famous region, Mr. Ogilvie hazards a conjecture, to which we readily fubfcribe; viz. that notwithstanding the testimony of Laertius to the contrary, the Greek philofophy came originally from Egypt. Their fyftem of theogony, &c. was certainly too complex, too extenfive to be laid down either by Linus or Orpheus. buic mater quamvis, atque huic Pater adfit, Orphei Calliopea, Lino formofus Apollo : "Orpheus and Mufæus, continues he, travelled into Egypt, and infufed the traditionary learning of a cultivated people into the minds of their illiterate countrymen. To do this the more effectually they compofed hymns, or fhort fonnets, in which their meaning was couched under the veil of beautiful Allegory, that their leffons might at once arrest the imagination, and be impreffed upon the memory. This we are informed is the firft drefs in which poetry made its appearance. "Of Orpheus, fays our Author, we know little more with certainty, than that the fubjects of his poems were the formation of the world, the offspring of Saturn, the birth of the giants, and the origin of man. These were favourite topics among the firft Poets, and the difcuffion of them tended at once to enlarge the imagination and to give the reasoning faculty a proper degree of exercife. This Poet, however, though he obtained the higheft honours from his contemporaries, yet feems to have managed his fubjects in fo loofe a manner, that fucceeding writers will not allow him to have been a philofopher. At prefent we are not fufficiently qualified to determine his character, as most of the pieces which pafs under his name are afcribed to one Onomacritus, an Athenian who flourished about the time of Pififtratus. That the writings of Orpheus were highly and extenfively useful is a truth confirmed by the moft convincing evidence. The extraordinary effects which his poetry and mufic are said to have produced, however abfurd and incredible in themselves, are yet unquestioned proofs that he was confidered as a fuperior genius, and that his countrymen thought themselves highly indebted to him. Horace gives an excellent account of this matter in a very few words. Sylveftres Homines facer Interprefque Deorum Such Such is the character which Mr. Ogilvie has given us of Orpheus; and this probably is all that, keeping clear of conjecture, can be collected concerning him. However it must be owned that the fubject of Lyric poetry has received very little light from this account of one of it's principal Authors. Let us hear what our Author has to fay of Mufæus. "Mufæus, the Pupil of Orpheus, is as little known to pofterity as his mafter. His only genuine production which has reached the prefent times is an Ode to Ceres, a piece indeed full of exuberance and variety. The antients in general seemed to have entertained a very high opinion of his genius. and writings, as he is faid to have been the first person who compofed a regular Theogony, and is likewi e celebrated as the inventor of the Sphere. His principle was that all things would finally refolve into the fame materials of which they were originally compounded. Virgil affigus him a place of diftinguished eminence in the plains of Elyfium. Sic eft affata Sybilla Mufæum anti omnes, medium nam plurima Turba Of Mufæus we have remaining, entire, an Ode to Ceresbut Mr. Ogilvie has only mentioned this curious piece in a curfory way, as being full of exuberance and variety; although we fhould have thought it extremely confistent with his defign to have difcuffed every part of this performance. He next gives us fome account of Amphion. "It is generally allowed that Amphion, who was a native of Baotia, brought mufic into Greece, from Lydia, and invented that inftrument (the Lyre) from which Lyric poetry took its name, * Before his time they had no regular know It may not be amifs here to give the reader fome idea of the Bructure of the antient Lyre, whose music is faid to have produced fuch wonderful effects. This inftrument was composed of an hollow frame, over which feveral ftrings were thrown, probably in fome fuch manner as we fee them on an Harp, or a Dulcimer. It did not fo much resemble a Viol, as the neck of that inftrument gives it peculiar advantages, of which the antients feem to have been wholly ignorant. The musician food with a short bow in his right hand, and a couple of fmall thimbles upon the fingers of his left with thefe he held one end of the ftring, from which an acute found was to be drawn, and then ftruck it immediately with the bow. In the other parts he fwept over every string alternately, and allowed each of them to have its fuil found. This practice became unneceffury afterward, when ledge of this divine art, though we must believe that they were acquainted with it in fome meafure, as dancing is an art in which we are informed that the earliest Poets were confiderable proficients." From these several obfervations on the early ftate of Lyric Poetry and Poets, Mr. Ogilvie concludes that the Greek Hymn was originally a loofe allegorical Poem, in which imagination was permitted to take its full career, and