': THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD Q^ HORATII FLACCI EPISTOLAE A D P I S O N E S, E T A U G U S T U M: W I TH AN ENGLISH COMMENTARY AND NOTES: TO WHICH ARE ADDED CRITICAL DISSERTATIONS. BY THE REVEREND MR. HURD. IN THREE VOLUMES. THE^FIFTH EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED. VOL. I. LONDON, PRINTED BY W. BOWYF.R AND J. NICHOLS : - FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND; AWT> J, WOODYER, AT CAMBRIDGE. M DCCl/XXY I, PA [ iii ] v,/ CONTENTS. V O L. I. INTRODUCTION On Epiftolary Writing. EPISTOLA AD PISONES : With an Englifh Commentary and Notes. VOL II. EPISTOLA AD AUGUSTUM : With an Englifh Commentary and Notes. DISSERTATION I. On the Idea of Univeffal Poetry. DISSERTATION II. On the Provinces of Dra- matic Poetry. V O L. III. D.-SSERTATION III. On Pccticai Imitation. DISSERTATION IV. On the Marks of Imitation. a 2 T O C v 3 T O SIR EDWARD LYTTELTON, BARr. DEAR SIR, HAVING reviewed thefe Sheets with fome care, I beg leave to put them into your hands, as a tefti- mony of the refpeft I bear you ; and, for the time that fuch things may have the fortune to live, as a monu- ment of our .friendfhip. a 3 You vi DEDICATION. You fee, by the turn of this ad- drefs, you have nothing to fear from that offenlive adulation, which has fo much dishonoured Letters. You and I have lived together on other terms. And I fhould be alhamed to offer you even fuch a trifle as this, in a manner that would give you a right to think meanly of its author. Your extreme delicacy allows me to fay nothing or" my obligations, which othervvife would demand my warmeft acknowledgments. For your conftant favour has followed me in all ways, in which you could contrive to exprefs it. And indeed I have never known any man more feniible to the good offices of his friends, and even to their good intentions, or more difpofed, by every proper method, to acknowledge them. But you much over-rate the little fervices, which it has been in my power to render to you. I had the i honour DEDICATION. vii ho'iour to be intruded with a part of your education, and it was my duty to contribute all I could to the fucceis of it. But the talk was eafv and plea- iant. I had only to cultivate that good fenfe, and thofe generous virtues, which you brought with you to the Univerfity, and which had already grown up to fome maturity under the care of a man, to whom we had both of us been extremely obliged ; and who povTeffed every talent of a perfect inftitutor of youth in a degree, which, I believe, has been rarely found in any of that profeilion, iince the days of Quinftilian. I wifh this fmall tribute of refpecl, in which I know how cordially you join with me, could be any honour to the memory of an excellent perfon [#], [#] The Reverend Mr. BUDV/ORTH, Head- Mafter of the Grammar School at BREWOOD, in Stafford 111 ire. He died in 1/45. viii DEDICATION. who loved us both, and was lefs known, in his life- time, from that oblcure iituation to which the caprice of fortune oft condemns the moft accomplilhed characters, than his higheft merit deferved. It was to cherifh and improve that tafte of polite letters, which his early care had inftilled into you, that you required me to explain to you the following exqurfite piece of the befl poet. I recoiled with pleafure how welcome this (light eflivy then was to you ; and am fecure of the kind re- ception you will now give to it ; im- proved, as I think it is, in fome re- fpe&s, and prefented to you in this public way. I was going to fay, how much you benefited by this poet (the fitted of all others, for the ftudy of a gentleman) in your acquaintance with his moral, as well as critical writings ; and how fuccefsfully you applied your- DEDICATION. ix yourfelf to every other part of learn- ing, which was thought proper for you But I remember my engage- ments with you, and will not ha- zard your difpleafure by faying too much. It is enough for me to add, that I truly refpedt and honour you ; and that, for the reft, I indulge in thofe hopes, which every one, who knows you, entertains from the ex- cellence of your nature, from the hereditary honour of your family, and from an education in which you have been trained to the fludy of the beft things. / am, DEAR SIR, ' Tour mojl faithful and rnojl obedient Servant, I'.v. AN-. COM.. CAME. jci,e n, 1757. R. HURD. INTRODUCTION. TT T is agreed on all hands, that the antients are our mailers in the art of competition. -*- Such of their writings, therefore, as deliver inilruftions for the exercife of this art, mull be of the higheft value. And, if any of them hath acquired a credit, in this refpec~t, fuperior to the reft, it is, perhaps, the following work: which the learned have long iince coniidered a"s a kind of fummary of the rules of good writing ; to be got- ten by heart by every young fludent ; and to whofe deciiive authority the greateil mailers in tafle and compoiition muil finally fubmit. But the more unqueilioned the credit of this poem is, the more it will concern the public, that it be juftly and accurately underilood. " The writer of thefe fheets then believed it might be of ufe, if he took fome pains to clear the fenfe, connect the method, and afcertairi the fcope and purpofe, of this admired epiille. Others, he knew indeed, arid fome of the fait fame for cri- tical learning, had been before him in this at- tempt. Yet he did not find h'imfelf prevented by their labours ; in which, befides innumeraUe VOL, L A lefier il INTRODUCTION. letter faults, he, more efpecially, obfervecl two inveterate errors, of fuch a fort, as muft needs perplex the genius, and diftrefs the learning, ef any commentator. The one of thefe refpe&s the SUBJECT ; the other, the METHOD of the Art of Poetry. It will be neceffary to lay fomcthing upon each. j. That the An of Poetry, at large, is not the proper fubjeft of this piece, is fo apparent, that it hath not efcaped the dulleft and leaft attentive of its criek*. For, however all the different kinds of poetry might appear to enter iato it, yet every one faw, that fame at leaft were very flightly considered: whence the frequent at- tempts, the artts ei iq/iiiutioxes pottica, of writers both at home and abroad, to fupply its deficien- cies. But, though this truth was feen and confefied, it unluckily happened, that the faga- city of his numerous commentators went no fur- ther. They ftill confidered this famous epiftle as a totttffiott, though not a j^/fow, of crhicifms on poetry in general ; with this conceffion however, that the ftage had evidently the largeft fliare in rt [^7]. Under the influence of this prejudice, feveral writers of name took upon them to com- ment and explain it : and with the fuccefs, which was to be expected from fo fatal a mif- [] Satyrs hsc eft in fui fseculi poetas, PR.-ECIPUE Tero in Romanum drama. Baxter. take 5 t N T R O D U C T t O ti. ifl take on fetting out, as the not feeing, " that the * c proper and fole purpofe of the author; was, tl not to abridge the Greek critics, whom he pro- " bably never thought of; nor to amufe himfelf " with compofing a fhort critical fyftem, for *< the general ufe of pdets, which every line of " it abfolutely confutes ; but, {imply to criticize " the ROMAN DRAMA." For to this end, not the tenor of the work only, but, as will appear, every fingle precept in it, ultimately refers. The mifchiefs of this original error have been long felt. It hath occafioned a conftant per- plexity in defining the general method, and irt fixing the import of particular rules. Nay its effects have reached ftill further. For conceiv- ing, as they did, that the whole had been com- pofed out of the Greek critics, the labour and ingenuity of its interpreters have been mifem- ployed in picking out authorities, which were not wanted, and in producing, or, more properly, by their ftudied refinements in creating, confor- mities, which were never defigried. Whence it hath come to pafsj that, inftead of inveftigat- ing the order of the poet's own reflexions, and fcrutinizing the peculiar ftate of the Roman ftage (the methods, which common fenfe and. common criticifm would prefcribe) the world hath been naufeated with infipid leftures on Ariflotle and Pbakreus ; whofe folid fenfe hath A 2 ben iv INTRODUCTION. been ib attenuated and fubtilized by the delicate operation of French criticifm, as hath even gone fome way towards bringing the art itielf into dilrepute. 2. But the wrong explications of this potm have arifen, not from the mifconception of the fubjeSl only, but from an inattention to the ME- f HOD of it. The latter was, in part, the genuine cOnfequence of the former. For, not fuipccYmg an unity of defign in the fubjecl, its interpre- ters never looked for, or could never find, a con- fiftency of difpoiition in the method. . And this was indeed the very block upon which HEIN- siusj and, before him, JULIUS SCALIGER, him- felf Humbled. Thefe illuftrious critics, with nil the force of genius, which is required to dif- cmbarrafs an involved fubjeft, and all the aids of learning, that can lend a ray to enlighten a dark one, have, notwithstanding, found them- felves Utterly unable to unfold the order of this epifclc ; infomuch, that SCALIGER \Ji\ hath boldly pronounced the conduft of it to be vici- cusj and HEINSIUS had no other way to evade the charge, than by recurring to the forced and uncritical expedient of a licentious tranfpofition. The truth is, they were both in one common error, That the poet'Js purpoie had been to write a criticifm of the art of poetry at large, and nor, [i] Pra-f. in UB. POET, et 1. vi. p. 338. i INTRODUCTION* v as is here fhewn, of the Roman drama in parti- cular. But there is fomething more to be ob- ferved, in the cafe of HEINSIUS. For, as will, be made appear in the notes on particular places, this critic did not pervert the order of the piece, from a fimple miftake about the drift of the fub- jeft, but, alfo, from a total inappreheniion of the genuine charm and beauty of the epijlolary method. And, becaufe I take this to be a principal caufe of the wrong interpretations, that have been given of all the epiftles of Horace; and it is, ia itielf, a point of curious criticifm, of which Jittle or nothing hath been faid by any good writer, I will take the liberty to enlarge upon it. THE EPISTLE, however various in its appear- ances, is, in fat, but of two kinds ; one of which may be called the DIDACTIC; the other, the ELEGIAC epiftle. By the FIRST I mean all thofe epiftles, whofe end is to injlruft ; whether the fubjeft be morals, politics, criticifm, or, in gene- ral, human life: by the LATTER, all thofe whofe end is to move ; whether the occafion be love, friend/hip^ jealoufy, or other private diftrefles. If there are fome of a lighter kind in Horace, and other good writers, which fcem not reducible to either of thefe two claffes, they are to be re- garded only, as the triflings of their pen, and deferve not to be confidered as making a third and diftinft fpecies of this poem, A 3 Now vi INTRODUCTION, Now thefe two kinds of the epijtle, as they differ widely from each other in their fubj 'eR and end) fo do they likewife in their original : though both fiourtjbed at the fame time, and are both wholly Roman. I. The former, or DIDACTIC epiftle, was, in faft, the true and proper offspring of the SA- TIRE. It will be worth while to reflel how this happened. Satire, in its origin, I mean in the rude fefcennine farce , from which the idea of this poem was taken, was a mere extemporane-* cms jumble of mirth and ill- nature. ENNIUS, who had the honour of introducing it under its new name, without doubt, civilized both, yet left it without form or method; it being only, in his hands, a rhap(bdy of poems on different fubjeeb, and in different meafures. Common fenfc dif- claiming the extravagance of this heterogeneous mixture, LUCILIUS advanced it, in its next ftep, to an unity of deftgn and metre ; which was fo confiderable a change, that it procured him the Uigh appellation of INVENTOR of this poem. Though, when I fay, that Lucilius introduced into fatire an unity of 'metre ', I mean only, in the fame piece ; for the meafure, in different fatires, appears to have been different. That the defign in him was we, I conclude, firjl^ Becaufe Ho r race exprefly inform* us, that the form or kind of writing in the fatires of Lucilius was ex- INTRODUCTION. via the fame with that in his own ; in which no one will pretend, that there is the leaft ap- pearance of that rhapfodical, detached form, which made the character of the old/afire. Bur, principally, becaufe, on any other fuppofition, it does not appear, what could give Lucilius a claim to that high appellation of INVENTOR of this poem. That he was the firji, who copied the manner of the old comedy in fatire, could ne- ver be fufficient for this purpofe. For all, that -he derived into it from thence, was, as Quinc- tiliau fpeaks, libertas atque inde acerbitas et abunde Jalis. It fharpened his invettive, and polifhed his wit, that is, it improved the air, but did not alter tlicform of the fatire. As little can a right to this title be pleaded from the uniformity of meafure, which he introduced into it. For this, without an unity of defign, is fo far from being an alteration for the better, that it even height- ens the abfwdity ; it being furely more reafon- able to adapt different meafujes to different fubje&s, than to treat a number of inconneted and quite different fufejets in the fame rueafure. When therefore Horace tells us, that Lucilius was the InvenUr bilofopbi& (tlvttlfei jninimequc inter fe cobuiJ? Equitlem quod de Artf fine arte trculita. And to the fame purpofe another great Critic; Non Jblum antiquorurn i5roO?x in morali- Iv.i hoc balufrc, ut axoX6i non Jlrvarent^ Jiil ftiant alia ek quilnfcunque rebus pra'cepta. Sic Eptftcla Horatii ad Pifones de Poetica perfctuum ordincm Jericmque 'NUL- J.AM babct ; fed ab uno praccpto ad aliud tranfilit, quam- vis NULL A Jit materr/e affi/iiteii ad fenfum conne^endam. [Salmafii Nor. in Epi^etum et Simplicium, p. 13. . Bat. 1640.] their INTRODUCTION. xv their ignorance 'of its real views under the cover of fuch abrupt and violent transitions, as might better agree to the impaffioaed -elegy y than to the fedate didattic epijlle. To fet this three-fold character, in the fulleft light, before the view of the reader, I have at- tempted to explain the Epijile to the Pifos, in the way of continued commentary upon it. And, that the coherence of the feveral parts may be the more diftinclly feen, the Commentary is rendered as concife as poffible; feme of the finer and lefs obvious connexions being more carefully obferved and drawn out in the notes. For the kind of interpretation itfelf, it mull be allowed, of all others, the fittefl to throw light upon a difficult and obfcure fubjecl, and, above all, to convey an exaft idea of the fcope and order of any work. It hath, accordingly, been fo considered by feveral of the foreign, par- ticularly the ITALIAN, critics; who have e- fayed long fince to illuftrate, in this way, the very piece before us. But the fuccefs of thefe foreigners is, I am fennble, a flender recom- mendation of their method* I chufe therefore to reft on the fmgle authority of a great author, who, in his edition of our Englifh Horace, the left that ever was given of any claffic, hath now retrieved and eftablifhed the full credit of it. What was the amufement of his pen, becomes* indeed* xvi .INTRODUCTION. indeed, the labour of inferior writers. Yet, on thefe unequal terms, it can be no difcrcdit to have aimed at fome refemblance of one of the leaft of thofe merit!, which fhed their united honours on the name of the illuftrious friend and commentator of Mr. POPE. Q. Q^ HORATII FLACCI ARS POETIC A, EPISTOLA AD PISONES. HUM A NO capiti cervicem piftor equinara Jungere fi velit, et varias inducere plumat Undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum Definat in pifcem mulier fomiofa fuperne ; Spe&atum admiffi rifum teneatis amici ? Credite, Pifones, ifti tabulae fore librum Pemnailem, cujus, velut aegri fomnia, vanae Fingentur fpecies ; ut nee pes, nee caput uni COMMENTARY. THE fubjeft of this piece being, as I fuppofe, onr t viz. the ftate of the Roman Drama, and common fenfe requiring, even in the freefr. forms of compofition t fome kind of method, the intelligent reader will not be furprized to find the poet profecuting his fubjeft in a regular, well-ordered plan ; which, for the more ex- a& defcription of it, I dilHnguifh into three parts : I. The firft of them [from 1. i to 89] is prepara- tory to the main fubjed of the epiftle, containing fome general rules and reflexions on poetry, ..but principally with an eye to the following parts : by VOL, I. B which * Q.. HORATII FLACCI Reddatur formae. Pidtoribus atque poetis Quidlibet audendi feinper fuit aeque poteftas : 10 Scimus, et hanc veniara petimufque damufqvie viciffini : Sed non ut pJacidis coeant inmkia ; non t COMMENTAR Y. which means it ferves as an ufeful introduction to the post's defign, and opens with that air of cafe and ne- gligence, eflential to the epiftolary form. II. The main body of the epiftle [from 1. 89 to 295] is laid out in regulating the Roman flage ; but chiefly in giving rules for tragedy ; not only as that v,is the fubHmer fpecies of the Drama, but, as it fhould feem, lefs cultivated ami underftood. III. The laA part [from!. 295 to the end] exhorts to corretfaefs in writing ; yet ftill with an eye, prin- cipally, to the dramatic fifcies: and is taken up partly in removing the caufes, that prevented it; and partly in diroTting to the ufe of fuch means, as might fervc to promote it. Such is the general plan of the epiflle. In order to enter fully into it, it will be neceflary to txacc the poet, attentively, through the elegant con- nexions of bis own method. PART I. CEN1RAL REFLEXIONS ON POETRY. THE epilrle begins [to I. 9] with that general and fundamental precept tff prejervittg an unity in tbt j'ubjfft and the diftiofition of the fi<\-g. This is further explained l>y defining the uie, and fixing the cha- of fruit incncc [from 1. 9 to 1^5] which unflcil- lut ARS POETIC A. 3 Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni. Inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna profeffis Purpureus, late qui fplendeat, untis et alter 15 Adfuitur pannus : curfi lucus, et ara Dianae, Et properantis aquae per amoenos ambitus agro, Aut flumen Rhenum, aut pluvius clefcribitur arcus; Sed nunc non erat his locus : et fortafle cu- prelTum Scis fiinulare : quid hoc, fi fra&is enatat exfpes 20 Navibus, aere dato qui pingitur ? amphora coepit Inftitui, currente rota, cur urceus exit ? Denique lit quidvis ; fimplex dumtaxat et unum. Maxima pars vatum, pater et juvenes patre digni, COMMENTARY, ful writers often plead in defence of their tranf- greffions againft the law of UNITY. To 1. 23 i confidered and expofed that particular violation of uniformity, into which young poets efpecially, under the impuUe of a warm imagination, are apt to run, arifing from frequent and ill-timed defci iptions.- Thefe, however beautiful in themfehes, and with whatever maftery they may be executed, yer, if fb- feign to the fubject, and incongruous to the place^ where they ftand, are extremely impertinent : a cau- tion, the more neceffafy, as the fault itfelf wears the appearance of a virtitt, and fo writers [from 1. 23 to 25] come to tranfgrefs the rule of right from their very ambition to oblerve it. There are two cafes, in which this ambition remarkably mifleads us, Tho; B z frjl 4 Q^HORATIIFL ACCI Decipimur fpecie reli. Brevis efle laboro, 25 Obfcurus fio : fe&antem lenia nervi Dcficiunt animique : profeffus grandia turget : Serpit humi tutus nimium timidufque procellae : Qui vaviare cupit rem prodigialiter unam, Delphinum filvis adpingit, flu&ibus aprum. 30 In vitium duck culpac fuga, fi caret arte. Aemilium circa ludum faber, unus et unguis Exprimet, et mollis imitabitur acre capillos j COM MB N TAR Y. fijl is, when it tempts us to pufli an acknowledged beauty too far. Great beauties are always in the confines of great faults ; and therefore, by affecYmg iuperior excellence, we are eafily carried into ab- furdiry. Thus [from 1. 2$ to 30] brevity is often obfeurity ; fublimity, bombaft ; caution, coolnefs j and, to come round to the point, a fondncfs for varying and Jiverjifying a fubjefty by means of epifodes and de- fcriptions, fuch as are mentioned above [1. 15] will often betray a writer into that capital error of violat- ing the unity of his piece. For, though variety be a real excellence under the conduct of true judgment, yet, when aftefted beyond the bounds of probability, and brought in folely to ftrikc and furprize, it becomes unfeafonuble and abfurd. The leveral epifodes or delcriptions, intended to give that variety, may be in- ferted in improper places ; and then the abfurdity is as great, as that of the painter, \vho according to the illuftnuion of 1. 19, 20, fhould introduce a cyprefs into a fea-piece, or, 'according to the illuftration of the prefent verfe, who paints a dolphin in a wood, or a boar in the fea. 2. Another ARS POETIC A, 5 Infelix operis, fumma : quia ponere totum Nefciet. hunc ego me, fi quid componere curem, Non magis effe velim ; quam nafo vivere pravo, Spe&andum nigris oculis nigroque capillo. Sumite materiam veftris, qui fcribitis, acquam Viribus ; et verfate diu, quid ferre recufent, 39 Quid valeant humeri. cui leta potenter erit res, Nee facundia deferet hunc, nee lucidus ordo, Ordinis haec virtus erit et venus, aut ego fallor ; '. - COMMENTARY. 2. Another inftance, in which we are mifled by ant ftmbitlon of attaining to iv6at is right, is, when, through an cxceffive fear of committing faults, we difqualify purfelves for the jufl execution of a ivbole, or of fuch particular s t as are fufceptible of real beauty. For not the affetation of fuperior excellencies only, but even In vitium Hue It culpae fa^ji caret arte. This is aptly illuftrated by the cafe of a fculptor. An over-fcrupulous diligence to finiih fingle and trivial parts in a ftatue, \vhich, when mofl exad, are only not faulty, leaves him utterly incapable of doing juflice to the more important members, and, above all, of defigning and completing a luhok with any degree of perfedion. But this latter is commonly the defect of a minute genius; who, having taken in hand a defign, which he is by no means able to exe- cute, naturally applies himfelf to labour and fiiiifti thofe parts, which he finds are within his power, ft is of coniequence therefore [from 1. 38 to 40] for every writer to be well acquainted with the nature B 3 ?nd Qi HORATII FLACCI Ut jam nunc dicat, jam nunc debentia dici Fleraque differat et praefens in tcmpus omittat. Hoc amet, hoc lpernat,promifli carminis auor.4 In verbis etiam tenuis cautufque fereqdis, Dixeris egregie, notum ii callida verbum Jleddiderit jun&ura novum. fi forte necefie eft Jndiciis monftrarc recentibus abdita rcrum ; Fingere cindlutjs non exaudita Cethcgis 50 COMMENTARY. and extent of his pwn talents : and to be careful to chufe a fubjeft, which is, in all its parts, proportioned to his ftrength and ability. Befides, from fuch an at- tentive furvey of his fubjeft, and of his capacity to treat it, he will alfo derive thefe further advantages [1.41]. I. That he cannot be wanting in a proper fund of matter, wherewith to inlarge under every head: nor, 2. can he fail, by fuch a well-weighed choice, to difpofe of his fubjeft in the beft and moft convenient method. Efpecially, as to the latter, which is the principal benefit, he will perceive [to 1. 45] where it uill be ufeful to preferve, and where to change, the natural order of his fubjccl, as may belt ferve to anfwer the ends of poetry. Thus far feme general reflexions concerning poeti- c'c, E/rgiaci Dramatic, and Lyric. ARS POETIC A. 9 Poft etiam inclufa eft voti fententia compos. Quis tamen exiguos elegos emiferit auftor, Grammatici certant, et adhuc fub judice lis eft. Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo. Hunc focci cepere pedem grandefque cothurni, 80 Altcrnis aptum fermonibus, et popularis Vincentem ftrepitus, et natuin rebus agendis. Mufa dedit fidibus Divos, puerofque Deorum, Et pugilem vi&orem, et equum certamine pri- mum, Et juvenum curas, et libera vina referre. 85 Defcriptas fervare vices operumque colores, Cur ego, fi nequeo ignoroque, poeta falutor ? Cur nefcire, pudens prave, quam difcere malo? Verfibus exponi tragicis res comica non volt : Indignatur item privatis ac pvope focco 90 ' Dignis carminibus narrari coena Thyeftae. Singula quaeqae locum teneant fortita decenlem. Interdum tamen et vocem comoedia tollit, ;i ,-.ltr: J> COMMENTARY. Lyric, But the diftin&ion of the meafures to be ob- ferved in the feveral Ipecies of poetry is fo obvious, that there can fcarcely be any miilake about them. The difficulty is to know [from 1. 86 to 89] how far, each may partake of the jpirit of other, without de- llroying that natural and neccjfaiy difference, which ought to fubfift betwixt them all. To explain this, which is a point of great nicety, he confiders [from 1. 89 to 99] .the cafe of dramatic poetry; the two 3 fpecies 10 QiHORATIIFLACCI Jratufque Chremes tumido dilitigat ore. Et tragicus plerumque dolet fermone pedcftri. 95 Telephus aut Peleus, cum pauper et exul uterquc, Projicit ampullas et fefquipedalia verba, Si curat cor fpeftantis tetigilfe querela. Non fatis eft pulchra eflTe poemata ; dulcia funto, Et quocunque volent, animum auditoris agunto. Ut ridentibus adrident, ita flentibus adflent COMMENTARY. fpecies of which are as diftinft from each other, as any two can be ; and yet there are times, when the fea- tures of the one will be allowed to refemble thofe of the other. For, i. Comedy, in the padionate part*, will admit of a tragic elevation : and, z. Tragedy, in its foft diftrefsful fcenes, condefcends to the eafe of familiar converfation. But the poet had a further view in chufmg this inftance. For he gets by thi means into the main of his fubje&, which was dra- matic poetry, and by the mod delicate tranfition ima- ginable, proceeds [from 1. 89 to 323] 19 deliver a feries of rules, interfperfed with historical accounts, and enlivened by digreflions, for the regulation and im- provement of the ROMAN STAGE. FART II. BISECTIONS FOR THE REGULATION AND IMPROVE- MENT OF THE ROMAN STAGE. HAVING fixed the diftinft limits and provinces of the two fpecies of the drama, the poet enters di- reftly on his fubje&, and confiders, I. [from 1. 99 to ARS POETICA. n Human! voltus. fi vis me flere, dolendum eft Primum ipfi tibi : tune tua me infortunia laedent. Telephe, vel Peleu, male fi mandata loqueris, Aut dormitabo, aut ridebo. triftia moeftpm 105 Voltum verba decent; iratum, plena minarum Ludentem, lafciva; feverum, feria diftu. Format enim Natura prius nos intus ad omnem Fortunarum habitum ; juvat, aut impellit ad iram, Aut ad humum moerore gravi deducit, ct angit : Poft effert animi motus interprete lingua, Si dicentis erunt fortunis abfona dila, Roman! tollent equitefque patrefque chachinnum, Intererit multum, Divufne loquatur, an heros; Maturufne fenex, an adhuc fiorente juventa 115 Fervidus ; et matrona potens, an fedula nutrix ; Mercatorne vagus, cultorne virentis agelli ; Colchus, an AfTyrius ; Thebis nutritus, an Argls, COMMENTARY. 119] the properties of the TRAGIC STYLE; which will be different, i. [to 1. in] according to the internal Jiate find cbarafier of the fpeaker : thus one fort of expreffipn will become the titigry^ another, the forrowful ; (his, the gay, that, the Jevere. And, 2. [from 1. ill to 119] according to the outward cir- cuinftances of rank, age, office, or country. II. Next [to 1. 179] he treats of the CHARACTERS, ivhich are of two forts, i. Old ones, revived; and 2 Invented^ or nnv ones. In relation to the firjl [from 1. 119 12 QiHORATIIFLACCI Aut famara fequere, aut fibi convenientia ring?, Scriptor. Homercum fi forte rcponis Achillem ; Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer, Jura neget fibi nata, nihil non arroget armis. Sit Medea ferox inviftaque, flebilis Ino, Perfidus Ixion, lo vaga, triftis Oreftes. Si quid inexpertum fcenae committis, et aucles 125 Perfonam formare novam ; fervetur ad imum Qualis ab incepto procefTerit, et fibi conftet. t)ifficile eft proprie communia dicere : tuque Re&ius Iliacum carmen deducis in a&us, Quam fi proferres ignota indi&aque primus. 130 Publica materies privati juris erit, li Non circa vilem patulumque moraberis orbem ; Nee verbum verbo curabis reddcre fidus Interpres ; nee defilies imitator in artum, Undc pedem proferrc pudor vetet aut operis lex. COMMENTARY. 1. 119 to 125] the precept is, to follow fame ; that is, to fafliion the charader according to the received flanding idta, which tradition and elder times have confecrated ; that idea being the fole teit, whereby to judge of it. 2. In refpect of the latter [from 1. 12510 128] the great requifite is uniformity, or con- (iftony of ref>refentation. But the formation of quite new characters is a work of great difficulty and ha- zard. For here, there is no generally received and fixed archetype to work after; but every one judges, ot common right, according to the extent and comprc- benfiog ARS POETIC A. 13 Nee fie incipies, ut fcriptor cyclius olim : FORTUNAM PRIAMI CANTABO, ET NOBILE BELLUM. Quid dignum tanto feret hie promiflbr hiatu ? Parturiunt montes : nafcetur ridiculus mus. Qiianto re&ius hie, qui nil molitur inepte ! 140 DlC MIHI, MUSA, VIRUM, CAPTAE POST MOE- NIA TROJAE, Qui MORES HOMINUM MULTORUM VIDET ET URBIS. Non fumum ex fulgore, fed ex fumo dare lucem Cogitat, ut fpeciofa dehinc miracula promat, Antiphaten, Scyllainque, et cum Cylope Charyb- din. 145 COMMENTARY. henfion of his own idea. Therefore [to I. 136] he advifes to labour and refit old characters and fuljels - t particularly thofe, made known and authorized by the practice of Homer and the epic writers ; and directs, at the fame time, by what means to avoid thatjervitity and unoriginal air, fb often charged upon fuch pieces. I faid characters and fubjefls ; for his method leading him to guard againft fervility of imitation in point of characters , the poet chofe to difpatch the whole affair of Jervlle imitation at once, and therefore [to 1. 