contributed fomething to my poetical powers.' "In fo wide a furvey," faid the prince, "you muft furely have left much unobferved. I have lived, till now, within the circuit of these mountains, and yet cannot walk abroad without the fight of fomething which I had never beheld before, or never heeded." "The business of a poet," said Imlac, "is to examine, not the individual, but the species; to remark general properties and large appearances; he does not number the streaks of the tulip, or defcribe the different fhades in the verdure of the foreft. He is to exhibit in his portraits of nature such prominent and ftriking features, as recall the original to every mind; and muft neglect the minuter difcriminations, which one may have remarked, and another have neglected, neglected, for thofe characteristicks which are alike obvious to vigilance and careleffness. fery of every "But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; he must be acquainted likewife with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimate the happiness and mievery condition; obferve the power of all the paffions in all their combinations, and trace the changes of the human mind as they are modified by various inftitutions and accidentalinfluences of climate or custom, from the sprightlinefs of infancy to the defpondence of decrepitude. He must diveft himself of the prejudices of his age or country; he must confider right and wrong in their abftracted and invariable state; he must difregard pre fent fent laws and opinions, and rise to general and transcendental truths, which will always be the fame: he must therefore content himfelf with the flow progrefs of his name; contemn the applaufe of his own time, and commit. his claims to the juftice of pofterity. He muft write as the interpreter of nature, and the legislator of mankind, and confider himself as prefiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations; as a being fuperior to time and place. "His labour is not yet at an end: he must know many languages and many sciences; and, that his ftyle may be worthy of his thoughts, muft, by inceffant practice, familiarize to himself every delicacy of speech and grace of harmony." 13 CHA P. XI. IMLAC'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. A IMLA HINT ON PILGRIMAGE. MLAC now felt the enthufiaftick fit, and was proceeding to aggrandize his own profeffion, when the prince cried out, "Enough! thou haft convinced me, that no human being can ever be a poet. Proceed with thy narration." "To be a poet," said Imlac," is indeed very difficult." "So difficult," returned the prince, "that I will at present hear no more of his labours. Tell me whither you went when you had feen Perfia." "From Perfia," faid the poet, "I travelled through Syria, and for three years refided in Palestine, where I converfed with great numbers of the northern and weftern nations of Europe; the 1 the nations which are now in poffeffion of all power and all knowledge; whofe armies are irresistible, and whofe fleets command the remoteft parts of the globe. When I compared these men with the natives of our own kingdom, and thofe that furround us, they appeared almost another order of beings. In their countries it is difficult to wifh for any thing that may not be obtained: a thousand arts, of which we never heard, are continually labouring for their convenience and pleasure; and whatever their own climate has denied them is fupplied by their commerce." By what means," faid the prince, "are the Europeans thus powerful, or why, fince they can fo eafily visit Afia and Africa for trade or conqueft, cannot the Afiaticks and Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports, and give |