Great How and Gouge fhall hail thee on thy way, Tui amantiffimus BRITANNICUS. PRE 13 J PREFACE. IT T has been a long complaint of the virtuous and refined world, that poefy, whofe original is divine, fhould be enflaved to vice and profaneness; that an art, inspired from heaven, should have fo far loft the memory of its birth-place, as to be engaged in the interefts of hell. How unhappily is it perverted from its most glorious defign! How bafely has it been driven away from its proper ftation in the temple of God, and abufed to much difhonour! The iniquity of men has contrained it to ferve their vileft purpofes, while the fens of piety mourn the facrilege and the fhame. The eldest fong, which history has brought down to our ears, was a noble act of worship paid to the God of Ifrael, when his "right hand became glorious in power; when thy right hand, O Lord, dashed in "pieces the enemy: the chariots of Pharaoh and his "hofts were caft into the red fea. Thou didst blow "with thy wind, the deep covered them, and they fank as lead in the mighty waters." Exod. xv. This art was maintained facred through the following ages of the church, and employed by kings and prophets, by David, Solomon, and Isaiah, in defcribing the nature and the glories of God, and in conveying grace or vengeance to the hearts of men. By this method they brought fo much of heaven down to this lower world, as the darkness of that difpenfation would admit: And now and then a divine and poetic rapture lifted their fouls far above the level of that oeconomy of fhadows, bore them away far into a brighter region, and gave them a glimpse of evangelic day. The life of angels was harmoniously breathed into the children of Adam, and their minds raised near to heaven in melody and devotion at once. In the younger days of heathenifm the Mufes were devoted to the fame service: the language in which old Hefiod addreffes them is this: Μᾶσαι Πιερίηθεν αοιδῆσε κλείουσαι, Δεῦτε, Δῖ ἐννέπετε σφέτερον πατέρ' ὑμνείουσε "Pierian Mufes, fam'd for heavenly lays, And he pursues the subject in ten pious lines, which I' could not bear to transcribe, if the aspect and found of fo much Greek were not terrifying to a nice reader. But fome of the latter Poets of the Pagan world have debased this divine gift; and many of the writers of the - firft rank, in this our age of national Christians, have, to their eternal fhame, furpaffed the vileft of the Gentiles. They have not only disrobed religion of all the ornaments of verfe, but have employed their pens in impious mifchief, to deform her native beauty and de-. -file her honours. They have expofed her most facred character to drollery, and dressed her up in a most vile and ridiculous disguise, for the fcorn of the ruder herd mankind. The vices have been painted like fo many Goddeffes, the charms of wit have been added to debauchery, and the temptation heightened where nature seeds the frongest reftraints. With fweetness of found, and delicacy of expreffion, they have given a relish to Lafphemies of the harsheft kind; and when they rant at their Maker in fonorous numbers, they fancy themlves to have acted the hero well. Thus almost in vain have the throne and the pulpit cried Reformation; while the stage and licentious poems have waged open war with the pious defign of church and ftate. The prefs has spread the poison far, and fcattered wide the mortal infection: Unthinking youth, have been inticed to fin beyond the vicious propenfities of nature, plunged early into difeafes and death, and funk down to damnation in multitudes. Was it for. this that poefy, was endued with all thofe allurements that lead the mind away in a pleafing captivity? Was it for this, he was furnished with fo many intellectual charms, that she might feduce the heart from God, the original beauty, and the most lovely of Beings? Can I ever be perfuaded, that those fweet and refiftlefs forces of metaphor, wit, found, and number, were given with this defign, that they should be all ranged under the banner of the great malicious fpirit, to invade the rights of heaven, and to bring fwift and everlasting deftruction upon men? How will thefe allies of the nether world, the lewd and profane verfifiers, ftand aghaft before the great Judge, when the blood of many fouls, whom they never faw, shall be laid to the charge of their writings, and be dreadfully required at their hands? The Reve rend rend Mr. Collier has fet this awful scene before them in juft and flaming colours. If the application were not too rude and uncivil, that noble stanza of my Lord Rofcommon, on Pfalm cxlviii. might be addreffed to them: "Ye dragons, whofe contagious breath "Peoples the dark retreats of death, "Change your dire hiffings into heavenly fongs, forked tongues.” "And praife your Maker with your This profanation and debasement of so divine an art, has tempted fome weaker Chriftians to imagine that poetry and vice are naturally akin; or at least, that verfe is fit only to recommend trifles, and entertain our loofer hours, but it is too light and trivial a method to They fubtreat any thing that is ferious and facred. mit, indeed, to ufc it in divine pfalmody, but they love the drieft tranflation of the pfalm beft. They will venture to fing a dull hymn or two at church, in tunes of equal dulnefs; but ftill they perfuade themselves, and their children, that the beauties of poefy are vain and dangerous. All that arifes a degree above Mr. Sternhold is too airy for worship, and hardly escapes It is the fentence of "unclean and abominable." ftrange, that persons that have the Bible in their hands, fhould be led away by thoughtlefs prejudices to fo wild Let me entreat them not to inand rafh an opinion. dulge this four, this cenforious humour too far, lest the facred writers fall under the lafh of their unlimited and unguarded reproaches. Let me entreat them to look |