Are not the two following lines, which describe the withered leaf borne about by the wind, and the light feather dancing on the surface of the water, a literal translation of the very beautiful and expressive couplet which I shall here subjoin to them, from the same passage in the first Georgic? 66 "Snatch'd in short eddies, plays the wither'd leaf, And on the flood the dancing feather floats." Winter, 180, 181. "Sæpe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas, Ant summâ nantes in aquâ conludere plumas." Georg. i. 368, 369. "And dancing leaves are lifted from the ground, And floating feathers in the waters play." If, in the second line of this quotation, the " Dryden. floating feathers" of Dryden are more expressive of the original, "nantes plumas," than the dancing feather" of Thomson. it must be allowed that the withered leaf" of the imitator, in the first line, is more like the "frondes caducas of Virgil than the "dancing leaves" of the translator It occurs to me here, that to make a leaf dance in the last stage of its existence is ridi culous in the extreme: with a dance we usually connect ideas of revelry and enjoy ment-how different from the melancholy reflections which the falling leaf suggests! Poets cannot be too careful in the correction of their verses, when a single epithet, as we see in the instance before us, can destroy the beauty of a passage. The imitation in the lines which follow is too evident to require being pointed out: "Even as the matron, at her nightly task, Winter, 134-137. The beautiful and characteristic description which follows, of the flight of the birds previous to the storm, the clamorous crows, the wailing owl, the wheeling cormorant, soaring heron, and circling sea-fowl-strongly resembles the description of the same natural phenomenon in Virgil: "Retiring from the downs, where all day long How much is the beauty of this passage increased by the image which Thomson has introduced in the beginning of the line, by representing the owl as sitting solitary in her bower. It recalls to our recollection the inimitable lines of Gray : "Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r The moping owl does to the moon complain "The cormorant on high Wheels from the deep, and screams along the land. Winter, 144-147. "Quum medio celeres revolant ex æquore mergi, Georg. i. 361,-364. "When crying cormorants forsake the sea, Dryden. Having now finished this long and, I am afraid, uninteresting comparison between the Seasons of Thomson and the Georgics of Virgil, I shall close this communication with one or two general observations. In a Those who have had the patience or curiosity to peruse my former papers on this subject, can scarcely have avoided observing that I have, in many passages, given Thomson the precedency of Virgil-especially in his eulogium on the innocence and happiness of a country-life. This has not arisen from any insensibility on my part to the merits of Virgil, or from any wish to depreciate them; and I would, therefore, observe here, that if he is ever inferior to the author of the Seasons, that inferiority must be attributed rather to the limits imposed upon him by the nature of his subject, than to any deficiency of genius in the manner of treating it. poem on agriculture and the planting of trees-a subject much less capable of poetical embellishment than the Seasons-the digressions must necessarily be more confined and less interesting. The nature of his work, therefore, compelled Virgil, iu describing the happiness of a country-life, (for instance, in the beautiful digression in the second Georgic,) to confine himself to the pleasures of the husbandman, whose occupations and employments formed the subject of his poem: the more poetical subject of Thomson put no such restraint upon him, and in describing the felicity of rural retirement, he was, therefore, at liberty to connect with it the pleasures of philosophy and mental refinement. This I conceive to be the principal reason of Thomson's superiority to Virgil in this passage. The latter, confined in his description, paints the happiness of a peasant, who, retired from the tumults and agitations of the world, passes his days innocently in rural occupations, which are sometimes interrupted by rural sports: the former, in the picture he has drawn of the happiness of a country-life, has not only described the pleasures of innocence but those of knowledge also, and painted, with all the glowing colours of the richest fancy, the enjoyment of the retired philosopher, who, spending a serene and peaceful life "in still retreats and flowery solitudes," not only admires the varied beauty of the scenes which surround him through the different seasons of the year, but draws from them the lessons of instruction and wisdom which they are so well calculated to afford ; "To Nature's voice attends from month to month, And day to day, thro' the revolving year: And feels her sweet emotions at his heart." I have one more general remark to make, before I conclude, on the difference of the style which these two eminent poets have adopted in their