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Show [ ,J J8 ] no genders affixed to them in profe-compofitions, and in the h~~itl) of converfation, they become eafily perfonified only by the add1boa of a mafculine or feminine pronoun, as, Pale Melancholy fits, and round her throws A death-like filcnce, and a dread repofe. Pope's Abelard. And fecondly, as moil: of our nouns have the . article a o_r the pre~ fixed to them in profe-writing and in converfatwn, _they m g~neral become perfonified even by the omiffion of thefe articles ; as m the bold figure of Shipwreck in Mifs Seward's Elegy on Capt. Cook : But round the fieepy rocks and dangerous fl:rand Rolls the white furf, and SHIPWRECK guards the land. Add to this, that if the verfes in our heroic poetry be fhorter than thofe of the ancients, our words likewife are fhorter; and in refpect to their meafure or time, which has erroneoufly been called melody and harmony, I doubt, from what has been faid above, whether we are fo much inferior · as is generally believed; fince many paffages, which have been ftolen from antient poets, have been tranflated int.o our language without lofing any thing of the beauty of the verfification. The following line tranflated from Juvenal by Dr. Johnfon, is much fuperior to the original: Slow rifes. Worth by Poverty deprefs'd. The original is as follows : Difficile emergunt, quorum virtutib11s obftat Res angufta domi. ( IJ9 ] B. I am glad to hear you acknowledge the thefts of the modern poets from the antient ones, whofe works I fuppofe have been reckoned lawful plunder in all ages. But have not you borrowed epithets, phrafes, and even half a line occafionaUy from modern poets? P. It may be difficult to mark the exact boundary of what fhould be termed plagiarifm: where the fentiment and expreffion are both borrowed without due acknowledgement, there can be no d?ubt ;-lingle words, on the contrary, taken from other authots, cannot convict a writer of plagiarifm: they are lawful game, wild by nature, the property of all who can capture them ;-and perhaps a few common flowers of fpeech may be gathered, as we pafs over our neighbour's inclofure, without .fl:igmatifing us with the title of thieves; but we mufl: not therefore plunder his cultivated fruit. The four lines at the end of the plant Upas are imitated from Dr. Young's Night Thoughts. The line in the epifode adjoined to Caffia, " The fait tear mingling with the milk he fips," is from an interefl:ing and humane paffage in Langhorne's Jufl:ice of Peace. There are probably many others, which, if I could recollect them, fhould here be acknowledged. As it is, like exotic plants, their mixture with the native ones, I hope, adds beauty to my Botanic Garden: and fuch as it is, Mr. Book .feller, I now leave it to you to defire the Ladies and Gentlemen to walk in ; but pleafe to apprize them, that, like the fpectators at an unfkilful exhibition in fome village-barn, I hope they will make Good-humour one of their party; and thus theirfelves fupply the defects of the reprefentation. T 2 |