136} includes fubjcRs, as well as characters. But this very advice, about taking the fubjefts and characters from the epic poets, might be apt to lead into two faults, arifing from the ill conduct of thofe poets Nee reditum Diomedis ab interim Meleagri, Nee gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo : Semper ad eventum feftinat ; et in medias res, Non fecus ac notas, auditorem rapit : et quae Defperat traftata nitefcere polTe, relinquit : 156 Atque ita mentitur, lie vcris falfa remifcet, Primo ne medium, medio ne difcrepct imum. COM MENTARY. poets themfelves. For, i. [101.146] the dignity and importance of a fubjeft, made facred by ancient fame, Had fometimes occalioned a boaitful and oftentatioiu beginning, than which nothing can be more often- five. And, i. The whole ftory being compofed of great and ftriking particulars, injudicious writers, for fear of lofing any part of it, which might ferve to adorn their work, had been led to follow the round of flain hiftoric ordtr^ and fo had made the difpofition of their piece vninterefting and unartful. Now bofu' thefe improprieties, which appear fo Shocking in the ificpoem, muft needs, with ftill higher reafon, deform the tragic. For, taking its rife, not from the flatter- ing views of the /to/, but the real fituation of the attor, its opening muft, of neceflity, be very fimple and un- pretending. And being, from its fhort term of ac- tion, unable naturally to prepare and bring about many events, it, of courfe, confines itfelf to one ; as *Ifo for the lake of producing a due diftrefe in the plot; which can never be wrought up to any trying pitch, unlefs the whole attention be made to fix on we fingle object. The way to avoid both thefe faults, wilf ARS POET 1C A. * Tu, quid ego et populus mecum defideret, audi ; Si fautoris eges aulaea oianentis, et ufque SeiTuri, donee cantor, Vos> plaudite, dicat : 15$ Aetatis cujufque notandi funt tibi mares, Mobilibufque decor naturis dandus et annis. Reddere q\ii voces jam fcit puer, et pede certo Signal hurnnm ; geftit paribus colludere, et iram COMMENTARY. will be to obferve (for here the imitation cannot be too k>fe) the well-judged praftice of Homer. Having thus confider-ed the affair of intitatiott y and fhewn how old characters, and, to carry it flill further, U fubje&s,, may be fuccefsfully treated, he refumes the head of characters, and proceeds more fully [from 1. 153 to 179] to recommend it as a point of-principal concern in the drawing of them, to be well acquaint- ed with the manners, agreeing to the feveral fuc- ceflive periods and fiages of human life. And this with propriety : for though he had given a hint to this purpofe. before,, RfaturufntfentX) an adbuc florente juventa: yet, as it is a point of fingular importance, and gard to //, befides other diftindtions, muft be conflantly had in the draught of every character, it well deferred * feparate confideration. III. Thefe inftru&ions, which^ in fome degree, re- (peft all kinds of poetry, being difmifled; he now delivers (bme rules more peculiarly relative to the caifc of the dram. And* as the wtifapplication A&oris partes chorus, officiumque virile Defendat : neu quid medics intercinat aus, Quod non propofito conducat et haereat apte. ig$ Ille bonis faveatque et conlilietur amice, Et regat iratos, et amet pacare tumentis : Ille dapes laudet menfae brevis, ille (alubrem COMMENTARY. NeKt, 2. In purfuance of the fame point, viz. prola* billty [to 1. 193] he retrains the ufe of machines ; and prefcribes the number of atfs, and ofperfoas, to be in- troduced on the flage at the fame time. And, 3. laftly, ti\eperfma dramatis, juft mentioned, fuggefting it to hifi thoughts, he takes occafion from thence to pafa on to the chorus [from 1. 193 to 202] whofe double office it was, i. To fuftain the part viz. perfona dramatis in the ats ; and, 2. To connect the afts with VOL, I. C fongs, i8 CX HORATII FLACCI Juftitiam, legcfque, et apertis otia portis : Ille tegat conmiila, Deoique precctur et oret, 200 Ut redeat miieris, abcat fortuna fuperbis. Tibia uon, ut nuac, orichalco, jun&a, tubneque Aemula; led tenuis, limplexque foramine pauco, Afpirare et adefle choris erat utilis, atquc Nondu'm fpiifa nimis conplere fedilia flam : 205 Quo fane populus numerabilis, utpote parvus Et frugi caftufque verecundufque coibat. Poftquam coepit agros extendere vi<5tor, et urbeni Laxior amplefti murus, vinoque diurno Placari Cienius feftis inpune diebus ; 2io Acccffit numerifque modilque licentia major, ladoftus quid cairn faperet liberque laborum, COMMENTARY. fongs, perfuaJing to good morals, and fuitable to the fubjeft. Further, tragedy being, originally, nothing more than a chorus or Cong, fet to mufic^ from which practice the harmony of the regular chorus m after- limes had its rife, he takes occafion to digrefs [from l 202 to 220] in explaining the iimplicity and bav- barity of the olcis, morataque COMMENTARY. in other words, a wide, extenfive view of real, prafti- cal life. The joint direction of thefe two, as means of acquiring moral knowledge, was perfectly neceflary. For the former, when alone, is apt to grow abftracled and unaffecting: the latter, uninttructing and fuper- ficial. The philofopher talks without experience, and the man of the world without principles. United, they fupply each other's defects ; while the man of the world borrows fo much of the philofopher, as to be able to adjuft the feveral fentiments with precifiort and exa6lnefs ; and the philofopher fo much of the man of the world, as to copy the manners of life (which we can only do by experience) with truth and fpirit. Both together furnifh a thorough and complete comprehenlion of human life; which, mani- fefting itfelf in ihejitft and affetfing, forms that ex- quifite degree of perfection in the character of the dramatic poet; the want of which no warmth of genius can atone for, or excufe. Nay fuch is die tbrce of this nice adjuftment of manners [from 1, 319 to *5 Q^HORATIIFLACCI Fabula, nullius veneris, fine pondere et arte, 320 Valdius oble&at populum, meliufque moratur, Quam verfus inopcs reruin, nugaeque cancrac. Grails ingcnium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo Mufa loqui, praeter laudem, nullius avaris, Rofnani pueri longis rationibus aiTcm 32 lan, the moft momentous and difficult of all the offices of invention, and which is more imme- diately addrefled, in the high and fublime fenfe of the word, to the PolT. 2. It is no trivial -whole, which the Precept had in view, but, as the context fhews, and as is further apparent from 1. 150, where this topic is refumed, and treated more at large, the epos and the drama. With what propriety then is a rule of fuch dig- nity inforced by that ftrong emphatic conclufion, Hoc amet, hocfpernat, promijji car minis auftor : j. e. " Be this rule held facred and inviolate by *< him, who hath projected and engaged in a t6 work, deferving the appellation of a poem." Were the fubjedl only the choice or invention of words, the folemnity of fuch an application muft be ridiculous. As for the conftru&ion, the commoneft reader can find himfelf at no lofs to defend it agauut the force of the Doctor's objections. 46. IN VERB1S ETIAM TENUIS, &C.] I have faid, that thefe preparatory obfervations, concern- ing an unity of defign, the abufe of language, and the different colourings of the feveral fpecies of poetry, whilft they extend to poetic compofition at large, more particularly relpeft the cafe of the drama. Thefrji of thefe articles has been illuf- trate4 4 S NOTES ON THE trated in note on I. 34. The lajl will be con- lidered in note, 1. 73. I will here flicw the fame ol\\\zfecondj concerning the abufe of words. For, 1. the ftyle of the drama reprefenting veal life, and demanding, on that accounr, a peculiar cafe and familiarity in the language, the practice of coining new words muft be more infufterable in this, than in any other fpccies of poetry. The majefty of the epic will even fometimes require to be fupported by this means, when the com- moneft car would refcnt it, as downright affec- tation upon the ftage. Hence the peculiar pro- priety of this rule to the dramatic writer, In verbis etiam tennis cautufqite ferendis* 2. Next, it is necefTary to keep the tragic ftyle, though condefcending, in fome fort, to the fa- miliar caft of converfation, from finking bcncatli the dignity of the pcrfonages, and the folcmnity of the reprefentation. Now no expedient can more happily effect this, than what the poet pre- fcribes concerning the psjition and derivation of words. For thus, the language, without incur- ring the odium of abfolutely invented terms, fuftains itfelf in a becoming flatelinefs and re- lerve, and, whilft it lecms to ftoop to the level of converfation, artfully eludes the meannefs of a trite, profaic ftyle. There are wonderful in- ilanc.es of this management in the Samfen Ago- ART OF POETRY, 49 niftes of Milton ; the moft artificial and highly finifhed, though for that reafon, perhaps, the le,aft popular and moft negledted, of all the great poet's works. 47. DlXERIS EGREGIE, NOTUM SI CALLIDA VERBUM REDDIDERIT JUNCTURA NOVUM.-^] This direction, about difpojing of old words in fuch a manner as that they fhall have the grace of new ones, is among the fmeft in the whole poem. And becaufe Shakefpeare is he, of all our poets, who has moft fuccefsfully pra&ifed this fecret, it may not be amifs to illuftrate the precept before us by examples taken from his writings. But firft it will be proper to explain the pre- cept itfelf as given by Horace. His critics feem not at all to have appre- hended the force of it. Dacier and Sanadon, the two beft of them, confine it merely to the formation of compound words ; which, though one way in which this callida junftura fhews itfelf, is by no means the whole of what the poet in- tended by it. Their miftake arofe from interpreting the word junftura too ftri&ly. They fuppofe it to mean only the putting together two words into one ; this being the moft obvious idea we have of the join- ing of words. As if the moft literal conftruftion VOL. I. E of 5 o NOTES O NT HE of terms, according to their etymology, were al- ways the moft proper. But Mr. Dacier has a reafon of his own for confining the precept to this meaning. " The quelVion, he lays, is de verbis ferendis ; and therefore this junRura muft be explained of new words, properly fo called, as compound epithets '.are; and not of the grace of novelty which finale words feem to acquire from the art of clif- poiing of them." By which we undcrftarid, that the learned critic did not perceive the icopc of his author ; which was manifeftly this. " The invention of " new terms, fays he, being a matter of much *' nicety, I had rather you would contrive to <; employ known words in fuch a way as to give " them the effect of new ones. It is true, new " words may fometimcs be ncccfTary : And if " fo," &c. Whence we lee that the line, In verb'n ciiam tennis cautufque firendis, is not given here in form as the general rule, and the following line, as the example. On the other hand, the rule is juft mentioned carelefly and in pafling, while the poet is haftening to another confederation of more importance, and which he even oppofes to the former. " Inftead " of making new words, you will do well to " confine yourfelf merely to old ones." What- ART OF POETRY. 51 ever then be the meaning of junRura, it is clear \ve are not to explain it of fuch words as exem- plify the rule de verbis ferendis. But junftura will be beft interpreted by the ufage of Horace together with the context', i. The word occurs only once more in this poet, and that in this very Epiftle. It is where he advifes a conduct with regard to the fubjefi- matter of a poem, analogous to this concerning the language of it. Ex noto fi Slum carmen fequar tanturn fsries junfluraque pallet. 1. 242. Does" he mean the joining two fubjefls together and combining them into one, fo as that the compound fubject fhall be a new one ? No fuch thing ; " The fubject, fays he, fhall be a known, an old one. Yet the order, management, and contrivance, fhall be fuch as to give it the air of an original fiction." Apply now this fenfe of juntfvra to words ; and we are only told, that expreffion, may be fo ordered as to appear new, when the words, of which it is made up, are all known and common. We have then the authority of the poet him- felf againft the opinion of the French critic. But we have alfo the authoriry of his great imi- tator, or rather interpreter, Perfius ; who, ipeak- ing of the language of his fatires, fays, in allu- fion to this paffage of Horace, E 2 52 N O T E S O N T H " Vtrba toga fequeris, junftura callidus am. S. v. 14.. i. e. he took up with words of common and fa- miliar ufe, but contrived to bring them into his ftyle in fuch a manner as to give them the force,, ipirit, and energy, of fatiric expreflion." 2. Again : the context, as I obfcrved, leads- us to this meaning. The poet in 1. 42. had been giving his opinion of the nature and effeftr of method^ or orderly difpofition in the condud\ of a fable. The courfe of his ideas- carries him to apply the obfervation to words ; which he immediately does, only interpofing 1. 46. by way of jntrodu&ion to it. On the whole then junftura is a word of large and general import, and the fame in exprefllon, as crder or difpofition, in zfubjefl. The poet would fay, " Inftead of framing new words, I recom- mend to you any kind of artful management by which you may be able to give a new air and caft to old ones." Having now got at the true meaning of the precept, let us fee ho\V well it may be exempli- fied in the pralice of Shakeipeare. K The firft example of this artful management, if it were only in complaifance to former coiu- mentators > A -R T O T P O E T R Y. 53 inentators, fhall be .that of .compound epithets i of which fort ;are, High-figged tyranny J. C. A. II. S. 2. jf barren-fpirited fellow A. iy. S. n. An arm-gaunt Jlted A. .C. A. I. S. 6. Floivcr-foft bands A. u. S. 3. Lazy-pacing clouds .R. J. A. U.S. 2. -and a thoufancUnftances mare in this poet. But this is a fmall part of his crafty as may be fecn by what follows. For this end is attained, 2. By -another form of compaction,; by com- pound verbs as well as compound .adjective*. To candy .and limn are known words. The ; poet would exprefs the contrary ideas, and he .does it happily, by compounding them with our Englifh negative dis., r- The heart* That pantler'd me. at heels, to whom I gaye Their wifhes, to discandy, melt their fweets .On bloffoming Csiar A. C. A. IY. .S. gu That which is now a horfe, ev'n with a thought The rack dislimns, and makes it indiflinft As water is in water A. C. A. iv. S. IQ. Though here we may obferve, that for the readier acceptation of thefe compounds, he Art- fully fubjoins the explanation. ^ 3 3- % 54 N O T E S O N T H E 3. By a liberty he takes of converting ful- Jiantives into verbs ; A glafs \&&t featured them. Cymb. A. i. S. I. Simon's weeping Did fcandal many a holy tear A. in. S. 4. Great griefs, I fee, medicine the lefs. A. iv. S. 5. that kits I carried from thee, Dear ; and my true lip Hath virgin d it e'er fince Cor. A. v. S. j. Or verbi \\-ftofubJlantives ; Then began ' A ftop i' th' chafer, a Retire Cymb. A. v. S. 2. take No ftri&er render of me A, v. S. 3. handkerchief Still waving, as the fits undjlirs of's mind Could beft exprefs Cymb. A. i. S. 5. Scxtus Pompeius Hath giv'n the dare to Caefar A. C. A. i. S. 3. 4. By ufmg aflhe verbs neutrally. He hath fought to-day As if a god in hate of mankind had Dejfiroy'cly in fuch a ihape A. C. A. iv. S. 6. Jt is the bloody bufinefs, that informs Thus to mine eyes Macb. A. u. S. 2. And neutral verbs actively. never man Sigh'd truer breath ; but that I fee thee here, Thou ART OF POETRY. 55 Thou noble thing ! more dances my rapt heart Than when I firft my wedded miftrefs law Beftride my threfhold Cor. A. iv. S. 4. like fmiling Cupids', With divers-colour'd fans, whole wind did feem To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool A. C. A. ii. S. 3. ' 5. By converting jtt8*oii into Subftanfives. I do not think So fair an outward and fuch ft ufF within Endows a man but him Cymb. A. i. S. i. 6. By converting Participles into Subftaptiyes. He would have well become this place, and grac'd The (bankings of a King Cymb. A. v. S. 5. The herbs, that have in them cold dew o' th' night Are Brewings fitt'ft for Graves A. iv. S. 5. Then was I as a tree Whofe boughs did bend with fruit. But, in one night, A ftorm, or robbery, call it what you will, Shook down my mellow hangings Cymb. A. in. S. 3, Comes in my father, And like the tyrannous breathing of the North Shakes all our Buds from blowing Cymb. A. i. S. 5. E 4 Which 56 NOTES ON THE Which laft inflance I the rather give for the fake of propofmg an emendation, which I think reftores this fine pafiage to its integrity. Before the late edition of Shakefpeare it flood thus, And like the tyrannous breathing of the North Shakes all our Buds from growing But the fagacious Editor faw that this reading was corrupt, and therefore altered the laft word, growing, for unanfwerable reafons, into blowing. See Mr. W.'s note upon the place. This flight change gives propriety and beauty to the pafiage, which before had no fort of meaning. Yet ftill all is not quite right. For, as the great Critic himfelf obferves, " Breathing is not a very pro- per word to exprefs the rage and bluffer of the north wind." Befides, one does not fee how thefoaking of thefe Buds is properly nffigned as the caufe of their not blowing. The wind might (hake off the blifloms of a fruit-tree, i. e. the Buds when they were full-blown \ but fo long as the blofibm lies folded up in the Bud, it feems fecure from fhaking. At leaft t\\e flaking is not the immediate caufe of the efTecl, fpoken of; it is limply the cold of the north-wind that clofes the Bud and keeps it from blowing. I am therefore tempted to propofe another alteration of Jthe text, and to read thus, 5 And ART OF POETRY. 57 And like the tyrannous Breathing of the North Shuts all our Buds from blowing If this corre&ion be allowed, every thing is per- fe&ly right. It is properly the breathing, the cold breath of the North, that fhuts up the Buds when they are on the point of blowing. Whence the epithet tyrannous will be underftood not as implying the idea of bluflering (an idea indeed neceflary if we retain the word foakes) but {imply of cruel, the tyranny of this wind con- lifting in imprifoning the flower in its Bud, and denying it the liberty of coming out in Bloffbm* The application too of this comparifon, which required the change of growing into blowing, fcems alfo to require the prefent alteration of flakes. For there was no manner of violence in the father's coming in upon the lovers. All the cffecl: was, that his prefence retrained them from that interchange of tender words, which was going to take place between them. Thus far I had written in the laft edition of thefc notes, and I, now, fee no caufe to doubt the general truth and propriety of this ^emenda- tion. Only it occurs to me that, inftead of SHUTS, the poet's own word might, perhaps, be- en ECKS ; as not only being more like in found to the word./Mtf; but as coming nearer to the S 8 NOTES ON THE traces of the letters. Befnles, CHECKS gives the precife idea we fhould naturally look for, whether we regard the integrity of \\\z figure tyrannous -checks , or the thing illuflrated by it, viz. the abrupt coming in of the father, which was properly a check upc^i the lovers. Laftly, the ejcprcffion is mended by this reading; for, though we may be allowed to f$y fiats from Mowing, yet checks from blowing, is eafier and better Englifh. But to return to other inflances of the poet's artifice in the management of known words. An apparent novelty is fometimcs affected. 7. By turning Participles into Adverbs -- tremblingly file flood And on the fudden dropt A. C. A. v. S. 5. (One remembers the iinc ufe Mr. Pope lias nude of this word in, Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er ) - But his flaw'd heart, Alack, too weak the conflict to fupport, 'Twixt two extremes of paffion, joy and grief, Lear, A. v. S. 8. 8. By figurative terms, i. e. by fuch terms as though common in the plain, are unufual in the figurative application. This A R T O F P O E T R Y. 59 This common body Like to a vagabond flag, upon the ftream, Goes to, and back, lacquying the varying tide. A. C. A. i. S. 5. When fnow the pafture Jheets. ib. To this head may be referred thofe innume- rable terms in Shakefpeare which furprize us by their novelty ; and which furprize us generally, on account of his preferring the fpecific idea to the general in the fubjefls of his metaphors, and the circumflances of his defer iption ; an excel- lence in poetical exprefllon which cannot be fufficiently ftudied. The examples are too fre- quent, and the thing itfelf too well underftood, to make it neceffary to enlarge on this article. 9. By plain words, i. e. fuch as are common in the figurative, uncommon in the literal accep- tation. Difafters vaii'd the fun Ham. A. i. S. i. See the note on the place. Th' extravagant and erring fpirit hies To his confine ib. Can't fuch things be And overcome us, like a fummer's cloud, Without our fpecial wonder ? Macb.'A. in. S. 5. 10. By 60 N O T E S O N T H E lO. By tranfpofitien of words unauthorized uje of term* and ungramtnatical conjlruttion. I ra- diances in all his plays, pajjtm. jr. By foreign idioms. It is true thefc are not frequent in Shakefpear. Yet fome Latin- jfms, and even Grccifms we have. As Quenched of hope Cymb. A. v. S. $, And the like. But, which is more remark- able, and fervcd his purpofe juft as well, the rvriters of that time had fo latinized the Engliik language, that the pure Engtijk Idiom, which Shakefpeave generally follows, has all the air of novelty which other writers arc ufed to affcft by a foreign phrafeology. The reader fees, it were cafy to extend this lift of Shakefpcare's arts in the tallida junftura much farther. But I intended only a fpecimen of them ; fo much as might ferve to illuftrate the rule of Horace. It is enough, that we have now a perfect appreheniion of what is meant by CALLIDA JUNCTURA ; and that it is, in effecl, but ano- ther word for licentious exprejjion : the ufe of which is, as Quintilian well expreflfes it, " Ul quotidiani et femper eodem modo formati fermtnis fajlidlinn levet, et noi a vulgari ditendi gener dtftndat" In fhorr, the articles here enume- rated, ART OF POETRY. 61 rated, are but fo many ways of departing from the ufual and firnpler forms of fpeech, without neglefring too much the grace of eafe and per- fpicuity ; in which well-tempered licence, one of the greater!: charms of all poetry, but efpe- eially of Shakefpeare's poetry, confifts ; not that he was always and every where fo happy, as m the inffonces- given above. His expreffion fome- times, and by the very mean* here exemplified, becomes bard^ obfcure, and unnatural. This i* the extreme on the other fide. But in genera?, we may fay, that he hath either followed the dire&ion of Horace very ably, or hath hit upon his rule very happily. We are not perhaps to exped the fame ability, or good fortune, from others. Novelty is a charm which nothing can excufe the want of, in works of entertainment. And the neceffity of pre- venting the tedium arifing from hacknied *x- prejfion is fo inftant, that thofe who are neither capable of prefcribing to themfelves this rule- of the callida juntfura, or of following it when prefcribed by others, are yet inclined to ape it by fome fpurions contrivance ; which being flight in itfelf will foon become liable to excefs, and ridiculous by its abfurdity. I have a rc^- oiarkable inftance in view, with which the reader will not be difpleafed that I conclude this long notf^ About- 62 NOTES ON THE About the middle of the laft century, one of the moft common of thefe mimic efforts was the endlefs multiplication of epithets ; which foon made their poetry at once both ftiff and nerve- Icfs. When frequent and exceffive ufc had made this expedient ridiculous as well as cheap, they tried another, its very oppofite, the rejection of all epithets ; and fo of languid poetry, made rigid profe. This too had its day. A dramatic poet of that time has expofed thefe oppofite follies with much humour. A character of fenfe and pleafantry is made to interrogate a poetafter in the following manner. G O L D S W O R T H. MafterCAPERwir, before you read, pray tell me, Have your verfes any ADJECTIVES ? CAPER WIT. Adjectives ! Would you have a poem without Adjeftives ? They are the flow'rs, the grace of all our language ; A well-chofen Epithete doth give new Soule To fainting Poefie ; and makes everye verfe A Bribe. With adjecYives we baite our lines, When we do fifh for Gentlewomen's loves, And with their fweetnefs catch the nibbling ear Of amorous Ladies : With the mufic of Thefe ravifhing Nouns, we charm the filken tribe, i And ART OF POETRY. 63 And make the Gallant melt with apprehenfion Of the rare word : I will maintain 't (againil A bundle of Grammarians) in Poetry The Subftantive itfelf cannot fubfift Without an Adje&ive. GOLDS WORT H. But for all that, Thcfe words would found more full, methinks, that are not So larded : and, if I might counfel you, You fhould compofe a Sonnet, cleane without them. A row of ftately SUBSTANTIVES would march, Like Switzers, and bear all the field before them ; Carry their weight, fhew fair, like DEEDS en- roll'd ; Not WRITS, that are firft made, and after fill'd : Thence firft came up the title of BLANK verfe You know, Sir, what Blank fignifies ? When the Senfe Firfl fram'd, is tied with Adjectives, like Points, And could not hold together without wedges. Hang't, 'tis Pedanticke, vulgar Poetry. Let children, when they verfifye, ftick here And there thefepidling words, for want of matter; POETS write inafculine numbers. CAPERWIT. 64 NOTES ON THE 4> C A P E R W I T. You have given me a pretty hint : 'Tis NEW. I will beftow thefe verfes on my footman ; They'll ferve a Chambermaid SHIRLEY'S Chances, or Love In a Jhfaze* 54. CJECILIO PLAUTOQUE DABIT ROMANUS, ADEMPTl'M VlRGILIO VARIOQUE?] The queftion is but realbnable. Yet the anfwer will not be to the fatisfa&ion of him that puts it. This humour, we may obferve, holds here in England, as it did formcrlyat Rome ; and will, 1 fuppofe, hold every-where, under the fame cir- itinftil. 1. i. c. 5 : . 7O. MULT A RENASCENTUR, QUAE JAM c EC ID ERE.] This revival of old words is one of thofe niceties in competition, not to be attempted by any but great matters. It may be done two ways; i. by reftoring fuch terms, as are grown entirely obfolete ^ or, 2. by .fele&iflg out of VOL, I.- F thofe, 66 NOTES ON THE thofe, which have ftill a currency, and are not quite laid afide, fuch as are moft forcible and "exprefiive. For fo I underftand a paflage in Cicero, who urges this double ufe of old words, as an argument, to his orator, for the diligent ftudy of the old Latin writers. His words are thefe : Lvquendi elegantia^ quamquam expolitur fcientia literarum^ lamen augetur legendi* oratoribus [vtteribus"] et pcetis : funt enim illi veteres^ qui ornare nondum poterant ea, quae dicelant, omnes prope praclare locuti Neque tamen erit uttndum vcrbis m, quibus jam confuetudo no/ha non uMur, niftqttando ornandi caufa y parce, quod of en dam ; fed ujitatis ha poterit uti, UfliJJimii ut utatur is, qui in veleribus erit fcriptis Jiudiose et multuai i/oltttatus. [De Orat. J. iii. c. 10.] Thefe choice words amongft fuch as are ftill in //, I take to be thofe which are employed by the old writers in fome peculiarly ftrong and energetic fcnfc, yet fo as with advantage to be copied by the mo- derns, without appearing barbarous or affedled. [See HOR. lib. II. ep. ii. 115.] And therea- fon, by the way, of our finding fuch words in the old writers of every language, may be this. When ideas are new to us, they ftrike us moft forcibly ; and we endeavour to exprefs, not our fenfe only, but our fenfations, in the terms we ufe to explain them. The paffion of wonder, which philofophy would cure us of, is of fingular ufe ART OF POETRY. 67 in railing the conception, and {lengthening the expreffion of poets. And fuch is always the condition of old writers, when the arts are re- viving, or but beginning to refine. The other ufe of old terms, /'. e . when become obfolete, he fays, mufc be made pare?, more fparingly. The contrary would, in oratory, be infufferable af- fectation. The role holds in poetry, but with greater latitude ; for, as he obferves. in another place, and the reafon of the thing fpeaks, h&c funt poetarum licentite liberiora. [De Or. iii. 38.] But the elegance of the ftyle, we are told, is increafed both way*. The reafon is, accord- ing to Quindtilian (who was perfectly of Cicero's mind in this matter. See 1. x. c. i.) Verba a vetuflate repetita afferuni orationi majeftatem ali- quam non fine deleftatione ; nam et auftoritatem antiquitatis habent ; et } quia intertnijja funt, gra~ tiam novitati fimilem par ant. [Lib. i. c. 6. iub fin.] But this is not all : The riches of a lan- guage are actually increafed by retaining its old words ; and befides, they have often a greater real weight and dignity, than thofe of a more fafhionable caft, which fucceed to them. This needs no proof to fuch as are verfed in the earlier writings in any language.- A very capable judge hath obferved it in regard of the mo ft admirect modern one : Nous avons tenement laffi ce qui itoit au vlel Ftanfdf, qut nous avons JaiJ/e quant et quant F * / 68 NOTES ON TEtf la plut part de ce qrfil avoit de ban. [Trait', preparatif a PApol. pour Herod. 