Conclusion
I have now gone through the several Particulars I propos’d to treat of in the Course of these Lectures: What I have too lightly touch’d upon, or entirely omitted, I leave to my Successors to discuss more fully, who will supply my Defects, and correct my Errors. Nothing now remains, but to return to you, Gentlemen, my heartiest Thanks, and to testify my sincerest Wishes for your Prosperity. I should quit this Office with more Regret, did I not consider, that, at any Time, to have receiv’d Marks of your Favour, will for ever remain to me those of Honour. Nothing is in my Power to return for them, but my most ardent Prayers for the Welfare of this University, that as it daily receives fresh Ornaments in Buildings, so it may make new Acquisitions (if there is Room for any) in Learning and Virtue, and in its Reputation for both; and that you may be as secure from the Attempts, as you are above the Reproaches of your Enemies. And, surely, unless we are much deceiv’d in our Hopes, and our Wishes biass us with too fond Credulity, we may esteem as fresh Omens of our Happiness, those numerous Towers that rise sacred to the Muses, even in the most difficult Times; insomuch, that if we retire from the University but a few Months, we are almost Strangers to it upon our Return, and verify the old Saying, tho’ from a very different Reason, Oxonium quærimus in Oxonio, we seek for Oxford within her own Walls. It is amazing, then, that Men, who boast of the greatest Zeal for their Country, should hate and despise that which is the distinguishing Ornament of it. It would be blind Partiality in us, if, in other Respects, we pretended to excel the whole Earth. Brave, as we are, yet so are the French, so the Germans. Are we powerful by Sea, and rich in Commerce? the Dutch are also: And it would be the Height of Arrogance, to claim to ourselves the Laurels, in Point of Learning and Ingenuity. But that the English Universities are not to be parallel’d, is the Confession and Admiration of all the World: Even one of them, the less of the Two, I need not say equals, but exceeds all Foreign Ones together. This Glory is our peculiar Property, which yet some endeavour to extinguish, who would be thought strenuous Defenders of their Country. If you ask me the Reason for it, I know of none but what the old Saying in Terence supplies me with, Mala mens, malus animus, Bad Principles produce bad Designs. To such I wish true Repentance. As to myself, Words are too weak to express the Sentiments of my Heart for that Candour and Affection with which you have honour’d me with your Attendance, have pardon’d my Mistakes, and accepted my weak Endeavours. May the Oxford Muses flourish, for ever flourish, more and more; and may you, the Encouragers and Promoters of them, go on to promote them, and, by your Increase in Poetry, and all other Arts and Sciences, in Virtue and Learning, afford to Poets perpetual Subjects of Praise.
F I N I S.
Addenda & Corrigenda.
Page 15. l. 3. Vossius’s Definition is short as it makes the Essence of Poetry consist solely in Imitation. Add this Note, The Author of Observations on Poetry occasioned by the late Poem on Leonidas, p. 71. finds the same Fault with Aristotle; who “by this, says he, excludes all descriptive Poetry; and accordingly he (Aristotle) directs the epic poet to introduce his characters, and write in dialogue, as much as possible, for this reason, that when the poet speaks himself, he is not an imitator. Plato has more justly distinguish’d, that some kinds of Poetry consist wholly in imitation, as tragedy and comedy; some in narration only, where the poet speaks in his own person, as odes; whereas some, as the epic, contain a mixture of both.” For my Part, I cannot think it any great Violence put upon Words to allow that Description or Narration is Imitation. It is certain Aristotle uses the Word Imitation in this Sense, c. 3. και ναρ ιν τοιϛ αυ τοιϛ και αιτα μιμε αθ αι ισιν, οτι μεν απαγρελλο, η ἑτιρον τε γιγιομενσιϛ, A Poet may imitate the same Things either by Narration, or by assuming the Character of some other Person: And c. 22, 23. he distinguishes περι τηϛ οιτε ορθτειν μιμησιωϛ, and περι τηϛ δραγεαστικηϛ, between Dramatic Imitation, and Narrative: and c. 2. & 4. he mentions the Dithyrambics and Nomi, Hymns in Honour of Bacchus and Apollo, and other Odes, as Instances of Poetic Imitation. Now, I need not observe, that if in these Hymns and Odes, Actions, as Dacier contends, were imitated by Description or Narration, other Things may likewise. Nay Plato himself has omitted descriptive Poetry, as well as Aristotle if it is not included under narrative.
But still, if it is, the ingenious Author will not allow it to be Imitation, upon the Authority of Plato. Now as to Plato, Dan. Heinsius long since observed, that tho’, with Dr. Pemberton, he sometimes speaks of Imitation as a Species of Poetry, yet at other times he agrees with Aristotle, in making it the Genus. In short, these two Philosophers are agreed, that All Poetry is Imitation; but Dramatic Imitation, or that which is supported by Dialogue, is more peculiarly so.
