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gular odes. Mr. William Browne, an excellent poet of the laft 

 century, has left a beautiful irregular ode, written on a like af- 

 feding occafion with the Lycidas, and not much inferior to it 

 in poetical merit : and here, by the by, I muft mention, though 

 fomewhat out of place, that there is a very early fpecimen, in- 

 deed, of the irregular ode in the Englifli language, I mean a 

 poem on the death of Henry the Firft, which bears marks of 

 the higheft antiquity, and may be found in a colledion, called 

 The Mufe's Library. Perhaps Dryden's fecular ode does not de- 

 ferve to be mentioned on this occafion, though furely it ranks 

 higher than Pope's ode on St. Cecilia's day. But it would 

 be unpardonable to omit the admirable, and I muft add, much 

 injured Collins, who has left feveral beautiful fpecimens of the 

 irregular lyric^ which do not deferve to be numbered with the 

 dead, nay, which cannot die while any regard for harmonious 

 verfification and claflical compofition fubfifls among us. 



If the irregular ode is a fpecies of compofition fo extremely 

 eafy, is it not wonderful that it has not been more generally 

 adopted \ If it is fuch a temptation to rafh meddlers in poetry, 

 one might be led to fuppofe that the Englifh language muft be 

 overflowed with irregular odes ; but we find, on the contrary, 

 that this mode of compofition is far from being frequent among 

 us. I believe there are in Englifh more regular than there are 

 irregular odes. The reafon of this may be eafily explained : 

 The fevere form of the antient regular lyric has in it fomething 

 elaborate, uncommon, and fit to impofe on the minds of vulgar 

 readers, who are apt to admire what they do not underftand, 

 and enables a heavy mediocrity of talents, by the ufe of a 

 little pains and ftudy, not only to impofe on the world, and 



acquire 



