866 
never in the Eaft; and a2 modern inge- 
nious novelift, jauftly admired for her de- 
fcriptive talens, relied on tne reprefen- 
tations of travellers and tourtits. 
But the topographer who would be- 
friend the poet, mutt not himfelf be 
chargeable with the crime of poetry, fic- 
tion : 
PiGtoiibus atque Poetis 
Qyid libet audendi temper fecit equa poteftas. 
HOR. ART. POET. 

He muft be a copyift, and the more 
faithful to nature the better. 
To no art does the maxim of Du 
Frefnoy apply with more propriety, than 
to that of topography : 
Errorum ett plurima fylva, 
Mauliplicefque vie ; bene agendi terminus unus, 
Linea recta yelut fola eft, et mille recurve. 
Vv. 250. 

In Error’s grove, though thoufend thickets 
f{pread, 
Ten thoufand devious paths our fleps miflead. 
*Mid curves, that vary in perpetual twime, 
Truth owns but one direct and perfect line. 
MASON. 
But, farther, as no underftanding com- 
prehends all fcience, or reccllects every 
ftage of its enquiries ; fo no eye embraces 
every {cene, and even of a favourite {cene 
fome parts may efeape its notice. To- 
pography, therefore, may affift a poet, 
mot only by unfolding to him fcenes that 
he never faw, but by retouching, as it 
were, the objects already pittured in his 
eye; by completing the picture, and 
thus, by increafing the fenfations, and 
frengthening the conceptions, the topo- 
vrapher may give energy and precifion 
tu the poet. ; 
~ The analogy between the painter and 
local hiftorian has already been noticed ; 
but when the latter adorns his work 
with accurate and elegant engravings, 
the analogy is rendered more firiking : 
the fervice, too, rendered the poet, be-. 
comes two-fold, and appears fo effential 
an appendage to local hiftory, as almoft 
always to accompany It. 
It has been already obferved, that the 
‘Focal hiftorian, who would render effen-' 
tial benefit to poetry, fhould confider 
himfelf a mere copyift ; but, notwith- 
ftanding, ample room is left for the ex- 
ercife of tafe, and for fuch embellifh- 
ments of ftyle and compofition as may 
direct the judgment, and even enliven 
@ poetical imagination. In this refpect, 
indeed, the topog:apher excels the paint- 
er; for, as before okferved, painting is 
Topography, how far ufeful to Poetry. 
filent; whereas topography, as it were, 
{peaks to us, and can enliven the paffions 
by moderate fallies of the fancy, and, 
occafionally, elevate the mind with moral 
reflection. This, indeed, fhould. be at- 
tempted but {paringly, but if done with 
delicacy and with judgment, produces a 
moit pleafant and poetical effedt. Here 
philofophy may ftep in as the handmaid 
[Dees 
ae 
to topography ; and both together form - 
a mott delightful union with poetry. 
The preceding obfervations may be 
confidered as g-neral reflections, and ftand © 
independent. of any particular hiftory : 
for as in the former Effay I meant not ta 
cenfure any particular writer, fo do E 
hot appear in this paper as the profeffed 
critic or panegyrift of any: I fhall only 
obferve, that tne modern Hiftory of Mon- 
mouthfhire that has been much admired 
for its general contents, feems alfo highly 
favourable to the views above-mentioned. 
Were I difpoted to confider any par- 
ticular county in England in reference to 
fcenery, though I might prefer rambling 
through other counties, I fhould choofe 
to repofe in Monmouthfhire. Mr. David 
Williams, in his hiftory of this charm- 
ing county, properly obferves, ‘‘ The 
whole county forms one exquifite land~ 
feape.”’ In other counties the mountains 
may be more lofty, the vallies more ex- 
tenfive , fcenes may arife more grandly 
irregular, and wildly romantic, atthe fame 
time, fuwblime and barren, fo as alternately 
to fill the mind with horror and with 
pity. Sut in Monmouthfhire the mind 
is never carcied higher than admiration, 
nor falls lower than complacency and 
delight. 
“The beauty of Monmouththire,” Mr, 
Williams juftly obferves, “is not depend- 
ent on fingle fcenes, or particular fea 
tures; it is the refult of all the circume 
{tances which form the whole furface of 
the county. 
“The rivers confer as much beauty on 
the country as they receive from it. The 
courfe of the Wye is every where inte- 
refting, in feme places fublime: that of 
the Uik, fringed with woods, or bounded 
by noble meadows, is a fcene of perpe- 
tual beauty. The whole county forms 
one exquifite Jand{cape, of which the vat 
expanfe of the Briftel Channel is the 
foregraund ; hills covered with woods, 
which the roads beautifully limit, or no- 
bly cimb ; valiies fertilized with ftreams, 
where {maller eminences feem to recline 
againft the mountains; thickets inde- 
finitely diverfified, where objects, as the 
travellers move, {ecm perpetually to peep 
ang 
‘ 
\ 
