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exprcfs nearly the fame mental affedlion : — horror ; dread of that 

 melancholy which refults from our own thovights under flrong 

 impreffions of internal diftrefs wrought upon by external circum- 

 ftances, and eagernefs to efcape from their opprefTion or to remove 

 them by fociety. " Oh ! fpeak to me and let me hear thy voice, 

 " my own affrights me with its echos," is the language of 

 Aloieria. 



In dreams they frightful precipices tread. 

 Or fliipwreck'd labour to fome diflant fhore. 

 Or in dark churches walk among the dead, 

 They wake with horror, aad dare fleep no more 



is the defcription of the fenfations of the Dutch. Any one who' 

 is acquainted with the character of Docflor Johnfon cannot be at a 

 lofs for the circumftance which imprinted the beauty of thefe 

 paffages fo very ftrongly on his imagination. 



The comparative view of thofe works of an author in which 

 he has fucceeded with thofe in which he has failed would furnifli 

 fome information as to his difpofitions and habits. If Waller's 

 verfes on the Proteftor excelled thofe on the King, it is not fuf- 

 ficiently accounted for by his remark that poets fucceed befl in 

 fidlion. If Dryden's plays are fo much inferior to his other 

 works, it muft either have been becaufe he was ignorant of the 

 nature of dramatic compofition, or becaufe his neceffitous cir- 

 cumftances drove him to a ta£k which he performed negligently. 

 The precife modes of his failure may Ihew to which of thefe it 



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