As the wise, great and good of thy frowns seldom 'scape any, Witness brave Bellisarius who begg'd for a half-penny.

This would occasion a laugh, did not the subject and the tune repress it. Again,

But each conquest I gain'd, I made friend and foe know, That my soul's only aim was pro publico bono.

In the Song of The Pilgrim, by Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, (see my Collection, Vol. ii. p. 383.) a compound rhyme is introduced which would be much more in its place in a humourous composition:

Whoso beset him round

With dismal stories,

Do but themselves confound,

His strength the more is.

Of no species of Song does there appear to me to be so few good specimens as of the Comic. Of those sung upon the stage, many depend upon the mere buffoonery of the performer for effect. Such, chiefly, were those written for the late Edwin, and other performers. Many of them are indelicate, and some very gross ; and many are upon subjects equally improper, as making fun of the natural infirmities of persons, which is the subject of one of the Songs in The Children in the Wood. Collins's are of a better kind, though they want much correcting. He is deficient in refinement, and

Mr.

is sometimes gross and even profane. Dibdin's Comic Songs are, in my estimation, among our very best; though his, like the laurel, would flourish more under the pruning knife; I wish it could be said of Mr. D., as of the laurel, that he loves the knife." His Comic Songs have generally instruction, as well as wit and humour.

I am, Sir, with great respect,
Your &c.

408

LETTER VIII.

SACRED SONGS.

Clare Hall, November 26, 1810.

SIR,

HAVING closed each of my former volumes of
Songs with a class of Sacred Songs, I feel
unwilling to bring this to a conclusion without
giving some few specimens of compositions in the
highest style, namely addresses to the Deity in
whom "we live and move and have our being",
Acts xvii. 28. to whom we look for succour in
our spiritual life in this world, and for everlasting
happiness in the world to come.
To enter upon
a discussion of the excellence of Sacred Poetry
and the requisites for it would lead me far
beyond the limits which I must now prescribe
myself; and, for the advantage of such of my
readers as may wish to see something upon the
subject, I will merely refer them to Dr. Watts's
Preface to his Hora Lyrica and the authors
he there mentions. After noticing those Chris-
tians who "imagine that poetry and vice are
naturally a kin; or at least, that verse is only fit
to recommend trifles, and entertain our looser
hours, but is too light and trivial a method to

treat any thing that is serious and sacred", he says "They submit, indeed, to use it in divine psalmody, but they love the driest translation of the psalms the best." He then produces some of the most sublime and beautiful passages from the sacred writings, and adds, "Who is there now will dare to assert, that the doctrines of our holy faith will not indulge or endure a delightful dress?" and quotes a passage from Rapin's Reflections upon Eloquence, in which he says, that "the majesty of our religion; the holiness of its laws, the purity of its morals, the height of its mysteries, and the importance of every subject that belongs to it requires a grandeur, a nobleness, a majesty, and elevation of style suited to the theme: sparkling images and magnificent expressions must be used, and are best borrowed from scripture: let the preacher, that aims at eloquence, read the prophets incessantly, for their writings are an abundant source of all the riches and ornaments of speech."

Another passage, from Mrs. Barbauld's Thoughts on the Devotional Taste, shall be all I will add on this subject before I produce my specimens: "It is the character of the present age to allow little to sentiment, and all the warm and generous emotions are treated as romantic by the supercilious brow of a cold-hearted

N n

philosophy. The man of science, with an air of superiority, leaves them to some florid declaimer who professes to work upon the passions of the lower class, where they are so debased by noise and nonsense, that it is no wonder if they move disgust in those of elegant and better informed minds. Yet there is a devotion generous, liberal, and humane, the child of more exalted feelings than base minds can enter into, which assimilates man to higher natures, and lifts him above this visible diurnal sphere." Its pleasures are ultimate, and when early cultivated continue vivid even in that uncomfortable season of life when some of the passions are extinct, when imagination is dead, and the heart begins to contract within itself. Those who want this taste, want a sense, a part of their nature, and should not presume to judge of feelings to which they must ever be strangers. No one pretends to be a judge in poetry or the fine arts, who has not both a natural and a cultivated relish for them; and shall the narrow-minded children of earth absorbed in low pursuits, dare to treat as visionary, objects which they have never made themselves acquainted with? Silence on such subjects will better become them." P. 3.