Francis. Whither do you drive me?
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eiiide. Back to your honesty, make that good ever,'Tis like a strong-built castle seated highThat draws on all amlifions ] Mill repair it.Still fortify it : There arc thousand /<>«,Beside the tyrant heauty will assail it.Look to yonr centiucLs that watch it hourly.Your eycsy let them not wander, ■ Keep your ears. The two main ports that may betray ye, stronglyFrom %/// belief first, then from fiattery,E5|X!cially where woman beats the parley ;The body of your strength, your noble heart From ever yielding to dishonest ends, . Ridg'd round about with virtue, that no breaches.No subtle mines may find you.* ' Our authors, ir; carrying the metaphor of a dt^el compared to the mind through s<i^Uiaiiy divisions, si^cm to have built on the foundation of St. Paul, who in like mamier carrieson a metaphor from armour throuzh its se\'cral parts. ' Ephesians vi. 1 1. Put on the whole armour of Grod — having your loins girt about with truth, and having onthe breast-plate of righteousness. — Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye snailbe able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked ; and take the helmet of salvation, and thesword of the Spirit which is the fVord of God. See also the same metaphor in Isaiah, lix. 17.from whom St. Paul took his. Were I to quote our author's fr^uent resemblance to thestile and sentiments of the Scriptures, another very large field would open to us j and thiswould help us to the solution of two questions, which tney who have a just taste of the ex -cellencics of our old English poets naturally ask : 1 . How came the British muse in the veryinfancy of literature, when but just sprung from the dark womb of monkish superstition, torise at once to such maturity, as she aid in Spenser, Shakespeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Jon-son and Massenger? 2. What spirit is it that has animated ine frozen foggy genius of Britaininto a nobler and fiercer flame of poetry than was ever yet kindled in the bright invigoratingclimes of France and modern Italy; insomuch, tliat a Gallic and Italian eye is dazzled andoffended at the brightness of the noblest expressions of Milton, and th&autnors above-mei^tioned? We answer. It was no less a spirit than the Spirit of God, it was the sun of righte-ousness, the hallowed light of the Scriptures, that was just then risen on the British came,but is still hid in clouds and darkness to France and Italy. A light to. which the brighteststrokes of Milton and Shakespeare are hut as rays of the iiiid-day sun, when compared to thatineffable inconceivable lustre which surrounds the throne of God. When the zeal of religionran high, and a collection of far the noblest poems that were ever wrote in the world, those ofJob, David, Isaiah and all the prophets were daily read, and publicly, solemnly and learnedlycommented upon, in almost every town in the kingdom ; when every man thought it a dis-grace not to study them in private, and not to treasure the noblest parts of them in his me-mory, what wondei: was it tnat our poets should catch so much of the sacred fire, or that theBritish genius should be arrayed with the beams of the east? But when the love of the scrip-tures waxed faint, the nerves of our poetry grew in the same proportion weak and languid.One of the best niejms therefore to gain a true taste of the extreme poetic sublimity of thesacred scriptures, is to converse with those poets whose stile and sentiments most resemblethem. And the very best means to restore the British genius to its pristine vigour, and tocreate other Shake^^^eares and otlier Miltons, is to promote the study, love and admiration ofthose Scriptures. A concurrent cause, which raised the spirit of poetry to such a height in Queen Eliza^beth's reign, was the encouragement and influence of the queen herself; to whom politelitcjaturc was the most courtly accomplishment. Look into Spenser's Description of herLords and favourites, and you'll find a learned queen made a whole court of poets, just as anamorous monarch afiei wards made every flowery courtier write roii\ancc; and martial princeshave turned intimidated armies into heroes. '
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