A more thorough knowledge of the subject cannot be communicated without pain, nor acquired without study; perhaps too minute a skill in this, or any one subject, might disqualify the mind for other branches of science, equally demanding our care. Of whatever use it may be, I hope you will consider it as an instance of my regard, though it should fail to add to your opinion of my sagacity.

LETTER XVI.

I HAVE not hitherto said anything of the literature of the present period, having resolved to refer it to a separate letter, in which we may have a more perspicuous view of it, than if blended with the ordinary occurrences of the state. Though learning had never received fewer encouragements than in the present reign, yet it never flourished more. That spirit of philosophy which had been excited in former ages, still continued to operate with the greatest success, and produced the greatest men in every profession. Among the divines Atterbury and Clarke distinguished themselves. As a preacher Atterbury united all the graces of style with all the elegance of a just delivery; he was natural, polite, spirited; and his sermons may be ranked among the first of this period. Clarke, on the other hand, despising the graces of eloquence, only sought after conviction, with rigorous though phlegmatic exactness, and brought moral truths almost to mathematical precision. Yet neither he, Cudworth, nor any other divine, did such service to the reasoning world, as the great Mr. John Locke, who may be justly said to have reformed all our modes of thinking in metaphysical inquiry. Though the jargon of schools had been before him arraigned, yet several of their errors had still subsisted and were regarded as true. Locke, therefore, set himself to overturn their systems and refute their absurdities; these he effectually accomplished, for which reason his book, which when published, was of infinite service, it may be found less useful at present, when the doctrines it was calculated to refute are no longer subsisting.

Among the moral writers of this period, the Earl of Shaftesbury is not to be passed over, whose elegance in some measure recompenses for his want of solidity. The opinions of all latter writers upon moral subjects are only derived from the ancients. Morals are a subject on which the industry of men has been exercised in every age; and an infinite number of systems have been the result. That of Shaftesbury, in which he establishes a natural sense of moral beauty, was originally professed by Plato, and only adorned by the English philosopher. This seemed to be the age of speculation. Berkeley, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland, surpassed all his cotemporaries in subtlety of disquisition; but the mere efforts of reason, which are exerted rather to raise doubt than procure certainty, will never meet with much favour from so vain a being as man. Lord Bolingbroke had also some reputation for metaphysical inquiry; his friends extolled his sagacity on that head, and the public were willing enough to acquiesce in their opinion; his fame therefore might have continued to rise; or at least would have never sunk if he had never published. His works have appeared, and the public are no longer in their former sentiments. In mathematics and natural philosophy, the vein opened by Newton was prosecuted with success; Dr. Halley illustrated the theory of the tides, and increased the catalogue of the stars, while Gregory reduced astronomy to one comprehensive and regular system. Dr. Friend, in medicine, produced some ingenious theories, which, if they did not improve the art, at least showed his abilities and learning in his profession. Dr. Mead was equally elegant, and more successful; to him is owing the useful improvement of tapping in the dropsy at once by means of a swathe. But of all the other arts, poetry

in this age was carried to the greatest perfection. The language for some ages had been improving, but now it seemed entirely divested of its roughness and barbarity. Among the poets of this period we may place John Philips, author of several poems; but of none more admired than that humorous one, entitled The Splendid Shilling. He lived in obscurity, and died just above want. William Congreve deserves also particular notice; his comedies, some of which were but coolly received upon their first appearance, seemed to mend upon repetition; and he is, at present, justly allowed the foremost in that species of dramatic poesy. His wit is ever just and brilliant; his sentiments new and lively; and his elegance equal to his regularity. Next him Vanbrugh is placed, whose humour seems more natural, and characters more new; but he owes too many obligations to the French, entirely to pass for an original; and his total disregard to decency, in a great measure, impairs his merit. Farquhar is still more lively, and perhaps more entertaining than either; his pieces still continue the favourite performances of the stage, and bear frequent repetition without satiety; but he often mistakes pertness for wit,' and seldom strikes his characters with proper force or originality. However, he died very young; and it is remarkable that he continued to improve as he grew older; his last play, entitled The Beaux Stratagem, being the best of his productions. Addison, both as a poet and prose writer, deserves the highest regard and imitation. His Campaign and Letter to Lord Halifax from Italy, are masterpieces in the former, and his Essays, published in "The Spectator," are inimitable specimens of the latter. Whatever he treated of was handled with elegance and precision, and that virtue which was taught in his writings was enforced by his example. Steele was Addison's friend and admirer; his comedies are perfectly polite, chaste, and genteel; nor were his other works contemptible; he wrote on several subjects, and yet it is amazing in the multiplicity of his pursuits how he found leisure for the discussion of any; ever persecuted by creditors, whom his profuseness drew upon him, or pursuing impracticable schemes, suggested by ill-grounded ambition. Dean Swift was the professed antagonist of both Addison and him. He perceived that there was a spirit of romance mixed with all the works of the poets who preceded him; or, in other words, that they had drawn nature on the most pleasing side. There still therefore was a place left for him, who, careless of censure, should describe it just as it was with all its deformities; he therefore owes much of his fame, not so much to the greatness of his genius, as to the boldness of it. He was dry, sarcastic, and severe; and suited his style exactly to the turn of his thought, being concise and nervous. In this period also flourished many of subordinate fame. Prior was the first who adopted the French elegant easy manner of telling a story, but if what he has borrowed from that nation be taken from him, scarce anything will be left upon which he can lay claim to applause in poetry. Rowe was only outdone by Shakspeare and Otway as a tragic writer; he has fewer absurdities than either, and is perhaps as pathetic as they; but his flights are not so bold, nor his characters so strongly marked. Perhaps his coming later than the rest may have contributed to lessen the esteem he deserves. Garth had success as a poet; and for a time his fame was even greater than his desert. In his principal work, the Dispensary, his versification is negligent, and his plot is now become tedious; but whatever he may lose as a poet, it would be improper to rob him of the merit he deserves for having written the prose dedication and preface to the poem already mentioned, in which he has shown the truest wit with the most refined elegance. Parnell, though he has written but one poem, namely, the Hermit, yet has found a place among the English first-rate poets. Gay

