[437] This essay contributed very much to establish the literary character of Mrs. Montagu, as a woman of taste and learning, and to vindicate Shakspeare from the sallies of the wit of Voltaire, who comprehended his genius as little as the immortal poem of the "Paradise Lost." It is well known how Young replied to his frivolous raillery on the latter work:—
"Thou art so witty, profligate, and thin,
At once we think thee Milton's Death and Sin."
[438] Mr. Hill.
[439] Private correspondence.
[440] Mr. Van Lier was a Dutch minister, to whom the perusal of Mr. Newton's works had been made eminently useful. We shall have occasion to allude to this subject in its proper place.
[441] These verses, "On Mrs. Montagu's Feather Hangings," are characterised by elegant taste and a delicate turn of compliment. We insert an extract from them, as descriptive of her evening parties in Portman-square, the resort of cultivated wit and fashion, and so frequently alluded to in the interesting Memoirs of Mrs. More.
To the same patroness resort,
Secure of favour at her court,
Strong genius, from whose forge of thought
Forms rise, to quick perfection wrought,
Which, though new-born, with vigour move,
Like Pallas, springing armed from Jove—
Imagination, scattering round
Wild roses over furrow'd ground,
Which Labour of his frowns beguile,
And teach Philosophy a smile—
Wit, flashing on Religion's side,
Whose fires, to sacred Truth applied,
The gem, though luminous before,
Obtrude on human notice more,
Like sun-beams, on the golden height
Of some tall temple playing bright—
Well-tutored Learning, from his books
Dismiss'd with grave, not haughty, looks,
Their order, on his shelves exact,
Not more harmonious or compact
Than that, to which he keeps confined
The various treasures of his mind—
All these to Montagu's repair,
Ambitious of a shelter there.
[442] Miss Theodora Cowper.
[443] General Cowper was nephew to Ashley Cowper.
[444] Private correspondence.