fertation on the Paffages in St. Peter and St. Jude concerning the Angel that finned *.” Of Milton's leffer pieces, thofe which have moft defervedly attracted attention, are the Mafque of Comus, and the Allegro and Penferofo. The first of these is certainly deficient as a drama; but it abounds in beautiful fentiment, in luxuriant defcription, and the true fpirit of poetry. The two latter are unquestionably the most perfect fpecimens of lyric poetry in the English language. Whatever commendation is due to Waller, is the very oppofite to that of Milton. He is neither entitled to the praise of fublime invention, nor of exuberant fancy; but he is to be admired for the purity of his tafte, and the harmony of his verlification. His fubjects are generally trifling; but he has the happy art of rendering even trifles interesting. His poetry was popular, because his thoughts are familiar, and feldom beyond the range of common life. It is a kind of colloquial poetry, in which that in▾ genuity which is most pleasing in converfation is predo minant. It is related by Dr. Johnson, that Cowley's paffion for poetry was originally excited by Spencer's Fairy Queen, which lay in the window of his mother's apartments, "Such are the accidents," adds our biographer, “ which, fometimes remembered, fometimes forgotten, produce that particular defignation of mind, and propenfity to fome certain fcience or employment, which is commonly called genius." The propofition, however, is extremely ill fupported by the inftance; for certainly no man ever was more mistaken in the natural bent of his genius. than Cowley. He was a man of fcience and a man of letters; he was even a man of wit; but he was not a poet. There is no fublimity in his conception, nor beauty in his expreffion; the glow of fancy, the expanfe of thought, the fervour of enthusiasm, are poorly compen Printed, we believe, for Johnfon, in St. Paul's Church-yard. fated fated for by antithefis and conceit; and his verses are as deftitute of harmony as of fpirit. His Pindarics are without elevation, and his amatory poems without paffion. From this general cenfure we may except a few imitations of Anacreon, which are executed with fpirit; but to tranflate is not to invent; and in this kind of compofition there is more exercife for wit than for imagination; and pointed expreffion only is wanted, and not fublimity. Sir John Denham was flightly noticed in our last volume; he was a poet during the life of his royal master Charles I. whom he faithfully ferved, and with whose family, at the expence of his fortune, he went into exile. "At the restoration, he obtained," fays Dr. Johnson, "what many miffed, the reward of his loyalty." Yet it is probable that he was more indebted for his promotion to his companionable qualities, and his agreeable manners, than for his attachment to monarchy. Denham is characterised by the great critic, whom we have juft quoted, as "the author of a new fpecies of compofition, which may be termed local poetry;" and it must be confeffed, that Cooper's Hill, though the first attempt of the kind, ftill maintains its rank among many excellent pieces of the fame defcription; and the beft proof of our author's taste is, that he may be confidered as one of the first who refined and improved the poetry of Great Britain. His language is not obfolete, nor his verfification unharmonious even to modern ears. To this lift of poets we might add the incomparable Butler, the glory and difgrace of his time,-a man whose genius is not lefs aftonishing than the neglect which he experienced from a felfifh tyrant and a profligate court. As his great work did not, however, appear till a fucceeding period, we fhall not at prefent enter into any further confideration of his genius and character *. Macaulay's Hiftory of England, -Hume's Hiftory, Biographia Britannica, Anthony Wood,Biographical Dictionary, -Johnson's Lives of the Poets, Clarendon, Burnet, Milton, &c. BRITISH BRITISH AND FOREIGN HISTORY For the Year 1796. CHAPTER I. Great Britain. Short Retrospect of political Transactions from the Commencement of the War. Humiliating Propofals of the French Republic to appeafe the Refentment of the British Cabinet. Offer on the Part of the Republic to relinquish her Colonies to Great Britain, as the Price of Neutrality. State of Affairs at the Conclufion of 1795 Meetings of the Correfponding Society. Outrages offered to the King in his Way to and from the Honfe of Lords. Examination of Witnesses at the Bar of the Houfe. Proclamation for apprehending the Offenders. Proclamation against Seditious Meetings. Lord Grenville's Motion in the Lords for a Bill for the Prefervation of his Majefty's Perfon and Government. Debate on that Motion.' Bill read a Second Time. Mr. Pitt's Motion in the House of Commons for a Bill to prevent Seditious Meetings and Affemblies. Warm Debate on that Bill. Mr. Fox's Motion for a Call of the Houfe. Mr. Dundas's Declaration that the two Bills had been in Contemplation before the Outrage against the King. Debates in the Lords on the Commitment of Lord Grenville's Bill. Amendments propofed by the Duke of Leeds and Earl of Lauderdale. Lord Grenville's Bill paffed in the Houfe of Lords. Public Meetings in Oppofition to the two Bills. Lord Grenville's Bill read a firft Time in the Houfe of Commons. Mr. Sheridan's Motion for an Inquiry concerning Seditious Meetings. Further Debates in the Commons on Lord Grenville's Bill. Debates on Mr. Pitt's Bill-in the House of Commons in the Houfe of Lords. Reflections on thefe Bills, Never yet acted upon by Miniftry. Ta O maintain an even temper and an unperverted mind amidft the agitations of faction; to mark with keennefs, and record with precision, the errors of all parties, without imbibing the fpirit or violence of any; fuch is the duty, and ought to be the character, of thofe who undertake to digeft a narrative of recent events. But it is a duty which the paffions and infirmities of our nature render difficult of accomplishment; a duty againft which prejudice too commonly revolts, and which intereft sometimes will even prompt men to betray. The difficulties which the annalift of his own times has to encounter, do not all, however, originate with himself, nor are they A 2 always |