1796. ] 
have written a magnificent fable concern-, 
ing the lofs of Paradife, and Butler a 
witty tale of Hudibras, had they only 
exprefled their conceptions in prote. 
Tf it be one of the offices of poetry, to 
exhibit exaét and lively pictures of men 
and things ; if it be the province of tne 
poet, to obferve, with a diicriminating 
eye, the objeéts which are belt adapted 
to ex¢ite emotions, and to reprefent them 
_with fuch diftinétnefs and force as to 
make a vivid impreffion upon the read- 
er’s fancy; what reafon can be given, 
why thefe effects may not. be produced 
in profe? The fame ‘objects, on either 
fuppofition, lie before the eye, or ima- 
gination of the writer; he has accefs to 
the fame magazine of words; and he’ 
has equal fcope for the exercife of judg- 
ment and tafte in the arrangement of his 
materials. pk 
If, beyond the fimple defcription of 
real objeéts, it be underftood to be the 
peculiar privilege of the poet, to give 
ideal exiftence to objects, and {cenes of 
which no archetype is found in nature ; 
if we be told, that fiction is the hallowed 
temple of poetry, and reminded of ‘ the 
poet’s eye in a fine phrenzy rolling,’’ &c. 
this character may be afcribed to poetry 
in its full extent, without confining it 
within the narrow inclofure of metre. 
By the united aid of memory, and the 
power of affociation, to give birth to 
imaginary beings, to transfer the pow- 
ers of one being to another, to people 
any part of the univerfe with new forms, 
to call up fpeétres from the imfernal 
deep, to bring down divinities from the 
celettial regions, and even to beftow per- 
fonal exiftence upon abftraét ideas; thefe 
wonders, faricy can perform: and the 
man who poffeffes, in an uncommon de- 
gree, this inventive faculty, has, un- 
doubtedly, the beft title to the appellation 
of poet, according to the original meaning 
of the term, for;he is, in truth, 2 
creator. But this divine power is not 
the exclufive privilege of thafe who have 
acquired the art of meafuring out words 
in regular feet; and introducing, at fixed 
intervals, fimilar founds. The mecha- 
nical tafk of verfifying, and the fublime 
operation of poetic invention, are not fo 
intimately conjoined by nature, as not to 
admit of an eafy feparation ; and it is an 
indifputable fact, that fictions of the 
boldeft. kind, which have required the 
higheft exertion of genius, have been 
written in-profe as well asin verfe. 
The character of poetry, which ‘may 
_ feem moft to require that it be limited to 
The Enquirer. No. VI. ; 
“is Bett fuited to poetry. 
oo 
455, 
verfe, is its appropriate di€tion. It wil 
be admitted, that metaphorical language, 
being moré imprefhive than general terms, 
That excited 
ftate of mind, which poetry fuppoles, 
naturally prompts a figurative flyle. Bur 
the language of fancy, fentiment, and 
paffion is not peculiar to verfe. What- 
ever is the natural and proper expref- 
fion of any conception or feeling in me- 
tre or rhyme, is its natural and proper 
expreffion in profe. All beyond this is 
a departure from the true principles of 
tafte. If the artificial diétion of modera 
poetry would be im prope, on fimilar oc- 
cafions, in profe, it is equally improper 
in -verfe. In fupport of this opinion, 
the appeal may be made, not only to the 
general fenfe of propriety, but to thote 
moft perfect models of fine writing, the 
Greek poets. ‘The language of thefe 
great mafters is always {o confonant to 
nature, that, thrown out of rhythm, it, 
would become the proper-expreilion of © 
the fame fentiment in profe. If modern 
poetry will feldom bear to be brought to 
the fame tafte, it is becaufe the tafte of 
the moderns has been refined to a degree 
of faftidioufnefs, which leads them to 
prefer the meretricious ornaments of art, 
ta the genuine fimplicity of nature. 
If, in order to eftablifh the opinion, 
that verfe is not efiential to poetry, it 
were required, that examples fhould bé 
adduced of writings in profe, which pof- 
fefs all the properties of genuine poerry, 
except its metrical numbers’; it would be 
ealy, -in treating the fubjeét more at 
large, to point out many paffages fub- 
Timely poetical in the profe parts of the 
Hebrew feriptires; to refer to many 
dialogues of Plato, replete with elevated 
conceptions and poetical diétion ; to call 
to the reader’s recollection Kenophon’s 
Choice of Hercules, the Table of Cebes, 
the Metamorphofis of Apuleius, with his 
beautiful Fable of Cupid and Plyche; 
many of the productions of Lucian’s 
{portive fancy, and fatirical humour, 
and Cicero’s Dream of Scipio, witl 
many paflages truly poetical from his 
orations and philofophical writings, as 
well as from the works cf ancient hifto- 
tians, moralifts, and critics: nor would 
it be leis eafy, among the moderns, to 
produce a long hf of poetical hiftorians, 
fabulifts, and novelifts; to refer to the 
writings of Rabelais, Cervantes, and 
Sterne; to lay open the rich poetic ftores 
of the Englith Otfhian ; to recal the amuic- 
ment, which every youthful fancy has 
received, trom the wonderful tales of the 
5 Giaws be \oue Tt 
f 
