[19] Joseph mentions as one of Spenser's characteristics, "a certain pleasing melancholy in his sentiments, the constant companion of an elegant taste, that casts a delicacy and grace over all his composition," "Essay on Pope," Vol. II. p. 29. In his review of Pope's "Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard," he says: "the effect and influence of Melancholy, who is beautifully personified, on every object that occurs and on every part of the convent, cannot be too much applauded, or too often read, as it is founded on nature and experience. That temper of mind casts a gloom on all things. "'But o'er the twilight grows and dusky caves,' etc." --_Ibid_, Vol. I. p. 314. [20] "The Grave," by Robert Blair. [21] The aeolian harp was a favorite property of romantic poets for a hundred years. See Mason's "Ode to an Aeolus's Harp" (Works, Vol. I. p. 51). First invented by the Jesuit, Kircher, about 1650, and described in his "Musurgia Universalis," Mason says that it was forgotten for upwards of a century and "accidentally rediscovered" in England by a Mr. Oswald. It is mentioned in "The Castle of Indolence" (i. xl) as a novelty: "A certain music never known before Here lulled the pensive melancholy mind"-- a passage to which Collins alludes in his verses on Thomson's death-- "In yon deep bed of whispering reeds His airy harp shall now be laid." See "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" I. 341-42 (1805) "Like that wild harp whose magic tone Is wakened by the winds alone." And Arthur Cleveland Coxe's (_Christian Ballads_, 1840) "It was a wind-harp's magic strong, Touched by the breeze in dreamy song," And the poetry of the Annuals _passim_. [22] _Cf._ the "Elegy": "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech," etc. [23] "On a Distant Prospect of Eton College." [24] "Hymn to Adversity" [25] "Ode on the Spring." [26] "Ward's English Poets," Vol. III. pp. 278-82. [27] "Eighteenth Century Literature," p. 233. [28] "Essay on Pope." [29] See _ante_, p. 114. [30] "Life of Collins." [31] Essay on "Pope." [32] Mr. Perry enumerates, among English imitators, Falconer, T. Warton, James Graeme, Wm. Whitehead, John Scott, Henry Headly, John Henry Moore, and Robert Lovell, "Eighteenth Century Literature," p. 391. Among foreign imitations Lamartine's "Le Lac" is perhaps the most famous. [33] "Mason's Works," Vol. I. p. 179. [34] _Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 114. [35] _Cf_. Keats' unfinished poem, "The Eve of St. Mark," [36] Parnell's collected poems were published in 1722. [37] Not the least interesting among the progeny of Gray's "Elegy" was "The Indian Burying Ground" of the American poet, Philip Freneau (1752-1832). Gray's touch is seen elsewhere in Freneau, _e.g._, in "The Deserted Farm-house." "Once in the bounds of this sequestered room Perhaps some swain nocturnal courtship made: Perhaps some Sherlock mused amid the gloom, Since Love and Death forever seek the shade."