he theme on which the Poet insists,
it is the business of Fancy to enliven the whole piece with those
natural and animating graces which lead us to survey it with admiration.
From the whole therefore it appears, that this Faculty of the mind
claims an higher share of merit in the competition of the Ode than in
any other species of Poetry; because in the other branches of this art
different ends may be obtained, and different expedients may be fallen
upon to gain them; but the most perfect kind of Lyric Poetry admits only
of that end, to the attainment of which fertility of Imagination is
indispensably requisite.

You will recollect, my Lord, a petition laid down in the beginning of
this Essay;--that "when Imagination is permitted to bestow the graces of
ornament indiscriminately, sentiments are either superficial, and thinly
scattered through a work, or we are obliged to search for them beneath a
load of superfluous colouring." I shall now endeavour to evince the
truth of this reflection, by enquiring more particularly what are the
faults into which the Lyric Poet is most ready to be betrayed, by giving
a loose rein to that Faculty which colours and enlivens his composition.

It may be observed then in general, that we usually judge of the Genius
of a Lyric Poet by the variety of his _images_, the boldness of his
_transitions_, and the picturesque vivacity of his _descriptions_.
I shall under this head trouble your Lordship with a few reflections on
each of these considered separately.

By the Images which are employed in the Ode, I mean those illustrations
borrowed from _natural_ and often from _familiar_ objects, by which the
Poet either clears up an obscurity, or arrests the attention, and
kindles the imagination of his reader. These illustrations have very
distinct uses in the different species of poetic composition. The
greatest Masters in the Epopee often introduce metaphors, which have
only a general relation to the subject; and by pursuing these through a
variety of circumstances, they disengage the reader's attention from the
principal object. This indeed often becomes necessary in pieces of
length, when attention begins to relax by following too closely one
particular train of ideas. It requires however great judgment in the
Poet to pursue this course with approbation, as he must not only fix
upon metaphors which in some points have a striking similarity to the
object illustrated, but even the digressive cir