And dry to moist, with inward-eating change,

Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought,

Their period finish'd ere 't is well begun.-Verses 330-335.

The following verses (803-820) are erased from the text of 1738, with the exception of the first and the last, which stand as verses 860, 862 in this impression. The Rev. John Mitford thinks they were omitted in consequence of their breathing something of the language of Pantheism :The' informing Author in his work appears;

His grandeur in the heavens. The sun and moon,
Whether that fires the day, or, failing, this
Pours out a lucid softness o'er the night,

Are but a beam from Him. The glittering stars,
By the deep ear of Meditation heard,

Still in their midnight watches sing of Him.
He nods a calm. The tempest blows his wrath,
Roots up the forest, and o'erturns the main.
The thunder is his voice, and the red flash
His speedy sword of justice. At his touch,
The mountains flame. He shakes the solid earth,
And rocks the nations. Nor in these alone,
In every common instance God is seen;
And to the man who casts his mental eye
Abroad, unnoticed wonders rise. But chief

In thee, boon Spring, and in thy softer scenes,
The smiling God appears, &c.

The character of Spenser was not in the edition of 1738; but Thomson wrote it nearly as it now stands in "Summer," verses 1572-1579:

Nor shall my verse forget that elder bard, [forget,]
The gentle Spenser, Fancy's gaudy [pleasing] son,
Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song
O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground:
Nor him, [thee,] his ancient master, laughing sage,
Chaucer, whose native manners-painting sense,
Well-moralized, shines through the Gothic cloud
Of life [time] and language o'er his genius thrown.

II. ALTERATIONS BY POPE.

THE emendations on the text of 1738 by this eminent poet, display a taste and elegance which, had he made the attempt, would have insured to him the highest place in blank verse as well as in rhyme.

In the edition of 1738, the following passage occurs in "Summer," verse 620 :

Let comprehensive Newton speak thy fame

In all philosophy. For solemn song,

Is not wild Shakspeare Nature's boast and thine?

And every greatly amiable Muse

Of elder ages in thy Milton met?

His was the treasure of two thousand years,
Seldom indulged to man; a godlike mind,
Unlimited and various as his theme,
Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom

Of blowing Eden fair, soft as the talk

Of our grand parents, and as Heaven sublime!

This is Pope's charming alteration :—

Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom Heaven

Lent to mankind [to mortals lent] its boundless works to trace,
From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame

In all philosophy. For lofty sense,'

Creative fancy, and inspection keen

Through the deep windings of the human heart,

Is not wild Shakspeare thine and Nature's boast?

Is not each great, each amiable Muse

Of elder ages in thy Milton met?

A genius vast and boundless as his theme,

Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom

Of blissful Eden fair, as Heaven sublime!

The last four lines of the tale of Palemon and Lavinia

are Pope's entirely :

The fields, the master, all, my fair, are thine!

If to the various blessings which thy house

Has shower'd upon me [on me lavish'd], thou that bliss wilt add,
That sweetest [dearest] bliss, the power of blessing thee!

The four lines which Thomson wrote, and which stood in the place of these, in the printed edition of 1738, were :—

With harvest shining, all the fields are thine!

And, if my wishes may presume so far,

Their master too, who then indeed were blest,

To make the daughter of Acasto so.

In the same episode, Thomson had printed the following lines:

Thoughtless of beauty, she was Beauty's self,
Recluse among the woods; if city-dames

Will deign their faith: and thus she went compell'd

By strong Necessity, with as serene

And pleased a look as Patience e'er put on,

To glean Palæmon's fields.

These lines Pope erased, and wrote the following in their
place, as they now stand in the best editions:-

Thoughtless of beauty, she was Beauty's self,
Recluse among the close [deep] embowering woods.
As in the hollow breast of Apennine,
Beneath the shelter of encircling hills,

A myrtle rises, far from human eyes,

And breathes its balmy fragrance o'er the wild:

So flourish'd blooming, and unseen by all,
The sweet Lavinia; till at length, compell'd
By strong Necessity's supreme command,

With smiling Patience in her looks, she went
To glean Palæmon's fields.