Next let us see if Dr. Pemberton’s own Account of Poetry will not lead us to think Description to be Imitation. He observes, p. 75. That it is the peculiar Office of the Poet, in Opposition to the Prose-writer, to exhibit continually sensible Images of things. Now Images are surely Likenesses or Imitations; and whether these are the genuine Images of the Poet’s Subject, or adventitious ones fetch’d in to illustrate it, still ’tis all Imagery: Imitation is his distinguishing Character. Again, p. 98. he observes, The language of comedy receives its poetic Air not by departing from the ordinary forms of speech, but by keeping more close to them. So that where we almost lose Sight of Poetry, the Traces of it are preserved by Imitation. Upon the whole 1. we see Plato and Aristotle use Imitation in a larger Sense than Dr. Pemberton was aware of; and 2. the Doctor naturally falls into the Sentiments of both, while he opposes one of them.
Vossius, it seems, and Dacier go farther, and suppose that Aristotle makes Poetry consist in the Imitation of Actions only. But the Words, c. 2. as Dr. Trapp observes, very well bear another Sense, ιπειδη μιμενται ον μιμουμενοι πορθονταϛ, &c. Since Imitators, or Poets imitate Actions, i.e. as well as other things; or possibly thus, joining ποθιτδοιδαϛ to μιμουμενοι, since those that imitate Actions are Imitators,—such Actions, he goes on, must be either good or bad.
As to Dacier, I cannot well make him consistent with himself: Aristotle, says he, c. 2. rem. 1. lays it down as an undoubted Principle, that All those that imitate, imitate Actions; and indeed it is so, for there is nothing else but Actions which can be imitated. And yet upon Aristotle’s saying that Music is Imitation, he observes, that whatever employs means to shew and represent any Subject as naturally as may be, whether it Does Really Exist or no, is called Imitation. Does he by Actions above mean Effects? Aristotle, it must be own’d, instances in Actions as the Objects of Poetic Imitation, being to treat of Epic and Dramatic Poetry particularly. But he ascribes the Rise of Poetry in general to the Desire of Imitation, and the Pleasure we take in comparing the Likeness of Copies with their Originals. And this Faculty surely is exercised not only in viewing the Description of a Man, but of a Mountain; not only in representing the Conflicts of Passion, but
A painted Meadow and a purling Stream.
P. 154. l. 10, 11, r. thus
Tartuffe in English freely I resign;
The Excrement is his, the Food was mine.
P. 303. l. 2. add this Note, I make no Doubt, but for ιπαγγελιαϛ the former being never used for Narration, the latter more than once by Aristotle, as c. 2. απαγγελιαϛ, and c. 6. ὁτε μεν απαγγελλοντα
P. 333. Note † change [thus] Bossu distinguishes very clearly, and to the same Purpose with Dr. Trapp, between the Narration the Poet himself makes, and that which he represents the Hero to make. In the former View, the Action of the Odyssee takes up Eight Years and six Months, and the Æneid almost seven Years. But in the latter, Bossu reduces the Odyssey to fifty eight Days; and the Æneis either to a Year and somewhat more, or else to a single Campaign, beginning where Dr. Trapp does. See Bossu Book II. ch. xviii. and Book III. c. xii.
Just Published.
Selectæ e profanis Scriptoribus Historiæ, quibus admista sunt varia honeste vivendi Præcepta, ex iisdem Scriptoribus deprompta. Editio altera.
Mons. Rollin, in his Method of Studying the Belles Lettres, Vol. I, p. 84, concludes a very advantageous Character of this Work in the following Words:
“I know of no Book, which may be more useful, and at the same time more agreeable to Youth. It contains excellent Principles of Morality, collected with great Order and Judgment, with very affecting Passages of History upon every Article.”
1. All footnotes are treated the same. The above reference to symbols and letters no longer applies.
2. All footnotes are simply in numerical order.
3. The relatively arbitrary use of capitals letters by the author throughout the text, is preserved, as is the original spelling.
4. In TOC, corrected second LECTURE XIII to LECTURE XVI
5. The changes indicated by the following ERRATA have been made to the text.
Footnotes
1 The Dean and Chapter of Durham.
2 The Reverend Dr. Fitzherbert Adams, Prebendary of Durham.
3 It is a known Saying, Ὁ Θεοϛ γεωμετρει, — God performs the Office of a Geometrician.
4 Pro Arch. Poeta, c. v.
5 The Reverend Dr. William Lancaster, S. T. P. Head of Queen’s College, and at that Time Vice-chancellor of Oxford.
6 Voss. de Art. Poet. &c. p. 21.
7 Περι ποιητικηϛ, cap. 2.
8 cap. 1.
9 De Art. Poet. V. 33.
10 Ποιεω, in the Doric and Æolic Dialects is writ ποεω, whence Ποητεϛ, Poeta. See Chishul’s Inscript. Sigea, § ult. A Maker in our own Language under Queen Elizabeth, was the common Appellation for a Poet, agreeably to the Greeks, with whom, likewise, the Verb ποιεω simply signified to make Verses. See Taylor’s Lysias, Ed. 4to, p. 27.
