His poetry has been praised at least equally to its merit. In "The
Dispensary" there is a strain of smooth and free versification; but
few lines are eminently elegant. No passages fall below mediocrity,
and few rise much above it. The plan seems formed without just
proportion to the subject; the means and end have no necessary
connection. Resnel, in his preface to Pope's Essay, remarks that
Garth exhibits no discrimination of characters; and that what any
one says might, with equal propriety, have been said by another.
The general design is, perhaps, open to criticism; but the
composition can seldom be charged with inaccuracy or negligence.
The author never slumbers in self-indulgence; his full vigour is
always exerted; scarcely a line is left unfinished; nor is it easy
to find an expression used by constraint, or a thought imperfectly
expressed. It was remarked by Pope, that "The Dispensary" had been
corrected in every edition, and that every change was an
improvement. It appears, however, to want something of poetical
ardour, and something of general delectation; and therefore, since
it has been no longer supported by accidental and intrinsic
popularity, it has been scarcely able to support itself.



ROWE.



Nicholas Rowe was born at Little Beckford, in Bedfordshire, in 1673.
His family had long possessed a considerable estate, with a good
house, at Lambertoun in Devonshire. The ancestor from whom he