This univerfe, and all created things: The defcription he has given us of the angel Raphael is likewife nobly conceived, and finely delineated. -Six wings he wore, to shade His lineaments divine; the pair that clad There is fomething fingularly fublime and beautiful in the following paffage, tranfcribed from a poem, entituled, The Omniscience of the divine Being, by Mr. Smart. When Philomela, ere the cold domain Of crippled winter 'gins t' advance, prepares Not the magnetic index to the north E'er afcertains her courfe, nor buoy, nor beacon. Of man's vaft genius, and the foaring foul! He measur'd in the hollow of his hand He comprehended with a fpan, and weigh'd It would here be unpardonable to pass over all those sublime and animated descriptions we have of the Morning; which the writers of heroic and tragic poetry have labour'd fo much to heighten and variegate, that one would think they had exerted their utmost skill and genius, to see who could render that season the most endearing. Homer leads the way, and by a beautiful and well-conceived fiction, describes the morning as a goddess arrayed in a faffron robe, flying in the air, and with her rofy fingers unbarring the gates of light. She leaves the bed of Tithon her lover, arifes from the fea in a golden throne to usher in the fun, or in a chariot drawn by celestial horses, bearing with her the day, and is preceded by a ftar, which is her harbinger, and gives fignal of her approach. Virgil follows Homer, and never lofes fight of him, as will appear by the following defcriptions. Aurora now had left her faffron bed, And beams of early light the Heav'ns o'erspread. The morn began from Ida to display Her rofy cheeks, and phosphor led the day. And now the rofy morn began to rise, And wav'd her faffron ftreamer thro' the skies. Now rose the ruddy morn from Tithon's bed, The morn enfuing from the mountain's height Tao had moft probably Homer or Virgil in view when he wrote the following lines: C The purple morning left her crimson bed, And donn'd her robes of pure vermilion hue; And Spenfer, who excels in defcription, has the fame fort of images diverfified. Now when the rofy-finger'd morning fair, -The day forth-dawning from the east, Commanded them their daily works renew. Milton's defcriptions of the Morning are exquifitely drawn ; and though he has departed as much as poffible from the beaten track, yet fome traces of the former poets may be evidently seen. Now morn her rofy steps in th' eastern clime The morn, Wak'd by the circling hours, with rofy hand -And now went forth the morn, Shot thro' with orient beams No descriptions of the morning can be more animated and fublime than those of SHAKESPEAR; yet his thoughts bear great affinity to the preceding. Look where the morn in ruffet mantle clad, Do lace the fevering clouds in yonder eaft. Thefe paffages may be justly rank'd among grand and fublime thoughts; and though the out-lines feem to have been drawn by Homer, on which they have run their several divifions, yet they have all acquitted themselves, so as to obtain the applause of the learned and judicious; for men of judgment will ever confider that nature is still the fame, and that where the fame object is to be described, the fame thoughts, and often the fame words, will occur, if the descriptions are just and natural. We have attributed the first inftance of defcribing the morning in this beautiful manner to Homer, yet it is to be obferv'd, that there is much of this fublime imagery in the facred writings, from whence fome hints may probably have been taken. Thus it is faid of the fun, that He cometh forth out of his chamber as a bridegroom, and exulteth as a giant who is to run his race. Befides these thoughts, which captivate with their grandeur and fublimity, there are others that equally affect us by their agreeablenefs or beauty. The firft pleafe, because they have fomething great, which always charms the mind, whereas thefe pleafe only because they are agreeable. Comparisons and defcriptions, taken from florid and delightful fubjects, form agreeable thoughts, in the fame manner as those we take from grand subjects form those that are fublime. The writings of the holy penmen are replete with these thoughts; but as the beauties of the bible are in every hand, and to be seen every day, we fhall felect what examples we have room to admit from our English poets. The description, however, which Solomon has given us of Wisdom, ought not to be omitted, because it is fufficient, one would think, to make every man in love with her. Length of days are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. There are many paffages in Mr. Smart's poem on the Immenfity of the Supreme Being, which contain agreeable thoughts; but that of the Ring-dove's neft is, I think, remarkably fo : What are yon tow'rs, The work of lab'ring man and clumsy art, Seen with the ring-dove's neft ?-On that tall beeck Her penfile house the feather'd artist builds— Innumerable are the beauties of this agreeable kind that might be drawn from the poets, both ancient and modern. Those who would fee more of thefe defcriptive beauties, may abundantly gratify their curiofity in our volume of Rhetoric, where many are inferted to illuftrate the figures in that science. It is to be observed, however, that those where the tender paffions are concern'd, are not only more affecting, but often more pleafing than others, as may be seen by this fpeech of Eve to Adam, in Milton's Paradise Loft ; and by other paffages which we shall infert from that ever to be admired poem. With thee converfing, I forget all time, All feasons and their change, all please alike: Adam on feeing Eve afleep with unusual discomposure in her looks, regards her, as Mr. Addifon obferves, with a tenderness not to be expreffed, and awakens her with the softeft whisper that ever was conveyed to a lover's ear. |