[ 54 3 



connection and dependance of one princi- 

 ple on another, I am very clear that you 

 either did not attend to them, or had to- 

 tally difcarded them from your memory 

 before you wrote your Letter. 



You have obferved, that a beautiful gar- 

 den fcene is not more defective becaufe it 

 would not look well upon canvas, than a 

 didactic poem, becaufe it did not furnifh 

 a fubject to the painter, &c. You will 

 forgive me if I do not think this a very 

 happy illuftration. The principal object 

 of a didaSlic poem is to inftruct, to be ufe- 

 ful; the ornaments are fubordinate. It 

 therefore bears a much nearer refemblance 

 to what is called a jerme ornee than to a 

 garden ; and nothing, in my opinion, would 

 more happily illuftrate the various degrees 

 and ftyles of ornament which might ac- 

 cord with what is ufeful, than the various 

 characters of fuch poems. A didactic 



work 



