rosity, kind
to all that were within his influence; but, if once offended, not easily
appeased; inattentive to economy, and careless of his expenses; in his
person he was larger than the middle-size, with something clumsy in his
form; very negligent of his clothes, and remarkable for wearing his grey
hair in a particular manner, for he held that the fashion was no rule
of dress, and that every man was to suit his appearance to his natural
form. His mind was not very comprehensive, nor his curiosity active;
he had no value for those parts of knowledge which he had not himself
cultivated. His life was unstained by any crime. The "Elegy on Jesse,"
which has been supposed to relate an unfortunate and criminal amour of
his own, was known by his friends to have been suggested by the story of
Miss Godfrey in Richardson's "Pamela."

What Gray thought of his character, from the perusal of his Letters, was
this:--

"I have read, too, an octavo volume of Shenstone's Letters. Poor man! he
was always wishing for money, for fame, and other distinctions; and his
whole philosophy consisted in living against his will in retirement, and
in a place which his taste had adorned, but which he only enjoyed when
people of note came to see and commend it. His correspondence is about
nothing else but this place and his own writings, with two or three
neighbouring clergymen, who wrote verses too."

His poems consist of elegies, odes, and ballads, humorous sallies, and
moral pieces. His conception of an Elegy he has in his Preface very
judiciously and discriminately explained. It is, according to his
account, the effusion of a contemplative mind, sometimes plaintive,
and always serious, and therefore superior to the glitter of slight
ornaments. His compositions suit not ill to this description. His
topics of praise are the domestic virtues, and his thoughts are pure
and simple, but wanting combination; they want variety. The peace of
solitude, the innocence of inactivity, and the unenvied security of an
humble station, can fill but a few pages. That of which the essence is
uniformity will be soon described. His elegies have, therefore, too
much resemblance of each other. The lines are sometimes, such as Elegy
requires, smooth and easy; but to this praise his claim is not constant;
his diction is often harsh, improper, and affected, his words ill-coined
or ill-chosen, and his phrase unskilfully inverted.

The Lyric Poems are almost all of the l