b

That through the flow'ry meadows glides, t

And all the beauteous scene divides..

ADDISON.

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515. Anio or Anien, now Teverone, a river of Italy, which has it's origin in the mountains of Umbria, intersects the country not far from Tivoli, and throwing itself from a confiderable height into the valley below, forms a most magnificent cascade. It falls at length into the Tyber. The epithet limpid, which I have given it, though not without some exception applicable to this river, is however adopted by my author;

vitreas Anienis ad undas;

and by Silius Italicus in his Silvæ

Ac gelidis Anio trepidabat carulis undis.

The Teverone, like most of the rivers of Italy, is, in fome parts of it, too rapid and impetuous to be perfectly clear. Statius calls it Anien, and particularly notices the rocks among which it flows, and it's amazing impetuofity.and foam. But after a most noisy and turbulent course of several miles over rocks and mountains, in which it's stream is frequently broken by a number of cascades, it defcends into a valley, where, fays Addison, "it recovers it's temper, as it were by little and little, and after many turns and doid t windings, falls peaceably into the Tyber."

Ipse Aniens (miranda fides) intraq: fuperque
Saxeus, hic tumidam rabiem, spumosaque ponit
Murmura

Stat. Silv. 1. 3.

So Silius Italicus.

Sulphureis gelidus qua ferpit leniter undis,

Ad genitorem Anio labens fine murmure Tibrim.

Here the loud Anio's boift'rous clamours ceafe,

That with fubmiffive murmurs glides in peace

To his old fire the Tyber.

The Anio divided the antient Latium from the territory of the Sabines,

I cannot dismiss this subject without taking notice of a well known criticism on that passage in Cato,

• So the pure limpid stream, when foul'd with stains,'

well as every thing in nature, is to be denominated, not from an accident, but from it's general and prevailing qualities: consequently, Addison's stream, being generally pure and limpid, was properly diftinguished by those epithets, notwithstanding the incidental circumstance of being sometimes fouled by torrents from the hills.

Our author had, no doubt, heard of the criticism in question; and as he never condefcended to alter the passage, it is a fufficient proof that he despised it as it deserved. For a boy of fourteen, with all the petulance of that age about him, and with parts more sprightly than folid, it was, as Bolingbroke observes, enough;' or rather, it was pardonable: but when his Lordship deigned to adopt it, he drew a bow at a venture, and criticifed as if determined to bring his judgment into contempt.

well

But Bolingbroke had no heart; and I have been the more particular in this note, because I suspect him to have been prejudiced against Addison as a Christian and a man of virtue; and to have criticised with all the rancour of infidelity on his mind. He speaks of his poetry in general with a contempt it cannot deferve; and I beg leave to say, that the only verses of Lord Bolingbroke that I have feen, are far inferior to the worst that ever fell, in his most unpoetical moments, from the pen of Addison.-Voltaire, another critic of the fame school, fays of Addison, that the gulph between taste and genius, is immenfe." But he who has read the essays on the pleasures of imagination, and denies him genius, either contradicts his judgment, or muft be utterly ignorant in what genius confifts.

524. It is certainly no unimportant part of the office of a teacher, to discover the bent of his pupil's genius. As the wants of society could never suffer that all should be engaged in the fame pursuits, nature has made a proper provision in this cafe, by inftituting a wonderful diversity of genius and talents.

To this purpose Tristram has selected several observations from Quintilian, and from Viperanus, de Ratione Docendi. From some expreffions of the latter, one would suppose him an adept in judicial aftrology. "Genius, fays he, is not the fame in all; nor are all equally competent in the fame arts, fince every man is not intended by nature for the profession of each. All have not the same constitution of body; nor are born under the same aspect of the heavens, and configuration of the stars. Thus, there is an acumen in fome, which inclines them to logical disquisition; some are remarkable for memory, which is peculiarly requifite in the study of the law; while others are distinguished by vigour and accuracy of judgment, which are of essential service in philoso phical purfuits.

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562. This remark is agreeable to the advice of Quintilian, who would have all amorous compositions concealed from the eye of youth. What would he have said, had he lived in this cen tury, and seen what strange pieces are produced by modern novelists, for the instruction of the rifing generation? But I mean not to condemn novels without distinction. Some of them, particularly those of Richardson, Brooke, and Moore, have the best tendency; and are indeed, virtue "teaching by examples."""

612 to 619. Nothing can be more contemptible than the presumption of those quacks in literature, who, because they have succeeded in fome instances, conceive themselves excellent in every. thing. Because a man has been fortunate in controversy, or has fome knowledge of divinity, must he therefore be a great philofopher, a judicious historian, a physician, a naturalift, and a politician? How few know the limits of their own powers!

It is certain, however, that he who would excel in poetry, should acquire a fund of general knowledge and observation. Plutarch says, Δε; Τον παιδα Τον ελευθερον μηδε των άλλων των καλεμένων εγκυκλίων παιδευμάζων μήτε ανηκουν, μήτε αθεαῖον εαν είναι. A liberal and well educated youth ought to have some acquaintance with the whole circle of science: but he adds, Αλλάζαύθα μεν εκ περιδρομης μαθειν, ωσπερανει γευμαῖος ένεκεν, εν άπασι γαρ Το τέλειον αδυνατον, but this curforily, and as it were, by way of a taste; for perfection in every thing is impossible. So that, in his judgment, some things are to be known accurately and completely; while in others a general view is sufficient. In the former, the poet studies for matter; in the latter, for ornament or illuftration. Nullam poeta scientiam afpernabitur, says Voffius; quarundam tamen gustus fuffecerit, faltem in iis partibus, unde ornatus aliquid accedere poemati poffit. The poet will think no science beneath his notice. Of fome, however, a taste will be fufficient, at least in those parts which are admitted into poetry merely for the embel lishments which they afford.

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626. The wanderings of Ulysses are the chief subject of the Odyssey of Homer, who is generally confidered not only as the