18 Poetry. [Chap. XX. 



Miiie, a dramatic poem, by Mr. Sargent, is con- 

 sidered by good judges as a work of genuine philo- 

 sophical and poetical merit. And the English Ora- 

 toi\ and Local Attachment, by Mr. Polwhele, dis- 

 play 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 Prcedium Rustic 

 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 

 Connubia Florum of M. de la Croix, also a La- 

 tin poem, and published a few years after the 

 Prcedium Rusticuiriy is scarcely less remarkable 

 for the purity, vivacity, and elegance of its dic- 

 tion, the ingenuity of its fable and imagery, and 

 the general soundness of its philosophy. Father 

 Boscovich's poem, De Solis ac Lunte Defectihusy 

 has been pronounced an ingenious and able pro- 

 duction. The abbe Delille, in his Garden, a di- 

 dactic and descriptive work, presented his coun* 

 trymen 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 versification *. To these 



* " Voltaire, in his discourse pronounced at hi^ reception into 

 the French academy, gives several reasons why the poets of that 

 country have not succeeded in describing rural scenes and em- 

 ployments. The principal one is, the ideas of meanness, po- 

 verty, and wretchedness, which the French are accustomed t» 

 associate with the professiou of husbandry. The same thing is 



