[ S8 ] 



publifhed In a note on Mr. Gray's feventh ode, in his edition of 

 that author's works. 



The note to which I allude runs thus : — " This ode, to 



" which in the title I hav^e given the epithet of irregular, is the 



" only one of the kind which Mr. Gray ever wrote, and its 



" being written occafionallj and iiitended for miijic is a fufficient 



" apology for the defed. Exclufive of this, for a defed it certainly 



" is, it appears to me, in point of lyrical arrangement and ex- 



" preffion, to be equal to mofl; of his other odes. It is remark- 



" able that amongft the many irregular odes which have been 



" written in our language, Dryden and Pope's on St. Cecilia's 



" day are the only ones that may properly be faid to have lived. 



" The reafon is, as I have hinted, that this mode of compofition 



•' is fo extremely eafy, that it gives the reins to every kind of 



" poetical licentioufnefs ; whereas the regular fucceflion of 



" Jirophe, anti/frophe, and epode^ put fo ftrong a curb on the 



" wayward imagination, that when fhe has once paced in it, {he 



" feldom choofes to fubmit to it a fecond time ; 'tis therefore 



" greatly to be willied, that in order to ftifle in their birth a 



" quantity of compofitions which are at the fame time wild and 



" jejune, regular odes, and thofe only, fliould be efteemed legi- 



" timate amongft us." 



I AM not furprized that fuch a remark fhould fall from one 

 who has written fo many regular odes ; the moft candid poet 

 may feel his judgment in fome degree warped by his poetical 

 ftudies ; we find Dryden, at one time, a champion for rhyming 

 tragedies, at another recommending alternate rhymes, as the moft 



eligible 



