subject, separately considered, will afford ample room for poetical illustration and philosophical inquiry. Of all the poets, ancient or modern, Thomson has exhibited the noblest group of winter imagery. Nor is this to be wondered at in a poet, who, in his earliest years, was fond of viewing nature, not only in her beautiful and smiling aspects, but, like the great Salvator Rosa, in the frowning, the terrific, and sublime. This he intimates himself, at the opening of his poem, in which he introduces Winter approaching with all the gloomy pomp of personification. See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these my theme, Pleased have I wandered through your rough domain; Contemplations of this kind were, indeed, suited to the serious and virtuous soul of Thomson. They raised to nobler heights the fire of poetry and the ardour of devotion; and the winds, and storms, and torrents, led him to exclaim, Nature! great parent! whose unceasing hand It is remarkable that the first written of Thomson's Seasons was Winter, and Cowper has dedi cated three of the six books of his Task to winter subjects. Hear also the poet, BURNS: The weeping blast, the sky o'ercast, Let others fear, to me more dear The tempest's howl, it soothes my soul, Virgil, in a fine specimen of that variety, that magic art which constitutes one of the greatest beauties of poetry, suddenly conveys his reader from the pastoral scenes of Africa to the picturesque horrors of a Scythian winter'. Thomson's view of Winter in the polar circle is a noble imitation of this description; but he soars far beyond his master, over deserts of snow, and oceans of ice, to the pole itself. Here again he personifies Winter, and enthrones him in dreadful solitude and magnificent desolation. Still pressing on beyond Tornea's lake, And Hecla flaming through a waste of snow, In a general view of winter, in this country, I shall not attempt to give a philosophical account * Quid thi pastores Lytiæ, &e. GLORG. III. 319. The other hemisphere, subject, separately considered, will afford ample room for poetical illustration and philosophical inquiry. Of all the poets, ancient or modern, Thomson has exhibited the noblest group of winter imagery. Nor is this to be wondered at in a poet, who, in his earliest years, was fond of viewing nature, not only in her beautiful and smiling aspects, but, like the great Salvator Rosa, in the frowning, the terrific, and sublime. This he intimates himself, at the opening of his poem, in which he introduces Winter approaching with all the gloomy pomp of personification. See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these my theme, Pleased have I wandered through your rough domain; Contemplations of this kind were, indeed, suited to the serious and virtuous soul of Thomson. They raised to nobler heights the fire of poetry and the ardour of devotion; and the winds, and storms, and torrents, led him to exclaim, Nature! great parent! whose unceasing hand It is remarkable that the first written of Thomson's Seasons was Winter, and Cowper has dedi cated three of the six books of his Task to winter subjects. Hear also the poet, BURNS: The weeping blast, the sky o'ercast, Let others fear, to me more dear The tempest's howl, it soothes my soul, The leafless trees my fancy please, Virgil, in a fine specimen of that variety, that magic art which constitutes one of the greatest beauties of poetry, suddenly conveys his reader from the pastoral scenes of Africa to the picturesque horrors of a Scythian winter'. Thomson's view of Winter in the polar circle is a noble imitation of this description; but he soars far beyond his master, over deserts of snow, and oceans of ice, to the pole itself. Here again he personifies Winter, and enthrones him in dreadful solitude and magnificent desolation. Still pressing on beyond Tornea's lake, And Hecla flaming through a waste of snow, In a general view of winter, in this country, I shall not attempt to give a philosophical account Quid tibi pastores Lybiæ, &c. GEORG. III. 319. |