LETTER III.

You

To the Same.

U have often heard me make true Conjectures concerning a Man's Taste in Morals, from the Choice of his Pictures or the Disposition of his Gardens. This you at first thought a little whimsical, till repeated Obfervation and Experience confirm'd, what I advanc'd in a former Letter to you, that the fame internal Senfe taftes for the three different Powers in human Nature; and from hence arises that Correspondence betwixt the Senfes, Imagination, and Understanding of the fame Perfon. I had once an Opportunity of obferving, in fome little Excurfions I made a few Years ago, from a celebrated Place in the North of ENGLAND, with a mix'd Company, how variously the different Places we saw affected every Man in onr Party according to the natural Turn of his Temper. We had among us an

Inamorato,

Inamorato, much given to reading Romances, who dwelt with uncommon Rapture on a little rural Place call'd H. where, it is faid, the famous Sir PHILIP SIDNEY compos'd his Arcadia. Here Enthusiasm feiz'd our romantic Lover, whilft the rest of our Company felt only the calm Sensation of Pleasure. Nor was it long before it came in my turn to be not touch'd but rapt, and to feel that ætherial Glow of Admiration, at the Sight of a neighbouring Villa to SCARBorough. You know I love the Comforts of domeftic Life and the Charms of Contemplation in Retirement; and rather would enjoy the Heart-ennobling Tranfport which the Discovery of any thing beneficial to Mankind, or one charitable Action could give me, than the Suppos'd Glories which all the Royal Robbers of the World ever plunder'd from their Species. From this Temper of Mind, mix'd with an Admiration of antient Manners and antient Mythology, you will not wonder that a Place, which answers in Miniature to

ELIAN'S

ÆLIAN's ravishing Description of TEMPE, should thus warmly affect me. The Place I mean is called E- Lodge. It is a small convenient House, built in the Tufcan Order, at the foot of two little Hills, covered with Woods and flowering Shrubs, which for a confiderable Way attend the ferpentizing Course of a clear cool Rivulet; as if they meant to shade and protect with their Branches the Stream which runs in the Valley betwixt 'em. I could not refrain from bursting forth, in a kind of poetical Extacy, in the Words of our admired Poet,

"Where gliding thro' his Daughter's honor'd Shades, "The smooth Peneus from his glaffy Flood "Reflects purpureal Tempe's pleasant Scene. "Fair Tempe, Haunt belov'd of Sylvan Powers, "Of Nymphs, and Fauns, where in the golden Age "They play'd in fecret on the fhady Bank

"With ancient Pan: while round their choral Steps "Young Hours and genial Gales with conftant Hand, "Show'r'd Odors, Bloffoms, show'r'd ambrofial Dews, "And Spring's Elyfian Bloom. *

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C

Believe

Akinfide's Pleasures of Imagination, Book I.

Believe me, EUPHEMÍUS, the ancient Corybantes, when they heard the facred Flutes in their religious Myfteries, could not feel or exprefs more Rapture than I' did. Retrofpection had carried me on the Wings of Imagination two thoufand Years back, and had plac'd me in the delightful Regions of Theffaly . I know the fympathizing

I dare fay the Reader will not be difpleafed to have ÆLIAN's Defcription of ancient TEMPE, which the Author mentions above, laid before him in the elegant Tranflation of that ingenious Gentleman, who favour'd the Public a few Years ago with an English Commentary and Notes on HORACE's Epifle to Auguftus, and a Difcourfe on Poetical Imitation. "The Theffalian TEMPE is a Place, "fituate between Olympus and Offa; which are Moun"tains of an exceeding great Height; and look, as if "they had once been joined, but were afterwards fe"parated from each other, by fome God, for the fake "of opening in the midft that large Plain, which stretches "in Length to about five Miles, and in Breadth, a hundred "Paces, or, in fome Parts more. Thro' the middle of "this Plain runs the Peneus, into which several leffer Currents empty themselves, and, by the Confluence of

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their Waters, fwell into a River of great Size. This "Vale is abundantly furnish'd with all manner of Arbors "and refting Places; not fuch as the Arts of human In

¢་

duftry contrive, but with the Bounty of fpontaneous "Nature; ambitious, as it were, to make a Shew of all "her Beauties, provided for the Supply of this fair Refi"dence, in the very original Structure and Formation of "the Place. For there is plenty of Ivy fhooting forth in it, which flourishes and grows fo thick, that, like the generous and leafy Vine, it crawls up the trunks of

" tall

fympathizing Warmth of your Imagination, therefore fhall leave you to fancy the reft for me. However fuch were my Expreffions of Pleasure upon the Occafion, that several of our Company, who had

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" tall Trees, and twisting it's Foliage round their Arms "and Branches, becomes almost incorporated with them. "The flowering Smilax alfo is there in great Abun"dance; which running up the Acclivities of the Hills, "and spreading the ciofe Texture of it's Leaves and Ten"drils on all Sides, perfectly covers and fhades them; fo "that no part of the bare Rock is feen; but the whole is hung with the Verdure of a thick, interwoven Herb"age, prefenting the most agreeable Spectacle to the Eye. Along the level of the Plain, there are frequent Tufts of Trees, and long continued Ranges "of arching Bowers, affording the moft grateful Shelter from the Heats of Summer; which are fur "ther relieved by the frequent Streams of clear and "fresh Water, continually winding through it. The

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Tradition goes that thefe Waters are peculiarly good for Bathing, and have many other Medicinal Virtues. In "the Thickets and Bushes of this Dale, are numberless Singing Birds every where fluttering about, whofe Warblings take the Ear of Paffengers, and cheat the "Labours of their Way through it. On the Banks of "the Peneus, on either Side, are difperfed irregularly, "thofe refting Places, before fpoken of; while the River "itself glides through the middle of the Lawn, with a

foft and quiet courfe; overhung with the Shades of "Trees, planted on it's Borders, whofe intermingled Branches keep off the Sun, and furnish the Opportunity of a cool and temperate Navigation upon it. The Worship of the Gods, and the perpetual Fragrancy of "Sacrifices and burning Odors, further confecrate the Place, &c. [Var. Hift. lib. 3. cap. 1.]