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" StIU pfea8ed to praise, yet not afraid to Watae."—Pope.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Art . I . —Sacred Poetry ; ^ consistingof Hymns and other Devotional CvmposUiorbs . By W . Lamport . Printed for the Author . Sold by Hunter , in London ; by Robinsons , in Liverpool . 1825 . * 8 w > . pp , 88 .
fTT ^ riE author of this volume has JL endeavoured , both by reasoning and example * to disprove a wellknown dictum of Dr . Samuel Johnson ' s , concerning devotional poetry ; and his attempt is not unsuccessful .
However powerful may be the authority of the critic whom we have now mentioned , it is certain that many of his recorded opinions are not and cannot be supported by valid arguments . We think that lie was
destitute of the exquisite taste and sensibility , without which no man can be either a poet or a judge of poetry . ^ he senten ce s which Mr . Lamport has quoted from him , are singularly erroneous , in ptiint of fact , of hrjricijple and of inference . Though Johnson ' s
faculties were vigorous , yet the prejudices to which he was a slave did hot always suffer him to discriminate between things essentially different from each other . For example , he '" confounded religious contemplations 5
with direct addresses to the Deity /* and Idst sight of the boundary-line betweea "hymns which are expressly intended to form a part of public worship , and which partake of the nature of public prayer , " f and devotional
poetry , in an extended sense . It cannot be enough to say , that " Watts ' s religious poetry is , like the religious poetry of others , unsatisfactory . " In this statement X ) r . Johnson begs the question : he assumes the
whole matter in dispute ; nor considers that many critics have pronounced a decision the very reverse of his When he adds , " the paucity of the topics of devotional poetry enforces
perpetual repetition , and the sanctity of its mater ials rejects the ornaments of figurative diction , " he hazards an unfounded postulatum , and forms au illogical conclusion . The topics of * Preface , p . iv . f Ibid . vol
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tfefe kind of poetry are as various as those of religious reflection ; * as infinitely various § s the associations wbieh tean be framed by piety and genius , when they are exercised on the works , the pfwidence and the
revealed will of the Supreme Bomg . That devotional poetry does not , of necessity , reject the ornaments of figurative diction , § q shewn by a large and most interesting portion of the Hebrew Scriptures .
We cannot subscribe to Dr . Johnson ' s estimate of the poetical character of Watts : though maay of the Psalms and Hymns of that most excellent man are satisfactory to us , we are unable to admit that he ' * has
done better than others , wiialno oue has done well ; " The strength of his imagination is more conspicuous than the purity of his taste : nor did he copyfrom the earreetest models , or imitate the great poets of f § m * cr ages w $ 4 fh ^ astenes ^ accuracy and success .
Iti * tri ** s } e&Hy , we prefer to Watts , esp ^ ikily as a transla to r of the Psalms of © avft ) , gome of bis predecessors among * liis own countrymen , somf , tM > ,- < r f Ms contemporaries , and some individuals by whom he lias been
followed . For the size of the 'volitme ., there are more of Doddridg&s hymivs that we approve , both in private reading and irt social wOfship . The tender , pathetic effusions of Theodbsta [ Mrs . Steele ] surpass , in genuine poetical
excellence , those of Watts ; and among the hymns of a lately living writer gems of the first water may be seen . Religious poetry is truly sublime , touching * and elegant in the strains of Barbauld ; a name venerable and honoured for a rare union of taste and
imagination to * a hallowed bOsoni /' to " the highest aims , " and to a blameless and most useful life . Some of the first holy ^ accents which numbers of children lisp , are her Hymns in Prose ; so designated * solely because they ate not rtietrical . Howevef entitled , they constitute a volume which , for the grandeur and beauty of its * Preface , n . iv .
" Stiu Pfea8ed To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Watae."—Pope.
" StIU pfea 8 ed to praise , yet not afraid to Watae . "—Pope .
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. xxi . z VOL . XXI . Z
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page 169, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/41/
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