11 In Aristot. Poet. c. 1.
12 De Art. Poet. p. 7, 8.
13 P. 13.
14 See Voss. de Art. Poet. p. 11.
15 De Art. Poet. v. 333.
16 De Art. Poet. p. 78, 79.
17 P. 80, 81.
18 Art. Poet. ℣ 408.
19 Ov. Trist. 1. El. 1.
20 Take a remarkable Instance from Mr. Dryden’s Love for Love, where, from making use of a seeming Metaphor, he is drawn into a false Thought:
Her Words were like soft Flakes of falling Snow,
Which Melted as they fell.
If her Words died away, as Snow melts, neutrally, ’tis no great Recommendation of them. But the Idea that should be conveyed to the Reader is, that they melted the Hearer, as they fell; and then the Comparison is spoil’d, and may more truly be applied to the Conception of the Poet, which melts away by the Force of Reason, as Snow does by the Approach of the Sun.
21 Hor. & Virg. passim.
22 Æn. I. 323.
23 Geor. I. 512.
24 Sat. VIII. 58.
25 Hor. L. 1. Od. 25.
26 Lib. 2. Od. 4.
27 Od. 3.
28 Lib. 1. Od. 5.
29 Lib. 2. Od. 2.
30 Lib. 2. Od. 8.
31 Lib. 1. Sat. 4. ℣ 62.
32 Lib. 2. Od. 10.
33 Geor. I. 45.
34 Geor. II. 34.
35 ℣ 540.
36 Æn. XI. 1.
37 II. 50.
38 Eclog. II. 8.
39 Eclog. I. 83.
40 Geor. I. 43.
41 Eclog. VII. 47.
42 Geor. I. 7.
43 Geor. II. 108.
44 Hor. 1. Od. 6.
45 L. 2. Od. 9
46 L. 2. Od. 9
47 Lib. 2. Od. 8.
48 ’Tis the Business of the Poet to give Life, Motion, or Sound to almost every Thing he describes, which in Oratory would be ridiculous: Thus, for Example, put into Prose, Juvenal’s——jam tum mihi barba sonabat, or Virgil’s Description of an Oak grafted on an Elm,——Glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis; with these lively Images you would gain the Reader’s Smile, not his Admiration.
49 Geor. I. 471.
50 Æn. IV. 1.
51 ℣ 65.
52 ℣ 77.
53 ℣ 82.
54 ℣ 462.
55 VI. 595.
56 Geor. II. 47.
57 ℣ 51.
58 ℣ 332.
59 Æn. VII. 793.
60 XII. 283.
61 Metamorph. I. 292.
62 II. 521.
63 ℣ 522.
64 L. VI. 193.
65 L. III. 424.
66 ℣ 463.
67 Geor. II. 32.
68 ℣ 69.
69 Metam. L. VI. 223.
70 Geor. I. 84.
71 Geor. II. 73.
72 Geor. IV. 506
73 Eclog. III. 45.
74 Ec. ℣ 82.
75 Æn. V. 481.
76 ℣ 169.
77 ℣ 211.
78 ℣ 216.
79 ℣ 270.
80 Geor. I. 281.
81 Æn. IV. 361.
82 ℣ 486.
83 ℣ 498.
84 ℣ 505.
85 ℣ 115.
86 Geor. IV. 493.
87 L. III. 539.
88 Æn. I. 55.
89 Æn. VII. 25.
90 Metam. II. 112.
91 Geor. III. 494.
92 ℣ 520.
93 Psal. cxxxvii.
94 Metam. I. 468.
95 L. II. 9, 10.
96 ℣ 122.
97 ℣ 229.
98 What can be said for them, see in Mr. Pope’s Preface to the Iliad.
99 ℣ 273.
100 Æn. III. 658.
101 L. VIII. 621, 622.
102 VIII. 364.
103 IX. 205.
104 VIII. 729.
105 Æn. II. 298.
106 Art. Poet. ℣ 93.
107 Æn. II. 601.
108 ℣ 608.
109 ℣ 620.
110 XII. 697.
111 L. III. Od. 3.
112 De Tertio Consulat. Honorii.
113 In Probin. & Olybr. Consulat.
114 De rapt. Pros. L. I.
115 In Eutrop. L. II.
116 Equus Max. Domit.
117 L. I. Od. 3.
118 Od. 7.
119 Hor. Serm. I. L. 1.
120 Epist. I. L. 1.
121 Am. L. I. Eleg. 1.
122 Met. L. I. 204.
123 Mr. Addison, not far from this Place, sinks in his Translation too much in the same Manner:
Mean while, the restless Horses neigh’d aloud,
Breathing out Fire, and pawing where they stood.
124 L. II. 167.
125 ℣ 171.
126 L. IV. 144.
127 L. II. 447.
128 L. VII. 148.
129 Eclog. III. 25.
130 ℣ 90.
131 Geor. I. 476.
132 ℣ 481.
133 Lib. I. Sat. IV. 45.
134 Lib. I. Ep. II. ℣ 40.
135 Æn. VI. 869.
136 Æn. V. 273.
