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the opinion of the generality of poetical amateurs, by the monotonous jingle which attends it. Few, therefore, have attained to excellence in this species of composition; Shakspeare, Milton and Dyer, Akenside, Mason and Cowper, may be considered as furnishing the best. models, and in their school Mr. Good seems to have studied with success. His blank verse strikes me as meriting much praise for melody and variety of rythm, for that disposition of cadence and pause which gratifies a correct ear, and which even in the longest composition loses not the charm that first attracted.

An undertaking so difficult as a poetic version of Lucretius must assuredly be deemed, cannot fail, I should hope, of meeting with due encouragement from the literary world. Should the observations and quotations which have been given in this paper, have the smallest tendency to place in a clearer point of view the merits of the Roman and his Translator, it may, I think, with confidence be asserted, that the public will be benefited by the attempt.

NUMBER III.

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,
Are of imagination all compact.
Shakspeare.

Imagination, that fruitful source of the beautiful and sublime, when duly tempered and chastised by the strict ratiocination of science, throws a fascinating charm over all the walks of life; unveils, as it were, scenes of fairy texture, and draws the mind, with salutary influence, from the sordid cares, and selfish pursuits, the sanguinary tumult, and materialized enjoyments of the herd of mankind, to repose on all that is good and fair, on all that the Almighty Architect, in animate or inanimate nature, has poured forth to excite the admiration, the love and gratitude of his intellectual creatures.

But should this brilliant faculty be nurtured on the bosom of enthusiasm, or romantic expectation, or be left to revel in all its native wildness of combination, and to plunge into all the visionary terrors of supernatural agency, undiverted by the deductions of truth, or the sober realities of existence, it will too often prove the cause of acute misery, of melancholy, and even of distraction.

In the spring of life, when reason and experience are necessarily confined, almost every object rises clothed in vivid hues; earth appears a paradise, and its inhabitants little short of perfection; alas! as the man advances, as he becomes acquainted with his fellow man, how are all these splendid visions scattered on the winds! he beholds passions the most baneful devastate this beauteous globe, and witnesses, with horror and dismay, its wretched inhabitants immolate each other on the altars of

avarice, and ambition. Starting from the dream of youth, he turns disgusted from the loathsome scene; perhaps, retires to commune with himself, to pause upon the lot of mortality,

To this important crisis many of the characters which adorn or blot the records of humanity, owe their origin. He, who can call religion and literature to his aid, will pass along the road of life intent on other worlds, and alone employed in this, in accelerating the powers of intellect, and in meliorating the condition of his species. From the crimes and follies of mankind, from the annals of blood, and the orgies of voluptuousness, will this man fly to no unprofitable solitude; here will he trace the finger of the Deity, and here amid the pursuits of science, the charms of music, and the pleasures of poetry, with simplicity of heart, and energy of genius, will adore the God who gave them.

Effects, however, such as these, are, unfortunately, no common result; for that intensity of feeling and ardour of expectation which usually accompany our early years, meeting with a sudden and unexpected check, sometimes lead to a train of idea the very reverse of all that pleased before, and misanthropy, and even scepticism close the scene, and chill every social and benevolent exertion. But far more common is that character which when

once awakened from the delusion of inexperience, and become acquainted with the vices. of mankind, passes on with wily circumspection, intent only on moulding the crimes and passions which surround it, to instruments of pecuniary gain, or desolating ambition. Many of this class there are, whose principal object being the accumulation of property, preserve, as a mean toward its attainment, an imposing exterior, and travel through life with, what is called, a fair character, yet possessing no one benevolent feeling or liberal sentiment that can properly designate them for man, or rank them beyond the animal they consume.

But some there are gifted with an imagination of the most brilliant kind; who are accustomed to expatiate in all the luxury of an ideal world, and who possess a heart glowing with the tenderest sensations. These men too frequently fall a sacrifice to the indulgence of a warm and vigorous fancy, and which is, unhappily, not sufficiently corrected by a knowledge of mankind, or the rigid deduction of scientific study. The lovely scenes they had so rapturously drawn, and coloured, find no architype

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