White are the decks with foam; the winds aloud Howl o'er the masts, and fing thro' ev'ry shroud: Pale, trembling, tir'd the failors freeze with fears, And instant death on ev'ry wave appears *.

Mr. Pope.
Aratus

has more spirit in it than the applauded descriptions in the authors of antiquity; because when the storm is in all its rage, and the danger become extreme, almighty Power is introduced to calm at once the roaring main, and give preservation to the miserable distressed. It ends in that fervency of devotion, which such grand occurrences are fitted to raise in the minds of the thoughtful.

"He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which " lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, " they go down again to the depths; their foul is melted

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away because of trouble. They reel to and fro like a " drunken man, and are at their wits-end. Then they cry " unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out " of their diftresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that "the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because " they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their defired " haven. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his " goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of " men!"

Shakespear has, with inimitable art, made use of a storm in his tragedy of King Lear, and continued it through seven scenes. In reading it, one fees the piteous condition of those who are expos'd to it in open air; one almost hears the wind and thunder, and beholds the flashes of lightning. The anger, fury, and passionate exclamations of Lear himself seem to rival the storm, which is as outrageous in his breast, inflamed and ulcerated by the barbarities of his daughters, as in the elements themselves. We view him

Con

Aratus has attempted a refinement upon the last thought, and turned it thus,

A flender plank preferves them from their fate †.

But instead of increasing the terror, he only leffens

Contending with the fretful elements,
Bids the wind blow the earth into the fea,
Or fwell the curled waters 'bove the main,

That things might change, or cease: tears his white hair,
Which the impetuous blasts with eyless rage
Catch in their fury-

We afterwards see the distressed old man exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather; nature itself in hurry and disorder, but he as violent and boisterous as the storm.

Rumble thy belly-full, spit fire, spout rain;
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters;
I tax not you, ye elements.-

And immediately after,

Let the great gods,

That keep this dreadful thund'ring o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch,
That haft within thee undivulged crimes

Unwhipt of justice. Hide thee, thou bloody hand,
Thou perjur'd, and thou fimular man of virtue,
That art incestuous: caitiff, shake to pieces,

That under covert and convenient seeming
Haft practis'd on man's life. Close pent-up guilts,

Rive your concealing continents, and ask

These dreadful summoners grace

The

lessens and refines it away; and besides, he sets a bound to the impending danger, by saying,

a plank preferves them," thus banishing their despair. But the Poet is so far from confining the danger of his failors, that he paints them in a most desperate situation, while they are only not swallow'd up in every wave, and have death before their eyes as fast as they escape it. (4) Nay more, the danger is difcerned in

the

The storm still continues, and the poor old man is forced along the open heath, to take shelter in a wretched hovel. There the poet has laid new incidents, to stamp fresh terror on the imagination, by lodging Edgar in it before them. The paffions of the old king are so turbulent, that he will not be perfuaded to take any refuge. When honest Kent intreats him to go in, he cries,

Prithee go in thyself, seek thy own ease;
This tempeft will not give me leave to ponder
On things would hurt me more

Nay, get thee in; I'll pray, and then I'll fleep -
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That 'bide the pelting of this pitiless storm!
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed fides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? - Oh! I have ta'en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp,
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
And shew the heav'ns more just.

The miseries and disorders of Lear and Edgar are then

=the very hurry and confufion of the words; the verses are toss'd up and down with the ship, the harshness and jarring of the fyllables give us a lively image of the storm, and the whole description is in itself a terrible and furious tempeft.

It is by the same method, that Archilochus has succeeded so well in describing a wreck; and Demofthenes, where he relates * the confufions fufions at Athens, upon arrival of ill news. (5) "It was (fays be) in the evening, &c." If I may speak by a figure, they review'd the forces of their subjects, and cull'd out the flower of them, with this caution, not to place any mean, or indecent, or coarse expreffion in so choice a body. For fuch expressions are like mere patches, or unsightly bits of matter, which in this edifice of grandeur entirely confound the fine proportions, mar the symmetry, and deform the beauty of the whole.

SEC

(5) The whole passage in Demosthenes's oration runs thus: "It was evening when a courier brought the news to "the magiftrates of the surprisal of Elatea. Immediately "they arose, tho' in the midst of their repast. Some of " them hurried away to the Forum, and driving the trades" men out, set fire to their shops. Others fled to advertise "the commanders of the army of the news, and to sum" mon the public herald. The whole city was full of tu" mult. On the morrow, by break of day, the magistrates " convene the senate. You, gentlemen, obey'd the fum" mons. Before the public council proceeded to debate, the " people took their feats above. When the senate were " come in, the magistrates laid open the reasons of their " meeting, and produced the courier. He confirmed their " report. The herald demanded aloud, who would harangue? " No body rose up. The herald repeated the question several " times. In vain : No body rose up; no body harangued; "tho' all the commanders of the army were there, tho' "the orators were present, tho' the common voice of our " country joined in the petition, and demanded an oration " for the public safety."

(1) Lucan