ABSTRACT
I find it of that species of poetry, which Doctor Johnson calls Metaphysical, but which I should rather term Pseudo-physical (if I had as great a liccnce to coin words as the Doctor); for the Poets in vogue at that time thought it a test of excellence to combine true and natural images in a forced, a false, and unnatural manner. In this style Dr Donne appears to have been Dryden's archetype. With respect to the poem in question, he appears to aim at rivalling him not only in false wit and false thoughts, but in prosaic phrase, and unmetrical or ill-accented verses. In the former he even outstrips his master, as a young hound, got upon a wrong scent is said by huntsmen to throw himself more out of chace than an old one.