fentiment was rendered at once obfcure and agreeable, by being fcreened behind a veil of the richest poetic imagery. But then he expreffes fome furprife, that the fpecies of compofition which derived its origin from, and owed its peculiarities to the circumftances above mentioned, could have been confidered in an happier Æra as a pattern worthy the imitation of cultivated genius, and the perufal of a polifhed and civilized people one is indeed ready to conclude at the first view, continues he, that a made of writing which was affumed for a particular purpose, and was adapted to the manners of an illiterate age, might at leaft have undergone confiderable alterations in fucceeding periods, and might have received improvements proportioned to thofe which are made in other branches of the fame art. But the fact is, that while the other branches of Poetry have been gradually modelled by the rules of criticifm, the Ode hath only been changed in a few external circumftances, and the enthusiasm, obfcurity and exuberance which characterized it when first introduced, continue to be ranked among its capital and difcriminating excellencies." Now under favour of fo elegant a judge of Poetry as Mr. Ogilvie, we must here take the liberty to afk whether Enthufajm and Exuberance, of Fancy at leaft, are not really capital excellencies of the Ode? Obfcurity we take to be altogether when the inftrument was improved by the addition of new firings to which the founds correfponded. Horace tells us that in his time the Lyre had feven firings, and that it was much more mufical than it had been originally. Addrefling himfelf to Mercury, He says, For a farther account of this inftrument we refer the reader to Quin lian's Inftitutions, 1. xii. c. 9. Out out of the question, for though it may be charged on fome of our modern Lyric performances, we take it for granted that even the authors were far from intending that obfcurity to be a capital excellence of their productions. We appeal to Mr. Ogilvie himself whether the following Stanzas in his Ode to the genius of Shakespear do not derive their principal excellence from Enthusiasm? and we call the public to witnefs that their beauties, which are wholly owing to that Enthufiafm, are very ftriking. I. 1. Rapt from the glance of mortal eye, Say, burfts thy genius to the world of light? Or fkims its fields with rapid flight? Or mid yon plains where Fancy ftrays, Droops o'er the green embroider'd stream; Or where young Zephyr ftirs the rustling sprays, O'er yon bleak defart's unfrequented round, Se'eft thou where Nature treads the deepening gloom, Or wildly wails o'er thy lamented tomb; Or thrills the warbling note in thy mellifluous fong? I. 2. Oft, while on earth, 'twas thine to rove Where e'er the wild ey'd Goddess lov'd to roam, Or haunt meek Quiet's fimple dome; The loofe-rob'd Graces crown'd with flowers, It must be confeffed, that this Enthufiafm will, if too much indulged, unavoidably produce obfcurity. The highly privileged imagination of the Poet may foar into regions that are impervious to common understandings; and what an ordinary Reader cannot easily apprehend, he will naturally be fo complaifant to his own penetration, as to pronounce unintelligible. It is for congenial fpirits alone to pursue the eagle-pinioned Bard, who foars, and keeps his diftant way, and with the praife of fuch only he must be fatisfied. But yet it is poffible, that poetical Enthufiafm may be kept within the familiar bounds of Nature, and not always, Leviathan like, take its pastime in the deep; or Soar thro' the trackless bounds of Space. When it infpirits the Poet in the description of known objects, and ftrays not beyond the limits of obvious Nature, then it is effentially useful. The exuberance of Fancy too, is a capital excellence of the Lyric Muse. II. 1. Say whence the magic of thy mind? Why thrills thy mufic on the fprings of Thought? Starts into life the glowing draught? On yonder fairy carpet laid, Where beauty pours eternal bloom, And Zephyr breaths perfume; Profufe the radiant Goddess stood display'd, With all her fmiling offspring nigh. Sudden the mantling cliff, the arching wood, The broider'd mead, the landfkip, and the grove, Hills, vales, and y-dipt feas, and torrents rude, Grots, rills, and fhades, and bowers that breath'd of love, The quotations we have here made, though they are the moft to our purpose, are by no means the most beautiful parts of the inchanting Ode to the Genius of Shakespear, which is fraught with imagery, fpirited, fublime, and harmonious throughout. The next character that our Author prefents us with, in. his Account of the ancient Lyric Poets, is that of Anacreon. This Poet, fays he, flourished between the fixtieth and the feventieth Olympiad. "His pieces are the offspring of Genius and Indolence. Sweetnefs and natural elegance characterife the writings of this Poet, as much as careleffnefs and, eafe diftinguished his manners. In fome of his pieces there is exuberance, and even wildness of imagination, as in that particularly which is addreffed to a Young Girl, where he |