: "Lo! where the rosy-bosom'd Hours, Fair Venus' train, appear, The Attic warbler pours her throat," &c. The propriety and beauty of the expressions in these lines depend upon the reference which we make to the ancient authors who have used them. To the mere English writer, some must appear inapplicable, as "purple year;" and others unintelligible, as "Attic warbler." The whole of the stanza has, indeed, quite the air of a Grecian hymn or ode and might have been sung with propriety by an ancient poet, who was beholding an Athenian landscape brightening in the spring. Considered as a mere piece of English scenery, I think some of the images not peculiarly appropriate; and perhaps, the expression 'purple year' is too florid and luxuriant, for anything but the splendour of an Asiatic vegetation.* But not to dwell on this trivial objection; perhaps the allusions to the ancient mythology with which the poem opens, might have been kept in view throughout; instead of being almost entirely confined to the commencement; and, on the whole, I have always thought there was a little defect in the change of scenery and expression which takes place in this * See Sir W. Jones' description of an Asiatic Spring in his Prælect. Poes. As. p. 6, and its effect on the language of Poetry. ode at the close of the first stanza. The charm, indeed, which is produced by the occasional insertion of a classical image, or an allusion to the mythology of the ancients; the associations which it brings with it, and the interesting picture which it creates in the mind, is too evident to require any proof. When, for instance, in the Hymn to Adversity, we meet with that fine invocation : "Oh! gently on thy suppliant's head, Dread goddess, lay thy chast'ning hand! Not circled with the vengeful band”→ what single epithet, what attribute could the poet have given to Terror, which could have produced an effect equal to that of this image? Do we not immediately behold the figure of the goddess; "Horrentem colubris, vultuque tremendam, and do we not reflect upon a period, when this image was not considered merely as part of an elegant fable, or as an ingenious personification: but when it brought with it the impression of its real presence, which was felt; and of its supernatural power, which was revered? When an allusion, and not an imitation, is intended to be pointed out, it is not always of consequence from what author, or what particular passage, the resemblance is drawn; and therefore it cannot be objected, that the one allusion which I have marked, is needless; because many others equally obvious could be brought from various quarters. An imitation perhaps must be confined to one or two passages; but an allusion may be illustrated by many. It surely forms also a pleasing branch of criticism, to trace coincidences of thought between writers of genius; to see what particular taste has added to general expression; and to observe, how a graceful idiom, or a noble image, has been altered or enlarged by each succeeding poet; what new and unexpected lights have been cast by the fancy of one author, on the suggestions of another; and how a thought, by gradual expansion, or sudden addition, is at length perfected. We may thus perceive from what slender associations, from what faint images and occasional turns of expression, a train of thought may shoot across the mind of the poet, and opening and enlarging itself, and gaining accessions of strength from all which the genius and learning of the mind can supply, at length appear with a lustre and beauty that never belonged to it in its early state, and under its original possessor. In this manner we may form a correct notion how fine the fruit of native genius will be, when it is assisted by the wisdom of others: and when the poet, while indulging in a patient and liberal enquiry into the opinions of the enlightened, still preserves a consciousness of his own independence of thought, and of his native and original strength." Poetry (says Milton) is the art of expert judgment, and the final work of a head filled by long reading and observing, with elegant maxims and copious invention."* It will hardly be necessary, after what I have said, to take notice of the opinions of those, who think the fame of the poet lessened as the imitations, coincidences, or allusions are pointed out, and that his original genius is depreciated by exhibiting the quantity of his acquired materials. It may be asked, however, if the reputation of Shakespeare or Milton has been at all diminished, by the illustrations collected by the industry of their commentators. I remember when an opinion of this nature was once urged against Milton; and when it was asserted that the chief part of the materials which he used in his Paradise Lost, belonged to other * See the observations of la Bruyere, vol. iii. p. 193, ed. Cazin. + See Hurd on Imitation, vol. iii. p 39, 137. Censura Liter. vol. vii. p. 317. Pope's Letters, (Curl's ed.) vol. i. p. 57. The French Poets would seem to allow themselves an unusual license in this respect: "Molière prenoit quelquefois des scènes entières dans Cyrano de Bergerac, et disoit : Cette scène est bonne, elle m'appartient de droit, je reprend mon bien, partout ou je le trouve." V. Portefeuille de Voltaire, ii. 32. J'oubliai le dire que j'ai pris deux vers, dans l'Edipe de Corneille, je n'ai point fait scrupule de voler ses deux vers, parceque ayant précisément la même chose à dire que Corneille, il m'étoit impossible de l' exprimer mieux, et j'ai mieux aimé de donner deux bons vers de lui que d'en donner deux mauvais de moi.-Voltaire de lui même, ed. p. 57. poets; the late Professor Porson, who was present, strenuously repelled the justice of the accusation; and, repeating the noble exordium of the third book, a passage which is at once pathetic and sublime in the highest degree, he asked to whom Milton was indebted for this fine example of the most perfect poetry. Nec aliud magis, (says a most elegant and finished scholar) ad Lucretii commendationem pertinet, quam quod Virgilius, tantus Poeta, illum tanti fecit, ut integros ejus versus, vix literis mutatis, in Carmina sua transferat. * As far as my opinion is concerned, I must say that the original genius of Gray appears to me to be of the very highest order; and that the combination of his images and the application of them to his subject, is at once the result of the profoundest thought, the finest taste, and the most creative imagination. A person, however, who still entertains sentiments of this kind, will do well, before he decides too positively on the want of originality in this, or that writer, to read what Sir Joshua Reynolds has written on this subject with regard to painting; and especially where he treats of the imitations of Raphael. I shall here content myself with transcribing one short passage from one of his Discourses. It is indisputably evident (he says) that * V. Ruhnkenii Ep. Crit. p. 201. On the imitations of Horace from the Greek, see Warton on Pope, ii. 349. Huntingford's Monostroph. p. 93. Martini Var. Lect. p. 104. + See Sir J. Reynolds's Discourses, vol. i. p. 28, ed. Ma |