He may be justly ftyled an excellent verfifier and a good poet. "Some pretty Verfes," omitted by his compilers, On the firft Fit of the Gout, are added.

In Prior's Life we difcover nothing new. "His opinions," fays our author, "feem to have been right, but his life was irregular, negligent, and fenfual."

He remarks on the Ode on Ramillies, "Every thing has its day. Through the reigns of William and Anne no profperous event paffed undignified by poetry. In the last war, when France was difgraced and overpowered in every quarter of the globe, when Spain coming to her afiiitance only shared her calamities, and the name of an Englishman was reverenced through Europe, no poet was heard amidit the general acclamation; the fame of our counsellors and heroes was intruted to the Gazetteer."

....

"His numbers are fuch as mere diligence may attain; they feldom offend the car, and feldom footh it; they commonly want airinefs, lightness, and facility; what is smooth is not foft. His verfes always roll, but they feldom flow-A furvey of the life and writings of Prior may exemplify a fentence which he doubtlefs understood well, when he read Horace at his uncle's; the vessel long retains the fcent which it firfl receives. In his private relaxation he revived the tavern, and in his amorous pedantry he exhibited the college. But on higher occafions, and nobler fubjects, when habit was overpowered by the neceflity of reflection, he wanted not wifdom as a ftatefman, nor elegance as a poet."

Pope, agminis inftar, occupies the whole of the VIth volume. From a copy of his MS Iliad now in the Museum, feveral variations of the copy are here exhi bited, a curious intellectual procefs. By this it appears, that Pope wrote his compofitions on the back of letters; by which perhaps in five years five fhillings were faved." Spence, the critic on the Odyffey, our author ftyles "a man whofe learning was not very great, and whofe mind was not very powerful;" but adds, that he was "a critic without malevolence, who cenfured with refpect, and praifed with alacrity." His memorials of Pope's converfation (from the duke of Newcastle's library) have furnished this work with feveral entertaining anecdotes. "The filial piety of Pope was in the higheft degree amiable and exemplary; his parents had the happiness of living till he was at the fummit of poetical reputation, till he was at eafe in his fortune, and without a rival in his fame, and found no diminution of his refpect or tenderness. Whatever was his pride, to them he was obedient; and whatever was his irritability, to them he was ntle. Life has, among its foothing and comforts, few things better to give than

Bishop Warburton's literary portrait, drawn by this great mafter, is too original to be omitted:

"He was a man of vigorous faculties, a mind fervid and vehement, fupplied by inceffant and unlimited enquiry, with wonderful extent and variety of knowledge, which 'yet had not oppreffed his imagination, nor clouded his perfpicacity. To every work he brought a memory full fraught, with a fancy fertile of original combinations, and at once, exerted the powers of the fcholar, the reafoner, and the wit. his knowledge was too multifarious to ways exact, and his pursuits were too eg to be always cautious. His abilities gave him an haughty confidence, which he difdained to conceal or mollify; and his impatience of oppofition disposed him to treat his adverfaries with fuch contemptuous fuperiority as made his readers commonly his enemies, and excited against him the

withes of fome who favoured his caufe. He feems to have adopted the Roman Emperor's determination, oderint dum metuant; he used no allurements of gentle language, but withed to compel rather than perfuade.-His ftyle is copious without feleétion, and forcible without neatnefs; he took the words that prefented themfelves: his diction is coarfe and

impure, and his fentences are unmeafured."

For the diffufive charities of the Man of Rofs, from 500l. a year, our author

thus accounts:

"Wonders are willingly told, and wilfingly heard. The truth is, that Kyrie was a man of known integrity, and active benevol lence, by whofe folicitation the wealthy were perfuaded to pay contributions to his charitable fchemes; this influence he obtained by an example of liberality exerted to the utmost extent of his power, and was thus enabled to give more than he had. This account Mr.. Victor received from the minister of the place; and I have preferved it, that the praite of a good mar, being made more credible, may be

more folid. Narrations of romantick and

impracticable virtue will be read with wonder, but that which is unattainable is recommended in vain; that good may be endeavoured, it must be fhown to be poffible."

