Sometimes, these moral aphorisms follow each other, in continuous lines, as if the author, overlooking the poetic character of the work, was writing a book of proverbs:

'Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures;

That life is long which answers life's great end.
The time that bears no fruit, deserves no name;
The man of wisdom is the man of years.'

We might comment on the Night Thoughts, in its more extended general representations, showing the beauty of its poetry, the power of its thought, its ornaments of style, as well as its lessons of wisdom. But we can adduce only two or three passages, and advert to a few others. The soft pensive touches of the passage below, have been often admired: How strongly has our experience in affliction attested the truth of the poet's observation in the latter part of the quotation!

'And kind thou wilt be; kind on such a theme;

A theme so like thee, a quite lunar theme;

Soft, modest, melancholy, female, fair!

A theme that rose all pale, and told my soul
"Twas Night; on her fond hopes perpetual night;
A night which struck a damp, a deadlier damp,
Than that which smote me from Philander's tomb.
Narcissa follows ere his tomb is closed.

Woes cluster; rare are solitary woes;

They love a train, they tread each other's heel;
Her death invades his mournful right, and claims
The grief that started from my lids for him:
Seizes the faithless, alienated tear,

Or shares it, ere it falls.'

Young invests his conceptions with the richest coloring of fancy. He calls up, with a truth and energy known to few poets in our language, those moral images and reflections, which nature and the world are so apt to inspire in seriously minded

Nor man alone, his breathing bust expires;
His tomb is mortal; empires die: where now
The Roman? Greek? they stalk an empty name!
Yet few regard them in this useful light;
Though half our learning is their epitaph.'

The surpassing grandeur of his thoughts and language, is seen in very many passages. We can only advert to an in

stance or two of this kind. The description of the coming of Christ to judgment in "The Consolation," beginning with

'Amazing period,' &c.

is grand and glowing, beyond praise. The representation in "The Christian Triumph,' of the supernatural eclipse at the crucifixion of Christ, and particularly the apostrophe to the sun, are of the same character:

'The sun beheld it,' &c.

The imagination of Young delighted to grapple with subjects of this sort.

His power, however, seems not to lie more in the bold and daring, than in the tender and pathetic. We have already alluded to some brief specimens of the latter kind. In the whole mass of English poetry, we know not where to find a more finely imagined and touching paragraph, than that which describes the fate of Lysander and Aspasia, including the poet's allusion to his own condition, at the close of 'The Relapse.' When we come to the intimation that

'The faithless morning smil'd,'

we are prepared for the catastrophe, which gives rise to the 'bridal monument,' around which

The guilty billows innocently roar;

And the rough sailor, passing, drops a tear.'

The manner in which he turns the story, to give us an impression of his own grief, is a specimen of exquisite art.

'The distant train of thought I took to shun,

Has thrown me on my fate;'

and holding up the idea of the happiness of being 'undivorced by death,' he brings before the reader his own deprivation, as left to survive himself, and stereotypes the withering truth,

'That cures all other woe.'

Who that has lost the wife of his youth, but must feel afresh all the tenderness of grief, as he dwells on this pensive picture!

The moral and religious character of Young's poetry has often been a subject of remark, and very naturally so; since, as we have already seen, it deals chiefly in topics of a serious and spiritual kind. Some have been disposed to condemn the poet, in the apprehension that he has inculcated unsound tenets, and laid too much stress on the rewards of human virtue. The Arminian complexion of his theology has been more than hinted

at.

We believe, however, that the great majority of serious readers indulge in no such apprehension; and that they have found his productions, particularly the Night Thoughts, and The Last Day, a valuable auxiliary to christian piety and devotion. The feelings, with which people betake themselves to the reading of poetry for religious purposes, have been so well expressed by Wordsworth, that we are tempted to transcribe a few sentences on this subject, from one of the prefaces to his works. His views afford a ready explanation of the different states of mind, with which such a poet as Young is approached. "Men," he says, "who read from religious or moral inclinations, even when the subject is of that kind which they approve, are beset with misconceptions and mistakes, peculiar to themselves. Attaching so much importance to truths which interest them, they are prone to overrate the authors, by whom these truths are expressed and enforced. They come prepared to impart so much passion to the poet's language, that they remain unconscious how little in fact they receive from it. And on the other hand religious faith is to him who holds it so momentous a thing, and error appears to be attended with such tremendous consequences, that if opinions touching upon religion occur which the reader condemns, he not only cannot sympathize with them, however animated the expression, but there is for the most part an end to all satisfaction and enjoyment. Love, if it before existed, is converted into dislike, and the heart of the reader is set against the author and his book."