1. i. c. 28.] Or, if the reader requires a more decifive teiti- mony, let him take it in the words of that curious fpeaker, Fenelon. Notre langue manque fun grand nombre de mots et de pbrafes. II me femble meme quon fa genee et appauvrie depuis environ cent ant en voulant la purifier. II eft vroi quelle etoit encore un peu informe et trop verbeufe. Man le vieux Unguage fe fait regretter^ quand nous It retrouvons Jans MA ROT, Jans AMIOT, dans It Cardinal ^TOssAT, darts Its ouvrages les plus en- joues, et dans les plus ferieux. II y avoit je ne feat quit de court) de naif t de vif, et de pajjione. [Reflex. fur la Rhetorique, Amft. 1733, p. 4.] From thefc teilimonies we learn the extreme value, which thefe mafters of compofition fet upon their old writers ; and as the reafon of the thing juftifies their opinions, we may further fee the important ufc of fome late attempts to reftore a better knowledge of our own. Which I obferve with pleafure, as the growing prevalency of a very different humour, firft catched, as it (hould feem, from our commerce with the French mo- dels, and countenanced by the too fcrupulous delicacy of fome good writers amongft ourfelves, had gone for towards unnerving the nobleft modern language, and effeminating the public tafte. This was not a little forwarded, by what generally ART OF POETRY. 69 generally makes its appearance at the fame time, a kind of feminine curiofity in the choice of words ; cautioufly avoiding and reprobating all fuch (which were not feldom the moft expreffive} as had been prophaned by a too vulgar ufe, or had fuffered the touch of fome other accidental taint. This ran us into periphrafes and general expreffion ; the peculiar bane of every polifhed language. Whereas the rhetorician's judgment here again fhould direct us : Omnia verba (exceptis paucis parurn verecundis) funt alicubl optima ; nam et humilibus interim et vulgaribus eft opus^ et qua tultiore in parte videntur fordida, ubi res pofcit, propne dicuntur. Which feerns borrowed from Dionyfius of Halicarnaflus [rap. o-uvOeo-. xii.J iio<,y t^ov io-fcrOa/ fjj^t Xaya /*o'pioi/, u iv \cyoi{. However, thofe two caufes, " The rejection of old words, as bar- 70 NOTES ON THE in no/Iris prftis ant inertijfftma fegnitia ejl aut faftidil dellcatiffima. [Cic. de Fin. 1. i. c. 2.] 72. si VOLET usus, &c.] Confuetudo cer- tijjima loquendi maglflra ; utendtunque plane fertnone^ ut nummo, qui publica forma eft. [Qmnctil. 1. i. c. 6.] imitated from Horace. In Luclan too, we find it one of the charges brought againft the pedant, Lexiphanes, that be clipped tie Jlandard COIN of the Greek language o-asJ'riy BroUjjjrtnas cJ 3q n piy? ov, ttrt fy/oj xj TO xaOfrtixoj NO- MI2MA r^f fcovri; wipaxr7. (c. 20.) 73. RES GESTAE, &c.] The purport of thcfe lines [from 1. 73 to 86] and their connexion with what follows, hath not been fully leen. They would exprefs this general proportion, " That the feveral kinds of poetry eflcntially *' differ from each other, as may be gathered, not " foleiy from their different lubjefts, but their " different meafures ; which good fenfe, and an " attention to the peculiar natures of each, in- " ftrucled the great inventors and mafters of { them to employ." The u'e made of this proportion is to infer, " that therefore the like " attention flioulJ be liad to the different fpccies l{ of the fame kind of poetry [1. 89, &c.] as m t( the cafe of tragedy and ccincdy (to which the ARTOF POETRY. 71 " application is ,ade) whofe peculiar differences ' and correfpondencies, as resulting from th " natures of each, (could, in agreement to the " univcrfal law of decorum, be exactly known tc and diligently obferved by the poet." Singula quaque locum teneant fortita decentem^ 1. 92. But there is a further propriety in this enumera- tion of the feveral kinds of poetry, as addrefied to the dramatic writer. He is not only to ftudy, for the purpofes here explained, the chara&eriftic differences of either fpecies of the drama : He muft further be knowing in the other kinds of poetry, fo as to be able, as the nature of his work fliail demand, to adopt the genius of each, in its turn, and to transfer the graces of univerfal poetry into the drama. Thus, to follow the divifion here laid down, there will fometimes be occalion for the pomp and high colouring of the EPIC nar- ration ; fometimes for the plaintive foftnefs and paffionate inconnexion of the ELEGY : and the chorus, if characterized in the ancient manner, muft catch the fiery, inraptured fpirit of the ODE. Defcriptaifervare vices operumque color es^ Cur egOyfe nequeo ignoroque, POETAfa/utar? Hence is feen the truth of that remark, which there hath been more than once occafion to make, " That, however general thefe prefatory F 4 " inftruc- 72 NOTES ON THE " inflations may appear, they more efpecially " refpcdl the cafe of the drama? 90. INDIGNATUR ITEM,&C. COENA THY- ESTAE.] II met h fouper dt Thyefle pour t antes fortes de tragedies, fays M. Dacier ; but why this fubjecl was fingled out, as the reprefentative of the reft, is not explained by him. We may be fure, it was not taken up at random. The rea- fon was, that the Thyeftes of Ennius was pecu- liarly chargeable with the fault, here cenfured ; as is plain from a curious paflage in the Orator ; where Cicero, fpeaking of the looie numbers oir certain poets, obferves this, in particular, of the tragedy of Thyeftes, Similia funt quesdam apud nojlros : velut in Tkyefte> Quemnam te ejje dicam ? qui tar da in fen e flute. et qua fequuntur ; qua, nifi cum tibicen accejjerit, ORATIONI SUNT SOLUTJE SIMILLIMA : which character exactly agrees to this of Horace, wherein the language of that play is cenfured, as flat and profaic, and hardly rifing above the level of ordinary convcrfation in comedy. This allu- fion to a particular play, written by one of their beft poets, and frequently exhibited on the Roman ftage, gives great force and fpirit to the precept, at the fame tiine that it' exemplifies it in the happieft manner. It feems further probable to ART OF POETRY. 73 nie, that the poet alfo defigned an indireft com- pliment to VariuSj whofe Thyeftes, we are told, \_6juinftil. 1. x. c. I.] was not inferior to any tra- 'gedy of the Greeks. This double intention of thefe lines well fuited the poet's general aira, which is feen through all his critical works, of beating clown the exceffive admiration of the old poets, and of aflferting the jufl honours of the modern. It may further be obferved, that the critics have not felt the force of the words expon'i and narrarl in this precept. They are admirably chofen to exprefs the two faults condemned : the firft im- plying a kind of pomp and orientation in the language, which is therefore improper for the low fubjets of comedy : and the latter, as I have hinted, a flat, profaic expreffion, not above the caft of a common narrative^ and therefore equally unfit for tragedy. Nothing can be more rambling than the comment of Heinfius and Dacier on this laft word. 94. IRATUSQUE CHREMES TUMIDO DILITI- GAT ORE : ET TRAGICUS PLERUMQUE DOLET SERMONE PEDESTRI.] It may not be amifs to open a little more particularly the grounds of this criticifm ; which may beft be done by a commentary on the following lines of the poet : Format H NOTES ON THE Format enlm natura prius nos intus ad omntm fortunarum habitum ; juvat out impellit ad iram ; jfut ad bumum mcerore gravi deduch et angit : Plft ejfert animi motus interprets lingua. To draw after the life, in any given conjunc- ture, the poet muft recollect (which may eafily be done by confulting with his own confcious experience) that peculiar difyofition of mind, into which the fpeakcr is, of necefiity, carried by the circumftances of his fituation. And \\izfenti- mentSy which give the image of this peculiar dif- pofition, are the genuine lineaments of the cha- rafter intended. But the truth of fentiment may be hurt or effaced by incongruous language, juft as the exaftcft lineaments of a portrait are often dif- guifed or loft under a vicious colouring. To faint then as well as draw after the truth, it is rcquifite that a further regard be had to the ex- frejjion. Which again is no great difficulty for the artift, the fame common nature holding the torch to him, as before. For in entering into ourfelves we find, that as the mind, in any fup- pofed fituation, gives birth to a certain let of conceptions and fe.ntiments, correfpondent to its true ftate, and exprelfive of it : fo, by attending to the language^ in which thole fentiments ordinarily manifeft themfdvcs, we ealily per- ceive they take one flyle or manner of expreflion preferably ART OF POETRY. 75 preferably to every other. For exprejjion^ where falfc art is not employed to diftort it, gives the juft image of our fentiments ; juft as thefe, when nature is not fupprefled or counteracted, are ever the faithful reprefentatives of the manners. They rcfult, like the famous Simulacra of Epicurus, as by a fecret deftination, from their original forms; and are, each, the perfeft copies of other. All which will be clearly underftood by apply- ing thefe general obfervations to the inftances in view. The paffion of ANGER rouzes all the native fire and energy of the foul. In this diforder, and, as it were, infurre&ion of the mental powers, our fentiments are ftrong and vigorous ; nature prompting us to liberal and lofty con- ceptions of ourfelves, and a fuperior difdainful regard of others. This again determines the genius of our language, w r hich, to conform to fuch fentiments, muft be bold and animated ; breaking out into forcible imagery, and fwelling in all the pomp of founding epithets and violent figures. And this even amidft the humbler con- cerns of private and inferior fortunes : Iratufque Cbremes TUMIDO DILITIGAT ORE. In the paffion of GRIEF, on the contrary, the reverfe of this takes place. For the mind, op- preiTed and weighed down by its forrows, finks into 76 NOTES ON THE into a weak and timorous defpondeney ; inclin- ing us to fubmit, almoft without refiftance, to the incumbent affliction ; or, if we ftruggle at all with it, it is only to eafe the labouring heart by putting forth fome fruitlefs fighs and ineffec- tual complainings. Thus we find it reprefented by thofe perfect matters of fimple nature, the Greek tragedians. So far are their forrowing perfonages from entertaining any vigorous thoughts or manly rcfolutions, that they con- ftantly languifh into fad repinings at their pre- fent, and trembling apprehensions of future, mi- fery. When thefe fentiments come to exprefs them- felves in words, what can they be but the plaineft and fimpleft which the language of the com- plainant furnifhes? Such negligence, or more properly fuch dejedtion, of forrow difpofes the fpeaker to take up with terms as humble as his fortune. His feeble conception is not only unapt, or unable to look out for fine words, and painted phrafes ; but, if chance throw them in his way, he even rejefts them as trappings of another condition, and which ferve only to upbraid his prefent wretchednefs. The pomp of numbers, and pride of poetic expreffion, are fo little his care, that it is well if he even trouble himfelf to obferve the ordinary cxa&nefs ,of mere profe ART OF POETRY. 77 profe [a]. And this even where the height of rank and importance of affairs confpire to ele- vate the mind to more ftate and dignity. Et tragicus plerumque DOLET SERMONE PEDESTRI. Thus far the dramatic writer may inform himfelf by entering into his own confcioufnefs y and obferving the fure dilates of experience. For what concerns the fuccefsful application of thie rule in praflict, every thing, as is remarked below, [on 1. 102] muft depend on the confti- tution of his own mind ; which yet may be much arMed by thc_ diligent ftudy of thofe writers who excel moft in this way : in which elate all agree to give the palm to EURIPIDES, But here it may not be improper to obviate a common miftake that feems to have arifen from the too ftrift interpretation of the poet's rule. Tragic cbarafiersy he fays, will generally exprffi their f arrows in a profaic language. From this juft obfervation, haftily confidered and compared with the abfurd practice of fome writers, it hath been concluded, That what we call pure ptetty, the effence of which conlifts in bold figures and a lively imagery, hath no place on the ftage. [a] The reader may fee a fine fpeech in the Cyro pzdia of Xenophon [1. iv.] where not fo much as this & obferved. It 78 NOTES ON THE It may not be Sufficient to oppofe to this notion the praflice of the beft poets, ancient and mo- dern ; for the queftion recurs, how far that prac- tice is to be juftified on the principles of good criticifm and common fenfe. To come then to the reafin of the thing. The capital rule in this matter is,' Redder e perfina convenientia cuiqut. But to do this, the fituation of the perfons and the various pajfions refulting from fuch fituation,' muft be well conildcred. Each of thefe has a charatttr or turn of thinking peculiar to itfelf. But all agree in this property, that they occupy the whole attention of the fpeaker, and are per- petually offering to his mind a fet of pictures or images, fuitable to his ftate, and expreffive of it. In thefe the tragic character of every denomina- tion loves to indulge ; as we may fee by look- ing no farther than on what paffes before us in common life, where perfons, under the influence of any paflion, are more eloquent, and have a greater quick nefs at a!lufion and imagery, than at other times. So that to take from the fpeaker this privilege of reprefenting fuch pictures or images, is fo far from confulting Nature, that it is, in effeft, to overlook or rejeft one of her plakneft lefibns. ART OF POETRY. 79 It is true, if one character is bufied in running after the images which Nature throws in the way only of fome other, or if, in reprefenting fuch images as are proper to the character, the imagination is taken up in tracing minute re- femblances, and amufing itfelf with circum- ftances that have no relation to the cafe in hand, then indeed the cenfure of thefe critics is well applied. It may be fine poetry , if you will, but very bad dramatic writing. But let the imagery be ever fo great or fplendid, if it be fuch only as the governing paffion loves to conceive and paint, and if it be no further dilated on, and with no greater folicitude and curiofity, than the natural working of the paffion demands, the drama is fo far from rejecting fuch poetry, that it glories in it, as what is moft eflential to itt true end and defign. Hie per extentum fumtm mibi pojje videtur Ire poeta, mtum qut peflu? inaniter angit t Inritat, muket, falfis ierroribus implst^ Ut magus An office, which the dramatic poet hath jty> means of fuftaining but by that ftrong painting and forcible imagery, above defcribed. What feems to have given a colour to. the op- pofite opinion, is the faulty practice which good critics have obierved in the French tragedies, and 7 ia 8b NOTES ON THE in fome of our own that have been formed upon their model. But the cafe is miftaken. It is riot the poetry of the French or Englifh drama that deferves their cenfure, but its prolix arid languid declamation, negle&ing paflion for fenti- ment, or exprefiing paffion in a calm circuit of words, and without fpirit. Even Mr. Addifon's CATO, which, from being immoderately extol- led, has had the ufual fate of being as immo- derately undervalued, is not to be cenfured for its abundance of poetry, but for its application of it in a way that hurts the paffion. General fentiments, uncharacteriflic imagery, and both dratvn out in a fpiritlefs, or, which comes to the fame thing, a too curious cxpreffion, are the proper faults of this drama. What the critic of juft tafte demands in this fine tragedy, is even more poetry, but better applied, and touched with more {pirit. Still, perhaps, we are but on the furface of this matter. The true ground of this miftaken criticifin is, The notion, that when the hero is at the criiis of his fate, he is not at liberty to ufe poetical, that is, highly figurative expreffion : but that the proper feafon for thefe things is when he has nothing elfe to do. Whereas the truth is juft the contrary. The figures, when he is greatly agitated, come of themfelves ; and, fuiting the grandeur and dignity of his fitualion, art ARf C5F POETRY. St are perfectly natural. To ufe them in his cool and quiet moments, when he has no great in- tcrefts to profecute or extricate himfelf from, is dire&ly againft nature* For, in this ftatc of things, he tfm&feek them, if he will have them* And when he has got them, and made his belt life of them, what do they produce ? Not fubli- mity, but bomb-aft. For it is not the figures^ but the fuitablenefs to the occafion, that produces either. Not that I am ignorant that there are vices in the formation of figures, as well as in their application. But thefe vices go under vari- ous other names. The pure ftmple bombaft (if I may be indulged fo bold a catachrefis) arifes from putting figurative expreffion to an impro- per ufe. To give an inftance of what I mean; TACITUS writes under one continued refent- ment at the degeneracy of his times, and fpeak- ing of fome fumptuary laws propofcd by the Senate, in z Ann. c. 33, he fays they decreed, Ne veflis /erica viros FOLD A RET. This became the dignity of his hiftoric character and genids. But had his contemporary, Suetonius, who wrote Chronicles in the fpirit of our STOWE and HOLINGSHEAD, ufed the fame language, it would have fet his readers a laughing. Not but figurative expreffion, even wlienfuit* able to the character, genius^ and general fub* VOL. I* G jeft 82 NOTES ON THE jct of a writer, may flill be mi/placed. Thus, had Tacitus, fpeaking of die honours decreed to Tiberius on a certain occafion, faid with his tranflator Gordon which of thefe he meant to accept or which to rejeft ', the approaching tjjite of his days cum pauper et exid uterqut t Projicit ampul/as, &c. There is no abfurdity, as the Doaor pretends, in taking tragicus for tragcediarum fcriptor* For the poet, by a common figure, is made to do that, which he reprefents his perfons, as doing. G 3 But 86 N O T E S O N T II E But this is not the whole that will deferve the reader's regard in this place. A ftrift attention to the fcope and turn of the paffage [from line 96 to 114] will lead him to conclude, i. " That fome real tragedy of Telcphus and " Peleus was intended in 1. 96, in which the ec characters were duly preferved and fet forth " in proper language." This the oppofition to the Chremts of Terence absolutely demands. Let us enquire what this might be. Euripides, \ve know, compoied tragedies under thefe names; but it is unlikely, the poet fhould con- traft the inilance of a. Greek tragedy to a Latin comedy. Nor need it be fuppofcd. The lubject was familiar to the Roman poets. For we find a Telepkus afcribed to no lefs than three of them, ynnius, Accius, and Navitts []. One of thefe then, I doubt not, is here intended. But the Roman, in thofe times, were little more than translations of the Greek plays. Hence it is moft likely, that the tragedy of Telepbus (and probably of Peleus, though we have not fo direft authority for this) was, in faft, the tragedy of Euripides, tranflated into Latin, and accommo- dated to the Roman ftage by one of thefe writers. It remains only to enquire, if the Ydepbus itfelf of Euripides anfwered to this cha- [] See Robert Stcpben?'s Fragm. Vet. Latlnorum. rafter, ART OF POETRY. 87 rafter. Which, I think, it manifeftly did, from confidering what his enemy, the buffoon Arifto- phanes, hath faid concerning it. Every body knows, that the BATPAXOI of this poet contains a direft fatire, and burlefque upon Euripides. Some part of it is particularly levelled againft his Telepkus : whence we may certainly learn the objections that were made to it. Yet the amount of them is only this, " That he had " drawn the character of Te/ephus in too many 11 circumftances of diflrefs and humiliation." His fault was, that he had reprefented him more like a beggar than an unfortunate prince. Which, in more candid hands, would, I fup- pofe, amount only to this, " That the poet had " painted his diflrefs in the moft natural and " affefting manner." He -had ftripped him of his royalty, and, together with it, of the pomp and oftentation of the regal language, the very beauty which Horace applauds and admires in his Telepbus. 2. Next, I think it as clear from what fol- lows, " That fome real tragedy of Telepbus, and " Pe/eus, was alfo glanced at, of a different " ftamp from the other, and in which the cha- " rafters were not fupported by fuch propriety " of language." Let the reader judge. Having quoted a Telephus and Peleus, as examples to the rule concerning the ftyle of tragedy, and G 4 afterwards 88 NOTES ON THE afterwards enlarged [from 1. 98 to 103] on the reafons of their excellence, he returns, with an, air of infult, to the fame names, apoftrophizing them in the following manner : Telepbej vel Peleu^ male fi mandata loquerisj Jut dormitabo aut ridebo. But why this addrefs to char after s y which he had before alledgcd, as examples of true dramatical drawing ? Would any tolerable writer, after having applauded Shakefpeare's King Lear, as an inftance of the kingly character in diftrefs, naturally painted, apoftrophize it, with fuch pointed vehemence, on the contrary fuppofition ? But let this pafs. The poet, as though a noto- rious violation of the critic's rules was to be thoroughly expofecl, goes on, in the feven fol- lowing lines, to fearch into the bottom of this affair, laying open the fource and ground of his judgment ; and concludes upon the whole, Si di 'cent is erunt for turns abfona dlfla^ ROMANI TOLLENT EQUITESqUE PATRESQUE CACHINNUM. Can any thing be plainer, than that this lad line points at fpme well-known inftance of a Latin play, which had provoked, upon this ac- count, the contempt and laughter of the bell judges ? It may further be obferved, that this way of uncle rftanding the paffage before us, as it ART OF POETRY, 89 is more conformable to what is here fhewn to be the general fcope of the epiftle, fo doth it, in its turn, likewife countenance, or rather clearly fhew, the truth and certainty of this method of interpretation. 99. NON SATIS FST PULCHRA, &C.] Dr. Bentley objects to pukhra, becaufe this, he fays, is a general term, including under it every fpecies. of beauty, and therefore that of dulcis, or the affefting* But the great critic did not fufficiently attend tq the connexion, which, as F. Robor- tellus, in his paraphrafe on the epiftle, well ob- ferves, ftands thus : " It is not enough, that tra- " gedies have that kind of beauty, which arifes e refolved into fome general principle, imagination of private advantage, or fympathy with others, are, in the prefent cafe, circum- flances wholly indifferent. If it l>e admitted that the epithets, of which we are fpeaking, were originally ufed in this re- ftrained fenfe, it is eafy to fee that they would readily obtain the more extended Signification. For the fpecies of pleafurc to which they were iirft confined, was found always to arife from images impreffed on the fancy : what then more naturaf, than to apply the fame words to every fpecies of pleafure refulting from the imagina- tion, and to every fpecies of images productive of pleafure ? Thus the beauty of a human perfon might originally Signify Such combinations of figure and colour, as produced the peculiar per- ception above-mentioned. Pukbritudo corpora (lays Cicero) aptd compo/itione membrorum movet ocnlos, et eo ipfo deleft 'at , &V. But from this Sig- nification to the other the transition was eafy ^nd obvious. If every beautiful form gave plea- fure, every pleafing form might come to be tailed beautiful : not bccaufe the fame percep- 4 tions ART OF POETRY. 93 tions are excited by all (the pleafures being ap- parently different) but becaufe they are all ex- cited in the fame manner. And this is con- firmed by a diftin&ion which every one under- ftands between beauties of the regular and irre- gular kind. When we would diflinguifh thefe from each other, we call the latter agreeable, and leave to the former only the name of beautiful : that is, we confine the latter term to its proper and original fenfe. In much the fame manner objects not vifible may fometimes obtain the name of beauty, for no. other reafon than becaufe the imagination is agreeably employed about them ; and we may fpeak of a beautiful charafter, as well as a beautiful perfon : by no means intend- ing that we have the fame feeling from the one as the other, but that in both cafes we are pleafedi and that in both the imagination contri- butes to the pleafure. Now as every reprefrntative art is capable of affording us pleafure, and this pleafure is occa- fconed by images impreffed on the fancy ; every pleafing production of art, will of courfe obtain the name of beautiful. Yet this hinders us not from confidering beauty as a diftinft excellence in fuch produdions. For we may diilinguilh, either in a pidure or poem, between the plea- fures we receive direUy from the imitation of vifible forms, and thofe which principally .depend 94 N O T E S O N T H E on other kinds of imitation : And we may con- lider vifible forms them (elves either as occafions f pleafure, in common with other objects ; or as yielding us that peculiar delight which they alone are capable of yielding. If we ufe the word beautiful in this limited fenfe, it is very intelli- gibly oppoled to pathetic. Images of Groves, Fields, Rocks, and Water, afford us a pleafure extremely different from that which we find in the indulgence of our tender affections : nor can there be any danger of confounding the agree- able perception received from a mafterly flatue of an Apollo or a Venus, with that which arifes from a reprefentation of the terrors men feel under a ftorm or a plague. It is no objection to what has been faid, that the objects we call beautiful^ may allb in fomc cafes be occafions of pajjion. The fight, for in- ftance, of a beautiful perfon may give birth to the paffion of love : yet to perceive the beauty, and to feel the paffion, are two different things. For every beautiful object does not produce love in every obferver, and the fame paffion is fome- times excited by objefts not beautiful ; I mean not called beautiful by the perfons themfelves who are affe&ed by them. And the diftin&ion between thefe feelings, would receive further con- firmation (if indeed there could be any doubt of it) from obierving that people frequently fpeak. X of ART OF POET R Y. 95 of beauty, and, as far as appears intelligibly, in perfons of their ownfex^ who feel perhaps no paj/ion but that of envy : which will not iurely be thought the fame with the perception of beauty. There is then no room for an objection to the text of Horace, as it ftoocl before Dr. B.'s emendation : unlefs it fhould be thought an impropriety to oppofe two epithets which are capable of being underftood in ienfes not oppofite. But there is not the lead ground for this ima- gination. For when a word of uncertain figni- fication is oppofed to another whofe fignilication is certain, the oppolition itfelf determines the fenfe. The word day in one of its fenfes in- cludes the whole fpace of twenty-four hours : yet it is not furely an impropriety to oppofe 'day to night. In like manner the vfordspulcbrapoemata, if we were not directed by the context, might {ignify good poems in general : but when the beauty of a poem is diflinguijbed from other excellences, this diftinftion will lead us to con- fine our idea to beautiful imagery^ and we know it is agreeable to the fentiments which Horace exprefles in other places, to declare that this kind of merit is infufficient in dramatic writers, from whom we expert a pleafure of very different kind. Indeed the moft exquifite painting, if'it is not coaftantly fubordinate to this higher end, becomes 9 6 NOTES ON THE becomes not only infufficicnt, but impertinent: icrving only to divert the attention, and inter- rupt the courfe of the paflions. It may feem, perhaps, that the force of a Latiri expreffion cannot be afcertained from reflections of this fort, but muft be gathered from citations of particular pafTages. And this indeed is true with regard to the peculiarities of the language. But the queftion before us is of a different kind. It is aqueftion of pbilofophy rather than criticifm: as depending on thofe differences of ideas, which arc marked by limilar forms of expreflion in all language s^' 102. Si VIS ME FLERE, DOLENDUM EST PRI- MUM IPSI TIBI :] Tragedy, as [c] one faid, who had a heart to feel its tenclereft emotions, jbewed forth the ulcers that are covered with tiffiie. In order to awaken and call forth in the fpeftator all thofe fympathies, which naturally await on the lively exhibition of fuch a fcene, the writer mult have a 'foul tuned to the molt exquifite fcnfibility, and fufceptible of the fame vibra- tions from his own created images, which are kaown to Jhake the fufferer in real life. This is fo uncommon a pitch of humanity, that it is no wonder, fo few have fuccecded in this trying part of the drama* Euripides, of all the antients^ [c} Sir Pbllip Sidney. hid ART OF POETRY. 97* liad mod of this fympathetic tendernefs in his nature, and accordingly we find him without a rival in this praife. T payixwrojo; T&V zroiyluy, fays Ariftotle of him [He^ isrojrjr. x. iy'.~] and to the fame purpofe another great critic, In affefli- &us cum omnibus minis? turn in its, qui MISERA- TJONE conftant, facile pracipuus. Quinct. 