AnciciU Kpiv Poem, ll'p 



one of superior talent would attempt It, in the 

 Genii, evil and ^od, of the eastern religions. 

 It is not owing to any inherent defect in the 

 COWCfeption of this machinery, th^t it doe's noi 

 greatly interest us ill the eastetn romance ; it is 

 managed by the writers of the East to its 

 highest advantage ; they are deficient in taste 

 and judgment, as must ever be, where man is 

 not exhibited in that rich display of character, 

 manners and moral, which the progress of 

 western Europe has brought forth to view. — 

 The eastern mythology is fitted for a more 

 grand and interesting production of the epic 

 than Greece or Rome has yet furnished. The 

 Genii of the East, though the creatures of 

 imagination, arc not much out of the field of 

 probability ; they may be clothed with what 

 magnificence and what consistency of cha- 

 racter we please ; they comprehend all the 

 machinery of Milton, his Panda^monium, and 

 idle agency of benevolent spirits, without that 

 offence which the introduction of the sacred 

 personages of the Christian Heaven excites, 

 and to give a sublime and moral dignity to the 

 whole, thecontroul of a sovereign Providence 

 is, with the highest propriety, admissible. 



