142 Critique en 
cation, and that it has been only in com- 
pliance with the wifhes of fome of Shak- — 
ipeare’s warm admirers, that I have fuf- 
fered the fubfcription to remain open fo 
long. If the work fhould eventually be 
publithed, the fubteribers will in one re- 
ipect be benefited by the delay, as it has 
given me an opportunity of incorporating 
in my index the play of Pericles, which 
had not been inle:ted in our poet’s works, 
till the lat edition publifhed by Mr. Ste- 
vens. Three months more I am willing 
to give to the experiment ; and, at the ex- 
piration of that period, either the work 
fhall be put to the prefs, or the fubferibers 
thall be called upon through the channel of 
the Monthly Magazine to withdraw their 
depofit from the hands where they lodgea 
it, and where it has ever fince remained. 
I am Sir, 
Your mof obedient Servant, 
Bath 12th Jan. 1804. Francis Twiss, 
—S 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
LLOW me, by way of fequel to the 
late remarks of two of your Cor- 
re!pondents on certain pafflages of Gray 
and Clarendon, to mention an odd abfur- 
dity into which another admired writer 
has fallen. - It occurs in Darwin’s defcrip- 
tion of his marvellous Poifon-tree of 
Java: where the author, ftudious of de- 
coration, has overlooked propriety. 
‘¢ Fierce in dread filence on the blafted 
heath, 
Dire Upas fits, the Hydra-tree of death. 
Steep’d in fell poifon, as his fharp teeth 
part, 
A thoufand tongues in quick vibration dart 5 
Snatch the proud eagle towering o’er the 
heath, 
Or pounce the lion, as he ftalks beneath. 
Chain’d at his root two Scion-demons dwell, 
Breathe the faint hifs, or try the fhriller yell; 
Rife, fuctering in the air on callow wings, 
And aim at inf-é-prey their littie ftings.” 
Botanic GARDEN, Part 2, Can. 3. v.237. 
The paffage contains a great deal of fine 
poetry, certainly. What a pity that it 
fhou'd want common-fenfe! For how is 
it poilible that infe@s can get near ehough 
to the young fhoots to be deftroyed by 
them, while the baleful efluvia from the 
parent-tree {preads fo much wider, and 
arrefts the difiant flight of the eagle. 
read ng the pafiaze in queftion, 1 was for- 
cibly reminded of the ingenuity of 
‘¢ The man who, contriving a hole thro’ the 
wall, ; 
To admit his two cats, the one great, t’other 
{mali, 
On. 
Darwin. {March 15 
When a great hole was made for great pufé 
to pafs thro’, ; 
Had a little one cut for the little cat too!”* 
In the fame poet’s addrefs to Philan- 
thropy, there is an imitation, (o palpable, 
of fome lines in the Wanderer of Savage, 
that I fufpeét my notice of it mult have 
been anticipated. 
“‘¢ The Spirits of the Good, who bend from high 
Wide o’er thefe earthly fcenes their partial eye, 
When firft, array’d in Virtue’s pureft robe, 
They faw thy Howard traverfing the globe 5 
Saw round his brows thy fun-like giory olaze 
In arrowy circles of unwearied rays; 
Miftook a mortal for an angel-gueft, 
And afk’d what feraph-foot the earth impreft. 
Onward he moves! Difeafe and- Death retire, 
And murmuring Demons hate him, and ad- 
mire,” 
Botanic GarDEN, Part 2. Can. 2. v. 463. 
The lines of Savage to which I allude 
are the following ; 
¢¢ Where veiny marble dignifies the ground, 
With emblem fair in fculpture rifing round, 
Once-lov’d Horatio fleeps, a mind elate ! 
Lamented fhade, ambition was thy fate. 
Ev’n Angels, wondering, oft his worth fur 
veya; 
Behold a man, like one of us! they faid. 
Straight heard the Furies, and with envy 
glar’d, 
And to precipitate his fall prepar’d.” 
< WANDERER, Canto 5. V. 537+ 
The imitator, has, however, fo much 
improved upon his original, that the theft 
muft be forgiven. . Yet, from. certain 
other refemblances, there feems realon to 
believe that the poet of Derby was in- 
debited, in more inftances than one, to the 
author of the Wanderer. 
The critique of N.N. on the paflage 
which he adduces from Gray’s exquifite 
‘«‘ Fragment of an Effay on the alliance of 
Education and Government,” is obvioufly 
jut. But I deem too highly of that poet 
to admit that he had exhaufted his ftock 
of ideas, and therefore found himfelf com- 
pelled to drop the furject :—an inference 
very unfair and unfounded. Iam, Sir, 
Worcefier, Your’s, &c. 
Fan. 16, 1804. TREBOR. 
* The whole epigram, to which thefe lines 
belong, is as follows 
<¢ Southampton’s wife fons found the river fo 
large, 
Tho’ *twould carry a fhip *twould not carry 
a barge 5 
But foon this defe&t their fage noddles fup- 
plied, 
For they cut a fnug ditch to run clofe to its” 
fide : 
Like the man,” &c. 
a9 
> tak 
