He went thence
to Chelsea, but did not remain there long, owing to some disagreement
with his parishioners, and returned to Basingstoke. In 1746, he published
a volume of Odes, and in the preface expressed his hope that it might
be successful as an attempt to bring poetry back from the didactic and
satirical taste of the age, to the truer channels of fancy and description.
The motive of this attempt was, however, more praiseworthy than its success
was conspicuous.
In 1748, Warton was presented by the Duke of Bolton to the rectory of
Winslade, and he straightway married a Miss Daman, to whom he had for
some time been attached. In the same year he began, and in 1753 he
finished and printed, an edition of Virgil in English and Latin. Of this
large, elaborate work, Warton himself supplied only the life of Virgil,
with three essays on pastoral, didactic, and epic poetry, and a poetical
version of the Eclogues and the Georgics, more correct but less spirited
than Dryden's. He adopted Pitt's version of the Aeneid, and his friends
furnished some of the dissertations, notes, &c. Shortly after, he
contributed twenty-four excellent papers, including some striking
allegories, and some good criticisms on Shakspeare, to the _Adventurer_.
In 1754, he was appointed to the living of Tunworth, and the next year
was elected second master of Winchester School.
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