Hands that the rod of empire might have fway'd,
Or wak'd to extafy the living lyre:

But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll;
Chill penury reprefs'd their daring rage,

And froze the vigorous current of the foul:

Full many a gem of pureft ray ferene,

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And wafte its sweetness on the desert air.

The applause of listening senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,

And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbad; nor circumfcrib'd alone,
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;
Forbad to wade through flaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind.

But who, even for the fake of regularity, could admit fuch an alteration? who could bear to lose the recollection of fuch national and interefting examples, the recollection of a Hampden, a Milton, and a Cromwell?

The

The Periodical Writer before-mentioned, seems to have perceived that this part of the Elegy was in fome manner defective; but not understanding it fully, he has accused it of faults with which it is not chargeable: The author,' fays he, in the very moment that he intended to lafh Cromwell with the greatest

severity, introduces him in the fame

company with Hampden and Milton, the objects of his highest admiration ; and laments, in the fame introductory paffage, that

Chill penury repress'd his noble rage,

And froze the genial current of his foul.

• It is odd,' continues he, that a noble rage should ever be a guilty one.'

This is misrepresentation; the Critic has made the nonfenfe which he cenfures. The paffage, which he justly terms introductory, occurs before any mention is 0 3 made

made of Hampden, Milton, or Cromwell: it refers only to the Peasants, who are supposed to have poffeffed powers equal to the powers of those celebrated characters, but without opportunity of expanding them into action. Hampden, Milton, and Cromwell are, it is true, introduced in company, not as common objects of praise, but as common poffeffors of the noble rage which had been mentioned, a neutral expreffion, by which I understand no moral quality, either good or evil, but merely that vivida vis animi, which capacitates for great actions, whether virtuous or vicious in their own nature, With the fame erroneous idea, he proceeds to the context, " The applaufe of

liftening fenates, &c.' Here,' fays he, • Cromwell is allowed his share of vir'tue, as well as Hampden and Milton; ⚫ and they, in the pronoun plural their, are dragged in for their fhare of vices, as well as the celebrated ufurper,'

But

But the pronoun plural their relates neither to Hampden, nor Milton, nor Cromwell, but to two claffes of rufticks, who, if circumftances had favoured the exertion of their abilities when living, might either have benefited or injured their fellow creatures : fuch of them as had virtue in their reftricted sphere, would only have been more conspicuously good; fuch of them as had vice, would only have been preeminently wicked.*

This paffage has been fufficiently confidered, with regard to its fenfe; some attention seems now due to its expreffion:

To scatter plenty o'er a fmiling land,

And read their history in a nation's eyes.

* This Writer's objections may feem unneceffarily attended to; but as his Effay is the only profeffed Criticism on GRAY'S Elegy, it seemed to require fome notice.

Poetical boldness, carried to its utmost claffical limit, is inftanced in these lines. Some of the images are fo uncertainly marked, that we scarcely know whether they were intended for natural objects or allegorical perfonages. Plenty,' indeed, which is very often personified, cannot poffibly be fo here; for the circumstance of being 'Scattered,' precludes the idea of a person, and fixes the meaning to the actual produce of cultivation.

The land,' from the application of the epithet Smiling,' may be regarded as a perfonification, but perhaps nothing more was really defigned, than the mere extent of the country; which when replenished with flowers, fruits, and corn, is frequently faid to Smile. The next line, And read their history, &c.' ranks in a still more doubtful predicament. We are at a lofs to determine, whether we are to understand by the word nation,' the croud of individuals, the real people at large, in propria perfona, or the fame fubject confidered in the aggregate,

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