308 HENEY KIRKE WHITE S REMAINS. 



The most elegant critic of antiquity, Longinus, in his 

 treatise on the sublime, adduces the following passage 

 from the book of Genesis, as possessing that quality in an 

 eminent degree — 



" God said. Let there he li<jht ; and there was light : Let the earth 

 be j and the earth uas* — " 



From what I have advanced on this subject, I would 

 not have it inferred, that I conceive the version of Stern- 

 hold and Hopkins, generally speaking, to be superior to 

 tliat of Brady and Tate ; for. on the contrary, in almost 

 every instance, except that above mentioned, the latter 

 possesses an indubitable right to pre-eminence. Our 

 language, however, cannot yet boast one version possess- 

 ing the true spirit of the original ; some are beneath con- 

 tempt, and the best has scarcely attained mediocrity. 

 Your correspondent has quoted some verses from Tate, in 

 triumph, as comparatively excellent ; but, in my opinion, 

 they are also instances of our general failure in sacred 

 poetry: they abound in those amldtiosa ornamenta which 

 do well to please women and children, but which disgust 

 the man of taste. 



To the imitations already noticed of this passage, per- 

 mit me to add the following — 



" But various Iris Jove's commands to bear, 

 Speeds on the wings of winds through liquid air." 



Popl's Iliad, h. ii. 

 " Miguel cruzando os pelagos do vento." 



Carlos Reduzido, canto i. 



by Pedro de Azevedo Tojal, an ancient Portuguese poet 

 of some merit. 



REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH POETS. 



WARTON. 



The poems of Thomas Warton are replete with a sub- 

 limity and richness of imagery, which seldom fail to en- 



* The critic apparently quoted from memory, for we may search in 

 vain for tlie latter pari of thi? sentence. 



