to pathetic or descriptive subjects. They are such, indeed, as speak highly in favour of his sensibility and genius, and ought, most assuredly, to rescue his name from oblivion. Neither Carew nor Waller, in fact, have any thing which equals the tender melancholy per vading some of these effusions, and more especially the two following, whose metre also I consider as happily adapted to convey the pensive ideas of the poet. 'TO BLOSSOMS. Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, What, were ye born to be As your hours do, and dry Like to the Summer's rain; Or as the pearls of Morning's dew, Ne'er to be found again.' Page 144. "The cultivation of descriptive poetry had, during the prior half of the seventeenth century, been much circumscribed, by a growing fondness for metaphysical imagery and conceits. What Donne had introduced, Cowley and Clieveland established as a fashion; and the eighteenth century had dawned before this unnatural mode of composition ceased to acquire admirers. But you are lovely leaves, where we Some illustrious examples, howMay read how soon things have Their end, though ne'er so brave; ever, were not wanting before the And after they have shown their pride, year 1650, which evince a very acLike you a while: they glide curate and tasteful conception of Into the grave.' rural and picturesque scenery. Bur"The concluding lines of the ton, about 1600, prefixed to his first and third stanzas of this beau-Anatomy of Melancholy' some tiful little piece, are peculiarly im pressive and pleasing. And lose you quite. "The second poem, though on a similar topic, and expressing a similar complaint, is varied in its imagery, and possesses a more elaborate versification. It leaves, likewise, the same feelings of humility and sorrow on the mind, which, by inducing us to repose on the promises of superior power, are friendly to the best interests of man. 'TO DAFFADILLS. Fair Daffadills, we weep to see You haste away so soon: As yet the early-rising sun Has not attain'd his noon. admirably descriptive verses, under the title of the Abstract of Melancholy, and which are supposed to have given rise to the still more exquisite poems, in a similar measure, by the author of Paradise Lost. In 1613 and 1627 were published the Polyolbion and the Nymphidia of Drayton; in 1616 the Pastorals of Browne, and, above all, in 1645, the Il Penseroso and L'Allegro of Milton. Compared with these masterly productions, the descriptive pieces scattered through the Hesperides of Herrick, may appear to deserve little notice. They are, however, not only immediately subsequent in the the order of time, but are possessed of no small portion of merit. They may be divided into those which describe the pleasures and employments of rural life, or delineate the imaginary sports and occupations of the fairy tribe, or the more formidable orgies of witchcraft. "The felicity of rural life hath ever been a favourite topic with poets of every age; and it is consequently a task of much difficulty to avoid what may be termed hereditary imagery, In the following poem Herrick may certainly be traced in the snow both of Virgil and Horace; yet a considerable portion remains, which may justly be ascribed to the genius and observation of the English poet. THE COUNTRY LIFE. Sweet country life, to such unknown, When now the cock, the plowman's horn, That the best compost for the lands f And smell'st the breath of great-ey'd kine Of short sweet grass, as backs with wool. "To this specimen might be added many more of similar merit, under the title of Harvest-Home, The Wake, the Wassail, &c. &c. and which display a very curious list of the sports and pastimes of our ancestors. "That species of poetry which is employed in painting the imagi nary existence and manners of fairies, elves and goblins, and which Shakspeare and Jonson delighted to indulge in, is frequently to he found "In ancient times, the watchman who cried the hours used to recite benedictions, in order to drive away from the house the fairies and demons of the night. Shakspeare, in his Cymbeline, alludes to a superstition of this kind, where he rerepresents Imogen, on going to rest, exclaiming From fairies, and the tempters of the night, Guard me, beseech ye!' sombrous and terrific agency of witchcraft. As a specimen of these, I present the reader with the following singular production. THE HAG. The hag is astride, This night for to ride; The devil and she together: Through thick, and through thin, Now out, and then in, Though ne'er so foul be the weather. A thorn or a burr, She takes for a spur: With a lash of a bramble she rides new, Through brakes and through briars, O'er ditches, and mires, She follows the spirit that guides now. No beast, for his food, And Milton, in his Penseroso, in- But husht in his lair he lies lurking: troduces -the bellman's drousy charm, To bless the doors from nightly harm,' a ceremony which Herrick has repeatedly described, and for which, in his thirty-ninth page, he appears to have given a form, very probably for the purpose of being chaunted before his own door. THE BELMAN. From noise of scare-fires rest ye free, "Even in his amatory strains he has taken every opportunity of inserting imagery, drawn from simi lar resources. He thus commences a night-piece to Julia. Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, The shooting stars attend thee; And the elves also, Whose little eyes glow, Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.' "There are, likewise, several poems in the Hesperides, which are employed in describing the more While mischiefs, by these, The storm will arise, This night, and more for the wonder, Call'd out by the clap of the thunder.' "Our poet, however, seems more particularly to have delighted in drawing the manners and costume of the fairy world, peopled by beings of a gentle kind, and avowedly the friends of man. He has devoted several of his most elaborate poems to these sportive creof The Fairy Temple, Oberon's ations of fancy. Under the titles Palace, The Fairy Queen, and Oberon's Feast, a variety of curious and minute imagery is appo sitely introduced. I shall transcribe the last-mentioned piece, in order to convey a just idea of the mode in which these capricious yet clegant delineations are executed. OBERON'S FEAST. 'A little mushroom table spread, After short prayers, they set on bread: A moon A moon-parcht grain of purest wheat, Trip the light fairies and the dapper elves' form the chief subjects of his poetry. Of these, some are written in a style and metre, which display no inferior command of language and versification, whilst their elegance, their tenderness, or imagery is such, as to excite a well-founded admiration. "Unfortunately, like most authors of the age in which he lived, he has been totally inattentive to selection, and has thrown into his book such a number of worthless pieces, that those which possess decided merit, and which are few, if compared with the multitude which have none, are overlooked and forgotten in the crowd. Out of better than fourteen hundred poems, included in his Hesperides and Noble Numbers, not more than one hundred could be chosen by the hand of taste. These, however, would form an elegant little volume, and would perpetuate the memory and the genius of HER RICK." ARTS ARTS AND SCIENCES. 66 IT TALENTS and INGENUITY of the CHINESE. [From Mr. BARROW'S TRAVELS.] T has been observed, and perhaps with a great deal of truth, that the arts which supply the luxuries, the conveniences, and the necessaries of life, have derived but little advantage in the first instance from the labours and speculations of philosophers; that the ingenuity of artists, the accidental or progressive discoveries of common workmen, in any particular branch of business, have frequently afforded data, from which, by the reasonings and investigations of philosophers, hints have sometimes been struck out for arriving at the same ends by a shorter way; that the learned are therefore more properly to be considered as improvers than inventors. Of this mortifying truth, the Chinese afford many strong examples in their arts and manufactures, and particularly in some of those operations that have a reference to chemistry, which cannot here be said to exist as a science, although several branches are in common practice as chemical arts. Without possessing any theory concerning the affinities of bodies, or attractions of cohesion or aggregation, they clarify the muddy waters of their rivers, for immediate ue, by stirring them round with a piece of alum in a hollow bamboo; a simple operation, which experience has taught them, will cause the clayey particles to fall to the bottom: and having ascertained the fact, they have given themselves no further trouble to explain the phænomenon. "In like manner, they are well acquainted with the effect of steam upon certain bodies that are immersed in it; that its heat is much greater than that of boiling water. Yet, although for ages they have been in the constant practice of confining it in close vessels, something like Papin's digester, for the purpose of softening horn, from which their thin, transparent, and capacious lanterns are made, they seem not to have discovered its extraordinary force when thus pent up; at least, they have never thought of applying that power to purposes which animal strength has not been adequate to effect. They extract from the three kingdoms of nature the most brilliant colours, which they have also acquired the art of preparing and mixing so as to produce every intermediate tint; and in their richest and most lively hues, they communicate these colours to silks, cottons, and paper; yet they |