1805.] Style of Dr. Darwin. — Explanation of the Word Mafacre. "^ 



one has carried the curious mechanifm of 

 verCe, and the artificial magic of poe;ical 

 diction, to higher perteftion. His volca- 

 nic bead flamed with imagination, but his 

 torpid heart flept, uiiawaicened by pafllon. 

 He tried his pcetry by a verjf contrifled 

 fca!e'; for in a falfeiy!*em which heafTumts 

 in one of his dialogueSjhe would perluade us 

 that the elTence of poetry is defcripsive ; 

 fomeihing of which a painter can make a 

 piflure. When a verl'e was piilurelqvie, 

 with him it was therefore fufF.cienily po- 

 etical. But thi Ian juage of the paffi ins 

 has rar-ily anv connexion with this axiom. 

 Ill 3 word, what he delineates as poetry 

 itfeif, is but a province of poetry. Hence 

 it is, that, with this lUufive ftsndard, he 

 has compoi'ed a poem which is perpetually 

 fancVvand nevtr paflion. Hence his ):.ro- 

 ceflTional fpUndouf fatigues, his defciip. 

 tivE ingenuiiy loles its novelty, and th-j de- 

 ficiepcy of a conne(3ing table is a want 

 wliich art cinnot hipply with all its mi- 

 racles. 



, It has accidentally fallen to my lot to 

 have made a Darwinian dilcovery, which 

 I now think proper to explain. I have 

 lately obferved, more than once, in the 

 Monthly Review, an expreflion to which I 

 conceive I have given origin. Wlieiiever 

 the reviewer mentions the Darwinian vti(t, 

 hC' addj, "or rather Brookian." The 

 firft difcovery of what I confider palpable 

 imitation in Darwin, was made by the 

 Edinburgh reviewers, who accidentally 

 fell upcn a firit edition of the poem in. 

 tilled " Uriiverfal Beauty," probably in 

 the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh ;• 

 but thel'e critics are young ftudents, little 

 verfed in literary hilioiy ; and I comniu- 

 nif-ated the author's name to your pub- 

 lilher, for the ufe of your Magazine ; but 

 it was confidcrcd, I conceive, to be more 

 appropiiiitely given to the Brookiana, 

 where, lundciiland, it is claimed for the 

 aurhor. There is alfo a Latin poem by 

 one De La Croix, intitled «* Cctiriubia 

 Florum,'"' firft publidied in France about 

 1727, and reprinted at London in 1791, 

 with notes and obfervations by Sir Richaid 

 Clayton. I underliand a tranlhtion is 

 now proje8ed j the taflc is hazardous ; if 

 the verlification is inferior to Darwin's, it 

 may be impoHible to deleft our author's 

 imitation. 



Of this La Croix I have in vain fought 

 for fome account. Was he one of ihnfe 

 ingenious Jefuits who about tliat lime 

 amufed the literary world with flioit phi- 

 Wyphical poems ? A lift of fomc uf theft 



finguhr works (forming by themfelves a 

 cial's of poetry) is given in the " Curiofi- 

 ties of Literature," vol. ii., p. 65, 4th 

 edition. Some of thefe fabjccis are oa 

 gold, paper, gunpowder; fhips, &c., which 

 approximate both in matter and niaiinfr 

 to the philofophical poetry of Darwin, in- 

 lifting imagmaticn under tiie bann'rrs cf 

 fcience. Perhaps a criticifm on thefe pc- 

 ems would afford a very entertaining fub- 

 jedt for the elegant difcriminaviDn of Dr. 

 Drake. They may be found in 'a collect, 

 ed ftate perfeSl. 



I hive now an additional information 

 refpei'^ing the '< Botanic Garden." la 

 1750 v.'t's publifhed a Swed;(h poem at 

 Stockholm, intitled « The Marriage of 

 Plants," by John Guft. Wahlbom, in 

 8vo. The " J:iurnal dcs Scavans, vol, 

 J 58, p. 50!, gives the following notice :— 

 '' The au;h.or defigns to (hew that tree* 

 and plants have both fcxes as in animals. 

 The wo; k is accour:ted htre to be equally 

 C'lri us and interefting." 



Some literary Swede will perhaps in- 

 form us what this pocm is ? If it be 

 merely a tranflation from La Croix, it 

 would feem that the French reviewer 

 would have claimed it as national pro- 

 perty i nor would the Swede have ventur- 

 ed to prefix his name to a mere verfion cf 

 a foreign poem, without acknovvledgin"*- 

 to whom he was fo deeply indebted. We 

 mult ilil! wait, with Ibme curiofity, to 

 know the charafler, the value, and the 

 originality, of the Swedifh poem cf Mi. 

 Wahlbom on " The Iklarri-jge of Plants." 



I am. Sir, Sec. S. L. 



Luicolns-Inn, Nov, 6, 1805. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



I MUST beg leave to differ in opinion 

 from your CorrefpondciU " Hiltori- 

 cus" with legard to the meaning attached 

 by the Frer.ch to the word ' tnajjacre .' 



I received my education in Frarce, am 

 familiar with the language, and am in the 

 habit of conveifmg daily with people of 

 that coimtry. 



The woid, as I conflnn !y hfar it ao- 

 plied, has the 'ame meaning as in Englirii, 

 viz., bafe aid barbarous minder. 



The mailicres of September 1791, at 

 Paris ; the maffacres of the prifoners on 

 their way from Orleans ; the pievious maf- 

 facres at Avignon ; all noted for their 

 atrocities, bear in French no other name ; 

 which ctrtainly docs not mean the f^me 



thing 



