Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 3.djvu/140

136 they are commonly feeble and unaffecting, or forced and extravagant.

His little pieces are seldom either spritely or elegant, either keen or weighty. They are trifles written by idleness, and published by vanity. But his Prologues and Epilogues have a just claim to praise.

The Progress of Beauty seems one of his most elaborate pieces, and is not deficient in splendor and gaiety; but the merit of original thought is wanting. Its highest praise is the spirit with which he celebrated king James’s consort, when she was a queen no longer.

The Essay on unnatural Flights in Poetry is not inelegant nor injudicious, and has something of vigour beyond most of his other performances: his precepts are just, and his cautions proper; they are indeed not new, but in a didactic poem novelty is to be expected only in the ornaments and illustrations. His poetical precepts are accompanied with agreeable and instructive notes.

The Masque of Peleus and Thetis has here and there a pretty line; but it is not always melodious, and the conclusion is wretched.

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