without any fettled habitation; whose only wealth is their flocks and herds; and who have yet carried on, through all ages, an hereditary war with all mankind, though they neither cover nor envy their poffeffions.

CHAP. X.

IMLAC'S HISTORY CONTINUED.

UPON POETRY.

A DISSERTATION

WHEREVER I went, I found that poetry was confidered as the higheft learning, and regarded with a veneration somewhat approaching to that which man would pay to the Angelick Nature. And yet it fills me with wonder, that, in almost all countries, the moft ancient poets are cons fidered as the beft: whether it be that every other kind of knowledge is an acquifition gradually at◄ tained, and poetry is a gift conferred at once; ot that the first poetry of every nation furprised them as a novelty, and retained the credit by confent which it received by accident at firft: or whether, as the province of poetry is to defcribe Nature and Paffion, which are always the fame, the first writers took poffeffion of the most striking objects for defcription, and the most probable occurrences for fiction, and left nothing to thofe that followed them, but tranfcription of the fame events, and new combinations of the fame images. Whatever be the reafon, it is commonly obferved that the early writers are in poffeffion of nature, and their followers of art: that the firft excel in ftrength and invention,'

2

invention, and the latter in elegance and refine

ment.

"I was defirous to add my name to this illuftrious fraternity. I read all the poets of Perfia and Arabia, and was able to repeat by memory the voHumes that are fufpended in the mofque of Mecca. But I foon found that no man was ever great by imitation. My defire of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature and to life. Nature was to be my fubject, and men to be my auditors: I could never defcribe what I had not feen: I could not hope to move thofe with delight or terrour, whofe interefts and opinions I did not understand.

Being now refolved to be a poet, I faw every thing with a new purpofe; my fphere of attention was fuddenly magnified: no kind of knowledge was to be overlooked. I ranged mountains and deferts for images and refemblances, and pictured upon my mind every tree of the forest and flower of the valley. I obferved with equal care the crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the palace. Sometimes I wandered along the mazes of the rivulet, and fometimes watched the changes of the fummer clouds. To a poct nothing can be ufelefs. Whatever is beautiful, and whatever is dreadful, must be familiar to his imagination: he must be converfant with all that is awfully vaft or elegantly little. The plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, the minerals of the earth, and meteors of the fky, must all concur to ftore his mind with inexhaustible variety: for every idea is ufeful for the enforcement or decoration of moral or religious truth; and he, who knows

knows moft, will have moft power of diverfifying his scenes, and of gratifying his reader with remote allufions and unexpected inftruction.

"All the appearances of nature I was therefore careful to ftudy, and every country which I have furveyed has contributed fomething to my poetical powers."

"In fo wide a furvey, faid the prince, you must furely have left much unobferved. I have lived, till now, within the circuit of thefe 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, faid Imlac, is to examine, not the individual, but the fpecies; 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 fuch prominent and ftriking features, as recall the original to every mind; and must neglect the minuter difcriminations, which one may have remarked, and another have neglected, for thofe characteristicks which are alike obvious to vigilance and careleffness.

"But the knowledge of nature is only half the tafk of a poet; he must be acquainted likewife with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimate the happinefs and mifery of every 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 accidental influences of climate or custom, from the fprightlinefs of infancy to the despondence

fpondence 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 prefent laws and opinions, and rife to general and tranfcendental truths, which will always be the fame: he muft 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 legiflator 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 fciences; and, that his ftyle may be worthy of his thoughts, must, by inceffant practice, familiarize to himself every delicacy of fpeech and grace of harmony."

CHAP. XI.

IMLAC'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. A 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, faid Imlac, is indeed very difficult." "So difficult, returned the prince, that I will at prefent hear no more of his labours. Tell me whither you went when you had feen Perfia."

"From

"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 western nations of Europe; 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 wish 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 com→

merce."

By what means, faid the prince, are the Europeans thus powerful, or why, fince they can fo easily vifit Afia and Africa for trade or conqueft, cannot the Afiaticks and Africans invade their coafts, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The fame wind that carries them back would bring us thither."

"They are more powerful, Sir, than we, anfwered Imlac, because they are wifer; knowledge will always predominate over ignorance, as man governs the other animals. But why their knowledge is more than ours, I know not what reafon can be given, but the unfearchable will of the Supreme Being."

"When, faid the prince with a figh, fhall I be able to visit Palestine, and mingle with this mighty confluence of nations? Till that happy moment fhall VOL. XI.

D

arrive,