"What pert low dialogue has Farquhar writ."-POPE to Augustus."

likewise, by his Fables and Pastorals, has acquired an equal reputation. But of all who have added to the stock of English poetry, Pope perhaps deserves the first place. On him foreigners look as one of the most successful writers of his time, his versification is the most harmonious, and his correctness the most remarkable of all our poets. A noted cotemporary of his own calls the English the finest writers on moral topics, and Pope the noblest moral writer of all the English. Mr. Pope has somewhere named himself the last English muse; and, indeed, since his time, we have seen scarce any production that can justly lay claim to immortality; he carried the language to its highest perfection, and those who have attempted still farther to improve it, instead of ornament, have only caught finery.

Such was the learning of this period; it flourished without encouragement, and the English taste seemed to diffuse itself over all Europe. The French tragedies began to be written after the model of ours, our philosophy was adopted by all who pretended to reason for themselves. At present, however, when the learned of Europe are turned to the English writers for instruction, all spirit of learning has ceased amongst us. So little has been got by literature for more than an age, that none choose to turn to it for preferment. Church preferments, which were once given as the rewards of learning, have, for some time, deviated to the intriguing, venal, and base. All desire of novelty in thinking is suppressed amongst us, and our scholars, more pleased with security and ease than honour, coolly follow the reasonings of their predecessors, and walk round the circle of former discovery.

PREFACE.

DR. FORDYCE's excellent Sermons for Young Women, in some measure gave rise to the following compilation. In that work, where he so judiciously points out all the defects of female conduct, to remedy them, and all the proper studies which they should pursue, with a view to improvement, Poetry is one to which he particularly would attach them. He only objects to the danger of pursuing this charming study through all the immoralities and false pictures of happiness with which it abounds, and thus becoming the martyr of innocent curiosity.

In the following compilation, care has been taken to select, not only such pieces as innocence may read without a blush, but such as will even tend to strengthen that innocence. In this little work, a lady may find the most exquisite pleasure, while she is at the same time learning the duties of life; and, while she courts only entertainment, be deceived into wisdom. Indeed, this would be too great a boast in the preface to any original work; but here it can be made with safety, as every poem in the following collection would singly have procured an author great reputation.

They are divided into Devotional, Moral, and Entertaining, thus comprehending the three great duties of life; that which we owe to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves.

In the first part, it must be confessed, our English poets have not very

To "Poems for Young Ladies, in three parts; Devotional, Moral, and Entertaining the whole being a collection of the best pieces in our language.

External Graces all decay;

Their Power is quickly past;

A well-formed Mind extends their sway,
And bids each Beauty last.-Anonym.

London Printed for J. Payne, in Pater-noster Row. 1767." 12mo., pp. 248.

VOL. III.

YY

1

much excelled. In that department, namely, the praise of our Maker, by which poetry began, and from which it deviated by time, we are most faultily deficient. There are one or two, however, particularly "The Deity,' by Mr. Boyse; a poem which, when it first came out, lay for some time neglected, till introduced to public notice by Mr. Hervey and Mr. Fielding. In it the reader will perceive many striking pictures, and perhaps glow with a part of that gratitude which seems to have inspired the writer.

In the moral part I am more copious, from the same reason, because our language contains a large number of the kind. Voltaire, talking of our poets, gives them the preference in moral pieces to those of any other nation; and indeed no poets have better settled the bounds of duty, or more precisely determined the rules for conduct in life than ours. In this department, the fair reader will find the Muse has been solicitous to guide her, not with the allurements of a syren, but the integrity of a friend.

