perhaps to affert, that these latter ages have, at leaft, equalled them. When I fay fo, I do not confine myself to the productions of our own nation, but comprehend likewife thofe of our neighbours : and with that extent the obfervation will poffibly hold true, even without an exception in favour of hiftory and oratory. But whatever may with juftice be determined concerning that queftion, it is certain, at least, that the practice of all fucceeding poets confirms the notion for which I am principally contending. Though the altars of Paganifm have many ages fince been thrown down, and groves are no longer facred: yet the language of the poets has not changed with the religion of the times, but the gods of Greece and Rome are still adored in modern verfe. Is not this a confeffion, that fancy is enlivened by fuperftition, and that the ancient bards catched their rapture from the old mythology? I will own, however, that I think there is fomething ridiculous in this unnatural adoption, and that a modern poet makes but an aukward figure with his antiquated gods. When the Pagan fyftem was fanctioned by popular belief, a piece of machinery of that kind, as it had the air of probability, afforded a very ftriking manner of celebrating any remarkable circumftance, or raising any common one. But now that this fuperftition is no longer fupported by vulgar opinion, it has loft its principal grace and efficacy, and feems to be, in general, the moft cold and uninterefting method in which a poet can work up his fentiments. What; for inftance, can be more unaffect ing and fpiritlefs, than the compliment which Boileau has paid to Louis the XIVth on his famous paffage over the Rhine? He represents the Naiads, you may remember, as alarming the god of that river with an account of the march of the French monarch; upon which the rivergod affumes the appearance of an old experienced commander, and flies to a Dutch fort, in order to exhort the garrifon to fally out and difpute the intended paffage. Accordingly they range themselves in form of battle, with the Rhine at their head; who, after fome vain efforts, obferving Mars and Bellona, on the fide of the enemy, is fo terrified with the view of thofe fuperior divinities, that he moft gallantly runs away, and leaves the hero in quiet poffeffion of his banks. I know not how far this may be relished by critics, or juftified by custom; but as I am only mentioning my particular tafte, I will acknowledge, that it appears to me extremely infipid and puerile. I have not, however, fo much of the fpirit of Typhoeus in me, as to make war upon the gods without reftrition, and attempt to exclude them from their whole poetical dominions. To reprefent natural, moral, or intellectual qualities and affections as perfons, and appropriate to them thofe general emblems by which their powers and properties are ufually typified in Pagan theology, may be allowed as one of the moft pleating and graceful figures of poetical rhetoric. When Dryden, addrefling himfelf to the month of May as to a perfon, fays, For thee the Graces lead the dancing hours; one may confider him as fpeaking only in metaphor: and when fuch fhadowy beings are thus juft fhown to the imagination, and immediately withdrawn again, they certainly have a very powerful effect. But I can relish them no farther than as figures only; when they are extended in any ferious compofition beyond the limits of metaphor, and exhibited under all the various actions of real perfons, I cannot but confider them as fo many abfurdities, which cuftom has unreasonably patronized. Thus Spenfer, in one of his pastorals, reprefents the god of love as flying, like a bird, from bough to bough. A fhepherd, who hears a rufiling among the bushes, fuppofes it to be fome game, and accordingly difcharges his bow. Cupid returns the shot, and after feveral arrows had been mutually exchanged between them, the unfortunate fwain difcovers whom it is he is contending with; but as he is endeavouring to make his escape, receives a défperate wound in the heel. This fiction makes the fubject of a very pretty idyllium in one of the Greek poets; yet is extremely flat and difgufting as it is adopted by our British bard. And the reafon of the difference is plain in the former it is fupported by a popular fuperftition; whereas no strain of imagination can give it the least air of probability, as it is worked up by the latter, Quodcunque mihi oftendis fic, incredulus odi. pliments to his mistress by the affiftance of Venus and Cupid, that one is carried off from obferving the impropriety of this machinery, by the pleafing addrefs with which he manages it: and I never read his tender poems of this kind, without applying to him what Seneca fomewhere fays upon a fimilar occafion : Major ille eft qui judicium abftulit, quam qui meruit. To fpeak my fentiments in one word, I would leave the gods in full poffeffion of allegorical and burlefque poems: in all others I would never fuffer them to make their appearance in perfon and as agents, but to enter only in fimile or allufion. It is thus Waller, of all our poets, has most happily employed them: and his application of the ftory of Daphne and Apollo will ferve as an inftance, in what manner the ancient mythology may be adopted with the utmost propriety and beauty. Fitzoborne. If the ingenious piece you communicated to me, requires any farther touches of your pencil, I muft acknowledge the truth to be, what you are inclined to fufpect, that my friendship has impofed upon my judgment. But though in the prefent inftance your delicacy feems far too refined; yet, in general, I muft agree with you, that works of the most permanent kind, are not the effects of a lucky moment, nor ftruck out at a fingle heat. The beft