137 Geor. IV. 359.
138 Art. Poet. ℣ 309.
139 See the Preface to Monsieur Boileau’s Works.
140 Act 1. Sc. 1.
141 Æn. II. 554.
142 Lib. VII.
143 Anthol. Poem. Ital.
144 Boileau.
145 Lib. VIII. Epig. 21.
146 Lib. IV. Od. 5.
147 Lib. XI. Epig. 92.
148 Περι ὑψουϛ, ℣ 43.
149 Virg. Eclog. II. ℣ 46.
150 ℣ 54.
151 Περι ὑψουϛ, ℣ 8.
152 Geor. II. 475.
153 Περι ὑψουϛ, ℣ 8.
154 ℣ 45.
155 ℣ 77.
156 ℣ 98.
157 Ovid. Epist. II. ℣ 49.
158 Met. L. VII. ℣ 9.
159 ℣ 9.
160 ℣ 20.
161 ℣ 25.
162 ℣ 305.
163 ℣ 362.
164 ℣ 412.
165 ℣ 419.
166 ℣ 373.
167 ℣ 425.
168 ℣ 380.
169 ℣ 492.
170 Περι ὑψουϛ, § 15.
171 Ibid.
172 Ibid.
173 Æn. IV. 469.
174 ℣ 465.
175 Il. VI. 466.
176 See his Note on the Place, ℣ 595.
177 Æn. VIII. 630.
178 ℣ 8.
179 L. IV. ℣ 93.
180 Met. L. III. ℣ 654.
181 Æn. L. IV. ℣ 663.
182 ℣ 456.
183 Lib. II. Epig. 58.
184 P. 56.
185 ℣ 407.
186 Sat. III. 236.
187 Sat. X. 218.
188 ℣ 387.
189 See, more especially, Mr. Waller’s Poems.
190 Περι ὑψουϛ, § 32.
191 Ovid. Ep. IV. 1.
192 Metam. IX. 529.
193 Ep. XIX. 97.
194 Lib. II. Epist. 1.
195 Æn. XII. 435.
196 Lib. XI. ℣ 419.
197 Geor. IV. 488.
198 ℣ 354.
199 ℣ 47.
200 Ovid. Ep. XV. 39.
201 Lib. de Spect. Epig. 3.
202 Ep. III. 7.
203 Lib. VIII. Epig. 19.
204 Andr. I. 3.
205 Sat. X. 122.
206 Metam. L. II. ℣ 627.
207 De Art. Poet ℣ 270.
208 Περι ὑψουϛ, § 35.
209 Lucret. Lib. I. ℣ 73.
210 Æn. III. 571.
211 Æn. XII. 634.
212 ℣ 861.
213 ℣ 867.
214 De Art. Poet. ℣ 9.
215 Vossius’s Division is here hinted at, but, I think, not clearly express’d: Epigrams, says he, are twofold,
1. When a Person, Fact, or Thing, is simply describ’d.
2. When somewhat is inferr’d from what was laid down, whether
from its being greater, less, equal, or contrary.
216 Lib. I. Epig. 39.
217 Lib. I. Epig. 19.
218 Lib. III. Ep. 57.
219 Lib. IV. Ep. 18.
220 Thus applied, more out of Humour, than an ill Opinion of a certain Person’s Success:
Fortune, we yield to thy capricious Will:
A Drop of Ward’s can cure, a Drop of Water kill!
221 Lib. VIII. Epig. 65.
222 Lib. V. Epig. 75.
223 This has since been done in a Book intituled, Carmina Quadragesimalia, printed at Oxford 1723, 8vo. reprinted at London 1741, 12mo.
224 Too poetical often in another Sense, when they give Characters absolutely false; from whence the French have a witty Saying, Il ment comme une Epitaphe, He lies like an Epitaph.
225 P. Bouhours, Entretiens d’Ariste & Eugene, Dial. ult.
226 Geor. IV. 6.
227 ℣ 83.
228 Art. Poet. ℣ 77.
229 L. I. Od. 33.
230 Ov. Amor. L. III. El. 9.
231 De Art. Poet. 75.
232 Amor. Lib. II. Eleg. 12.
233 Lib. I. Eleg. 9.
234 L. I. El. 9.
235 Amor. L. III. El. 1.
236 L. I. El. 3.
237 Amor. L. III. El. 8.
238 L. I. El. 3.
239 Eclog. X. 72.
240 Eclog. X. 17.
241 Eclog. II. 60.
242 Mr. Fontenelle, and Mr. Pope, in their Discourses on Pastoral Poetry, are of Scaliger’s Opinion. But I might observe, in Favour of Dr. Trapp’s, that the most ancient Greek Poets, whose Names are preserv’d, are not supposed to have been Pastoral Writers. The Greeks seem to have been persuaded that their Hymns were the first Productions in Verse:
See Spanheim’s Notes on Callim. p. 2, 3, &c.
243 See Bull. Primitiv. & Apostol. Tradit. p. 20, 21.
244 Eclog. IV. 34.
245 ℣ 44.
246 ℣ 35.
