The picture
of the storm is very fine; but in the handling of his verse there is more
of the artificial than of the romantic school.
_William Shenstone_, 1714-1763: his principal work is _The
Schoolmistress_, a poem in the stanza of Spenser, which is pleasing from
its simple and sympathizing description of the village school, kept by a
dame; with the tricks and punishment of the children, and many little
traits of rural life and character. It is pitched in so low a key that it
commends itself to the world at large. Shenstone is equally known for his
mania in landscape gardening, upon which he spent all his means. His
place, _The Leasowes_ in Shropshire, has gained the greater notoriety
through the descriptions of Dodsley and Goldsmith. The natural simplicity
of _The Schoolmistress_ allies it strongly to the romantic school, which
was now about to appear.
_William Collins_, 1720-1756: this unfortunate poet, who died at the early
age of thirty-six, deserves particular mention for the delicacy of his
fancy and the beauty of his diction.
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