devotional sentiments which are so gracefully interwoven with their descriptive compositions.

In the first class, however, of Descriptive English poets, there are two of pre-eminent distinction-THOMSON and CowPER. The "Seasons" of the former writer, and the "Task" of the latter, may be regarded as models of all that is beautiful in description, moral in sentiment, and religious in tendency. A comparison of the Greek and Latin poets with the English, in this particular department of composition, has drawn forth from the pen of Mr. WILLMOTT, in his "Lives of the English Sacred Poets," the following observations, no less striking for their eloquence than for their truth. He remarks, "that however the ancients may have appreciated or portrayed the charms of nature, they wanted one lovely and ennobling feature. Their religion, it has been observed, is beautiful in fiction, but not in sentiment. It has revealed the most terrific and delightful agencies in poetry, without teaching it to contemplate Nature as the image of Divine Benevolence, and her creatures as the objects of human sympathy. Paul planted, and Apollos watered, and the grace of God descended upon the heart, before this intellectual garden blossomed like the rose. It was reserved for the poets of a later day, to find, in the common flower by the hedge-side, a theme of gratitude and meditation; and to uplift the eye, as it ranged over verdant fields, and waving woods, and glittering rivers, with a devout aspiration to heaven, "My Father made them all.'

"So reads he nature whom the lamp of truth
Illuminates -Task, book v.

This hallowing inspiration animated the lips of THOMSON. Throughout the 'Seasons,' gleams of promised heaven seem to shed their lustre, as we are led, step by step, along the paths of Nature up to her Creator. In this particular, CoWPER resembled THOMSON."

The relative merits of these poets, as descriptive writers, have been & favourite subject of comparison with the most eminent critics of the last and present century. We cannot refrain from enriching our pages with two extracts upon this interesting subject of literary criticism-the first from the author just quoted, and the other from Professor WILSON'S Few words on Thomson," published in his admirable Series of Papers, entitled, "Recreations of Christopher North." In speaking of CowPER Mr. WILLMOTT observes-"Nothing can surpass the accuracy of his drawing, or the delicate freshness of his colouring; his landscapes are finished with the minute touches of cabinet pictures; you may look close into them; even the veins of the foliage are vividly traced. THOMSON, on the other hand, with the same liveliness of observation and perception of the beautiful, employs a greater force and variety of manner. You always see CowPER by the side of Mrs. UNWIN; THOMSON plunges into the thundering forest. CowPER produces his effects by a multitude of tender touches; THOMSON often dashes off his pictures with a felicitous stroke; a single epithet brings the scene before us. CowPER's sketches please, from their association and their truth, without possessing the poetical illumination that gilds the scenery of THOMSON."

DESCRIPTIVE POETRY.

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Just and discriminating as these remarks undoubtedly are, the following by Professor WILSON, who is both a sound critic and a sweet poet, are equally beautiful in thought and diction:-" THOMSON's genius does not so often delight us by exquisite minute touches in the description of pature as that of CowPER. It loves to paint on a great scale, and to dash objects off sweepingly by bold strokes-such, indeed, as have almost always distinguished the mighty masters of the lyre and the rainbow. COWPER sets Nature before your eyes-THOMSON before your imagination. Which do you prefer? Both. Be assured that both poets had pored night and day upon her-in all her aspects-and that she had revealed herself fully to both. But they, in their religion, elected different modes of worship-and both were worthy of the mighty mother. In one mood of mind we love CowPER best, in another THOMSON. Sometimes the 'Seasons' are almost a Task-and sometimes the 'Task' is out of Season. There is delightful distinctness in all the pictures of the Bard of Olney-glorious gloom or glimmer in most of those of the Bard of Ednam. CowPER paints trees-THOMSON woods. THOMSON paints, in a few wondrous lines, rivers from source to sea, like the mighty Burrampooter-COWPER, in many no very wondrous lines, brightens up one bend of a stream, or wakens our fancy to the murmur of some single waterfall,"

We have attempted, in the foregoing observations, to explain the design, nature, and extensive scope of Descriptive Poetry, and we have enumerated the principal authors who have cultivated it with the most distinguished success. It has been shown that from the earliest period, English Poetry has been abundantly rich in this attractive form of poetical composition, and that the old Poets were ardent worshippers at the shrine of Nature. In HENRY NEELE'S "Lectures on English Poetry," the gifted author has compared "the descriptive passages which spring up amidst the awfulness and sublimity of SHAKSPEARE and MILTON, to the delicious fruits and fragrant flowers which are found among the grandest and most terrific passages of Alpine scenery; while the continuous and flowing descriptions of THOMSON and CowPER, are like flowers of every imaginable form and hue, exotic and native, and crowded into one bed. They bring home to those who cannot go in search of them, those treasures of Nature which bolder spirits are content to scale Alpine steeps, and dive amidst mountain torrents to attain. The mind is not always prepared to accompany SHAKSPEARE and MILTON in their daring flights, any more than the body is always at leisure to undertake a journey to the Andes or the Appenines. It is then that the pages of GOLDSMITH, THOMSON, and CowPER, yield as much enjoyment to the one, as the velvet lawn and the gaily-ornamented parterre do to the other."

