Mournful cypress, verdant willow, Melancholy fmooth meander, Thus when Philomela drooping, While this great poet was thus endeavouring to laugh out of countenance the flowery infipidity, difcordant images, and unnatural conceit of a favourite fpecies of love fong, his friend Swift was employed in turning into deferved ridicule the ftrange affected mufical jargon then in vogue (150). And never, furely, was any thing more juftly conceived, or more happily executed than thefe two efforts of wit and genius in fupport of common fenfe and true taste. Nor does a want of fuccefs, (if that be the cafe) any way detract from, or leffen the merit of the attempt. Swift, who might, with equal propriety, have been placed in either of the two preceding reigns, produced a number of political, fatirical, and jocofe pieces, upon common and popular fubjects, which appear to have been defigned for the capacity and notice of the vulgar, in aid of the cantilene triviæ of his time. Clever Tom Clinch is a mafter-piece in its way. But how far thefe compofitions fuited the comprehenfion and taste of an English or Irish mob we are not certified. The known fong-writers of this period are, as it might be naturally expected, indifferently numerous, and many (149) Compare Song XL. Class I. See alfo Hill's Poems. The mufical reader will be at no loss for a pertinent tune, who recollects the admired air of How imperfect is expreffion, a compofition in the true fpirit of Pope. (150) See his incomparable Cantata, fet by Lampe, of of them of the first eminence. The beautiful fongs of Lyttelton resemble the gentle murmurs of the turtle; Shenftone fings with all the elegant fimplicity of an Arcadian fhepherd; and the nightingales plaintive strains are emulated by the elegiac tenderness of Collins. Chefterfield has left a few fongs; they are neat and pointed, and would not have deserved lefs commendation if the flippant mufe of their noble author could have been always kept within the pale of delicacy and virtue. The names of Middlesex and Glover will be immortalised by Arnos Vale and Hofters Ghoft. The compofitions, at least, will scarcely be forgotten, if the authors should. Dr. John fon, though ftill living, is a fong-writer of this reign, Several of his performances are inferted in the prefent collection. But fong is a province in which this great writer does not appear with his ufual advantage. His pen is much too heavy for so light a fubject. Mr. Jenyns ftands in the fame predicament; not, indeed, as to the character of his compofitions, which for the graces of stile and manner admit few fuperiors. The caufe of poetry, indeed, is more indebted to this elegant writer than that of virtue and innocence. But the fituation of his most reprehenfible production in the prefent volume will ferve as an antidote to the poifon it contains. Dr. Daltons additions to Miltons Mafk have unexampled merit. The many elegant and spirited fongs which he has fo judiciously introduced into this admirable drama are fome of the most finished and beautiful compofitions in the language. All of them were not, it must be confeffed, equally proper for the prefent publication, but no reflection is intended to be thrown on thofe which have been defignedly omitted; as there is not one which does not, in fome degree, contribute to the perfection and moral of the piece. His Mr. Whitehead, the prefent laureat, has given us two excellent fongs. It were to be wished that the nature of his office had obliged him to furnish us with more. annual odes, though, doubtlefs, far fuperior to those of his predeceffors, are feldom remembered; but re belles and ye flirts will be never forgotten. f 2 Moore Moore is one of the moft pleafing and natural of our fong writers. The juftnefs and beauty of his fentiments, and the agreeable familiarity of his language and manner, render him equally intelligible and delightful to all ranks; at least wherever nature can be judge. With less affectation, Smart would probably have been intitled to a fimilar character. Dr. Percy, now bishop of Dromore, the editor of, and author of fome pieces in the Reliques of ancient Englifh Poetry, fo frequently noticed, has, independent of his contributions to that work, favoured the public with one most beautiful fong. It would not depreciate the merit, though it might affect the originality, of this elegant compofition, if it were univerfally known to be a clofe imitation of fome of the most tender and poetical paffages in Henry and Emma. The late mr. DodЛley, dr. Akenfide, dr. Hawkefworth, mr. Brerewood, mrs. Pilkington, (the two last of whom deferve particular commendation, although the praise due to the former on account of the two pieces here inferted is neceffarily accompanied with the cenfure due to him on account of the two which were obliged to be omitted) fir C. H. Williams and fir J. Moore are fongwriters of confequence in this reign. The lift might undoubtedly