performances, indeed, have generally coft the most labour; and that eafe, which is fo effential to fine writing, has feldom been attained without repeated and fevere corrections: Ludentis fpeciem dabit et torquebitur, is a motto that may be applied, I believe, to moft fuccefsful authors of genius. With as much facility as the numbers of the natural Prior feem to have flowed from him, they were the refult (if I am not mifinformed) of much application: and a friend of mine, who undertook to tranferibe one of the nobleft performances of the fineft genius that this, or perhaps any age can boaft, has often affured me, that there is not a fingle line, as it is now pub. lithed, which ftands in conformity with the original manufcript. The truth is, every fentiment has its peculiar expreffion, and every word its precife place, which do not always immediately prefent themfelves, and generally demand frequent trials, before they can be properly adjusted; not to mention the more important difficulties, which neceffarily occur in fettling the plan and regulating the higher parts which compofe the ftructure of a finished work. Thofe, indeed, who know what pangs it cofts even the most fertile genius to be delivered of a juft and regular production, might be inclined, perhaps, to cry out with the most ancient of authors, Oh! that mine adverfary had written a book! A writer of refined tafte has the continual mortification to find himself incapable of taking entire poffeffion of that ideal beauty which warms and fills his imagination. His conceptions ftill rife above all the powers of his heart, and he can but faintly copy out thofe images of perfection, which are inpreffed upon his mind. Never was any thing, fays Tully, more beautiful than the Venus of Apelles, or the Jove of Phidias; yet were they by no means equal to those high notions of beauty which animated the geniufes of those wonderful artifts. In the fame manner, he obferves, the great mafters of oratory imagined to themselves a certain perfection of eloquence, which they could only contemplate in idea, but in vain attempted to draw out in expreffion. Perhaps no author ever perpetuated his reputation, who could write up to the full standard of his own judgment; and I am perfuaded that he, who upon a furvey of his compofitions can with entire complacency pronounce them good, will hardly find the world join with him in the fame favourable fentence. The most judicious of all poets, the inimitable Virgil, used to resemble his productions to thofe of that animal, who, agreeably to the notions of the Ancients, was fuppofed to bring forth her young into the world, a mere rude and shapeless mafs; he was obliged to retouch them again and again, he acknowledged, before they acquired their proper form and beauty. Accordingly we are told, that after having fpent eleven years in compofing his Æneid, he intended to have fet apart three more for the revifal of that glorious performance. But being prevented by his laft fickness from giving thofe finishing touches which his exquifite judgment conceived to be ftill neceffary, he directed his friends Tucca and Varius to burn the nobleft poem that ever appeared in the Roman language. In the fame fpirit of delicacy, Mr. Dryden tells us, that had he taken more more time in tranflating this author, he might poffibly have fucceeded better: but never, he affures us, could he have fucceeded fo well as to have fatisfied himself. In a word, Hortenfius, I agree with you, that there is nothing more difficult than to fill up the character of an author, who proposes to raise a juft and lafting admiration; who is not contented with thofe little tranfient flathes of applaufe, which attend the ordinary race of writers, but confiders only how he may fhine out to pofterity; who extends his views beyond the prefent generation, and cultivates thofe productions which are to flourish in future ages. What Sir Willian Temple obferves of poetry, may be applied to every other work where taste and imagination are concerned: "It requires the greatest con"traries to compofe it; a genius both "penetrating and folid; an expreffion both 'ftrong and delicate. There must be a great agitation of mind to invent, a great "calm to judge and correct: there must "be upon the fame tree, and at the fame "time, both flower and fruit." But though I know you would not value yourself upon any performance, wherein thefe very oppofite and very fingular qualities were not confpicuous: yet I muft remind you at the fame time, that when the file ceases to polish, it must neceffarily weaken. You will remember, therefore, that there is a medium between the immoderate caution of that orator, who was three Olympiads in writing a single oration; and the extravagant expedition of that poet, whofe funeral pile was compofed of his own numberlefs productions. Fitzofborne. 66 § 244. Reflections upon Style. In a Letter. The beauties of ftyle feem to be generally confidered as below the attention both of an author and a reader. I know not therefore, whether I may venture to acknowledge, that among the numberlefs graces of your late performance, I particularly admired that strength and elegance with which you have enforced and adorned the nobleft fentiments. There was a time, however, (and it was a period of the trueft refinements) when an excellence of this kind was efteemed in the number of the politeft accomplishments; as it was the ambition of fome of the greatest names of antiquity to diftinguish themfelves in the improvement of their native tongue. Julius Cæfar, who was not only the greatest hero, but the fineft gentleman that ever, perhaps, appeared in the world, was defirous of adding this talent to his other moft fhining endowments and we are told he ftudied the