THE AUTHOR OF " DARTMOOR." 139 



versification, throughout, is beautifully harmonious, 

 and is prevented from assuming the character of mo- 

 notony by a skilful disposition and variation of the 

 pauses; in this matter Carrington met with some 

 censure as having followed too closely in the steps of 

 Thomson — the assumption of his having done so has 

 been more readily received than it could be proved, 

 much might be advanced pro and con, but the limits 

 of this paper will not admit of an analytical examina- 

 tion of the prosodial means adopted by these kindred 

 poets. 



The subject of the present work though apparently 

 barren to a casual observer abounds in interest and 

 presents a field wide enough for the scope of imagina- 

 tion : it is true that Dartmoor is not very extensive, 

 and Carrington won tjie abuse of a Scotchman because 

 he wrote a poem on such a place ; possibly the Cale- 

 donian considered it a mere uninteresting speck in 

 comparison with the expanse of the Highlands, and 

 looked upon Mistor as a mole-hill when measured by 

 Ben-Lomond ; but he might have forgotten that his 

 own native wilds would stand small chance of consi- 

 deration in juxtaposition with the Pawnee prairies, 

 and that Ben-Lomond, big as it is, would hide its 

 diminished head in the neighbourhood of the Hima- 

 layas. Things are great and small by comparison, 

 and the poet who sings well of Dartmoor and Devon 

 is no more deserving of ridicule for the choice of his 

 subject than the one who delineates the majesty of the 

 Alps and the steppes of the Ukraine. 



The Moor and its vicinity present scenes of the 

 most striking contrast as well as the greatest variety 

 and interest ; showing at once the sternness, the wild- 

 ness, and the loveliness of Nature : — the stupendous 

 tor still lifting to the highest storm its shattered crown 

 which has endured through time, and wearied the 

 grasp of the tempest ; the beautiful valley where Cul- 

 ture sits smiling and pleased with the fruits of her 

 labour : — the bare and rugged hill over which the re- 

 joicing Spring passes with hasty step, without leaving 



