T

fate of à person of worth. A poem of this

LY

duw pathetic, rejects We therefore can following paffage,

kind, deeply ferious and all fiction with difdain. give no quarter to the which is eminently difcordant with the fubb ject. It is not the language of the heart, but of the imagination indulging its flights at ease. It would be a ftill more be fevere cenfure, if it should be ascribed to imitation, copying indifcreetly what has been laid by others.

What though no weeping loves thy ashes grace, I
Nor polish'd marble emulate thy face?
What though no facred earth allow thee room,
Nor hallow'd dirge be mutter'd o'er thy tomb?
Yet fhall thy grave with rifing flow'rs be dreft,¶
And the green turf lie lightly on thy breaft: 1
There shall the morn her earliest tears beftow,**
There the first roses of the year fhall blow van I
While angels with their filver wings o'erfhade
The ground, now facred by thy reliques made.

Fifth. Fanciful or finical sentiments, fen timents that degenerate into point, or conceit, however they may amuse in an idle hour, can never be the offspring of any ferious or important paffion. In the Ierufalem

"A

of

of Taffo, Tancred, after a fingle combat, fpent with fatigue and lofs of blood, falls into a fwoon. In this fituation, underftood to be dead, he is difcovered by Erminia, who was in love with him to distraction. A more happy fituation cannot be imagined, to raise grief in an instant to its highest pitch; and yet, in venting her forrow, the defcends most abominably to antithefis and conceit, even of the lowest kind.

E in lui versò d' inefficabil vena
Lacrime, e voce di fofpiri mifta.
In che mifero punto hor qui me mena
Fortuna? a che veduta amara e trifta?
Dopo gran tempo i' ti ritrovo à pena
Tancredi, e ti riveggio, e non fon vista,
Vista non fon da te, benche prefente
E trovando ti perdo eternamente.

Cant, 19. ft. 105

Armida's lamentation refpecting her lover

Rinaldo*, is in the fame vitious taste,

气

Queen. Give me no help in lamentation,

I am not barren to bring forth complaints

All springs reduce their currents to mine eyės, W
That I, being govern'd by the wat❜ry moon,
May fend forth plenteous tears to drown the worldi
Ah, for my husband, for my dear Lord Edward."
King Richard III. a& 2. fc. 2.

Jane Shore. Let me be branded for the public It belo

fcorn,

Turn'd forth, and driven to wander like a vaga

bond,

Be friendless and forfaken, feek my breadit nod T
Upon the barren wild, and defolate waste,
Feed on my fighs, and drink my falling tears; yd
Ere I confent to teach my lips injuftice,
injustice, as s
Or wrong the orphan who has none to fave him. A

Fane Shore, alt 4.
Wow) sisal !«H

Give me your drops, ye foft-defcending rains,^ 1[
Give me your streams, ye never-ceafing fprings,

That my fad eyes may ftill fupply my duty,
And feed an everlasting flood of forrow.

Jane Shore, alt 5.

Then all is well, and I fhall fleep in peace

'I is very dark, and I have loft you now

Was there not fomething I would have bequeath'd

you?

But I have nothing left me to bestow,

Nothing but one fad figh. Oh mercy, Heav'n!

[Dies. Act 5.

Gilford to Lady Jane Gray, when both were condemned to die:

Thou ftand'st unmov'd;

Calm temper fits upon thy beauteous brow;
Thy eyes that flow'd fo faft for Edward's lofs,
Gaze unconcern'd upon the ruin round thee,
As if thou hadft refolv'd to brave thy fate,
And triumph in the midst of defolation.
Ha! fee, it fwells, the liquid crystal rises,
It starts in fpight of thee but I will catch it,
Nor let the earth be wet with dew fo rich.

Lady Jane Gray, act 4. near the end.

The concluding fentiment is altogether finical, unfuitable to the importance of the occafion, and even to the dignity of the pasfion of love.

Corneille, in his Examen of the Cid*, an

* Page 316.

VOL. II.

A a

fwering

fwering an objection, that his fentiments are fometimes too much refined for perfons in deep distress, obferves, that if poets did not indulge fentiments more ingenious or refined than are prompted by paffion, their performances would often be low; and extreme grief would never fuggeft but excla mations merely. This is in plain language to affert, That forced thoughts are more relished than fuch as are natural, and therefore ought to be preferred.

The fecond clafs is of fentiments that may belong to an ordinary paffion, but are not perfectly concordant with it, as tinctured by a fingular character. In the last act of that excellent comedy, The Careless Hufband, Lady Eafy, upon Sir Charles's refor mation, is made to exprefs more violent and turbulent fentiments of joy, than are confiftent with the mildness of her character.

Lady Eafy. O the foft treasure! O the dear reward of long-defiring love Thus! thus to have you mine, is fomething more than happiness, 'tis double life, and madnefs of abounding joy.