THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO being a Selection of the best forms, from the most Esteem'd Authors. PASTORALS.. ᎢᎪᏞᎬᎦ . . INVOCATIONS &C. By WILLIAM HODGSON, MD. Fourth Edition LONDON: Printed for HD. Symonds.. No 20, Paternofter Row. Price One Shilling & Sixpence fewed in MarblePaper. PREFACE. the powers of HARMONY in ameliorating the and freighting it with the rich cargo of VIRTUE, BENEVOLENCE, and JUSTICE, mankind have long fince, very defervedly, acknowledged the pre-eminence; nor has the human mind, in its progrefs hitherto, discovered any fcience which fo efficacioufly operates to the civilization of nations, and the promotion of man's HAPPINESS, the great end of his being. Indeed, if we examine clofely, we shall find that it has ever been from the introduction of POETRY and MUSIC, both deriving their beauty and even their existence from HARMONY, their common parent, that man has, by degrees, emerged from the favage and ifolated fiate in which he was originally found; that it is by the cultivation of this delightful fcience, that we fee him formed into extenfive focieties, highly polifhed and daily improving his condition; acquiring GENTLENESS and HUMANITY in proportion as his foul becomes attuned to, and he approximates a perfect knowledge of its true principles. It is not difficult to account for the fuperior influence of HARMONY; it has been judiciously obferved by an illuftrious author, BAYLE, "that "the paffions determine men to act." HARMONY, therefore, by applying directly to the paffions, turns thofe who experience its blissful operation towards PHILANTHROPY, and fires their fouls with an A ardent defire of augmenting the FELICITY of their fellow creatures. In fupport of the great benefits refulting to mankind, from the adoption of this charming foother of human forrows, we may quote both ancient and modern teftimony. Such power did the ancients afcribe to HARMONY, that they have fabulously reprefented ORPHEUS, who was a great profeffor of the harmonic art, as moving to fympathy ferocious beafts, and AMPHION, as giving even ftones animation by his melody: LINUS is faid to have polished human nature, and infpired favages with a thirst for knowledge by his FOETIC SKILL; and an English author of great celebrity has emphatically faid, "Mufic hath charms to footh the favage breaft, What then can be better calculated to conduct the mind of youth to the blissful paths of MERCY and COMMISERATION than POETRY? What more fuited to fweeten the laborious hours of induftry? Or when can care relax its brow with more advantage to fociety than in its Elyfian fields? If, therefore, POETRY be defirable, and that it is few will, I believe, deny, who can contemplate without ecftacy the innumerable beauties of that luxuriant garden, into which our countrymen have fo amply tranfplanted, from the hot-beds of their fertile and exuberant imagination, the choicest flowers, the richest flavoured fruits, and the moft delightful evergreens, where they form a magnificent and imperishable TEMPLE to APOLLO, in which the tuneful nine will hold their court, until the fcythe of time fhall have fhorn the laft of mortals: for it may be truly faid to refemble the bower of ADAM, thus charmingly defcribed by MILTON in his inimitable poem of PARADISE LOST. "The roof "Of thickeft covert was inwoven fhade "Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, and wrought' "Crocus, and Hyacinth, with rich inlay "Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with ftone It is from this happy retreat, that the EDITOR has ventured to form the bouquet which he prefents for the gratification of thofe, who may not have an opportunity of rambling at leisure through thefe delectable regions, where the fhepherd's fong wakens the foul to love, and TRUTH and VIRTUE ftand displayed in all their native fimplicity, inviting care-worn mortals to join their feftive band. He is fully fatisfied that he can claim no merit either from the exquifite beauty of their colours, the vernal verdure of their foliage, or the delicious odours which they diffufe, and that among fuch a throng of fweets it could not be difficult to fix upon thofe which would at once delight the eye and charm the fenfes; yet he trufts that he fhall not be deemed wholly undeferving encouragement for the felection he has made; fince it is poffible by an happy arrangement of the moft beautiful flowers to fet off the peculiar excellencies of each to advantage-A fine picture, by a judicious blending of its tints, becomes ftill more ftriking. He allo trufts that the faftidious critic will not be inclined to throw afide his nofegay, if tempted by their fragrance he has now and then added a floweret, culled from the delightful avenues which lead to the poetic garden, merely because they have not yet paffed the ordeal that can, alone, place them in its rich parterres. The ranunculus itfelf grows wild in the meadow, and the convolvulus decorates the bank on the road-fide. |