247 Virg. Eclog. IV. 50.
248 VII. 1.
249 VIII. 37.
250 Eclog. II. 28.
251 Eclog. VII. 65.
252 ℣ 59.
253 Met. L. I. ℣ 415.
254 Lib. I. Ep. X. 21.
255 Lib. II. Sat. VI. ℣ 56.
256 Eclog. X. 9.
257 A small Mistake, which, I suppose, Joannes Antonius Viperanus led our Author into, tho’ Vossius expresly guards against it. Inter Latinos unum habemus Virgilium——quem liceat imitari, says Anton. Viperanus; from whence Vossius imagines he never saw those two Bucolic Writers, (which is more than his Words necessarily imply) and takes Care to let us know, we have four Eclogues of Nemesianus, and seven of Calpurnius. Mr. Fontenelle gives no disadvantageous Character of both of them, and, in some Particulars, prefers Calpurnius to Virgil himself. Fabricius mentions seven or eight Editions of these two Poets, and they may be seen in the Corpus Poetarum Latinorum, publish’d in our Author’s Time.
258 Sat. XIV. ℣ 47.
259 Hor. L. I. ℣ 25.
260 Mr. Pope has since struck out a new Scheme of Ethic Poems, in which he has deserv’d as much of the Moral World, as Sir Isaac Newton did of the Natural.
261 Virg. Æn. L. I. 746. & Georg. II. 479, &c.
262 Georg. I. 86.
263 Lib. I. ℣ 6.
264 Æn. VIII. 429.
265 Mus. Angl. Vol. I. & II.
266 Geor. II. 416.
267 Geor. I. 104.
268 ℣ 111.
269 ℣ 291.
270 ℣ 155.
271 ℣ 193.
272 ℣ 125.
273 ℣ 147.
274 Geor. III. 66.
275 Geor. I. 415.
276 Nemesianus’s Cynegeticon, I suppose, is omitted, as being still of a later Age, tho’ he had the good Fortune, as Vossius observes, to be read in the Schools in the Time of Charles the Great; and may still bear to be read in better Times than when Emperors could not write their own Name.
277 Boileau.
278 Earl of Roscommon, and Mr. Pope.
279 Difficilia quæ Pulchra.
280 Geor. III. 8.
281 Hor. Carm. Lib. I. Od. 12.
282 Son of Sirach, Ecclus xliv, 5.
283 Deut. xv.
284 Lib. III. Od. 1.
285 Lib. I. Od. 3.
286 Lib. II. Od. 13.
287 Lib. III. Od. 29.
288 Lib. IV. Od. 2.
289 Mr. Edmund Smith, of Christ-Church, Oxon.
290 Mus. Angl. Vol. II.
291 Hor. Lib I. Od. 32.
292 Lib. I. Od. 31.
293 Lib. I. Od. 1.
294 Henry Purcell.
295 Dr. Croft.
296 Art. Poet. ℣ 83.
297 Lib. I. Od. 6.
298 Lib. III. Od. 3.
299 Lib. II. Od. 1.
300 Lib. III. Od. 4.
301 Lib. IV. Od. 4.
302 Lib. II. Od. 3.
303 Ibid.
304 Od. 14.
305 Od. 2.
306 Lib. II. Od. 16.
307 Casimir. Lib. I. Od. 1.
308 Ibid.
309 Od. 5.
310 Hor. Carmen Seculare.
311 De Art. Poet. ℣ 220.
312 Instit. L. I. c. x.
313 L. I. Sat. X. 66.
314 Prafat. in Horatii Satiras, De Orig. & Progressu Satiræ Romanæ.
315 Mons. Dacier, who borrow’d the Observation from Is. Casaubon, should have mention’d some Authority for this Expression of Leges Saturæ; because Vossius, who allows the like Use of the Word, yet questions the Grammarians in this Instance. Festus cites, Imperium, quod Plebes per saturam dederat, id abrogatum est. Again, Dein postero die, quasi per saturam sententiis exquisitis, in deditionem accipitur, “ubi per saturam valet collectim ac raptim. At non video, says Vossius, ut hinc colligi possit, fuisse Romanis legem ullam, quæ satura diceretur.”
316 Sat. I. 85.
317 Lib. II. Epist. I. ℣ 155.
318 Lib. I. Sat. II. ℣ 62.
319 Casaubon expresly says, that Horace imitated Lucilius; his Point was not to prove that Lucilius’s Satires were of a different Kind from Horace’s, but from Ennius’s. Mons. Dacier, on the contrary, maintains, that the Satires of Horace, Lucilius, and Ennius, were all of the same Species. And yet, I think, very hardly reconciles his Opinion with Antiquity. He produces Quintilian: Alterum illud & prius Satiræ GENUS, quod non solum Carminum varietate mistum condidit Terentius Varro. Quintilian, says he, did not suppose that Varro liv’d before Lucilius: What then? why he imitated Ennius’s Satire, which was alterum & prius GENUS, a different and prior Kind to that of Lucilius.