1. x. c. i.] They, who apply themfelves to exprefV the pitiable iXitivov in tragedy, would do well to examine their own hearts by this rule, before they prefume to praflife upon thofe of others. See, further, .this remark applied by Cicero to the fubjedt of oratory, and enforced with his ufual elegance and good fenfe. [1. ii. c. 45. De or at ore.] 103. TUNC TUA ME INFORTUNIA LAE- DENT.] This is expreffed with accuracy. Yet the truth is, The more we are hurt with repre- fentations of this fort, the more we are pleafed with them. Whence arifes this ftrange plea- fur e ? The queftion hath been frequently aflcec^ and various anfvvers have been given to it. But of all the folutionS of this famous diffi- culty, that which we have juft now received from Mr. Hume, is by far the moft curious. VOL. I. H Hi* tf NOTES ON THE His account in fhort is, " That the force of * imagination, the energy of expreffion, the " power of numbers, the charms of imitation, " are all naturally of themfelves delightful to- ^-the mind; that thefe fentiments of beauty,, ^ 'being the predominant emotions, feize the " whole mind, and convert the uneafy melan- " choly paffions into themfelves. In a word, ' that the fentiments of beauty, excited by a '* good tragedy,, are the fuperior prevailing " movements, and transform the fubordinate impreflions ariling from grief, ccmpajjion, in- ** dignation and terror, into one uniform and <' ftrong enjoyment." [See four DiJ/ertatiom by D. Hume, f r> p. 185, fefc.] I have but two objeftions to this ingenious theory. ONE is, that it fuppofes the impreflion of grief or terror, excited by a well-written, tragedy, to be weaker than that which arifes from our obfervation of the faculties of the filter, the power of numbers, and imitation. Which to me is much the fame thing as faying, That the fight of a precipice hanging over our heads- makes a fainter impreffion on the eye, than the fhrubs,and wild flowers with which it hap- pens to be covered. The faft is fo far other- wife, that, if the tragedy be well-written, I will venture ART OF POETRY. 99 venture to fay, the faculties of the writer, the charms of poetry, or even the thought of imita- tion, never come into the fpeftator's head. But he may feel the effet of them, it will be faid, for all that. True: But unluckily the whole effecl; of thefe things is (and that was my OTHER objection) to deepen the impreffions of grief and terror. They are 'out of place, and altogether impertinent, if they contribute to any other end. So that to fay, The impreffion of grief and ter- ror from a tragic rtory, ilrong as it is in itfelf, and made ftill ftronger by the art of the poet, is a weaker impreffion, than the mere pleafure arifing from that art, is methinks to account for one myftery by another ten times greater, and to make the poet a verier magician than Horace ever intended to reprefent him. This ingenious folution then, being fb evi- demtly founded on the fuppofltion of zfalfefaff, deferves no further notice. As to the difficulty itfelf, the following hints may, perhaps, enable the reader, in fome meafure, to account for it. 1. It is not to be doubted but that we love to have our attention raifed, and bur curiofity grati- fied. So far the ABBE' DU Bos' fyftem may be admitted. 2. The reprefentation, however diftrefsful, is ftill feen to be a reprefentation. We find our hearts affe&ed, and even pained, by a good H 2 tragedy. ioo N O T E S O N T H E tragedy. But we inftantly recolleft that the fcene is fictitious ; and the recolleftion not only abates our uneafinefs, but diffufes a fecret joy upon the mind, in the difcovery we make that the occafion of our uneafinefs is not real. Juft as our awaking from a frightful dream, and fome- times a fecret confcioufnefs of the illufion during the dream itfelf, is attended with pleafure. That fo much of M. DE FONTENELLE'S notion muft be admitted, is clear, becaufe children, who take the fuffcrings on the itage for realities, are fo afHilcd by them that they do not care to repeat the experiment. But flill, all this is by no means a full account of the matter. For, 3. It fhould be confidered, that ALL the un- cafy pafiious, in the very time that we arc dif- t relfed by them, nay, though the occafions be inftant and real, have a fecret complacency mixed with them. It feems as if providence, in compafiion to human feeling, had, together with our forrows, infufed a kind of balm into the mind, to temper and qualify, as it were, thefe bitter ingredients. But, 4. Betides this general provifion, the nature of the peculiar paffions, excited by tragedy, is fuch as, in a more eminent degree, muft produce pleafure. For what are thefe, but indignation at profperous vice, or the cornjuifcration of fuf- fering s rl ART OF POETRY. IQI fering virtue ? And the agitation of thefe paf- lions is, even in real life, accompanied with a. certain delight, which was, no doubt, intended to quicken us in the cxercife of thofe fociaj offices. Still further. 5. To the pleafure ctireftly fpringing from thefc paffions we may add another, which naturally, but imperceptibly, almoft Heals in upon us from reflexion. We are confcious to our own huma- nity on thefe tender occafions. We understand and feel that it is right for us to be affected by the diftrefles of others. Our pain is foftened by a fecret exultation in the rectitude of thefe fym- pathies. It is true, this reflex act of the mind is prevented, or fufpended at lead for a time, when the fufferings are real, and concern thofe for whom we are moft interefted. But the fictions of the ftage do not prefs upon us fo clofely. Putting all thefe things together, the con- clufion is, That though the impreffions of the theatre are, in their immediate effect, painful to us, yet they muft, on the whole, afford an extreme pleafure, and that in proportion to the degree of the firft painful impreffion. For not only our attention is rouzed, but our moral in- ftincts are gratified ; we reflect with joy that they are fo, and we reflect too that the forrowt which call them forth, and give this excrcife tq H our ioz NOTES ON THE our humanity, are but fi&itious. We are occu- pied, in a word, by a. great event ; we are melted into tears by a diftrefiful one ; the heart is re- lieved by this burft of forrovv ; is cheared and" animated by the fined moral feelings ; exults in the confcioufnefs of its own fenfibility ; and finds, in conclufion, that the whole is but an illufion. The fum is, that we are not fo properly de- lighted by the paflions, as through them. They give occafion to the moft pleafing movements and gratulations. The art of the poet indeed confifts in giving pain. But nature and reflexion fly to our relief; and though they do not convert our pain into joy (for that methinks would be little lefs than a new kind of tranfubjiantiation) they have an equivalent effet in producing an ex- tjuifite joy out of our preceding forrows. IIQ. AUT FA MAM SEQUERE, &C.J The connection lies thus : Language muft agree with cbarafter ; char after with fame y or at leaft with itfelf. 123. SIT MEDEA FEROX INVICTAQUE.] Horace took this inftance from Euripides, where the unconquered fiercenefs of this character is pre- ferved in that due mediocrity, which nature and juft A Pv T OF POETRY. 103 juft writing demand. The poet, in giving her chara&er, is content to fay of her, yap l Iphigeqia.. We fhould read then, it is plain, fervetur nd imum Ghtalis ab incept o proctflirit t AUT fill confltt. The miftake arofe from imagining, that a cha- Tsfter could no other way confi/i with itfelf, but by being uniform. A miftake however, which, as I faid, npt the reafon of the thing only, but Ariftotle's rule might have fct right. It is ex- preffed thus : TsmpTcv $t TO op&Xov. Kav yap ftv^aXof r5 ?, o TW jui'pja-jy vroipt^iV xai TOTOV rOc? u/rol0ff, ojxa'f c/xaXaj avcJp-aXov Sit ttvxt. TIottiT. x. it. which laft words, having been not at all underftood, have kept his interpreters from feeing ART OF POETRY. 105 feeing the true fenfe and fcope of the precept. For they have been explained of iuch characters- as that of Tigellius in Horace ; which, however proper for fatire, or for farcical comedy, are of too fantaftic and whimfical a nature to be ad- mitted into tragedy ; of which Ariftotle muft there be chiefly underftood to fpeak, and to which Horace, in this place, alone confines him- felf. It is true, indeed, it may be faid, that " though a whimjical or fantajtic character be " improper for tragedy, an Irrefolute one is not. " Nothing is finer than a ftruggle between dif- *' ferent paffions ; and it is perfectly natural, " that in fuch a circumftance, each fhould pre- " vail by turns." But then there is the wideft difference between the two cafes. Tigeltius, with all his fantaftic irrefolution, is as uniform a cha- racter, as that of Mitlo. If the expreffion may be allowed, its very inconfift ency is of the eflence of its uniformity. On the other hand, Electra, torn with fundry conflicting paffions, is mofl apparently, and in the propereft notion of the word, ununiform* One of the ftrongefl touches ia her character is that of a high, heroic fpirit, fen- fible to her own and her family's injuries, and determined, at any rate, to revenge them. Yet no fooner is this revenge perpetrated, than fhe foftens; relents, and pities. Here is a manifeft ununiformity, whicji can, in no proper fenfe of the io6 NOTES ON THE' the expreflion, lay claim to the critic's o but may be fo managed by the poet's fkill, as to become confiftcnt with the bafis or foundatioa of her chara&cr, that is, to be C^X>MS avupctXov. And that this, in faft, was the meaning of the critic, is plain from the fimilar example to his own rule, given in the cafe of Jphigenia : which he fpecifics (how juilly, will be confidered here- after) as an inftance of the eivupette, irregular, or ununiform character, ill-expreflcd, or made inctnfifttnt. So that the genuine fenfe of th precept is, Let the manners be uniform ; or, " if ununiform, yet confiftently fo, or uniformly " ununiform :" exadly copied, according to the reading here given, by Horace. Whereas in the other way, it {lands thus : Let your " characters be uniform, or Unchanged ; or, if " you paint an ununiform charafter (fuch as [ ' Tigellius) let it be ununiform all the way ; " ;. e. fuch an irregular character to the end of " the play, as it was at the beginning; which 41 is, in cffea, to fay, "let be uniform :" which apparently deflroys the latter part of the pre- cept, and makes it an unmeaning tautology with the former. lay. AUT SIBI CONSTET.] The ElECTRA and IPHIGF.NIA of Euripides have been quoted, in the preceding note, -as inftances of ununiform characters, ART OF POETRY. 10^ cliara&ers, juilly fuftained, or, what Ariftotle calls, uniformly ununiform : and this, though the general opinion condemns the one, and the great critic himfelf the other. The reader will expeft fome account to be given of this fingu- larity. i. The objection to Electra is, that her cha- rafter is drawn with fuch heightenings of impla- cability and refentment, as make it utterly in- credible, Hie fhould, immediately on the murder of Clytaemneftra, fall into the fame excefs of grief and regret, as Oreftes. In confutation of this cenfure I obferve, i. That the objection proceeds on a miftaken prefumption, that the diftrefs of Eleclra is equally violent with that of Oreftes. On the contrary, it is difcriminated from it by two plain marks, i. Oreftes's grief is expreffed in ftronger and more emphatic terms be accufes the Gods be reproaches bis fifler he dwells upon every horrid circumftance, that can enhance the guilt of the murder. Eleftra, in the mean time, confeffes the fcene to be mourn- ful is apprebenjive of bad confequences calmly fubmits to the juft reproaches of bet' brother. 2. He labours, as much as poffible, to clear himfelf from the imputation of the a5l. She takes it wholly on herfelf, but, regarding it rather as her fate, ,o8 NOTES ON THE fate, than her fault, comforts hcrfelf in. reflec- ting on the juftice of it. TlotTfOt F TJuippe tile DEIS AUCTORIBUS ultor Patris erat cafi media inter pocula. Sat. viii, And to this opinion agrees that tradition, or rather fiction, of the poets, who, though they reprefent no NOTES ON THE reprefent the judges of the Areopagus as divided an their fentiments of this matter, yet make no fcruple of bringing in Minerva herfelf to pro- nounce his abfolution. Hoc etlam fifth fabulis doflijjimi homines mtmorits prodiderunt, turn, qui pain's ulclfcendi caufd matrem necaviffet, variatis hominum fententiis, nan folum divind, fed etlam fapientijfima Dea fententid abfolutum [Cic. pro MILON.] The venerable council of Areopagus, when judging by the fevere rules of written juf- tice, it feems, did not condemn the criminal ; and the unwritten law of equity, which the fable calls the wifdom of Pallas, formally acquitted him. The murder then was not againft human, and direftly agreeable to the determinations of di- vine, juftice. Of this too the chorus takes care to inform us : Nt'/wEi TO A'xav SEOJ OTOIV TV^y. Al iv. This explains the reafon of Ele&ra's queftion to Oreftes, who had pleaded the impiety of mur- dering a mother, Kat (ASK a/xuvwv uT^rpt, jvwiGris t /Egyfthus. From him chiefly pro- ceeded ART OF POETRY. 113 ceedcd her ill treatment, and from him was ap- prehended the main danger of the enterprize. Now, ^gyflhus being taken off in the beginning of the preceding aft, there was time to indulge all the movements and gratulations of revenge, which the objection fuppofes fhould precede, and for a while fufpend the horrors of remorfe, before they come to the murder of Clytzemneftra. This is rendered the more likely by the long parley, that goes before it ; which rather tends to foften, than exafperate, her refentments, and feeins artfully contrived to prepare the clwnge, that follows. ' On the whole, Electra's concern, as managed by the poet, is agreeable to the tenor of her character, and the circumftances of her iituation. To have drawn her othertvife, had been perhaps in the tafte of modern tragedy, but had certainly been befide the line of nature, and practice of the antients. 2. The cafe of Iphigenia, though a greater authority fland in the way, is ftill eafier. Arif- totle's words are, TH fs ftVtfjuaXs [TsrxpsiJuypoi] iymja. OuVsv yap ioixtv y\ j'xpnusir* i. e. w Iphigenia is an inilance of " the inconfiflent character : for there is no ts . probable conformity betwixt her fears and " fupplications at firft, and her firmnels " and refolution afterwards." But how doth VOL. I. I this ii4 NOTES ON THE this appear, independently of the name of this great critic ? Jphigenia is drawn indeed, at firft, fearful and fuppliant : and furely with the greateft obfervance of nature. The account of her deftination to the altar was fudden, and without the leaft preparation ; and, as Lucretius well obferves, in commenting her cafe, NUBENDI TEMPORE IN IPSO ; when her thoughts were all employed, and, according to the fimplicity of thpfe times, confeffed to be fo, on her promifed nuptials. The caufe of luch deftination too, as appeared at firft, was the private family intereft of Menelaus. All this juftifies, or rather de- mands, the ftrongeft expreffion of female fear and weaknefs. " But fhe afterwards recants, " and voluntarily devotes herfelf to the altar.** And this, with the fame ftrift attention to pro- bability. She had now informed herfelf of the importance of the cafe. Her devotement was the demand. of Apollo, and the joint petition of all Greece. The glory of her country, the dignity and intercft of her family, the lift: of the generous Achilles, and her own future fame, were, all, nearly concerned in it. All this con- iidered, together with the high, heroic fenti- meiits of thofc times, and the iuperior merit, ag was believed, of voluntary devotement, Iphi- gcnia's character muft have been very unfit for the diftrels of a whole tragedy to turn upon, if ihc ART OF POETRY. 115 fhe had not, in the end, cfifcovered the readieft fubmiffion to her appointment. But, to (hew with what wonderful propriety the poet knew to fuftain his characters, we find her, after all, and notwithflanding the heroifm of the change, in a ftrong and paffionate apoftrophe to her native Mycenae, confefling fbme involuntary apprehen- fions and regrets, the remains of that inftinc- tive abhorrence of death, which had before fb ftrongly pofleiTed her. S" a'x dvtxwcpctt. Once the bright ftar of Greece But I fubmit to die, This, I take to be not only a full vindication of the confiftency of Iphigenia's character, but as delicate a flroke of nature, as is, perhaps, to be found in any writer. After the writing of this note, I was pleafed to find, that fo fenfible a critic, as P. Brumoi, had been before me in thefe fentiments concern- ing the character of Iphigenia. The reafons hft employs, are nearly the fame. Only he c6ri- firms them all by fhewing, that the Iphigenia of Racine, which is modelled, not according to the practice of Euripides, but the comment of Ariftotle, is, in all relpecls, fo much the worfe for it. In juftice to this ingenious writer, it I 2 ihould n6 NOTES ON THE fhould be owned, that he is almoft the only one of his nation, who hath perfectly feen through the foppery, or, as fome affeft to efteem it, the refinement of French manners. This hath enabled him to give us, in his Theatre des Grecs, a mafterly, and very ufeful view of the Greek ftage; fet forth in all its genuine fimplicity, and defended on the furc principles of nature and common fenfe. 128. DIFFICILE EST PROPRIE COMMUNIA DICERE :] Lambin's Comment is Communia hoc loco appellat Horatiui argumenta fabularum & nulls adhuc traftata : tt ita, qua cuivis expoftta funt et in media quodammodo poftta, qitaft vacua et a nemine eccupata. And that this is the true meaning of ccmmunia, is evidently fixed by the words ignota indiftaque, which are explanatory of it : fo that the fenfe, given it in the commentary, is \m- qucftionably the right one. Yet, notwithftand- ing the clearncfs of the cafe, a late critic hath this ftrange paflage : Difficile quidem effe proprie (ommunia dicere, hoc ejl y muteriam vulgarem, notam, et t media petitam ita immntare atque exornare, ut nova tt f crip tori propria videatur^ ultro cortcedimus ; // maximi proculdubio pondtrii ijla ejl obftrvatia. Sed omnibus utrinqtte ccllatis, et turn dijficilis, turn vennjii) tarn judicii quoin Inge ml raticne habita f major videtur ejjt gloria fabulum for mart penitus ART OF POETRY. 117 quam veterem^ utcunque mutatam, de novo exhibere. [Pcet. Prsel. vol. ii. p. 164.] Where having firrt, put a wrong conftruclion on the word cornmunia, he employs it to introduce an impertinent criticifm. For where does the poet prefer the glory of refitting old fubje&s, to that of inventing new ones ? The contrary is im- plied in what he urges about the fuperior diffi- culty of the latter ; from which he diffuades his countrymen, only in refpect of their abilities and inexperience in thefe matters ; and in order to cultivate in them, which is the main view qf the epiftle, a fpirit of correftnefs, by fending them to the old fubje&s, treated by the Greek writers. 131. PUBLICA MATER.IF.S PRIVATI JURIS ERIT, &c.] Publica materies is juft the reverie of what the poet had before ftiled communia; the latter meaning fuch fubje&s or characters, as, though by their nature left in common to all, had yet, in fail:, not been occupied by any writer the former thofc, which had already been made public by occupation. In order to acquire a property in fubje&s of this fort, the poet direfts us to obferve the three following cautions : i. Not to follow the trite, obvious round of the original work, i. c. not fervilely and fcru-- pulouilv to adhere to its plan or method. 2. Net 1-3 ixB NOTES ON T H E to be tranjlators, infead of imitator s y i. e. if it /hall be thought fit to imitate more exprefly any part of the original, to do it with freedom and Ipirit, and without a flavifh attachment to the mode of expretfion. 3. Not to adopt any parti* cular incident^ that may occur in the propofed model, which either decency, or the nature of the work would rtjeff. M. Dacier illuft rates theie rules, which have been conceived to contain no fmall diffi- culty, from the Iliad ; to which the poet him- felf refers, and probably not without an eye to particular inftances of the errors, here con- demned, in the Latin tragedies. For want of thefe, it may be of ufe to fetch an illustration from fomc examples in our own. And we need not look far for them. Almoft every modern play affords an inftance of one or other of thcie faults. The {ingle one of Catiline by B. Jon- fon is, itfclf, a fpecimen of them all. This tra- gedy, which hath otherwifc great merit, and on which its author appears to have placed no fmall value, is, in fa&, the Catilinarian war of Salluft, put into poetical dialogue, and ib offends againft the firjl rule of the poet, in following too fervilely the plain beaten round of the Chronicle. 2. Next, the Ipceches of Cicero and Catiline, of Cato anil Ccelar, are, all of them, direl and literal tranllations of the hiftorian and orator, in violation of the fecond rule, which forbids a toy chfc ART OF POETRY. 119 doff attachment to the mode^ or form of exprejfion. 3. There are feveral tranfgreffions of that rule, which enjoins a Jlrift regard to the nature and genius of the work. One is obvious and linking. In the hiftory, which had, for its fubjer, the Whole Catilinarian war, the fates of the con- fpirators were diftinftly to be recorded ; and the preceding debates, concerning the manner of their punifliment, afforded an occafion, too in- viting to be overlooked by an hiftorian, and above all a republican hiftorian, of embellifliing his narration by fet harangues. Hence the long fpeeches of Caefar and Cato in the fenate have great propriety, and are juflly efteemed among the leading beauties of that work. But the cafe was totally different in the drama ; which, tak- ing for its fubjeft the fingle fate of Catiline, had no concern with the other confpirators, whole fates at moft fhould only have been hinted at, not debated with all the circumftance and pomp of rhetoric on the ftage. Nothing can be more flat and difgufting, than this calm, impertinent pleading ; efpecially in the very heat and wind- ing up of the plot. But the poet was mifled by the beauty it appeared to have in the original competition, without attending to the peculiar laws of the drama, and the indecorum it muft needs have in fo very different a work. I 4 136. 120 N O T E S O N T H E 136. NEC SIC INCIPIES, UT SCRIPTOH CVCLICUS OLIM:] All this [to line 153] is a continuation of the poet's advice, given above, Reftius Iliacum carmen deduds in aflus Quatn Ji proftrres ignota indlflaque primus, For, having firft (hewn in what refpccts a clofe obfcrvance of the epic form would be vicious in tragedy, he now prefcribes how far it may be ufefully admitted. And this is, I. [from 1. 136 to 146] in the fnnplicity and modefty of the exor- dium ; and, 2. [to 1. i $3] in the artificial me- thod and contexture of the piece, i. The rea- fon of the former rule is founded on the impro- priety of railing a greater expectation, at let tin;; oat, than can afterwards be anlwertd by the fcqucl of the poem. But, becaufe the epic writer .> themlclvcs, from whom this conduct was, to be drawn, had ibmctimes tram'grelled this rule, an.d as the example of fuch an error would be likely to infect, and, in all probability, actually did in feet, the tragic poets of that time, he takes occafion, i. to criticize an abfurJ inftancc of it ; and, 2. to oppole to it the wiler practice of Homer. 2. The like conduct he obfcrves under the -4ccond article. For, being to recommend to the tra< r ic writer fuch an artificial difpofuion of his tubject, us hajhns rapidly to the event, and rejects, as ART OF POETRY. 121 as impertinent, all particulars in the round of the ftory, which would unneceffarily obftruct his courfe to.it a plan effentially neceffary to the legitimate epic he firft glances at the inju- dicious violation of this method in a certain poem on the return of Diomed, and then illuf- trates and lays open the fuperior art and beauty of the Iliad. And all this, as appears, for the ible purpofe of explaining and enforcing the precept about forming, the plots of tragedies from epic poems. Whence we fee, how pro- perly the examples of the errors, here con- demned, are taken, not from the drama> as the lefs attentive reader might expect, but folely from the epos ; for, this being made the object of imitation to the dramatic poet, as the tenor of the place fhcws, it became ncceffary to guard againft the influence of bad models. Which J pbfcrve for the lake of thofe, who, from not apprehending the connection of this, and fuch like paffages in the epiflle, haftily conclude it to be a confufcd medley of precepts concerning the art of poetry, in general ; and not a regular well-conducted picre, uniformly tending to lay open the ftatc, and to remedy the defects, of the Roman ftage. 148. SEMPER AD EVENTUM FESTINATJ &c. The diipolition, hei-e recommended to the poet, might 122 NOTES ON THE might be fhewn univerfalfy right from the clear- eft principles. But the propriety and beauty of it will, perhaps, be beft apprehended by fuch as are unufecl to the more abftraft criticifm, from attending to a particular inftance. Let us con- ceive an objector then to put the following query : " Suppofing the author of the ^Eneis to *' have related, in the natural order, the de- " ftru&ion of Troy, would not the fubjeft have " been, to all intents and purpofcs, as much ont y " as it is under its prefent form j in which that * c event is told, in the fecond book, by way of " epifode r" I anfwer, by no means. The rea- fon is taken from the nature of the work, and from tkejlate and expectations of the reader. I. The nature of an epic or narrative poem is this, that it lays the author under an obligation of fhewing any event, which he formally under- takes in his own perfon, at full length, and with all its material circum (lances. Every figure muft be drawn in full proportion, and exhibited in ftrong, glowing colours. Now had the fub- jet of the fecond book of the ^Eneis been re- lated in this extent, it muft not only have taken up one, but many books. By this faith- ful and animated drawing, and the time it would neccflarily have to play upon the imagination, the event had grown into fuch importance, that ART OF POETRY. 123 that the remainder could only have paffed far a kind of appendix to it. 2. The fame conclusion is drawn from con- fidering tlx ftate of the reader. For, hurried away by an inftindtive impatience, he purfues the propofed event with eagernefs and rapidity. So cirumftantial a detail, as was fuppoted, of an intermediate action not neceffarily connected with it, breaks the courfe of his expectations, and throws forward the point of view to an im- moderate diftance. In the mean time the action, thus interpofed and prelented to his thoughts, acquires by degrees, and at length ingrofles, his whole attention. ' It becomes the important theme of the piece ; or, at leaft, what follows fcts out with the difadvantage of appearing to him, as ^ new and diflinct fubject. But now, being related by way of epifode, that is, as a fuccindt, fummary narration, not made by the poet himfelf, but coming from the mouth of a pcrfon, neccffarily engaged in the progrefs of the action, it ferves for a fhort time to inter- rupt, and, by that interruption to lharpen, the eager expectation of the reader. It holds the attention, for a while, from the main point of view ; yet not long enough to deftroy that impatient curiofity, which looks forward to it. And thus it contributes to the fame end, as a piece of miniature, properly introduced into a large 124 NOTES ON THE large pi&urc. It ainufes the eye with fomething relative to the painter's clefign, yet not fo, as to with-hold its principal obfervation from falling on the greater fubjec~h The parallel will not hold very exa&Iy, becaufe the painter is, of ne- ceffity, confined to the lame injlant of time ; but it may ferve for an illuftration of my meaning. Suppofe the painter to take, for his fubjeft, that part of Eneas' s ftory, where, with his penatcs, I\'K father, and his fan, he is preparing to fet fail for Italy. To draw Troy in flame^ as a confli- tuent part of this pi&ure, would be manifeftly abfurd. It would be painting two fubjefts, ii>- ftead of one. And perhaps 7'rcja inunfa might fci/e the attention before dfcanium Anchlfenque patrem Teucrofque penates, But a diilant perfpc&ive of burning Ttcy might be thrown into a corner of the piece, that is, cpifodically, with good advantage* where, in- ftcad of diftradling the attention, and breaking the unity of the fubjcft, it would concenter, as it were, with the great defign, and have an eflcft in augmenting tlic diflrefs of it. 143. Tu, QUID EGO ET POPULUS, &C.] The connection is this. u But though the " flrift obfcrvancc of thefc rules will enable the ' poet to conduct his plot to the beft advantage, 4t yet this is not ail which is required to uperfeft " tragedy. ART OF POE TR Y. i^ " tragedy. If he would feize die attention, and " fecure the app!aufe, of the audience, fome- " thing further muft be attempted. He muft " (to return to the point, from which I digrefled, " 1. 127) be particularly ftudious to exprefs the " manners. Befkles the peculiarities of office, " temper, condition, country, &c. before confidered, " all which require to be drawn with the utmoft " fidelity, a iingular attention muft be had to " the chara&eriftic differences of age" JEtatis cujufque notandi funt tibt mores. The reafon of this condudl is given in" the com- mentary. It further ferves to adorn this part of the epiftle [which is wholly preceptive from line 89 to 202] with thofe beautiful pourtraitures of human life, in its feveral fucceffive ftages, which nature and Ariftotle had inftructed him fo well to paint. 157. MOBILIBUSQUE DECOR NATURIS DAN- DUS ET ANNIS.] MoBiLiBUs] non levibus ant tnconftantibus, fed qu& variatls estatlbus immutan.- tur* Lambin. NATURIS] By this word is not meant, limply, that inftinftive natural biafs, im- planted in every man, to this or that charafter, but, in general, nature, as it appears diverfified in the different periods of life. The fenfe will be : A certain decorum or propriety muft be ob- ferved I 2 6 NOTES ON THE ferved in painting the natures or difpofitions of men varying with their years. There is then no occafion for changing the text, with Dr. Bentley, into Mobllibufqut decor ; rnaturis dandus ft annis. 