+ The Paffions, An Ode for MEMOIRS MEMOIRS OF THE AUTHOR. TH HE enthufiafm of poetry, like that of religion, has frequently a pow erful influence on the conduct of life, and either throws it into the retreat of uniform obfcurity, or marks it with irregularities that lead to mifery and difquiet. The gifts of imagination bring the heaviest task upon the vigilance of reafon; and to bear thofe faculties with unerring rectitude, or invariable propriety, requires a degree of firmnefs and of cool attention, which doth not always attend the higher gifts of the mind. Yet, difficult as nature herself seems to have rendered the task of regularity to genius, it is the fupreme confolation of dulnefs and of folly, to point with gothic triumph to thofe exceffes, which are the overflowings of faculties they never enjoyed. Perfectly unconscious that they are indebted to their ftupidity for the confiftency of their conduct, they plume themselves on an imaginary virtue, which has its origin in what is really their difgrace.-Let fuch, if fuch dare approach the fhrine of COLLINS, withdraw to a refpectful distance, and, fhould they behold the ruins of genius, or the weakness of an exalted mind, let them be taught to lament that nature has has left the nobleft of her works im perfect. Or fuch men of genius as have borne no public character, it feldom happens that any memoirs can be collected, of confequence enough to be recorded by the biographer. If their lives pass in obfcurity, they are generally too uniform to engage our attention; if they cultivate and obtain popularity, envy, and malignity will mingle their poison with the draughts of praife; and through the industry of those unwearied fiends, their reputation will be fo chequered, and their characters fo much disguised, that it fhall become difficult for the hiftorian to separate truth from falsehood. Of our exalted poet, whofe life, though far from being popular, did not altogether pass in privacy, we meet with few other accounts than fuch as the life of every man will afford, viz. when he was born, where he was educated, and where he died. Yet even these fimple memoirs of the man, will not be unacceptable to those who admire the poet: for we never receive pleasure without a defire to be acquainted with the fource from whence it springs; a fpecies of curiofity, which, as it seems to be instinctive, was, probably, given us for the noble end of gratitude; and, finally, to elevate the enquiries of the mind to that fountain of perfection from which all human excellence is derived. CHI |