tained a degree of popularity which may be admitted as proof of merit of a certain kind, and as a reason against total neglect. You will scarcely, I think, overcome the languor of his long elegies, notwithstanding their melodious flow and occasionał beauties. A life spent in dissatisfaction with himself and his situation, in sickly gloom and unrelished leisure, was not likely to inspire vigorous strains; and the elegiac tone assumes deep and fixed despondence in the effusions of his imagination. The last of these pieces, in which he deplores the consequences of a licentious amour, has been generally admired. It touches upon the true pathetic, though mingled with the fanciful. The "Pastoral Ballad" in four parts is probably the most popular of all his productions. Many persons, I believe, suppose both the measure and the manner to be of Shenstone's invention; but I have pointed out a better specimen of both in Rowe. Simplicity of language and sentiment was the the writer's aim; it is, however, no easy thing to attain the grace of this quality, without bordering upon its next neighbour, manity. Shenstone has not been able entirely to hit this point: yet he has several strokes of natural and tender feeling, as well as passages of pleasing rural imagery, which he drew from original sources. His poem entitled "Rural Elegance" is worth reading on account of its descriptions of the modern art of landscape gardening, of which he was an early and distinguished practitioner. The following lines are a very picturesque sketch of the principal operations of that art : Whether we fringe the sloping hill, Reflect flow'rs, woods, and spires, and brighten all the scene. The "Dying Kid," the "Ballad of Nancy Nancy of the Vale," and some of the songs, which are tender and delicate in their sentiment, have afforded pleasure to readers who are not too fastidious in their ideas of excellence. I believe they will do so to you; nor do I wish to foster in you that sickly nicety of taste, which refuses to be pleased with what is really beautiful, bccause it is not presented in the most perfect form. Adieu! LETTER LETTER XIX. My task now, my dear Mary, draws to a conclusion; for although, since the time of Shenstone, several poets have appeared who have enjoyed their day of reputation, and have been consigned to posterity in the volumes of collections, yet few of them have survived even this short interval in the voice of popular fame. I have one, however, to mention who may be considered as fully established in his seat among the most eminent of the poetical fraternity, and whose works are as much consecrated by the stamp of public applause as if they had received the approbation of centuries. This is GOLDSMITH, one of the minor poets, with regard to the bulk of his productions, but perhaps the immediate successor of Dryden and Pope, if estimated by their excellence. His His two principal pieces, "The Traveller" and "The Deserted Village," come under the head of descriptive poems; but the description is so blended with sentiment, and so pointed and consolidated by a moral design, that they claim a higher place than is usually allotted to that class of compositions. It is true, Goldsmith was more of a poet than of a philosopher or politician; and therefore it is rather for the entertainment than the instruction that they afford, that these performances are to be valued; yet there is much in them to warm the heart as well as to delight the imagination. It is not derogatory to the merit of Goldsmith's poetry that it is calculated to please the general taste. The qualities by which it effects this purpose are, remarka» ble clearness and perspicuity of style; a natural unaffected diction that rejects every artifice of speech which has been employed to force up language into poetry by remoteness from common use; and a warmth, energy, |