your liberal and refpectable work, for 
the folution ot fome of your. learr.ed 
readers, viz.—Ii aman be born in the 
Eaft Indies, or any of the {fettlements 
under the Britith dominions, his father 
being an Englifhman and his mother a 
native, (but not born m wedlock,) in 
what light is he viewed in this country? 
Your’s, &c. LipERHOMO. 
London, March6, 1799. 
See 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On. PERSONIFICATIONS IN POETRY. 
(Continued from page 114.) 
F the more dignified pittures of 
Fancy, 1 find none fo elegant and 
fpirited, as that of Mr. Warton in his 
juftly admired Ode to this imaginary 
being. 
O nymph with loofely-flowing hair, 
With bufkin’d leg, and bofom bare, 
Thy waift with myrtle-girdle bound, 
Thy brows with Indian feathers crown’d, 
Waving in thy fnowy hand 
An all-commanding magic wand, 
‘Of power to bid frefh gardens blow 
~*Mid cheerlefs Lapland’s barren fnow, 
Whofe rapid wings thy flight convey 
Thro’ air, and over earth and fea, 
While the vaft various landfcape lies 
Confpicuous to thy piercing eyes; 
O lover of the defart, hail! 
This is a portrait not lefs characterifti- 
‘eal, than beautiful; the elegance, fimpli- 
city, and exalted power of this ideal 
nymph, all correfpond with that vivid 
glow of the imagination, that tafte for the 
charms of nature, which are effential to 
poetical genius. Accordingly, the poet 
has not fcrupled to confer on Fancy the 
title of ‘* Parent of the Mufes, and 
Queen of Numbers’’, and inyokes her as 
the fole infpirer of genuine fong. That 
this is a deviation from the original im- 
port of the term, will appear from the 
preceding quotations but it is a natural 
one, and has the fanction of great authority. 
Whether fuch an innevation in the efta- 
blifhed mythology of poetry; may not fhock 
fome rigid adherents to claflica] doctrine, 
I fhall not prefume to determine. 
Another Ode to Fancy of confiderable 
merit, by Mr. Merrick (Dod/ley’s Coll; iv.) 
is formed upon the fame general notion 
of the character, though with a larger 
mixture of the wild and fantaftic. She 
is madethe daughter of Melancholy by 
Hermes ; and is faid in her appearance at 
times to refemble cach parent. The ob- 
je&ts with which fhe impreffes the mind, 
‘are chiefly of the preternatural clafs; fuch 
Poetical Perfonifications. 
[May 
as fpectres, faires, atid the like thadowy 
beings. Thus a diftinétion is efablifhed 
between the fuggeftions of fancy, and the 
ordinary motions of a lively imagination 3 
which perhaps is a more juft, though lefs 
enlarged, conception of this faculty, thaa 
that of Warton’s Ode: 
Gray gives a reprefentation of 
that feems quite original. ; 
Hark ! his hands the lyre explore! 
Bright-eyed Fancy hovering o’er 
Scatters from her pi€tur’d urn 
‘Thoughts, that breathe, and words, that burns 
Progr. of Poefys 
There is fomething bold te ine 
in this imagery, but it is not correct. It 
has a mixture of metaphor and common 
language. Fancy may fuggeft -words 
and thoughts, but an ura cannot contain 
them. ‘The painted vafe is a happy in- 
ftrument. or bearing for this fiétitious 
perfonage; but the fhould f{eatter from it 
material forms, not founds and ideas. — 
LOveE, or the Cupid of the poets, is 
always an emblematical perfonage ; for I 
know not of any inftance, in which this 
paffion is perfonified under the charaéter 
of one imprefled with its influence. Nor, 
indeed, except in the fable of P/yche, is he 
made the obje4 ofdefire. He is rather the 
type of the paffion itfelf, abftractedly 
confidered. His ufual figure, and the 
interpretation of it, cannot be_ better 
illuftrated, than by a quetation from 
Propertius. : ji 
Fancy 
Quicungque ille fuit, 
. Amorem, 
Nonne putas miras hunc habuiffe manus ? 
Is primum vidit fine fenfu vivere amantes, 
Et levibus curis magna perire bona. 
Idem non fruftra ventofas addidit alas, 
Fecit et humano corde volare Deum. 
Scilicet alterna quoniam ja€tamur in unda, 
Noftraque non ullis permanet aura locis, 
Et merito hamatis manus eft armata fagittis, 
Et pharetra ex humero Gnofia utroque jacet; 
Ante. ferit quoniamy tuti quam cernimus 
hoftem, : 
Nec quifquam ex illo vulnere fanus abit. 
In metela manent, manet et puerilis imago 5 
Sed certe pennas perdidit ille fuas. 
Eleg. ii. 9. 
How rare the fkill his hand poffefs’t 
That love in childifh figure drefs’t! 
He firft perceived how lovers wear 
Their wafted time in trifling care 5 
The god with airy wings he drew 
And with a human heart he flew, 
How juftly too! for we, alas! 
Our lives in ceafelefs tempefts pafs 3: 
Toft by alternate gufts we fail 
Nor e’er enjoy a conftant gale. 
His hand a barbed. fhaft extends 3 
A quives frog his back depends: 
puerum qui pinxit 
Nor 
