Page:The Poetical Works of Thomas Parnell (1833).djvu/108

60 upon juster grounds, and at least worthy of respectful attention.

The hint for the Hymn to Contentment, Johnson suspects to be borrowed from Cleveland. The Poem to which he alludes is that beginning,

it is impossible to say how ready Parnell's habits of poetical association may have been to receive new impressions, or how quickly they may have kindled at the smallest spark, furnished by another's genius; but I can perceive here no marks of imitation. Cleveland's poem is not without its occasional beauties, but, as is common with that writer, they are strangely mixed up with unnatural conceits, harsh phrases, and low unpoetical allusions.

The poem by which Parnell is best known, and which indeed is one of the most popular in our language, is the Hermit. Pope speaking of it, says, "The poem is very good. The story was written originally in Spanish, whence probably Howell had translated it into prose, and inserted it in one of his letters." Goldsmith adds, that Henry More has the very same story, and that he has been informed by some, that it is of Arabian invention; I