LETTERS. 195 



withstand the emotions which rise on its perusal, and I 

 envy not that man his insensibility who can read them 

 with apathy. Many of the pieces of the Bible are 

 written in this sublime manner : one psalm, I think the 

 iSth, is a perfect masterpiece, and has been imitated by 

 many poets. Compare these, or the above quoted from 

 Warton, and the finest piece in Pope, and then judge of 

 the rank which he holds as a poet. Another instance 

 of the sublime in poetry, I will give you from Akon- 

 side's admirable Pleasures of Imagination, where, speak- 

 ing of the Soul, he says, she 



" Rides on the volley'd lightning through the heav'ns, 

 And yoked, with wliirlwinds and the northern blast, 

 Sweeps the long tract of day." 



Many of these instances of sublimity will occur to you 

 in Thomson. 



James begs leave to present you with Bloorafield's 

 Farmer's Boy. Bloomfield has no grandeur or height ; 

 he is a pastoral poet, and the simply sweet is what you 

 are to expect from him ; nevertheless, his descriptions 

 are sometimes little inferior to Thomson. 



* * * * 



How pleased should I be, Neville, to have you with 

 us at Nottingham ! Our fireside would be delightful. — 

 I should profit by your sentiments and experience, and 

 you possibly might gain a little from my small bookish 

 knowledge. But I am afraid that time will never come ; 

 your time of apprenticeship is nearly expired, and, in all 

 appearance, the small residue that yet remains will be 

 passed in hated London. When you arc emancipated, 

 you will have to mix in the bustle of the world, in all 

 probability, also, far from home ; so that when we have 

 just learnt how happy we might mutually make ourselves, 

 we find scarcely a shadow of a probability of ever having 

 the opportunity. Well, well, it is in vain to resist the 

 immutable decrees of fate. 



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