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"various, how rich, how fublime, and how "wonderful in ftrength, in words, in figures, "and fentiments, are here collected together? "We hear the Jews, the ghofts of deceased "Kings, the King of Babylon, the perfons who "find his dead body, and, last of all, the

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great God himself, we hear these speaking, " and, as it were, performing their parts in the drama! A kind of perpetual action is con"tinued; or rather, a various and manifold fe"ries of many different actions is woven toge"ther. The Profopopeias are numerous, but

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without confusion; bold, but not harfh. A "free, lofty, and truly divine fpirit reigns through the whole poem: nor is there any "thing wanting that might give a perfection to "the ode in grandeur and beauty. There is no piece of Grecian or Roman poetry, to speak << my mind freely, that may once pretend to "ftand a comparifon with its merit *."

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§ 7.

• Quæ imagines, quam variæ, quam denfæ, quam fublimes, quanta vi, quibus verbis, figuris, fententiis, elatæ, in unum locum coacervantur! Judæos, cedros Lebani, defunctorum regum umbras, regem Babylonium, eofque qui in cadaver ejus incidunt, ipfum poftremo Jehovam, loquentes audimus, & partes fuas pene quafi in dramate agentes intuemur. Continuatur actio quædam perpetua, feu potius diverfarum actionum varia ac multiplex feries contexitur, Crebræ funt perfonæ, nec tamen confufæ ; audaces, nec tamen duræ: viget per totum fpiritus liber, vereque divinus; neque decft quidquam ad fummam hujufce odæ fublimitatem abfoluta pulchritudine cumulandam; cui, ut planè dicam quod fentio, nihil habet Græca aut Romana poefis fimile aut fecundum. LoWTH. Prælect. Acad. p. 122.

§ 7. We shall add fome remarks and observations upon this Figure.

1. The transformation of the good or bad qualities of the mind into perfons, or the clothing with corporeal forms, or endowing with corporeal speech and action mere abftracted ideas and general notions, may afford our audience very rich entertainment, and make a very deep impression upon them. The perfonifying, the imbodying what is merely ideal, or of itself not the object of our fenfes, may very much delight and strike the mind, as hereby it is not confined to simple and dry fpeculations, but fees every thing upon which it is called to contemplate, rising into being, living, and acting, and extending abroad its power and influence. For us to fay, that a good or virtuous man will be useful and happy, is cold and languid in comparison with faying, that Virtue renders us beneficial to mankind, and is the parent of felicity. To affirm, that a bad or vicious man is burtful and miferable, carries not near fo much force and vigour as to affirm, that Vice is the plague of our race, and the author of our miferies. In like manner to speak of Time, as that portion of duration comprehended between the making and dissolution of the world, is flat and fpiritlefs, if compared with that description which Doctor Young gives of it, under the notion of a real and active being.

Not

Not on those terms was Time (Heav'n's stranger) fent
On his important embally to man.

LORENZO! No. On the long-deftin'd hour
From everlasting ages growing ripe,

That memorable hour of wondrous birth,
When the dread Sire, on emanation bent,
And big with nature, rifing in his might,
Call'd forth creation (for then Time was born)
By Godhead ftreaming thro' a thousand worlds;
Not on thofe terms, from the great days of Heav'n,
From old Eternity's mysterious orb,

Was Time cut off, and caft beneath the skies;
The fkies, which watch him in his new abode,
Measuring his motion by revolving spheres ;
That horologe, machinery divine.

Hours, days, and months, and years, his children play,
Like num'rous wings around him, as he flies:

Or rather as unequal piumes they shape

His ample pinions, fwift as darted flame,
To gain his goal, to reach his ancient rest,
And join anew Eternity his fire;

In his immutability to nest,

When worlds, that count his circles now, unhing'd, (Fate the loud fignal sounding) headlong rush To timeless night, and chaos, whence they rose *.

So if we fpeak of an whole nation's or a fingle perfon's dying, or the union between the foul and body being broken, and the body's becoming a breathless corps, and the fpirit's departing to another state, how little do we feel of the folemn truth, in comparison with the perfonification of Death, and when fuch things are faid of Cc him,

*Night Thoughts, book ii.

him, or afcribed to him, as we meet with in the following lines?

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When with his chill Gorgonean frown,

And keen to reap the nations down,

His unrelenting fickle ftands,

Ufurp'd from Time's delaying hands †,

Or in that speech put into the mouth of Death?

Now from yon black and fun'ral yew,
That bathes the charnel-house with dew,
Methinks I hear a voice begin;

(Ye ravens, cease your croaking din,
Yè tolling clocks no time refound
O'er the long lake, and midnight ground)
It fends a peal of hollow groans,
Thus fpeaking from among the bones.
"When men my feythe and darts fupply,
"How great a king of fears am I?

& They view me as the laft of things;
"They make, and then they dread my ftings.
"Fools, if you lefs provok'd your fears,
"No more my fpectre-form appears :
Death's but a path that must be trod,
If man would ever pass to God:
"A port of calms, a state of ease
"From the rough rage of fwelling feast."

z. When by the Profopopeia we introduce perfons filent as fpeaking, we should be careful that they express nothing but what is confiftent with, and indeed perfectly adapted to their ages, characters,

+ Poem on the Death of FREDERICK Prince of WALES.
PARNELL's Night-Piece on Death.

racters, &c. otherwise we deviate from nature, and can expect, instead of an advantage, rather an injury to our difcourfes. HORACE very judiciously directs us upon this head, when he fays,

Diftinction must be made between the ftile
Of Gods, and heroes; of an hoary fage,
And an impetuous youth; of a grave dame,
And a fond anxious nurfe; of mariners,
And rough-hewn fwains untutor'd from the plough:
And as the men are diff'rent, diff'rent too
Must be the speeches you to Colchians give,
Affyrians, and the fons of Thebes and Greece *.

And in another place,

The manners of each age must be observ'd.
The boy who just has learnt to speak, and walk
With steady steps without his nurse's care,
With his coevals loves to play, to rage
Kindles at once, at once is cool'd again.
The youth, escap'd from his preceptor's pow'r,
So heavily endur'd, delights in dogs,

In horfes, and the range of woods and fields:
A waxen foul to take the stamp of vice;
Blind to futurity, profufe of wealth,
Rough, and intolerant of all reproof,
Afpiring, eager, fickle in his love.
At manhood diff'rent objects we pursue,
Riches, and friendship, and ambition's plumes;

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Intererit multum Divufne loquatur, an heros;
Maturufne fenex, an adhuc florente juventa
Fervidus; & matrona potens, an fedula nutrix;
Mercatorne vagus, cultorne virentis agelli;
Colchus, an Affyrius; Thebis nutritus, an Argis.
HORAT. de Arte Poetic. ver. 114.

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