320 Lucilius made use, in the same Poem, of different Sort of Verses: Ennius of different Sort of Verses, but not in the same Poem: Varro, of Prose and Verse together: Horace kept to one Metre throughout his Satires.
321 Sat. X. 347.
322 ℣ 363.
323 Sat. II. 61.
324 He says no more than Quintilian, l. x. as cited before, Satira quidem tota nostra est; and even Horace, Græcis intactum Carmen.
325 De Orig. & Progr. Satiræ Rom.
326 Hist. Poet. L. II. c. ix. p. 41.
327 ℣ 225.
328 Instit. Poet. Lib. III. c. 9, 41.
329 Vossius’s Opinion seems to be the Result of his Enquiry into the Original of Satire, which he observes to have arose out of the old Comedy. From whence he maintains, that the chearful bantering Humour should be still kept up, and not be forfeited for Moroseness: And for the same Reason, the Style should be near allied to Prose. In both which Particulars, and indeed in all the others which he mentions, he sets Horace for an Example.
330 Sat. I. ℣ 114.
331 P. 40.
332 Ibid.
333 Lib. I. Sat. IV.
334 P. 43.
335 P. 44.
336 Ibid.
337 I don’t see how nihilo inornata would make more for Vossius’s Sense. But do not Horace’s Words imply, that a Writer of Satires should Chiefly use common Words, tho’ he allows he is not always oblig’d to use no other? A common Style is the general Rule, tho’ there may be some Exceptions to it.
338 P. 40, 41.
339 Sat I. ad finem.
340 Lib. II. Sat. I. ℣ 1.
341 ℣ 2.
342 Lib. I. Sat. I.
343 Lib. I. Ep. I.
344 Sat. I ℣ 1.
345 ℣ 17.
346 ℣ 19.
347 ℣ 158.
348 Modern Satires will always appear with an Advantage, which the Ancients want, viz. we are better acquainted with the Characters; which is a Reason why they will please best, not of their real Excellence.
349 Oldham.
350 Boileau.
351 De Art. Poet. ℣ 180.
352 Hor. De Art. Poet. ℣ 3.
353 Instit. Poet L. II. c. 7.
354 Virg. Eclog. VII. ℣ 5.
355 And yet it seems to be an agreed Point among many of the Learned, that the Plays of the Ancients were acted in a Kind of Recitative set to the Flute. See this proved by Crusius, in his Lives of the Roman Poets, in the Introduction to Dramatic Poets, § IV. Dr. Bentley, in his Preface to Terence, takes it for granted. See, likewise, Cic. ad. Brutum, § 55. The Objections which Dr. Trapp makes against it, would hold, in some Degree, against Chanting: And perhaps both may be accounted for, from the same prudential Reason, viz. That the Voice, when continued for some Time very elevated, naturally falls into a Tone, and yet it was necessary it should be very elevated in the ancient Theatre, which was very large, as well as in Cathedrals. To prevent the Disagreeableness of this, it was regulated by a sort of Music.
356 Hor. De Art. Poet. ℣ 322.
357 Juv. Sat. III.
358 Æn. L. VI.
359 Juv. Sat. III.
360 Lib. II. c. II.
361 L. II ℣ 380.
362 ℣ 139, —℣ 155.
363 De Art. Poet. ℣ 126.
364 The forecited Author, Mr. Crusius, thinks them to have been of great Use and Expediency to the Ancients; Their Stage being very large, and their Plays acted by Day-light, the natural Features of the Face, at such a Distance, and without the Help of false Lights, could not appear distinguishable enough, to express the several Characters. Besides the adapting Masks to each Character, very much contributed to the Entertainment of the Audience; since hereby they could better imagine they saw the Persons represented in the Play, than we can, who are still apt to lose the Character in the Player; not to mention this other Disadvantage of the same Face appearing in the different Characters of Prince and Pimp, Hero and Villain, old and young.” Ibid. Sect. III. So that what they lost in expressing the Variety of Passion, they gain’d in the Variety of Character.
365 De Art. Poet. ℣ 23.
366 ℣ 99.
367 ℣ 112.
368 Shakespear.
369 Horat. ad Aug. ℣ 166.
370 De Art. Poet. ℣ 131.
371 ℣ 119.
372 John Earl of Rochester.
373 Nat. Lec.
374 ℣ 125.
375 ℣ 128.
376 Materiam vulgarem, notam, & e medio petitam. But Roscommon above, and, I think, most of the Commentators, make communia to be the same with what follows, ignota indictaque, i.e. common, till you took them, such as were no-body’s Property before. In this Sense, Horace, as Dr. Trapp says, contradicts his Opinion of new Subjects being better than old.
377 Ad Aug. ℣ 213.
378 Lib. I. Ep. I. 32.
379 De Art. Poet. ℣ 31.
380 ℣ 179.
381 Besides, in the ancient Tragedy the Chorus justified Soliloquies, who were supposed to be humane By-standers, where the Scene was laid: Among the Rules given to the Chorus in Horace, one is, that they should keep secret what they heard, Ille tegat commissa, Ar. Poet. ℣ 200.
