Happy Auguftus! who so well infpir'd,
Couldft throw thy pomps and royalties afide,
Attentive to the wife, the great of foul,

And dignify thy mind. Thrice glorious days
Aufpicious to the Mules! then rever❜d,
Then hallow'd was the fount, or fecret fhade,
Or open mountain, or whatever fcene

The Poet chose to tune the ennobling rhyme
Melodious; ev'n the rugged fons of war,
Ev'n the rude hinds rever'd the Poet's name:
But now, another age alas! is ours-
Yet will the Muse a little longer foar,
Unless the clouds of care weigh down her
wing,

Since nature's ftores are fhut with cruel hand,
And each aggrieves his brother; fince in vain
The thirsty pilgrim at the fountain asks
The o'erflowing wave-Enough-the plaint
disdain.—

The length of this Poem, and its fuperior merit, have hitherto caused it to engross a confiderable share of attention. The remaining part is of the fame general character, and relates, in a spirited narrative, the rife, meridian, decline, and fall of the Roman Empire. The conclu

conclufion defcribes in the most animated manner the irruption of the Goths and Vandals, with their confequences; and reflects with equal dignity and pathos on the fatal effects of national luxury.

V. 526. But fee along the north the tempest swell O'er the rough Alps, and darken all their fnows!

Sudden the Goth and Vandal, dreaded names,
Rush as the breach of waters, whelming all
Their domes, their villas; down the festive
piles,

Down fall their Parian porches, gilded baths,
And roll before the ftorm in clouds of duft.

Vain end of human ftrength, of human
fkill,

Conqueft, and triumph, and domain, and pomp,

And eafe and luxury! O luxury,

Bane of elated life, of affluent states,

What dreary change, what ruin is not
thine?

How doth thy bowl intoxicate the mind!
To the foft entrance of thy rofy cave,
How doft thou lure the fortunate and great!
Dreadful attraction! while behind thee gapes
The unfathomable gulph, where Afhur lies

O'erwhelm'd, forgotten; and high boasting Cham,

And Elam's haughty pomp; and beauteous Greece,

And the great queen of earth, imperial ROME.

ESSAY

ESSAY VI,

On COLLINS'S ORIENTAL ECLOGUES

Y thofe, with whom the bulk of an author's performance is the criterion for estimating his merit, Collins, will be deemed a minor poet; there are however volumes of verfes of no mean character, which contain lefs genuine poetry, than the few pages he produced. The Oriental Eclogues were always till lately poffeffed of confiderable reputation, but our celebrated Biographer * having hinted that Collins, once in conversa

• DR. JOHNSON.

tion

tion with a friend, happened to term them his Irish Eclogues, those who form opinions not from their own reafon, or their own feelings, but from the hints of others, have caught the hint, and circulated it. That Collins ever fuppofed his Eclogues deftitute of merit, there is no reason to believe; but it is very probable, when his judgment was improved by experience, he might discover, and be hurt by their faults, among which may poffibly be found some few inftances of inconfiftence or abfurdity.

The Oriental Eclogues, nevertheless, however they may be depreciated, have all the requifites of a good poem, description, incident, fentiment, and moral; they have fimplicity of thought, and melody of language.

The first is intitled Selim, or The Shepherd's Moral. It introduces a Perfian

poet