VOLTAIRE, speaking of the English Poets, gives them the preference in moral pieces to those of any other nation; and, indeed, no Poets have better settled the bounds of Duty, or more precisely determined the rules for Conduct in Life than ours. In this little Collection the Reader, therefore, may find the most exquisite pleasure, while he is at the same time learning the duties of life; and while he courts only Entertainment, be deceived into Wisdom. In a word, it is the peculiar property of POETRY to do good by stealth; to hide the thorny path of Instruction by covering it with flowers; and the veriest Infidel in polite Learning must be something more than abandoned, if he will not visit the Temple of Instruction when Pleasure leads the way to it. Ε. Τ. SELECT POEMS. MESSIAH. A SACRED ECLOGUE. BY POPE. Ys Nymphs of Solyma! begin the song: Rapt into future times, the Bard begun : B All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail; |