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qualled majesty above the other edifices with which the southern front of the Calton Hill is covered; and give the last finish to that romantic group of towers, rocks, and castellated buildings, which are collected on that interesting spot. From Prince's Street it would form the appropriate background to the magnificent vista of Waterloo Place, and exhibit at the close of that beautiful Grecian Street the most splendid of Grecian triumphal edifices. From every side it would give a classical air to the scenery in

the vicinity of the metropolis, and blend the interest of recent events with the delightful recollections of ancient glory. And we cannot help thinking, that as the Calton Hill is the most conspicuous and the most beautiful situation which the city can afford, so it is the only one worthy of the sublime purpose to which the national monument is destined, and alone fit to be the depositary of a nation's gratitude for the memorable events and unrivalled glory of the present age.

BOWLES'S ANSWER TO CAMPBELL." *

In his Essay on English Poetry, Mr Campbell has found fault with Mr Bowles for certain alledged observations on the genius and moral character of Pope. Mr Bowles feels himself rather unfairly dealt with by the distinguished Critic, and in a very temperate and manly letter has pointed out his unintentional misrepresenta tions. It is always to be lamented when any misunderstanding takes place between men of genius,-more especially with regard to those subjects dearest to their hearts, and on which it is natural to believe their opinions would perfectly harmonize, were they fully and clearly expressed.

Mr

Bowles is evidently much hurt at being held up by so high an authority as Mr Campbell as an unfair and unphilosophical critic on the genius of a poet whom it has lately been the vulgar fashion to decry, and we think he has done perfectly right in thus publicly vindicating himself from such a charge. It must have been unpleasant enough to Mr Bowles to hear this most unfounded charge against him widely circulated by the Edinburgh Review-and chanted by so many mocking birds from all the shrub beries of criticism, but while it would have been beneath his dignity to notice the abuse of those whose professed trade," he says, "is misrepresentation," it would have shewn either a consciousness of its truth or an indifference to its falsehood, to

have remained silent when such an accusation was repcated or echoed by one of the greatest poets of the age. We think that Mr Campbell, though one of the fairest and most generous of critics, has altogether misconceived the scope and tendency of Mr Bowles's observations, and that this may be put in a clear light in a very few words.

Mr Bowles courteously but plainly tells Mr Campbell, that he could not have read his criticism on Pope, except in the pages of the Edinburgh Review where it is so grossly misrepresented, and therefore he gives it, verbatim, as follows:

"All images drawn from what is BEAUTIFUL or SUBLIME in the WORKS of NATURE, are MORE beautiful and sublime than images drawn from art, and are therefore more poetical. In like manner, those PASSIONS of the HUMAN HEART which

belong to nature in general, are, per se, more adapted to the HIGHER SPECIES of poetry than those which are derived from

incidental and transient manners.'

"The reader will instantly perceive, that these propositions are connected and consecutive; and to prevent the possibility of their being understood otherwise, I added, as illustrations, the following instances, equally connected and consecutive.

"A description of a forest is more poetical than a cultivated garden; and the passions which are pourtrayed in the EPISTLE OF ELOISA, render such a poem more poetical, (whatever might be the difference of merit in point of composition) intrinsically more poetical, than a poem founded on the characters, incidents, and modes of

The Invariable Principles of Poetry; in a Letter addressed to Thomas Campbell, Esq.; occasioned by some critical observations in his Specimens of British Poets, particularly relating to the poetical character of Pope; by the Reverend W. L. Bowles. London, Longman & Co. 1819.

artificial life; for instance, the Rape of the Lock.'

"The reader will see, in this statement, a general proposition connected with its illustrations. Further, to prevent miscon

ception, I added,

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Let me not, however, be considered as thinking that the subject alone constitutes poetical excellency. The execution is to be taken into view at the same time; for, with LORD HARVEY, we might fall asleep over the CREATION of BLACKMORE, but be alive to the touches of animation and satire in Boileau.' By execution, I mean not only the colours of expression, but the design, the contrast of light and shade, the masterly management, the judicious disposition, and, in short, every thing that gives to a GREAT SUBJECT INTEREST and anima

tion.'

"The SUBJECT and the EXECUTION are equally to be considered; the one, respecting the poetry; the other, the art and talents of the poet. With regard to the first, POPE cannot be placed among the HIGHEST ORDER of POETS: with regard to the second, NONE WAS EVER HIS SUPERIOR.'

