poetry of the stage; and, after commending the former for their correctnefs, and for the liberal fpirit wherewith they conducted their literary labours, and blaming his countrymen for their inaccuracy and avarice, he proceeds thus: "The "ends propofed by our dramatic poets (or by poets in general) are, to please, to inftruct, "or to do both. When instruction is your "aim, let your moral fentences be expreffed "with brevity, that they may be readily under ftood, and long remembered: where you "mean to pleafe, let your fictions be conform. "able to truth, or probability. The elder part "of your audience (or readers) have no relish for poems that give pleasure only without in"ftruction; nor the younger for fuch writings ' as give instruction without pleasure. He only can fecure the universal fuffrage in his favour, "who blends the ufeful with the agreeable, and delights at the fame time that he inftructs the "reader. Such are the works that bring money "to the bookfeller, that pafs into foreign coun ་ tries, and perpetuate the author's name through a long fucceffion of ages *."Now, what is the meaning of all this? What, but that to the perfection of dramatic poetry (or, if you pleafe, of poetry in general) both found morals and beautiful fiction are requifite. But Horace never meant to fay, that inftruction, as well as pleasure, is neceffary to give to any compofition Hor. Ar. Poct. 333-347. the the poetical character: or he would not in another place have celebrated, with fo much affection and rapture, the melting ftrains of Sappho, and the playful genius of Anacreon +;-two authors transcendently fweet, but not remarkably inftructive. We are fure, that pathos, and harmony, and elevated language, were, in Horace's opinion, effential to poetry *; and of these decorations no body will affirm, that inftruction is the end, who confiders that the most instructive books in the world are written in plain profe. Let this therefore be established as a truth in criticism, That the end of poetry is, TO PLEASE. Verses, if pleafing, may be poetical, though they convey little or no inftruction; but verfes, whofe fole merit is, that they convey instruction, are not poetical. Instruction, however, especially in poems of length, is neceffary to their perfection, because they would not be perfectly agreeable without it. CHA P. II. Of the Standard of Poetical Invention. OMER's beautiful description of the heavens and earth, as they appear in a calm evening by the light of the moon and stars, concludes with this circumftance, "And the heart of the fhep + Hor. Carm. lib. 4. ode 9. *Hor. Sat. lib. 1. fat. verf. 40. <<< herd "herd is glad +." Madame Dacier, from the turri she gives to the paffage in her version, seems to think, and Pope, in order perhaps to make out his couplet, infinuates, that the gladness of the fhepherd is owing to his sense of the utility of those luminaries. And this may in part be the cafe: but this is not in Homer; nor is it a neceffary confideration. It is true, that, in contemplating the material universe, they who difcern the causes and effects of things must be more rapturously entertained, than those who perceive nothing but shape and fize, colour and motion. Yet, in the mere outfide of Nature's works, (if I may fo express myself,) there is a splendour, and a magnificence, to which even untutored minds cannot attend, without great delight. Not that all peasants, or all philofophers, are equally fufceptible of these charming impressions. It is ftrange to obferve the calloufness of fome men, before whom all the glories of heaven and earth pafs in daily fucceffion, without touching their hearts, elevating their fancy, or leaving any durable remembrance. Even of those who pretend to fenfibility, how many are there to whom the luftre of the rifing or setting fun; the sparkling concave of the midnight-fky; the mountain-foreft toffing and roaring to the ftorm, or warbling with all the melodies of a fummer-evening; the sweet interchange of hill and dale, fhade and funshine, grove, lawn, and water, which an extenfive landscape offers to the view; the fcenery of the ocean, fo lovely, fo majeftic, and fo tremendous, and the many pleasing varieties of the animal and vege table kingdom, could never afford fo much real fatisfaction, as the teams and noise of a ball-room, the infipid fiddling and fqueaking of an opera, or the vexations and wranglings of a card-table! But fome minds there are of a different make; who, even in the early part of life, receive from the contemplation of Nature a species of delight which they would hardly exchange for any other; and who, as avarice and ambition are not the infirmities of that period, would, with equal fincerity and rapture, exclaim, I care not, Fortune, what you me deny; The woods and lawns by living stream at eve*. - Such minds, have always in them the feeds of true tafte, and frequently of imitative genius. At least, though their enthusiastic or visionary turn of mind (as the man of the world would call it) should not always incline them to practise poetry or painting, we need not fcruple to affirm, that without fome portion of this enthusiasm, no perfon ever became a true poet or painter. For he who would imitate the works of nature, must first accurately observe * Castle of Indolence. them; them; and accurate obfervation is to be expected from those only who take great pleasure in it. To a mind thus disposed, no part of creation is indifferent. In the crouded city, and howling wilderness; in the cultivated province, and folitary ifle; in the flowery lawn, and craggy mountain; in the murmur of the rivulet, and in the uproar of the ocean; in the radiance of fummer, and gloom of winter; in the thunder of heaven, and in the whisper of the breeze; he ftill finds fomething to rouse or to footh his imagination, to draw forth his affections, or to employ his understanding. And from every mental energy that is not attended with pain, and even from some of those that are, as moderate terror and pity, a found mind derives fatisfaction; exercife being equally neceffary to the body and the foul, and to both equally productive of health and pleasure. This happy fenfibility to the beauties of Nature fhould be cherished in young perfons. It engages them to contemplate the Creator in his wonderful works; it purifies and harmonizes the soul, and prepares it for moral and intellectual difcipline; it fupplies a never-failing fource of amusement; it contributes even to bodily health; and, as a strict analogy fubfifts between material and moral beauty, it leads the heart by an eafy tranfition from the one to the other; and thus recommends virtue for its tranfcendent lovelinefs, and makes vice appear the object of contempt and abomination. An intimate acquaintance with the best defcriptive poets, Spenfer, Milton, and Thomson, But |