Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/116



Dr. in his observations upon Cowley's poetry has put forth all his strength; and it would be difficult in the whole compass of critical writing to find an example of more acuteness and comprehension than he has displayed in his account of the Metaphysical Poets. The exact appropriation of the epithet (which he borrowed from Dryden) may, however, be called in question. Metaphysical notions exclusively belong to intellect, and stand in opposition to the images derived from sensible objects. But these writers, although they made great use of the abstract ideas and speculations of the schools—which was particularly the case with Donne, the most learned of the class—yet by no means rejected any object of similitude or illustration