We think that all this is so very rational, judicious, and true, that neither Mr Campbell nor any other person can have a single word to say against it. Mr Campbell, however, has somehow or other taken up an erroneous view of Mr Bowles's opinions, and in the following well-written, and indeed beautiful paragraph, he is obviously combating a shadow.

"Pope's works have been twice given to the world by editors who cannot be taxed with the slightest editorial partiality towards his fame. The last of these is the Rev. Mr Bowles, in speaking of whom I beg leave most distinctly to disclaim the slightest intention of undervaluing his acknowledged merit as a poet, however freely and fully I may dissent from his critical estimate of the genius of Pope. Mr Bowles, in forming this estimate, lays great stress upon the argument, that Pope's images are drawn from art more than from nature. That Pope was neither so insensible to the beauties of nature, nor so indistinct in describing them as to forfeit the character of a genuine poet, is what I mean to urge, without exaggerating his picturesqueness. But before speaking of that quality in his writings, I would beg leave to observe, in the first place, that the faculty by which a poet luminously describes objects of art, is essentially the same faculty which enables him to be a faithful describer of simple nature; in the second place, that nature and art are to a greater degree relative terms in poetical description than is generally recollected; and, thirdly, that artificial objects and manners are of so much importance in

He

It

fiction, as to make the exquisite description of them no less characteristic of genius than the description of simple physical appear ances. The poet is creation's heir." deepens our social interest in existence. is surely by the liveliness of the interest which he excites in existence, and not by the class of subjects which he chooses, that we most fairly appreciate the genius or the life of life which is in him. It is no ir. reverence to the external charms of nature to say, that they are not more important to a poet's study than the manners and affections of his species. Nature is the poet's goddess; but by nature no one rightly understands her mere inanimate face-however charming it may be-or the simple landscape painting of trees, clouds, precipices, and flowers. Why then try Pope, or any other poet, exclusively by his powers of describing inanimate phenomena ? Nature, in the wide and proper sense of the word, means life in all its circumstances nature moral as well as external. As the subject of inspired fiction, nature includes artificial forms and manners. Richardson is no less a painter of nature than Homer. Homer himself is a minute describer of works of art; and Milton is full of imagery derived from it. Satan's spear is compared to the pine that makes the mast of some great ammiral,' and his shield is like the moon, but like the moon artificially seen through the glass of the Tuscan artist. The

spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, the royal banner, and all quality, pride, pomp, and circumstances of glorious war, are all artificial images. When Shakspeare groups into one view the most sublime objects of the universe, he fixes first on the cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples.' Those who have ever witnessed the spectacle of the launching of a ship of the line, will perhaps forgive me for adding this to the examples of the sublime objects of artificial life. Of that spectacle I can never forget the impression, and of having witnessed it reflected from the faces of ten thousand spectators. They seem yet before me-I sympathise with their deep and silent expectation, and with their final burst of enthusiasm. It was not a vulgar joy, but an affecting national solemnity. When the vast bulwark sprang from her cradle, the calm water on which she swung majestically round gave the ima gination a contrast of the stormy element on which she was soon to ride. All the days of battle and the nights of danger which she had to encounter, all the ends of the earth which she had to visit, and all that she had to do and to suffer for her country, rose in awful presentiment before the mind; and when the heart gave her a benediction, it was like one pronounced on a living being."

Mr Bowles then makes some remarks on this passage, which we think admirably expressed, and therefore quote.

