stand. From these follies and affectations, the poems of Parnell are entirely free; he has considered the language of poetry as the language of life, and conveys the warmest thoughts in the simplest expression.' Such are the observations of Goldsmith; I shall now proceed to a more particular enumeration of our Poet's productions.
"Hesiod, or the Rise of Woman."[1]—It would be difficult to praise too highly the ease, the sprightliness, and the fine poetical taste of this poem; the subject is treated in a manner the most lively and agreeable; the versification is polished and musical; the images delicate and well selected; a vein of humour at once elegant and rich pervades the whole. It approaches more closely to the manner of Pope's Rape of the Lock than any poem with which I am acquainted. It has the same cadences, the same structure of lines, even the same expressions; and I consider it to have been much indebted to him for the high finish of its colours, and the exquisite beauties of its diction. This is not said in any disparagement of Parnell's powers, but I believe it to be acknowledged, that Pope took infinite pains in the revision and alteration of Parnell's poems. In speaking of the Hermit, Goldsmith says,[2]—"It seems to have cost great labour
- ↑ This Poem was first published in a Miscellany of Tonson's, which I do not happen to possess.
- ↑ See Goldsmith's Beauties of Eng. Poetry, 1. p. 29, and Swift's Journal to Stella, Dec. 23, 25, 1712: Jan. 6, 1731, Feb. 19, 1712-3; where it appears that Swift gave Parnell hints and corrections for his poems.
