such regard to the times as might hasten their publication, were the two satires of Thirty-eight: of which Dodsley told me, that they were brought to him by the author, that they might be fairly copied." Every line," said he, "was then written twice over; I gave him a clean transcript, which he sent some time afterwards to me for the press, with every line written twice over a second time.” His declaration, that his care for his works ceased at their publication, was not strictly true. His parental attention never abandoned them what he found amiss in the first edition, he silently corrected in those that followed. He appears to have revised the Iliad, and freed it from some of its imperfections; and the Essay on Criticism received many improvements after its first appearance. It will seldom be found that he altered without adding clearness, elegance, or vigour. Pope had perhaps the judgement of Dryden; but Dryden certainly wanted the diligence of Pope. In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be allowed to Dryden, whose education was more scholastick, and who, hefore he became an author, had been allowed more time for study, with better means of information. His mind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illustrations from a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of Pope. Poetry was not the sole praise of either; for both excelled likewise in prose; but Pope did not borrow his prose from his predecessor. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inemalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abun dant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the sithe and levelled by the roller. Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgement is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates: the periority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It is not to be inferred, that of this poetical vigour Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer since Milton must give place to Pope; and even of Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Dryden's performances were always hasty, either excited by some external occasion, or extorted by domestick necessity; he composed without consideration, and published without cor rection. What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce, or chence might supply. If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden of ten surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight. This parallel will, I hope, when it is well considered, be found just: and if the reader should suspect me, as I suspect myself, of some partial fondness for the memory of Dryden, let him not too hastily condemn me; for meditation and in quiry may, perhaps, show him the reasonableness of my determination. SELECT SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS. LESSON VII. O WINTER! ruler of the inverted year! A sliding car, indebted to no wheels, Spring.-MILTON. Now gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Of Araby the blest; with such delay Well-pleas'd they slack their course, and many a league Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles. Mercy. SHAKSpeare. The quality of mercy is not strain'd; The deserted mansion. Forsaken stood the hall, Worms ate the floors, the tap'stry fled the wall ; The man of a cultivated imagination.—CAMPBELL. His path shall be where streamy mountains swell Their shadowy grandeur o'er the narrow dell, * Pronounced et. Where mouldering piles and forests intervene, To watch the dying notes !-and star i, and smile! Evening sounds.-GOLDSMITH. Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close, There as I pass'd with careless steps and slow, Moonlight.-POPE. When the fair moon, refulgent lamp of night, Morning Sounds.—BEATTIE. But who the melodies of morn can tell? 'T'he wild brook babbling down the mountain's side The lowing herd; the sheepfold's simple bell; The cottage curs at early pilgrim bark; The beauties of Nature.-BEATTIE. O how canst thou renounce the boundless store O how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven? LESSON Vill. The advantages of a taste for natural history.—WOOD. WHEN a young person who has enjoyed the benefit of a liberal education, instead of leading a life of indolence, dissipation, or vice, employs hinrself in studying the marks of infinite wisdom and goodness which are manifested in every part of the visible creation, we know not which we ought most to congratulate, the publick, or the individual. Selftaught naturalists are often found to make no little progress |