of winter within the Polar Circle, and of a thaw, and concludes the poem with moral reflections on a future ftate. His reflections on midnight, and the address to the Su preme Being, are pious and beautiful. As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds, WHERE now, ye lying vanities of life! FATHER of light and life! thou GOOD SUPREME! From every low purfuit! and feed my foul With knowledge, confcious peace, and virtue pure; The defcription of a deep fnow, and of a husbandman loft in it, with the reflections on the wants and miferies of mankind, are seasonable and pathetic. As thus, the fnows arife; and foul, and fierce ; Impatient flouncing thro' the drifted heaps, Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of hon Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour forth He meets the roughness of the middle wafte, Smooth'd up with fnow; and, what is land, unknown, In the loose marsh or solitary lake, Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils. up And, o'er his inmoft vitals creeping cold, AH little think the gay licentious proud, Ah little think they, while they dance along, His conclufion glows with a ftain of piety worthy of a chriftian poet and philofopher, and is too perfpicuous and forcible to require or admit of any remark. "Tis done! dread WINTER fpreads his latest gloom, And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year. How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends And pale concluding winter comes at last, And fhuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled, And dy'd, neglected: why the good man's fhare In palaces, lay ftraining her low thought, Imbitter'd all our blifs. Ye good distreft! The ftorms of WINTRY TIME will quickly pals, TH CHA P. XIV. Of Didactic or Preceptive POETRY. HE method of writing Precepts in verfe, and embellishing them with the graces of poetry, had its rife, we may fuppofe, from a due confideration of the frailties and perverfeness of human nature; and was intended to engage the affections, in order to improve the mind and amend the heart. Were it poffible to infpect into the minds of men, and fee their inmoft thoughts, we fhould find, I am afraid, that most of the human race are fond of appearing wifer than they are, and though they wish for knowledge are unwilling to confefs the want of it, or to feek after science for fear of being thought ignorant. Yet there are others, efpecially amongst our youth, who are under no apprehenfion of this kind, but fly from knowledge only because the roads to it are rugged, and the approaches difficult of accefs. To footh therefore the vanity of the one, and to remove the indolence of the other, poetry was called in to the aid of science, which by its peculiar gracefulness and addrefs could foften the appearance of inftruction, and render rules that were dull and disagreeable, sprightly and entertaining. The inventor of didactic poetry knew not only the defects of mankind, but likewife the force and power of a genteel and winning addrefs: He confider'd that ignorance and inattention were not the only enemies to fcience; but that pride, impatience, and affectation, were likewise to be vanquished; and therefore adorned and enriched his precepts, that pleasure might allure the one, and keep the other in countenance, .. Men must be taught as if you taught them not, POPE. Knowledge that is conveyed thus indirectly, and with. out the appearance of a dictator, will be learned with more eafe, fink deeper into the underftanding, and fo fix itself in the mind as not to be easily obliterated. And thefe confiderations, we may fuppofe, induced the priests and bards of old to deliver their laws and religious maxims in verse. Didactic or Preceptive Poetry, has been ufually employed either to illuftrate and explain our moral duties; our philofophical enquiries; our business and pleasures; or in teaching the art of criticism or poetry itself. It may be adapted, however, to any other fubject, and may, in all cafes, where inftruction is defigned, be employed to good purpose. Some fubjects, indeed, are more proper than others, as they admit of more poetical orna ments, and give a greater latitude to genius; but what ever the subject is, thofe precepts are to be laid down that are the most useful, and they should follow each other in a natural easy method, and be delivered in the moft agreeable engaging manner. What the profe writer tells you ought to be done, the poet often conveys under the form of a narration, or fhews the neceffity of in a description ; and by representing the action as done, or doing, conceals the precept that should enforce it. The poet, likewise, inftead of telling the whole truth, or laying down all the rules that are requifite, felects fuch parts only as are the moft pleafing, and communicates the reft indirectly, without giving us an open view of them; yet takes care that nothing fhall escape the reader's notice with which he ought to be acquainted. He difclofes juft enough to lead the imagination into the parts that are concealed, and the mind, ever gratified with its own difcoveries, is compli mented with exploring and finding them out; which, tho' done with ease, seems so confiderable as not to be obtained but in confequence of its own adroitness and fagacity. But this is not fufficient to render didactic poetry always pleafing; for where precepts are laid down one after an |