390 Dr. Barnes on the Influence of the Imagination , 
he fenfibly feel the fweetnefs, richnefs, and 
loftinefs of its language ? Is he alive to all 
the fuperior charms of its fubjed - , its fcenery, 
and its execution ? Alas 1 No. Like the fly 
on St. Paul’s Cathedral, he ftumbles at a draw, 
or a hair. But, is this cold-blooded thing , whofe 
fcanty foul cannot expand itfelf to the dimenfions 
of fuch a fubjed, who cannot take in, at one grand 
and ennobling view, its whole extent and ad- 
juftment, the connedion of its parts, the cha- 
raders, the machinery, the end—is he the proper 
critic of Milton ?* 
* “ How did Garrick fpeak the foliloquy laft night ?” 
“ Oh ! Againfl all rule, my Lord, moll ungrammatically, 
“ Between the nominative cafe, which, your Lordfhip 
“ knows, ihould govern the verb, he fufpended his voice 
“ a dozen times; three feconds, and three fifths, my Lord) 
“ each time.” “ Admirable grammarian !” “ But, in 
“ fufpending his voice—was the fenfe fufpended likewife? 
“ Did no expreflion of attitude or countenance fill up the 
« chafm? Was the eye filent ? Did you narrowly look?”— 
« I looked only at the flop-watch, my Lord.”—“ Ex- 
“ cellent obferver!” 
“ And what of this new book the whole world makes fuch 
“ a rout about?—“ Oh ! it is quite out of all plumb, my 
“ Lord.—Quite an irregular thing ! Not one of the, 
angles at the four corners was a right angle.—I had my 
“ rule and compaffes, my Lord, in my pocket.”—“ Ex- 
‘f cellent critic!” 
“ And for the epic poem your Lordfhip bid me look 
ti a t—upon taking the length, breadth, heighth, and 
“ depth of it, and trying them at home upon an exadf 
“ fcale of Boffu’s—’tis out, my Lord, in every one of 
£( its dimenfions”—“Admirable connoififeur !” Sterne. 
Imagination 