There is, without doubt, much feeling on such a subject; nor is it unreasonable, that we should be jealous of the influence, which a great author exerts over the minds of his readers, whether it shall be favorable to truth or error. If however, in an extended work, an exceptionable passage should occasionally be found, or even its whole tone should fall below a perfect standard, this is no more than what must be expected by a candid reader, in any merely human production. Should the work not be on the whole, detrimental to serious piety—especially should its general scope and aim seem to be coincident with truth, and many parts of it breathe an elevated spirit of devotion, he will not be severe against a casual mistake, or an exceptionable phrase. The impassioned character of poetry, is very apt to lead the bard into error of some kind. His imagination may carry him beyond the point of sober truth. He is in danger of overcharging his description, and imparting a fanciful air to his sentiments. He may be tempted, for the sake of exciting the reader's mind by means of novelty, or with a view

to give his lines an epigrammatic smartness, to indulge in paradox, or exaggeration. The precise shade of thought intended to be expressed, is sometimes rendered difficult by the fetters of meter, or of rhyme. These incidental aberrations should not be too harshly judged; although there may be others of a more serious nature, for which the heart of the writer must be accountable.

In regard to Young, while we have no desire to screen him from the censure which he may deserve, on account of any sins of omission or commission against the purity of religious truth, we are willing to leave him all the reputation which he has earned with serious readers, as a generally correct and enlightened christian bard. The religious world has long felt its obligations to him, for a mass of elevated, devout, and instructive poetic sentiment.

It is true, that he has painted human life in dark colors, as has already been adverted to; but it may fairly be questioned whether he has exceeded the reality or if he has charged the picture with too much shade, may it not have been more forcibly to commend and set off its brighter parts,-the antidote for sin and misery,-the life to come? Sombre as this picture is, he does not arraign heaven, or justify discontent, or inspire a distressing melancholy.

It is admitted, also, that he expresses views touching religion at times, which the humble christian may hesitate to receive, in their full extent, that his turn for exaggeration and antithesis has unhappily given a distorted shape to a moral sentiment, or religious truth. He says, for instance, that age should

'Walk thoughtful, on the silent solemn shore

Of that vast ocean it must sail so soon;

And put good works on board; and wait the wind
That shortly blows us into worlds unknown.'

But a freight of good works in this connection, though it sounds harshly to our theological ear, is more a violation of good taste, than of sound divinity. He says again :

'Virtue is true self-interest pursued.'

This and various other sentiments in the "Infidel Reclaimed," on the rewards of virtue and piety, though they might have received some modification; need not be construed as impugning a correct theology. They form the basis of an argument in favor of the immortality of the soul. Indeed, of what consequence is virtue, or any thing else, unless man lives hereafter? As Young truly sings:

The virtues grow on immortality.'

His object seems to have been a noble one in this attempt, though it may be true, that, in some sense, he has given too great a prominence to man's self-love and self-interest.

'Tis from the pleasure of belief we pray:

All prayer would cease if unbeliev'd the prize.'

Prayer, in its very exercise, would be delightful to the christian, should no reward be supposed to follow it. If we pray aright, we do not propose the pleasure to be derived from the duty as the great object. In this view, the poet has expressed an incorrect sentiment. A belief of the prize as prompting to the duty of prayer, or as the subjective ground of its performance, is more consistent with truth, and probably is the sense of the couplet. In Young's doctrine of good works, there needs to have been, generally, a nicer discrimination. But if we mistake not, it is in harmony with some of the notions of the present age. The sentiment has been publicly held, that the christian is destined hereafter to be chiefly known, the moral character determined, by the part which is taken in the warfare with prevailing vices, by the bold espousal of the various reformations that are in progress, and generally by benevolent religious deeds; and this, in contradistinction to doctrinal belief and internal spiritual exercises. It would probably be safe to judge of Young's doctrinal views, as a whole, on the subject before us, by the following stanza in his poem, "Postscript to Resignation," from which we are disposed to think, that he was not far gone in error, in respect to the doctrine of man's ill-deservings:

"Of human nature, ne'er too high

Are our ideas wrought;

Of human merit ne'er too low

Depress'd the daring thought."

The attentive reader of Young will also be ready to admit, that he dwells less on the experience than the theory of religion; though there are not wanting in him some happy delineations of the internal operations of grace. He has less of a heavenly unction, and of a rich infusion of evangelical feeling, than we observe, for instance, in the poetry of Cowper or Montgomery. The author of the Course of Time, also, has detailed more of the spiritual hidden life of the believer, and thrown more of the freshness of practical christianity into his work, than we find in Young. The revival of genuine piety since the time of our poet, and especially from the commencement of the present century, has been highly propitious to the production of a pure, religious poetry. Still, it is no small praise, that, although reliVOL. X. 35