66

Ply round the shores, nor tempt the dangerous main, "But seek ere night the friendly port again.

"Now o'er the wondering world her name resounds, "From northern climes, to India's distant bounds. "-Where-e'er his shores the broad Atlantic laves; "Where-e'er the Baltic rolls his wintry waves; "Where-e'er the honour'd flood extends his tide, "That clasps Sicilia like a favour'd bride; "Whose waves in ages past so oft have bore "The storm of battle on the Punic shore; "Have wash'd the banks of Greece's learned bow'rs, "And view'd at distance Rome's imperial tow'rs; "In every clime her prosperous fleets are known, "She makes the wealth of every clime her own."

The history of commerce is connected with the preceding subject.

"When commerce, yet an infant, rais'd her head, "'Twas mutual want her growing empire spread : "Those mutual wants a distant realm supply'd, "And like advantage every clime enjoy'd. "Distrustless then of every treacherous view, "An open welcome met the stranger crew; "And whilst the whitening fleet approach'd to land, "The wondering natives hail'd them from the strand; "Fearless to meet, amidst the flow of soul,

"The lurking dagger, or the poison'd bowl.

66

Now, more destructive than a blighting storm, "A bloated monster, Commerce, rears her form;

"Throws the meek olive from her daring hand,

66

Grasps the red sword, and whirls the flaming brand:

"True to no faith; by no restraints controul'd;

66

'By guilt made cautious, and by avarice bold.
"Each feature reddens with the tinge of shame,
"Whilst Patna's plain, and Buxar's fields I name."

A more pleasing subject, the charitable institutions of Liverpool and its vicinity, is perhaps still more pleasingly illustrated—

"Sweep the light strings, and louder swell the lyre! "Far nobler themes a nobler song require.-“The heav'n born virtues come,—a lovely train; "They prompt the verse,-be theirs the votive strain. "-Not those that seek in lonely shades to dwell, "The selfish inmates of the hermit's cell; "Like his pale lamp, a partial light supply, "Unblest to live, and unregarded die;

"But those design'd to sooth the labouring breast,
"Protect the weak, and give the weary rest;
"Assuage the rigors of corporeal pain;

"Supply the poor, and loose the prisoner's chain:
"And like the radiance of the solar ray,
"On all around to pour impartial day.

eye,

"-Known by the wat❜ry lustre of her "Her sorrowing smile, and sympathizing sigh ; "See! tender Pity comes;-at her controul,

Drops the big tear, and melts the stubborn soul;

"So the rude rock by power divine impell'd,
"Gush'd forth in streams, and cheer'd the thirsty field.
"Next Charity,--by no proud pageants known,
“Nor crown, nor sweeping train, nor azure zone.
"If chance remembrance wakes the generous deed,
"No pride elates her, and she claims no meed;
"And timorous ever of the vulgar gaze,

"She loves the action, but disclaims the praise.]
"-Yet not of Virtue's open cause afraid,
"Where public blessings ask her public aid,
"She shines superior to the wretch's sneer,
"And bold in conscious honour, knows no fear.
"Hence rose yon pile, where sickness finds relief,
"Where lenient care allays the weight of grief; *

-Yon spacious roof, where hush'd in calm repose, "The drooping widow half forgets her woes:† "-Yon calm retreat, where screen'd from every ill, "The helpless orphan's throbbing heart lies still ;‡ "And finds delighted, in the peaceful dome, "A better parent, and a happier home."

Ja

There are, besides, Dyer's Grongar Hill, go's Edge Hill, Mr. M'Neil's Carse of Stirling, and many other poems of this kind in our language, of considerable merit.

Perhaps the Fleece of Dyer, Phillips's Cyder,

*The public Infirmary.

+The Alms-houses adjoining the Infirmary.

The Blue-coat Hospital.

and Somerville's Chace, may come under this description. They are now little read; but for minuter observations on Denham, Phillips and Dyer, I must refer you to the first of critics, Dr. Johnson.

Thomson's Seasons may be considered as of a mixed character, since they contain at least as much sentiment as description; but that remark will perhaps apply to most of those I have mentioned. After Dr. Johnson's admirable criticism on the Seasons, I feel incapable of saying a single word. That critic remarks that "His mode of thinking and of expressing his thoughts is original: his blank verse is no more the verse of Milton, or of any other poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of Cowley." "The reader (he adds) of the Seasons wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shews him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses." The same author judiciously observes that "the great defect of the Seasons is the want of method;" and that "his diction is sometimes too exuberant, and may sometimes be charged with filling the ear more than the mind."

From such poems as these the gradation is

easy to those which are chiefly descriptive of sentiment. In this line there is scarcely any thing that can bear competition with the "Traveller" and "Deserted Village" of Dr. Goldsmith. With these you are well acquainted, and I have already sufficiently indulged in quotations from them. "The "Deserted Village" is a more interesting and finished poem than the "Traveller." There is little of method in either; but probably by an attention to method they would have been spoiled.

There are many other excellent poems which may be classed under the sentimental descriptive, among which I shall only mention Mr. Rogers' Pleasures of Memory, and Mr. Campbell's Pleasures of Hope. There are some excellent short pieces of this kind also in my friend Mr. M'Neil's collection of Poems.

As I have already indulged in paying one tribute to early friendship, let me present you with a short extract from a poem which, exellent as it is, still is not more estimable than its author

"The beauteous maid, that bids the world adieu, "Oft of that world will snatch a fond review;