Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Betiveen The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
stage , cannot be denied . The chorus , however numerous its admirers have been , and whatever beneficial qualities have bSen attributed to it , was unquestionably a flagrant violation of the probability so essential to theatrical representations . It is certain that iEschylus , Sop hocles , Euripides , Menander , and Terence , have met with rivals in CorneilleRacineMoliereVoltaireBen Jonsonand Otway ;
, , , , , but when Shakspeare enters the lists , every competitor disappears , and the unfading laurel is placed on his brows . To the remotest posterity he ivill justly be esteemed as a resource of inexhaustible recreation and instruction , and be regarded with admiration as a prodigy of genius and fancy . In fine , we may safely assert that the celebrity of his works will be co-existent with the world . If we
descend to a later period , we might name a Foote , Gibber , Farquhar , or Congreve , who have delineated with so much success the characteristic traits of the times , and who for variety of incident , justness of character , and poignancy of humour , are entitled to rank amongst the foremost in this species of composition .
In other species of poetry , every one must regard with deference and study with pleasure those models of ancient taste , Pindar , Horace , Theocritus , Ovid ; and Lucretius . But may we not likewise venture to boast the poetic genius of a Dryden , the correct and elegant versification of a Pope , the descriptive beauties of a Thomson , and the elegiac sublimity of a Gray ; who , though they cannot be said to have surpassed those great masters of antiquity , have yet so
closelyimitated their excellencies , as to claim , in many respects , an equality with them . Indeed no kind of poetry has been left unattempted by modern genius . The ode and the satire , the pastoral and the elegy , the epigram and the sonnet , have been all tried with success , and by the exertion of that poetic talent which of late has appeared so conspicuous in this island , have been brought to a state of classical purity . All the merit that ori g inates from the invention of rbime , must undoubtedly be appropriated to the moderns ; but whether it is a real
improvement of the art of poetry remains undecided . This , however , we may confidently affirm , that it has tended to diffuse a more general taste for this elegant art , and has . contributed not a little to disseminate a more universal relish for the pleasures of polite literature . [ TO BE COXTINUED . ]
Description Of Canada.
DESCRIPTION OF CANADA .
IN A LETTER FROM THENCE , DATED OCTOBER * 7 , 1797 . AS no description of Lower or Upper Canada has been published since Charleroi , near a hundred years . ago , and as it is greatly improved since that time , I will take , the liberty of mentioning my observations .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Betiveen The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
stage , cannot be denied . The chorus , however numerous its admirers have been , and whatever beneficial qualities have bSen attributed to it , was unquestionably a flagrant violation of the probability so essential to theatrical representations . It is certain that iEschylus , Sop hocles , Euripides , Menander , and Terence , have met with rivals in CorneilleRacineMoliereVoltaireBen Jonsonand Otway ;
, , , , , but when Shakspeare enters the lists , every competitor disappears , and the unfading laurel is placed on his brows . To the remotest posterity he ivill justly be esteemed as a resource of inexhaustible recreation and instruction , and be regarded with admiration as a prodigy of genius and fancy . In fine , we may safely assert that the celebrity of his works will be co-existent with the world . If we
descend to a later period , we might name a Foote , Gibber , Farquhar , or Congreve , who have delineated with so much success the characteristic traits of the times , and who for variety of incident , justness of character , and poignancy of humour , are entitled to rank amongst the foremost in this species of composition .
In other species of poetry , every one must regard with deference and study with pleasure those models of ancient taste , Pindar , Horace , Theocritus , Ovid ; and Lucretius . But may we not likewise venture to boast the poetic genius of a Dryden , the correct and elegant versification of a Pope , the descriptive beauties of a Thomson , and the elegiac sublimity of a Gray ; who , though they cannot be said to have surpassed those great masters of antiquity , have yet so
closelyimitated their excellencies , as to claim , in many respects , an equality with them . Indeed no kind of poetry has been left unattempted by modern genius . The ode and the satire , the pastoral and the elegy , the epigram and the sonnet , have been all tried with success , and by the exertion of that poetic talent which of late has appeared so conspicuous in this island , have been brought to a state of classical purity . All the merit that ori g inates from the invention of rbime , must undoubtedly be appropriated to the moderns ; but whether it is a real
improvement of the art of poetry remains undecided . This , however , we may confidently affirm , that it has tended to diffuse a more general taste for this elegant art , and has . contributed not a little to disseminate a more universal relish for the pleasures of polite literature . [ TO BE COXTINUED . ]
Description Of Canada.
DESCRIPTION OF CANADA .
IN A LETTER FROM THENCE , DATED OCTOBER * 7 , 1797 . AS no description of Lower or Upper Canada has been published since Charleroi , near a hundred years . ago , and as it is greatly improved since that time , I will take , the liberty of mentioning my observations .