t 66 3 



into it again ; but rarely appear (as they 

 almoft always do in improved places) like 

 patches of ornament, that catch the vul- 

 gar, and offend the judicious eye. Of this 

 defcription are the two moil renowned of 

 all didaclic poems, thofe of Lucretius and 

 Virgil ; and they are the beft illuftrations 

 of the manner in which the ufeful and the 

 ornamental, in places of great natural 

 beauties, mould be combined together. 



Thofe who wifh for as great a degree 

 of elegance and high polifh as is compa^ 

 tible with grandeur and energy, will imi- 

 tate Virgil; but, like him, they will avoid 

 all flat effeminate fmoothnefs. Like him, 

 they will leave thofe mafterly touches 

 which give a fpirit to the reft, though they 

 will give to the whole of their fcenery a 

 more general appearance of polifh, than 

 thofe who take Lucretius for their model. 

 In him certainly the contrail between 



what 



