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Fama est Enceladi semiuftum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Ætnam
Impositam ruptis flammam expirare caminis.

Eneid 3.

400. The word quibufcunque is frequently divided by Terence and other writers; cum quibus erat una cunque; as is the English word howsoever. Vida here instances in the word feparare, difuniting the former part from the latter by interpofing the conjunction.

At verbis etiam partes ingentia in ambas
Verba interpofitis proscindere, feque parare
****** interdum licet

447. In this part of his subject, when he treats of suiting the style to the fubject, the curiofa felicitas of our author is eminently confpicuous. How skilfully does he vary his numbers! With what a grace do they illuftrate the rules they exhibit! How does the bard of Cremona shine as he imitates the Mantuan! And while he stops to explain the excellencies of Virgil, how admirably does he discover his own, which are scarcely inferior! Triftram in loc.

• 464. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The found must seem an echo to the sense.
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud furges lash the founding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar.

Pope's Essay on Criticifm.

Homer, Milton, and all the great poets have evidently paid
particular attention to this rule. But many critics are of opinion
with Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, that Homer as well in this as in
other instances has excelled them all.

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508. See Georg. 1. 85. Æneid 7. 74.

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535. When Sifyphus is described as rolling his stone up the -
hill, the tardy progress of the verse is admirably defcriptive of the
immenfe toil and difficulty with which it is performed. On the
contrary, when the stone defeats his attempts, and rolls back upon
him, the rapid flow of the verse imitates the velocity of it's motion..

Και μεν Σισυφον εισείδον, κραλερ ̓ αλγέ εχονίας,
Ακαν βασαζονία πελωρίον αμφόλερησιν.

Ηλοι ὁ μεν, σκηριπλομενος χερσιν τε ποσιν τε,
Λααν ανω ὤθεσκε πολι λοφον ̇ αλλ' ότε μέλλοι
Ακρον υπερβαλεειν, Πολ'αποσρεψασκε κραλαί ἐς.
Αυλις επείία πεδονδε κυλινδειο λαας ανειδης.

I turn'd my eye, and as I turn'd furvey'd
A mournful vision, the Sifyphian shade!
With many a weary step and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone;
The huge round stone resulting with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground.
Again the restless orb his toil renews,

Dust mounts in clouds, and sweat descends in dews.

Odyffey 11.

537. See Georg. 2. 400,

540. See Æneid 5. 549. Mr Pitt has been led here by his want of nautical information into an error. He translates this paffage,

" Nor less when pilots catch the friendly gales,

Unfurl their Shrouds, and hoist the wide stretch'd fails."

But to furl or unfurl are expressions which are peculiar to the sails of a ship; and can have nothing to do with the shrouds, which fupport the mafts, and for that reason must remain invariably in the same position.

545. See Georg. 3. 420. & Æneid 4. 594. & 9.37.

547-8. See Æneid 2. 250. & 5.481.

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570. It is no less a mark of genius to know what to say, and in what manner, than to introduce it seasonably, and suit the style to the occafion. Macrobius justly commends in this respect the various eloquence of Virgil.

589. The advice of Horace in this case is well known.

- Nonumque prematur in annum,
Membranis intus pofitis delere licebit
Quod non edideris: nefcit vox missa reverti.

615. The original, v. 477. and the ten following verses Scaliger says are truly divine, and may defy all criticism. He adds, that those that follow to the end of the poem are such happy imitations of Virgil, as to have attained an almost equal perfection.

639.

Carmen reprehendite quod non
Multa dies, & multa litura coercuit; atque
Perfectum decies non caftigavit ad unguem.

HOR.

675. Let correction know it's limits. For there are fome who confider whatever they first write as faulty, and are perpetually correcting and altering whenever the book comes into their hands; like furgeons who are so fond of the knife as to cut away even the found flesh. By this means the work is reduced to a mere skeleton, full of wounds and scars, and infinitely worse for the fcarifications it has fuffered. Quintil. 1. 10. c. 4.

695. Rules for composition are intended only for men of genius and talents; fince none else can either clearly comprehend, or reduce them to practice. Nothing can be done in this cafe, but where a foundation is first laid by nature.

Tu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva.

ego nec studium fine divite vena,

Nec rude quid profit video ingenium.

Hor. De Art. Poet.

697. The conclusion is worthy the modeft ingenuity of our poet, who renounces his claim to that title, and confiders himself only as preparing the way for fome more favoured bard to the Muses' hill. But diffidence is an almost invariable attendant on true genius.

OF the poems of Bishop Lowth and Mr Gray nothing can be said by me to increase their well earned reputation. The beauties which struck me on the first reading of them, produced, some years fince, the translations subjoined to the Poetics.

The odes in pp. 156 and 158 were given to the world fome years ago in the Gentleman's Magazine, prefaced by a latin letter figned Gasper Pallavicini, Sub-Librarian to the Palatine library; in which he informs his friend, that he found them on

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