of places, and images raised by the poet, are ftill tending to fome hint, or leading into fome reflection, upon moral life, or political inftitution; much in the fame manner as the real fight of fuch fcenes and prospects is apt to give the mind a * Iliad. B. 16. in the notes: Ver. 465. com compofed turn, and incline it to thoughts and contemplations that have a relation to the object. This is the great charm of the incomparable ELEGY written in a Country Church-Yard. Having mentioned the ruftic monuments and fimple epitaphs of the swains, the amiable poet falls into a very natural reflection: For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, Or this art POPE has exhibited fome fpecimens in the poem we are examining, but not fo many as might be expected from a mind fo ftrongly inclined to a moral way of writing. After fpeaking of hunting the hare, he immediately fubjoins, much in the fpirit of Denham, Beafts urg'd by us their fellow beafts purfue, * Ver. 124. Whre Where he is defcribing the tyrannies formerly exercised in this kingdom, Cities laid wafte, they ftorm'd the dens and caves, He inftantly adds, with an indignation becoming a true lover of liberty, For wifer brutes were backward to be flaves *. BUT I am afraid our author in the following paffage has fallen into a fault very uncommon in his writings, a reflection that is very farfetched and forced; Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display, Bohours would rank this comparison among falfe thoughts and Italian conceits; such particularly as abound in the works of Marino. The fallacy confifts in giving defign and artifice to the wood, as well as to the coquette; and in putting the light of the fun and the warmth of a lover on a level. • Ver. 50. + Ver. 16. A PATHETIC A PATHETIC reflection, properly introduced into a descriptive poem, will have greater force and beauty, and more deeply intereft a reader, than a moral one. When POPE therefore has defcribed a pheasant fhot, he breaks out into a very masterly exclamation; Ah! what avail his gloffy varying dyes, THIS exquifite picture heightens the diftrefs, and powerfully excites the commiferation of the reader. Under this head, it would be unpardonable to omit a capital, and, I think, the most excellent example extant, of the beauty here intended, in the third Georgic of Virgil. The poet having mournfully defcribed a fteer ftruck with a peftilence, and falling down dead in the middle of his work, artfully reminds us of his former fervices * Ver. 115. + Ver. 525. |