any eminent poet, though it now appears more fuf ceptible of embellishments, more adapted to exalt the ideas, and affect the paffions, than many of those which have hitherto been thought moft worthy of the orna ments of verfe. The fettlement of colonies in uninhabited countries, the establishment of those in fecurity, whose misfortunes have made their own country no longer pleafing or fafe, the acquifition of property without injury to any, the appropriation of the waste and luxuriant bounties of nature, and the enjoyment of thofe gifts which heaven has fcattered upon regions uncultivated and unoccupied, cannot be confidered without giving rife to a great number of pleasing ideas, and bewildering the imagination in delightful profpects; and, therefore, whatever fpeculations they may produce in those who have confined themselves to political ftudies, naturally fixed the attention, and excited the applaufe, of a poet. The politician, when he confiders men driven into other countries for fhelter, and obliged to retire to forefts and deferts, and pass their lives and fix their pofterity in the remoteft corners of the world, to avoid those hardships which they fuffer or fear in their native place, may very properly enquire, why the legiflature does not provide a remedy for these miseries, rather than encourage an escape from them. He may conclude, that the flight of every honest man is a lofs to the community; that those who are unhappy without guilt ought to be relieved; and the life, which is overburthened by accidental calamities, fet at ease by the care of the publick; and that those, who have by misconduct forfeited their claim to favour, ought rather to be made useful to the society which they have injured, than be driven from it. But the

poet

poet is employed in a more pleasing undertaking than that of propofing laws which, however juft or expedient, will never be made, or endeavouring to reduce to rational fchemes of government focieties which were formed by chance, and are conducted by the private paffions of those who prefide in them. He guides the unhappy fugitive from want and perfecution, to plenty, quiet, and fecurity, and feats him in fcenes of peaceful folitude, and undisturbed repose.

Savage has not forgotten, amidst the pleafing fentiments which this profpect of retirement fuggefted to him, to cenfure thofe crimes which have been generally committed by the discoverers of new regions, and to expofe the enormous wickedness of making war upon barbarous nations because they cannot refift, and of invading countries because they are fruitful; of extending navagation only to propagate vice, and of vifiting diftant lands only to lay them wafte. He has afferted the natural equality of mankind, and endeavoured to fupprefs that pride which inclines men to imagine that right is the confequence of power *.

* Learn, future natives of this promis'd land,
What your fore-fathers ow'd my faving hand!
Learn, when Defpair fuch fudden blifs fhall fee,
Such blifs muft fhine from OGLETHORPE Or Met!
Do you the neighbouring, blameless Indian aid,
Culture what he neglects, not his invade ;
Dare not, oh! dare not, with ambitious view,
Force or demand fubjection, never due.
Let by my fpecious name no Tyrants rife,
And cry, while they enflave, they civilize!
Why must I Afric's fable children fee

Vended for flaves, though form'd by Nature free,

His

The

His defcription of the various miferies which force men to feek for refuge in diftant countries, affords another inftance of his proficiency in the important and extensive study of human life; and the tenderness with which he recounts them, another proof of his humanity and benevolence.

It is obfervable, that the clofe of this poem difcovers a change which experience had made in Mr. Savage's opinions. In a poem written by him in his youth, and publifhed in his Mifcellanies, he declares his contempt of the contracted views and narrow profpects of the middle state of life, and declares his refolution either to tower like the cedar, or be trampled like the fhrub; but in this poem, though addressed to a prince, he mentions this ftate of life as comprising thofe who ought moft to attract reward, those who merit moft the confidence of power and the familiarity of greatness; and, accidentally mentioning this paffage to one of his friends, declared, that in his opinion all the virtue of mankind was comprehended in that state.

In defcribing villas and gardens, he did not omit to condemn that abfurd cuftom which prevails among the English, of permitting fervants to receive money from ftrangers for the entertainment that

The nameless tortures cruel minds invent,
Thofe to fubject, whom Nature equal meant?
If these you dare, albeit unjust success
Empowers you now unpunifli'd to opprefs,
Revolving Empire you and yours may doom;
Rome all fubdued, yet Vandals vanquifh'd Rome :
Yes, Empire may revolve, give them the day,
And yoke may yoke, and blood may blood repay.

Orig. Edit. they

they receive, and therefore inferted in his
lines;

But what the flowering pride of gardens rare,
However royal, or however fair,

If gates, which to access should still give way,
Ope but, like Peter's paradise, for pay?
If perquifited varlets frequent ftand,

And each new walk must a new tax demand?
What foreign eye but with contempt furveys?

poem these

What Muse shall from oblivion fnatch their praife?

But before the publication of his performance he recollected, that the Queen allowed her garden and cave at Richmond to be fhewn for money, and that the fo openly countenanced the practice, that he had beftowed the privilege of fhewing them as a place of profit on a man, whofe merit fhe valued herself upon rewarding, though she gave him only the liberty of difgracing his country.

He therefore thought, with more prudence than was often exerted by him, that the publication of these lines might be officiously reprefented as an infult upon the Queen, to whom he owed his life and his fubfiftence; and that the propriety of his obfervation would be no fecurity against the cenfures which the unfeafonablenefs of it might draw upon him; he therefore fuppreffed the paffage in the first edition, but after the Queen's death thought the fame caution no longer neceffary, and reftored it to the proper place.

The poem was therefore publifhed without any political faults, and infcribed to the Prince; but Mr. Savage, having no friend upon whom he could prevail to prefent it to him, had no other method of attracting his obfervation than the publication of frequent advertifements, and therefore received no reward from his patron, however generous on other occafions.

Y 2

This

This disappointment he never mentioned without indignation, being by fome means or other confident that the prince was not ignorant of his address to him; and infinuated, that, if any advances in popularity could have been made by diftinguishing him, he had not written without notice, or without reward.

He was once inclined to have prefented his poem in perfon, and fent to the printer for a copy, with that defign; but either his opinion changed, or his refolution deferted him, and he continued to refent neglect with out attempting to force himself into regard,

Nor was the publick much more favourable than his patron, for only feventy-two were fold, though the performance was much commended by fome whofe judgement in that kind of writing is generally allowed. But Savage easily reconciled himself to mankind without imputing any defect to his work, by obferving that his poem was unluckily published two days after the prorogation of the parliament, and by confequence at a time when all those who could be expected to regard it were in the hurry of preparing for their depar ture, or engaged in taking leave of others upon their difmiffion from publick affairs.

It must be however allowed, in justification of the publick, that this performance is not the most excellent of Mr. Savage's works; and that, though it cannot be denied to contain many ftriking fentiments, majeftic lines, and juft obfervations, it is in general not fufficiently polished in the language, or enlivened in. the imagery, or digested in the plan.

Thus his poem contributed nothing to the alleviation of his poverty, which was fuch as very few could have fupported with equal patience; but to which, it

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