THE REV. WILLIAM GILPIN 357 out taking counsel of some authority. He, therefore, sent the manuscript of the Epistle' to the Rev. William Gilpin, inviting him to make free remarks and criticisms upon it. Mr. Gilpin, like Dr. Warton, was then drawing towards the close of a lengthened life. He was universally known as the great authority on Picturesque Beauty. Rogers has already described him in his diary of a journey in the south of England in 1792. He speaks there of 'Mr. Gilpin's celebrated view.’ Mr. Gilpin was a lineal decendant of Bernard Gilpin, 'the Northern Apostle,' whose life he wrote and published ten years before Rogers was born. He had long been known as a faithful country clergyman and a writer of religious and biographical books when, in 1790, he published his Observations on Picturesque Beauty.' A series of works from his pen on the same subject followed in rapid succession, and before the close of the century Mr. Gilpin had been universally acknowledged as the great modern authority on the Picturesque. In Mr. Green's pleasant Diary of a Lover of Literature' there is a glimpse of his parsonage in 1798 which is in harmony with the sketch of the 'Villa' in Rogers's poem. Crossed the river by a causeway, and pursued its course by an agreeable walk along its banks up to Boldre, and returning by the upper road, struck down into a woody dell at the back of Vicar's Hill, Mr. Gilpin's parsonage, the object of our pilgrimage; shrouded, together with its gardens, in thick foliage. Contemplated, with much interest, the residence of a gentleman by whose pen and by whose pencil I have been almost equally delighted, and who, with an originality that almost always accompanies true genius, may be considered as having opened a new sense of enjoyment in surveying the works of Nature.' It is more than likely that Rogers in writing the Epistle' had Mr. Gilpin and his parsonage, with the forest scenery around it, present to his memory. He had been in the neighbourhood, and he had written a diary of his visit, just as he was beginning to write the poem; and he probably sent the manuscript to Mr. Gilpin because of his personal connection with it. Mr. Gilpin's letter, in sending it back, is interesting in itself, and is still more so as indicating Rogers's willingness to take the advice of so experienced an observer of Nature. Rev. W. Gilpin to Samuel Rogers. 'Vicar's Hill: July 7, 1797. 'Dear Sir,-I have read your little poem two or three times over, with great pleasure: I should say with increased pleasure, for that is the truth. I have seldom met with, in so short a space, so many beautiful lines. But though you check criticism in a printed work, it is expected you should treat a MS. with more freedom. I'll tell you, therefore, frankly, all that occurred to me. With regard to the whole, you seem to me (what is certainly a fault, if it be one, on the better side) too concise. I think your subject would not only have allowed more, but disappoints us in not having more -particularly in the description of the cottage and the library. In describing your cottage, instead of alluring us by its near and distant scenery, you give us only a view of the pales and footpath. If it be a picture taken MR. GILPIN'S CRITICISM 359 from the life, and have no distant scenery, you might perhaps (if you did not choose to raise the idea, by telling us what it had not) give us a few reflections on the advantages of a cottage entirely sequestered. I think, too, you might have dwelt a little more on the worthies that adorn the study; and as a poet might have specified a few poets. A friend told me, the other day, he had paid a visit to Lord Muncaster in the north; and that he had adorned, or intended to adorn, a room with one of the chief worthies of every profession. I thought the idea a pleasing one. Lastly, I was not quite pleased with the conclusion of your poem. I thought it might have ended better with a few pertinent moral reflections. So much for the whole. With regard to the parts, I have not much to say. Most of the lines, I think, are unexceptionably beautiful. Point out the green lane, appears to me rather prosaic; and I do not think you have chosen picturesque figures to adorn your footpath. The panniered ass I allow. But the pedlar is injured by his profession. The satchelled schoolboy is neither a novel nor a pleasing idea. The red-hooded maid is less so: and the cry of cresses has too much of London in it. Perhaps a man of studious hours would not be contented to feed on flowers, if he were in a place, as I suppose he was, which afforded more solid nutriment. Some of the lines, too, on the ice-house I think are rather too heroic. 'But now, my dear sir, I must inform you that Mason used to tell me I was among the worst poetical critics he consulted. And I believe he was very right. But as it is not my end at present to display my critical abilities, but to show my sincerity, I have no doubt but your candour will accept what I have said in good part; and that you will believe me to be on this, and every other occasion, Some of the lines and expressions here objected to did not appear in the published poem, and some of the omissions noted are supplied. There is now the full recognition of distant scenery which Mr. Gilpin suggests Far to the south a mountain vale retires, Rich in its groves, and glens, and village spires, But there is no pedlar now in the poem, no satchelled school-boy, the red-hooded maid becomes in her kerchief blue, the cottage maid; and the cry of cresses' which as Mr. Gilpin truly says has too much of London in it has given place to the brimming pitcher from the shadowy glade.' The lines about the ice-house were retained in the earlier editions, but they were afterwards excised and placed in the notes, and every reader will agree with Mr. Gilpin's criticism that they are rather too heroic.' When the poem had been published it was sent to Mr. Gilpin, who returned the following letter— MR. GILPIN'S CRITICISM Rev. William Gilpin to Samuel Rogers. 361 'Vicar's Hill: Ap. 16, 1798. 'Dear Sir,-At the time I received your first letter, and long after, I was so ill that few things in any degree attracted my attention. I was so ill that, to tell you the truth, I was not overjoyed at the idea of having all the suffering I had undergone, or something like it, to undergo again at some future period. It hath pleased God, however, to give me a wonderful restoration, which I should wish to return with a greater degree of religious gratitude than I fear the confirmed habits of old age will in general allow. I am still, however, far from being well; though I am as well as I ever expect to be; unless, on the return of the zephyrs and swallows I may now and then perhaps be enabled to breathe a little more freely. 'Having thus talked of myself through a page, it is now time to come to your villa, for the sight of which I am much obliged to you. I entered your gate impressed with those just sentiments, which you had so justly raised. I admired the view from your windows-I thought you had collected your prints with great judgment. Many of your sulphur-gems I had never seen before. Your portraits and books I thought the happiest appendages of the place. I then sat down with you to your elegant closet-supper. Of all kinds of food, the dapes inemptæ please me most: and, as it fortunately happened I am now ordered to drink wine. (which I almost never before tasted), I drank two bumpers of your excellent Falernian. In short, you |