Chap. XX.] Foctni. 71 



muse of Thomson, while pouring forth the most 

 splendid beauties, dictated 



" Nothing which, dying, he could wish to blot.'* 



For the same kind of excellence Goldsmith and 

 Johnson deserve the highest praise. In this re- 

 spect, also, Cowper is inferior to none. His va- 

 rious performances display beauty of description 

 and vigour of language, blended with dignity of 

 virtue and piety, to a degree which places his cha- 

 racter, both as a man and a Christian, in the most 

 honourable point of view. In short, to discard 

 coarse indelicacy from the pictures of poetry ; to 

 recal Genius from the paths of Vice and Folly, and 

 enlist her in the service of chaste Enthusiasm and 

 divine Morality j are among the shining honours 

 of the last age. And perhaps on no ground does 

 its poetic character deserve higher eulogium than 

 for the production and the general popularity of 

 such writers as Pope, Young, Klopstock, Gesner, 

 Thomson, and Cowper. 



Again ; the discovei^ies in science which distin-^ 

 guish the eighteenth century have also conferred 

 some peculiarity on the poetic character of the 

 age, by furnishing the poet with new images, and 

 more just and comprehensive views of nature. It 

 would not be difficult to show that the improve- 

 ments in every branch of the physical sciences, 

 and particularly in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry , 

 and Natural History, have all produced new ma- 

 terials for the labours of poetic genius, enriched 

 stores both of imagery and diction, and thus 