The selections we have made from the productions of these authors, as well as from those of our modern poets, are of sufficient interest and beauty to merit an attentive perusal. In the hands of skilful and wellinformed Teachers, who are competent to point out their literary excellence and moral tendency, they can scarcely fail to have a salutary influence upon the young mind. They will awaken and nurture in it the

purest and most benevolent feelings. They will foster a growing admiration of the magnificent works of the Almighty. They will induce, perhaps, the youthful student, after reading with delight the sublime effasions of the great Masters of the Lyre, to contemplate, in a spirit of reverence, humility, and gratitude, the living volume of Nature. Studies of this kind, next to the devout exercises of religion, bring us into close communion with the great Architect of the universe, and lead us, as expressed by an elegant writer, "to cherish the idea of a God, who created, who regenerates, who preserves this universe by invariable laws, and by a continued chain of similar causes, producing similar effects; who pervades all Nature with his Divine Spirit, as an universal Soul, which moves, directs, and restrains the fabric of this world. The blissful idea of a God sweetens every moment of our time, and embellishes before us the paths of life; invites us delightfully to all the beauties of Nature, and associates us with every thing that lives or moves. Yes, the whisper of the gales, the murmur of waters, the peaceful agitation of trees or shrubs, would concur to engage our minds, and affect our souls with tenderness, if our thoughts were elevated to one Universal Cause; if we recognised on all sides the works of Him whom we love; if we marked the traces of his august steps and benignant intentions; if we believed ourselves actually present at the display of his boundless power, and the magnificent exertions of his unlimited goodness."*

*This eloquent passage will be found in BUCKE'S "Harmonies and Sublimities of Nature." The name of the writer is M. NEKER. He is the author of a learned and interesting Essay on the "Mystical Poetry of the Persians and Hindoos," which was published many years ago in the third volume of the "Asiatic Researches."

A

THE STUDY AND BEAUTIES OF THE WORKS OF NATURE.

O NATURE! all-sufficient! over all!

Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works!
Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
Profusely scattered o'er the void immense,
Show me; their motions, periods, and their laws,
Give me to scan; through the disclosing deep
Light my blind way; the mineral strata there;
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world;
O'er that the rising system, more complex,
Of animals; and, higher still, the mind,
The varied scene of quick-compounded thought,
And where the mixing passions endless shift`;
These ever open to my ravished eye;

A search the flight of time can ne'er exhaust!
But if to that unequal; if the blood,

In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid
That best ambition; under closing shades,
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook,

And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin,
Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my song;
And let me never, never stray from Thee.

WILLIAM COWPER.

BORN, 1731; DIED, 1800.

THOUGHTS ON NATURE.

HAPPY, if full of days-but happier far,
If, ere we yet discern life's evening star,
Sick of a service of a world that feeds
Its patient drudges with dry chaff and weeds,
We can escape from custom's idiot sway,
To serve the Sovereign we were born t' obey
Then sweet to muse upon his skill displayed,
(Infinite skill) in all that he has made!
To trace, in Nature's most minute design,
The signature and stamp of power Divine;
Contrivance intricate, express'd with ease,
Where unassisted sight no beauty sees;
The shapely limb, and lubricated joint,
Within the small dimensions of a point,
Muscle and nerve miraculously spun,
His mighty work, who speaks and it is done,
The Invisible, in things scarce seen revealed,
To whom an atom is an ample field :
To wonder at a thousand insect forms,
These hatch'd, and those resuscitated worms,
New life ordain'd and brighter scenes to share,
Once prone on earth, now buoyant upon air ;
Whose shape would make them, had they bulk and size,
More hideous foes than fancy can devise ;
With helmet-heads and dragon-scales adorn'd,
The mighty myriads, now securely scorned,
Would mock the majesty of man's high birth,
Despise his bulwarks, and unpeople earth:

Then with a glance of fancy to survey,
Far as the faculty can stretch away,