Dr. Barnes on Poetry. 6 l 
Butler. ; where it is fimple and narrative, as the 
Fables of Gav or even, where it is plaintive 
and melancholy , as the Church Yard of Gray, 
mult be banifhed from the region of the Mufe. 
Parnafius muft be, c all cliff,’ without a fingle 
vale in all its circuit. None mull then be 
deemed a poet, who cannot foar to its loftieft 
fummit, on Epic, or Heroic wing. If we fhould 
form an index expurgatorius upon this principle, 
what havock fhould we make among the minor 
poets ? How many fhould we exclude, whom 
every lover of the Mufe ranks, with grateful vene¬ 
ration, in the number of her infpired votaries ? 
“Elevation of fentiment, imagery, and creative 
fancy, are not to be found in poetry alone. 
They often belong as much to the Orator. For 
where will you find nobler flights of imagination, 
loftier fentiments, bolder addrefles to the paffions, 
or more animated, we might fay, modulated 
language, than in the Orations of Cicero ; not to 
mention thofe of our modern orators, whofe elo¬ 
quence, however, we would not fcruple to com¬ 
pare with that of the mofl admired antients ? 
“If we might argue from the name, poetry, we 
fhould naturally conclude, that the antients 
themfelves underftood by the term, not thofe 
irregular modulations, which naturally arofe 
from the impulfe of ftrong and impaffioned feel¬ 
ings, from grandeur of fentiment, from beauty, 
or boldnefs of imagery ; but, fomething more 
artificial 