In difcufling the Epifle to Lord Cob. ham, he controverts and explodes Pope's favourite," but pernicious," theory of the Ruling Pafion; and adds that "he has formed his theory with fo little skill, that, in the examples by which he illuftrates and confirms it, he has confounded pallions, appetites, and habits."

The portrait of Arbuthnot is pleafing: "It is to be regretted that either honour or pleafure fhould have been miffed by Arbuthnot; a man eftimable for his learning, amiable for his life, and venerable for his piety.-Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehenfion, skilful in his profeffion, verfed in the feiences, acquainted with ancient litera

ture,

ture, and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a fcholar with great brilliancy of wit; a wit, who, in the crowd of life, retained and dif covered a noble ardour of religious zeal."

"In the second dialogue, 1738, he [Pope] took fome liberty with one of the Foxes, among others, &c." What was this liberty, or who was this Fox, we know not, as no fuch name, or initial, now appears in the poem.

father on a

hlets came

"I have heard Mr. Richardfon [the pain ter] relate, that he attended vifit, when one of Cibber's p into the hands of Pope, who ! These things are my diverfion. They fat by im while he perufed it, and faw his features writhen with anguith; and young Richardfon faid to his father, when they returned, that he hoped to be preferved from fuch diverfion as had been that day the lot of Pope."

In a masterly parallel here drawn of Pope with Dryden, "every other writer," fays our biographer, "fince Milton, muft give place to Pope. If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and conftant. Dryden often furpatfes expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent aftonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight."

The works of Pope are diftinctly examined with equal ingenuity and candour, and in conclution it is faid, "had he given the world only his verfion [of Homer], the name of Poet must have been allowed him." Annexed are a Letter from Pope to Mr. Bridges, on his tranflation, and Dr. Johnfon's Criticifm on his Epitaphs, first printed in The Vijitor.

P. 392. "The Italians have been very diligent tranflators; but I can bear of no verfion, unless perhaps Anguillara's Ovid may be excepted, which is read with eagerness." Is it poffible that Dr. Johnfon has not heard of Annibal Caro's Virgil, generally esteemed, both by natives and foreigners, one of the beft tranflations in any language?

(To be continued.)

"To fuits litigious, ignorant and raw, Compell'd by an unletter'd brother-in-law, Oppreffion blafted all my golden views, And Penury infpir'd my daring Muse," Preface.

And in a note he threatens to lay before the public "the unprecedented conduct, as well as the illegal mode of obtaining fequeftration of his living, practifed by this faid brother-in-law." This

is an unfortunate stumble at the thresh

old. Laurels can hardly be expected from fuch a foil. The Preface is followed by "A fhort Account of the Life of Pindar," and "An Effay on his Writings, Genius, and Numbers," in which Mr. Tafker endeavours to prove, contrary to the opinion commonly received of Congreve, Weft, &c. that Pindar's Odes (which are now extant) are irregular. After fpecifying Weft's, &c. he fays, "Moft, if not all, the remaining Odes have been attempted by one Barnabas Green, Efq. but the prefent tranflator is too little acquainted with this curious collection to be able to give any account of it." So it feems, as he knows not even the tranflator's name, which is Edward Burnaby Greene, Efq. Yet, with this little or no knowledge of the work, Mr. Tasker fcruples not to condemn it, and is lavish of fncers in his notes. This volume contains "the IVth, XIth, XIIth, and XIVth Olmpics. [The latter, by the way, is well tranflated by Hughes (English Poets, vol XXII. p. 267]. The beginning of the Ift Pythian, the VIth, VIIth, XIth, and XIIth Pythian; the IId and VIIIth Nemean, and the IIId and VIIth Ifthmian; the Carmen Seculare of Horace (3d edition). Odes: viz. To the Warlike Genius of Great Britain (5th edition), To Curiofity (3d edition), To Speculation (2d edition), The Invocation, and Moneda, or the Conqueft of the Isle of Man by the King of Norway." Of Pindar, the tranflation, however clofe and exact, not having the vivida vis, will convey as adequate an idea to the English reader, as he would receive of the beauty of lady L from viewing her fhadow. We shall therefore give no extracts. Molt of this writer's original poems we have noticed before*. In his Invocation, introducing Petrarch and Laura, he hails them as a "fpotlets fentimental pair," and invokes his Genius to "bring along "Virtue and Innocence in robes of

white,

With lawful love and chafte delight."

