456 
Arabian Nights oie ‘taininents ; to men- 
tion the lee zant fidtions lately p produced 
by the fertile wenrus of W ieaad, and by 
éther German writers ;. and laftly, to 
dwell upon the numberleis beauties of 
Fenelon’s. Telemachus, a work which 
pofieffes every chara€ter of the epic, ex- 
cept verfification: 
In farther confirmation of the opinion 
fupvorted in this paper, may be adduced 
the aathor ity of Horace. He gives the 
honourable appeilation of peek not to 
the mere verfifier, but to the man who 
poffeifes the divine infpiration of genius, | 
and can command a fuitable grandeur of 
expreifio: : 
Ff 
Ingenium cui fit, cut mens divinior, atque os: 
Magna fonaturum, des nomines hujus honoren. 
And to prevent mifapprehenfion, he gives 
an example of a pa fiage from Ennis, in 
which, when the verfe is broken up, that 
is, when the patfage becomes profe, the 
oak fill finds disjedit membra poet@, 
the limbs of the disjomted poet. 
The prefent difcuilion is not a mere 
verbal difpute. Its objeét 1s more im- 
portant, than to introduce a new, or ex- 
tended ‘ule ‘of the term peetry : it 1s, to 
deteét one of thofe numerous miftakes in 
the ufe of words, which are attended 
with ill effects. In-appropriating the 
mame of poet to the compoier of verfes, 
the honours of poetry have been confin- 
ed to th’s clafs or writers ; and it has not 
been fufficiently perceived, that all the 
effentia! and moft valuable powers of the 
poet may be found in one, who does not 
underftand, “or who is not willing to fub- 
mit to the mental fatigue of practifing, 
the art cf verfification, It . not my 
defign to depreciate this art, Though it 
May not, in thefe degenerate times, be 
able to perform all the wonders of Or- 
pheus’s lyre, 1t can ftiff add an irrefiitible 
charm to the, productions of fancy. 
Verfe is certainly the faire drefs of 
poetry ; and when true gentus and cor- 
rect tafte employ it. to ‘embellifh their 
vee the finifhed piece is de- 
fervedly placed in the firft clafs of “hu- 
man produéii ions. But, let not the ho- 
nour due to that, divine enchantre{s, 
Poefy, whofe fublime conceptions fil the 
fancy, and delight the heart, be beftowed 
upon the hand- maid, hele humble of- 
fice conlifts alone in ‘peledions arrange - 
ment. It were as if the mechanical 
hand, that prepares and mixes the 
painter's colours, were to fteal away the 
sraife from the inventive genius which 
S 
preduced and executed the defign. Nor 
> 
The Enquirer. 
Noo VI. 
dictated by a ready invention, a glowing 
fancy, and a feeling heart, and chaftifed 
by a found judgment and correct talte, 
be refufed an honourable flation among 
Poets, merely becanfe their wo'ks are 
not caft in the mold of verfe. Let the 
exclufive homage which has hitherto been 
paid te the firft clafs of poets be difmiffed 
with other fuperttitions; and let the merit 
of every literary performance be fairiy 
eftimated, not by the comparatively tri- 
vial circumftance of oe been written 
in profe or verfe, but by, the thare of 
Judes ent, genius, and tafte which it 
suit wece 
Beis 2 obvioufly follows from the point 
eftablithed in this paper, that the terms 
poctry and pr fe are incorretily oppoted te 
each other. Ver/e is, properly, the con- 
trary of profe’; and becaufe poetry fpeaks 
the language “of faney, paison, and-fen- 
timent, and) philofophy fpeaks the’ lan- 
guage of reafon, thefe Ms o terms fhould 
be Coniatered as contraries, and writ ng 
fhould be divided, ret into poetry and 
profe but into peciry and phrlofophy :—ar 
divifon which might anfwer a ufeful 
purpofe, by occafionally reminding beth 
poets. and philofophers of the propriety 
of keeping within their refpeétive pro- 
vinces : poets might learn that their pro- 
per office is to amufe rather than to in- 
ftruét the world, in which, as poets, 
they have hitherto had little facé e{fs : and 
—which is more important— philofophers 
might learn, in inftructing mankind, te 
abandon the idle project of Pamufing them * 
at the fame time, with poetical iancies 
and fhctions. 
_— Se 
To the Editor. of the Monthly Magazines 
I READ, fr, in’yourMagazine forApril, 
a paper, thie defigm of w hich, 1s to fhow 
the moe of larce farms, Ina national 
view ; the writer of w Hel informs Us, 
that he relies in the country, and has 
oN fo fok fome years. Had it not been 
or fuch information, I fhould have con- 
cluded that his refidence had been (to ufe 
a’country phrafe) within the-found of 
Bow-bell ; if this is not the cafe, hew- 
ever, itis plain to me, that there are per- 
fons who live in the country, that are far 
from being acquainted with the true ftate 
of the neighbou rhoods where they refide. 
—Unacquainted, indeed, muft that man 
be with agriculture] purfuits, who re- 
commends the divifion of farms, into fuch 
hands as can command a capital from sol. 
+a ta 
[ July 
iet thofe, whofe literary productions are, 
f 
~ 
