transport, or melts with fenfibility, at the contemplation of Nature in her attire of fublimity and beauty. This divine glow of foul is by Aristotle, in his Poetics, denominated a prophetic impulse; as productive to the poet's fancy of those wild emotions, thofe thrilling energies, which agitated the heathen prophets under the fuppofed operation of an infpiring and in-dwelling deity. As long as the Meffiah, the WindforForeft, the Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady, the Eloifa to Abelard, and the Prologue to the Satires, fhall furvive, to pronounce their teftimony; so long will the title of Pope remain undisputed through the realms of Wit, to the finest phrenzies and moft delicate agitations of intellectual fenfibility. 3. With refpect to the remaining qualification required by the Roman poet, from whofe judgement on this fubject, as a preceptor and practitioner of equal excellence, lies no appeal, the os magna fonaturum, or "a vigour and magnificence of fonorous phrafe ;"—from the Temple of Fame, the Effay on Man, and the Imitations of the Epiftles in the second book of Horace, (not to inftance in any of the works alledged under the former heads) fpecimens of poetry, as noble and as numerous, for the grand embellishment of gorgeous phrafeology, and the glowing emblazonry. of fplendid metaphor, may be felected, as from Virgil himself, and, perhaps, from Milton; poets, pre-eminent, beyond all controverfy, for brilliancy and pomp of diction. But, as in mathematical inveftigations, to arrive at truth by different and independent proceffes, not only produces an agreable impression, from unexpected concert, on the mind, but gives powerful corroboration to the proposition so afcertained; let us now apply the poetry of Pope to the touchstone of excellence, propofed by Longinus, in his Five Sources of the Sublime in Compofition. 1. Το περί τας νοησεις ἀδρεπήβολον· “ Boldnefs of Conception, Enterprife of Sentiment," or "adven"trous Imagination." This fource nearly correfponds with the first qualification, or the ingenium, of Horace: and the entire machinery of the Sylphs, with all the concomitant defcriptions of thefe aerial exiftences, in the Rape of the Lock, to feek no further exemplification of the point before us, difplays a boldnefs and felicity of Fancy to which nothing fuperiour can be produced from the collective monuments of human wit. 2. Το σφοδρον και ενθεσιαστικον παθω A vehement " and enthufiaftic fenfibility." This fource of the 1 the fublime moft nearly coincides with the fecond requifite, the mens divinior, of the Roman poet and, if I am competent to pronounce an opinion on this fubject, more confummate exhibitions of this energetic feeling must not be expected from the powers of mortality, than are found in the whole of our poet's Eloifa, the conclufion of the Temple of Fame, from ver. 146. to ver. 169. of the third Effay on Man, the conclufion of his Prologue to the Satires, and from ver. 46 to ver. 55. of the Epifle to Mr. Jervas; for I mean to specify fuperlative excellence alone. "A certain con 3. Ἡ ποια των σχημάτων πλασις· "formation of figures;" by which the rhetorician means only, thofe converfions of conftruction from the confecutive precifenefs of grammar rules, and thofe varieties of compofition, whether they relate to the thoughts or language, which prevent a ftagnant and infipid uniformity of character. Now, of all the poetical productions within my knowledge, none are so happily diverfified with thefe fallies of technical vivacity as the fatiric dialogues of Pope, and various paffages in the Dunciad. But perfpicuity may feem to require a particular illuftration of this fubject by examples. Take one from his Prologue to the Satires, ver. 121. Say for my comfort, languishing in bed, Here the participle languishing is referable to no specific fubftantive, but refpects the perfonal pronoun included in the adjunct my. This form of construction is very frequent in the antient poets, and is illuftrated in my note on the Trachinia of Sophocles, ver. 260. and hereafter on Lucretius, i. 347. Sometimes indeed, a defire of brevity, and that condenfation of thought, characteristic of Pope, led him to vacuities of conftruction, fcarcely venial, nor vindicable by any legitimate fpecimens of ellipfes in approved authors. To pafs over various inftances in his Effay on Man, and his Moral Epiftles, I fhall adduce one example from the fame Prologue to the Satires, ver. 354. Abuse on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread ; To the former example, the following paffage of Salluft furnishes an exact parallel: Jugurth. 85. 28. edit. Cort. Vefira confilia accufantur, qui mihi fummum laborem et maxumum negotium impofuiftis. Again: Imitations of Horace, Epift. ii. 1. 386. The hiro William, and the martyr Charles, As As Virgil, for example, Æn. xii. 161. Interea reges, ingenti mole Latinus bigis it Turnus in albis. For another fpecimen I fhall content myself with referring the reader to my note on verfe 259 of the Pro.ogue to the Satires, to avoid too much prolixity on a subject without limits, and in the opinion of fome, perhaps, of but inferiour importance. 4. Ἡ γενναια φρασις· "A generous character of "diction:" that is a ftyle, not only purged from all vulgarity of expreffion, but enriched by an acceffion of metaphorical embellishment. But in this liberality of phrafeology, this graceful urbanity of language, this chaftifed and ornamental form of writing, remote from meannefs, and rufticity, and taftelefs affectation, no poet, equally voluminous, can rival the bard of Twickenham, Virgil alone excepted. 5. Ἡ εν αξιώματι και διαρσει συνθεσις· "A dignified "and elevated compofition:" which feems to differ from the former fource rather in degree than kind; and to comprehend all that pomp of decoration, fuperadded to a faultlefs and polished phraseology, which energetic and splendid diction, |