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Rev. George Gilfillan, in his introductory essay to the 1865 edition of The poetical works, describes Shenstone as "this true but self-stunted Poet" and as " …possessed of great accomplishments, much true talent, and a distinct although narrow vein of poetic genius." Certainly Shenstone's contemporaries, apart from a small circle of close friends, seemed to be more impressed by his work in landscaping his estate at the Leasowes than by his poetry. There was a great deal of poetry: his first published work, The judgement of Hercules, appeared in 1740, and this was followed throughout the poet's relatively short life by the publication of works as varied as odes, elegies, ballads, and Latin inscriptions.
Inscriptions is a collection of classically inspired verses in English and of Latin texts, many of which were written originally to be placed in the surroundings of The Leasowes, the landscaping of which was Shenstone's primary interest and delight.
The full text of Inscriptions can be read online or downloaded free of charge. It is in XHTML format, like this page. Please note the file size is 15.8kb and it may take some time to open-up if you choose to read it online. Downloading for reading later may be the preferred option and this can be typically achieved by calling up an option box. If you have a mouse and it is configured for left click to select, right clicking the link may give you this option.
Even the critical Gilfillan admits Shenstone's gift for landscape design, and quotes at length from contemporary descriptions of the beauties of the grounds which had, by his own time, been "sadly changed". The interest for a modern reader in this collection is probably less in the Latin verses themselves, and more in the evocation of The Leasowes as Shenstone knew it, with Gothic seats and alcoves, urns, spreading beech trees, springs, obelisks, and statues. Mr. Graves, a college contemporary, describes a disagreement with Shenstone which led to their writing lines and rejoinders on the summerhouse wall, "till at last the ill-fated wall was scribbled from top to bottom." The lines in Inscriptions are more formal, and probably slightly less interesting than those original graffiti must have been.
Page created 13 December 2002 and last
updated 6 February 2003
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