Gray. To lone Vaucluse let all the loves repair! And tell their sorrows to her listening air; There oft, when Cynthia threw her midnight beam 131 loss, I have written it, with a pleasure mixed with bitterness, in a book to which I often refer. Since the strongest cord of my life is now broken, with the grace of God I shall easily renounce a world where my cares have been deceitful, and my hopes vain and perishing." Petrarch died in the year 1374, at Arqua, and his body was interred in the chapel of the Virgin, which he, not long before his death, had built. * In what manner shall I speak of this accomplished author? Or how shall I describe the delight which he has given me ? To call him the greatest poet of his day, will not express his merits---to place him at the head of all lyric and elegiac poets, would be no more than his due! He has indeed written but little; but that littlein a superlative manner. He reverenced the world too much to give it the hasty production of a day. He wrote for immortality, and immortality will be his reward. consulted his feelings when he wrote. He was a poet who The silence of seclu : Cowper. When tolls the curfew the departing day, "And lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea," Mark how, in thoughtful mood, he takes his way, Thro' the lone church-yard, to his favourite tree! "Or see him by the green woodside along, 139 While homeward hies the swain, his labour done, Oft as the woodlark pipes his farewel song, With wistful eyes pursue the setting sun.' Hear Cowper* raise his bold and moral song, Arm'd with sweet tenderness, in virtue strong; sion, and the gloom of melancholy, dictated his Elegy in a Country Church-Yard. He has himself acknowledged, in a letter to his friend, that an aged Welchman, playing on his harp, excited him to complete his ode, entitled, "The Bard." England has lately lost this excellent man and poet--to whom she is indebted for his elegant instructions conveyed in the TASK. Cowper was a writer, original in his thoughts, and undaunted in his delivery of truth. His representations are commonly striking: I need only instance his picture of Omai---the Woodman and his Dog---Crazy Kate--and Mysagathus.---His principal faults are his want of connection throughout his poem, and his not attending sufficiently to the harmony of his numbers. He discovers, in numerous passages, that he was capable of the utmost harmony. Cowper's satires, particularly his Table Talk, and Progress of Error, are among the most chaste and dignified compositions of that class, in the English language. Rousseau; Richardson. Truth, while he sings, lets fall her honest tears! 150 And reigns the mistress of th' impassioned heart. See copious Richardson's* consummate art, Rouse every passion of the feeling heart! 160 *Richardson was an author of uncommon merit; his knowledge of nature was extensive; his characters are drawn with a masterly hand; his delineations of the pas sions are accurate; his moral sentiments judicious. He wrote with a good intention, for he was a man of virtue and of piety. Fielding. See Fielding* travel thro' each scene of life; Nor pass the landlord or his scolding wife! As fair a picture as the pencil drew! See, mid his group, the country 'squire arise! 170 "Comic romance has been brought to perfection in England by Henry Fielding: who seems to have possessed more wit and humour, and more knowledge of mankind than any other person of modern times, Shakespeare excepted; and whose great natural abilities were refined by a classical taste, which he had acquired by studying the best authors of antiquity. The great lord Lyttleton, after mentioning several particulars of Pope, Swift, and other wits of that time, when I asked some questions relating to the author of Tom Jones, began his answer with these words, • Henry Fielding, I assure you, had more wit, and more humour, than all the persons we have been speaking of put together.'" BEATTIE'S DISSERTATION. With these remarks of Dr. Beattie I agree. In many of the qualifications of a novelist Fielding is unrivalled. In speaking of the genius displayed in fictions, I could not pass over him; but the truth must not be withheld---that his works contain many scenes of indecency! his works, therefore, I would by no means recommend. There are few novels that I would recommend unconditionally; and I would advise, that all of them should be read sparingly. Genlis; Burney. 180 Roving thro' meads of everlasting bloom Fann'd by the breath of every sweet perfume, See Genlis * comes and waves in air her hand, And bids the fairies bow at her command. Lo! at her call two matchless knights appear, Mount the barb'd steed and couch the deathful spear; Lo! at her call appears the Queen of Charms, And welcomes Valour to her gentle arms; See, at her call the bleeding spectre rise, Fix on the warrior-knight, her gloating eyes, Rove by the glimpses of pale Luna's beam, And chill the midnight with her hideous scream. By Fancy crown'd, to every bosom known, Amid those scenes which Truth and Nature own, See Burney + move, with her creative wand, And bind our passions with her silken band! This celebrated French lady is remarkable for the versatility of her talents. She is justly entitled to a place in the first rank of literary females. She is sometimes a sentimentalist, 'visionary, and erroneous, but always ingenious. Her Theatre of Education is a pleasing instructor to the early years of life. Her Tales of the Castle, her Rival Mothers, and Knights of the Swan discover sensibility, talents of description and invention. This writer is justly an universal favourite. In her manner of novel-writing she is unrivalled. The three novels which she has written, have each peculiar merits. Camilla manifests the greatest extent of observation.-Evelina |