462 
remark which is not to be difputed, and 
we are happy that himielf has relieved us 
from the pain of making it. It mutt be 
obferved, hawever, in mitigation of the 
aeniure, that a Didactic Poem, and as fuch 
we muft confider the ** Botanic Garden,” 
is rather addreffed to the underftanding 
than the heart: it is not to be expeéted 
that we fhould be fired at the defeription 
of an ardent famen, or melt with fympa- 
thy at a languifhing pi/fillam: where the 
author's own feelings were excited, he fails 
not to touch a correfponding chord.. If 
an Imagination of unrivalled richnefs—a 
felicity of allufion to whatever can throw 
luftre on his fubje&t—to ancient mytho- 
logy and modern difcoveries—to the works 
of nature and of art; if thefe are fome of 
the effentials of poetry, Dr. Darwin may 
certainly claim them as his own. No 
man, perhaps, was ever happier in the 
feleion and compofition of his epithets, 
had a more imperial command of woras, 
or could elucidate with fuch accuracy and 
elegance the moft complex and intricate 
machinery. 
Who but Dr. Darwin would have 
thought of defcribing a porcelain-manu- 
factory in verfe ; the enormous powers and 
curious conftruction of a fteam-engine; 
the delicate mechanifm of a watch; and 
the infinite complexity of a cotton-mill? 
Thefe and many fimilar defcriptions to be 
found in the ** Botanic Garden,” are ini- 
mitable in their way. and that they do 
not ** rouch the heart,” is attributable to 
the fubjeé&t, and not to the poet: the fweet 
fimple mufic of an old Scotch air is infi- 
nitely more affecting than the rapid com- 
piex movements of a modern concerto:— 
but a vagrant minftrel could compofe the 
melody of the one, though it requires the 
{cientific hand of a mafter to combine the 
various harmony of the other. 
After all, we are quite ready to acknow- 
ledge that Dr. Darwin is not a poet who 
fiands very high in our eftimation: the ear 
is fafcinated and feduced by the melliflu- 
ence of his numbers, but there is a har- 
lotry ih his embellifhments which is tous 
unchatte. His cadences are not fuffici- 
ently varied for a poem cf fuch length as 
the ** Botanic Garden ;* indeed there is 
an evident mechanifm in the conftru&ion 
of his limes which it is by no meaus plea- 
fant to deteét; one halt of the verfe is 
frequently a perfect equipoife to the other* 
 ¥ Thefe and fome other peculiarities weie 
admirably imitated in the ‘* Loves of the 
Triangles,” a parody which appeared in the 
Antijacobin, 
Biographical Memoirs of the late Dr. Darwin. 
[June t, 
We are even fo faftidious and delicate as | 
to be cloyed with the uniform fweetnefs of 
his verfification: the current of Dr. Dar- 
win’s poetry is unruffled and ferene ; its 
furface fmooth and polifhed—* Still as the 
fea ere winds were taught to blow ;*’ but 
oftentimes we would gladly tranfport our- 
felves to where 
«¢ The rich ftream of mufic winds along, 
Deep, majeftic, fmooth, and ftrong.* — 
Dr. Darwin is particularly happy in 
fome of his minor effufions: the beauti- 
ful little fong **to May,” is exquifitely 
finifhed ; and it would be difficult to find 
thirty lines in the ‘* Botanic Garden,” to 
rival in dignity and pathos the ** Addrefs 
to Swilcar’s Oak,” introduced in the Phy- 
tologia, XVIII. 2. 16. 
There is a noble and indignant elo- 
quence poured forth in the tranflation of a 
tew lines from the eighth fatire of Juvenal, 
(Stemmata quid faciunt, &c. See Zoon, 
Vol. II. clafs iti. 1.2.) which feems to 
flow immediately from the heart. Thefe, 
(particularly the two lat), and fome de- 
tached paffages in the “Botanic Garden,” 
poficis a chaftenefs and fimplicity of co- 
louring, We want of which can never be 
compenfated by the temporary luftre of 
any varnifh: it is this artificial glofs, the 
too lavifh ufe of this deceitful varnith ; 
which difpleafes us in the poetry of Dr. 
Darwin. Asa profe writer, Dr. Darwin 
was incorrect: his grammatical errors are 
numerous. He was even deficient in or- 
thography: his faults in fpelling were 
fometimes corre&ted by his fon the aitor- 
ney. He gave early evidence of a poetical 
genius ard a philojophical turn ef mind: 
whilft he held the appointment of Lord 
Exeter’s {cholarfhip, he diftinguiffed him- 
felf by his poetical exercifes, and acquired 
an uncommon facility in the compofition 
of them. In the year 1758, he publithed 
in vol. L. of the Philofophical Tranfac- 
tions, ** An attempt to confute the opinion 
of Henry Earl, concerning the afcent of 
vapour ;’* and “¢ An account of the cure 
of a pericdical hemoptoe, by keeping the 
patient awake.” This was followed by 
‘© Experiments on Animal Fluids in the 
exhaufted Receiver.” 
Dr. Darwin printed in the Derby Mer- 
cury, an elegy written at Matlock, and 
addrefied to Mrs. Darwin; another piece 
was interted in the fame paper, occafioned 
by the appearance of a mott fatal diftem- ~ 
per amongit horned cattle, at Calke, near 
Derby. It confifted of inftruétions to give 
an immediate ftop to its rapid and alarm- 
ing progels. A third article was written 
on 
