On the Perfanification of Abpraét Ideas in Poetry. 
“Which when the carl beheld, and faw ‘his 
gueft ; 
Would fafe depart, for all his fubtle fleight, 
He chofe a halter from among the rett, 
And with it hung himfelf, unbid, unbleft. 
But death he could not work himfelf thereby, 
For thoufand times he fo himfelf had dreft, 
Yet nathelefs it could not do him die, 
Till he thould die his laft, that is, eternally. 
MELANCHOLY, inits fofteft and moft 
pleshng charaéter of contemplative pen- 
ivene{s, 1s pourtrayed by Milton merely 
as a religious reclufe: 
Come, penfive Nun, devout and pure, 
Sober, ftedfaft, and demure, 
All in a robe of darkeft grain, 
Flowing with majeftic train, 
And fable ftole of Cyprus lawn 
Over thy decent fhoulders drawn, 
Come, but keep thy wonted ftate, 
With even ftep, and mufing gate, 
And looks commercing with the fkies, 
Thy rapt foul fitting in thine eyes: 
There held in holy pafiion full, 
Forget thyfelf to marble, till 
With a fad leaden downward caf, 
Thou fix them on the earth as faft. 
: Penfer. 
She is, indeed, invoked as a goddefs ; 
and a {plendid poetical genealogy is fram- 
ed for her: but this does not affect the 
truly piéturefque part of the de{cription, 
which is entirely human. Perhaps fome- 
what of emblem may be contained in 
thefe lines ; 
Whofe faintly vifage is too bright 
To hit the fenfe of human fight, 
And therefore to our weaker view 
O’erlaid with black, ftaid Wifdom’s hue. 
Yet the appendage of a black veil is 
congruous enough with the figure of a 
beautiful devotee. 
On the fame natural model are formed 
two elegant fketches of Melancholy, by 
Warton and Collins. The ** Ode fo 
Fancy” of the former defcribes her as the 
Goddefs of the tearful eye, 
Who loves to fold the arms and figh. 
And in the  Mujfic of the Paffions? of the 
Jatter, her air and attitude are thus Vividly 
reprefented : 
With eyes up-rais’d, as one infpir’d, 
Pale Melancholy fat retir’d, 
‘Phe affinity between this charaGter and 
RELIGIOUS CONTEMPLATION is fuch, 
that we need not wonder to fee the latter 
made a counterpart of the former, and 
only differing in fex and age. Spenfer 
defcribes a hermitage on the top of a hill, 
which an aged man inhabits, named 
Heavenly Contemplation : 
MONTHLY Mag, No, xxxtv, 
Hypocrisy. 
t7 
Great grace that old man given to hin had, 
For God he often faw from heaven’s height; 
All were his earthly eyen both blunt and bad, 
And thro” great age had loft their kindly 
fight, 
Yet'wond’rous quick and perfaunt was his 
fpright, 
As eagle’s eye that can behold the fun. 
The hill they fcale, &c. ne 
There dothey find that godly aged fire, 
With {nowy locks adown his fhoulders thedy 
As hoary froft with fpangles doth attire 
The mofly branches of an oak half dead. 
Each bone might thro’ his body well be read, 
And every finew feen thro’ his long fait; 
For nought he cared his carcafs long unfed 5 
His mind was full of fpiritual repaft, ‘ 
And pined his flefh to keep his body low 
and chafte. F. Qi AGs 4. Fe 
The exquifite beauty of the fimile in 
thefe lines need not be pointed out to thofe 
‘who have the leaft relith for peu 
Under a form not very different, though 
lefs {piritualized, the fame poet reprefents 
The defcription would 
certainly not appear drawn from the fancy 
in the times of monkery : 
At length they chane’d.to meet upon the way 
An aged fire, in long black weeds yclad, 
His feet all bare, his head all hoary gray, 
And by his belt his book he hanging had 5» 
Sober he feemed, and very fagely fad, 
And to the ground his eyes were lowly bent, 
Simple in fhew, and void of malice bad; 
And all the way he prayed as he went, 
And often knocked his breaft, as one that did 
repent. FQ. i. 1.29, 
Hypocrify has his hermitage too, but its 
fituation is much more fnug and com- 
fortable than that of the enraptured foli- 
tary before-mentioned. His converfation 
is very naturally derived from the legend 
and breviary. 
He told of faints and popes, and evermore 
He ftrowed an Avemary after and before. 
It is obvious that Spenfer has copied 
this character from that of Fraup in 
Ariofto, which, in meft of its circum- 
ftances, is equally a natural one. She is 
made an inmate of the cloyfter, and is 
thus defcribed ; 
Avea piacevol vifo, abito onefto, 
Un’ umil volger d’occhi, un’ andar grave, 
Un’ parlar fi benigno, e fi modefto, 
Che parea Gabriel, che diceffe, ave. 
Era brutta, e deforme, in tutto il refto; 
Ma nafcondea quefte fatezze prave ~ 
Con lungo abito, e largo; e fotto quello 
Attoflicato avea fempre il coltello, 
Orl. Fur. xiv. $7. 
Her garb was decent, lovely was her face, 
Her eyes were bafeful, fober was her ia 9 : 
it 