The 259th line of this episode now stands :

And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er:

But in the edition of 1738, it is somewhat comically expressed :—

Then blazed his smother'd flame avow'd and bold,

And as he run her, ardent, o'er and o'er, &c.

This, however, Thomson himself altered.

These emendations in the text of 1738, and many more, after a little additional polishing on the part of Thomson, were inserted in the edition of 1744; a fact which much enhances its value.

VI.-LORD LYTTELTON'S PROPOSED EDITION OF
THE "SEASONS."

THE literary world was long entertained with the wonderful information, that a copy of the "Seasons was in existence, which contained extensive alterations by Lord Lyttelton, and which ought to be published. But since the facts concerning it have become known, it is deservedly consigned to everlasting oblivion. His Lordship, not content with his editorial feats upon the "Seasons and

"Liberty," in 1750, and heedless of the strong expression of public opinion against all unauthorized tampering with the works of a deceased author, commenced offensive operations upon the out-works of Thomson, by altering the titlepage of a copy of his former edition, 1752, into 1758, which marks the time of his second aggression. In one of the blank leaves before the poem, he wrote the following

"In this edition, conformably to the intention and will of the author, some expressions in the 'Seasons,' which have justly been thought too harsh, or obscure, or not strictly grammatical, have been corrected, some lines transposed, and a few others left out. The Hymn, which was printed at the end of the Seasons' in some of the last editions, is likewise omitted, because it appears to good judges, that all the matter and thoughts in that hymn are much better expressed in the Seasons' themselves."

The complaint against this Preface, as well as against that to "Liberty" in 1750, is, that Lord Lyttelton's language is designedly misleading. He either acted very culpably as editor of his friend's "Works" in 1750, by presenting to the world nearly a verbatim reprint of the best edition of the "Seasons;" (that of 1746;) or he intended to act more uprightly in 1758, by publishing an edition, "conformably to the intention and will of the author." "The intention and will of the author" himself undoubtedly was, occasionally to make emendations in the language of his "Seasons;" but he did not delegate this power even to a contemporary, much less to a successor in any shape whatever. Indeed, the elegant suggestions of his friend Pope were not in every instance adopted: they had to await the decision of his own taste and judgment in their favour. The destructive nature of his Lordship's proposed improvements may be learnt from that strange perversion both of taste and intellect, which could induce him to omit the exquisite Hymn at the end of the Seasons," which has been the object of every reader's admiration, and obtained the high approval of all the critics. The Rev.

John Mitford, having had an opportunity of examining this improved copy, gives the following brief character of it: "Lord Lyttelton did not approach his work with a very timid or reluctant hand. He struck out whole passages, transposed others; altered whole lines, and changed particular expressions at will." After quoting some curious specimens, he significantly remarks, "And this was improving the 'Seasons !'"

In the beautiful passage in "Spring," descriptive of the primeval state of innocence, (verses 242-271,) his Lordship, having expunged many of the preceding lines in the paragraph, metamorphoses the following verses :—

This when, emergent from the gloomy wood,
The glaring lion saw, his horrid heart
Was meeken'd, and he join'd his sullen joy.
For music held the whole in perfect peace:
Soft sigh'd the flute; the tender voice was heard,
Warbling the varied heart; the woodlands round
Applied their choir; and winds and waters flow'd

In consonance. Such were those, &c.-Verses 264-271.

The following alteration of them by Lord Lyttelton seems to have been intended as a display of his Lordship's wonderful powers of compression, by which he could describe in nine lines that which had cost Thomson more than twenty :

-As o'er the verdant mead

The herds and flocks, promiscuous, play'd secure,
On every hill, beneath each spreading shade,
The swains and husbandmen, rejoicing, hymn'd
Their bounteous God: then festive dance and sport,
Kind deeds and friendly talk, successive shared
Their blissful hours; while, in the rosy vale,
Love breathed his tender sighs, from anguish free,
And free from guilt. Such were those prime of days.

In Thomson's "Spring," verses 358-362 stand thus :

But you, ye flocks,

What have you done? ye peaceful people, what,
To merit death? you, who have given us milk
In luscious streams, and lent us your own coat
Against the Winter's cold?