Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

This is a very expreffive and wellwrought defcription. The poetry in the following lines is worthy of Pope himself.

Here, where no fsprings in murmurs break away, Or mofs-grown fountains mitigate the day, In vain ye hope the green delights to know, Which plains more bleft, or verdant vales bestow :

Here rocks alone, and taftelefs fands are found, And faint and fickly winds for ever howl around +.

The verfification in thefe lines is extremely harmonious, and the expreffion rich and happy. Thefe eclogues are much superior in merit to those of Gay, Philips, or any others of thofe abfurd writers of paftorals, who imagine that a laboured rufticity forms their peculiar

+ Oriental Eclogues, p. 8.

beauties.

beauties. One more paffage I muft
quote-the peculiar excellence of it will
excuse the quotation.

At that dead hour the filent afp fhall creep,
If ought of reft I find upon my fleep;
Or fome fwoln ferpent twift his fcales around,
And wake to anguish with a burning wound.
Thrice happy they, the wife contented poor,
From luft of wealth, and dread of death fecure!
They tempt no defarts, and no griefs they find;
Peace rules the day, where reafon rules the mind *.

pure

This elegant author charms us with his expreffive beauty. His language is every where and mafculine; his verfification generally mufical; and his descriptions wrought with a masterly hand.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

THA

[blocks in formation]

HAT the proper fubjects for fatirical writings are the follies and foibles of human nature, is agreed by all critics; but ill-nature has too often obliged its votaries to break through this neceffary rule. 'Tis remarkable to obferve, how little ill-nature Horace or Juvenal have admitted into their fatires. The genteel raillery of the former, was always directed against the follies and abfurdities of the age. And Juvenal lashed the vices of his times with all the keenness of satire; but neither of them ever defcended to private attacks. The writings of these celebrated authors are well known; and perhaps we fhall find

the

the moderns equal to them in this fpecies of compofition.

That Homer was the firft fatirift cannot be afferted; but he is the first poet of whom any fatirical strokes are handed down to us. I fhould never hesitate to rank him among the first of satirists, if it was only on account of that admirable character of Therfites.

Therfites only clamour'd in the throng, Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue : Aw'd by no fhame, by no refpect controul'd, In fcandal bufy, in reproaches bold: With witty malice ftudious to defame; Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim. But chief he gloried with licentious style, To lafh the great, and monarchs to revile. His figure fuch as might his foul proclaim, One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame; His mountain fhoulders half his breaft o'erfpread, Thin hairs beftrew'd his long mif shapen head.

Spleen

Spleen to mankind his envious heart poffeft,
And much he hated all, but most the best.
Ulyffes or Achilles ftill his theme;

But royal fcandal his delight fupreme.

Long had he liv'd the scorn of ev'ry Greek, Vext when he spoke, yet ftill they heard him fpeak.

Cervantes, fecretary to the Duke of Alva, in his romance of Don Quixote, has far excelled any thing of the kind left us by the ancients; nor have latter ages produced a fatire that can be compared to it. The nobility of Spain, in his time, were intoxicated with the idea of knight-errantry. Cervantes attacked this public folly, and lashed it with the moft inimitable fpirit of humour and ridicule. The confequences of this fa

*This admirable author has difcovered the moft penetrating understanding and knowledge of mankind. His characters are as uncommon as they are natural.

tire

« НазадПродовжити »