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ENGLISH LITERATURE

OF THE

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

JOSEPH WARTON, 1722–1800.

Is entering upon the subject of English literature of the present century, it is gratifying to begin with the name of one who, to the character of a pleasing poet, a profound scholar, a tasteful and judicious critic, and a successful and venerated schoolmaster, unites that of a pure Christian, in so eminent a degree as Joseph Warton. He was the son of the Rev. Thomas Warton, Professor of Poetry in Oxford University, and was born at Dunsfold, county of Surrey, April, 1722. When fourteen, he entered Winchester school, and, while there, so distinguished himself for his poetical talents that he became a contributor to the poetry of the Gentleman's Magazine. In 1740 he removed to Oxford University, and in 1744 he took his degree of A.B., was immediately ordained, and officiated as his father's curate in the church of Basingstoke, in Hampshire, till February, 1746. In this year he published a small volume of Odes on Various Subjects, which are characterized by a fine taste and fancy, and much ease of versification. The year after the publication of this volume of odes, he obtained the rectory of Wynslade, and thereupon married a Miss Daman, to whom he had been long engaged. He now devoted all his leisure hours to the translation of Virgil's Eclogues and Georgies, which were to be accompanied by Pitt's version of the Æneid, and the original Latin of the whole. In 1753 this elegant and valuable accession to classical literature was completed and published, accompanied by notes, dissertations, commentaries, and essays. The work was well received, and Warton's version of the Georgics and Eclogues was pronounced far superior to any that had preceded it.

It was at this time that Dr. Johnson, in a letter dated March 8, 1753, applied to him, from Hawkesworth, to assist in the Adventurer. 'Being desired," says he, "to look out for another hand, my thoughts necessarily fixed upon you,

1 His first contribution was in October, 1739, | and may be found in vol. ix. p. 545. In the same month appeared, in this magazine, Akenside's Hymn to Science; in the next page, a juvenile sonnet by Collins, signed Delicatulus; and in the next month, p. 599, is Mrs. Carter's beautiful Ode to Melancholy. So much has this

periodical done to usher the first productions of genius into the world!

2 Read a well-written biographical sketch of Warton, in Drake's Essays, vol. v. p. 112; and another in Sir Egerton Brydges's Censura Lite raría, vol. iv. p. 340, of the 2d edition.

whose fund of literature will enable you to assist them, with very little interrup tion of your studies, &c.: the province of criticism and literature they are very desirous to assign to the commentator on Virgil." His first paper is No. 49, dated April 24, 1753, containing a Parallel between Ancient and Modern Learning. His communications are among the very best of the whole work, and are written "with an extent of erudition, and a purity, elegance, and vigor of language, which demand very high praise."

In the year 1755, Warton was chosen second master of Winchester school, for which high office he was peculiarly qualified by his talents and character, as he united to his great learning a peculiar aptness to impart instruction, and the rare art of exciting in his scholars an enthusiasm for literature and a love and respect for himself. The next year he published the first volume of his Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope, which must ever be ranked as one of the most elegant and interesting productions in the department of criticism. "It abounds," says Dr. Drake, "with literary anecdote and collateral disquisition, is written in a style of great ease and purity, and exhibits a taste refined, chaste, and classical. In short, it is a work which, however often perused, affords fresh delight, and may be considered as one of the books best adapted tc excite a love of literature."

In 1766 he succeeded to the head-mastership of Winchester school, which he held till 1793, when, being seventy-one years old, he resigned this position, and retired to the Rectory of Wickham, in Hants. He did not, however, sink into literary idleness. In 1797 he edited the works of Pope, in nine volumes, octavo. The notes to this edition, which necessarily include the greatest part of his celebrated Essay, are highly entertaining and instructive. But he was censured for introducing some pieces of Pope's which Warburton had very properly omitted. Still, he was not deterred by the blame he thus suffered from entering upon an edition of Dryden, which, alas! he did not live to finish, though he left two volumes ready for the press. He died February 23, 1800, leaving behind him a widow, one son (the Rev. John Warton), and three daughters. Such is a brief outline of the life of this most excellent man,-one of the ripest scholars and soundest critics England has produced.

ODE TO LIBERTY.

O Goddess, on whose steps attend

Pleasure, and laughter-loving Health,
White-mantled Peace with olive-wand,

Young Joy, and diamond-scepter'd Wealth,
Blithe Plenty, with her loaded horn,

With Science bright-ey'd as the morn;

In Britain, which for ages past

Has been thy choicest darling care,

Who madest her wise, and strong, and fair,
May thy best blessings ever last!

1 See the whole letter in Croker's Boswell, vol. i. 302.

2 Sir Egerton Brydges. Of the 140 numbers of the Adventurer, Hawkesworth* wrote 73,

| Johnson 29, Warton 24, Bathurst 7, Mrs. Chapone 3, Coleman 1, and 3 are anonymous.

8 Roscoe has incorporated most of Warton's notes in his-now the best-edition of Pope, 8 vols. 8vo.

For an account of Hawkesworth, see Compendium of English Literature, p. 609,

For thee, the pining prisoner mourns,
Depriv'd of food, of mirth, of light;
For thee pale slaves to galleys chain'd,
That ply tough oars from morn to night;
Thee the proud Sultan's beauteous train,
By eunuchs guarded, weep in vain,

Tearing the roses from their locks;
And Guinea's captive kings lament,
By Christian lords to labor sent,

Whipt like the dull, unfeeling ox.

