Q06 Poetry. 



and several other English poets, will long do ho- 

 nour to the literature of their country. 



During the same period, much lyric poetry, of 

 a respectable character, was produced on the con- 

 tinent of Europe. In the French language, the 

 odes of J. B. Rousseau, and of Gressett, are con- 

 sidered by the critics of that country as among the 

 most finished productions of their kind. To the 

 odes of Rousseau this character is especially ap- 

 plicable. In the Italian language, the odes of Me- 

 tastasio; in the German, those of Klopstock, 

 Weisse, and Wieland; and in the Swedish, those 

 of Dahlin, and of Gyllenborg, are all admired 

 among those who understand the languages in 

 which they are respectively written. But it is be- 

 lieved that' the best lyric poetry of Great-Britain, 

 during this period, exceeds that of any other coun- 

 try in Europe, and of course in the literary world. 



Under the head of lyric poetry, may be placed 

 the species of composition called the Sonnet, with 

 many excellent models of which the eighteenth 

 century has remarkably abounded. This kind of 

 poetry is of Italian origin. Dante, though not the 

 inventor, was the first who succeeded in the compo- 

 sition of it. The first successful attempts to present 

 the Sonnet in our language, were made by Drum- 

 mond, and afterwards by Milton. The former 

 excelled in delicacy; the specimens furnished by 

 the latter were chiefly distinguished by strength of 

 expression, and sublimity of thought; but were 

 by no means remarkable for smoothness, harmony, 

 or elegance. In these respects, several writers of 

 Sonnets, since the day of that immortal bard, 

 though greatly inferior in genius, have much ex- 

 celled him; and, of course, have produced com- 

 positions of this kind before unequalled in English 

 literature. Among those who have most distin- 

 guished themselves in this department of poetry, are 



