the wrong end of a perspective glafs, by which all the objects of nature are leffened.

For example: When a true genius looks upon the sky, he immediately catches the idea of a piece of blue luteftring, or a child's mantle.

The skies, whose spreading volumes scarce have

room,

Spun thin, and wove in Nature's finest loom,
The new-born world in their foft lap embrac'd,
And all around their starry mantle caft

*

If he looks upon a tempeft, he fhall have an image of a troubled bed, and defcribe a fucceeding calm in this manner:

The ocean, joy'd to fee the tempeft fied,

New lays his waves, and smooths his ruffled bed f.

The triumphs and acclamations of the angels, at the creation of the universe, present to his imagination "the rejoicings of the Lord Mayor's day; and he beholds thofe glorious beings celebrating the Creator, by huzzaing, making illuminations, and flinging fquibs, crackers, and fky-rockets..

Glorious illuminations, made on high.

By all the ftars and planets of the sky,
In juft degrees, and thining order plac'd,
Spectators charm'd, and the blefs'd dwelling
grac'd.

Thro' all th' enlighten'd air fwift fireworks flew,
Which with repeated shouts glad Cherubs threw.
*Prince Arthur, p. 41, 42.

+ P. 14.

N. B. In order to do justice to these great poets, our citations are taken from the beft, the kaft, and most correct editions of their works. That which we fe of Prince Arthur is in duodecimo, 1714, the fourth edition revised.

Comets

Comets afcended with their sweeping train,
Then fell in ftarry show'rs and glittering rain.
In air ten thousand meteors blazing hung,
Which from th' eternal battlements were flung *.

If a man who is violently fond of wit, will facrifice to that paffion his friend, or his God, would it not be a fhame, if he who is fmit with the love of the Bathos fhould not facrifice to it all other tranfitory regards? You fhall hear a zealous Proteftant deacon invoke a faint, and modeftly befeech her to do more for us than Providence.

Look down, blefs'd faint, with pity then look down,

Shed on this land thy kinder influence,

And guide us through the mists of providence, In which we ftray t.

Neither will he, if a good fimile come in his way, fcruple to affirm himfelf an eye-witnefs of things never yet beheld by man, or never in existence; as thus,

Thus have I feen in Araby the Bless'd,

A phoenix couch'd upon her fun'ral neft ‡.

But to convince you that nothing is fo great which a marvellous genius, prompted by this laudable zeal, is not able to leffen; hear how the most fublime of all beings is reprefented in the following images.

First he is a PAINTER.

Sometimes the Lord of nature in the air,

Spreads forth his clouds, his fable canvas, where

*P. 50.
+ Anon.

†A. Philips on the death of Queen Mary.

His

His pencil, dipp'd in heav'nly colour bright,
Paints his fair rainbow, charming to the fight *.
Now he is a CHEMIST.

Th' almighty chemist does his work prepare,
Pours down his waters on the thirsty plain,
Digests his lightning, and diftils his rain +.
Now he is a WRESTLER.

Me in his griping arms th' Eternal took,
And with fuch mighty force my body shook,
That the ftrong grafp my members forely bruis'd,
Broke all my bones, and all my finews loos'd ‡.
Now a RECRUITING OFFICER.

For clouds, the funbeams levy fresh supplies,
And raise recruits of vapours, which arife
Drawn from the feas, te mufter in the skies ¶.
Now a peaceable GUARANTEE.

In leagues of peace the neighbours did agree, And to maintain them, God was guarantee

Then he is an ATTORNEY.

Job, as a vile offender, God indites,
And terrible decrees against me writes.
God will not be my advocate,

My cause to manage or debate ††.

**

In the following lines he is a Goldbeater.

Who the rich metal beats, and then, with care, Unfolds the golden leaves, to gild the fields of

air ‡‡.

Blackm. opt. edit. duod. 1716. p. 172. † Blackm pfal. civ. p. 263. ‡ Page 75. **Blackmore, p. 70. tt P. 61.

¶ P. 170.

P. 181.

Then

Then a FULLER.

Th' exhaling reeks, that secret rise,
Borne on rebounding funbeams thro' the skies,
Are thicken'd, wrought, and whiten'd, till they

A MERCER, or PACKER.

Didft thou one end of air's wide curtain hold, And help the Bales of Æther to unfold;

Say, which coerulean pile was by thy hand unroll'd+?

A BUTLER.

He measures all the drops with wondrous skill,
Which the black clouds, his floating bottles, fill.
And a BAKER.

God in the wilderness his table fpread,
And in his airy Ovens bak'd their bread ¶.

CH A P. VI.

Of the feveral kinds of Geniuses in the Profound, and the marks and characters of each.

I

DOUET not but the reader, by this cloud of examples, begins to be convinced of the truth of our affertion, that the Bathos is an art; and that the genius of no mortal whatever, following the mere ideas of nature, and unaffisted with an ha

P. 131. Id. fong of Mofes,

bitual, nay, laborious peculiarity of thinking, could arrive at images fo wonderfully low and unaccountable. The great author, from whofe treasury we have drawn all thefe inftances, (the father of the Bathos, and indeed the Homer of it), has, like that immortal Greek, confined his labours to the greater poetry, and thereby left room for others to acquire a due flare of praife in inferior kinds. Many painters who could never hit a nose or an eye, have with felicity copied a fmall-pox, or been admirable at a toad or a red herring. And feldom are we without geniufes for fill-life, which they can work up and stiffen with incredible accuracy.

An univerfal genius rifes not in an age; but when he rifes, armies rife in him! he pours forth five or fix epic poems with greater facility than five or fix pages can be produced by an elaborate and fervile copier after nature, or the ancients. It is affirmed by Quintilian, that the fame genius which made Germanicus fo great a general, would with equal application have made him an excellent heroic poet. In like manner, reasoning from the affinity there appears between arts and sciences, I doubt not but an active catcher of butterflies, a careful and fanciful pattern-drawer, an industrious collector of shells, a laborious and tuneful bagpiper, or a diligent breeder of tame rabbits, might feverally excel in their respective parts of the Bathos.

I fhall range thefe confined and lefs copious geniufes under proper claffes, and (the better to give their pictures to the reader) under the names of animals of fome fort or other; whereby he will be enabled, at the firft fight of fuch as thall

daily