"I beg you to observe, Sir, that, in my first proposition, I do not say that WORKS OF ART are in no instance poetical; but only that what is sublime or beautiful in works of nature is MORE SO!' The very expression more so' is a proof that poetry belongs, though not in the same degree, to both. I must also beg you to remark, that, having laid down this position, I observe, in the very next sentence, (lest it should be misunderstood as it now is, and was by a writer in the Edinburgh Review,) substantially as follows,-that the general and loftier passions of human nature are more poetical than artificial manners; the one being eternal, the other local and transitory. I think the mere stating of these circumstances will be sufficient to shew, that both the Edinburgh Review and yourself have completely misrepresented my meaning. With respect to the images FROM ART, which you have adduced as a triumphant answer to what I laid down, I shall generally observe, that your own illustrations are against you. The Edinburgh Review, in the same manner, had spoken of the Pyramids. Now the Pyramids of Egypt, the Chinese Wall, &c. had occurred to me, at the time of writing, as undoubtedly POETICAL in WORKS of ART; but I supposed that any reflecting person would see that these were poetical, not essentially as works of art, but from associations both with the highest feelings of nature, and some of her sublimest external works. The generations swept away round the ancient base of the Pyramids, the ages that are past since their erection, the mysterious obscurity of their origin, and many other complex ideas, enter into the imagination at the thought of these wonderful structures, besides the association with boundless deserts; as the Wall of China is associated with unknown rocks, mountains, and rivers. Build a pyramid of new brick, of the same dimensions as the pyramids of Egypt, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and then say how much of the poetical sublimity of the immense and immortal piles in the deserts of Egypt is derived, not from art, but from the association with GENERAL NATURE! Place your own image of the GIANT OF THE WESTERN STAR' upon such a pyramid, if it could be made as HIGH as the Andes, and say whether it would be considered as poetical as now it appears, looking from its throne of clouds o'er half the world.' I had often considered these and such instances generally and specifically; and think, if you reflect a moment, you will agree with me, that though they are works of art, they are rendered POETICAL chiefly by those moral or physical associations of GENERAL NAture with which they are connected. But to come to your most interesting example. Let us examine the ship which you have described so beautifully. On what does the poetical beauty depend? not on art, but

waves, the

NATURE. Take away the winds, the sun, that, in association with the streamer and sails, make them look so beautiful! take all poetical associations away, ONE will become a strip of blue bunting, and the other a piece of coarse canvass on three tall poles !!

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"You speak also of the poetical effect of the drum and fife! Are the drum and fife poetical without other associations? In the quotation from Shakspeare, which you adduce, the fife is ear piercing,' and the drum is spirit stirring;' and both are associated, by the consummate art of Shakspeare-with what?-with PRIDE, POMP, and CIRCUMSTANCE of GLORIOUS WAR!' and passions and pictures are called up; those of fortitude, of terror, of pity, &c. &c.; arms glittering in the sun, and banners waving in the AIR. It is these pictures and passions from GENERAL NATURE, and these alone, which make a drum or fife poetical; and let the same drum or fife be heard before a booth in a fair, or in a regiment with wooden guns, and this poetical effect will be lost. therefore turn your own instances against you.

66

Having laid down my first position, I proceeded to speak of a minor province of the poet's art, descriptions of external nature. I had spoken of the higher order of poetry, as derived from the loftier passions of NATURE. What I said of the knowledge of EXTERNAL NATURE was not with a view of shewing that a poet should be a botanist, or even a Dutch painter; but that no one could be preeminent,' as a great (descriptive) poet, without this knowledge, which peculiarly distinguishes COWPER and THOMSON. The objects I had in view, when I used the expressions objected to, were Pope's Pastorals and Windsor Forest; and I thought my meaning could not have been misunderstood. I will appeal to your own quotation from the first of these poets. Why is CowPER so eminent as a descriptive poet? for I am now speaking of this part of his poetical character alone. Because he is the most accurate describer of the works of external nature, and for that reason is superior, as a descriptive poet, to POPE. Every tree, and every peculiarity of colour and shape, are so described, that the reader becomes a spectator, and is doubly interested with the truth of colouring, and the beauty of the scene, so vividly and so delightfully painted from nature herself; and you yourself have observed the same in your criticism on this exquisite poet, in

WORDS AS DECISIVE AS MY OWN.

"Having thus merely stated my sentiments in general, as they stand in order and connection in the Essay on the Poetic Character of POPE, I shall now pursue your arguments more in detail.

"You say, as the subject of inspired fiction, nature includes artificial forms and

manners.' RICHARDSON is no less a painter of nature than HOMER!' I will not stoop to notice your vague expression of inspired fiction;' but will admit that RICHARDSON is not less a painter of nature than HOMER. For, indeed, RICHARDSON,

Irritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet,
Ut magus!

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But let us take Clarissa Harlow, the most affecting of RICHARDSON'S inspired fictions!' Though Lovelace be a character in ARTIFICIAL LIFE, the interest we take in the history of Clarissa is derived from FEELINGS of GENERAL NATURE. Its great characteristic is PATHOS; and this I have distinguished as a far more essential property of poetry than flowers and leaves! The passions excited are those of GENERAL NATURE; and so far, and no farther, is RICHARDSON poetical. There is nothing poetical in the feathered hat or the swordknot of Lovelace; nor in the gallant but artificial manners of this accomplished villain. In Sir Charles Grandison the character of Clementina is poetical, and for the same reasons; but there is nothing very poetical in Sir Charles himself, or the venerable Mrs Shirley !'

