lism, and to which so many, even in these days, are inclined, 4 "when weak women go astray Their stars are more in fault than they." I once heard a female who had made an imprudent marriage attribute it, not to her own fault, but to the planets. In the last line of the Song the Shepherd says, "His Ghost shall glide over the green", which will still serve as food to the spirit of superstition. In the Song" As on a summer's day," (p. 13.) verse 3, mention is made of Pan our god, as if there really were such a being; and fortune is introduced in the last verse too much in the place of Providence, who "giveth and taketh away." Of the next Song, "To the brook and the willow that heard him complain," by Rowe, (p. 15.) you say " This piece, written by the author on the occasion of the illness of the lady he afterwards married, has all the pathetic of real feeling, though under the garb of pastoral fiction." I must confess it appears to me to contain much overstrained sentiment; and the fates are introduced, as having decreed the loss of his charmer, and, if so, "one fate to thy Colin and thee shall betide." The Song beginning" Daphnis stood pensive in the shade", (p. 17.) is not perhaps altogether a bad lesson to over-coy or coquettish maidens; but the idea Nature still speaks in woman's eyes, Our artful lips were made to feign. is certainly charging upon the Creator, the God of Truth, what is not just. In the next Song (on Alexis, p. 19.) Heaven is called upon, to shield us all from Cupid's bow! If Alexis loved Clorinda, why did he not declare his love before, rather than silently nourish endless woe"? and when Clorinda heard his passion, if he was an object worthy her love, why did she not return it? and if there was any sufficient reason against it, why was not that kindly stated, rather than a promise claimed "ne'er again To breathe your vows or speak your pain," while This concluding line shews a want of fortitude in the lover. The love of woman, though justly ranking high, is ranked too high when a man, on disappointment, falls lifeless. The recourse to death for disappointed love ought not certainly to receive encouragement from Songs or other publications. If suicide be held forth, the blame is flagrant; and if it be only sinking into death through the violence of the disappointment, yet this argues the want of a duc habit of fortitude, or else a very undue comparative estimate of the blessings of life. The Song beginning "The sun was sunk beneath the hill," (p. 21.) I consider as a libel on the female sex, and one of those which do so much harm; some in exalting them above their rank in society, and some in degrading them below it but of this I shall treat more at large, when I come to speak upon the Amatory, or Love Songs. The following is the second verse: Who seeks to pluck the fragrant rose From the hard rock or oozy beach, The truth of love in womankind. In the 3d verse "A woman's venal heart" is mentioned as a general expression, and in the 4th verse are the following lines, How wretched is the faithful youth! Since women's hearts are bought and sold: Whene'er they sigh, they sigh for gold. That I may not be hypercritical, I will not make any remarks to detract from the merit of the very beautiful Song of Tweed Side. (p. 23.) The Pastoral Ballad by Shenstone, in four parts, (p. 24.) appears in general to deserve the praise you have bestowed upon it, (Essay p. xxviii.) "though unequal in its composition, it has given much pleasure to all who were capable of entering into the delicacies of the soft passion in its purest form." But, in the last verse of the first part, (p. 26.) I find Corydon talking of the vows and devotion he owes to Phyllis, and, Part 2. v. 6., (p. 28.) so much I her accents adore. Part 3. v. 2. (p. 30.) he says I could lay down my life for the swain, Part 4. v. 3. (p. 32.) he says of "nymphs of a higher degree: It is not for me to explain How fair and how fickle they be". v. 5. (p. 33.) Fate is introduced as having 66 never bestow'd such delight"; and v. 6. on account of his Disappointment, he says, I would hide with the beasts of the chase, certainly not a sentiment for a rational being, much less for a CHRISTIAN. Of Cunningham, the "admirer and imitator" of Shenstone, you say, (Essay, p. xxviii.) that he has at least equalled him in some pieces written in his manner." In his Pastoral To the Memory of William Shenstone, Esq. (p. 34.) I find the following verse : No verdure shall cover the vale, Since he that should welcome the spring If this be a wish, it is uncharitable; if it be predictive or declarative, it is presumptuous and profane. Cunningham's second Pastoral on Content, (p. 35.) with which you close this class of Songs, I have myself given with some trifling alterations in the second volume of my Collection. It had been better, perhaps, if I had made even farther alterations in the third stanza. I am, Sir, with great respect, Your &c. |