either of the foregoing; the mind is indulged in free retrospect of antiquity, and fometimes in conjectural glimpfes of futurity; with fuch a field open before him, the objects which we muft fuppose should more immediately attract the attention of the poet, would be the failure or fuccefs of his predeceffors; and the caufes to which either was to be attributed. Pope has fully avail'd himself of the dear-bought experience of all who went before him; there is perhaps no poet more entirely free from this failing. I fhall however only cite one inftance in which he may feem to have carried his regard for fimplicity fo far, as to fhew himself guilty of inaccuracy and inattention.

The hungry Judges now the fentence fign,
And wretches hang, that jurymen may dine.

That judges in England never fign a fentence is well known; and hunger, whatever effect it might have had on the jurymen of antient days, with thofe of modern times feems to operate rather as an incitement to mercy.-Clifden's proud alcove has not at present, and probably never had, any existence; but the fault, if any there is, feems rather. that of the language than of the poet: or perhaps, after all, it was mere penury of rhime, and a dif

trefs fimilar to that which made him in another place hunt his poor dab-chick into a copfe where it was never feen but in the Dunciad.

After fo much faid on the subject of local allufions, and terms of art, it cannot but occur to me, that I have myself fometimes fallen into the error which I have here reprehended, and adopted phrafes and expreffions unintelligible, except to the little circle to which my labours were at first confined; an error I fhall cautiously avoid for the future for how little claim foever the lucubrations of GREGORY GRIFFIN may have to public notice, or a protracted term of existence, he is unwilling to abridge either by wilful continuance in an acknowledged error.

To CORRESPONDENTS,

D

NO NOVELIST, Two SENEX's, and the COUNTRY GIRL are received. The latter has a full right to the indulgence the defires, and will much oblige me by her future correfpondence, I am very loth to refufe any thing to fo fair a petitioner, as I take it for granted MATRONA is, and grieve that it is not in my power to accept her invitation at prefent, and oblige her by the interview which the folicits. In any thing elfe fhe may command me.

No. X.

OF THE

MICROCOSM.

MONDAY, February 5, 1787.

Et filicis venis abftrufum, excuderit ignem.-VIRG. And ftruck the imprifon'd spark from veins of Stone.

M

ANKIND in general, when they contemplate the records of thofe illuftrious for Patriotifm, Philosophy, Poetry, or any other qualities which entitle them to immortality, are inclined to complain of the dearth of abilities and paucity of true Genius obfervable in all ages. Genius, exclaims the difcontented complainant, is given but with a fparing hand; instead of moving in a regular orbit as the Planet, its Courfe is lawlefs as the Comet's; instead of diffusing the permanent rays of the Sun, it glitters only with the dazzling glare of the lightning; it is quick and tranfitory, and like the Phoenix, appears not once in a century.-Such is

The

the ufual outcry of thofe, who love to turn good into evil; to depreciate the dignity of man, and undervalue the works of their creator. arguments by which they fupport this hypothefis are plaufible; they obferve, that illuftrious men have generally flourished not in a continued feries, when the lofs of one was fupplied by a fucceffor equally capable; but in a collective body. After their demise, nature, as exhausted by such an unusual effort, has funk into a lethargy, and flept for ages. Thefe Sons of Fame, like the brighter conftellations of the Heavens, obfcure by their fuperior fplendor the infinite hofts of Stars which are fcattered through the regions of endlefs fpace. To eftablish this pofition, they inftance the noted reigns of Auguftus, Charles, Ann, and Louis. The refpectable names of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, Livy, and the other glories of this learned age are produced: Milton, Dryden, Tillotson, and Clarendon, with Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Bolingbroke, Addison, Corneille, Racine, and Moliere, seem to corroborate this affertion. But let us examine with impartiality, and the deception will be detected. Can we fuppofe, that nature has fcattered her bleffings with more profufion to one age than another; or, that like an unfeeling ftep-mother, fhe has robbed one

child of its portion to enrich the other? Rather has not the universality of her influence been equally extended to all? Whence then, it is required,whence originates that inequality of Genius and Learning, which is fo incontrovertibly confpicuous in the annals of History? The answer is brief, from the difference of cultivation: The moft fertile fields will, if neglected, be overrun with weeds; and the bramble will choak the luxuriance of the floweret.

How many neglected fpots are concealed in the wilds of Africa; how many tracts, feemingly oppreffed with the curfe of fterility, have, by the af fiftance of art teemed with the fruits of cultivation. The human mind is that luxuriant field, rich in the gifts of Nature; but requiring the fostering care of education, to raise the imperfect feed to the maturity of the full grown crop.

I will venture to affirm, that neither the dark ages of the latter Roman Empire, nor the darker ones which fucceeded, (the period when human nature was at its lowest ebb, and had relapfed into the barbarifm from which the fuperior wisdom of the firft race of man had raised it) were deficient in Genius, if opportunity had called forth its powers. Statius and Claudian undoubtedly poffelfed the fire fo requifite to form the poet; and

the