In the entertaining part, my greatest difficulty was what to reject. The materials lay in such plenty, that I was bewildered in my choice in this case, then, I was solely determined by the tendency of the poem; and where I found one, however well executed, that seemed in the least tending to distort the judgment, or inflame the imagination, it was excluded without mercy. I have here and there, indeed, when one of particular beauty offered with a few blemishes, lopt off the defects; and thus, like the tyrant who fitted all strangers to the bed he had prepared for them, I have inserted some by first adapting them to my plan; we only differ in this, that he mutilated with a bad design, I from motives of a contrary

nature.

It will be easier to condemn a compilation of this kind, than to prove its inutility. While young ladies are readers, and while their guardians are solicitous that they shall only read the best books, there can be no danger of a work of this kind being disagreeable. It offers, in a very small compass, the very flowers of our poetry, and that of a kind adapted to the sex supposed to be its readers. Poetry is an art which no young lady can, or ought to be, wholly ignorant of. The pleasure which it gives, and indeed the necessity of knowing enough of it to mix in modern conversation, will evince the usefulness of my design, which is to supply the highest and the most innocent entertainment at the smallest expense; as the poems in this collection, if sold singly, would amount to ten times the price of what I am able to afford the present.

1 Samuel Boyse, born 1708, died 1749. The first edition of "The Deity" appeared 1740, and the third 1752. The following account of himself has escaped his biographers "I am, Sir, the only son of Mr. Boyse, of Dublin, a man whose character and writings are well known. My father died in 1728, in very involved circumstances, so that I had nothing left to trust to but a liberal education. In 1730 I removed to Edinburgh, where I published a collection of poems, with a translation of the Tablature of Cebes. After some years stay there, and many disappointments, I came in 1737 to London, where I have done several essays in the literary way (chiefly poetry), with but slender encouragement. Mr. Cave, for whose magazine I have done many things, and at whose desire I removed to this neighbourhood, has not used me so kindly as the sense he has expressed of my services gave me reason to expect. Learning, however it may be a consolation under affliction, is no security against the common calamities of life. I think myself capable of business in the literary way, but by my late necessities am unhappily reduced to an incapacity of going abroad to seek it."-BOYSE to Dr. Birch, Nov. 5, 1742. (Birch MSS. in Brit. Mus.)

2 Goldsmith has included in this division his own "Edwin and Angelina."

PREFACE.

My Bookseller having informed me that there was no collection of English Poetry among us, of any estimation, I thought a few hours spent in making a proper selection would not be ill bestowed. Compilations of this kind are chiefly designed for such as either want leisure, skill, or fortune, to choose for themselves; for persons whose professions turn them to different pursuits, or who, not yet arrived at sufficient maturity, require a guide to direct their application. To our youth, particularly, a publication of this sort may be useful; since, if compiled with any share of judgment, it may at once unite precept and example, show them what is beautiful, and inform them why it is so: I therefore offer this, to the best of my judgment, as the best collection that has yet appeared: though, as tastes are various, numbers will be of a very different opinion. Many, perhaps, may wish to see in it the poems of their favourite authors; others may wish that I had selected from works less generally read; and others still may wish that I had selected from their own. But my design was to give a useful, unaffected compilation; one that might tend to advance the reader's taste, and not impress him with exalted ideas of mine. Nothing so common, and yet so absurd, as affectation in criticism. The desire of being thought to have a more discerning taste than others, has often led writers to labour after error, and to be foremost in promoting deformity. In this compilation, I run but few risks of that kind: every poem here is well known, and possessed, or the public has been long mistaken, of peculiar merit; every poem has, as Aristotle expresses it, a beginning, a middle, and an end, in which, however trifling the rule may seem, most of the poetry in our language is deficient: I claim no merit in the choice, as it was obvious; for in all languages the best productions are most easily found. As to the short introductory criticisms to each poem, they are rather designed for boys than men; for it will be seen that I declined all refinement, satisfied with being obvious and sincere. In short, if this work be useful in schools, or amusing in the closet, the merit all belongs to others; I have nothing to boast, and at best can expect, not applause, but pardon.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

INTRODUCTORY CRITICISMS.

VOL. I.

THE RAPE OF THE LOCK.-This seems to be Mr. Pope's most finished production, and is, perhaps, the most perfect in our language. It exhibits stronger powers of imagination, more harmony of numbers, and a greater knowledge of the world, than any other of this poet's works; and it is probable, if our country were called upon to show a specimen of their genius to foreigners, this would be the work fixed upon.

THE HERMIT.-This poem is held in just esteem, the versification being chaste, and tolerably harmonious, and the story told with perspicuity and conciseness. It seems to have cost great labour, both to Mr. Pope, and Parnell himself, to bring it to this perfection. It may not be amiss to observe, that the fable is taken from one of Dr. Henry More's Dialogues.

To "The Beauties of English Poesy, selected by Oliver Goldsmith. In two volumes. London: Printed for William Griffin, in Catharine Street in the Strand. 1776. [P. 68. B.]" 12mo.