382 Instit. Poet. Lib. II. cap. 5.
383 De Arte Poet. ℣ 192.
384 Instit. Poet. Lib. II. c. 5.
385 De Art. Poet. ℣ 189.
386 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. 5.
387 Inst. Poet. L. II. p. 24.
388 Nor, with Submission, does Vossius suppose them inconsistent.
389 Poet. L. I. c. 9.
390 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. 5.
391 Auctio Davisiana.
392 Poet. L. I. c. 9.
393 Περι ὑψουϛ, c. V.
394 As to the prior Antiquity of Comedy or Tragedy, History must be our only Guide; for I think it cannot be suppos’d that either of them existed, before Mankind knew what State and Magnificence was. Both had their Rise from the Songs at the Feasts of Bacchus. Susarion is said to be the Inventor of the first, and Thespis of the latter. So Marm. Arundel. &c. And yet Horace says, Successit vetus his Comœdia, having spoken before of Tragedy and Satire; which is reconcil’d by supposing Epicharmus (who liv’d later than Thespis) the Inventor of Comedy in Horace’s Judgment, because he was the first Writer of it. See Bentley’s Answer to Boyle, p. 238, 199, 200.
395 Lib. I. Sat. IV. ℣ 1.
396 ℣ 281.
397 Inst. L. II. c. 27. p. 139, 140.
398 Poetic. L.I. c. V. p. 27.
399 P. 123.
400 P. 45, & 367.
401 P. 45.
402 P. 125.
403 P. 110.
404 No more than he himself was aware. He observes, if, as St. Jerome says, it is a Copy of common Life, for the Improvement of the Audience, it need not be mix’d with Mirth, were it not for the Sake of pleasing them.
405 Vossius takes Care to tell us, that this Definition is suited to the Old Comedy; and gives us others from Camerarius and Jul. Scaliger, that comprehend the New.
406 De Poetica, cap. V.
407 In Poet. Arist. p. 58, 59.
408 L. I. Sat. X. ℣ 14.
409 Cap. V.
410 Andria, Act. I. Scen. penult.
411 De Art. ℣ 93.
412 Act. V. Scen. IV. 12.
413 Ad August. ℣ 185.
414 ℣ 168.
415 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. XXIV.
416 Ibid. c. XXV.
417 Lipsius was of Varro’s Mind, who says, in a Letter to A. Schottus, Terentium amo, admiror; sed Plautum magis. This blind Love for Plautus, led him into a strange Affectation of his Style, for which he was expos’d by Henry Stephens, in his Book entitled, De Lipsii Latinitate Polæstra.
418 Ad Aug. ℣ 59.
419 A Mistake. Vossius, L. II. c. XXIII. cites Antonius Lullius Balearis melioris notæ Rhet.
420 Lib. I. Sat. I. 69.
421 De Art. Poet. ℣ 220.
422 Another Reason against it is, that Τρυγωδια never signifies Tragedy, but Comedy only. Casaubon, indeed, de Satyr. Poesi, says, it originally comprehended both. But his Opinion depends solely on the Etymolog. Mag. which is contradicted by all the other Lexicographers. The Authorities he produces from Aristotle and Athenæus, make nothing for his Purpose. See Bentley against Boyle, p. 306, 307, 308. Which I mention the rather, because the ingenious Mr. Crusius has not in this, and some other Instances, profited by that learned Author’s Observations.
423 See Vossius Inst. Poet. L. II. c. XI.
424 Περι ὑψουϛ, cap. VI.
425 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. XI.
426 Besides the Chorus, the Monologues, call’d Cantica, were set to Music; the Dialogues in a Kind of Recitative. See Crusius, ubi supra, § IV.
427 Art. Poet. ℣ 179.
428 Ibid.
429 Art. Poet. ℣ 89.
430 ℣ 231.
431 Trist. L. II. ℣ 381.
432 C. XIV.
433 Ep. III. L. I. ℣ 14.
434 Act. III. Scen. I.
435 Inst. Poet. Lib. II. c. XIV.
436 Art. Poet. ℣ 93.
437 Sat. VI. ℣ 635.
438 Art. Poet. ℣ 338.
439 Ad Aug. ℣ 210.
440 Lib. II. c. XIII. p. 68.
441 I am at a Loss here to know what Vossius means, who seems to intimate, that in the Hecuba of Euripides, the Death of Ægisthus added to the Terror and Distress of the Play. But as Agamemnon himself is one of the Persons in the Drama, there could be no Thoughts of revenging a Death, which had not happen’d. In the Electra, there is an account of Ægisthus’s Death; but that Incident is not of so much Consequence there, as Vossius seems to make it in the Tragedy he alludes to. It is therefore most probable, that what is here said relates to the Electra of Sophocles; where the concluding Scene represents the meeting of Orestes and Ægisthus, and the latter is conducted off the Stage, only to be put to Death in the same Place where he kill’d Agamemnon. A short Sentence has probably been originally left out in Vossius, which would have clear’d this Matter, in Words to this Effect; Sic tristis exitus in Sophoclis Electra, ubi Ægisthus, &c. It is much our Author, who, upon many other Occasions, has censur’d Vossius, should pass over a Mistake of this Nature.
