S16 
from thence {3 Action, Passion, Habit, 
&c. with incredible celerity. Who, for 
instance, would have expected cranks, 
nods, becks, and wreathed smiles, as 
part of a group, in which Jest, Jollity, 
Sport, and Laughter, figure away as full- 
formed entire personages? The family 
Tikeness is certainly very strong in the 
two last; and if we had not been told, 
we should perhaps have thought the act 
of deriding as appropriate to Laughter as 
to Sport. 
But how are we to understand the stage 
directions? 
Come, and trip it aS you go. 
sire the words used synonymously? Or 
is it meant that this airy gentry shall 
come in ata minuet step, and go off ina 
jig? The phenomenon of a tripping 
erank is indeed novel, and would doubt- 
Jess attract numerous spectators. But 
it is difficult to guess to whom among this 
jolly company the poet addresses him- 
self; for immediately after the plural ap- 
pellative [you}, he proceeds, 
And in thy right hand lead with thee 
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty. 
No sooner is this fair damsel introdu- 
eed, but Mr. M. with most unbecoming 
levity falls in love with her; and makes 
2 request of her cumpanion, which is ra- 
ther greedy, that he may live with both 
of them: 
To live with her, and live with thee. 
Even the gay libertine who sung, “ How 
happy could I be with either!” did not 
go so far asthis. But we have already 
had occasion to remark on the laxity of 
Mr. M.’s amatory notions. 
The poet, intoxicated with the charms 
of his mistress, now rapidly runs over 
the pleasures which he proposes to him- 
self in the enjoymentof her society. But 
though he has the advantage of being his _ 
own caterer, either his palate is of a pe- 
culiar structure, or he has not made the 
most judicious selection. To begin the 
day well, he will have the sky-dark 
to come in spite of scrrow, 
And at his window bid good-morrow. 
The sky-lark, if we know any thing of 
the nature of that bird, must come in 
spite of something else as well as of sor. 
row, to the performance of this office. 
{n his next image, the natural history is 
better preserved; and as the thoughts are 
appropriate to the time of the day, we 
will venture to transeribe the passage, as 
a favourable specimen of the author's 
manner : 
4 
Advice toa Young Reviewer. 
[May i, 
While the cock with lively din 
Scatters the rear of darkness thin, 
And to the stack, or the barn-door, 
Stoutly struts his dames before ; 
Oft list’ning how the hounds and horn 
Cheerly rouse the slumbering Morn, 
From the side of some hoar hill, 
Through the high wood echoing shrill. 
Ts it not lamentable that, after all, whe- 
ther it is the cock or the poet that listens, 
should be left entirely to the reader’s 
conjecture? Perhaps also his embarrass- 
ment may be increased by a slight re- 
semblance of character in these two il- 
lustrious personages, at least as far as 
relates to the extent and numbers of their 
seraglio. ) 
After a flaming description of sunrise, © 
on which occasion the clouds attend in 
their very best liveries, the bill of fare 
for the day proceeds in the usual manner. 
Whistling ploughmen, singing milkmaids, 
and sentimental shepherds, are always to 
be had at a moment’s notice;.and, if 
well grouped, serve to fill up the land- 
scape agreeably enough. On this part 
of the poem we have only to remark, 
that if Mr. John Milton proposeth to 
make himself merry with 
Russet lawns, and fallows grey 
Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 
Mountains on whose barren breast 
The labouring clouds do often rest, 
‘ Meadows trim with daisies pied, _ 
Shallow brooks, and rivers. wide, 
Towers and battlements, &c. &c. é&c. 
he will either find himself egregiously 
disappointed, or he must possess a dis- 
position to merriment which even De- 
mocritus himself might envy. To such 
a pitch indeed does this solemn indication: 
of joy sometimes rise, that we are in- 
clined to give him credit for.a literal ad- 
herence to the apostolic precept, “ Is 
any merry, let him sing psalms.” 
At length however he hies away at the 
sound of bell-ringing, and seems for some 
time to enjoy the tippling and fiddling 
and dancing of a village wake; but his 
fancy is soon haunted again by spectres 
and goblins, a set of beings not in general 
esteemed the companions or inspirers of 
mirth. 
With stories told of many a feat, 
How fairy Mab the junkets eat; 
She was pinch’d, and pull’d, she said 5 
And he, by friar’s lanthern led: 
Tellshow the drudging goblin sweat 
To earn his cream-bow! duly set 5 
When in one night, ere glimpse of morny 
His shadowy flail had thresh’d the corn 
That ten day-labourers could not end 
Then lays him down the lubber fiends 
And, 
