As a dramatist, his genius is of a lefs confiderable character than might be expected from his unrivalled talent for the decription of life and manners. He was in poffeflion of humour and of a peculiar kind of fancy. His wit had every character of fertile inventiveness and true pleafantry. He was capable of delineating the individual object with peculiar happiness. But he beheld his powers in a light which deceived him, when he aimed at bringing his characters into the business of the flage, and creating a dramatic feries of events. Nothing can be more undramatic than his tragedy. Here his genius, or at least his judgment failed him. In his comedy, however, written profeffedly for the theatre, he evinces dramatic powers, which, if he had perfevered in writing for the stage, might have obtained him equal distinction in this department of literature. The characters of the Irifeman and the Scotfman, in particular, are natural and entertaining. Sir John Hawkins mentions an opera called Alcefle, which he wrote for Mr. Rich in 1747; but it has never been performed nor printed As a poet, his compofitions are fo excellent in their kind, as to make us regret that they are not more numerous Lively, humorous, witty, elegant, tender, pathetic, and fublime; happy and fuccessful in whatever the univerfality of his genius prompted him to undertake; his spirit, his fentiment, his language, are full of nature, enthusiasm, and fimplicity, and while a love of poetry remains among us, must always please the reader of tafte and fenfibility. The poems on occasional fubjects are marked with the different difpofitions which must have prevailed at different times of his life. His Advice and Reproof bear teftimony to his political and literary prejudices, but they abound in manly sentiments, and indignant fatire, expreffed in forcible and elegant language. His elegantly plaintive Love-Elegy is pure nature. It is tender, fentimental, and pathetic; and the happy fintplicity and unaffected manner, interest and charn the reader of natural tafte. His Tears of Scotland ought not to be mentioned without every commendation. It difcovers a genius equally fitted for the pathetic and the fublinie. Whatever may be thought of the fubject, it unites a glow of poetical enthusiasm, with a high degree of that eloquent fimplicity, which appears so easy, and which is yet fo difficult to imitate. The following paffage, among many others, is exquifitely tender and beautiful. The pious mother doom'd to death, The bleak wind whiftles round her head, Her helpless orphans cry for bread; Bereft of fhelter, food, and friend, She views rire fhades of night defcend, And stretch'd beneath the inclement fkies, Weeps o'er her tender babes and dies. His Ode to Leven Water difcovers delicacy of fentiment, joined to fimplicity of taste. The images are paftoral and pleafing, and the verfification correct and harmonious. He celebrates his native stream with all the elegant fimplicity of an Arcadian fhepherd. His Odes to Mirth and Sleep, are not of the highest kind, but they have enthufiafm, and fpirit, and propriety of verfification. His Songs are fpirited, ingenious, and witty; a few are elegant, tender, and pathetic. His Ode to Independence, the greateft effort of his genius, ranks with the lyric compofitions of Dryden, Akenside, Collins, and Gray. It is written throughout in the true fpirit of lyric poetry. It is bold, various, ardent, and impetuous. It abounds with animated fentiments, glowing images, and nervous and energetic expreffions. The introduction is poetical and abrupt." Thy fpirit, Independence, let me share, Nor heed the form that howls along the fky. The picture exhibited in these lines is ftriking, because the circumftances are happily chosen, briefly and distinctly delineated. It is fublime, because the images are few, and in themselves great and magnificent. The lion beårt and eagle eye, suggest an idea of the high spirit and commanding afpect of Independence; and the poet following with befom bare, denotes in a picturefque manner the eagerness and enthusiasm of the votary. In a ftrain of poetry exceedingly wild and romantic, he rehearses his birth, education, and qualities. Deep in the frozen regions of the north, Immortal Liberty, whofe look fublime Hath bleach'd the tyrant's check in every varying clime! Liberty, according to his acceptation, means the fecurity of our lives and poffeffions, and freedom from external force. Independence denotes that internal fenfe and consciousness of freedom, which beget magnanimity, fortitude, and that becoming pride, which leads us to respect ourselves, and do nothing unworthy of our condition. Liberty therefore is, with perfect propriety, faid to be the mother of Independence, and Difdain his father.-Diflain arifing from indignation against an oppreffor, and triumph on having proftrated or escaped his malice. This ftern perfonage is strongly characterised in the following defcription : Of ample front, the portly chief appear'd, And his broad shoulders braved the furious blaft.. Men may enjoy liberty without independence; they may be fecure in their perfons and poffeffions, without feeling any uncommon elevation of mind, or any fenfe of their freedom. But, if their liberty is attacked, they are alarmed; they feel the value of their condition; they are moved with indignation against their oppreffors; they exert themselves, and, if they are successful, or escape the danger that threatened them, they triumph; they reflect on the happiness and dignity conferred by freedom; they applaud themselves for their exertions; become magnanimous and independent. There is, therefore, no lefs propriety in deducing the origin of Independence from Disdain and Liberty, than fixing the era of her birth. Our Saxon ancestors, free, fimple, and inoffenfive, were attacked, escaped the violence of their adversary, reflected on the felicity of their condition, and learned independence. The education of Independence, and the fcene of his nativity, arc fuited to his illuftrious lineage, and to the high atchievements for which he was destined. The light he faw in Albion's happy plains, The aufpicious fruit of ftol'n enibrace was