present, and probably never had any existence; but the fault, if any there is, seems rather that of the language than that of the poet: or perhaps, after all, it was mere penury of rhyme, and a distress similar to that which made him in another place hunt his poor dab-chick into a copse where it was never seen but in the Dunciad.

After so much said on the subject of local allusions, and terms of art, it cannot but occur to me, that I have myself sometimes fallen into the error which I have here reprehended, and adopted phrases and expressions unintelligible, except to the little circle to which my labours were at first confined; an error I shall cautiously avoid for the future: for how little claim soever the lucubrations of GREGORY GRIFFIN may have to public notice, or a protracted term of existence, he is unwilling to abridge either by wilful continuance in an acknowledged error.

N° 10. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1787.

Et silicis venis abstrusum, excuderet ignem. VIRG.

And struck th' imprison'd spark from veins of stone.

MANKIND in general, when they contemplate the records of those illustrious for patriotism, philosophy, poetry, or any other qualities which entitle them to immortality, are inclined to complain of the dearth of abilities and paucity of true genius observable in all ages. Genius, exclaims the discontented complainant, is given but with a sparing hand; instead of moving in a regular orbit as the planet, its course is lawless as the comet's; instead of diffusing the permanent rays of the sun, it glitters only with the dazzling glare

of the lightning; it is quick and transitory, and like the phoenix, appears not once in a century. Such is the usual outcry of those, who love to turn good into evil! to depreciate the dignity of man, and undervalue the works of their Creator. The arguments by which they support this hypothesis are plausible; they observé, that illustrious men have generally flourished not in a continued series, when the loss, of one was supplied by a successor equally capable, but in a collective body. After their demise, nature, as exhausted by such an unusual effort, has sunk into a lethargy, and slept for ages. These sons of

fame, like the brighter constellations of the heavens, obscure by their superior splendour the infinite hosts of stars which are scattered through the regions of endless space. To establish this position, they instance the noted reigns of Augustus, Charles, Ann, and Louis. The respectable names of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, Livy, and other glories of this learned age are produced; Milton, Dryden, Tillotson, aud Clarendon, with Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot Bolingbroke, Addison, Corneille, Racine, and Moliere, seem to corroborate this assertion. But let us

examine with impartiality, and the deception will be detected. Can we suppose, that nature has scattered her blessings with more profusion to one age than another; or, that like an unfeeling step-mother, she has robbed one child of its portion to enrich the other? Rather has not the universality of her influence been extended to all? Whence then, it is required, whence originates that inequality of genius and learning, which is so incontrovertibly conspicuous in the annals of history? The answer is brief, from the difference of cultivation. The most fertile fields, will, if neglected, be overrun with weeds; and the bramble will choke the luxuriance of the floweret. How many neglected spots are concealed in the wilds of Africa; how many tracts seemingly op

pressed with the curse of sterility, have, by the assistance of art teemed with the fruits of cultivation. The human mind is that luxuriant field, rich in the gifts of nature, but requiring the fostering care of education, to raise the imperfect seed to the maturity of the full grown crop.

I will venture to affirm, that neither the dark ages of the latter Roman empire, nor the darker ones which succeeded (the period when human nature was at its lowest ebb, and had relapsed into the barbarism from which the superior wisdom of the first race of man had raised it), were deficient in genius, if opportunity had called forth its powers. Statius and Claudian undoubtedly possessed the fire so requisite to form the poet; and the excellent Boetius, martyred by the cruel policy of the imperial court, was born to grace a more splendid era. To descend still deeper into this region of darkness, even so late as the closing years of the Greek empire, the princess Anna Commena, to the eminence of her illustrious birth, joined the milder glories of arts and literature. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and the other schoolmen shew an acuteness of reason, and comprehension of mind, employed indeed on subtle niceties and frivolous distinctions; but which, under the direction of a better taste, might have explored the profoundest depths of true philosophy. The Rosicrucians, with other chemical projectors, in the course of an extravagant search after an imaginary menstruum, stumbled on many useful discoveries in that curious science. Pope Silvester, with his illustrious follower, Friar Bacon, who were for their extraordinary knowledge deemed magicians by the ignorant multitude, and who were both, for the honour of our nation, Englishmen, directing their studies to the proper ends of philosophy, were the harbingers of that glorious light which has since blazed out. Charlemagne and Alfred are characters which might

dignify the annals of any historian, as warriors and legislators; the first softened the rigours of the feudal system so peculiarly adapted to bind mankind in indissoluble chains; the other blessed his native land with liberty, and laid the first foundation of that constitution, which has since proved the envy and admiration of Europe. These few illustrious names, which are the sole ornaments of so many ages only feebly enlightened, were not able to dispel the surrounding clouds; their rays, scattered through such an extensive space, only served to make

Darkness visible.

And when the poet exclaimed

Sint Mæcænates, non deerunt Flacce, Marones.

Let Sheffields smile, and Drydens still shall write,

he asserted that, to which experience has since given the sanction of truth.

It is not to be doubted, but that many a man, whose powers of mind might have carried him to the highest pitch of human glory, has languished in obscurity for want of those opportunities, or that patronage, which calls forth the powers of the soul. Those few to whom their better fortune has granted this envied lot, sufficiently prove this position; and many of the most excellent of the latter Roman emperors, left the more humble roofs of their native cottages, for the splendid magnificence of the imperial palace.

But the land of liberty is the soil favourable to the rearing these latent seeds; and it has been observed, that though genius may flourish awhile under the exotic warmth of arbitrary power, its blossom is but perishable: it languishes under the nipping blasts of oppression; and pines for the more congenial sun of freedom. The iron sway of slavery crushes the soul as well as body.

Animum quoque prægravat una

Atque affigit humo divinæ particulam auræ.
Weighs down the portion of celestial birth,

The breath of God, and fixes it to earth.-FRANCIS. That I may not seem to assert an improbability, let us examine the different states of literature in the commonwealths of Greece and Rome, under the dominion of the Cæsars. An objection is now easily started, viz. that the Augustan age is the great era of Roman literature; and that under the commonwealth the advances towards politer arts were slow and difficult. The fact is, that the Romans, during the first centuries, were too deeply engaged in their foreign and domestic wars, to attend to the milder occupations of peace. Self-preservation naturally engages the attention of man, prior to all other considerations; when that is secured, he has leisure to look around him, and make his first attempts in the sciences. In the earlier, rude, and martial times the trumpet drowned the notes of the lyre; in those times, therefore, the genius most suitable to the age, shone with distinguished lustre; this was the age of patriotism and conquest, and military merit was the only certain road to the dignities of the republic. When Rome was subject to Cæsar, her empire extended over the then known world. The Grecian elegance had softened her rougher genius; and science had polished the ferocity of her man⚫ners. The laurel of conquest faded before the olive of peace; and literary merit became the object of attention. Augustus only established that, of which others had laid the foundations; Ennius, Terence, Lucretius, Catullus, and Sallust, were prior to him; and the Roman eloquence, which was born, and which died with Cicero, sunk under the malignity of his influence. It is worth remarking, that though the Augustan age produced the best poets, yet eloquence fled with freedom; after the death of