179. AUT AClTUR RES IN SCENIS, AUT ACTA REFERTUR, &c.] The connexion is this. The mif application, juft now mentioned, deftroys the credibility. This puts the poet irt mind of another mifconduft, which hath the fame effeft, viz. tntus digna geripromtrt infcenam. But, before he makes this obfcrvation, it was proper to prcaufc a eontfffwn to prevent miftakcs, viz. Segnius irritant aitimos, &c. l82. NON TAMEN INTUS DlGNA GERI PRO- MES IN SCENAM.] I know not a more ftriking example of the tranfgreflion of this rule, than in Seneca's HippoIytUxS ; where Thefcus is made to weep over the mangled members of his fon, which he attempts to put together on the flage. This, which has fo horrid an appearance in the aft'ion, might tave been fo contrived, as to have an infinite beauty in the narration ; as may be feen from a iimilar inftance in Xenophon's Cyropaedia, where Panthea is icprefented putting together die torn limbs of Abradates. a 185. N* ART OF POETRY. 127 185. NE PUEROS CORAM POPULO, &c.} Seneca, whom we before [1. 123] Taw fo felici- tous to keep up to one rule of Horace, here makes no fcruple to tranfgrefs another. For, in violation of the very letter of this precept, and of all the laws of decency and common fenfe, he reprefents Medea butchering her children in the face of the people ; and, as if this too faintly painted the fury of her character, he further ag- gravates the cruelty of the execution, with all the horrors of a lingering act. This, leemingly inconfiftent, conduct of the poet was, in truth, owing to one and the fame caufe, namely, '* The endeavour to fuftain Medea's character." For, wanting true tafte to difcern the exact boundaries which nature had prefcribed to the human character, or true genius to fupport him in a due prefervation of it, he, as all bad writers ufe, for fear of doing too little, unfortu- nately does too much ; and fo, as Shakeipeara well expreffes it, Jerjleps the modejly of nature^ inflating her fentiments with extravagant paffion, and blackening her ais with circumftances of unnatural horror. Though feme, of thefe faults, I fufpect, he only copied. For, to fay nothing of tliat of Ertnius, Ovid's Medea was, at this time, very famous, and as^ I think, may be collected from the judgment pafled upon it by Quindtilian, had iome of the vices, here charged upon Seneca. Qvidii uS N O T E S O N T H E Ovidii Medea, fay he, videtur mibi ojlendere y quantum vir ille pros/lore potuerit t ft ingenio fuo temf>erare) quam Indulgere, maluijjet. It is not pof- fible indeed to fay exactly, wherein this intem- perance confifted ; but it is not unlikely, that, amongft other things, it might fhew itfelf in the forccries and incantations; a fubjeft, entirely fuited to the wildnefs of Ovid's genius ; and which, as appears from his relation of this ftory in the Metamorphofis, he knew not how to treat without running into fome excefs and luxuriance in that part. But, whether this were the caufe or no, the very treating a fubjeft, which had gone through fuch hands, as Euripides, Ennius, and Ovid, was enough to expolc a Vriter of better judgment, than Seneca, to fome hazard. For, in attempting to outdo originals, founded on the plan of fimple nature, a writer is in the utmoft danger of running into affectation and bombaft. And indeed, without this temptation, our writers have generally found means to incur thefc exceflcs ; die very beft of them being too apt to fill their plots with xmnatural incidents, and to heighten their characters into caricatures. Though it may be doubted, whether this hath been ov.ing fo much to their own ill tafte, as to a vicious compliance with that of the public; for, as one fays, who well knew the expediency of this craft, and pracYifed accordingly, to write unnatural ART OF POETRY. 129 unnatural things is the mo/l probable way of pleaf- ing them who underftand not nature. [Dryd. Pfefi to Mock Aftrol.] 193. AcTORIS PAfi-TES CHORUS, &C.] Sec alfo Ariflatle [w*f WOT. x. (.] The judgment of two fuch critics, and the practice of wife an- tiquity, concurring to eftablifh this precept con- cerning the chorus, it fhould thenceforth, one would think, have become a fundamental rule and maxim of the ftage. And fo indeed it ap- peared to fome few writers. The moft admired of the French tragic poets ventured to introduce it into two of his latter plays, and with fuch fuc- cefs, that, as one obferves, It Jhould y in all reafon^ have difabufed his countrymen on this head : fejjai heureux de M. Racine t qui les [cha?urs~\ a fait re- vivre dans ATHALIE et dans ESTHER, devroit, ce femb/e, nous avoir detrompez fur cet articlt. [P. Brumoi, vol. i. p. 105*] And, before him^ our Milton, who, with his other great talents, poffefled a fupreme knowledge of antiquity, was fo ftruck with its ufe and beauty, as to attempt to bring it into our language. His Sampfen Agonlfles was, as might be expected, a mafter-piece. But- even his credit hath not been fufficient to reftorc the chorus. Hear a late Profefibr of the art de* daring, De choro nihil differui^ qnia non eft ej/en- tialis dramatiy atque a neater ids pent tits, ET, ME VOL. I. K JUD1C5, i3o N O T E S O N T H E JUDICE, MERITO, REPUDIATES. [Pnel. Po*t. vol. ii. p iSS.j Whence it hath come to pafi that the chorus hath been thus neglected is not now the enquiry. But that this critic, and all fuch, are greatly out in their judgments, when they prefume to cenfure it in the antients, muft appear (if \ve look no further) from the double ufe, infifted on by the poet. For, I. A chorus interpofing, and bearing a part in the progrefs of the action, gives the reprefentation that proba- bility [d], and ftriking vefemblance of real life, which every man of fenfe perceives, zndfeth the want of upon our ftage ; a want, which nothing but fuch an expedient as the chorus can polfibly relieve. And, 2. The importance of its other office [1. 196] to the utility of the reprefentation, is fo great, that, in a moral view, nothing can compcnfate for this deficiency. For it is necef- {ary to the truth and decorum of characters, that the manners , bad as well as good, be drawn in flrong, vivid colours ; and to that end that im- moral fentimcnts, forcibly cxpreffed and fpeci- [tf] %Nfl (wantage nc pent il \lc po'ite] pas tirrr d'unt troupe trafleurs, qui remplljjent fa jlcnt^ qui rcnacnt pita fcafibk la continuite tfe fattion, et qui la font paroitrt istMBLABLE, puifqtiil ne/l pas nature I quellt fe pajjc f.iti ttmoiiif. Oft ne Jer.t quc trop le I'uide QUOD NON PROPOSITO, CONDUCAT ET HAE^ RE AT APTE.] How neccffary this advice mighj: be to the writers of the Auguftan age cannot certainly appear ; but, if the practice of Seneca may give room for any fufpicion, it fhould feem to have been much wanted ; in whom I fcarcely believe there is one Jingle inftance of the chorus being employed in a manner confonant to its true end and character. To fupport this gene- ral cenfure, which may feem to bear hard on the poet, let us examine, in this view, one of the beft of his plays, I mean, the Hippolytus ; whole chorus, throughout, bears a very idle and uninr terefting part hath no fhare in the action- and fings impertinently. K 3 A* 134 NOTES ON THE At the end of the/r/7 aft, 'when Phaedra had avowed her paffion for Hippolytus, inftead of declaiming againft her horrid purpofc, enlarging on the danger and impiety of giving way to unnatural lufls, or fomething of this nature, which was furely the office of the chorus, it ex- patiates wantonly, and with a poetic luxuriance, on the ibvereign, wide-extended powers of love. In the clofe of theyW/ aft, inftead of ap- plauding the virtuous obftinacy of Hippolytus, and execrating the mad attempt of Plutdra, it coolly fings the danger of beauty. The ./A/Waft contains the falfe accufation of Hippolytus, and the too eafy deception of The- feus. \Vhathad tlic chorus to do here, but to warn againft a too great credulity, ami to com- miferate the cafe of the deluded father? Yet it declaims in general, on the unequal diftribution of good and /'//. After the fourth aft. the chorus fhould natu- rally have bewailed the fate of Hippolytus, and reverenced the myfterious conduct of providence in fuflcring the cruel dcftiny of the innocent. This, or fomething like it, would have been to the purpofe. Bur, as if the poet hod never heard of this rule of coherence, he harangues, in defiance of common fenfe, on the inftability of an high fortune, and the fecuiity of a low. It ART OF POETRY. 135 It will further juftify this cenfure of Seneca, and be fome amufement to the critical reader, to obferve, how the feveral blunders, here charged upon him, arofe from an injudicious imitation of Euripides. I. There are two places in the Greek Hip- poly tus, which Seneca feems to have had in view in his firft chorus. We will confider them both, i. When the unhappy Phaedra at length fuf- fers the fatal fecret of her paffion to be extorted from her, fhe falls, as was natural, into all the horrors of fetf-deteftation, and determines not to furvive the confeffion of fo black a crime. In this conjuncture, the nutrix, who is not drawn, as in modern tragedy, an unmeaning confident, the mere depofitary of the poet's fecrets, but has real manners afligned to her, endeavours, with the higheft beauty of charac- ter, to divert thefe horrid intentions, and miti- gate, in fome forr, the guilt of her pafiion, by reprefenting to her the reiiftlefs and all-lubduing force of love, Venus," fays this virtuous monitrix, " is not to be withftood, when fhe " rufhes upon us with all her power. Nor is ** any part of creation vacant from her influ- " ence. She pervades the air, and glides through *' the deeps. We, the inhabitants .of the earth, " are all fubjeft to her dominion. Nay, aflc of K 4 ".* 136 N O T E S O N T HE <{ the ancient bards, and they will tell you, that " the gods themfelves arc under her controul." And fo goes on, enumerating particular ex- amples, from all which fhe infers at laft the ne- ccflity of Phaedra's yielding to her fate. Again, 2. Towards the clofe of the Greek play, when, upon receiving the tragical {lory of his fon's fufrcrings, Thefcus began to feel his re- fentments give way to the workings of paternal affe&ion, and, on that account, though he was willing to conceal the true motive even from himfelf, had given orders for the dying Hippolytuj to be brought before him, the chorus very pro- perly flings out into that fine adclrefs to Venus, u rav '3fccy axafWIov p givx, &c. the fubftance of which is, " That Venus, with " her fwift-winged boy, who traverfes the earth " and ocean, fubdues the ftubborn hearts of gods " and men : infpiring into all, on whom her in- <; fluencc refts, whether inhabitants of the land " or deep, and more efpecially the race of man, a *' foft and fympathizing tendcrnefs j demonftrat- " ing hereby, that flic alone extends her all- " controuling dominion over univerfal nature.*' This fong, as thus connected with the occafion, is apparently very proper, and, when reduced from the pomp of lyric eloquence to plain profe, >s only an addrefs of congratulation to the powers ART OF POETRY. 137 powers of love ; confeffing and celebrating their influence, in thus foftening the rigours of a fa- ther's hate, and awakening in his breaft the foft touches of returning pity and affe&ion. Now thefe two places, taken together, are plainly the ground-work of that fong, Diva, non mitt generata ponto, &c. but how improperly applied, has appeared, in re- fpecl: of the latter of them, from what has been obferved concerning the occa/ton; and muft be acknowleged of the other, from the different charafter of the perfon to whom it is given ; and alfo from hence, that the chorus in the Greek poet exprefly condemns the impiety of fuch fug- geftions in the nurfe, and admoniflies Phzedra not to lend an ear to them. The chorus, when it sjcomes to fing in him, is far otherwife employed ; pot in celebrating the triumphs, but deprecating the pernicious fury of this paflion, and in la- menting the fatal mifcarriages of Hymeneal love. II. The fecond fong, on the graces of the prince's perfon, and the danger of beauty, which follows on the abrupt departure bf Hippolytus, rejecting, with a virtuous difdain, the mad at- tempts of Phasdra and her confidante, is fo glaringly improper, as not to admit an excufc rom any example. And yet, I am afraid, the fmglc 138 N O T ES O N T H E fingle authority, it has to lean on, is a very fhort hint, {lightly dropped by the chorus in the Greeek poet on a very different occafion, It is in the entrance of that fcene, where the mangled body of Hippolytus is brought upon the ftage ; on the fight of which the chorus very naturally breaks out, Kai jw TC xo and yet, as the reader of juft tafle perceives, no- thing beyond a fingle reflexion could have been endured even here. III. The next fong of the chorus may feem direftly copied from Euripides. Yet the two occafions wilt be found extremely different. In Seneca Thcfeus, under the convidion of his fon's guilt, inveighs bitterly againft him, and at laft fupplicates the power of Neptune to avenge his crimes. The chorus, as anticipating the effects of this imprecation, arraigns the juftice of the gods. In the Greek poet, the father, under the like circumftances, invokes the fame avenging power, and, as fome immediate relief to his rage, pronounces the lentence of banifh- ment, and urges the inftant execution of it, againft him. Hippolytus, unable to contend any longer with his father's fury, breaks out into ART OF POETRY. 139 into that moft tender complaint (than which' nothing was ever more affe&ing in tragedy) "Agnfftv, us fcjxEt/, w raXaj syw, &c. containing his laft adieu to his country, com- panions, and friends. The chorus, touched with the pathos of this apoftrophe, and commiferating his fad reverfe of fortune, enters with him into the fame excefs of lamentation, and, as the fiiit expreflion of it, lets fall this natural lentitnent, " That, though from coolly contemplating " the divine fuperintendency of human affairs, " there refults abundant confidence and fecurity " againft the ills of life, yet when we look " abroad into the lives and fortunes of men, " that confidence is apt to fail us, and we find " ourfelves diicouraged and confounded by the " promilcuous and undiftinguifhing appoint- " ments of good and /'//." This is the thought, which Seneca hath imitated, and, as his manner is, outraged in his chorus of the third at : O magna par ens ^ Natura, Deum, &c. But the great difference lies here. That, whereas in Euripides this fentiment is proper and agree- able to the ftate and circumfcances of the chorus, which is ever attentive to the progrels of the a&ion, and is moft afFeled by what immediately prelents itfelf to obfervaticKy in Seneca it is quite 140 N O T E S O N T H E quite foreign and impertinent ; the attention of the chorus naturally turning, not on the dif- treflcs of Hippolytus, which had not yet com- menced, bat on the rafhnefs and unhappy delu- fion of Thefcus, as being that which had made the whole fuhject of the preceding fccne. But the conlequence of that delufion, it will be faid, was obvious. It may be fo. But the chorus, as any fenfible fpe&ator, is moft agitated by fuch reflexions, as occur to the mind from thofe fcenes of the drama, which are actually parting before it, and not from thofe which have not yet taken place. IV. What was remarked of the fecond fang of the chorus will be applicable to the fourth t which is abfurdly founded on a fingle refle&ion in the Greek poet, but juft touched in a couple of lines, though much more naturally intro- duced. Theleus, plunged in the deepeft afflic- tion, by the immature death of Phxdra, and not enduring the fight of the fuppofed guilty author of it, commands him into banifhment, " left, as he goes on, " his former triumphs and fuc- " ceffes againft the difturbers of mankind, fhould 4 in conlequence of the impunity of fuch un- " precedented crimes, henceforth do him no " honour.** The chorus, ftruck with the diflicfsful fituation of the old king, and recol- lecting ART OF POETRY. i 4 c le&ing with him the fum of his former glories, is made to exclaim, T yap < srfw i. e. /^*r# w henceforth no fuch thing as human happinefs, when the firjl examples of it are that fadly reverfed. Which cafual remark Seneca feizes, and extends through a whole chorus; where it vifibly ferves to no other end, but to ufurp a place, deftined for far more natural and affefting fentiments. If I have been rather long upon this head, it b becaufe I conceive this critique on the Hippo- lytus will let the reader, at once, into the true character of Seneca ; which, he now fees, is that of a mere declamatory moralljl. So little deferring is he of the reputation of a juft dramatic poet. 196. ILLE BONIS FAVEATQUE, &c.] 1%e chorus, fays the poet, is to take the fide of the gsod and virtuous, i. e. is always to fuftain a moral character. But this will need fome explanation and reftri&ion. To conceive aright of its office, we muft fuppofe the chorus to be a number of perfons, by fome probable caufe .aiTembled toge- ther, as witnefles and fpe&ators of the great a&ion of the drama. Such perfons, as they cannot be wholly unintercfted in what pade* 3 before I 4 2 NOTES ON THE before them, will very naturally bear fome fhare in the rcprefentation. This will principally con- fid in declaring their fentiments, and indulging their reflexions freely on the feveral evems and diftrefles as they fhall arife. Thus we fee the moral, attributed to the chorus, will be no other than the didates of plain lenfe ; fuch as muft be obvious to every thinking obferver of the aftion, who is under the influence of no peculiar par- tialities from affiftion or inttrefl. Though even thefe may be fuppofed in cafes, where the cha- racter, towards which they draw, is reprefented as virtuous. A chorus, thus conftituted, muft always, it is evident, take the part of virtue ; becaule this it the natural and almoft neceflary determination of mankind, in all ages and nations, when aft- ing freely and unconftrained. But then it is to be obfervcd, I. That this moral character, or approbation of virtue, muft alfo be considerably influenced by the common and tftablifhed notions of right and wrong ; which, though in cffcntial points, for the moll part, uniformly the fame under all circumftances, yet will, in fomc particular in- ftances, be much diftorted by the corrupt prin- ciples and practices of different countries and times. Hence the moral of the ftage will not be always fir idly phjlofophical ; as relieving to us the ART OF POETRY. 143 the image, not of the page's fpeculation, but, of the obvious fenfe of common, untutored minds. The reader will find this obfervation applied to the cafe of the chorus in the Medea, in note on line 200 ; and it might further, perhaps, be ex- tended to the vindication of fome others, to which the ignorant temerity of modern criticifm hath taken occafion to object. But, 2. The moral cbarafler of the chorus will not only depend very much on the feveral miftaken notions and ufages, which may happen, under different circumftances, to corrupt and defile morality ; but allowance is alfo to be made for the falfe policies* which may prevail in different countries ; and efpecially if they conttitute any part of the fubje&, which the drama would re- pfefent. If the chorus be made up of free citi- zens, whether of a republic, or the milder and more equal royalties, they can be under little or no temptation to fupprefs or difguife their real fentiments on the feveral events, prefented to their obfervation ; but will be at liberty to purfue their natural inclination of fpeaking the truth. But fhould this venerable aflembly, in- ftead of fuftaining the dignity of free fubjecls, be, in faft, a company of Haves, devoted by long ufe to the fervice and interefts of a matter, or awed, by the dread of tyrannical power, into an implicit compliance with his will, the baleful 2 effetf, 144 NOTES ON THE effect, which this very different fituation muft have on their moral chara&er, is evident. Their opinions of perfons and things will ceafc to be oracular ; and the interpolation of the chorus will be more likely to injure the caufe of virtue, than to aflift and promote it. Nor can any ob- je&ion be made, on this account, to the conduct of the poet; who keeps to nature and proba- bility in drawing the chorus with this imper- fectly moral character ; and is only anfwerablc for his ill choice of a fubjeft, in which fuch a pernicious reprefentation is required. An in- ftance will explain my meaning more perfectly. The chorus in the Antigone , contrary to the rule of Horace, takes the fide of the wicked. It con- fifh of a number of old Thebans, aflembled by ihe order of Creon to aflift, or rather to be pre- fent, at a kind of mock council ; in which he meant to iflue his cruel interdict of the rites of fepufture to the body of Polynices ; a matter of the higheft confequence in thofe days, and upon which the whole diftrefs of the play turns. This veteran troop of vaflals enter at once into the horrid views of the tyrant, and obfequioufly go along with him in the projects of his cruelty ; calmly, and without the appearance of any vir- tuous emotion, confenting to them all. The confequence is, that the interludes of the chorus ART OF POETRY. i 45 are, for the moft part, impertinent, or Tome- tiling worfe ; cautioufly avoiding fuch ufeful reflexions, as the nature of the cafe muft fug* geft, or indulging, by their flatteries, the im- potent tyranny of their prince. And yet no blame can be fairly charged upon the great poet, who hath furely reprefented, in the moft ftrik- ing colours, the pernicious character, which a chorus, under fuch circumftances, would natu- rally fuftain. The fault muft therefore fa!!, where the poet manifeftly intended to throw it, on the accurfed Ipirit of defpotilin ; which ex- tinguifhes, or over-rules, the fuggeftions of com- mon fenfe ; kills the very feeds of virtue, and perverts the moft facred and important offices, fuch as is that of the chorus, into the means and inftruments of vice. The glory, which he de- iigned, by this reprefentation, to reflect upon the government and policy of his own ftate, is too glaring to be overlooked. And he hath artfully contrived to counter-aft any ill impref- fions on the minds of the people, from the prof- tituted authority of the chorus, by charging them, in the perfons of Hsmon and Antigone, with their real motives and views. In all in- different things, in which the paflions or in- terefts of their mafter were not concerned, even this chorus would of courfe preferve a moral, character. But we are to look for it no further. VOJL. I. L This H6 NOTES ON THE This is the utmoft verge and boundary of a flave's virtue. An important truth, which, among many greater, and more momentous inftrudlions, furni flies this to the dramatic poet, That, if " he would apply the chorus to the ufes of a " found and ufeful moral, he muft take his fub- 4t jefts, not from the annals of defpotic tyranny, *< but from the great events, which occur in the 44 records of free and equal commonwealths.'* 200. ILLE TEGAT COMMISSA.] This im- portant advice is not always cafy to be followed. Much indeed will depend on the choice of the fubjecl, and the artful conftitutioa of the fable. Yet, with all his care, the ableft writer will foinctiir.cs find himfelf embarrafled by the chorus. I would here be underftood to fpeak chiefly of the moderns. For the amicnts, though it haa not been attended to, had fome peculiar advan- tages over us in this refpeft, refulting from the principles and practices of thofe times. For, as it hath been oblerved of the ancient epic mule^ that fhe borrowed much of her ftate and dignity from the falfe theology of the pagan world, fo, I think, it may be juftly faid of the ancient tragic^ that flic has derived great advantages of proba- bility from its miftaken moral. If there be truth in this reflection, it will help to juftify foinc of the ancient choirs, that have been moft 1 ART OF POETRY. 147 obje&ed to by the moderns. To give an Jn- ilance or two, and leave the curious reader to extend the obfervation at his leifure. I. In the Hippolytus of Euripides, the chorus, which is let into Phaedra's dcfign of killing her- felf, fuffers this rafli attempt to take effeft, ra- ther than divulge the entrufted fecret. This, to a modern reader, feems ilrange ; and we are ready to arraign the poet of having allotted a very unfit and unbecoming part to his chorus^ which, in order to obferve a critical^ is thus made to violate a moral precept, or at leaft to facrifice the more eflential part of its character to a jpuncYilio of honour. But die cafe was quite othefwife. This fuicide of Phaedra, which, on our ftrift moral plan, is repugnant to the plain rules ef duty, was, in the circumftances fup- pofed, fully juftified on the pagan fyftem. Phaedra had confeffed the fecret of her criminal paffion. By the forward zeal of her confident, her difgrace is made known to Hippolytus ; and thereby, as fhe conceives, rendered notorious to the public. In this diitrefs, fhe had only one way to vindicate her honour, and that was at the cxpence of her life. Rather than bear the in- fupportable load of public infamy, fhe kills her- {elf. That this was a juftifiable caufe of fejf- murder in the eye of the chorus is clear from the reafon, there affigned, of her conduct, manifeftly La in, 1 48 NOTES ON THE in approbation of it. " Phxdra," fays the chorus, " opprefled and borne down by her afflictions, " has recourie to this expedient of fuicide, T' aA-yucv Qptvuu ipwioc. '* for the fake of her good fame, and in order '' to free herfelf from the tortures of a cruel " paffion." And how agreeable this was to the pagan fyftem, in general, let the reader col- Ie& from the following teflimonies in Cicero : Si cmnla fugltnda turpitudinis adipifcendaque honejlati* caufi faciemus, non modo Jiimuhs dolor is* fed etiarn fulmina fortunes contemnamus licebit ; preefertim cum paratum fit illud ex hejlerna difpu- tatione perfugium. Ut enim y jl^ cut naviganti pra- donn infequantur, Deus quis dixerit, Ejice te navi ; prafto eft) qui excipiat, &c. omnem omittas tims- rem ; Jic, urgentibus afperit tt odio/is dckribus, fe tanti non fentj ut ferendi Jint y quo fit confugiendum vides. [Tufc. Difp. 1. ii. 26.] And, again, in the clofe of the V tK difputation, Alibi quidtm in vita fervanda vidftur ilia lex t qu& in Grater um conviviis obtintt : Aut bibat, inquit, out abcat. Et rette. Aut enim fruatur aliquis pariter cuui aliis voluptate potandi ; aut, nefobrius inviolentiam vinoltntorum incidaty ante difcedat : ftc INJURIAS FORTUNE, A IL T OF POETRY. 149 TORTUNJE, QUAS FERRE NEQUEAS, DEFUGI- ZNDO RELINQUAS. II. Another example may, I think, be fetched from the Medea. Scarcely any thing has been more the fubjeft of modern cenfure, than the part, which the chorus is made to al in this tragedy. Whence comes it, fays M. Dacier, that the chorus , which confijls of Corinthian women, is faithful to a Jlranger againjl their fovereign [*] ? \e\ See alfo to the fame purpofe P. Corneille's Exam, fur la Metiec. If the objection, made by thefe critics, to the part of the chorus, be, the improbability, as was explained at large in the preceding note, of a Jlaves taking the Jide of virtue againjl the pleafure of his tyrant^ the mamfeft difference of the two cafes will (hew it to be without the leaft foundation. For, i. the chorus in the Medea confifts of women, whom compaffion and a fecret jealoufy and indignation at fo flagrant an initance of the violated faith of marriage, attach, by the mod natural connexion of intereftt, to the caufe and perfon of the injured queen. In the Antigone, it is -compofed of old courtiers, devoted, by an habitude of llavery, to the will of a mafter, af- fembled, by his exprefs appointment, as creatures of his tyranny, and prompted, by no itrong movements of felf-love, to take pavt againii: him, i. In the Au- tigone, the part of Creon is principal. Every flep, in the progrefs of the play, depends fo immediately upon him, that he is almoll conftantly upon the ftage. No reflexions could therefore be made by the chorus, nor aay part againft him be undertaken, but diredly 5 n L s This 150 NOTES ON THE This good Frenchman, it feems, thought it a kind of treafon, even on the ftage, and where a moral chara&er was to be fuftained, to take part againft a tyrant. But he will further fay, that the moral character of the chorus was for- feited in thus concealing, and, in effect, abetting the impious cruelties of Medea. The laws of nature and of God were tranfgrejjed in rendering this fervice to her. All which is very true, fup- pofing the reader to judge of this matter by the purer chriftian moral. But how will he prove this to be the cafe on the received notions and practices of paganifm ? It appears, this critic did not apprehend, what a moderate attention to ancient hiflory and manners might have taught him, that the violation of conjugal fidelity was a crime of that high nature, as to defervc his prefence, and at their own mnnifeft hazard. The very rcverfe of this is the cafe in the Medea. Creon 5s there but a fubaltern peribn- has a very fmall part aliened him in the conduct of the play is, in fact, introduced upon the ftage but in one fmgle fcene. The different lituation of the chorus, refulting from hence, gives occalion for the widcft difference -in their con- duct; They may fpeak their refemments freely. Un awed by the frowns and menaces of their tyrant, they are left at liberty to follow the fuggeftions of vir- tue. No.hmg here offends ngainft the law of proba- bility, or, in the leatt, contradicts the reafoning about " fpeculate at his eafe on this matter, thus, in "fafi, it was, that the Tibicen y the mufician, " who played to the declamation in the acts, in- " ftead of the rude and iimpler {train of the old 14 times, gave a richnefs and variety of tone ; " and, inftead of the old inaftive pofture, added *' the grace of motion to his art. Juft in the *' fame manner, continues he, it happened to " the lyre, i. e. the mujic in the chorus, which " originally, as that of the tibia, was fcvert *' and fimple ; but, by degrees, acquired a " quicker and more expreffive modulation, fuch " as correfponded to the more elevated and paf- " fionate turn of the poet's ftyle, and the diviner " enthuliafm of his fentiment." All that is fur- ther wanting to fupport and juftify this inter- pretation, will be found in the notes on parti- cular paffages. 