just as in his " Hind and Panther" (a piece which I do not recommend to you, notwithstanding its temporary fame) all the arguments in the controversy between papists and protestants are inserted in a dialogue between those two animals. He has contrived, however, in the present tale to make the absurdity sufficiently amusing, and it has many lines worth remembering. The theory of the production of dreams has often been quoted :

Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes:
While monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes;
Compounds a medley of disjointed things,

A mob of coblers, and a court of kings.

The Vision entitled "The Flower and the Leaf," is not very interesting as an allegory: it however contains much brilliant description. The picture of Spring with which it commences is uncommonly beautiful, and, upon a trite subject, is marked with the originality of genius.

The "Character of a Good Parson" is an admirable piece of moral portraiture:

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piety and virtue have seldom been painted in a form more dignified and amiable. The allusion to the well-known fable of the sun, wind and traveller, is very ingenious and poetical.

In his story of "Theodore and Honoria," the poet gives a specimen of his powers in the terrific. I shall not diminish the curiosity with which you will peruse this "tale of wonder" by anticipating its circumstances; but I would bespeak your attention to some lines which have been justly noted as containing one of the finest examples of the verse modulated to the subject. They are these:

Whilst listening to the murmuring leaves he stood,
More than a mile immers'd within the wood,
At once the wind was laid; the whispering sound
Was dumb; a rising earthquake rock'd the ground:
With deeper brown the grove was overspread;

A sudden horror seiz'd his giddy head,

And his ears tinkled, and his colour fled.

Your ear cannot fail to mark that skilful variation of the pauses, which makes

the reader feel, as it were, his breath suspended, in expectation of the coming scene.

“ Cymon and Iphigenia,” an entertaining story poetically related, may conclude your progress through Dryden's Fables. An example of his art of versification will probably strike you in this triplet:

The fanuing wind upon her bosom blows,

To meet the fanning wind the bosom rose, The fanning wind and purling stream continue her repose.

A very elegant moral sentiment is contained in the following couplet:

Love taught him shame; and shame, with love at strife, Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.

I reserve for you, before taking leave of this illustrious poet, that production of his which has obtained the greatest share of popularity, and is usually placed at the head of a class in English poetry: this is “ Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music." I have already, in reference to Pope's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, made a few remarks

concerning lyric poetry properly so called, or that which is intended for association with music. That before us was written on the same occasion, and the whole art of the poet has been employed to accommodate it to musical expression. The subject is peculiarly happy, as being a striking example of that influence of music over the passions which it was the business of the day to celebrate. Narration and imitation go hand in hand; and the manner of relating the effects produced, tells at the same time how they were produced. The changes of measure seem to flow spontaneously from those in the action. Perhaps it would not be easy to show the exact and exclusive adaptation of each strain to its particular subject; yet in general the ear is satisfied, and recognizes that concordance between the sound and the sense which it was the poet's aim to exhibit. In some instances this is peculiarly happy; and it has been a favourite trial of skill in recitation to give an adequate vocal expression to the

most distinguished passages of this ode. There is an air of freedom and facility in the whole, which renders probable the tradition that it was "struck off at a heat;" whereas the ode of Pope on the same occasion bears all the marks of study and labour.

The universal applause with which this piece has been received, is a proof how much more congenial to the mind is the interest arising from an historical fact, than that excited by mythological or allegorical fiction. Its effect is obviously enhanced by that rapid uninterrupted flow of narration, which does not suffer the reader's attention to flag, but carries him on from scene to scene with unchecked ardour. has that unity of subject which is essential to the production of warm emotions; and in this respect, Dryden's Alexander's Feast is widely different in its construction from the generality of lyric poems, in which the rule seems to have been, to introduce as much variety as possible, with the most

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