ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



808 



By far his juniors. — Scarce a stuU's cast 



up, 

 But well he knew its owner, and can tcU 

 Some passage of his lite. 



The following comparison, applied 

 to lime, is happily imagined. 



Yet treads more soft than e'er did mid- 

 night thief, 



Who shdes his hand under the miser's 

 pillow, 



And carries off his prize. 



The hand of Shakspearc could 

 Tiot possibly have, gone higher, or 

 have touched a situation with grea- 

 ter nicety. 



Few ^imilies can exceed the fol- 

 lowing for elegant simplicity. Among 

 the various tenants of the grave, he 

 enumerates — 



-Tlie long-demurring maid, 



Whose lonely unappropriated sweets 

 Smil'd, like yon knot of cowslips on the 

 cliff, 

 'Not to be come at by the willing hand. 



Another simile, near the end of 

 the poem, where he mentions the 

 aversion even of the good to death, 

 beginning, so have I seen upon a 

 sunmer^s eve, is natural and strik- 

 ing. 



In Blair, it is difllcult to discover 

 any material traces of imitation, or 

 even to conjecture who Avere his 

 favourites among tho poets of his 

 country. His style of composition 

 is his own, and his versification 

 peculiar to himself. He undoubtedly, 

 however, possessed a taste for our 

 elder poets, the ancient wells of 

 • English undefileJ, from whom he 

 probably learned the energy, cha- 

 racter, and truth of composition, 

 and the genuine language of verse; 

 particularly the frequent use of 

 compound epithets, which are the 



life of a language, and in which onr 

 own is far from being deficient. 



Blair, describing the death of a 

 good man, says : 



By unperceiv'd degrees he wears away. 

 Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his 

 scltivg. 



The last line is evidently bor- 

 rowed from Quarles, a writer of 

 true poetical genius, and of exem- 

 plary virtue, unjustly neglected. 



Brave minds opprest, should (in dis- 



pight of fate) 

 Loohe greatest (like the sunne) in loztest 



stale. — Jul. Mill. 



And the following lines, 



So have I seen upon a summer's eve. 

 Fast by the riv'let's brink, a youngster 



■play: 

 IIow wishfully he looks; to stem the 



tide 

 This moment resolute, next unresolv'd : 

 At last! he dips his foot; but, as he 



dips, 

 His fears redouble, and he runs away ; 



strongly resemble a passage which 

 occurs in " Freedom," a poem, by 

 Andrew Brice, printed at Exeter, 

 1730, in 8vo. 



" Thus, on the river's grass'd or pebbled 



strand, 

 Disrob'd stands shiv'ring long the 



tim'rous youth. 

 Doubtful the temper of the crisped 



stream 

 Essaying ; but, impatient of the chill. 

 His scarce ting'd foot in haste retreats." 

 P. 120. 



The testimonies to the merits of 

 Blair are few, when compared with 

 his deserts. 2^he Grave, though it 

 is written in a style that might well 

 delight the learned, and deserve the 



attention 