be increased with names no lefs refpectable. And there are numerous compofitions, which, though they might do credit to any author, have been claimed by none. The fertile but licentious imagination of Stevens has fupplied us with a volume of fongs. It has been the study of this celebrated bard (for he fung what he compofed) to promote the hilarity of the feftive board, and fet the table on a roar." And it is only fair to fay, that his attempts have generally proved fuccefsful. But as the convivial difpofition of thofe whom it was his bufinefs to pleafe was not characterifed by its delicacy, many of his compofitions are fuch as, in a purer age, would have obtained him rather infamy than credit. Woty, a genius of a fimilar turn, is intitled, though in a fmaller degree, to the fame kind of praife. The The Vaudevilles which Garrick and Paul Whitehead compofed for the ftage toward the end of this reign are excellent in their kind, and well deferved the popularity they acquired. One of these pieces is inferted in the prefent collection (Vol. II. p. 56). Hearts of Oak has even greater merit, and In ftory we're told is without its equal in the language. The cultivation and improvement of fong is not among the bleffings of the prefent reign. The number of writers and productions of merit in this, and indeed in every other fpecies of poetry, is comparatively small. We have one fong by Churchill, and a few by Lloyd: but thefe compofitions, though certainly not devoid of merit, are far from being equal to their poetical abilities. Goldfmith and Cunningham are fong-writers of this period. And fince it is not the extent but the excellence of the compofition which conftitutes the poet, if the former had produced nothing but the two ftanzas inferted under his name in the present volume, he would have been entitled to an eminent rank. Cunningham, though not equal to his countryman (151) in native genius, and ftill lefs fo in learned application, poffeffes a pleasing fimplicity which cannot fail to recommend him to a reader of unadulterated tafte. This fimplicity may, perhaps, in fome of his compofitions, be thought too great; but when it is known that they were neceffarily adapted to the intellects of a country theatre, little cenfure can be justly incurred by the poet. Bickerstaff has been fortunate that fo many of his best fongs can be detached from the dramatic characters to which they belong. Had his integrity and candour been equal to his genius, he would have merited a greater praife. To the amiable mufe of mrs. Barbauld we are confiderably indebted. The ingenious and elegant author of the School for Scandal has hewn that the drama is not the only fpecies of the poetical art at his command. His fongs are not lefs remarkable for their fingularity than (151) They were both from Ireland; and born in the fame year. for for their merit; few of any confequence having appeared for fome years before the Duenna, and none, befide his own, fince. It will not be conceived neceffary that one fhould take particular notice of the fongs which are introduced upon the stage, or of thofe which are annually fung at other places of public amufement. The former are rarely feparable from the drama with which they are produced, and therefore generally partake its fate. And of the latter very few have furvived, and not one, perhaps, deferved to furvive the feafon of its birth. There was once, indeed, a period when most of the fongs which thus appeared in public were the avowed compofition of eminent mafters both in the poetic and in the harmonic art: when Beard fung what Garrick or Moore wrote, and Arne or Worgan fet to mufic. But thefe beautiful and elegant performances have no longer any charms for the more refined taste of the prefent age. Though what has been fubftituted in their place affords no very ftriking argument of the improvements or fuperior advantages of the times. One might be led to think it ftrange that the union of English poetry and English mufic fhould be fo entirely neglected by perfons of rank and fashion in a country where the patronage and encouragement of mufic feem to be the prevailing paffion. That the Tufcan language is more harmonious than the English, and that many of the Italian compofers excel our own in art and variety may be indifputable, but that every thing English fhould be banished from the harmonic affemblies of the English, and that the natural melody, elegant poetry, and fterling fenfe of their native country fhould be facrificed to the artificial and extravagant harmony, and unmeaning, ridiculous, and frequently unintelligible lyric productions of a foreign climate, is a practice which can fcarcely be thought to do much honour either to the heads or to the hearts of those who favour it. There is nothing, perhaps, from which the real character of a nation can be collected with fo much certainty as the manners and diverfions of the lower or rather lowest |
