AIKIN’S LETTERS TO A YOUNG LADY ON ENGLISH ROETRY. 
train of poets succeed each other. We 
say the seeming neglect, for Dr. Aitkin 
assures his correspondent, that he has in 
fact praceeded by a “ method, perhaps 
scarcely perceptible to her, but never ab- 
sent from his own mind.” ‘The leading 
principle of this method appears to be, 
after forming the ear to a nice feeling of 
the harmony of verse, to lead on the ex- 
panding mind from the simplest to the 
most complex and recondite forms of 
the poetic art. ‘Thus, from shorter es- 
says in the heroic measure, he goes onto 
the epic translations of Pope—to his sq- 
tires and those of Young. To rhyme 
succeeds blank verse and its great mas- 
ter, and after the standard of excellence 
in this style has been fixed, the immortal 
Milton, his imitator Philips, some other 
didactic poets, Akenside, Thomson, and 
Young’s Night Thoughts, follow. The 
masters of the lyric strain succeed. From 
personification to allegory the step is 
easy, and the venerable Spenser arises at- 
tended by his circle of satellites. The 
deepest mazes of the Parnassian Grove 
are now unthreaded, and disclose to 
view ‘the Witty Poets.” Some minor 
bards then approach in a mingled throng, 
and Goldsmith, Johnson, and Cowper, 
the glory of modern times, conclude with 
dignity the long procession, and rest their 
immortal works on the altar of the 
muses. 
Such is the plan of the volume before 
us. With regard to execution, its style 
is marked with the clearness, nervous 
-. conciseness, and easy elegance of the 
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writer. Some, perhaps, will wish that 
‘the remarks had been multiplied and far- 
ther extended, and that a larger number 
of quotations had been interwoven ; but 
it appears to have been our author’s aim 
rather to point out the sources whence 
rational entertainment might be derived, 
and a Correct taste acquired, than autho- 
Titatively to lay down a poetical creed, 
and require an uniformity of sentiment 
from his young pupils on points which 
may well be lett to the different decisions 
of different minds. 
It must not, however, be imagined, 
that the candour of our author has pre- 
vented him from expressing in strong 
terms his admiration and his dislike, or 
that his remarks are wanting in origina- 
lity, because usually in conformity with 
» the public taste, and the judgment of en- 
~ dightened critics. But the following ex- 
7 
4. 
amples will better explain his views, and 
651 
exemplify his manner, than any remarks 
oi ours. 
«* Tnow, my dear Mary, mean to treat 
you with a rarity—a writer perfect in his 
kind. It may bea doubt whether perfection 
in an inferior branch of art indicates higher 
talents than something short of perfection in 
a superior ; but it cannot be questioned that, 
by way ofa study, and for the cultivation of 
a correct taste, a perfect work in any depart- 
ment is a most ep object. 
“@ Dean Swift is in our language the mas- 
ter in familiar poetry. Without the perusal 
of his works no adequate conception can be 
formed of wit and humour moving under 
the shackles of measure and rhyme with as 
much ease as if totally unfettered ; and even 
borrowing grace and vigour from the con- 
straint. In your progress hitherto, although 
it has been syepehas some of our most emi- 
nent poets, you cannot but have observed, 
that the necessity of finding a termination to 
a line of the same sound with that of the 
preceding, has frequently occasioned the 
employment of an improper word, such as 
without this necessity would never have sug- 
gested itself in that connexion. Indeed, it 
is not uncommon in ordinary versifiers to 
find a whole line thrown in for no other 
purpose than to introduce a rhyining word. 
How far rhyme is a requisite decoration of 
English verse, you will judge from your own 
perceptions, after perusing the best speci- 
mens of blank verse. It is manifest, how- 
ever, that when employed, its value must be 
in proportion to its exactness, and to its 
coincidence with the sense, In these re- 
spects, Swift is without exception the most 
perfect rhymer in the language; and you will 
admire how the very word which by its 
meaning seems most fit for the occasion, 
slides in without effort as the echo in sound 
to the terminating word of the preceding 
line. Even double and triple rhymes are 
ready at his call, and, though suggesting 
the most heterogeneous ideas, are happily 
coupled by some of those whimsical com- 
binations in which comic wit consists. 
‘© The diction of Swift is the most com- 
plete example of colloquial ease that verse 
afiords. In aiming at this manner, other 
writers are apt to run into guaintness and 
oddity ; but in Swift not a word or phrase 
occurs which does not belong to the natu- 
ral style of free conversation. It is true, this 
freedom is often indecorous, and would at 
the present day be scarcely hazarded by any 
one who kept good company, still less by 
a clergyman. et he has known how to 
make distinctions; and while many of his 
satirical and humorous pieces are grossly 
tainted’ with indelicacies, some of his best 
‘and longest compositions are void of any 
thing that can justly offend. It is evident, 
indeed, that Swift, though destitute of ge- 
nius for the sublimer parts of poetry, was 
