1 8 1 7.1 Mr. Ntele on the Literature of the last Century. 4,95 



Disbursements of the overseers of St. 

 Waiy's, Warwick, from Easter 



1792 lo 1793, 1815 to 1816. 



It would give me much pleasure to see 

 your pages occupied v*'ith similar state- 

 ments from other places; thej are not only 

 genuine signs of the times ; but, as tlie 

 poor-rates must inevitably increase if 

 the present system '\a persisted in, and 

 as the overseers of every place have a 

 different system of management, some 

 new method may possibly be discovered 

 by a comparison of statements, bene- 

 •cial to others. W. Goodman. 



ilavhet-place, Wai'wich ; 

 Nov. 17, 181 G. 



To tlie Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



THE fatal restoration of Charles the 

 Second was not more destructive 

 of the liberties, than it was of the li- 

 terature, of this counlry. The same 

 flood of c<irruption whicli swept away 

 " that (icrce democratic," brought w ith 

 it those poisonous elements which have 

 infected our literature, almost down to 

 the present day. Then the nauseous 

 seutinientality, the pompous declama- 

 tion, the miserable sacrifice of sense to 

 Bouml, which bad been belbrc ronfiiicd 

 to the I'reurb school of poutiy, became 

 c(pially characteiistic of the iluglisb; 

 ^nd bards, who, under the patrouiige of 

 Cromwell bad begun to " put fortli the 

 tc'«d<;r leaves of hope," perverted their 

 3 



fine talents to the service of " a ribal'd 



king and court," who 



" Bade them toil unto make thera sport, 



Demanding for their niggard pay, 



Fit for their souls, a looser lay, 



Licentious satire, song, aud play." 



Thus, ill a few years, England shewed 



no traces of what she had been in those 



davs, when Blake coiKiuercd, Miltoa 



saiig, and Cromwell governed. 



Diyden is the foremost of these apos- 

 tate poets. After writing some most 

 jiervous and elegant lines on the I'ro- 

 tectur, he, with an equal sacrifice of 

 taste and principle, composed his ful- 

 some panegyric on the restored Stuart. 

 He is the father of the Anglo-Gallic 

 scJiool, tlie model of Pope, and the ulti- 

 mate somce to wliich all the Darwinian 

 and Dclla-Cruscan fopjierics may fairly 

 be Uaced. He was the first who forsook 

 Nature; aud, when tliat land-mark is 

 once lost sight of, it is impossible to cal- 

 culate in what occaji of absurdities w» 

 may eventually be cngulphed. Dryden 

 is the father of tiiat poetical language, 

 the theme of Dr. Johnson's praise, which 

 Po(K! refined upon, which Gray carried 

 still further, and which Darwin and 

 Delia Crusca worked up to it» highest 

 pitch of " exquisite no meaning." But 

 Dryden possessed more genius than any 

 of his imitators, and has left ui much to 

 admire, although perhajis more to la-i 

 ment. To his alfectuig accouut of big 

 projected Epic Poem, may be applied 

 his own beautilul remark, wltich \\% 

 somewhere makes on a similar subject: 

 " We read it wilh the same feelings as 

 a merchant peruses the invoice of a 

 vessel which has been lost on lier 

 vo}age." 



The fame of Pope, as a poet, must 

 rest on bis " Rape of tiic Lock," per- 

 haps the most elegant Irifie that over 

 was written. The Essay on Alan is a 

 colled ion of apophthegms, which hav» 

 long dazzled by their brilliancy, but 

 which have been little understood; and 

 whicii, the of'.cner they are perused, wiU 

 appear less comprelK nsil)le. Tbcy ar« 

 the sentiments of Boliiigbrokc, embel- 

 lished «ith elegant versitication, by one 

 who did nut uiiderslaiKl their leiidencj'. 

 The Dunciad, the Essay on Criticism, 

 the Elegy, have tlieir merits ; but, if Pop© 

 had never written any tiling else, bis 

 title to the name of poet would have 

 been at least equivocal. 



Goldsmith is generally c!a.<5sed with 



this scl.ool, but he resembles it only in 



his style ; for, us it bai been justly re- 



murjLLed, 



