§ 1. E Nantiofis is a Figure, by which things

very different or contrary are compared or placed together, and by which they mutually fet off and enhance each other,

2. What a charming inftance have we of this kind in the following pafsage of VIRGIL, in which we have the different scenes of a Court and Country Life, admirably drawn and contrafted with each other?

Happy, too happy for the world below,

The countryman, did he his blifs but know:
Who far from war his eafy food obtains
From the till'd earth, that well rewards his pains.
What tho' no lofty house its torrent pours
Of morning-flatt'rers from his ample doors;
No coftly fhells his fwelling columns hide
With wreathing pomp, and variegated pride:
What tho' no robe enrich'd with gold he wears,
-Nor brazen buft within his walls appears;

What tho' his wool imbibes no pois'nous juice,
Nor drugs infect his oils defign'd for ufe;
Yet unmolested peace broods o'er his feat,
Pure runs his life, untinctur'd with deceit.
One univerfal reft his farm enjoys;
Cool grots, refounding with no frightful noise,
Fresh bubbling fprings, and valleys thick with fhade,
Oxen rebellowing thro' the greenfword glade,
And fleep beneath the waving foliage blefs
His happy hours, and footh his ftill recefs +.

From valiwais, an oppofition, or contrariety. + O fortunatos nimium fua fi bona norint

Agricolas! quibus ipfa, procul difcordibus annis,

May we not alfo add, as an example of the Enantiofis, the lines with which VIRGIL concludes his Georgics, in which he paints in fuch different colours AUGUSTUS and himfelf?

Thus have I fung of tillage, flocks, and trees,
And laft defcrib'd the labours of the bees:
While CASAR, ardent in his glorious course,
Is thund'ring at Euphrates' trembling fource.
He o'er the willing world his fway extends,
And, more than mortal, to the skies afcends;
While I at Naples fpend my eafy time,
Unknown to glory, and beguil'd in rhime:
Į who in paft'rals play'd; and, bold and young,
Thee,TIT'RUS, and thy beechen bow'r have sung f.
How

Fundit humo facilem victum juftiffima tellus.
Şi non ingentem foribus domus alta fuperbis
Mane falutantum totis vomit ædibus undam ;
Nec varios inhiant pulchra teftudine postes,
Illufafque auro veftes, Ephyreïaque æra;'
Alba neque Affyrio fucatur lana veneno,
Nec cafia liquidi corrumpitur ufus olivi:
At fecura quies, & nefcia fallere vita,
Dives opum variarum; at latis otia fundis,
Speluncæ, vivique lacus; at frigida tempe,
Mugitufque bovum, mollefque fub arbore fomni
Non abfunt VIRGIL. Georgic. lib. ii. ver. 458.
Hæc fuper arvorum cultu pecorumque cânebam
Et fuper arboribus: Cæfar dum magnus ad altum
Fulminat Euphraten bello, victorque volentes.
Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo.
Illo Virgilium me tempore dulcis alebat
Parthenope, ftudiis florentem ignobilis otî:
Carmina qui lufi paftorum; audaxque juventa,
Tityre, te patulæ cecini fub tegmine fagi.
VIRGIL. Georgic, lib. iv. ver. 559.

How finely are the fweets of difsolute plea fure, and the wretched confequences that foon fucceed upon it, represented in the following lines of Mr PRIOR?

On pleasure's flowing brink we idly ftray, ! Mafters as yet of our returning way; Seeing no danger, we difarm our mind, And give our conduct to the waves and wind : Then in the flow'ry mead, or verdant shade, To wanton dalliance negligently laid, We weave the chaplet, or we crown the bowl, And smiling fee the nearer waters roll; Till the ftrong gufts of raging paffion rife, Till the dire tempeft mingles earth and skies; And, fwift into the boundlefs ocean borne, Our foolish confidence too late we mourn: Round our devoted heads the billows beat, And from our troubled view the lefs'ned lands retreat *

Mr POPE has moft beautifully contrafted the noify rattling of numbers, and their soft and easy fmoothness, in the following verfes

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What, like Sir RICHARD, rumbling, rough and fierce
With arms, and George, and Brunswick crowd the verse,
Rend with tremendous found your ears afunder,
With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbufs, and thunder?
Or nobly wild, with BUDGELL's fire and force,
Paint angels trembling round his falling horse ?-?
Then all your mufe's fofter art display,
Let CAROLINA smooth the tuneful lay,

PRIOR's Solomon, book ii.

Lull

Lull with AMELIA's liquid name the nine,
And sweetly flow thro' all the royal line †,

With what masterly touches has the late Bishop SHERLOCK COntrafted the characters of our blefsed LORD, and the Eastern Impoftor MAHOMET?

"But with respect to this inftance, I perfuade "myself it can be no very distracting study to find reafons to determine our choice. Go to your natural religion: lay before her MAHO"MET and his difciples arrayed in armour and "in blood, riding in triumph over the fpoils of "thousands and tens of thousands, who fell by

his victorious fword. Shew her the cities "which he fet in flames, the countries which he "ravaged and destroyed, and the miferable dis"trefs of all the inhabitants of the earth. When "fhe has viewed him in this fcene, carry her into his retirements; fhew her the prophet's chamber, his concubines and wives; let her fee his adultery, and hear him alledge revela"tion and his divine commifsion to justify his "luft and opprefsion. When she is tired with

this fcene, then fhew her the blessed Jesus, "humble and meek, doing good to all the souls "of men, patiently inftructing both the igno"rant and perverfe. Let her fee him in his "most retired privacies; let her follow him to "the mount, and hear his devotions and fuppli"cations to his GOD. Carry her to his table, to

" view

+ POPE's Satires of HORACE imitated, fat. i. line 23. vol. iv. page 57.

"view his poor fare, and hear his heavenly dis"courfe. Let her fee him injured, but not pro"voked: let her attend him to the tribunal,

and consider the patience with which he en"dured the scoffs and reproaches of his enemies, "Lead her to his crofs, and let her view him in

འ

"the agonies of death, and hear his last prayer "for his perfecutors; Father, forgive them, for "they know not what they do! When natural religion has viewed both, afk, Which is the Prophet of GOD? But her anfwer we have al "ready had, when the faw part of this fcenę through the eyes of the centurion who attended "at the cross: by him the spoke, and said, Truly "this man was the Son of GOD t."

"

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I will venture to mingle with the examples of the Enantiofis, a translation of STRADA's defcription of the Contest between the Mufician and Night, ingale, since I am certain that the poem is re

markable for its variations.

Now from the height of heav'n the fan declin'd,
And in a milder blaze of glories fhin'd,

When on the Tiber's verdant banks awhile

Alutanife relaxing from his toil,

Sat down beneath an oak, that o'er his head
2. From the hot beams a bow'ry shelter spread,
And wak'd to melody his vocal strings;
The æther all around with the loud mufic rings.

A feather'd native of the neighbourhood, The mufe, and harmless firen of the wood,

A nightingale,

SHERLOCK's Difcourfes, vol. i. page 271.