lege, and during a residence of near four years in this school gave evident indications of his future eminence in literature. It was here that he formed an intimacy, of the most durable and congenial kind, with that great, but unfortunate, poet, Collins; and they, together with another boy of the name of Tomkins, sent, during this period, three poems to the Gentleman's Magazine,* of such value as to draw forth an encomium from Johnson. Mr. Wooll has published these small pieces in his Memoirs of our author; they certainly, as juvenile effusions, deserve much praise; but the Sonnet by Collins, under the signature of Delicatulus, is in a strain greatly superior to its companions. As it is very short, a literary curiosity, and worthy of the matured age of the poet, its transcription in this place will not, I trust, prove unacceptable to my readers. When Phoebe form'd a wanton smile, My soul! it reach'd not here! Strange, that thy peace, thou trembler, flies From 'midst the drops, my Love is born, That o'er those eyelids rove: Thus issu'd from a teeming wave The fabled queen of Love. In September, 1740, Mr. Warton, who had been admitted the preceding January a member of Oriel College, Oxford, left Winchester to reThey are the first three entire articles in vol. ix, p. 545. VOL. V. I side in the University, where he soon distin guished himself as a genuine disciple of the Muses. During his first vacation, indeed, and at the age of only eighteen, he composed a sketch for some intended verses on the Passions, which displays uncommon power of imagination, and which, it is probable, might give rise to Collins's exquisite Ode on the same subject. In the same year also, 1740, he composed his "Enthusiast, or the Lover of Nature," a poem in blank verse, and which, preceded by an "Ode on reading West's Pindar," and followed by some shorter pieces, was published in 1744. The Enthusiast, though written at such an early period of life, is the longest original poem that our author has produced. It evinces a lively imagination, and an ardent admiration of the charms of Nature; but is inferior in richness and boldness of conception to the "Pleasures of Melancholy," composed in the same species of verse, by his brother Thomas in 1745. The picture of Shakspeare nursed by Fancy, and the following description, of which the last three lines convey a most striking and poetic idea, are however highly conceived, and as correctly finished. Ev'n when wild tempests swallow up the plains, To shake the groves and mountains, would I sit That wake heaven's vengeance: at such solemn hours, About this time also, whilst a student at Oxford, he produced his "Dying Indian" and "Ranelagh House," a satire in prose in imitation of Le Sage. Of these, the first is a spirited little poem, but the costume is not correctly observed; and the second is a successful copy of the manner of the celebrated author of the Diable Boiteux. Mr. Warton, after taking his Batchelor's degree in 1744, was immediately ordained, and officiated as his father's curate, in the church of Basingstoke, in Hampshire, until February, 1746, when he left it to perform the duty of Chelsea; but catching the small-pox soon after his arrival in this place, he visited Chobham for change of air, and, on his recovery, returned to Basingstoke. Towards the close of the year 1746, our author published a small volume of "Odes on several Subjects," which, it is probable, were once intended to have been brought before the public, united with some of the productions of his friend Collins, and of his brother Thomas; at least, the following letter, which unfortunately has no date, furnishes every reason for such an inference. "Dear Tom, "You will wonder to see my name in an advertisement next week, so I thought I would apprize you of it. The case was this. Collins met me in Surrey, at Guildford Races, when I wrote out for him my Odes, and he likewise communicated some of his to me: and being both in very high spirits we took courage, resolved to join our forces, and to publish them immediately. I flatter myself that I shall lose no honour by this publication, because I believe these Odes, as they now stand, are infinitely the best things I ever wrote. You will see a very pretty one of Collins's, on the death of Colonel Ross before Tournay. It is addressed to a lady who was Ross's intimate acquaintance, and who by the way is Miss Bett Goddard. Collins is not to publish the Odes unless he gets ten guineas for them.' I returned from Milford last night, where I left Collins with my mother and sister, and he sets out to day for London. I must now tell you, that I have sent him your imitation of Horace's Blandusian Fountain, to be printed amongst ours, and which you shall own or not as you think proper. I would not have done this without your consent, but because I think it very poetically and correctly done, and will get you honour. "You will let me know what the Oxford critics say. "Adieu, dear Tom,, "I am your most affectionate brother, On this small collection of Lyric verse the fame of Dr. Warton, as a poet, principally rests. Of the seventeen Odes, however, of which it is composed, there are but two entitled to an elevated rank for their lofty tone and high finish; the Odes "To Fancy" and "On reading Mr. West's Pindar," and of these the first is much the superior. It abounds, indeed, in a succession of strongly contrasted and high-wrought imagery, clothed in a versification of the sweetest cadence and most brilliant polish. The following passages, one distinguished for picturesque and romantic delineation, the other for a striking contrast of pathetic terror, and martial enthusiasm, are among the most exquisite productions of the English Lyre. 1 |