203. TV i6o N O T E S O N T H E 203. TENUIS SIMPLEXQUE, &c.] It may here be obferved of the manner, in which the poet hath chofen to deliver this whole part [from line 202 to 295] that, bt fides its other ufes, it tends dire&ly to convey to his readers, and im- prefs upon them in the ftrongeft manner, the principal inftru&ion he has in view, and with which the epiftle more exprefly conclades, viz. The ufes and importance of a fpirit of critical appli- cation. For, in fpeaking of the flage mufic, of thtfatyrs, and the Greek tragedy (all which come naturally in his way, and arc very artfully con- nected) he chufes to deduce the account of each from its ruder and lefs poliihed original; tracing it through its feveral fucceffive ftages, and marking out to us the gradual polifh and refine- ment, which it acquired from increafing dili- gence and correc~tncfs. The tibia at iirft wa* fimple and rudi The fatyrs 0>fWand barbarous and the Greek tragedy itfelf dtformed and Jbapelefs in the cart of Thefpis. Care and attention re- formed each. It follows, Nil intentatum nojlri liquere poeta, &c. i. /. our poets have not been wanting in their attempts to excel in thele feveral particulars. What is neceflary to their fuccefs is, lima labor et moreu If the reader bear this in mind, it will Lclp ART OF POETRY. 161 help him to fee the order and fcope of this part more diftin&ly. 204. AsPIRARE ET ADESSE CHORIS, &C.] Chorus here means the whole dramatic perform- ance, which was originally nothing elfe. 206. UTPOTE PARVUS, ET FRUGI CASTUS- QUE VERECUNDUSQ.UE, oc.] M. Dacier finds here four catiies of the little regard the antients had for plays [he fhould have faid, of their being fatisfied with the tibia, all rude and fimple as is here defcribed] la premiere, que le peuple Remain etoit encore alors en petit nombre : la feconde, qitil itoit fage : la troifieme, qiiil etoit chaJJe, c'eft a dire pieux : et la quatrieme, qrfil etoit modefte. But the three laft epithets are fynonymous, all of them expreffing what, though he took three gueffes for it, he had the ill fortune to mifs at laft, that plainnefs and fimplicity of character, that frugal referve and moderation in the ufe of any thing, which fo effentially belongs to rude minds, un- Inftru&ed in the arts of life. His four caufcs are, in faft, then but two ; which have been fully confidered in note on line 202. 211. AcCESSIT NUMERISQUE MODISQDE LI- CENTIA MAJOR.] M. Dacier takes licentia major in a bad fenfe, as implying lafchete, a culpable and VOL. I. M licentiws i6 2 N O T E S O N T H E licentitus refinement. But the licence, here fpoken of, with regard to numbers and founds, like that in another place, which refpe&s words [line 51.] is one of thofe, which is allowed, \vhcnfumpta pudenter. The comparative major, which is a palliative, fhcws this ; and is further juftiiied by a like paflage in Cicero, De Oratore, [1. iii. c. 48.] where, f peaking of this very licence in poctrv, he obfcrves, that out of the Heroic and Iambic meafure, which were at firft ftridlly obferved, there arofe by degrees the Anapseft, procerior quidam numerui, et ille licentior et divitior Dithy- rambut ; evidently not condemning this change, but oppoflng it to the rigorous and confined meafure of the elder poets. But the expreffion itfelf occurs in the piece entitled Orator, in which, comparing the freedoms of the poetical and oratorial ftyle, in ea [i. e. poetica~] fays he, licentiam Jlatuo major em ejfi, quam in nobis,facicn- dorum jungendorumque verbcrum. The poet fays, this licence extended numeris modtfque, the former of which words will exprels that licence of metre, ipoken of by Cicero, and which is further ex- plained line 256, &c. where an account is given of the improvement of the Iambic verfe. 214. Sic PRISCAE, ARTI TIBICSN, &c. SlC FlDIBUS ITIAM, &C.] This ART OF POETRY. 163 This is the application of what hath been faid, in general, concerning the refinement of thea- trical mufic to the cafe of tragedy. Some com- mentators fay, and to comedy. But in this they miftake, as will appear prefently. M. Dacier hath I know not what conceit about a com- parifon betwixt the Roman and Greek flage. His reafon is, that the lyre was ufed In the Greek chorus, as appears, he" fays, from Sophocles playing upon this injlrument himfelf in one of his tragedies. And was it not ufed too in the Roman chorus, as appears from Nero's playing upon it in feveral tragedies ? But the learned critic did not appre- hend this matter. Indeed from the caution, with which his guides, the dealers in antiquities, always touch this point, it fhould feem, that they too had no very clear conceptions of it. The cafe I take to have been this : The tibia, as being moft proper to accompany the decla- mation of the a6ls, cantanti fuccinere, was con- flantly employed, as well in the Roman tragedy as comedy. This appears from many authori- ties. I mention only two from Cicero, <%uam multa [Acad. 1. ii. 7.] qua nos fugiunt In cantu, exaudiunt in eo genere exercitaii : >ui, primo in- flatu Tibicinis, Antiopam ejfe aiunt aut Androma- cham, cum nos ne fufpicemur quidem. The other is ftill more exprefs. In his piece, entitled Orator, fpeaking of the negligence of the Roman M 2 writers, 164 NOTES ON THE writers, in refpeft of numbers, he obferves, that there were even many pajfoges in their tragedies, which, unltfs the TIBIA played to them, could not be dijiinguifled from mare profs : quee, nifi turn tibicen afcej/erit, orationi fint folutte femiiliwa. One of thefc paflages is exprefly quoted from Thye/les, a tragedy of Enniusi and, as appears from the meafure, taken out of one of the a&s. It is clear then, that the tibia was certainly ufed in the declamation of tragedy. But now the fong of the tragic chorus, being of the nature of the ode, of courfe required fides, the lyre, the peculiar and appropriated inftrurnent of the lyric mufc. And this is clearly collected, if not from exprefs tcftimonies ; yet from fomc occafional hints dropt by the antients. For, i. the lyre, \vc are told, [Cic. DC Leg. ii. 9. & 15.] and is agreed on all hands, was an in- ftrumcnt of the Roman theatre ; but it was not employed in comedy. This we certainly know from the ihort accounts of the mufic prefixed to Terence's plays. 2. Further, the tibiccn, as we faw, accompanied the declamation of the ab in tragedy. It remains then, that the proper place of the lyre was, where one fhould naturally look for it, in the fongs of the chorus ; but we need not go further than this very paflagc lor a proof. It is unqueftionable, that the poet is here fpcaking of the chorus only ; the following lines ;TJ ART OF POETRY. 16$ lines not admitting any other poffible interpre- tation. By fidibus then is necefiarily understood the inftrument peculiarly ufed in it. Not that it need be faid that the tibia was never ufed in the chorus. The contrary feems expreffed in a palTage of Seneca, [Ep. Ixxxiv.] and in Julius Pollux [1. iv. 15. 107.] It is fufficient, if the lyre was ufed folely, or principally, in it at this time. In this view, the whole digreffion is more pertinent, and conncfts better. The poet had before been fpeaking of tragedy. All his directions, from 1. ico, refpe&s this fpeciesof the drama only. The application of what he had laid concerning mufic, is then moil naturally made, i. to the tibia, the mulic of the acts; and, 2. tofidd) that of the choir : thus confin- ing himfelf, as the tenor of this part required, to tragedy only. Hence is feen the miftake, not only of M. Dacier, whofe comment is in every view infupportable ; but, as was hinted, of Heinfius, Lambin, and others, who, with more probability, explained this of the Roman comedy and tragedy. For, though tibia might be allowed to ftand for comedy, as oppofed to tragccdict) [as in fa&, we find it in 1. ii. Ep. t. 98.] that being the only inftrument employed in it ; yet, in Ipeaking exprefly of the nvufic of the ftage, fides could not determinately ertough, a.nd in contradiftin&ion to tibia 9 denote that of M 3 tragedy, 166 NOTES ON THE tragedy, it being an inftrument ufcd folely, or principally, in the chorus ; of which, the context fhews, he alone fpeaks. It is further to be ob- ferved, that, in the application here made, befides the mufic, the poet takes in the other improve- ments of the tragic chorus, thefe happening, as from the nature of the thing they would do, at the fame time. 214. SlC PRISCAE MOTUMQUE ET LUXU- RIEM.J Thefe two words arc employed to ex- prcfs that quicker movement, and richer modulation of the new mufic ; the peculiar defects of the '.Id being, i. That it moved too flowly, and 2. That it had no compafs or variety of notes. It was that movement, that velocity and vehe- mence of the mufic, which Rofcius required to have flackened in his old age. 215. TRAXITQ^JE VAGUS PER PULPITA VES- TEM.] This exprefles not only die improve- ment arifing from the ornament of proper drefies, but from the grace of motion : not only the eifior, whofe peculiar office it was, but the minjlrel himfelf, as appears from hence, con- forming his gefture in fome fort to the mufic. Of the ufe and propriety of thefe gefturcs, or dances, it will not be eafy for us, who fee no fuch things attempted on the modern ftage, to form ART OF POETRY. 167 form any very clear or exaft notions. What we cannot doubt of is, i. That the feveral theatrical dances of the antients were ftri&ly conformable to the genius of the different fpecies of compe- tition, to which they were applied. 2. That, therefore, the tragic dance, which more efpe- cially accompanied the chorus, muft have been expreffive of the higheil gravity and decorum, tending to infpire ideas of what is becoming, graceful, and majejlic ; in which view we cannot but perceive the important affiftance it muft needs lend to virtue, and how greatly it muft contribute to fet all her graces and attractions in the faireft light. 3. This idea of the ancient tragic dance, is not foiely formed upon our knowledge of the conformity beforementioned ; but is further collected from the name ufually given to it, which was 'Eppthsiz. This word cannot well be tranflated into our language; but exprefles all that grace and concinnity of motion, which the dignity of the choral fong required. 4. Laftly, it muft give us a very high notion of the moral effet of this dance, when we find the fevere Plato admitting it into his commonwealth. 2l6. SlC FIDIBUS ETIAM VOCES, &C.] He is here fpeaking of the great improvement in M 4 the i68 NOTES ON THE the tragic chorus, after the Roman conquefts, when the Latin writers began to enquire Quid Sophocles et Tbefpis et fcbylus utile ferrent. This improvement confifted, i. In a more in- ftruftive moral fentiment : 2. In a more fub- lime and animated exprcffion ; which of courfe produced, 3. A greater vehemence in the decla- mation : to which conformed, 4. A more nu- merous and rapid mufic. All thefe particulars are here exprefied, but, as the reafon of the thing required, in an inverted order. The inufic of the lyre (that being his fubjecl: and in- troducing the reft) being placed firft, the decla- mation, as attending that, next ; the language, facundia, that is, the fubjeft of the declamation, next ; and the fentiment, fententia, the ground and bafis of the language, lafl. Et tulit eloquium infolitum facundia praceps. literally, " A vehemence and rapidity of lan- " g ua g e P r duced an unufual vehemence and ' rapidity of elocution in the declaimer !'* This c< rapidity of language" is exactly the fame, as that Cicero fpeaks of in Democritus and Plato, [Orat. 638. /z.] which, bccaufe of its quick and rapid movement, quod incitatius feratur, fome critics thought to be poetical. Unac- cuftcmedy we may obferve, is indifferently a cen- fure or encomium, according as the preceding ftaCC ART OF POETRY. 169 ftate of the thing fpoken of was wrong, or right. Much the fame may be concluded of prasceps^ its literal fenfe is a degree of motion in any thing above what it had before. This may be excejjive 9 or otherwife, as it chances: When applied to the bleak Eajl wind, difperfing a fight of bees > and dajbing them on thejlream 9 fi forte morantes Sparferit, out prtsceps Neptuno immerferit Eurus* Virg. Georg. iv. 29. the epithet implies excefs\ but when fpoken of the gentle South, whofe Jirongeft gale is but fufficient to drive the willing Jhip to port y [./En. vii. 410.] Prtecipiti delata Noto, it then only exprefies due yieafure. As for the criticifm from Quinlilian, who ppofes pracipitia to fublimibus y it is doubly im- pertinent : i. As the fenfe is neceflarily fixed by its opposition to fublimibus : and, 2. As the word is here ufed, not as implying motion, but height, in which view its fenfe is abfolute 9 and always denotes excefs* 218. UTILIUMQUE SAG AX RERUM, ET DI- VINA FUTURI, SORTILEGIS NON DISCREPUIT SENTENTIA DELPHis.] It is amazing that thefe two lines ihould ever have been mifunder- flood as a cenfure, the import of them being highly i;o NOTES ON THE highly encomia/lie, yet with great exa&ncfs de- claring the fpecific . boaft and excellence of the chorus ; which lay, as Heinfius hath well ob- ferved, i. In inculcating important moral lef- fons; and, 2. In delivering ufeful prefages and monitions concerning future conduct, with an almoft oracular prudence and authority. Sic PRISCAE ARTI. What hath chiefly milled the critics in their explanation of this place, I fufpcft to have been the frequent encomiums on the fevcrity of the ancient mufic, by the Greek and Latin writers. Though here they feem to have overlooked two very material coniiderations : i . That the former have chiefly treated the fubjeft in a moral or fo'ilJialv'icw, and therefore preferred the ancient mufic only as it was conceived to influence the public manners. For this reafon Plato, one of the chief of thofe encomia/Is, applauds, as we find, the practice of ^Egypt, in furFering no change of her poetry, but continuing, to his time, her fondnels for the Songs of ]fu [De Leg. 1. ii. fub init.] which juft as much infers the perfection of thofe fongs, considered in a critical view, as Rome's flicking to her Suliar vcrfci would have ihe-.vn thofe poor, obfcurc orifons to have ex- ceeded the regular odes an-' nvtiiieial compo- fitions of Horace. Aad it was this kind of ART OF POETRY. 171 crticifm which, as I fuppofe, the poet intended to expofe in the famous verfes, which I explain in note on line 202* 2. That the latter, the prin- cipal of them at leaft, who talk in the fame ftrain, lived under the Emperors ; in whofe time, indeed, mufic had undergone a miferable prostitution, being broken, as one of the beft of thole writers complains, into an effeminate and impure delicacy In fcenis effeminata et impudicis modisfrafla, [Quinft. 1. i. 10.] As to the times in queftion, I know but of one pafiage, which clearly and exprefly condemns the mufic then in vogue ; and that will admit of fome alleviation from its being found in a treatife concerning laws. The paiTage I mean is in Cicero, [De Leg. 1. ii. 15.] who, following Plato in his high-flown principles of legiflation, exclaims, Ilia qua folebant quondam compleri feveritate ju- cunda Livianis et Ntcvianis modis ; nunc ut eadem, exultentj cervices oculofque pariter cum MODORUM FLEXIONIBUS torqueant ! For thefeveritasjucwida of the mulic, to which Livius's plays were fet, it may be tolerably guefled from hence, that he was the firft who brought a written play upon the flage ; /'. e. the firft writer, whofe plays were a6led to a regular and prccompofed mufic. And it is not, we know, very ufual for the firft cflays in any art to be perfeft. It fliould feem then, that the f.exiones modorum, as oppofed to th i 7 a NOTES ON THE the plalnnefs of the old mufic, arc here con- demned, not fo much in the view of a critic, cftitnating the true ftate of the ftage ; but, as was hinted, t)f a legiilator, treading in the fteps of Plato. Though indeed I have no doubt that die mufic in thofe times was much changed, and had even fuffered fome degree of corruption. This I infer, not fo much from any cxprcfs authorities that have occurred, as from the gene- ral ftate of thofc times, which were degenerating apace into the word morals, the fure forerunners of a corrupt and vitiated mufic ; for, though it may indeed, in its turn, and doubtlefs does, when eftablifhed, contribute much to help on the public depravity, yet that depravity itfelf is originally not the e/efi, but the caufe, of a bad inufic; as is more than hinted to be Cicero's real opinion in the place referred to, where, obferving that the manners of many Greek ftates had kept pace with their mufic, he adds, that they had undergone this change, Ant bac dulcedlne corruptelaque defravati, ut quidamputant ; aut cum ftverltas eorum ob alia vitia cecidtffetj turn fult In auribus animifque mutatis etlam huic muta- tioni Iscus. [Leg. ii. 15.] But be this as it will, Horace, as we have feen, is no way concerned in the difpute about the ancient mufic. 219. SEN* ARTOF POETRY. 173 219. SENTENTIA DELPHIS.] Sententia is properly an aphorifm taken from life, briefly repre- fenting either what is, or what ought to be, the con- duff of it : Oratio fumpta devita, qua aut quid fit ^ out quid ejje oporteat, in vita, breviter oflendit. [Ad Herenn. Rhet. 1. iv.] Thefe aphorifms are here mentioned, as conftituting the peculiar praife and beauty of the chorus. This is finely obferved, and was intended to convey an ob- lique cenfure on the practice of thofe poets, who Huff out every part of the drama alike with moral fentences, not considering, that the only proper receptacle of them is the chorus, where ihdeed they have an extreme propriety ; it being the peculiar office and character of the chorus to moralize. In the courfe of the aftion they fhould rarely be ufed; and that for the plain reafon afligned by the author juft quoted, [for the rule holds on the ftage, as well as at the bar] Ut rei aftores, non vivendi praceptores, ejje videamur. That there was fome ground for this reproof of the Roman drama, is coilefted from the few remaining fragments of die old Latin plays, which have much of this fententious caft, and from what Quinclilian expreily tells us of the old Latin poets, whofe fame, it feems, was principally raifed upon this meiT.. Tragaedia fcriptwes, Acdus et Pacuviuf, clarij/irrri gravitate fententiarum, 174 NOTES ON THE fententiarum, &c. [I. x. c. i.j To how intole- rable an extreme this humour of moralizing in plays was afterwards carried, Seneca has given us an example. But here a queftion will be ftarted, " Why " then did the Greeks moralize fo much, or, if " we condemn Actius and Seneca, how fhall we " defend Sophocles and Euripides /"' An ingeni- ous [] modern hath taken fome pains to fatisfy this difficulty, and in part, I think, hath fuc- ceeded. His folution, in brief, is, " That the " moral and political aphorifms of the Greek " ftage, generally contained fome apt and in- " terefting allufion to the ftate of public affairs, " which was eafily catched by a quick, intel- " ligent auditory ; and not a dry, affeftcd moral, " without further meaning, as for the moft part " was that of the Latins." This account is not a little confirmed by particular inftances of fuch acknowledged allufions, as well as from reflections on the genius and government of the Athenians, at large. But this, though it goes fome way, docs not fully extricate the matter. The truth is, thefe fentences are too thick fown in the Greek writers, to be fully accounted for from the fmgle confideration of their demo- [/;] P. Brumoy, Difc. fur le pnrall. des Thear. p. 1 6$. Ainft. 1732. cratical A R T O F POETRY. 175 cratical views. Not to obferve, that the very- choice of this medium for the conveyance of their political applications, prefuppofes the prior acknowledged ufe and authority of it. I would then account for it in the following manner. I. In the virtuous Simplicity of lei's polifhed times, this fpirit of moralizing is very prevalent; the good fenfe of fuch people always delight- ing to fhew itfelf in fententious or proverbial yvupai, or obfervations. Their character, like that of the clown in Shakefpeare, is to be very fw'ift and fententious. [As you like it, A& v. fc. i.] This is obvious to common experience, and was long Jince obferved by the pkilofopher, loii, [Arift. Rhet. 1. ii. c. 21.] an ob- fervation, which of itfelf accounts for the prac- tice of the elder poets in Greece, as in all other nations. A cuflom, thus introduced, is not eafily laid afide, efpecially when the oracular caft of thefe fentences, fo fitted to Jlrike, and the moral views of writers themfelves (which was more particularly true of the old dramatifts) concurred to favour this tafte. But, 2. there was added to this, more efpecially in the age of Sophocles and Euripides, a general prevailing fondnefs for moral wildom, which feems to have made the fafhionable ftudy of men of all ranks in thofe days ; when fchools of philofophy were relbrted 176 N O T E S O N T H E reforted to for recreation as well as inftru&ion, and a knowledge in morals was the fupreme ac- complifhment in vogue. The fruit of thefe philofophical conferences would naturally fhew itfelf in certain brief, fentcntious conclufions, which would neither contradict the fafhion, nor, it feems, offend againft the eafe and gaiety of converfation in thofe times. Schools and pe- dantry, morals and aujlerlty^ were not fo effen- tially connected, in their combinations of ideas, as they have been fince ; and a fenfible moral truth might have fallen from any mouth, with- out difgracing it. Nay, which is very remark- able, the very feholia, as they were called, or drinking catches of the Greeks, were feafoned with this moral turn ; the fallies of pleafantry, which efcaped them in their free!! hours, being tempered, for the moft part, by fome ftrokes of this national fobriety. " During the courfe of ' their entertainments," fays Athenacus, [1. xv. c. 14.] " they loved to hear, from fome wife and " prudent perfon, an agreeable fong : and thofe " fongs were held by them moil agreeable, " which contained exhortations to virtue, or ** other inftruftions relative to their conduct in life." And to give the reader a tafle of thefe moral fongs, I will take leave to prefent him with a very fine one, written by no lefs a perfon than Ariftotle ART OF POETRY, 177 Ariftotle himfelf ; and the rather, as I have it in my power to prefent him, at the fame time, with an elegant tranflation of it. But its beft recommendation will be, that it comes from the fame hand which has fo agreeably entertained us of late with foine fpirited imitations of Ho- race [*]. 'Aptla, sroXu.uo^Oe yivtt |3po]o>, re xp. And ART OF POETRY. 201 And what fhould hinder this chara&er from being made ridiculous, as well as Polypheme in the Cyclops ? Their characters were not unlike. And, as is ieen in that cafe, the antients knew to fet forth fuch monfters of cruelty in a light, that rendered them equally abfurd and deteflable. This was agreeable to their humanity, which, by fuch reprefentations, loved to cultivate a fpirit of benevolence in the fpelators ; and {hews the moral tendency of even the abfurdeft of the ancient dramatic fhews. The objection of Voflius is then of no weight. But what fur- ther confirms the emendation of the excellent Cafaubon, is a manufcript note on the margin of a printed copy of this book [0], which I have now by me, as it fhould feem, from his own hand, " leflionem vero quam rtftttuimus etiam in " optima codice Puteano poftea invenimus" The learned reader will therefore, henceforth, look upon the text of Diomedes, in this place, as fully fettled. 229. MlGRET IN OBSCURAS, &C. AuT, DUM VITAT, &c.] The two faults, cautioned againft, are, I . a too low, or vulgar expreffion, in the comic parts ; and, 2. a too fublime one, [o] In the library of Emmanuel College, Cam- bridge. 202 NOTES ON THE in the tragic. The former of thefe faults would almoft naturally adhere to the firft eifavs of the Roman fatires, from the buffoon genius of the old Ateilane : and the latter, from not appre- hending the true meafurc and degree of the tra- gic mixture. To correft both thefe, the poet gives the exarcit idea of the fatyrs, in the image of a Roman matron, fharing in the mirth of a religious feftival. The occafion obliged to fome freedoms ; and yet the dignity of her character demanded a decent referve. 234. NON EGO INORNATA, &C.] The fcOpe of thefe lines may be to regulate the fatiric ftyle, by the idea of its character, before given, in the allufion to a Roman matron. Conformably to that idea, a plain, unornamented exprcffion [from line 234 to 236.] muft not always be ufed. The three following lines enforce this general application by example. If the exa& reader find himfelf diffatisfied with this glofs, which feems the only one the words^ as they now flancl, will bear, he may, perhaps, incline to admit the following eon- jelure, which propofes to read,""inftead of inor- nata t bonorata. I. The context, I think, re- quires this change. For the two faults obferved above [line 229, 30.] were, i. a too low expref- fa, and, 2. a too lofty. Correfponding to this double, A R T OF POETRY. 203 double charge, the poet having fixed the idea of this fpecies of compofition [231, 2, 3.] (hould naturally be led to apply it to both points in queftion : i. to the comic part, in prefcribing the true meafure of its condefcenfion, and, 2. to the tragic, in fettling the true bounds of its elevation. And this, according to the reading here offered, the poet doth, only in an inverted order. The fenfe of the whole would be this, 1. Non ego HONOR ATA et dominant I a nomina folum Ferbaque, Pifones,fatyrorumfcriptor amalo : t. e. in the tragic fcenes, I would not confine myfelf to fuch words only, as are in honour, and bear rule in tragic and the moft ferious fub- jeb; this ftatelinefs not agreeing to the con- defcending levity of the fatire. 2. Necjic enltar tragico dlfferre colon, Ut nibil inter/it Davufne loquatur y et aucUtx Pythias^ emunSlo lucrata Simone talentum 9 An cujlos famulufque Del Siknus alumni. 7. e. nor, on the contrary, in the comic fcenes would I incur the other extreme of a too plain and vulgar expreffion, this as little fuiting its inherent matronlike dignity. But, II. this cor- rection improves the expreffion as well as the fenfe. For befides the oppofition, implied in the 204 NOTES ON THE the disjunflivc, nee, which is this way reftored, domnantia hath now its genuine fenfe, and not that ftrange and foreign one forced upon it out of the Greek language. As connected with honor ata, it beomes a metaphor, elegantly pur- iued; and hath too a lingular propriety, the poet here fpeaking of figurative terms. And then, for boncraia itfelf, it feems to have been a familiar mode of cxprefiion with Horace. Thus [2 Ep. ii. I J2.] honor e indigna vocabula are fuch words as have parum fplendoris and are fine pon- dere. And " qua Junt in bonore vocabula" is ipoken of the contrary ones, fuch as are fit to enter into a ferious tragic competition, in this very epiftle, line 71. 240. Ex NOTO FICTUM, &c.j This precept [from line 24.0 to 244] is analagous to that be- fore given [line 129] concerning tragedy. It directs co form the latires out of a known fubjech The realbns are, in general, the fame for both. Only one feems peculiar to the fatires. For the caft of them being neceflarily romantic, and the perfons thofe fantaftic beings called fatyrs, the TO ofxoiov, or probable, will require the fubjeft to have gained a popular belief, without which the reprefentation muft appear unnatural. Now thcfe fubjcfts, which have gained a popular be- lief, in confequence of old tradition, and their frequent ART OF POETRY. 205 frequent celebration in the poets, are what Ho- race calls nota ; juft as newly-invented fubjefts, or, which comes to the fame thing, fuch as had not been employed by other writers, inditta^ he, on a like occaiion, terms ignota. The connexioa lies thus. Having mentioned Silenus in line 239, one of the cpmmoneft characters in this drama, an objection immediately offers itfelf ; " but " what good poet will engage in fubjedls and characters fo trite and hacknied ?" The an- fwer is, ex noto fiftum carmen fequar, i. e. how- ever trite and well-known this and fome other characters, eflential to the fatyr, are, and muft be ; yet will there be {till room for iiftion and genius to fhew itfelf. The conduft and difpo- fition of the play may be wholly new, and above the ability of common writers, tantum feries junc- turaque pallet. 244. SYLVIS DEDUCTI CAVEANT, &c.] Hav- ing before [line 232] fettled the true idea of the fatiric ftyle in general, he now treats of the pe- culiar language of the fatyrs themfelves. This common fenfe demands to be in conformity with their fylvan character, neither affe&edly tender and gallant, on the one hand ; nor grolfly and offenfively obfcene, on the other. The fir/I of thefe cautions feems levelled at a falfe im- provement, which, on the introduction of the 7 Roman 206 NOTES ON THE Roman fatire, was probably attempted on the fimple, rude plan of the Greek, without con- fidcring the rufttc extraction and manners of the fauns and fatyrs. The latter obliquely glances at the impurities of the Atellane, whofe licen- tious ribaldry, as hath been obferved, would, of courfe, infect the firft effays of the Roman fatire. But thefe rules, fo neceflary to be followed in the fatiric, are (to obferve it by the way) flill more eiTential to the PASTORAL poem : the fortunes and character of which (though num- berlefs volumes have been written upon it) may be given in few words. The prodigious number of writings, called Paftoral, which have been current in all times, and in all languages, fhews there is fomething very taking in this poem. And no wonder, fince it addrefles itfelf to THREE leading prin- ciples in human nature, THE LOVE OF EASE, THE LOVE OF BEAUTY, and THE MORAL SENSE : fuch pieces as thefe being employed in reprc- fcnting to us the TRANQUILLITY, the INNO- CENCE, and the SCENERY, of the rural life. But, though thefe ideas are of themfelves agree- able, good fenfe will not be fatisfkd unlefs they appear to have ibme foundation in truth and nature. And even then, their impreflion will be but ART OF POETRY. 