becoming tedious. With what pleasure does the poet seem to exult in recollection of the former respectable state of poets! with what feeling and what energy does he complain of that modern neglect, of which many, and none more than himself, have had occafion to complain!

V. 369. Suffice it now th'Esquilian mount to reach,
With weary wing, and seek the sacred rests
Of Maro's humble tenement; a low
Plain wall remains; a little sun-gilt heap
Grotesque and wild; the gourd and olive
brown

Weave the light roof; the gourd and olive
fan,

Their am'rous foliage, mingling with the vine,

Who drops her purple clusters through the
green,

Here let me lie, with pleasing fancy footh'd:
Here flow'd his fountain; here his laurels

grew;

Here oft the meek good man, the lofty bard
Fram'd the celestial song; or social walk'd

With Horace and the ruler of the world :

stance rather displea The Poem opens th

Silent Nymph, Who, the purple On the mountair Beyond the noise Painting fair th While the yellow Or the tuneful ni

Charms the foref

Come with all ti

Come and aid th

Now while Pho

Gives luftre to t

Grongar Hill in
Draw the landsca

Dyer in general wn fimplicity and clear instance in which h explicable. What' addressed by the Nymph, it seems sc cover. Painting, Sifter Muse, and r meant; but why

1

Happy Augustus! who so well inspir'd,
Couldst throw thy pomps and royalties afide,
Attentive to the wife, the great of foul,
And dignify thy mind. Thrice glorious days
Auspicious to the Muses! then rever'd,
Then hallow'd was the fount, or secret shade,
Or open mountain, or whatever scene

The Poet chose to tune the ennobling rhyme
Melodious; ev'n the rugged sons of war,
Ev'n the rude hinds rever'd the Poet's name:
But now, another age alas! is ours-
Yet will the Muse a little longer foar,

Unless the clouds of care weigh down her
wing,

Since nature's stores are shut with cruel hand,
And each aggrieves his brother; since in vain
The thirsty pilgrim at the fountain afks
The o'erflowing wave-Enough-the plaint
difdain.-

The length of this Poem, and its superior merit, have hitherto caused it to engross a confiderable share of attention. The remaining part is of the same general character, and relates, in a spirited narrative, the rise, meridian, decline, and fall of the Roman Empire. The concluconclufion describes in the most animated manner the irruption of the Goths and Vandals, with their consequences; and reflects with equal dignity and pathos on the fatal effects of national luxury.

V. 526. But fee along the north the tempest swell

O'er the rough Alps, and darken all their
snows!

Sudden the Goth and Vandal, dreaded names,
Rush as the breach of waters, whelming all
Their domes, their villas; down the festive
piles,

Down fall their Parian porches, gilded baths,
And roll before the storm in clouds of dust.

Vain end of human strength, of human
skill,

Conquest, and triumph, and domain, and
pomp,

And ease and luxury! O luxury,
Bane of elated life, of affluent states,

What dreary change, what ruin is not
thine?

How doth thy bowl intoxicate the mind!
To the foft entrance of thy rosy cave,

How dost thou lure the fortunate and great!

Dreadful attraction! while behind thee gapeş
The unfathomable gulph, where Afhur lies