MISCELLANIES IN VERSE. A CRITICISM on thefe MISCELLANIES. THE his own. HE poetical performances of Dr. Swift ought to be confidered as occafional poems, framed either to please, or vex fome particular perfors. We must not fuppofe them defigned for posterity. If he had cultivated his genius in that way, he muft certainly have excelled, especially in fatire. We fee fine sketches in feveral of his pieces: but he feems more defirous to inform and strengthen his mind, than to indulge the luxuriancy of his imagination. He chooses to difcover and correct errors in the works of others, rather than to illustrate and add beauties to Like a fkilful artist, he is fond of probing wounds to their depth, and of enlarging them to open view. He prefers cauftics, which erode proud flesh, to fofter balfamics, which give more immediate cafe. He aims to be feverely useful, rather than politely engaging: and, as he was either not formed, or would not take pains to excel in poetry, he became, in fome meafure fuperior to it; and affumed more the air and manners of a critic, than of a poet. Had he lived in the fame age with Horace, he would have approached nearer to him than any other poet and, if we may make an allowance for the different courfe of ftudy, and different form of government, to which each of thefe great men were fubject, we may obferve, in feveral inftances, a ftrong refemblance between them. Both poets are equally diftinguished for wit and humour. Each difplays a peculiar felicity in diction. But, of the two, Horace is the more elegant and delicate: while he condemns, he pleafes. Swift takes pleasure in giving pain. The diffimilitude of their tempers might be owing to the different turns in their fortune. Swift early formed large views of ambition, and was disappointed. Horace, from an exiled low state, rofe into affluence, and enjoyed the favour and friendship of Augustus. Each poet was the delight of the principal perfons of his age. Cum magnis vixiffe, was not more applicable to Horace than to Swift. They both were temperate; both were frugal; and both were of the fame Epicurean tafte. Horace had his Lydia; Swift had his Vanela. Horace VOL. VIII, A had had his Mecenas and his Agrippa; Swift had his Oxford and his Bolingbroke. Horace had his Virgil; Swift had his Pope. Swift, who had the niceft ear, is remarkably chaste and delicate in his rhymes. A bad rhyme appeared to him one of the capital fins in poetry and yet, it is a fin into which fome of our greatest poets have fallen; Dryden frequently, Pope fome.times. The former was embarraffed with a wife and family; and was often under fuch neceffitous circumftances, as to be obliged to publish, or to want fubfiftence. The latter was in a lefs confined, and in a much more eafy fituation. He was naturally judicious, and uncommonly attentive to maintain the dignity of his character. Although his body was weak, his mind was equal to the weight of his laurel crown; and he wore it not only with cafe, but majefty. Take him as a poet, we shall not fee his like again. The Dean kept company with many of the fair fex; but they were rather his amusement than his admiration. He trifled away many hours in their converfation, he filled many pages in their praise, and, by the power of his head, he gained the character of a lover, without the leaft affiftance from his heart. To this particular kind of pride, fupported by the bent of his genius, and joined by the exceffive coldness of his nature, Vanessa owed the ruin of her reputation; and, from the fame caufes, Stella remained an unacknowledged wife. If we confider Swift's behaviour, fo far only as it relates to women, we fhall find, that he looked upon them rather as busts, than as whole figures. In his panegyrical defcriptions, he has feldom defcended lower than the centre of their hearts: or, if ever he has defigned a complete ftatue, it has been generally caft in a dirty, or in a difagreeable mould; as if ftatuary had not conceived, or had not experienced that juftnefs of proportion, that delicacy of limb, and those pleafing and graceful attitudes which have conftituted the fex to be the most beautiful part of the creation. If you review his several poems to Stella, you will find them fuller of affection than defire, and more expreffive of friendship than of love. For example, Thou, STELLA, wert no longer young, With friendship and esteem poffeft, I ne'er admitted Love a guest. Moft of the poems which are abfolutely addreffed to Stella, or which defcribe her in a variety of attitudes, turn upon her age: a kind of excufe, perhaps, for Swift's want of love. very minute comment upon They are not only mingled It is impoffible for me to pass a the various poems wrote by Swift. improperly, in point of dates and fubjects; but many, very many of them, are temporary, trifling, and, I had almost faid, puerile. Several of them are perfonal, and confequently scarce amufing; or, at least, they leave a very small impression upon our minds. Such, indeed, as are likely to draw your attention, are exquifite, and fo peculiarly his own, that whoever has dared to imitate him in thefe, or in any of his works, has conftantly failed in the attempt. Upon a general view of his poetry, we fhall find him, as in his other performances, an uncommon, furprising, heteroclite genius; luxurious in his fancy, lively in his ideas, humorous in his descriptions, and bitter, exceeding bitter in his fatire. The restleffness of his imagination, and the difappointment of his ambition, have both contributed to hinder him from undertaking any poetical work of length or importance. His wit was fufficient to every labour: no flight could have wearied the strength of his pinions: perhaps, if the extensive views of his nature had been fully satisfied, his airy motions had been more regular, and less sudden. But he now appears like an cagle that is sometimes chained; and, at that particular time, for want of nobler and more proper food, diverts his confinement, and appeases his hunger, by deftroying the gnats, butterflies, and other wretched infects that unluckily happen to buz or flutter within his reach. While I have been reading over his poems, I have confidered him as an Egyptian hieroglyphic; which, though it had an unnatural and frequently an indecent appearance, yet it always contained fome fecret marks of wifdom, and fometimes of deep morality. The fubjects of his poems are often naufeous, and the performances beautifully disagreeable. The Lady's dreffing-room, vol. 9th, has been univerfally condemned, as deficient, in point of delicacy, even to the highest degree. The best apology that can be made in its favour, is to fuppofe, A 2 |