language of his country with much application: as we are fure he poffeffed it in its higheft elegance. What a lofs, Euphrouius, is it to the literary world, that the treatife which he wrote upon this fubject, is perifhed with many other valuable works of that age! But though we are deprived of the benefit of his obfervations, we are happily not without an instance of their effects; and his own memoirs will ever remain as the best and brightest ex emplar, not only of true generalfhip, but of fine writing. He publifhed them, indeed, only as materials for the use of thofe who fhould be difpofed to enlarge upon that remarkable period of the Roman ftory; yet the purity and gracefulness of his ftyle were fuch, that no judicious writer durft attempt to touch the fubject after him. Having produced fo illuftrious an inftance in favour of an art, for which I have、 ventured to admire you; it would be impertinent to add a fecond, were I to cite a lefs authority than that of the immortal Tully. This noble author, in his dialogue concerning the celebrated Roman orators, frequently mentions it as a very high encomium, that they poffeffed the elegance of their native language; and introduces Brutus as declaring, that he should prefer the honour of being esteemed the great mafter and improver of Roman eloquence, even to the glory of many triumphs. But to add reafon to precedent, and to view this art in its ufe as well as its dignity; will it not be allowed of fome importance, when it is confidered, that eloquence is one of the most confiderable auxiliaries of truth? Nothing indeed contributes more to fubdue the mind to the force of reafon, than her being fupported by the powerful affiftance of mafculine and vigorous oratory. As on the contrary, the most legitimate arguments may be difappointed of that fuccefs they deferve, by being attended with a fpiritlefs and enfeebled expreffion. Accordingly, that most elegant of writers, the inimitable Mr. Addison, obferves, in one of his effays, that "there "is as much difference between compre" hending a thought cloathed in Cicero's "language and that of an ordinary writer, as between feeing an object by the light "of a taper and the light of the fun." It is furely then a very strange conceit of the celebrated Malbranche, who feems to think the pleasure which arifes from perufing a well written piece is of the criminal kind, and has its fource in the weakness and effeminacy of the human heart. A man must have a very uncommon feverity of temper indeed who can find any thing to condemn in adding charms to truth, and gaining the heart by captivating the ear; in uniting rofes with the thorns of fcience, and joining pleafure with inftruction. The truth is, the mind is delighted with a fine ftyle upon the fame principle that it prefers regularity to confufion, and beauty to deformity. A tafte of this fort is indeed fo far from being a mark of any depravity of our nature, that I fhould rather confider it as an evidence, in fome degree, of the moral rectitude of its conftitution, as it is a proof of its retaining fome relish at least of harmony and order. One might be apt indeed to fufpect, that certain writers amongft us had confidered all beauties of this fort in the fame gloomy view with Malbranche: or, at least, that they avoided every refineinent in style, as unworthy a lover of truth and philofophy. Their fentiments are funk by the loweft expreffions, and feem condemned to the first curfe of creeping upon the ground all the days of their life. Others, on the contrary, miftake pomp for dignity; and, in order to raise their expreflions above vulgar language, lift them up beyond common apprehenfions, efteeming it (one fhould imagine) a mark of their genius, that it requires fome ingenuity to penetrate their meaning. But how few writers like Euphronius, know to hit that true medium which lies between thofe diftant extremes! How feldom do we meet with an author, whofe expreffions, like thofe of my friend, are glowing but not glaring, whofe metaphors are natural but not common, whofe periods are harmonious but not poetical; in a word, whose sentiments are well fet, and fhewn to the understanding in their trueft and most advantageous luftre. Fitzofborne $ 245. On Thinking. In a Letter. If one would rate any particular merit according to its true valuation, it may be neceffary, perhaps, to confider how far it can be justly claimed by mankind in general. I am fure, at leaft, when I read the very uncommon fentiments of your last letter, I found their judicious author rife in my efteem, by reflecting that there is not a more fingular character in the world, that that of a thinking man. It is not merely having a fucceffion of ideas, which lightly fkim over the mind, that can with any propriety be styled by that denomination. It is obferving them feparately and diftinctly, and ranging them under their refpective claffes; it is calmly and steadily viewing our opinions on every fide, and refolutely tracing them through all their confequences and connections, that conftitutes the man of reflection, and diftinguifhes reafon from fancy. Providence, indeed, does not seem to have formed any very confiderable number of our fpecies for an extenfive exercife of this higher faculty; as the thoughts of the far greater part of mankind are neceffarily restrained within the ordinary purposes of animal life. But even if we look up to those who move in much fuperior orbits, and who have opportunities to improve, as well as leifure to exercife, their understandings; we fhall find, that thinking is one of the leaft exerted privileges of cultivated humanity. It is, indeed, an operatior of the mind which meets with many obftructions to check its juft and free direction; but there are two