Poem. 'The work of a poet; a _metrical_ composition.' Poet. 'An inventor; an author of fiction; a writer of poems; one who writes in measure.' Poetess. 'A _she_ poet.' Poetry. '_Metrical_ composition; the art or practice of writing poems. 2. Poems, poetical pieces.' _To circumscribe poetry by a_ DEFINITION _will only shew the narrowness of the definer_[123]. Tragedy. 'A dramatic representation of a _serious_ action.' Comedy. 'A dramatic representation of the _lighter faults_ of mankind.' Eclogue. 'A pastoral poem, so called, because Virgil called his pastorals eclogues.' Tragic-comedy. 'A drama compounded of _merry_ and _serious_ events.' Farce. 'A dramatic representation written _without_ regularity.' Elegy. '1. A mournful song. 2. A funeral song. 3. A short poem, without points or turns.' Idyl. 'A small short poem.' Epigram. 'A short poem terminating in a _point_.' Epic, _a._ 'Narrative; comprising narrations, not acted, but rehearsed. It is usually supposed to be heroic.' Epistle. 'A letter;' and a letter again is 'an epistle.' Ode. 'A poem written to be _sung_ to music; a lyric poem.' Ballad. 'A song.' Song. 'A poem to be _modulated_ by the voice.' Catch. 'A song sung in _succession_.' I believe that Dr Johnson has written better verses than any man now alive in England. He is said to be the first critic in that country, and therefore we had the highest reason to expect elegant entertainment and philosophical instruction, when the poet and critic was to speak in his own character. But here, as in the rest of this work, the native vigour of his mind seems entirely to leave him. We look around us in vain for the well known hand of the Rambler, for the sensible and feeling historian of Savage, the caustic and elegant imitator of Juvenal, the man of learning, and taste, and genius. The reader's eye is repelled from the Doctor's pages, by their hopeless sterility, and their horrid nakedness. Most of the definitions in this work may be divided into three classes; the erroneous, oenigmatical, and superfluous. And of the nineteen last quoted, every one comes under some, or all of these heads. A poem is said to be the work of a _poet_: And so were Dryden's prefaces. Again it is _a metrical composition_. No age had ever a greater profusion of rhimes than the present. In Oxford there are two thousand persons all of whom can occasionally make verses. Yet in this abundance of _metrical composition_, we have very few poems. A poet is--1. '_An inventor_,' but so was Tubal Cain. 2. '_An author of fiction_,' but so was Des Cartes. 3. '_A writer of poems_;' but as he has not been able to point out what a poem is, the definition goes for nothing. 4. 'One who writes _in measure_.' But in Cowley's life, the Doctor himself speaks of men, who thought they were writing _poetry_, when they were only writing _verses_. We are still exactly where we set out.