Notwithstanding the pains the Editor has taken to procure information, there are ftill a number of pieces in the collection, the authors of which he cannot difcover. Any farther intelligence of this kind will be thankfully received.

I.

ESSAY

Ο Ν

SONG-WRITING

IN GENERAL.

W

HILE the two capital fpecies of poetry, the epic and dramatic, have long engaged the nicest attention of tafte and criticism, the humbler but not lefs pleafing productions of the Muse have not obtained that notice from the critic to which the exertions of the poet would feem to entitle them. This will appear the more extraordinary when we reflect that fome of the most excellent productions in the former have been the fpontaneous Α growth

growth of a rude and uncultivated foil, whereas the latter have never flourished without acquired richness in the foil and the foftering hand of art. This critical neglect has given rife to uncertainty in the diftinctions, and irregularity in the compofition of most of the minor claffes of poetry; and while the long established divifions of ode, elegy and epigram are involved in thefe difficulties, it is not a matter of wonder to meet with them in the modern pieces which range under the general title of Songs.

ALTHOUGH many of our most celebrated poets have exercised their talents in compofing thefe little pieces, and their pleasing effect is univerfally known and acknowledged, yet have we but one profeffed criticism on their compofition; and this, though elegant and ingenious, is both too fhort and too fuperficial to give precision

and

and accuracy to our ideas on this fubject. It is contained in a paper of the Guardian written by Mr. Phillips.

In attempting the task of determining with exactness the nature of fong-writing, and the various diftinctions of which it is fufceptible, together with the specific excellence of each, I find it therefore neceffary to go far back into the origin of poetry in general, and to recur to thofe firft principles exifting in the human mind, which alone can give a firm foundation to our deductions.

THE original poetry of all nations must have been very much confined to the description of external objects, and the narration of events. This is a neceffary confequence of the barrennefs of infant language with regard to abftract ideas, and is confirmed by the remains of antiquity which

A 2