obfcure and agreeable, by being skreened behind a veil of the richest poetic imagery.

THE loose fragments of thefe early writers which have come down to our times, render this truth as confpicuous as the nature of the subject will permit. A Theogony, or an account of the proceffion of fabulous Deities, was a theme on which Imagination might difplay her inventive power in its fullest extent. Accordingly Hefiod introduces his work with recounting the genealogy of the Mufes, to whom he affigns "an apartment and attendants near "the fummit of snowy Olympus "." These Ladies, he tells us, "came to pay him a vifit, and complimented "him with a scepter and a branch of laurel, when he

was feeding his flock on the mountain of Helicon "." Some tale of this kind it was usual with the Poets to invent, that the vulgar in those ages of fiction and ignorance might confider their perfons as facred, and that the Offspring of their Imaginations might be regarded as the Children of Truth.

Μεμβλεται, εν στήθεσσιν ακηδέα θυμον έχεσαις

Τυτθόν απ ακροτατης κορυφής νιφόεντος Ολυμπου.

Ενθα σφιν λιπαροί τε χοροί, καὶ δωματα καλα. Θεογ. γραμ.ξά.

• Ως έφασαν Ηουραι μεγαλο Δια αρτιέπειαι

Και μοι σκεπήρον εδον, δαφνης εριθελεος οζον

Δρέψασθαι θηκτον. επένευσαν δε μοιανδής, &ς. Θεογ. γραμ. λ.

FROM the fame licentious ufe of Allegory and Metaphor fprung the Fables of the wars of the Giants, of the birth and education of Jupiter, of the dethroning of Saturn, and of the provinces affigned by the Supreme to the inferior Deities; all of which are subjects faid to have been particularly treated by Orpheus". The love of Fable became indeed fo remarkably prevalent in the earliest ages, that it is now impoffible in many inftances to distinguish real from apparent truth in the history of these times, and to difcriminate the perfons who were useful members of fociety, from those who exift only in the works of a Poet, whofe aim was profeffedly to excite Admiration. Thus every event of importance was disfigured by the colouring of poetic narration, and by afcribing to one man the separate actions which perhaps were performed by feveral perfons of one name, we are

P Orph. Hym. in Apollon. Rhod. Of this, Hiftory furnisheth many examples. When one man made an eminent figure in any profeffion, the actions of other perfons who had the fame name were afcribed to him; and it was perhaps

partly for this reafon that we find different cities contending for the honour of giving birth to men of Genius or Eminence. Callimachus,

in his Hymn to Jupiter, makes an artful use of this circumftance.

Εν δοιη μάλα θυμος" επι γενος αμέρισον.
Ζευ σε μεν 1'δαιοισιν εν ούρεσι φασι γενεσθαι.
Ζευ σε δ' εν Αρκαδίη ποτεροι Πατερ εψεύσαντο
Κρητες και ψευσαι και γαρ ταφον, ω ανά σειο

Κρητες επεκλήμαντο συ δ' ου θανες εις γαρ αιει. Καλλιμ. σελ. δ.

now wholly unable to disentangle truth from a perplexed and complicated detail of real and fictitious incidents.

Ir appears likewise from these shreds of antiquity, that the subjects of the Hymn were not fufficiently limited, as we fometimes find one of them addreffed to feveral Deities, whofe different functions recurring conftantly to the mind, must have occafioned unavoidable obfcurity. The Poet by this means was led into numberless digreffions, in which the remote points of connection will be imperceptible to the Reader, who cannot place himself in some fituation fimilar to that of the Writer, and attend particularly to the character and manners of the period at which he wrote.

YOUR Lordship, without the testimony of experience, would hardly believe that a species of compofition, which derived its origin from, and owed its peculiarities to, the circumstances we have mentioned, could have been confidered in an happier æra as a pattern worthy the imitation of cultivated genius, and the perufal of a polished and civilized people. One is indeed ready to conclude, at the first view, that a mode of writing which was affu

Thus Theocritus,

Υμνεομες Λήδας. Τε καὶ αιγιόχω Δια για
Κασορα καὶ φοβερον Πολυδεύκεα πυξ ερεθιζεν
Υμνεομες καὶ Δις, καὶ το Τριτον.

med

med for a particular purpose, and was adapted to the manners of an illiterate age, might at least have undergone confiderable alterations in fucceeding periods, and might have received improvements proportioned to those which are made in other branches of the fame art. But the fact is, that while the other branches of Poetry have been gradually modelled by the rules of Criticism, the Ode hath been only changed in a few external circumftances; and the enthusiasm, obfcurity and exuberance, which characterised it when firft introduced, continue to be ranked among its capital and difcriminating excellencies.

To account for this phænomenon, my Lord, I need only remind your Lordship of a truth which reflection has, no doubt, frequently fuggefted ;-that the rules of Criticism are originally drawn, not from the fpeculative idea of perfection in an art, but from the work of that Artist to whom either merit or accident hath appropriated the most established character. From this pofition it obviously follows, that such an art must arrive at once to its highest perfection, as the attempts of fucceeding performers are estimated, not by their own intrinfic value or demerit, but by their conformity to a standard which is previously set before them. It hath happened fortunately for the Republic of Letters, that the two higher

species of Poetry are exempted from the bad confequences which might have followed an exact obfervation of this rule. An early and perfect ftandard was fettled to regulate the Epopee, and the Drama was susceptible of gradual Improvement, as Luxury augmented the fubjects, and decorated the machinery of the theatre. We have already feen, that Lyric Poetry was not introduced with the advantages of the former; and reflection muft convince us, that it is not calculated to gain the flow and imperceptible acceffions of the latter. We may observe however in the general, that as the opinions of the bulk of mankind in fpeculative matters are commonly the result of accident, rather than the confequences of reflection; fo it becomes extremely difficult, if not impoffible, in fome inftances to point out a defect in an established Model, without incurring the cenfure of the multitude. Such, my Lord, is the nature of man, and so trifling and capricious are the circumftances upon which his fentiments depend.

ACCUSTOMED as your Lordship has been to furvey the improved manners of an enlightened age, you will contemplate with pleasure an happier æra in the progreffion of Science, when the Ode from being confined wholly to fictitious Theology, was transposed to the circle of Elegance and the Graces. Such is its appearance in

the