able, that not one produces the Poem of Hero and Leander, as the offspring of the more ancient Bard. Neither Servius, or any eminent Commentator of the Mantuan afford the slightest encouragement to such a declaration.
The uncommon Excellence of the performance merited peculiar notice. It cannot be suppos'd, but that these Critics had seen, and in course admir'd it. The happiness of the Imagery, and propriety of the [1]Characters bespeak it to have been drawn from the source of Nature; but though they must necessarily have wish'd, they were not (it may seem) convinc'd, that the notes were those,
'Which old Musæus so divinely sung.'[2]
Such authorities may preclude the Editor's opinion, who would beg leave to suggest, that the Poem, as originallywritten
- ↑ A peculiar flow of sensibility distinguishes the composition. The first advances of Leander, and the ambiguous reception given by Hero, with other circumstances introduc'd in the progress of the Love-scene, are painted from life, and amply describe the genuine situation of those hearts, which
'feel the mutual flame.'
- ↑ The ancient Musæus having existed so long before the genuine Orpheus, whose works are by the most able Critics concluded to be lost, though his name remains prefix'd to many compositions, it must be presum'd, that a remnant of Musæus, if this be so conjectur'd, must be handed down at best in a state of imperfection.