born The mountain dryads feized with joy The fmiling infant to their charge confign'd; The hermit Wisdom ftor'd his opening mind. The imagery in thefe lines is foft and agreeable, the language fmooth, and the verfification harmonious. In the fecond antistrophe, he celebrates his heroic and beneficent actions, and returns, at the end of the third ftrophe, to acknowledge, with gratitude, the power of Independence, in preferving him untainted by the debafing influences of grandeur, and the admiration of vain magnificence. Confci. ous of the dignity annexed to an independent state of mind, he inveighs against these minions of Fertune, who would impofe upon mankind by the oftentation of wealth, and the parade of pageantry. In fortune's car behold that minion ride, And hireling minitreis wake the tinkling string; And all her jingling bells fantastic fully ring; Thefe lines, embellished by fancy, and recommended to the heart by harmony, are the inveЯive of truth and honeft indignation. The laft antiftrophe has an air of foftnefs, benignity, and wildness, that leaves a very pleasing ef fect on the mind of the reader, animated with fentiments of public virtue, glowing with felf-approbation, and fired with all the ardour and enthusiasm of the post. Exert your talents; nature, ever kind, When fuch bright conftellations blaze? Ver. 15. Alluding to the philofophical contempt which this great perfonage manifefted for the fenfual delights of the ftomach. And Grafton, tow'ring Atlas of the throne, Poet. 20 Th' advice is good; the question only, whether Who can create as well as cherish fame. limity of parts, by virtue of his office, Lord Cham Ver. 17. This noble peer, remarkable for fubberlain, conferred the laureat on Colley Cibber, Efp. a delectable bard, whofe character has already employed, together with his own, the great, eft pens of the age. Ver. 19. Two noblemen famous in their day, for nothing more than their fortitude in bearing the fcorn and reproach of their country. Ver. 21. Abdiel according to Milton, was the only feraph that preferved his integrity in the midst of corruption Among the innumerable falfe, unmov'd, 30 Amus d, perhaps, with C―'s prolific bum, What! turn affaffin? Friend. Port. Let th' affaffin bleed : My fearless verfe fhall jullify the deed. 50 60 Heav'ns how you rail! the man's confum'd by If Lockman's fate attends you, when you write; Ver. 29. This alludes to a phenomenon, not Thore Prange than true. The perfon here meant, Javing actually laid upwards of forty eggs, as feveral phyficians and fellows of the Royal Society can atteft; one of wh m, we hear, has undertaken the incubation, and will, no doubt, favour the world with an account of his fuccefs. Some virtucfi affirm, that fuch productions must be the effect of a certain intercourse of organs not fit to be named. Ver. 30. This is a riotous affembly of fashionable people, ef both foxes, at a private houfe, confiting of fome hundreds; not unaptly styled a drum, from the noife and emptiness of the entertainment. There are alfo drum-major, rout, temyet and hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the fignificant name of each declares. Ver. 62. To be little read, and lefs approved. 70 Is that denied? a boon more humble crave; 80 His master's pathic, pimp, and parasite; Poct. Eternal infamy his name furround, Who planted first that vice on British ground! Abhorrent views that proftituted groom, Ver. 88. This child of dirt (to ufe a great auther's expreffion) without any other quality than grovelling adulation, has arrived at the power of infulting his betters every day. Ver. 90. Another fon of fortune, who owes his prefent affuence to the most infamous qualifications; commonly called Brush Warren, from having been a fhoe-black; it is faid he was kept by both fexes at one time. 103. This genial knight wore at his own banquet a garland of flowers, in imitation of the ancients; and kept two rely boys robed in white, for the entertainment of his guests. Ver. 109. In allufion to the unnatural orgies faid to be folemnized on the banks of this river; While dullness fcreens the failings of the church, Shall not a thoufand virtues, then atone 120 130 Scorn'd be the bard, and whither'd all his fame, Or pomp'ous vanity, that prontpts the whole? 140 To thofe who languish in the barren fhade, Alike to thee his virtue or his vice, Poet. Sooner, in hopeless anguish would I mourn, Than owe my fortune to the man I fcort!What new refource? particularly at one place where a much greater fanctity of morals and tafte might be expected. Friend. A thousand yet remain 159 That bloom with honours, or that teem with gain : Soon fhalt thou fharp in company at whift; Pect. 170 Ver. 177. Thefe are myfteries performed, like. thofe of the Dea Bona, by females only; confequently it cannot be expected that we fhould here explain them: we have, notwithstanding, found means to learn fome anecdotes concerning them, which we fhall referve for another opportunity. Ver. 187 A famous mimic and finger. The perfon here meant, by the qualifications above defcribed, had infinuated himlelf into the confidence of certain ladies of quality, who engaged him to fet up a puppet-fhow, in oppofition to the oratorios of Handel, against whom they were unreafonably prejudiced. But the town not feconding the capricious undertaking, they deferted their manager, whom they had promifed to fupport, and let him fink under the expence they had entailed upon him: he was accordingly thrown into prifon, where his difappointment got the better of his reafon, and he remained in all the ecstasy of Ver. III. This is a decent and parental office, in which dullness is employed; namely, to conceal the failings of her children; and exactly conform-despair; till at laft, his generous patroneffes, after able to that inftance of filial piety, which we meet with in the fou of Noah, who went backward, to cover the nakednefs of his father, when he lay expofed, from the fcoffs and infults of a malicious world. much folicitation, were prevailed upon to collect five pounds, on the payment of which he was admitted into Bedlam, where he continued bereft of his understanding, and died in the utmost mifery. |