is not supposed that his paffions are enflamed; you will obferve, my Lord, that his digreffions are by no means so excufable as those of the other, because obscurity in the latter may be an excellence, whereas in the former it is always a blemish. Ir is only neceffary to obferve farther on this head, that the difference of the fubjects treated by Anacreon and Horace, from thofe of Orpheus, Mufeus, &c. is owing to the different characters of the ages in which they lived. We could not indeed have expected to meet with any thing very serious, at any period, from fo indolent and careless a writer as Anacreon. But Luxury even in his time had made confiderable progress in the world. The principles of Theology were fufficiently well established. Civil polity had fucceeded to a ftate of confufion, and men were become fond of eafe and affluence, of wine and women. Anacreon lived at the Court of a voluptuous Monarch', and had nothing to divert his mind from the pursuit of happiness in his own way. His Odes therefore are of that kind, in which the gentler Graces peculiarly predominate. Sappho and Horace were employed in the fame manner: the Lady had a Gallant, of whom it appears that he was extremely fond; and the Roman Poet lived in a polite court, was patronised by a man of diftinguished eminence, and was left at full liberty Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos. 1 liberty to pursue that course of life to which he was most powerfully prompted by inclination. THE poetic vein in thefe Writers takes that turn, which a stranger must have expected upon hearing their characters. Their pieces are gay, entertaining, loose, elegant, and ornamented with a rich profufion of the graces of description. The reader of fenfibility will receive the highest pleasure from perusing their works, in which the internal movements of the mind, warmed by imagination, or agitated by paffion, are exposed in the happiest and most agreeable attitudes. This perhaps is the principal excellence of the loofer branches of poetic compofition. The mind of the Poet in thefe pieces is supposed to be intenfely kindled by his fubject. His Fancy affumes the rein, and the operation of reafon is for a moment fufpended. He follows the impulfe of Enthusiasm; and throws off thofe fimple, but lively. ftrokes of Nature and Paffion, which can only be felt, and are beyond imitation. "Ut fibi quivis Speret idem, fudet multum, fruftraque laboret "Aufus idem "!". m All may hope to imitate with ease: Yet while they strive the fame fuccefs to gain, FRANCIS. m Hor. de Art. Poet, e 4 THE THE unequal measures which are used in these shorter Odes, are likewise adapted with great propriety to the fubjects of which they treat. Horace fays, that this inequality of numbers was originally fixed upon as expreffive of the complaints of a lover; but he adds, that they became quickly expreffive likewife of his exultation: "Verfibus impariter junctis querimonia primum, "Poft etiam inclufa eft voti fententia compos "." Unequal measures first were taught to flow, " THESE loofer and fhorter measures diftinguish this branch of the Ode from the Hymn, which was composed in heroic measure ; and from the Pindaric Ode (as it is commonly called) to which the dithyrambique or more diverfified ftanza was particularly appropriated. Of the shorter Ode therefore it may be faid with propriety, "Son ftile impetueux fouvent marche au hazarde "Chez un beau difordre eft un effect de l'art." n Hor. de Art. Poet. • Ariftotle exprefsly mentions this circumftance, when he explains the Origin of the Drama: Παρα φανείσας δε της Τραγωδίας και Κωμωδίας, οι εν εκατέρων τη ποιη σαν αρμώντες κατά την οικεία σιν οι μεν αντι των Ιαμβων, Κωμω δοποιοι εγένοντο οι δε αντι των Επων τραγωδιδασκαλοι, δια τω μείζω και ενιμότερα τα σχήματα είναι ταυ]α εκείνων. Αριστ. Ποιητ. κεφ. δ'. Boil. Art. Poet. THUS THUS, my Lord, we have taken a view of the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients, as it appeared originally in the works of the earliest Poets, and as it was afterwards employed to enliven a train of more elegant and delicate sentiment. I have attempted, in the courfe of this enquiry, to follow the lights which Antiquity throws on this fubject as clofely as poffible, to explain facts by placing them in connection, and to illuftrate reasoning by example. YOUR Lordship's acquaintance with the principles of civil Government, and your experience of the effects of education, have enabled you to obferve the Character, which the Manners of an Age ftamp upon the productions of the Authors who live in it. Experience will convince us, that these general revolutions resemble more nearly, than we are apt to imagine at first view, the circumstances of an Individual at the different periods of life. In one age he is captivated by the beauties of description, at another he is fond of the deductions of Philofophy; his opinions vary with his years; and his actions, as directed by thefe, are proportionably diversified. In all these circumftances however, the original bias which he received from Nature remains unalterable; and the peculiarity of his character appears confpicuous, notwithstanding the accidental diverfity of fluctuating fentiments. fentiments. It is to be expected in such a fituation, that changes fimilar to these will usually take place in arts, which are fufceptible of perpetual mutation; and of this a particular instance is exhibited in the preceding detail. Another branch of this fubject remains to be confidered, and on this I fhall give your Lordship the trouble of perufing a few remarks in a fubfequent letter. Permit me only to obferve, from what hath already been advanced, that the ingredients of Genius are often bestowed by Nature, when the polifh of Art is wanted to mould the original materials into elegant proportion. He who poffeffeth the former in the highest degree, may be a Shakespear or an fchylus; but both were united in forming the more perfect characters of Demofthenes and Homer. LETTER |