s5 C^rreBion of a Cenfure of tht French Poetic Meafure. [Aug. l, ' 



rvortby of notice. Mr. Bewick was em- 

 ployed merely as the engraver or vvoocl- 

 cutitrr, and th-it he fliould he held up in 

 the article n «v under confideraiion as the 

 jirj} and file mover of the concern, toge- 

 ther with the infiJious ufe which has 

 been made to me of your remarks on the 

 SubjcS, by a friend of Vfr. Bewick's, 

 leave no doubt in my mind from what 

 foiirce you have hsd the coinmim!cation. 

 5Jut how you can hnve been induced to 

 lay down a plan to injure me, requires an 

 explanation : you obltrve, " if, there- 

 fore, lie (meaning Mr. Bewick) c.ujiot 

 come to a fettlcment with thofe who re- 

 tain a right in the former volume, we 

 truft he will he induced to compofe it 

 anew, or in o;her wokIs, to make a ccm- 

 piiation, differing in ioi m and langupge 

 i'roiii the firft." My l.ite hufband pa.d 

 his proportion or fliaie of experice both 

 to the pcrfon who compiled and ar- 

 ranged the letei-prefs of tiie wqrk ; or, 

 in other words, ttie authoi's charge for 

 his labours, as lie did for the cxpence of 

 the WO' d- engravings — therefore both 

 equally belong to me. Af:er itadng that 

 Mr. Beiiby h^d dilpofed of his in ereft in 

 the concern, you lik.vvife obferve, "that 

 Mr. Bewr k's right in the wotd-cuts 

 mull be eit-re, ai lie I'as fince publifhed 

 tliem feparattly.'" By an i different 

 reader this obfervation would undoubt- 

 edly be confidered a» appertaining to th.- 

 Hiiiory of Qiiadiupeds. I am alm>>(t 

 certain fh,it lie has noi pi/blidied the fi- 

 gures oi the ^«fd'r«/i^i/.r lepaiately. Al- 

 thLUgh the figures o( the fiilt volume of 

 the Hii^oiy of Biuis were printed at my 

 office, at t* e j int expence of MclTrs. 

 Beilhy and Bewick, I am not unac- 

 qu.iinted wiih the nice honour tlieLond n 

 puhlilbers ob'erve, in not interfering 

 with each other's property, even afier the 

 ccpy. right expires. Few men know the 

 nature of literary properly betier than 

 J'ou, I fliould luupofe; yet how you, Sirj 

 could deliberately Jay down direflions, 

 wheiehy a pcvfin might thule the laws 

 of the land, aid lender rre an wJ? af 

 hjii/hce, by r;)bbing me of t'e profits 

 ariling from the p'operiy (-'. hich I hold 

 in truit for my family) both as a printer 

 and a bookltiler, has really aftoniflicd 

 nie, and I feel it my du'y THi/s pub- 

 licly TO CALL UPON YOU FOK AN 



ExrL.^NATioN. I fliiil conclude wiih 

 cbCcrving, that I have ul'ed every endea- 

 vour in my p.iwer to hive the Hiffory of 

 Qti^idrujjtds ^.tit to picfs, and " if the 

 public havt frftaiiitd a loiV by the bo'jk 



having been fo long out of print, I have 

 the fatisfaftion to fay, I am not to blame, 

 Sarah Hodgson, 

 Widow and Executrix of Solojnon 

 Neivcqflk upon - "Tyne, Hod g fon « 



"june 16, 1805. 



to the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN a book which the celebrity of its re- 

 puted author i'duced me lately to 

 read, I mean, "Hints fur Forming the 

 ChataJler of a Young Princels," 1 finfl 

 amongll much mifcellinecus matter, the 

 followiig criticifm on the (oetry of a 

 neig'i.boiiring naiicn, whicli, jis it appears 

 to me to be founded entirely on a milap- 

 preherif;on of its nature, I fhall m ke the 

 fubjcJiik of a lew remaiks. The authof 

 fays, fp;:iklhg of the Tragedies of Ra- 

 cine, " They polTefs, tliough conveyed in 

 the pocr vehicle of Fiench vcrfificatlon, 

 all the dr^maiic requifiies ;" and to ti'.e 

 'obfervation is fuhjoiiied the following 

 note : — '• It is a carious circnmllance in 

 the hiiiory of French dramatic pOvtry, 

 that the tneafure ul'ed by their bed poets 

 in tUcir fuhlimcil tragedies is \.\\l anapiff- 

 tic, wiiich in our language is not only the 

 lighted and molf iindignifitd of ai! the po- 

 etic mtafjies, but is It'll more litgraded 

 by being chiffly applied toburleique (ub- 

 jedts. Itisannifuig tc an Englilb ear to 

 hear the Buiihiis of Racine, the Cid of 

 C -rneille, ard the Orofin<ne and Oreftes 

 of Voltaire, declaim, p lil^fipliizc, figli^ 

 and rave, in the precifir meafuie of 



<' A cobler there was, and be liv'd in a 

 flail." Vol. ii. p. 185. 



Upon this I would obferve, in the firft 

 place, that it is not very modcit or very 

 candid in us tu condemn, bccaule ws do 

 not perceive any beauty in it, that Itruc- 

 tiire of veiliJication which has given great 

 delight to the ears of a poliflied i»nd highly 

 cultivated nation at tlie period of its gieat- 

 e!t lefinemcnt. If th? Fr-nch find a pe- 

 culiar Iweetncfi and harnu ny in the verfe* 

 of Racire, a harmony which, in their opi- 

 nion, no liibliequent author has been able 

 fully to come up to ; if th?y feel as much 

 difference between his lines and thofe of 

 an ordinary poem, as we do between the 

 molt finfiicd lines of Pope and thole of ths 

 molt carclelis verfifier ; if their veife evi- 

 deiitly admits of great fl;!ll and art in the 

 conrtriiftion of it ; if their poetry iias been 

 formed and polifiied by degrees along wi;!.r 

 th-.ir critical till;, from the full rudetf- 



futs 