principles, which prevail more or lefs in the conftitutions of most men, that particularly contributes to keep this faculty of the foul unemployed: I mean, pride and indolence. To defcend to truth through the tedious progreffion of wellexamined deductions, is confidered as a reproach to the quickness of understanding; as it is much too laborious a method for any but thofe who are poffeffed of a vigorous and refolute activity of mind. For this reafon, the greater part of our fpecies generally chufe either to feize upon their conclufions at once, or to take them by rebound from others, as beft fuiting with their vanity or their lazinefs. Accordingly, Mr. Locke obferves, that there are not fo many errors and wrong opinions in the world as is generally imagined. Not that he thinks mankind are by any means uniform in embracing truth; but because the majority of them, he maintains, have no thought or opinion at all about those doctrines concerning which they raise the greateft clamour. Like the common foldiers in an army, they follow where their leaders direct, without knowing, or even enquiring, into the cause for which they fo warmly contend. This will account for the flow steps by which truth has advanced in the world, on one fide; and for thofe abfurd fyftems which, at different periods, have had an univerfal currency, on the other. For there is a strange difpofition in human nature, either blindly to tread the fame paths that have been traverfed by others, or to ftrike out into the moft devious extravagancies: the greater part of the world will either totally renounce their reason, or reafon only from the wild fuggeftions of an heated imagination. From the fame fource may be derived those divifions and animofities which break the union both of public and private focieties, and turn the peace and harmony of human intercourfe into diffonance and contention. For while men judge and act by fuch measures as have not been proved by the standard of difpaffionate reafon, they muft equally be mistaken in their eftimates both of their own conduct and that of others. If we turn our view from active to contemplative life, we may have occafion perhaps to remark, that thinking is no lefs uncommon in the literary than the civil world. The number of those writers who can, with any juftice of expreflion, be termed thinking authors, would not form a very copious library, though one were to take in all of that kind which both ancient and modern times have produced. Neceffarily, I imagine, muft one exclude from a collection of this fort, all critics, commentators, tranflators, and, in fhort, all that numerous under-tribe in the commonwealth of literature, that owe their exiftence merely to the thoughts of others. I fhould reject for the fame reason, fuch compilers as Valerius Maximus and Aulus Gellius: though it must be owned, indeed, their works have acquired an accidental value, as they preferve to us feveral curious traces of antiquity, which time would otherwife have entirely worn out. Thofe teeming geniuses likewife, who have propagated the fruits of their studies through a long series of tracts, would have little pretence, I believe, to be admitted as writers of reflection. For this reason I cannot regret the lofs of those incredible numbers of compofitions which fome of the Ancients are faid to have produced; Quale fuit Caffi rapido ferventius amni Ambuftum propriis. HOR. Thus Epicurus, we are told, left behind him three hundred volumes of his own works, wherein he had not inferted a single quotation; and we have it upon the autho rity of Varro's own words, that he himself compofed four hundred and ninety books. Seneca affures us, that Didymus the Grammarian wrote no lefs than four thoufand; but Origen, it feems, was yet more prolific, and extended his performances even to fix thousand treatises. It is obvious to imagine, with what fort of materials the productions of fuch expeditious workmen were wrought up: found thought and wellmatured reflections could have no fhare, we may be fure, in thefe hafty perform ances. Thus are books multiplied, whilft authors are fearce; and fo much eafier is it to write than to think! But fhall I not myfelf, Palamedes, prove an inftance that it is fo, if I fufpend any longer your own more important reflections, by interrupting you with such as mine? Fitzofborne. § 246. Reflections on the Advantages of Conversation. It is with much pleafure I look back upon that philofophical week which I lately enjoyed at ; as there is no part, perhaps, of focial life which affords more real fatisfaction than those hours which one paffes in rational and unreferved converfation. The free communication of fentiments amongst a set of ingenious and fpeculative friends, fuch as thofe you gave me the opportunity of meeting, throws the mind into the most advantageous exercise, and fhews the strength or weakness of its opinions, with greater force of conviction than any other method we can employ. That "it is not good for man to be alone," is true in more views of our species than one; and fociety gives strength to our reafon, as well as polish to our manners. The foul, when left entirely to her own folitary contemplations, is infenfibly drawn by a fort of conftitutional bias, which generally leads her opinions to the fide of her inclinations. Hence it is that fhe contracts thofe peculiarities of reafoning, and little habits of thinking, which fo often confirm her in the most fantastical errors. But nothing is more likely to recover the mind from this falfe bent, than the counterwarmth of impartial debate. Conversation opens our views, and gives our faculties a more vigorous play; it puts us upon turning our notions on every fide, and holds them up to a light that discovers thefe la tent |