"I must here observe, that when I speak of passions as poetical, I speak of those which are most elevated or pathetic; for it is true, passions are described in TERENCE as well as SOPHOCLES; but I confine my definition to what is heroic, sublime, pathetic, or beautiful, in human feel ings; and this distinction is kept in view through the Essay on the Poetic Character of POPE. SHAKSPEARE displays the same wonderful powers in Falstaff as in Lear, but not the same poetical powers; and the provinces of comedy and tragedy will be always separate; the one relating to abstract emotions, the other combined with the passing fashions, and incidental variations of the Cynthia of the minute.'

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"To proceed; you say, HOMER himself is a minute describer of works of art !' But are his descriptions of works of art more poetical than his descriptions of the great feelings of nature? Nay, the whole of the Odyssey derives its peculiar charm from the scenes of NATURE; as the Iliad does from its loftier passions. But do you really think that the catalogue of the Grecian ships is as poetical as the animated horses of Achilles; and do you think HoMER would have been so great a poet, if he had been only a minute describer of works of art? Jejune as the catalogue of the leaders and ships is, how much more interesting and poetical is it rendered by the brief interspersions of varied and natural landscape, and it is this very circumstance that gives the dry account any interest at all. Besides, was the age of HOMER an æra of refinement or artificial life? by whom not even such a poetical work of art as a bridge is mentioned !

"But Richardson and Homer are not sufficient to overwhelm me and my hypoth esis; and it is remarked, as if the argument was at once decisive, that Milton is full of imagery derived from art; Satan's spear,' for example, is compared to the MAST OF SOME GREAT ADMIRAL!' Supposing it is, do you really think that such a comparison makes the description of Satan's spear a whit more poetical; I think much less so. But Milton was not so unpoetical as you imagine, though I think his simile does not greatly add to our poetical ideas of Satan's spear! The mast of the great admiral' might have been left out; but remark, in this image Milton DOES NOT compare Satan's spear with the mast of some great admiral,' as you assert. The passage is,

His spear, to equal which the TALLEST

PINE

HEWN ON NORWEGIAN HILLS, TO BE the mast

Of some great admiral, were but a wand!' You leave out the chief, I might say the only, circumstance which reconciles the 'mast' to us; and having detruncated Milton's image, triumphantly say, Milton is full of imagery derived from art!! You come on, dextraque sinistraque,' and say, not only Satan's spear is compared to an 'admiral's mast,' but his shield to the moon seen through a telescope !'

"My dear Sir, consider a little. You forget the passage; or have purposely left out more than half of its essential poetical beauty. What reason have I to complain, recollect Milton's image. when you use Milton thus? I beseech you

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His pond'rous shield, Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views AtEVENING, FROM THE TOP OF FESOLE, Orin VALDARNO,to DESCRY NEW LANDS, RIVERS, or MOUNTAINS, IN HER SPOTTY GLOBE.'

"Who does not perceive the art of the poet in introducing, besides the telescope, as if conscious how unpoetical it was in itself, all the circumstances from NATURE, external nature. The evening-the top of Fesole-the scenes of Valdarno, and the LANDS, MOUNTAINS, and RIVERS, in the moon's orb? It is these which make the passage poetical, and not the telescope!'

This is, we think, a complete and satisfactory explanation; and we are sure that none of our readers will find fault with our long quotation. Mr cusation brought against him of " tryBowles, afterwards alluding to the acing Pope exclusively by his power of describing inanimate phenomena," asks Mr Campbell,

"Have I ever tried Pope by the exclusive power of painting inanimate phenomena? Have I ever denied that nature, in the pro

per sense of the word, means nature moral as well as external? Have I not, in the very first sentences of the observations on Pope's Poetical Character, said nearly the same thing? Could this utterly escape your notice, if you had (I will not say read the criticism,) but only looked at the two first sentences ?"

