yet he could not bear to be confidered himself merely as a man of letters; and though without birth, or fortune, or slation, his defire was to be looked upon as a private independent gentleman, who read for his amusement. Perhaps it may be said, What fignifies fo much knowledge, when it produced fo little? Is it worth taking fo much pains to leave no memorial but a few Poems? But let it be confidered that Mr. Gray was, to others, at leaft innocently employed; to himself, certainly beneficially. His time paffed agreeably; he was every day making some new acquifition in fcience; his mind was enlarged, his heart foftened, his virtue ftrengthened; the world and mankind were fhewn to him without a mafk; and he was taught to confider every thing as trifling, and unworthy of the attention of a wife man, except the purfuit of knowledge and practice of virtue, in that ftate wherein God hath placed us."

In addition to this character, Mr. Mason has remarked, that Gray's effeminacy was affected most before those whom he did not wish to pleafe; and that he is unjustly charged with making knowledge his fole reafon of preference, as he paid his efteem to none whom he did not likewife believe to be good.

Dr. Johnfon makes the following obfervations:"What has occurred to me, from the flight infpection of his letters, in which my undertaking has engaged me, is, that his mind had a large grafp; that his curiofity was unlimited, and his judgment culti vated; that he was a man likely to love much where he loved at all, but that he was faftidious, and hard

to please. His contempt, however, is often employ. ed, where I hope it will be approved, upon fcepticifin and infidelity. His fhort account of Shaftesbury I will infert.

"You fay you cannot conceive how lord Shaftefbury came to be a philofopher in vogue; I will tell you; firft, he was a lord; fecondly, he was as vain as any of his readers; thirdly, men are very prone to believe what they do not understand; fourthly, they will believe any thing at all, provided they are under no obligation to believe it; fifthly, they love to take a new road, even when that road leads no where; fixthly, he was reckoned a fine writer, and feems afways to mean more than he said. Would you have any more reasons? An interval of above forty years has pretty well deftroyed the charm. A dead lord ranks with commoners: vanity is no longer interested in the matter: for a new road is become an old one."

As a writer he had this peculiarity, that he did not write his pieces firft rudely, and then correct them, but laboured every line as it arofe in the train of com. position; and he had a notion not very peculiar, that he could not write but at certain times, or at happy moments; a fantastic foppery, to which our kindness for a man of learning and of virtue wishes him to have been fuperior.

As a Poet he ftands high in the estimation of the candid and judicious. His works are not numerous; but they bear the marks of intense application, and careful revifion. The Elegy in the Church-yard iş

deemed his mafter-piece; the fubject is interefting, the fentiment fimple and pathetic, and the verfification charmingly melodious. This beautiful compofition has been often felected by orators for the difplay of their rhetorical talents. But as the most finished productions of the human mind have not escaped cenfure, the works of our Author have undergone illiberal comments. His Elegy has been supposed defective in want of plan. Dr. Knox, in his Essays, has obferved," that it is thought by some to be no more than a confused heap of splendid ideas, thrown together without order and without proportion." Some paffages have been cenfured by Kelly in the Babbler, and imitations of different Authors have been pointed out by other critics. But thefe imitations cannot be afcertained, as there are number lefs inftances of coincidence of ideas; fo that it is difficult to fay, with precifion, what is or is not a defigned or accidental imitation.

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Gray, in his Elegy in the Church-yard, has great merit in adverting to the most interesting paffions of the human mind; yet his genius is not marked alone by the tender fenfibility fo confpicuous in that elegant piece; but there is a fublimity which gives it an equal claim to univerfal admiration.

His Odes on The Progress of Poetry, and of The Bard, according to Mr. Mafon's account, "breathe the high spirit of lyric enthusiasm. The tranfitions are fudden and impetuous; the language full of fire and force; and the imagery carried, without impropriv, to the moft daring height. They have been ac

eufed of obfcurity: but the one can be obfcure to those only who have not read Pindar; and the other only to those who are unacquainted with the hiftory of our own nation."

Of his other lyric pieces, Mr. Wakefield, a learned and ingenious commentator, observes, that, though, like all other human productions, they are not without their defects, yet the fpirit of poetry, and exquifite charms of the verfe, are more than a compenfation for thofe defects. The Ode on Eton College abounds with fentiments natural, and confonant to the feelings of humanity, exhibited with perfpicuity of method, and in elegant, intelligible and expreffive language. The Sonnet on the Death of Weft, and the Epitaph on Sir William Williams, are as perfect compofitions of the kind as any in our language.

Dr. Johnson was confeffedly a man of great genius; but the partial and uncandid mode of criticism he has adopted in his remarks on the writings of Gray, has given to liberal minds great and just offence. According to Mr. Mafon's account, he has fubjected Gray's poetry to the most rigorous examination. Declining all confideration of the general plan and conduct of the pieces, he has confined himself solely to ftrictures on words and forms of expreffion; and Mr. Mafon very pertinently adds, that verbal criticism is an ordeal which the most perfect composition cannot pass without injury

He has alfo fallen under Mr. Wakefield's fevereft cenfure. This commentator affirms, that "he thinks a refutation of his ftrictures upon Gray a neceffary

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fervice to the public, without which they might ope rate with a malignant influence upon the national tafte. His cenfure, however, is too general, and expreffed with too much vehemence; and his remarks betray, upon the whole, an unreasonable faftidioufnefs of tafte, and an unbecoming illiberality of spirit. He appears to have turned an unwilling eye upon the beauties of Gray, because his jealoufy would not fuffer him to fee fuch fuperlative merit in a cotempora ry." Thefe remarks of Mr. Wakefield appear to be well founded; and it has been obferved, by another writer, that Dr. Johnson, being ftrongly influenced by his political and religious principles, was inclined to treat with the utmost severity, some of the productions of our beft writers; to which may be imputed that feverity with which he cenfures the lyric performances of Gray. It is highly probable that no one poetical reader will univerfally fubfcribe to his decifions, though all may admire his vaft intuitive knowledge, and power of difcrimination.

In one inftance, the Doctor's inconsistency, and deviation from his general character, does him honour. After having commented with the most rigid severity on the poetical works of Gray, as if conscious of the injustice done him, he seems to apologize by the following declaration, which concludes his criticism, and fhall conclude the Memoirs of our Author.

"In the character of his Elegy (fays Johnfon) I rejoice and concur with the common reader; for, by the common fenfe of readers, uncorrupted with literary prejudices, all the refinements of fubtilty,