DR. DARWIN. 311 



Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the fea that parts 

 Calabria from the hoarfe Trinacrian ftiore. 



Dr. Beattie, in his charming Minftrel, 

 has fo ufed alliteration as to produce two 

 of the moft harmonious verfes in our 

 language. 



Young Edwin, lighted by the evening ftar, 

 Lingering and liftening, wander'd down the vale. 



This digreffion into general criticifm will 

 not be thought irrelevant to the peculiar 

 theme of tbefe pages, when it is confidered 

 that, for the prefumption of cenfuring, even 

 in one inftance, the eminently harmonious 

 numbers of the Botanic Garden, it was 

 requifite to juftify fuch cenfure by examin- 

 ing the ufe or abufe of that habit of ftyle, 

 which ftrengthens or enfeebles, adorns or 

 mifbecomes the verfe, as the good or bad 

 tafte of the writer fliall direft it's appli- 

 cation. Churchill has ridiculed alliteration 

 in a line of fingular felicity, for an unworthy 

 x 4 purpofe, 