This gentleman furely has never read the Abbé Sade's or Mrs. Dobson's elegant Memoirs of Petrarch, as they would have informed him that this love was not fo lawful, or innocent, as he fuppofes, Laura being married.-His Exeter printer is in the right to conceal his name, there scarcely being a page without errata, which occupy two pages at the end.

39. The Triumphs of Temper: a Poem. In Six Cantos. By William Hayley, Efq. 4to. EXPECTATION, though highly raised by every thing that bears the flanip of Hayley, will here again be gratified. In Heroi-comic poetry Pope has hitherto been unrivalled, and of all his productions his Rape of the Lock difplays the greatest and moft original beauties. Happily for the prefent age, we now can boast another, which will not fuffer by a comparison as to its imagery, and as to its moral tendency is much fuperior. "It owes its exiftence (the author tells us) to an incident in real life," [an adventure at a ball], " very fimilar to the principal action of the laft canto." "Alleffandro Tatfoni," he adds, "is generally confidered, and ftyles himfelf, the inventor of modern Heroi-comic poetry:" but explaining how far this poem differs from the most approved models, Mr. Hayley fays, that they reprefent their characters in a fatirical point of view. It was the intention of Taffoni to fatirise a particular Italian nobleman. Boileau openly

Iridicules the French ecclefiaftics in his Lutrin; Garth our English phyficians in his Difpenfary; and the Rape of the Lock it'elf, that most excellent and enchanting poem, which I never contemplate but with new idolatry, is denominated the beft Satire extant by the learned Dr. Warton, in his very elegant and ingenious, but fe vere, Efay on Pope. We have seen it carried to inimitable perfection in the moft delicate raillery on female foibles. It remained to be tried, if it might not alfo afpire to delineate the moft engaging

features of female excellence. On thefe principles I have endeavoured to paint Serena as a mott lovely, engaging, and accomplished character."-" The poem (he faither obferves) has alfo an air of novelty by the manner of connecting the real and the vifionary fcenes which compofe it, by fhifting them in alternate cantos, &c. I wifhed indeed (but, I fear, moft ineffectually) for powers to unite fome touches of the fportive wildnefs of

Ariofto, and the more ferious fublime painting of Dante, with fome portion of the enchanting elegance, the refin'd ima gination, and the moral graces of Pope; and to do this, if poffible, without violating thofe rules of propriety which Mr. Cambridge has illuftrated, by example as well as precept, in The Scribleriad, and in his fenfible Preface to that elegant and learned poem." This is modeftly faid. But, in truth, no one can read many defcriptions in this poem, particularly those of the Gulph of Indolence, the Dome of Spleen, and the Torments of Beckford and Swift, the one as a mifanthrope, the other as a glutton, without being ftrongly reminded both of the Inferno and Furiofo. One of thefe, being short, we will annex: "But lo! the Tityus of this realm! whose

hulk

Is ftretch'd fupine, and whofe enormous bulk
To fuch extent in this wide fcene is fpread,
Nine acres feem too narrow for his bed!
This form was once (but many years are paft
Since in his civic furs he breath'd his laft)
Lord Mayor of London; his whole life one
treat,

And all his bufinefs but to rail and eat.
The circling group of fith, and fowl, and
beafts,
[feafts;
Once crown'd his table, and compos'd his
For all the creatures (mark this strange
event!)
[tent,
Which he devour'd with growling difcon-
O'er him their re-united limbs difplay,
The grumbling glutton's fleth they rend
And find his fwelling form a never-failing
away,
[prey.
See where nine bucks have gor'd his mon-
ftrous haunch,

O'er his broad fide twelve creeping turtles See fifty turkeys gobble on his paunch! fpread,

And fowls unnumber'd flutter round his head." other public virtues, is treated too harshly. Swift, confidering his patriotifm and

A more pleafing picture, which is all that we can exhibit, is that of Temper, or Sapbrofyne, the principal agent in the piece.

"A fairy phantom ftruck her mental fight,

Light as the goffamer, as æther bright; Array'd like Pallas was the pigmy form, When the fage Goddefs ftills the martial

ftorm.