admirable descriptions of nature. The style of Virgil appears to me more simple and less figurative than that of Thomson. It is by no means devoid of poetical ornament or embellishment, but the ornament is less glittering, and the embellishment more plain. The poetry of Virgil is distinguished by all the graceful simplicity and elegance of Roman drapery, but that of Thomson is clothed in all the splendor and magnificence of an Eastern dress: or, if I may be allowed to change the figure, and compare the style of these celebrated describers of nature to one of nature's finest exhibitions, I should say, that the diction of the former resembled the mild lustre of the opening morn, whilst that of the latter glows with all the radiance of the risen day. My meaning will, perhaps, be rendered more intelligible by an interpretation in describing the fruitful plains of Italy, Virgil uses the simple and unadorned expression, "Hæc loca gravidæ fruges implevere;" Thomson, not content with such plain langnage, describes the same natural appearance in his eulogy on England, by a figure," Thy valleys float with golden waves." These observations relate solely to the Georgics, between which and the Seasons the analogy can only be drawn; and with this remark, fearful of wearying out the patience of your readers, which has been tried long enough, and not wishing to usurp too many of your valuable pages, lest by my dulness I should dim the lustre of your rising Star, and commit an injury where I wished to confer a benefit, I remain your friend and well-wisher, J. B. ON THE AUTHORS OF THE SPECTATORS. To the Editors of the Northern Star. THE last paper in the seventh volume of the Spectator, No. 555. contains several interesting facts respecting the principal writers engaged in that celebrated work. "All the papers," says Steele, "which I have distinguished by my letter in the name of the Muse CLIO, were given me by the gentleman of whose assistance I formerly boasted in the preface and concluding leaf of my Tatlers." The generality of readers, and among them I am compelled to add, many persons of acuteness and discrimination, have inferred from this passage that Addison was the writer of all these papers; an inference which is neither fairly deducible from the words of Steele, nor consistent with the evidence furnished by subsequent writers. Tickell has indeed contributed to strengthen this opinion by inserting them in his edition of Addison's works; and Dr. Johnson, who was often too credulous in believing the stories reported to him, has fallen into the common error on this subject. "The papers of Addison," says the author of the Lives of the Poets*, "are marked in the Spectator by one of the letters in the name of Clio, and in the Guardian by a hand; whether it was, as Tickell pretends to think, that he was unwilling to usurp the praise of others, or, as Steele, with far greater likelihood, insinuates, that he could not, without discontent, impart to others any of his own. I have heard," continues this dogmatical and uncandid writer, “that his avidity did not satisfy itself with the air of renown, but that, with great eagerness, he laid hold on his proportion of the profits."-There was little occasion for the Doctor to express himself with so much bitterness and ill-nature in the latter part of this paragraph. The Spectator and Guardian are always spoken of as the joint productions of these friends; and, though Steele was the nominal editor of both, Addison is known to have contributed by far the greater number of original papers, and was therefore entitled to at least an equal share of the profits. With respect indeed to the part which Addison took in the Guar dian, Dr. Johnson himself says that it is not known whether his communications were furnished" occasionally or by previous engagement †," and the Doctor had probably no better ground for his insinuation, as regarded the Spectator. Addison, however, though he bears the palm of industry from Steele, unquestionably derived some assistance from the kindness of his friends; nor is Dr. Johnson quite correct in attributing indiscriminately to his pen all those papers marked by one of the letters in the name of the Muse CLIO. This at least is not a fair inference from the words of Steele, who only tells us that these papers were given him by Addison, and does not expressly assert that Addison wrote them. From the known integrity of Steele's character, I feel persuaded that he made these acknowledgements to his friend Addison, as he himself tells us, (No. 555,) "because he would not let his heart reproach him with a consciousness of having acquired a praise which was not his right;" and purposely expressed himself in these qualified terms, that he might not pledge his word to a fact which he was unprepared to verify. There might, too, be something of a fellow-feeling in the case; for Steele, "whose negligence kept him always na hurry," was not unfrequently obliged to avail himself of the kind asBistance of his friends, Sharpe's ed. vol. iv. p. 25. VOL II. † Lives of the Poets, vol. iv. p. 24. ↑ Ibid. p.27. Q |