207 but faint, if they are not, further, employed to cenvey inftruR'mn, or interejl the heart. Hence the different forms, under which this poem hath appeared. THEOCRITUS thought it fufficient to give a reality to his pictures of the rural manners. But in fo doing it was too ap- parent, that his draught would often be coarfe and unpleafing. And, in fat, we find that his ihepherds, contrary to the poet's rule, immunda crepent ignominiofaque dila. VIRGIL avoided this extreme. Without de- parting very widely from the fimplicity of ruftic nature, his fliepherds are more decent, their lives more ferene, and, in genera!, the fcene more inviting. But the refinements of his age jiot well agreeing to thefe fimple delineations, and his views in writing not being merely to entertain, he faw fit to allegorize thefe agreeable fancies, and make them the vehicles of biflorkal, and fometimes even of philofapbicy information. Our SFENSER wanted to engrofs all the beau- ties of his matters ; and fo, to the artlefs and too natural drawing of the Greek, added the deep allegoric defign of the Latin, poet. One eafily fees that this aenigmatic caft of the paftoral was meant to give it an air of in-> ftru&ion, and to makt it a reafonable enter- 4 tainment io8 N O T E S O N T H E tainment to fuch as would naufcatc a fort of writing, " Where pure clefcription held the place of " fenfe." But this refinement was out 6f place, as not only inconfiftent with the fimplicity of the paf- tora! character, but as tending to rob us in a good degree of the phafure, which thefc amufing and pidturelque poems are intended to give. Others therefore took another route. The famous TASSO, by an effort of genius which hath done him more honour than even his epic talents, produced a new kind of paftoral, by ingrafting it on the drama. And under this form, paftoral poetry became all the vogue. The charming AMINTAS was even commented by the greateft fcholars and critics. It w?i read, admired, and imitated, by all the world. There is no need to depreciate the fine copies that were taken of it, in Italy. But thofe by our own poets were, by far, the beft. SHAKE- SPEARE had, indeed, fet the example of fome- thing like paftoral dramas, in our language ; and in his Winter* * Tale, As ye like /'/, and fome other of his pieces, has enchanted every body with his natural fylvan manners, and fylvan fcenes. But FLETCHER fet himfelf, in earneft, to emulate the Italian, yet ftill with an eye of reverence' A R T Q F POETRY. 209; reverence towards the Englifh, poet. In his faithful Jhepherdefs he furpafles the former, in the variety of his paintings, and the beauty of his fcene ; and only falls fhort of the latter, in the truth of manners, and a certain original grace of invention which no imitation can reach. The fafhion was now fo far eiiablifhed, that every poet of the time would try his hand at a paftoral. Even furly BEN, though he found no precedent for it among his antients, was caught with the beauty of this novel drama, and, it muft be owned, has written above himfelf in the fragment of his fad Jhepberd. The fcene, at length, was clofed with the Comus of MILTON, who, in his rural paintings, almoft equalled the fimplicity and nature of Shakefpeare and Fletcher, and, in the purity and fplendor of hit expreflion, outdid TASSO. In this new form of the paftoral, what was childifh before, is readily admitted and excufed. Afimple moral tale being the groundwork of the piece, the charms of defcription, and all the em- belliihments of the fcene, are only fubfervient to the higher purpofe of pifturing the manners, or touching the heart. But the good fenfe of Shakefpeare, or per- haps the felicity of his genius, was admirable. Inftead of the deep tragic air of Taflb (which has been generally followed) and his contihu- VOL. I. P ance 210 NOTES ON THE arice of the paftoral ftrain, even to fetiety, through five acts, he only made ufe of thefe playful images to enrich his comic fcenes. He faw, I fuppofe, that paftoral fubje&s were unfit to bear a tragic diftrefs. And befides, when the diftrefs rifes to any height, the wantonnefs of paftoral imagery grows diftafteful. Whereas the genius of comedy admits of humbler dif- trefies ; and leaves us at leifure to recreate our- ferves with thefe images, as no way interfering with the draught of characters, or the manage- ment of a comic tale. But to make up in fur- prize what was wanting in pajfion, Shakefpeare hath, with great judgment, adopted the popular fyftem of Faeries ; which, while it fo naturally iupplies the place of the old fylvan theology, gives a wildnefs to this fort of paftoral painting, which is perfectly inimitable. In a word, if Taflb had the honour of in- venting the paftoral drama^ properly fo called, Shakefpeare has fhewn us the juft application of pajioral poetry ; which, however amufmg to the imagination, good fenfe will hardly endure, except in a fhort dialogue, or in fome occafional dramatic fcenes ; and in thefe only, as it ferves to the difplay of characters and the conduct of the poet's plot. And to confirm thefe obfervations on paftoral pofetry, which may be thought too fevere, on may ART OF POETRY, air :uay. obiefve that fuch, in efFeft, was the judg- ment-paired upon it by that great critic, as well as wit, CERVANTES. He concludes his famous adventures, with a kind of project for his knight and 'fquire to turn ./hepherd; : an evident ridicule on the turn of that time for paftoral poems and romances, that were: beginning' to fucceed to their .books of heroic knight-errantry. Not but it contains, alfo, a fine ftroke of morql criticifm, as implying, what is feen from experience to be too r true, that men capable of running into one enthuliafm are feldom cured of it but by fome - fudden diverfion of the imagination; which drives them into another. In co'nclulion, the reader will Icarcely alk me, why, in this deduction of the hiftory and genius of paftoral poetr^, I have taken no notice of what has been written of this kind, in France ; which, if it be not the moft unpoetical nation' in Europe, is at leaft the moft unpaftoral. Nor is their criticifm of this poem much better than their execution. A late writer [/>] indeed pro~ no'unces M. de Fontenelle's difcourfe on paftoral poetry to be one of the fine/1 pieces of criticifm in the vuorlA. For my part, I can only fay it is rather more tolerable than his paftorals. \J>] Mr. Hume, OF SIMPLICITY AND REFINE- P i 248. OF- 212 N O T E S O N T H E 248. OFFENDENTUR ENIM QUIBUS EST EQUUS ET PATER ET RES.] The poet, in his endeavour to reclaim his countrymen from the tajle obfcene, very politely, by a common figure, reprefents that as being the/atf, which he wiflicd to be fo. For what reception the rankeft ob- fcenities met with on the Roman ftage, we learn from Ovid's account of the fuccefs of the MIMI : Nobilis bos virgo matronaque, virque puerque y Speftat : et i magna parte fenatus adefl. Trift. ii. 501. This, indeed, was not till fome time after the date of this epiftle. But we may guefs from hence what muft have been the tendency of the general difpofition, and may fee to how little effeft the poet had laboured to divert the public attention from the Mimes to his reformed Attl- lanes. 251. SYLLABA LONGA BREVI, &c.] This whole critique on the fatires concludes with fome directions about the Iambic verfe. When the commentary afferts, that this metre was com- mon to tragedy and the fatyrs, this is not to be taken ftriftly; the fatyrs, in this refpeft, as in every other, fuftaining a fort of intermediate character betwixt tragedy and comedy. For, accurately ART OF POETRY. 213 accurately fpeaking, their proper meafure, as the grammarians teach, was the Iambic, enlivened with the tribrachys. " Gaudent" [Victor. 1. ii. c. met. Iamb.] " trtfyllabo pede et maxime tribrache" Yet there was likenefs enough to confider this whole affair of the metre under the fame head. The Roman dramatic writers were very carelefs in their verfification, which arofe, as is hinted, line 259, from an immoderate and undiftin- guifliing veneration of their old poets. In conclufion of all that has been delivered on the fubjeft of thefe fatires, it may be amuling to the learned reader to hear a celebrated French critic exprefs himfelf in the following manner : " Les Romains donnoient encore le nom de fatyrc " a une efpece de piece pajlorale ; qui tenoit, dlt " on, le milieu entre la tragedie et la comedie. " Cejl tout ce que nous en ffavom." [Mem* de PHI/I, des Belles Lett. torn. xvii. p. 211.] 264. ET DATA ROMANIS VENIA EST INT- DIGNA POETis.J It appears certainly, that what is faid here concerning the metre of dra- matic poems, was peculiarly calculated for the correction of the Roman negligence and inac- curacy in this refpech This, if it had not been fo exprefly told us, would have been feen from the few/ remaining fragments of the old Latin plays, in which a remarkable careleflhefs of P numbers 214 NOTES ON THE numbers is obfevved. This gives a preemption, that, with the like advantage of confulting them, it would alfo appear, that the reft of the poet's rules were directed to the fame 'end, and that even fuch, as are delivered in the moil abfolute and general form, had a peculiar reference, agreeably to what is here taught of the plan of this poem, to the corrcfponding defers in the (late of the Roman ftage. 270. AT VESTRI PROAVI PLAUTINOS F.T NUMEROS ET LAUDAVERE SALES ; NIMIUM PATIENTER UT RUMQUE, N DICAM STULTf, MIRATI.) It hath been thought ftrange, that Horace fhould pafs fo fevere a rniurc on the wit of Plautus, which yet appeared to Cicero fo admirable, that he fpeaks of it as eiegdns, urba- num, ingeniofum, facetum. [De Off. i 29.] Nor can it be laid, that this difference of judgment was owing' to the improved delicacy oftaftc for wit in the Auguflan age, fince it .doth not ap- pear, that Horace's own jok.cs, when he attempt^, to divert us in .this way, are at all better than Cicero's. The common anfwer, fo far as it refpe&s the poet, is, I believe, the true one : " that endea- " vouring to beat down the cxcefilve veneration " of the elder Roman poets, and, among the reft *' (as appears from 2 Lp. i. and A. P. 54.) of A R T O F POETRY. 215 ee Plautus, he cenfures, without referve, every ** the leaft defect in his writings ; though, in " general, he agreed with Cicero in admiring " him." But then this was all. For that he was not fo over-nice as to diflike Plautus' wit in the main, and, but in this view, probably had not criticifed him at all, I collect from his exprefs approbation of the wit of the old comedy ; which certainly was not more delicate, than that of Plautus : rldlculum acrl Fortlus et meltus magnas plerumque fecat res. IlU 9 fcripta quibus comcedia prifca viris eft^ Hocftabant, HOC SUNT IMITANDI. ' iS.x. 15. I know, it hath been thought,, that, even in this very place, where he cenfures the wit of Plautus, he directs us ad Greeca exemplaria, i. e. as his critics understand him, to Ariftqpiianes, and the other writers of the old comedy; .but fuch a direction in this place were altogether impro- per, and the fuppofition is, befides, a palpable miftake. For the Graca exemplaria are referred to only as models in exact verification., as the tenor of the play fully fhews. And what Ho- race afterwards remarks on the wit of Plautus, in addition to the obfervations on metre, is a new and diftinct criticifm, and hath no kind of reference to the preceding direction. But ftill, P 4 as 2i6 N O T E S O N T H E as I faid, Horace appears no fucli enemy to the old comic wit, as, without the particular reafon affigned, to have fo feverely condemned it. The difficulty, is to account for Cicero's fo peculiar admiration of it, and that a tafte, otherwife fo exact, as his, fhould delight in the coarfe hu- mour of Plautus, and the old comedy. The cafe, I believe, was this : Cicero had imbibed a ftrong relifli of the frank and libertine wit of the old comedy, as beft luited to the genius of popular eloquence ; which, though it demands to be tempered with fome urbanity, yet never attains its end fo effectually, as when let down and accommodated, in fome certain degree, to the general tafte and manners of the people. This Cicero in effect owns, when he tells us, the main end of jefting at the bar [Dc Orat. ccxl.] is, not to acquire the credit of ronfummate humour, but to carry the caufe, ut proficiamus all quid: that is, to make an impre/ion on the people-, which is generally, we know, bet- ter done by a coarfer joke, than by the elegance of refined raillery. And that this was the real ground of 1 Cicero's preference of the old comedy to the new, may be .concluded, not only from the nature of the thing, and his own example (for he was ever reckoned intemperate in his jefts which by no means anfwer to the elegance of his charafter) but is certainly collected from what ART OF POETRY. 217 what Quin&ilian, in his account of it, exprefsly obferves of the old comedy, Nefcio an ulla poefis (pojl Homer um) aut fimilior fit or atari bus, out ad eratores faciendos aptior. The reafon, doubtlefs, was, thaty?r*/, and prompt and eloquent free- dom. Fires et facundijfima ltbertas t which lie had before obferved, fo peculiarly belonged to it. And this, I think, will go fome way towards clearing an embarraffing circumftance in the hiftory of the Roman learning, which J know- not if any writer hath yet taken notice of. It is, that though Menander and the authors of the new comedy were afterwards admired, as the only matters of the comic drama, yet this does not appear to have been feen, or, at leaft, fo fully acknowledged, by the Roman writers, till after the Auguftan age ; notwithftanding that the Ro- man tafte was, from that time, vifibly declining. The reafon, I doubt not, was, that the popular eloquence, which continued, in a good degree of vigour, to that time, participating more of the freedom of the old comic banter, and rejec- ting, as improper to its end, the refinements of the new, infenfibly depraved the public tafte; which, by degrees only, and not till a ftudied and cautious declamation had, by the neceffary influence of abfolute power, iucceeded to thd li- berty of their old oratory, was fully reconciled to the delicacy and ftri& decorum of Menander'f wir. 2i8 N O T E S O N T H E \vir. Even the cafe of Terence, which, at firft fight, might feem to bear hard againfl it, con- firms this account. This poet, {truck with the fupreme elegance of Mcnander's manner, and attempting too foon, before the public taftc was fufficiently formed for it, to bring it on the ftage, had occafion for all the credit, his noble patrons could give him, to fupport himfelf againft the popular clamour. What was the objeft of that clamour, we learn from a curious patfage in one of his prologues, where his advcrfary is made to ohjea, Quasft citfabulas Tcnui ejje oratione ft fcriptura Icvi. "Prol. ad Phorm. The fcnfe of which is not, as his commentators liave idly thought, that lis' jlyk was low and trifinzy for this could never be pretended, but that bis dialtgue was infipidy and bis cbaraffers^ andy in general^ bis wbsU compcjition t ivitbout that comic heightening, which their vitiated taftes rc- ftrired. This further appears from thofe com- mon verfes of Ca.'far, where, characterizing the genius of Terence's plays, as devoid of this co- mic fpirit, he calls them leniafcripta : LENIBUS atque utlnam SCRIPTIS adjunftaforet vis COMIC A : words, which are the cleared comment on the lines in queftion. But ART OF POETRY. 219 But this famous judgment of Caefar deferves to be fcrutinized more narrowly. For it may be faid t that by vis conuca I fuppofe him to mean the comic drollery of the old and middle comedy; whereas it is more probable he meant the elegant, but high, humour of the beft writers of the new,' particularly of Menander ; why elfe doth he call Terence, " Dimidiate Menander ?" There is the more force in this objection, be- caufe the elegant but high humour ', here mentioned, is of the trueft merit in comedy ; and becaufe Menander, of whom the antients fpeak fo ho- nourably, and whom we only know by their en- comiums, may be reafonably thought to have excelled in it. "What occurs in anfwer to it, is this : * i. The antients are generally allowed to have had very little of what we now underftand by comic humour. Lucian is the firjl, indeed the only one, who hath properly left us any con- iiderablc fpecimens of it. And he is almorr. mo- dern with regard to the writers under confidera- tion. But, 2. That Menander and the writers of the new ' comedy, did not excel in it, is probable for thefe reafons. ' i. The moft judicious critic of antiquity, when he ' is purpofely considering the excel- lencies of the Greek comedians, and, what is 220 NOTES ON THE more, expofing the comparative deficiencies of the Roman, fays not a word of it. He thinks, indeed, that Terence s> which yet he pronounces be to inoft elegant, is but the fainteft fhadovv of the Greek, comedy. But then his reafon is, quod firmo ipfe Romania non reaper e videatur illamfolii toncej/am Atticis venerem. [L. x. r.] It feems then as if the main defect, which this critic ob- ferved in Terence's comedy, was a want of that inexplicable grace of language, which fo pecu- liarly belonged to the Greeks ; a grace of fo fubtle a nature, that even they could only catch it in one dialed"! quando earn ne Gr as being a fpecies 2 4 o N O T E S O N T H E of the toga'tae, mud needs be comedies; not confidering that togata is here a generic term, comprehending under it all the fevcral fpecies both of the Roman tragedy and comedy. After what hath been faid, and cfpecially after the full and dccifive teftimony of Diomedes, there can no longer be any doubt about the meaning of prtetextas ; and one muft be furprized to find M. Dacier prefacing his long note on this place in the following important manner : Ccjl un des plus difficile* pajjages f Horace y ft peutetre celui qu'il eft le plus mal aife d' eclair cir a caufe du pen de lumiere que nous donnent les auteurs Latins fur tout ft qui regarde Itun pieces de theatre. 28l. SUCCESSIT VETUS HIS CoMOEDI A, cSx.] /. e. Comedy began to be cultivated and im- proved from the time that tragedy had obtained its end, to-^e rr,v wu?

] R 2 tally 244 N O T E S O N T H E rally ufeful in its moral detonation. For, It being converfant about domeftic ats, the great inftruftion of the fable more fenfibly afTefts us ; and the characters exhibited, from the part we take in their good or ill qualities, will more- probably influence our condul. III. Laftly, this judgment will deferve the greater regard, as the conduct recommended tvas, in fat, the practice of our great models, the Greek writers ; in whofe plays, it is obferv- ablc, there is fcarcely a finglc fcene^ which lies out of the confines of Greece. But, notwithstanding thefe reafons, the prac- tice hath, in all times, been but little followed. The Romans, after fome few attempts in this way (from whence the poet took the occalion of delivering it as a dramatic precept), foon re- lapfed into their oid ufe ; as appears from Seneca's, and the titles of other plays, written in, or after the Auguftan age. Succeeding times continued the fame attachment to Grecian, with the addition of an equal fondnefs for Ro- man, fubje^R. The reafon in both inftances hath been ever the fame : that ftrong and early prejudice, approaching ibmewhat to adoration, in favour of the illuftrious names of thofe two- great dates. The account of this matter is very eafy ; for their writings, as they furnifh the bu- finefs of our younger, and the amufement of our ART OF POETRY. 245 our riper, years ; and more efpecially make the ftudy of all thofe, who devote themfelves to poetry and the ftage, infenlibly infix in us an exceffive veneration for all affairs in which they were concerned ; infomuch, that no other fub- jec\s or events feem confiderable enough, or rife, in any proportion, to our ideas of the dignity of the tragic fcene, but fuch as time and long ad- miration have confecrated in the annals of their ilory. Our Shakefpeare was, I think, the firft that broke through this bondage of claffical fuperftition. And he owed this felicity, as he did fome others, to his want of what is called the advantage of a learned education. Thus uninfluenced by the weight of early prepoffeflion, he ilruck at once into the road of nature and common fenfe: and without defigning, without knowing it, hath left us in his hiftorical plays, with all their anomalies, an exatter refera~ blance of the Athenian ftage, than is any where to be found in its moft profeffed admirers and copyiits. I will only add, that, for the more fuccefsfel execution of this rule of celebrating domeftic a&s, much will depend on the aera, from whence the fubjeft is taken. Times too remote have almoft the fame inconveniences, and none of the advantages, which attend the ages of Greece and Rome. And for thofe of later date, they R 3 arc a 4 6 N O T E S O N T H E are too much familiarized to us, and have not as yet acquired that venerable caft and air, which tragedy demands, and age only can give, There is no fixing this point with jrecifion. In the general, that sera is the fitteft for the poet's purpofe, which, though frefh enough in our minds to warm and intereft us in the event of the action, is yet at fo great a diftance from the prefent times, as to have loft all thofe mean and difparaging circumftances, which unavoidably adhere to recent deeds, and, in fome meaiurc, fink the nobleft modern tranlactions to the level of ordinary life. 295. INGENIUM MISERA, &c.j Sape audivi poet am bonum neminem (id quod a Democrito tt Platone in fcriptis rcliftum ejje dicunt) fine infam* matione animorum exijlere poj/e et fine quodam of- fiatu quafi furoris. [Cic. de Orat. 1, ii, c. 46,] And fo Petronius, pracipitandus liber fpiritus, jit furentis animi vaticinatio appareat. [c. u8.j And to^ the fame purpofe every good critic, an- cient or modern. But who can endure the grimace of thofe minute genii, who, becaufe the truly infpired, in the ravings of the fit, are touched with the flame and fury of enthufiafm, muft, therefore, with a tame, frigid fancy, be laying claim to the fame fervent and fiery rap- tures ? The fate of thefc afpirants to dirinity ^ ART OF POETRY. 247 that IvQxc-iZv lavloTf Joxsifo, a |3*x^uWiv, aXXc* zyo/^tfcriv. [Longin. ZD-W. y'vj/. rpi/A. j^.] And Quin&ilian opens the myftery of the whole matter : Quo quifque ingenio minus volet, hoc fe magis attollere et dilator e conatur : utJJatura breves in digitos eriguntur et plura infirmi minantur. Nam tumidos et corruptos et tinnulos et quocunque alia cacvzelies genere peccantes, certum habeo, nan virium, fed infirmitatis vitio laborare : ut corpora non robore, fed valetudine inflantur : et refto itinere lapfi pkrumque divertunt. [L. ii, c. 3.] 298. BONA PARS KON UNGUES, &C.] The conftant and pitiful affe&ation of the race be- fore fpoken of, who, with the modefty of laying claim to the thing, will be fure not to omit the fign, and fo, from fancying an infpiration, they have not come to adopt every foppery, that has ever difgraced it in thofe who have. 308. QUID DECEAT, QUID NON.] Nihil ejl difficilius quam, quid deceat, videre. H^TTOV appellant hot Grac'i : not dicamus fane decorum. De quo praclare et multa pracipiuntur, et res eft cognitione dignijjima. Hujus ignorationc non mado in vita, fed fapijjime in POEMATIS y in oratione feccatur. [Orator, xxi.] R 4 309, SCRI- 243 NOTES ON THE 309. SCRTBENDI RECTE, SAPERE EST ET PRINCIPIUM ET FONS.] The orator was of the fame mind, when he fent his pupil to the academy for inftru&ion. $>uts nefcit maximam vim exi/iere oratoris in horninum mentibus, vel ad tram, out dolorem incitandis, vel ab hifce iifdem permotionibus ad lenitatem mifericordiamque revo- candis ? qua, nifi qui natures bominum, vimque cmnem humanitatis, caufafque eas quibus mentes out incitantur ant reflecluntur, penitus perfpexerit^ dl- cendo, quod volet, perfictre non potent. Atqui TOTUS HIC LOCUS PHILOSOPHORUM PROPRIUS VIDETUR. [De Orat. 1. i. c. 12.] And he fpoke, we know, from his own experience, having acquired bis oratorial Jkill not in the fchoolt of the rhetoricians, but the walks of the academy : fateor me orator em, fi modo fim, aut etiam quicunque Jim, non ex rhetorum officinis, fed ex academics fpatiis txtitifff. [Orat. p. 622. Elz. ed.] But the rcafon he gives for this advice, though common to the poet; whofe charaftcr, as well as the orator*s, it is, poffe vduntates impeilere, quo velis, undt veils, deducere, is yet, not the only one, which refpe&s the poet. For his bufinefs i$ to paint, and that not only, as the orator does, in order to move, but for the fole end of pleafing : folam petit voluptatem. [Quinft. 1. x. c. i.J The boaft of his art is, to catch every different afpeft ART OF POETRY. 249 of nature, and more efpecially to exhibit the hu- man character in every varying light and form, under which it prefents itfelf. But this is not to be done without an exquiiite ftudyj and phi- lofophical knowledge of man ; to which end, as is remarked, in n. on line 317, the Socratic phi- lofophy is more peculiarly adapted. Add to this, that it is the genius of true poetry, not only to animate, but to perfenali-ze every thing, omnia debent effe morata. Hence the indifpen- fable neceflity of moral fcience : all poetry being, in effect, what Mr. Dryden fomewhere calls comedy, THE THEFT OF POETS FROM MAN- KIND. 310. SOCRATICAE CHARTAE.] An ad- mired writer, in many refpels defervedly Ib, thus comments on thefe words : " The philo- " fbphical writings, to which our poet refers, " were in themfelves a kind of poetry, like the " mimeS) or perfonated pieces of early times, " before philofophy was in vogue, and when as "yet dramatical imitation was fcarce formed: " or at leaft, in many parts, not brought to due " perfection. They were pieces, which, betides (( their force of ftyle, and hidden numbers, '* carried a fort of a ft ion and imitation, the fame *' as the epic and dramatic kinds. They were ** either real dialogues, or recitals of fuch per- " fonated I 5 o NOTES ON THE " fonated difcourfes ; where the perfons them- " felves had their characters preferved through- "out; their manners, humours, and diftindl " turns of temper and underftanding maintained, t( according to the rnoft exact poetical truth. It " was not enough, that thefe pieces treated fun- 4< damentally of morals, and, in confequence, " pointed out real characters and manners : They exhibited them alive, and fet the coun- " tenances and complexions of men plainly in < c view. And by this means they not only taught us to know others ; but, what was " principal, and of highefl virtue in them, they " taught us to know ourfelves." Thus far then thefe models are of unqueftioned ufe to writers of every denomination. I forbear to mention, what this noble author iinds occafion frequently to infinuate, and, by his own prac- tice, labours to recommend, the fuperior excel- lency of the manner, as well as matter, of thefe highly-rated originals. Not that I prcfume to think it unworthy of imitation. But the public tafte, as appears, is running full faft that way, infomuch, that Ibme may even doubt, if the {late of literary competition be more endangered by the neglect, or vicious imitation, of the Platonic .manner. Its graces, when fparingly employed by a real genius, for the embellishment of ftrong fenfe, have, it muft be owned, great beauty. But ART OF POETRY. 2 $i But when this humour of platonizing feizes oa fome minuter fpirit, bent on ennobling a. trivial matter, and all over-run with academic delicacy and affeaation, nothing, to a juft and manly relifh, can be more difgufting. One muft wink hard, not to fee frequent examples of this, in the mafter Platonift himfelf. But his mimics, of late, have gone much farther. There is no need, in fuch a croud of inftances, to point to particulars. What I would rather obfervc is, that this folly, offenfive as it is, may perhaps admit of fome excufe from the prcfentjiate of ou? literature, and the character of the great original himfelf, whom thefe writers afpire to imitate. When a language, as ours at this time, hath been much poliflied, and enriched with perfect models of ftyle in almoft every way, it is in the order of things, that the next ftep fhould be to a vicious affeftatlon. For the fnnplicity of true tafte, under thefe circumflances, grows infipid. Something letter than the left muft be aimed at ; and the reader's languid appetite raifed by the provocatives of an ambitious refinement. And this in fentiment, as well as language*. Whence we fee how it happened, that, even in Greece itfelf, where competition \vas ftudied with a more than common accuracy, philofopky, when it palTed out of the hands of its great matters, de- generated by degrees into the fubtilties of fo- phifby, ?5* NOTES ON THE phiftry, as did eloquence, likewife, into the tricks of rhetoric. But there was fomething, as I hinted, too, irt the eharafler of the writer imitated, of a very ticklifh and dangerous nature ; and of which our tribe of imitators were not fuffkicntly aware. A very exacl: critic of antiquity hath told us what it was. It lay in Plato's bringing the turner of poetic compofition into difcourfes of philofophy^ OTI TON OFKON THE nOIHTIKHS KA- TA2KETHE ETII AOFOTS HFAFE fclAOZO- K)T [f]. And though the experiment, for the moft part, fucceeded not amils (as what con- tradiftion is there which fuperior genius cannot reconcile?) yet it fometimes failed even in his hands. And as a French writer well exprefles it, LE DIVIN Plato , pour avoir voulu s'elever trap au deffus des bornmes, eft fouvent tombe dans un GALIMATIAS pomfeux que quelquei-uns confondent avec le SUBLIME. The PHAEDRUS, though the inofl: remarkable, is not the only example of fuch mifchance in the writings of this great man. 317. VERAS HINC DUCERE VOCES.] Truth, in poetry, means fuch an exprtflion, as conforms to the general nature of things ; fal/bood, that, which, however fuitable to the particular inflance [/] DIONYS. HALICARN. EP. AD C. POM?. p. 205. Edit, llufa in ART OF POETRY. 