On Didactic Poetry. 
are willing: to admit -a ‘ progressibility 
hereisiwesimay “admit too, that great 
improvements willsprobably’be effected 
inogedgraphy; nataral history—perhaps 
inedawo 1Bat thehiehést range of im- 
provementoidw these\odepartments of 
scientific power which ‘can reasonably 
beigranted;,does ‘not’ of necessity em- 
braceioa!oproportionate’’ expansion of 
man’s /oreasoning® powers. It will not 
render; ‘his? perception ‘more acute, 
hisememory more ‘retentive, nor his 
judgment: more “infallible. ‘On the con- 
trary3(thereis “every reason’ to believe, 
fromy the\retroactive effect of great 
intellectualbjrefinement, ‘exertion, or 
expansion—that’ more acuteness, vi- 
gour,:and ‘enlargement of’ the under- 
standing are to' be found, when we write, 
thamare likelyto-be found at any future 
period, however proximate or remote. 
“iG : 7 —— 
ior the Monthly Magazine. 
6 °° %0nDuwacric Porrry. 
ie poe ‘the! finest wits of France 
XS (says M. Delille, in the preface 
to -his Man of Retirement, or French 
Georgies); who’ has filled conspicuous 
situations with honour, and whose va- 
rious! writings are characterized with 
equal elegance and effect, has sug- 
gested, in his Reflections on the State 
of France, that M.1’Abbé Delille would 
have attained the highest degree of re- 
putation, if, instead of translating,* he 
had applied to original composition, 
and made choice of more interesting 
subjects. 
Eulogiums (replies M. Delille) should 
be'received with modesty; and criti- 
cism, when unjust, refuted with can- 
dour, Pethaps my reply to M. de M., 
while it ‘exonerates me from his cen- 
sures, may serve to establish certain 
| principles‘of taste, too’ much forgotten, 
or too 'littie known, and to explode a 
Peta ne injurious to our 
iteratures 9) 0° 
Tavthe first place, why docs M.de M. 
regard the art of embellishing land- 
scape’ as an unintéresting subject? As 
the discussion ‘may have a useful ten- 
dehiey, ‘itwould’ be’ Well to ascend a 
|) little*higher* in this inquiry, and point 
outt thie public; probably to M. de M. 
himbelf) the-source Of'this mistake. 
Ht ik bat t60 true’ that, for a long 
time, ut’ poets have almost exclusively 
»|confined themselves’ to certain  privi- 
| leged’' classes '6fi corhpdsition—Such as 
\| the! Dramas Romance, atid the class of. 
Pr SDT eee 
£12009 
Rote 4 thé chitt'of this aiticle. 
503 
Miscellaneous Effusions: our men_ of 
the world, on their part, being little 
attached to any other species of poetry~ 
And thus, while our neighbours. pride. 
themselves in an ample fund of. poetry, 
of a higher character, our poverty. is 
extreme in every species, the theatrical 
excepted, and those of a higher. cast,, 
A few epistles by Voltaire, upon, moral 
subjects, but imperfectly vindicate us 
from this reproach. , 
This reflection, so disgraceful to our 
literary character, is still more important 
in a moral and political point of view. 
The predominant rage for a poetry 
light and fugitive could not fail , of 
nourishing in a people, perhaps too 
justly accused of frivolity, that, levity 
which has still remained conspicuous 
in the midst of circumstances, the mos$ 
terrible ; and hence, in this respect, we 
have experienced no sort of revolution. 
We have jested over those atrocities 
that should have thrilled us with hor- 
ror; we have substituted ridicule in 
the place of courage; and this nation, 
so miserable, yet so obstinately “gay, 
might have exclaimed with Piron, in his 
Dramatist— ‘ 
“I have had my laugh; behold I am: 
disarmed |” 
With respect to our romances and 
dramatic works, the exclusive devotion . 
to this kind of literature is, perhaps, 
still more dangerous. They accustom, 
the soul to all those violent sensations, 
most inimical to a happy predisposition: 
for sentiments of mildness and modera- 
tion—the genuine source of every tran- 
quil delight, and equally essential to: 
felicity and yirtue. And as, during the 
prevalence of this habitude—this thirst 
of vehement impressions, and. inordi- 
nate emotions—an unexpected revolu- 
tion happened to occur, what less was 
to be expected,-than that every senti- 
ment of moderation should be. pro- 
scribed? How often have. we beheld 
the public assemblies degenerating, into 
theatrical exhibitions, their discourses 
into declamations, their galleries. into 
booths, from whence hootings and ap- 
plauses were yociferated, with equal 
fury, by the contending parties}... [he 
very streets themselves had their, stages, 
their representations, and their.actors,, 
_ The same desire of novelty .displayed. | 
itself in this new species, of drama— 
scene succeeded scene; every, day, was 
more violent than the preceding ;,and, 
the extravagancies of the evening, ren=); 
dered necessary the crimes of |the,en-)» 
suing morning, ; 
The 
