Till the freed Indians, in their native groves, Reap their own fruits, and woo their fable loves; And other Mexicos be roof'd with gold *. The two epithets native and fable have peculiar elegance and force; and as Peru was particularly famous for its long fucceffion of Incas, and Mexico for many magnificent works of maffy gold, there is great propriety in fixing the restoration of the grandeur of each to that object, for which each was once fo remarkable. THE groupe of allegorical perfonages that fucceeds the last mentioned lines, are worthy the pencil of Rubens or Julio Romano: it may, perhaps, however be wished that the epithets barbarous (discord), mad (ambition), hateful (envy)†, had been particular and picturefque, instead of general and indifcriminating; though it may poffibly be urged, that in defcribing the dreadful inhabitants of the portal of hell, Virgil has not always used * Ver. 407. + Ver. 411. et feq. fuch fuch adjuncts and epithets as a painter or ftatuary might work after; he fays only ultrices CURA, 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 thefe 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 which he deemed fo per peace nicious 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 fublime poetry as the conclufion before us. It is one of the greatest and most pleasing arts of defcriptive poetry, to introduce moral fentences and inftructions in an oblique and indirect manner, in places where one naturally expects only painting and amusement. We have virtue, as POPE remarks*, put upon us by furprize, and are pleased to find a thing where we should never have looked to meet with it. I muft 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 descriptions of places, and images raisedby 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 fwains, the amiable poet falls into a very natural reflection: For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, Of 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 speaking of hunting the hare, he immediately fubjoins, much in the spirit of Denham, Beafts urg'd by us their fellow beasts pursue, • 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 farfetched and forced; is very Here waving groves a chequer'd fcene display, Bohours would rank this comparison among falfe thoughts and Italian conceits; fuch 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 sun and the warmth of a lover on a level. * Ver. 50. † Ver. 16. A PATHETIC |