253 in view, doth yet not correfpond to fuch general nature. To attain to this truth of expreffion in dramatic poetry, two things are prefcribed : i. A diligent ftudy of the Socratic philofophy ; and, 2. A mafterly knowledge and comprehension of human life. The firjl^ becaufe it is the pe- culiar diftin&ion of this fchool, ad veritatem vita propius accedere. [Cic. de Or. i. 51.] And the latter^ as rendering the imitation more univerfally flriking. This will be underftood by reflecting that truth may be followed too clofely in works of imitation, as is evident in two refpe&s. For, i. the artift, when he would give a copy of na- ture, may confine himfelf too fcrupuloufly to the exhibition of particulars, and fo fail of reprefent- ing the general idea of the kind. Or, 2. in ap- plying himfelf to give the general idea, he may colleft it from an enlarged view of real life, whereas it were ftill better taken from the nobler conception of it as fubfifting only in the mind* This laft is the kind of cenfure we pals upoa the FUmiJh fchool of painting, which takes its model from real nature, and not, as the Italian, from the contemplative idea of beauty []. The [] In conformity with the antique. Nee enim Phidias, cum faceret Jo*jis formam aut Minerva, cort- templabatur al:qnem e quo Jtmllititdincm duccret : fed ipfim in mcnte incidtbat fpecies pulchritudinis exirnia qua?- dam, tpam intuens in eaque defixus ad iUius Jimilitudintm rtem et manem dirigetat, [Cic, Orat, 2.] farmer 154 NOTES ON THE former correfponds to that other fault objected alfo to the Flemifh matters, which confifls iti their copying from particular odd and grotefque nature in contradiftincYton to general and grace- ful nature. We fee then that, in deviating from particular and partial, the poet more faithfully imitates ttniverfaly truth. And thus an anfwer occurs to that refined argument, which Plato invented and urged, with much feaning complacency, againft poetry. It is, that poetical imitation is at a great difance from truth. " Poetical expreffion, fays the philolbpher, is the copy of the poet's own conceptions ; the poet's conception, of things ; and things, of the {landing archetype, as exift- ing in the divine mind. Thus the poet's ex- prcilion is a copy at third hand, from the pri- mary, original truth." [Plat, de Rep. 1. x.] Now the diligent ftudy of this rule of the poet obviates this reafoning at once. For, by ab- ftra&ing from cxiftences all that peculiarly refpevfis and difcriminates the individual, the poet's conception, as it were negle&ing the intermediate particular objcds, catches, as far as may be, and reflecls the divine archetypal idea, and fo becomes itfelf the copy or image of truth. Hence too we are taught the force of that unufual encomium on poetry by the great critic, that it is femcthhg more ftvere and pbilo- ART OF POETRY. philofophical than hi/tory, qnXoo-oQwrtpov xj Tfpoy 7sroiT](n? Ifoplac is'iv. The reafon follows, which is now very intelligible ; ij ptv yap fxaAXov T xa0oAs, ?j J* ifopi'a T* xa()' Aey. [wEf. srcijT. x. 6'.] And this will further explain an effential difference, as we are told, between the two great rivals of the Greek ftage. Sophocles, in return to fuch as objected a want of truth in his characters, ufed to plead, that he drew men fuch as they ought to be, Euripides fuch as they were. DopoxAtis t$ n, aura; plv c laf Set sroiaiy, Ej^7nJi; J't oTo' Vt. [lisp. Tjrornr. x. xt.j The meaning of which is, Sophocles, from his more extended commerce with mankind, had enlarged and widened the narrow, partial conception, ariling from the contemplation of particular characters, into a complete comprehenfion of the kind. Whereas the philofophic Euripides, having been moftly converfant in the academy, when he came to look into life, keeping his eye too intent on iingle, really exifting perfonages, funk the kind in the individual', and fo painted his characters naturally indeed, and truly, with regard to the objects in view, but fometimes without that general and univerfally ftriking likenefs, which is demanded to the full exhibi- ' tion of poetical truth. 256 NOTES ON THE But here an objection meets us, which muft not be overlooked. It \yill be faid, " that phi- lofophic fpeculations are more likely to render men's views abflraft and general, than to confine them to individuals. This latter is a fault arifing from the fmall number of objects men happen to contemplate : and may be removed, not only by taking a view of many particulars, which it knowledge of the world ; but alfo by reflecting on the general nature of men, as it appears in good books of morality. For the writers of fuch books form their general notion of human na- ture from an extenfive experience (either their own, or that of others) without which their writings are of no value." The aniwer, I think, is this. By rffltfting on the general nature of man, .the philoibpher learns, what is the tenor of a&ion ariling from the predominancy of cer- tain qualities or properti-js : ;'. e. in general, what tnat conduct is, which the imputed cha- racter requires. Cut to perceive clearly and certainly, how tar, and with what degree of ftrength, this or that character will, on parti- cular occniions, mod probably fhcw itlclf, this is the fruit only of a knowledge of the world. Inftanccs of a want of this knowledge cannot be ir.pjwlcd frequent in fuch a writer as Euripides ; nor, when they occur, fo glaring as to ftrike a common reader. They are niceties, which can only ART Of POETRY. 257 only be difcerned by the true critic ; and even to him, at this diftance of time, from an igno- rance of the Greek manners, that may poflibly appear a fault, which is a real beauty. It would therefore be dangerous 'to think of pointing out the places, which Ariflotle might believe liable to this cenfure in Euripides. I will however prefume to mention one, which, if not juftly criticized, will, at leaft, ferve to illuftrate (my meaning. The ftory ,of his Ekflra is well known. The poet had to paint, in the character of this princefs, a virtuous, but fierce, refentful wo- man; flung by a fenfe of perfonal ill treatment; and inftigated to the revenge of a father's death, by ftill ftronger motives. A difpolition of this warm temperament, it might be concluded by the philofopher in his clofet, would be prompt to fhew itfelf. EleRra would, on any proper occaiion, be ready to avow her refentment, as well as to forward the execution of her purpofe* But to what lengths would this refentment go > i. e. what degree of fiercenefs might Ekttra ex- prefs, without affording occaiion to a perfon widely ikilled in mankind^ and the operation of the paffions, to fay, * this is improbable ?" Here abftracl theories will be of little fervice. Even a moderate acquaintance with real life Will be unable to direct us. Many individuals VOL, I. S may *5& NOTES ON THE may have fallen under obfcrvation, that will juftify the poet in carrying the expreflion of luch a refentment to any extreme. Hiftory would, perhaps, furnifh examples, in which a virtuous refentment hath been carried even far- ther than is here rcprefented by the poet. What way then of determining the precifc bounds and limits of it ? Only by obferving in numerous inflances, i. e. from a large cxteniive knowledge of practical life, how far it ufually, in fuch charalcrs, and under fuch circumftances, pre- vails. Hence a difference of reprefentation will arife in proportion to the extent of that know- ledge. Let us now fee, how the character befor us hath, in fat, been managed by Euripides. In that fine fcene, which paflcs between Ele&ra and Oreftr% whom as yet Hie fufpefts sot to be her brother, the convcrfation very an- turally turns upon Electra's diflrefles, and the uthor of them, Clytaemneflra, as well as on her hopes of deliverance from them by the means of Orefles. The dialogue upon this proceeds : . Or. What then of Oreites, were he to return to this Argos ? El. Ah ! wherefore that queftion, when there is no profpeft of his return at all ? Or. But fappoling he fhould return, how would he go about to revenge the death of his father ? EL ART OF POETRY. 259 El. In the fame way, in which that father fufFered from the daring attempts of his enemies. Or. And could you then dare to undertake with him the murder of your mother ? El. Yes, with that very fteel, with which fhe murdered my father. Or. And I am at liberty to relate this to your brother, as your fixed refolution ? El. I defire only to live, till I have murdered my mother. The Greek is ftill ftronger :' May I die, as foon as I have murdered my mother f Now that this laft fentence is abfolutely unna- tural, will not be pretended. There have been doubtlefs many examples, under the like circum- flances, of an expreffion of 6 revenge carried thus far. Yet, I think, we can hardly help being a little fhocked at the fiercenefs of this expreffion. At leaft Sophocles has not thought fit to carry it to that extreme. In him, Elettra contents her- felf with faying to Orejles, on a fimilar occafion : " The conduct of this affair now refts upon *' you. Only let me obfer've this to you, that, " had I been left alooe, I would not have failed " in one of thefe two purpofes, either to deliver " myfelf glorioufly, or to perilh glorioufly." Whether this reprefentation of Sophocles be not more agreeable to truth, as colle&ed from S a wide a6o NOTES ON THE wide obfervation, i. e. from human nature at large, than that of Euripides, the capable reader will judge. If it be, die reafon I fuppofe to have been, that Sophocles painted his charafiers, fuck, as t from attending to numerous injiances of the fame kind, he would conclude they ought to be ; Eu- ripides, fuch, as a narrower fphere of obfervation Jtad perfuadt'd him they were. 319. INTERDUM SPECIOSA LOCIS, &c.] The poet's fcience in ethics will principally fhew itfelf in thefe two ways, I. in furnifhing proper mat- ter for general reflexion on human life and con- duct ; and, 2. in a due adjuftmcnt of the man- ners. By the former of thefe two application* of moral knowledge a play becomes, what the poet ca.\\s,fpeciofa locis, i. e. (for the term is bor- rowed from the rhct6ricians)y?n'/ in its moral topics : a merit of the higheft importance on the ancient ftage, and which, if prudently employed in fubferviency to the latter more effential requi- iite of the drama, a juft txprejffion of the manner s y will deferve to be fo reputed at all times, and on every theatre. The danger is, left a ftudied, declamatory moral, afTetec!ly introduced, or in- dulged to excefs, fhoulJ prejudice the natural exhibition of the cljaraflers, and fo convert the image of human lift into an umaffccYmg, philofo- phical dialogue* ART OF POETRY. 2 6i 319. MORATAQUE RECT KABUL A, &C.] This judgment of the poet, in regard of the Superior efficacy of manners, is generally thought to be contradicted by Ariftotle ; who, in treat- ing this fubjeft, obferves, that let a piece be " never fo perfeft in the manners^ fentiments, " andy?yuinRilian' account, from hence, for the decay of eloquence, Galen of phyfic, Pttronius of- painting, and Pliny of the whole circle of the liberal arts. An ingenious modern is indeed for carrying his views much farther. He, it feems, would account [Refl. fur la Poef. et fur la. Peint. vol. ii. xiv.] for this public degeneracy of tafte. and literature, not from the malignity of the felfifh paffions, but the baleful influences of the air; emulating, I fuppofe, herein, the wilclom of that philofophy, which teaches to lay. the private 'degeneracy of individuals on the' liars, . Thus much however may be true, that other caufcs have generally co-operated with it.' Some of thefe, as might be fhewn, did not efcape' the. attention of thefe wife antients. Yet they did fight to inlrft chiefly on this, which is every way equal to th effel afcribed to it. It is fo in its nature : For being, as Longinus calls it, vec^a p-jxpoTroJOv, a difeafe which narrows and contrafls jbefoul, it muft, of courfe, reftrain the generous efforts and expansions of genius ; cramp the free powers and energies of the mind, and ren- der it unapt to open itfelf to wide views, and to the proje&ion of great, extenlive defigns. It is fo in its conferences. For, as one fays elegantly, when the paj/ion of aparice grows general in a coun- try the temples of Honour are foon pyUed down, and $4 *U 264 NOTES ON THE all men's facrijices are made to Fortune [w]. Thus extinguishing the fenfe of honour, that dlvincft movement in our frame, and the only one, which can invigorate the mind under the loflg labours of invention, it mull needs be, that the fire and high fpirit of genius go out with it ; and, dragging in its train the love of phafure % that unraanlielt of all the paflions, it diffufes fuch a languor and impotency over the mind, as muft leave it at length a prey to a fupine waft- ing indolence ; till, as Longinus obferves of his own age (and let every friend to letters depre- cate the omen), Halvlx tytala6s/Aiv, j>'x 333. AUT PRODESSE VOLUNT, AUT PELEC- TARE POETAE, &c.] Though thefe lines have the appearance of general criticifm, yet do they more cfpecially refpeft the dramatic poefy. This will be evident from attending to the context, The full boail and glory of the drama is to de- light and injlrua mankind, I. The latter praifc was more especially due to the ancient tragic mufe, who did not taink it fufficient to paint lovely pourtraitures of public and facial virtue, and to call in the moralizing chorus to her Temple. afiiftancc, ART OF POETRY. 265 affiftance, but, which was one of her difcrimi- nating characters, flie was perpetually inculcat- ing every branch of true moral in thofe brief fententious precepts, which inform and folemnize her page. To thefe precepts then the poet manifeftly refers in thofe lines, Quicquld praclpies, ejlo Irevls : ut cito dlffa Percipiant animi docites, tenant qu e f deles. But what follows is (till clearer, [2.] The other end of the drama is to entertain, and this by the means of probable fiftion. Fifta, voluptatis caufa, fint proximo verls. And the poet applies this to the cafe of the drama in exprefs words : Ne quodcunque volet , pofcat fibi f alula credi : Neu pranfa Lamies vivum puerum extrahat alva. The inftance of Lamia, as Mr. Dacier obferves, is certainly taken from fome poet of that time, who had been guilty of this mifconduft. The reader may learn from hence, how intently Horace purfues' his defign of criticizing the Roman Jiage, when, in treating a fubjet., from its nature, the moil general of any in the epiftle, viz. critical correftnefs, we yet find him fo in- duftrioufly recurring to this point. 343. Mis- a66 NOTES ON THE 343. MISCUIT UTILE DULCI.] The unna- tural reparation of the DULCE ET UTILE hath done almoft as much hurt in letters as that of the HONESTUM ET UTILE, which. Tully fome- where complains of, hath done in morals. For while the polite writer, as he is called, contents himfelf with the former of thefe qualities, and the man of erudition with the latter , it comes to pafs, as the fame writer expreffcs it, that ET DOCTI3 ELCQUENTIA POPULARIS, ET DISER- TIS ELEGANS DOCTR1NA DESIT. [Oral. iii.J 363. HAEC AMATOBSCURUM, VOLET HAEC SUB LUCB vi DERI.] Cicero hath given the fame precept in relation to oratory, babeat ilia in dicendo admiratio ac fttmma latts umbram aliquam tt recejjum^ quo tnagis id t quod erit illuminatum y extare atqut emlnere videatur. [De Orat. 1. iii. c. 26.] 373. MEDIOCRIBUS ESSE POETIS NON HO- MINES, &c.] This judgment, hewever fevere it may feem, is according to the practice of the beft critics. We have a remarkable inftance in the cafe of dpollonius Rbodius, who, though, in the judgment of Quinftilian, the author of a no contemptible poem, yet, on account of that tq ual mcdiurity y which every where prevails in him, ART OF POETRY. 267 him, was {truck out of the lift of good writers by fuch fovereign judges of poetical merit, as Ariftophanes and Ariftarchus. [Quinft 1 x c. i.] 403. DlCTAE PER CARMJNA SORTES.] The oracles here fpoken of, are fuch as refpeft not private perfons (whom a natural curiolity, quick- ened by anxious fuperftition, has ever prompted to pry into their future fortunes) but entire com- munities', and for thefe there was little place, till ambition had infpired great and eventful defigns, and, by involving the fate of nations, had rendered the knowledge of futurity impor- tant. Hence, in marking the progrefs of an- cient poefy, Horace judicioufly poftpones oracles, to the celebration of martial prowef; y as being that, which gave the principal eclat to them. This fpecies of poetry then is rightly placed, though it be true, as the commentators have ob- je&ed, that oracles were much ancienter than Homer, and the Trojan war, 404. ET VlTAE MONSTRATA VIA EST ;] Meaning the writings of tteogms,' Phocylides, Heftod, and others, which, confifting wholly of moral precepts, are elegantly faid to lay open, or difcover, the road of live. Mr. Dacier's inter* pretation, which makes the poet mean pbyfxs by vit# } is fupported by no reafon. // nefaut fas, a68 N O T E S O N T H E pas, fays lie, entendre ceci de la pbihfopbie et des mccurs ; CAR Horace fe contrediroit, puifque II a dlt qut cefut le premier foin de la poefit. The learned critic did not confider, that the firft care of poefy, as explained above, and as employed by Orpheus and Ampblon t was to inculcate policy, not moral. 404. ET GRATIA REGUM, PlERIIS TENTATA MODIS, LUDUSQUE REPERTUS ET LONGORUM OPERUM FINIS : NE FORTE PUDORI SlT TIBI MUSA LYRAE SOLERS, ET CANTOR APOLLO.] This is one of thofe mafter-ftrokes, which make the fovereign charm of this poet. But the way in which it hath been underftood, cxtinguifh.es all its grace and beauty. On Its vers employa, fays an interpreter, who fpeaks the fcnfe of the reft, a gagner lafeveur des rois, et on les mitde tour Jes jeux et de tous les fpeflacles, qu on invent a pour ft delajjer de fes longs travaux et de tcutes fes fa- tigues. Je vous dis cela afin que vous n'ayez point de bonte de faire la cottr aux Mufes et a gallon. And, left this fhould not feem explicit enough, he adds in a couple of notes, that by Indus rt- ptrtus, &c. i7 [le poete] veut parler des tragedies ft des comedies qne fan faifsit jour dans les fetes folemnelles. And then, as to the ne forte pudori, Cela prouve qu 1 Horace ne fait cet eloge de la pocf* yue pour emfccber gite Pifsn n en Jut dcgoute. Can any ART OF POETRY. 269 any thing be more infipid ? For could the poet think fo meanly of his art, as to believe it xvanted an apology ? Or had the courtier fo little addrefs, as to direft that apology immedi- ately to the Pifos? Betides, what fpecies of poefy is it, that he labours to excufe ? Why, according to this interpretation, the dramatic: the fupreme boaft of his art, and the main fub- jeft of the epiftle. And in what manner does he excufe it ? Why, in recommending it, as an agreeable amufement. But his matter, Ariftotle, would have furnifhed him with a nobler plea : and it is certain, the antients talked at another rate of the ufe and end of the drama. Let us fee then, if the fenfe, given in the commentary, will bring any relief to the poet. In fad, this whole paflage [from et vita, &c. to cantor Apollo\ obliquely glances at the two forts of poetry, pe- culiarly cultivated by himfelf, and is an indirect apology for his own choice of them. For, i. vita monftrata via eft is the character of his Sermones. And, 2. all the reft of his Odes. Thefe are recommended, agreeably to their nature, i. as of ufe to conciliate the favour of princes ; hereby glancing at the fuccefs of his own odes, and, with the happieft addrefs, in-' finuating the regard, which Auguftus paid to letters. 2. As contributing to the mirth and entertainment ef feafts, and efpecially as hold- 27 NOTE SON THE ing a principal place in the celebration of thofe more facred, fecular feftivities (iongorum operum finem) which could not be duly folemnized, without the miniftration of the lyric mufe. Co/lit cum pueris ignara puella mariti, Difccret unde preces, vatem ni mufa dedijjet ? a Ep. i. 132. And again : ego Diii amicuin, Saculofejla* referente luces, Reddidi carmen docilis modorum Vatis Horati. Carm. Sec. In another place both ends are expreffed : Tuque teJJudo Divitum MENSIS et arnica TEMPLIS. 3 Od. xi. Where it may be obferved, this double character of lyric poetry cxa&ly correfponds to that, which the poet had before exprcflly given of it in this very epiftle : the gratia rtgum being the fame as Mufa dcdlt fidibus Divos, puerofque Deorum y Et pugilem vitlorem, ct equum certamine primum. ver. 83. Aod ludufque repertu!) defcribing its other office, Et juvenum cur as et lib era vina refer re. ib. In this view the following line, which apolo- gizes, not for poefy in general, or its nobleft fpecies, ART OF POETRY. 271 fpecies, the drama, but for his own lyrics only, hath, as the reader perceives, infinite grace; and is peculiarly marked with that vein of ex- quifite humour, fo fuited to the genius of the epiftle, and which makes one of the diftinguifh- ing beauties of the poet. It hath alfo an , ex- treme propriety ; the levity of the ode admitting, or rather requiring, fome apology to the Pifos ; who would be naturally led to think but meanly of it, in comparifon of the fublimer dramatic poetry. I muft add, the very terms of the apo- logy fo expreflly define and characterize lyric poetry, that it is fomething ftrange, it fhould have efcaped vulgar notice : mufa lyree filers being evidently explained by Rumana fidicen lyree [4 O. iii. 23.] ; and the epithet cantor, defcrib- ing Apollo, as clearly as words can do it, in the peculiar character of Lyric. 407. CANTOR APOLLO. NATURA FIERET, &c.] The tranfition is delicate, and a fine in- ftance of that kind of method, which the epiftle demands. The poet had juft been fpeaking of the ode, and its infpirer, cantor Apollo ; and this, in the natural train of his ideas, fuggefted that enthufiafm, and ftretch of genius, which is at once the charac~leriftic and glory of the lyric ompofhion. And this was ground enough, in an epiftle, to pafs on to fay fomething concern? , ing 272 NOTES ON THE ing the power and influence of genius in poetry* in general. It was for want of attending to fo plain a reflexion as this, that the excellent Heinfius trifled fo egregioufly, in his tranfpo- fitions of the Epiftles, and in particular of this very place. And the hafty cenfures, which Mr. Dacier paffed on the poet's method, are ap- parently owing to no other caufe. [See his In- troduft. Remarks.] But to declare my lenfe at parting, of the latter of thefe critics, I would fay, as he himfelf does of the former, Cejl ajjtz farle contre M. DACIER, dont jejlime et admire ffutant la profonde erudition, que je condamne la mauvais ufage qu'il en a fait en quelques rtcantrts. 410. ALTERIUS sic ALTERA POSCIT OPEM RES ET CONJURAT AMICE.] This CODCluflOn, " that art and nature muft confpire to the pro- ** duflion of a perfeft piece," is, in the general, unqueftionably juft. If we would know the diftinfr, powers and provinces of each, a fine paffage in Longinus will inform us. For, of the five fources of the fublime, enumerated by that critic, two only, " a grantleur of con- '* ccption, and the pathetic," come from nature : the rcll, a juft arrangement of figures," " a ** Iplendid diftion," and " dignity of compo- " fition," are of the province of art. Yet, though their powers are thus diflinft, each, in order ART OF POETRY. 273 order to attain its due perfection, muft confpirc, and be confociated, with the other. For that * fublime of conception'' and " pathetic en- " thufiafm" never make a more fure and lafting imprefiion, than when cloathed in the graces, and moderated by the fober fenfe of art : as, on the contrary, the milder beauties of" language" and " artificial compofition" are never fo fecure of feizing the attention, as when raifed and infpirited by the pathos, or fublime. So that the nature of the union, here recommended, is fuch, as makes it not only neceffary to the completion of that great end, viz..ihe glory of perfect com- pofition ; but that either part, in the alliance, may fully effe& its own. All which is but the larger explication of another pafTage in Lon- ginus, who teaches, that TOTE H TEXNH TE- AEIOS, HNIK' AN &TSIS EINAI AOKHI* H A' AT $T2I2 EHITTXHS, OTAN AAN- ANOT2A HEPIEXHI THN TEXNHN. [=. But here, in parting, it will be amufmg, perhaps, to the curious reader to obferve, what perpetual matter of debate this queftion hath furnifhed to the ancient learned. It feems firft to have taken its rife from the high pretenfion of poets to inspiration, [fee VOL. I. T Find, 274 NOTES ON THE Find. Od. iti. Nem.], which was afterwards underftood in too literal a fenfe, and in time extended to all works of genius or imitation. The orator, who, as Cicero tells us, is near a-kln to the poet, fet up the fame claim ; principally, as it fhould feem, on the authority of Socrates, who taking occafion from the ill ufe that had been made of rhetoric, to decry it, as an art, was herein followed by die mod illuftrious of his fcholars, amongfl whom was Ariftotle, [Quinft. 1. ii. c. 17.] who had written a fet treatifc profefledly with this view, though his books of rhetoric proceed on very different principles. The queftion afterwards appeared of fo much moment to Cicero, that he difcuflcd it in form, in one of his dialogues De oratore. And Quin&ilian, in ftill later times, found him- fclf obliged to refume the fame debate, and hath accordingly confidered it in an entire chapter. The long continuance of fo frivolous a dif- pute, and which admits fo eafy a decilion, would go near to perfuade one, if, as Shakefpeare (peaks, they had not the privilege of antiquity upon them, that the pens of the ancient literati were not always more wifely employed, than thofe of modern controverfialifts. If we alk the reafon, it would feem to be owing to that ambitioUs fpirit of fubtlety and refinement, which, as Quin&ilian obfervcs, puts men upon teaching not what ART OF POETRY. 275 what they believe to be true, but what, from the falfehood or apparent Jlrangenefs of the matter, they expeR the praife of Ingenuity from being able to maintain. This, I fay, might feem to be the caufe of fo much perverfity, on the firft view ; and unqueftionably it had its influence. But the truth is, the real caufe was fomething more general and exteniive. It was, in fact, that natural prone nefs, fo Longinus terms it, in man- kind, to cenfure and degrade things prefent, "&ov a'vO^WTrs xo?afAf*^o-9at rex, Tffa^ovla,. This in nothing holds truer, thaa in what concerns the ftate of literature ; as may be feen from that unwearied induftry of the learned to decry what- ever appears to be the prevailing tafte of the times ; whether it be in fuggefting fome defect to be made good by future improvements ; or, as is more common, becaufe the caller and lefs invidious talk, in fetting up, and magnifying fome former examples of a different call and merit. Thus, in the cafe before us, exquifite art and commanding genius, being the two only means of riling to fuperior literary excellence, ia proportion as any age became noted for the one, it was conftantly defamed, and the preference given to the other. So, during the growth of letters in any ftate, when a fublimity of fenti- ment and ftrength of expreffion, make, as, un- der thofc circumftances, they always will, the T 2 charac- 276 NOTES ON THE charatcriftic of the times, die critic, difgufted with the rude workings of nature, affefts to ad- mire only the nicer finifliings and proportions of art. When, let but the growing experience of a few years refine and perfect the public talk, and what was before traduced as roughnefs and barbarity becomes at once nerves, dignity, and force. Then art is effeminacy ; and judgment want of fpirit. All now is rapture and inlpira- tion. The exafteft modern competitions arc unmanly and unnatural, et fobs veteres legendos putant, neque in. ullis aliis effe naturalem eloquen- tiam et robur viris dignum arbitrantur. [Quinft. 1.x. c. i.] The truth of this obfervation might be juftificd from many examples. The learning and art of Pacuvius (for fo 1 under- ftand the epithet doflus) carried it before the fubliinc of Jccius ; juft as in elder Greece the fmooth and correct Simonides, tcnuls Simonides, as Quinftilian charafteri/es him, bore away the pri/.e from the lofty and high-fpirited jEfchylus. Afterwards indeed the cafe was altered. The Athenians, grown exaft in the rules of good writing, became fo enamoured of the bold flights of ^Efchylus, as with a little correction to admit him on the ftage, who, by this means, frequently gained the pri/.e from a polite and knowing people, for what had certainly loft it him in the fimpler, and lefs informed theatre of his ART OF POETRY. 277 his own times. Thus too it fared with the elder Latin poets, who, though admired indeed in their own age, but with confiderable abate- ment from the reafon before affigned, were per- fect! y idolized in that of Auguftus ; fo as to require the fharpeft fatire of our poet, to cor- reft the malevolent principle, from whence the affectation arofe. But the obfervation holds of our own writers. There was a time, when the art of JONSON was fet above the divineft rap- tures of SHAKESPEARE. The prefent age is well convinced of the miftake. And now the genius of SHAKESPEARE is idolized in its turn. Happily for the public tafle, it can fcarcely be too much fo. Yet, fhould any, in the rage of creeling trophies to the genius of ancient poefy, prefume to violate the recent honours of more correct poets, the caufe of fuch critical perverfity will be ever the fame. For all admiration of paft times, when exceffive, is ftill to be accounted for the fame way, Ingenih non ille fa-vet plauditque fepultis, Nojlrafedimpugnat, nos nojlraque lividus odit. END of the FIRST VOLUME, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-32m-8.'58(5e76B4)444 H