Page:The Poetical Works of Thomas Parnell (1833).djvu/107

Rh forced him into the confession, that Gray's poem has the advantage in dignity, variety, and originality of sentiments. In another of his books, Goldsmith mentions this poem of Parnell with similar praise, but considers the versification unsuitable to the subject. There is, in truth, nothing which could entitle it to be raised into comparison with Gray's Elegy; but if Goldsmith had pointed out the inferiority of the third stanza in Gray's poem to the rest, and if he had even recommended its omission, I should have considered his criticism as formed