EDINBURGH MAGAZINE,

LITERARY MISCELLANY,

FOR OCTOBER 1799.

With a View o, DALKEITH HOUSE, the Seat of his Grace the Duke of BUCCLEUGH.

THE

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE,

OR

LITERARY MISCELLANY,

FOR OCTOBER 1799.

FOR THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

The GLEANER, No. XII.

As o'er the lucid waste of Greenland's fnow
The lunar beams with amber radiance glow,
The low brow'd rocks in mifty grandeur rife,
And men are giants of ftupendous fize.
In wild confufion blends each gorgeous hue,
Whofe fairy brilliance fafcinates the view;
Through floods of dubious light, in vain we raise
The dazzled eye that wide at random ftrays.

GISBORNE'S defcriptive poem,

termed THE VALES OF WEVER, exhibits, on a smaller fcale, the characteristic beauties and defects of Darwin's Botanical Garden. The diction is uniformly ornate, and finically fplendid; the verification po. lifhed and correct, but fatiguingly monotonous; the file impreffive and energetic, in numerous paffages; but as this energy rather proceeds from the combination of words, than from the originality of ideas, it foon palls and lofes its effect upon the mind. As the measure is incapable of fupporting the majefty, which brilliant

imagery and polished verfification dif-
fufe over the Botanic Garden, the
peculiar defects of this fpecies of com-
pofition are more apparent in this
poem, than in that fplendid work.
Pope has obferved, that pure defcrip.
tive poetry is as abfurd as a feat com-
pofed entirely of fauces; and the au-
thor of the Heroic Epiftle to Sir
W. Chambers feems to have dilated
the fame idea in the following paf-
fage, in which he comments on one
of the fublime flights of the Orien-
tal Gardener,
What is nature ?
ground, plants, and water."

For what is Nature? ring her changes round,
Her three fat notes are water, plants, and ground;
Prolong your peal, yet fpite of all your clatter,
The tedious chime is, ground, and plants, and water.
So when fome John his dull invention racks
To rival Boodle's dinners or Almacks;

Three monftrous legs of mutton fhock our eyes,
Three roasted geefe, three butter'd apple pyes.

The propriety of thefe expreffions, by vague and indifcriminate invec which depreciate defcriptive poetry tive, can never be allowed; neverthe

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