PROLOGUE TO LILLO'S ELMERIC. 1740. No labour'd scenes to-night adorn our Lillo's plain sense would here the hea He knew no art, no rule; but warmly From passion's force, and as he felt he His Barnwell once no critic's test coul Yet from each eye still draws the natu With generous candour hear his latest And let kind Pity shelter his remains. Depress'd by want, afflicted by diseas Dying he wrote, and dying wish'd to ▾ Oh! may that wish be now humanely And no harsh critic vex his gentle sha 'Tis yours his unsupported fame to sa And bid one laurel grace his humble { LIFE OF SOMERVILE. WILLIAM SOMERVILE was born, if we may believe his own account, upon the banks of the Avon, in 1692. He entered Winchester school, and became fellow of New College. His estate was in Warwickshire, where he was known as a tolerable poet, a skilful justice of the peace, and a still more skilful follower of game. He must have betaken himself to worse courses in the latter part of his life; for, though his income amounted to fifteen hundred pounds a year, he was, at his death, environed by the officers of that justice, which he had formerly contributed to administer. His friend Shenstone tells us, that he was forced to drink himself into pains of the body, in order to get rid of the pains of the mind.' He died July 19, 1742. The poetry of Somervile is a smooth and copious stream; seldom flowing with rapidity, and sometimes taking a turn, which is little calculated to advance its progress. He was too fond of blank verse. Words were always at his command; and, when free from the restraint of rhyme, he was tempted to use them in too great abundance, and where there is little occasion. He has judiciously chosen to be the poet of rural life, with which he was most acquainted; and, though he seldom enlightens us with a new thought, or a new expression, it is confessed, that he always writes with a complete knowledge of his subject. |