Her cafque was amber, richly grac'd above
With down collected from the callow dove:
Her burnish'd breaft-plate, of a deeper dye,
Was once the armour of a golden fly:
A lyna's eye her little ægis fhone,
By fairy fpells converted into fione,

And

And worn of old, as elfin poets fing,
By Egypt's lovely queen, a favourite ring:
Mysterious power was in the magic toy,
To turn the frowns of care to fmiles of joy:
Her tiny lance, whofe radiance stream'd afar,
Was one bright fparkle from the bridal far.
A filmy mantle round her figure play'd,
Fine as the texture by Arachne laid

O'er fome young plant, when glittering from the view,

With many an orient pear! of morning dew." The introduction of Singularity in the form of Rouffeau, and Indifference reading, or rather attempting to read, Mrs. Greville's beautiful Ode, are fome of the beautiful traits that embellish this poem. Not to anticipate the reader's pleature by any analyfis, we will only add, that, in his allufions and fimiles particularly, no modern poet has, in our opinion, availed himself to happily both of his claftical and philofophical knowledge. The mo ral, however, which with the author we tordially recommend to the attention of all our fair readers, muft not be omitted!

VIRTUE's an iugot of Peruvian gold, SENSE the bright ore Potoli's mines ynfold; "But TEMPER'S image muft their ufe create, And give thefe precious metals fterling "weight."

43. Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry, &c.

Vol. 111. continued from p. 183. Sect. XL. MOST of the clallic poets were tranflated before 1600: in particular, the nine first books of the Eneid, in Alexandrines, by Dr. Thomas Phaier, 1562, completed by Dr. Thomas Twyne, 1583; the four firit books of the neid, in English hexameters, by Robert Stanyurft, 183; the Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil, by Abraham Fleming, 1589; the Georgies by William Webbe, 1:86; the Culex, by Spenfer, 1591; the Story of Jafon, probably Valerius Flaccus, by Nicholas Whyte, 1565; Ovid's Metamorphofes, by Arthur Golding, 1575; the Fafti, anonymous, which probably revived and circulated the Story of Lu cretia; Ovid's Iois, by Thomas Underdowne, 1559; his Elegies, by Chriftopher Marlowe, his Remedy of Love, by F. L. 1600; his Heroical Epiftles, by Thomas Turberville, 1567; one of his Epiftles by Robert Earl of Effex, whofe literary character is here given; three books of the Triftia, by Thomas Church yard, 1580; Horace's Art of Poetry, Epiftles, and Satires, by Thomas Drant, 166; and Tully's Oration for Archias, by the fame, 1571; and with an inciden

tal criticifm on the original the Section concludes. Other works of the above writers are occafionally mentioned.

Sec. XLI. Other tranflations were the Epigrams of Martial, &c. by Timothy Kendall, 177; Coluthus's Rape of Helen, 1587, and the Loves of Hero and Leander, 1598, by Chriftopher Marlowe; ten books of Homer's Iliad, by Arthur Hall, Efq. 1581, the Iliad complete, 1611, and the Odyffey, 1614, by George Chapman, whofe other works are cha racterised; Clitophon and Leucippe, by W. B. 1577, and the Zodiac of Paingenius, by Barnaby Googe, 1565. This Section clofes with an incidental ftricture on the philofophy of the Greeks.

Sect. XLII. gives a full view of the chief of the translations from the Italian which appeared in England before the vear 1600, viz. Boccace's Palace of Pleafure, by William Painter, 1966; and feveral other of his tales. His Theodore and Honoria, and Cymon and Iphigenia, fo beautifully paraphrafed by Dryden, appeared in 160. Romeus and Juliet, Shakspeare's original, by Arthur Brooke, was printed in 1562. Bretagne is fhewn to have been anciently a copious fource of romance. The plot of Shakspeare's Tempeft, was probably taken from fome Italian novel. In addition to thefe, Mr. French and Spanish, as well as from the Warton, mentions feveral tales from the Italian. In 1599 appeared a kind of Pantheon, or Syftem of Heathen Mythology. Several of the above novels were arbitrarily licenfed, and afterwards as arbitrarily fuppreffed, by the intereft of the Puritans, particularly the Decameron of Boccace and "in the year 1599 the hall of the Stationers underwent as great a purgation as was carried on in Don Quixote's library."

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