These Verses of Mr. _Waller_, on _Westminster-Abbey_ escaping a Fire, are finely imagined: _So Snow on_ Ætna _does unmelted lie, Whence rolling Flames, and scatter'd Cinders flie: The distant Country in the Ruin shares, What falls from Heaven the burning Mountain spares._ Tho' some of these _fine_ Thoughts are very nearly allied to the Noble, yet one may easily perceive, that there is not so much Dignity, tho' there may be as much Beauty in the One as in the Other. Thus also, as to delicate and agreeable Thoughts, they are as nearly related; but a Thing may be agreeable which is not delicate, tho' it cannot be delicate, but it must be agreeable: An agreeable Thought expresses it self entirely; a delicate One leaves something to the Readers Imagination which is very flattering. As in this beauteous old Verse of _Chaucer_'s, preserv'd in _Dryden_'s, _Palamon_ and _Arcite_: _Uprose the Sun, and uprose_ Emily. Had _Chaucer_ said, _Up rose the Sun_, and then _up rose Emily_ brighter than the Sun, _Emily_ and the Reader would have been entertain'd with only a common Complement; but now the Reader fills up the Thought himself, and imagines that the Sun rose to prepare the Way for something brighter than himself: _Up rose_ Emily. Mr. _Dryden_, in another place, _Now Day appears, and with the Day the King,_ imitates _Chaucer_, but the Delicacy is lost, for there is nothing more to be understood by it, as there is in this Couplet of his to the Dutchess of _Ormond_ upon her going to _Ireland_ before the late Duke, _As_ Ormond_'s Harbinger, to you they run, For_ Venus _is the Promise of the Sun._ There the Reader fills up the Comparison himself, and consequently cannot but be pleas'd, as we are apt to be, with every thing which we do our selves. The Delicacy of Thought is recommended to us by the _Spectator_, in this beautiful Passage out of _Milton_, where after the most dismal Prospect of Death, which the Heart of Man was ever terrify'd with, _Adam_ is presented with one of the gayest Scenes with which it ever was delighted. ------------_When from the Tents, behold A Beavy of fair Women richly gay, In Jems and wanton Dress. To the Harp they sang Soft amorous Ditties, and in Dance came on. The Men, tho' Grave, ey'd them, and let their Eyes Rove without Rein, 'till in the amorous Net First caught they lik'd, and each his liking chose. And now of Love they treat, till the Evening Star Love's Harbinger appear'd; then all in Heat They light the Nuptial Torch, and bid invoke_ Hymen: _Then first to Marriage Rights invok'd. With Feast and Musick, all the Tents resound; Such happy Interview, and fair Event Of Love and Youth not lost: Songs, Garlands, Flowers, And charming Symphonies attach the Heart Of_ Adam.--------