[ 85 ] 



Amidll tliy defert walks the lapwing flies 

 And tires tlieir echo's with unvaried cries : 

 Sunk are tliy bowr's in fiiapelefs ruin all 

 And the long grafs oe'rtops the mould'ring wal! 



Here we have a highly poetical delineation of every adjuncfl of 

 a defolated country, with appropriate epithets to add to the 

 force of the eiFedl, and the bowers and glajfy brook from its 

 former ftate remembered to heighten the defcription by their, 

 contrafl. 



Such is the general tenor of Goldfmith's defcription of na- 

 tural fcenes. His defer iptions are by continued enumeration of 

 admirably fele(5led circumftances — each in itfelf expreflive but 

 the aggregate of infuperable force. Sometimes however, where 

 he does not allow hlmfelf to dwell on particular circumftances^ 

 or to embellifh them by any thing more than a fingle epithet, 

 the enumeration is but a tame catalogue of beings or of pro- 

 perties, and the defcription, accurate indeed, but flat and feeble^ 

 Take an example from his pidure of Holland : 



While the pent ocean rifing o'er the pile 

 Sees an amphibious world beneath him fmile ; 

 The floiu canal, the yelloiv-b!o£hm'd v,i/e. 

 The ivilloiv-tufted bank, the gliding fail. 

 The croiided mart, the cultivated plain, 

 A new creation refcued from his reign.. 



Left 



