the Understanding is once shock'd,
this most rapturous Elevation of the Mind (as when cold Water is
thrown suddenly upon boiling) sinks at once to chilling Flatness,
and is considered as mere Gingle and childish Amusement.

No Man, I believe, has read without Pleasure, his fine and lively
Descriptions of the Nar, Clitumnus, Mincio, and Albula, but the
worst of it is, he winds us so long, in and out, between these
Rivers, that he loses himself in their Maeanders, and brings us,
at last, to a strange Stream indeed, which is 'immortaliz'd in
Song,' and yet 'lost In Oblivion.'

"I look for Streams, immortaliz'd, in Song,
Which lost, and buried in Oblivion lie."

The Thought, in this Place, is very lively and just, but quite
obscur'd by the Redundancy and Wantonness of the Expression. Had
he only said 'lost,' and 'buried,' It might have been urg'd, that
the Rivers were dry'd up, and no longer to be found, in their old
Channels. But, let them be lost, as to Existence, as certainly as
he will, they can never be lost in 'Oblivion,' if they are
'immortaliz'd' in Poetry. 'Immortal' is a favourite Word in this
Gentleman's Writings, and leads him, as most Favourites are apt
to do, into very frequent Errors.

It is naturally unpleasant, to be detain'd too long in the
Maziness of one tedious Thought, express'd many Ways
successively. When we read that the 'Tiber is destitute of
Strength,' what else can we conclude, but that its Stream is a
weak one? But we are oblig'd to hear, also, that it 'derives its
Source from an unthrifty Urn': Well, now, may we go on? No; its
'Urn' is not only 'unthrifty,' but its 'Source' is unfruitful. By
this time, one can scarce help, enquiring, what new Meaning is
convey'd to the Apprehension, by the Multiplication of the
Phrases? And not finding any, we have no Reflection to satisfy
ourselves with, but, that the strongest Flow of Fancy, is most
subject to Whirlpools.

It is from the same unweigh'd Redundancy, and Misapplication of
Words, that we so often find this excellent Writer falling into
the Anticlimax. As where, for Example, he informs us of Liberty,
that she is a Goddess,

"Profuse of Bliss, and pregnant with Delight,
Eternal Pleasures, in her Presence reign."

After 'Profusion of Bliss,' that is to say, the heap'd Enjoyment
of all Blessings to be wish'd for; how does it cool the
Imagination, to read of being 'pregnant with Delight'? Had she
been brought to