sections of the sense, which are the necessary effects of rhyme." "His descriptions of extended scenes and general effects bring before us the whole magnificence of nature, whether pleasing or dreadful. The gaiety of spring, the splendour of summer, the tranquillity of autumn, and the horrors of winter, take in their turns possession of the mind. The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively varied by the vicissitudes of the year, and impart to us so much of his own enthusiasm, that our thoughts expand with his imagery, and kindle with his sentiments. Nor is the naturalist without his part in the entertainment; for he is assisted to recollect and to combine, to arrange his discoveries, and to amplify the sphere of his contemplation." "The great defect of the Seasons is want of method; but for this I know not that there was any remedy. Of many appearances subsisting all at once, no rule can be given why one should be mentioned before another; yet the memory wants the help of order, and the curiosity is not excited by suspense or expectation." These liberal remarks leave us little to add. A celebrated French writer, in the preface to his excellent translation of the Georgics of Virgil, has inconsiderately charged Thomson with having in his Seasons no end in view. This charge is, however, sufficiently refuted by Dr. Aikin's able essay on the plan and character of the poem. Mr. Delille proceeds to notice Thomson's imitations of the Georgics: it cannot be denied that a variety of coincidences exist be tween the two poems, which were perhaps unavoidable, from their being both of a rural cast, and including precept as well as description, though, according to Dr. Aikin's observation, what constitutes the business of the one is only di gression in the other. Our author has, in his Summer, pointed out his favourites among the English poets; and he appears to have selected Milton as his guide: it would not be difficult to instance several passages of his Seasons for which he was indebted to the Paradise Lost. The bold combinations of language which they exhibit, and which he caught from Milton, throw an air of luxuriance over his poetry, which renders his versification in a high degree splendid. If his use of compound epi thets be sometimes harsh and injudicious, and his thoughts be not always discernible through the splendour of their dress, the benevolence, liberality of sentiment, and enlightened spirit which breathe throughout his works, will for ever endear their author to mankind, Yet, excellent as the moral and sentimental part of his Seasons must appear, it certainly is that in which he may the most easily be equalled. It is as a descriptive poet that Thomson stands unrivalled: and to judge from the numerous imitations of succeeding writers, he seems to have fixed no inconsiderable æra in the annals of English poetry. |