Poetry. 193 



and elegance^ of language. The Infancy of Dr. 

 Downman discovers him to have been a ocod 

 poet, an excellent medical phijosopher, and a 

 friend to morality and virtue. The Mine, a dra- 

 matic poem, by Mr. Sargent, is considered by 

 good judges as a work of genuine philosophical 

 and poetical merit. And the English Orator, by 

 Mr. Polwhele, displays much excellent sentiment 

 and just precept, in very harmonious verse. 



With the didactic poetry produced on the con- 

 tinent of Europe during the last age, the author 

 has but little acquaintance. The Pnedium Rusti- 

 cum of Father Vaniere, a Jesuit of France, pub- 

 lished about the beginning of the century, has been 

 ever since celebrated in the literary world as a 

 specimen of elegant Latin poetry, connected with 

 excellent precepts and just sentiments. The 

 Columbia Florum of M. De la Croix, also a 

 Latin poem, and published a few years after the 

 Pradiam Rusticum, is scarcely less remarkable for 

 the purity, vivacity, and elegance of its diction, the 

 ingenuity of its fable and imagery, and the general 

 soundness of its philosophy. The Abbe Delille, 

 in his Garden, a didactic and descriptive work, 

 presented his countrymen with a poem, which, 

 though it does not display great invention, has 

 been highly and justly applauded for the beauty of 

 its descriptions, and the excellence of its versifi- 

 cation. To these may be added Baron Haller's 

 poem on Reason, Superstition, and Infidelity, be- 

 fore mentioned, and which is worthy of its illus- 

 trious author. 



MORAL AND DEVOTIONAL POETRY. 



The moral poetry of the eighteenth century 

 may, without hesitation, be pronounced superior, 

 in the union of correctness, purity and elegance, 



VOL. II. 7.C 



