DET ORIE LEON: 
rable flee, 
Delcaptioy: ays Dr. Blair, (Le&. vol. i iti. p-158. ‘is the great 
telt of a poet’s imagination; and always dittinguifhes an origi- 
nal frem a fecond-rate genius. A true poet makes us imagine 
that we fee the object \ which he aa uiahe before our eyes $ 
he catches the g features; he gives it the colours 
of life and reality ; ‘he places i it in fic alight that a ‘Soups 
could copy after him, This happy talent is forse owing to 
a {trong imagination, which firft receives a lively impreffion 
- object § and then, by emp ying a piper {election of 
full force to the imagination of others. 
when defcribing a gay and laf one, - tend to es 
tify, that by this means, th reffion m on 
imagination complete and ee: eek la iin e circumftances 
in defcription fhould be reffe " with concifenefs, and with 
: aoe too much exaggerated, or too 
tu 
w 
on aa extended, they never fail to ‘onfeeble 
- the impreffion that is defigned to be made. Of all defcrip- 
tive compofitions, the largeft and ante fays Dr. Blair, with 
which he is acquainted, is Mr. Thomfon’s beara 3 a wor 
that poffeffes very uncommon fone n is a ftrong 
anda beautiful defcriber ; 3 for he had a  feling heart anda 
we t fele& Beit 
the p 
heightening a defcription. 
effe&ts of heat in the torrid zone, he is led to take notice of 
-the peftilence that deftroyed the Englith fleet at Carthagena ; 
under admiral Vernon; when he has the following lines 
oe Vou » gallant Vernon, faw 
The miferable fcene ; you pitying faw 
‘To infant weaknefs funk se warrior’s arn 3 
Of agonizing fhips 
Heard nightly i amid ad fain waves, 
he frequent corfe——”? 1. roso. 
Mr. Parnell’s tale of the Hermit is con{picuous divanghs © 
out the whole of it, for beautiful defcriptive narration. But 
of all the Englifh poems in the ag ee ftyle, the richeft 
and moft remarkable are Milton’s Allegro and hk 
The colleétion of gay images on the one of m 
on the oe exhibited in cele nao fmall, 
but inimitably fine po are as exquifite as can be con- 
ceived. The following a is {elected by Dr. Blair from 
the Penferofo ; 
wa ————— FI walk unfeen 
On the dry, {mooth-fhaven green, 
‘Vow, XI. 
* 
To behold the wandering a 
Riding near her higheft no 
Like one that had been led olay 
Through the heaven’s w ioe pathlefs Ways 
And oft, as if her hea w'd, 
Aa through a dees cloud, 
Oft, on a plat of rifing oS 
I hear the far. off curfew found, 
fer manfion in can fieth 
And of thole dzmons ele are oer 
In fire, air, flood, or under- prune: . 
re are, as he obfery 
heard diftant ; the dying embers in the chamber’; = b 
man’s call; and the lamp feen at midnight, in the 
lonely tower. The poet’s manner is alfo admirably coneile ; ¥ 
and this manner, in defcribing folemn or great objects, is 
almoft always proper. It farther deferves attention, that im 
defcribing inanimate natural objets, the poet, in order to 
enliven his sah ai ion, ought always 
with them. It is a great beauty in Milton’s Allegro, that 
it is all alive, ad full of perfons. ry thing i i 
we fhou 
allude. (See c omer and Virgil were 
remarkable for the talent of poetical scaipion, All 
er’s battles, Virgil’s defcription of the burning and 
facking of ae in the fecond a , and Milton’s account 
chee add a 
at leaft ree “ ale and heighten its known fignification. 
So in Milto _ 
tf ee 
o fhall aa with wand’ring feet 
The ps auta 
m’d, infinite a 
Wpborn with indefatigable w 
Om the vait abrupt?” bei 
af Sometimes 