Inspir'd by thee, deaf to fond Nature's cries,

Stern Brutus, when Rome's genius loudly spoke, Gave her the matchless filial sacrifice,

Nor turn'd, nor trembled at the deathful stroke!
And he of later age, but equal fame,

Dared stab the tyrant, though he loved the friend.
How burnt the Spartan1 with warm patriot flame,
In thy great cause his valorous life to end!
How burst Gustavus from the Swedish mine!
Like light from chaos dark, eternally to shine.

When Heaven to all thy joys bestows,
And graves upon our hearts-be free-
Shall coward man those joys resign,
And dare reverse this great decree?
Submit him to some idol-king,
Some selfish, passion-guided thing,

Abhorring man, by man abhorr'd,

Around whose throne stands trembling Doubt,
Whose jealous eyes still roll about,

And Murder with his reeking sword?

Where trampling Tyranny with Fate
And black Revenge gigantic goes,
Hark, how the dying infants shriek!
How hopeless age is sunk in woes!
Fly, mortals, from that fated land,
Though birds in shades of cassia sing,
Harvests and fruits spontaneous rise,
No storms disturb the smiling skies,

And each soft breeze rich odors bring.

Britannia, watch!-remember peerless Rome,

Her high-tower'd head dash'd meanly to the ground; Remember, Freedom's guardian, Grecia's doom, Whom, weeping, the despotic Turk has bound:

May ne'er thy oak-crown'd hills, rich meads, and downs (Fame, Virtue, Courage, Poverty, forgot,)

Thy peaceful villages, and busy towns,

Be doom'd some death-dispensing tyrant's lot;
On deep foundations may thy freedom stand,
Long as the surge shall lash thy sea-encircled land.

1 Leonidas.

ODE TO CONTENT.

Welcome Content! from roofs of fretted gold,
From Persian sofas, and the gems of Ind,
From courts, and camps, and crowds,
Fled to my cottage mean.

Meek Virgin, wilt thou deign with me to sit
In pensive pleasure by my glimmering fire,
And with calm smile despise

The loud world's distant din?

As from the piny mountain's topmost cliff
Some wandering hermit sage hears unconcern'd,
Far in the vale below,

The thundering torrent burst!

Teach me, good Heaven, the gilded chains of vice
To break; to study independent ease;

Pride, pomp, and power to shun,—

Those fatal Sirens fair,

That, rob'd like Eastern queens, sit on high thrones,
And, beckoning every thirsty traveller,
Their baleful cups present

With pleasing poisons fraught.

O let me dwell in life's low valley, blest
With the dear Nymph I love, true, heartfelt joy,
With chosen friends to turn

The polish'd Attic page;

Nor seldom, if nor Fortune damp my wings,
Nor dire Disease, to soar to Pindus' hill,
My hours, my soul devote

To Poesy and Love!

POPE AS A POET.

Thus have I endeavored to give a critical account, with freedom, but, it is hoped, with impartiality, of each of POPE's works ; by which review it will appear that the largest portion of them is of the didactic, moral, and satiric kind; and, consequently, not of the most poetic species of poetry; whence it is manifest that good sense and judgment were his characteristical excellencies. rather than fancy and invention; not that the author of the Rape of the Lock, and Eloisa, can be thought to want imagination, but because his imagination was not his predominant talent; because he indulged it not; and because he gave not so many proofs of this talent as of the other. He gradually became one of the most correct, even, and exact poets that ever wrote; polishing his pieces with a care and assiduity that no business or avocation ever interrupted: so that, if he does not frequently ravish and transport his reader, yet he does not disgust him with unexpected inequalities and absurd improprieties. Whatever poetical enthusiasm he actually possessed, he withheld and stifled.

The perusal of him affects not our minds with such strong emotions as we feel from Homer and Milton, so that no man of a true poetical spirit is master of himself while he reads them. Hence, he is a writer fit for universal perusal; adapted to all ages and stations; for the old and for the young; the man of business and the scholar. He who would think the Faerie Queene, Palamon and Arcite, the Tempest, or Comus, childish and romantic, might relish POPE. Surely it is no narrow and niggardly encomium to say he is the great Poet of Reason, the First of Ethical authors in verse. And this species of writing is, after all, the surest road to an extensive reputation. It lies more level to the general capacities of men than the higher flights of more genuine poetry. We all remember when even a Churchill was more in Vogue than a Gray. He that treats of fashionable follies and the topics of the day, that describes present persons and recent events, finds many readers whose understandings and whose passions he gratifies.

Where, then, according to the question proposed at the beginning of this Essay, shall we with justice be authorized to place our admired POPE? Not, assuredly, in the same rank with Spenser, Shakspeare, and Milton; however justly we may applaud the Eloisa and Rape of the Lock. But, considering the correctness, elegance, and utility of his works, the weight of sentiment, and the knowledge of man they contain, we may venture to assign him a place next to Milton, and just above Dryden. Yet, to bring our minds steadily to make this decision, we must forget for a moment the divine Music Ode of Dryden, and may perhaps then be compelled to confess that, though Dryden be the greater genius, yet Pope is the better artist.

The preference here given to POPE above other modern English poets, it must be remembered, is founded on the excellencies of his works in general, and taken all together; for there are parts and passages in other modern authors-in Young and in Thomson, for instance-equal to any of POPE; and he has written nothing in a strain so truly sublime as the Bard of Gray.

HUGH BLAIR, 1718-1800.

DR. HUGH BLAIR was born in Edinburgh, in 1718. After having gone through the usual grammatical course at the High School, he entered the University of Edinburgh in 1730, where he spent eleven years in the study of literature, philosophy, and divinity. In 1739 he received the degree of A.M.; and in 1741 he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Edinburgh. In the folwing year he was settled in the parish of Colessie, in Fifeshire, but was not permitted to remain long in this rural retreat; for, a vacancy occurring in the

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