Vol. III. ] 
tions and narrations, that allure the fancy 
and imprefs the feelings. Superftition, 
y 
from the clouds of heaven, frowns upon 
the generations of men. The direful 
altar is expofed to view—Ephigenia is 
brought forth, and the father, while the 
fatal ftroke is infliéting, hides his face in 
his mantle. Asa contrait to thefe hor- 
rers, the goddefs of beauty defcends in 
all her lovelinefs, and breathes a fréfher 
pring throughout enlivened nature. 
Thefe are the artifices by which he keeps 
out of view the drynefs of his difcuf- 
fiens, and the depth of his enquiries; a 
train of artifice, which he has himfelf 
charaéterized in that beautiful fimilé 
which, however familiar, never fuffers 
from a repetition : . 
Thus the fick infant’s tafte, difguis’d, to 
meet, 
They tinge ‘the velfel’s brim with juices 
{weet, 
The bitter draught his willing lip receives, 
He drinks deceiv’d, and fo deceiv'd he lives. 
<¢ Upon the whole, we may perhaps 
venture to defcribe the end of poetry in 
the words which Mr. Pope ufed to de- 
feribe the objeét of one of its principal 
branches, and fay, that its defign is 
To wake the foul by tender ftrokes of art. 
- The poet juft quoted, has aflerted of 
a certain clafs of ideas, 
“* He bef fhall paint them who fhall feel 
them moft.”’ ‘ 
This obfervation may be with juftice ex- 
tended to every defcription of ideas 
which afford a fubject for the effufions of 
the mufe. A poct muft be a man of de- 
licate perceptions and ftrong feelings ; 
and he may be faid to have attained the 
fummit of his art, when he is mafter of 
a vivid phrafeology, that will operate as 
a conduétor, and communicate to his 
reader, in the higheft pollible degree, 
thofe feelmgs by which he is himfelf ani- 
mated. 
“ Here, then, this Eflay might perhaps, 
with propriety, have been clofed. But 
I muft rely upon your candour, for the 
admiffion of a few more obfervations, 
which may, perhaps, tend to illuftrate 
the point to which this enquiry has led us: 
46 The end of poetry, it is faid, is an 
impreffion upon the feelings—But as 
there is an intimate connection between 
feeling and aétion, fo that where the one 
appears, the other ‘ follows hard upon;’ 
if the foregoing obfervations be true, 
we may expect to find that the aétions 
of mankind are, in fome meafure, in- 
fluenced by the Mufes. 
‘‘ And if we look to the fimpler ages 
of fociety, when we can beft diftinguith 
On the Charagteriftics of Poetry. 
543 
the grand outlines! of the human charac- 
ter, where the {prings that. 2étuate the 
conduét of man are, in a manner, bared 
‘for infpeétion, we fhall find this ‘to have 
been the cafe. In the infancy of ftates, 
poetry is a method equally captivating — 
and efficacious of forming the difpofi-.. 
tions of the people, and kindling in their. 
hearts that love of glory which is their 
country’s fafeguard and defence. Whe-., 
ther. we look to the cold regions of Scan- _ 
dinavia, or the delicious clime of Greece, . 
we find, that when fociety has made a 
certain progrefs, mankind are ftrongly 
influenced by a love of fong, and liften 
with raptured attention, to the ftrains - 
that record the tale of other times, and 
the deeds of heroes of old. They liften 
till they imbibe the enthufiafm of war- 
fare, and in the day of battle, the heroe’s 
arm has not unfrequently been nerved 
by the rough energy of the carly bard.—_ 
Whether Offian {trike the chords in the 
Hall of Shells, or Phemius attune his 
voice at the banquet of Ulyffes, the 
principle by which they operate on the 
foul of the hearers is the fame, and they 
accord in urging them by great examples, 
to deeds of high renoun. The follow- 
ing quotation from the Odyfley, is a 
ftriking proof of the refpect in which 
minftrels were held in the times of Ho- 
mer; it alfo gives us a clue to their 
general fubjeéts, and, in all probability, 
the conjeéture of am ingenious writer is ~ 
juft, who imagines that he beholds in it 
a picture of Homer himfelf: | 
And now the herald came, leading, with care, 
The tuneful bard. Dear to the mufe was he, 
Who yet appointed him both good and ill, 
Took from him fight, burt gave him ftrains 
divine. - 
For him Pontonovs in the midft difpos’d 
Anargent-ftudded throne; thrufting it clofe 
To atall column, where he hung his lyre 
Above his head, and taught him where it hung. 
He fet before him next a polifh’d board, 
And bafket, anda goblet filled with wine, 
For his own ufe, and at his own command 5 
Then all affail’d at once the ready feat, 
And when nor, hunger more nor thirft they felt, 
Then came the mufe, and rous’d the bard to 
fing 
Exploits of men renown’d, 
‘Iris not to be doubted, that even 
when the Greeks had attained toa high 
degree of civilization, their martial ar- 
dour was kept alive by the compofitions 
of their poets, who chofe, as their ‘dar- 
ling fubjeéts, the illuftrious deeds per- 
formed by heroes mingled with the duft, 
or flourifhing with their honours thick 
upon them. Efchylus did good fervice 
PONS ane when 