Mr Campbell, after speaking of Pope's power of description, goes on as follows. "I am well aware that neither these, nor similar instances, will come up to Mr Bowles's idea of that talent for the picturesque which he deems essential to poetry. The true poet,' says that writer, should have an eye attentive to, and familiar with, every change of season, every variation of light and shade of nature, every rock, every tree, and every leaf in her secret places. He who has not an eye to observe these, and who cannot, with a glance, distinguish every hue in her variety, must be so far deficient in one of the essential qualities of a poet.' Every rock, every leaf, every diversity of hue in nature's variety! Assuredly this botanizing perspicacity might be essential to a Dutch flower painter; but Sophocles displays no such skill, and yet he is a genuine, a great, and affecting poet. Even in describing the desert island of Philoctetes, there is no minute observation of nature's

hues in secret places. Throughout the Greek tragedians there is nothing to shew them more attentive observers of inanimate objects than other men. Pope's discrimination lay in the lights and shades of human manners, which are, at least, as interesting as those of rocks and leaves. In moral eloquence he is for ever densus et instans sibi. The mind of a poet employed in concentrating such lines as these descriptive of creative power, which

Builds life on death, on change duration founds,

And bids th' eternal wheels to know their

rounds,'

might well be excused for not descending to the minutely picturesque. The vindictive personality of his satire is a fault of the man, and not of the poet. But his wit is not all his charm. He glows with passion in the Epistle of Eloisa, and displays a lofty feeling, much above that of the satirist and the man of the world, in his prologue to Cato, and his Epistle to Lord Oxford. I know not how to designate the possessor of such gifts but by the name of a genuine poet

-qualem vix repperit unum Millibus in multis hominum consultus Apollo.

Ausonius."

To the charge thus eloquently brought forward, Mr Bowles replies, we think, very triumphantly.

"The minute knowledge of external nature, which I laid down as one essential of a great descriptive poet, you apply to tragedians, in whose more elevated works (the VOL. V.

subject of which are the loftier passions of general nature) descriptions of external nature ought least of all to have place. But perhaps I ought to thank you for thus bringing me back to the delightful remembrance of the most interesting studies of my youth, -the tragedies of Sophocles, and particularly the Sperchian fountains, the Lemnian rock, and the solitary cave of Philoctetes.-There is no minute description of leaves and flowers; no, sir, certainly not; but you have forgotten that the affecting story of the desolate Philoctetes displays not only the higher passions of GENERAL NATURE, but exhibits the interesting admixture of many of the external beauties of her most romantic scenery, of her most secluded solitudes. It is many years since I read it; but recalled to its wild poetic scenery, and impassioned language, I repeated, with a sigh,

Νυν δ' ω κρηναι, γλυκίον τε ποντον,
Λειπομεν υμας, λειπομεν ήδη,
Δόξης, οποτε τις δ' επίβαντες.

Χαιρό, ο Λημνο πίδον αμφίαλον, &c. "It is the rocks, the caves, the wild and solitary scenery, the desert island, and the surrounding seas, all images of nature, that, mixed with the language of human passions derived from the same general nature, give this ancient and unique drama its peculiar charm; reminding us of the romantic imagery in the Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream, so beautifully interwoven by Shakspeare with those interesting dramas.

"The miserable abode of the lonely inhabitant of Lemnos is marked by one image

drawn from art, which is so minute, and sets so strongly before us the wants and poor the minute circumstances which render so resources of the desolate exile, that none of natural the narrative of Robinson Crusoe, can be imagined more affecting. I allude to the * αυτοχύλου Εκπωμα φαυλεςγε τινος There is nothing poetical in an ill-carved τεκνηματ ανδρος" in the cave of Philoctetes. cup; but in this place it is rendered so, and most strikingly affecting, by the associated circumstances.

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"I forgot to notice one of your instances, and that too striking to be passed over. return, therefore, from Sophocles to Shakspeare, from general passions to description. In the quotation from Shakspeare, where you triumphantly appeal to the towers, and solemn temples, and gorgeous palaces ;' recollect, sir, the tower is cloud-capt;' the temple is associated with the solemnity' of religious awe; and palaces' with the splenimages are brought into one grand and awdour of earthly magnificence: and all these ful picture, to shew the mighty devastation of final ruin; and are associated with that leading idea of the destruction of the globe itself, which will leave not a WRECK behind! Thus the cloud-capt towers' become highly poetical; nor can I leave this point without speaking a word of the particular object of the tower. Pope himself has

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