and his poems show Thomson’s influence in expression and general conception. Such phrases as the “boundless majesty of day,” the “sun’s refulgent throne,” the “vernant showery bow profusive,” clouds of “ten thousand inconsistent shapes,” are suggestive. Here is a typical Thomsonian passage: What boundless tides of splendor o’er the skies, O’er flowing brightness! stream their golden rays! Heaven’s azure kindles with the varying dyes.[387] Or take this one: And what a prospect round Swells greenly grateful on the cherish’d eye; A universal blush, a waste of sweets![388] There are many other suggestions of Thomson in these “tender and florid” descriptions of “the beauties, the pleasures, and the loves” of spring. William Thompson is of importance in this study merely because he is one more poet who loved Nature, who wrote of her with enthusiasm, and who imitated Thomson. His chief use of Nature is in similitudes and in frequent enthusiastic summaries of the charms of Nature. Moses Mendes published in 1751 four poems named in imitation of Thomson, “Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter.” There is some first-hand observation in such lines as, The pool-sprung gnat on sounding wings doth pass And on the ramping steed doth suck his fill, or, The patient cow doth, to eschew the heat, Her body steep within the neighboring rill; but more often the observations are of the conventional imitative sort, as in this couplet: On every hill the purple-blushing vine Beneath her leaves her racy fruit doth hide, which is hardly true of an English scene. On the whole the passages in which Mendes treats of Nature, while rather fanciful and decorative, are not indicative of any real knowledge of Nature. Jago’s most important poems are “Edge Hill” (1767), “The Swallow” (1748), “The Blackbirds” (1753), and “The Goldfinches.” The last two are love stories of the birds named, each love story being disastrously ended by the cruelty of man in taking innocent life. “The Swallow” is an allegory of life and death. “Edge Hill” is notable for its pleasure in wide views which are minutely traced, and, alas, made “generally interesting by reflections, historical, philosophical, and moral.” The new note is struck by the exceptional frequency and evident appreciation with which the poet notes the mountains in the different views. Of “Dafset’s ridgy mountain,” he says, Like the tempest-driven wave, Irregularly great, his bare tops brave The winds. To the west Braids lifts his scarry sides, And Ilmington, and Campden’s hoary hills Impress new grandeur on the spreading scene, * * * * * While distant, but distinct, his Alpine ridge Malvern erects o’er Esham’s vale sublime.