442 Vossius guards against all the Inconsistence he is here charg’d with, which is no more than this; That it is essential to a Tragedy, form’d κατα την τεχνην, to end unfortunately, but not so to one made ad populum. He borrow’d his Sentiment from Aristotle, De Arte Poetica, εστιν δε ουχ ἁυτη απο τραγωιδιαϛ ἡδονη, αλλα μαλλον τηϛ κωμωιδιαϛ οικεια this is not a Pleasure that arises from Tragedy, but rather of the Nature of Comedy, c. XIV. Ed. Heins. al. XIII.
443 Epist. Ded. to the Spanish Fryar.
444 Inst. Poet. L. II. C. XIII. p. 61.
445 Those Tragedies that are writ according to the nicest Rules of Art, he said before, upon the Authority of Aristotle, do NOT end happily: And upon the same Authority he says, in such Plays the Characters are neither extremely wicked, nor perfectly virtuous. Aristotle, as a Heathen, was right in his Opinion, according to Dr. Trapp’s Theory; Vossius, who follows him throughout, is not inconsistent. As to the Opinion in general, I will not pretend to determine, since it is dignus vindice nodus.
446 They are very easy to be found in c. XIV. of Aristotle’s Art of Poetry, according to Dan. Heinsius’s Edition; c. XIII. in others. All that Vossius has advanc’d above, is only a Comment on that Chapter. Does Vossius say the best Tragedies are conformable to these Rules? So does Aristotle, ἡ μεν κατα την τεχνην καλλιστη τραγωδια εκ ταυτηϛ τηϛ συστασεωϛ εστι, p. m. 270, &c. That we are not affected with Compassion or Terror at the Sufferings of the Wicked? so does Aristotle, ουτε ελεεινο, ουτε φοβερον φαινεται το συμβαινον, p. 269. That a middle Character is to be chosen? so does Aristotle, ὁ μεταξυ αρα τουτων λοιποϛ, εσι δεγοιουτοϛ, &c.
447 Ratio in Vossius, is not us’d for prudentia, as Dr. Trapp seems to take it, but in the same Sense with that noted Saying, ratio ultima regum, the last Expedient, or Resort of Kings. The Instances alledg’d illustrate this: Medea is forc’d to kill her Brother Absyrtus, to secure her own Escape; and her Children afterwards, to prevent them from falling into such Hands as would execute greater Cruelties upon them. The Circumstance of Oedipus, made unfortunate not by real Crimes, is very well describ’d by Mr. Lee:
To you, good Gods, I make my last Appeal,
To clear my Virtues, or my Crimes reveal:
If in the Maze of Fate I blindly run,
And backward trod those Paths I ought to shun,
Impute my Errors to your own Decree;
My Hands are guilty, but my Heart is free.
448 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. XI. p. 47.
449 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. XIII. p. 65.
450 Ter. And. Act I. Scen. I.
451 Inst. Poet. L. II. c. XI. p. 47.
452 Poet. Lib. III. p. 373.
453 Both borrow their Solution from Aristotle, c. IV. who tells us, that the Pleasure the Mind takes is, in learning the Likeness between the Representation and the Original.
454 Lib. II. ℣ 1.
455 See this beautifully illustrated, in Mr. Pope’s Ethic Epistles, III. 270, &c.
456 Mr. Addison has treated this Subject with great Accuracy, in The Spectator, Vol VI. No. 418.
457 Preface to my English Translation of Virgil’s Æneis.
458 Ibid.
459 The Reader will understand this Distinction much better by the Examples which the Author has mention’d in his Preface to the Æneis; and I shall, for that Reason, take the Liberty to transcribe some of them. “The Storm, in the first Book of Virgil, driving the Fleet on the Coast of Carthage, is an Incident, not an Episode, because the Hero himself, and the whole Body of his Forces, are concern’d in it; and so it is a direct, and not a collateral Part of the main Action. The Adventures of Nisus and Euryalus, in the 9th Book, are Episodes, not Incidents; i.e. not direct Parts of the main Action.”
460 Thus prov’d by Bossu: The Iliad begins with the Plague, which lasts ten Days. The Poet allows for the Recovery of the Grecians 10, Battles that follow 5, Funeral Rites of Patroclus 11, and of Hector 11; in all, 47.
461 The Odyssey, according to the same Author, Book III. c. XII. takes up 58 Days. And the Æneis is reduc’d within half a Year, or a single Campaign, beginning where Dr. Trapp does. I know not how Bossu came to be so misrepresented.
462 Art. Poet. ℣ 73.
463 Book II. c. XIX.
464 ℣ 103.
465 De Art. Poet. ℣ 121.
466 Ibid. ℣ 121.
467 Περι Ποιητκηϛ, cap. XXIII.
468 Æn. L. III. ℣ 26.
469 ℣ 34.
470 ℣ 59.
471 Il. XIX. ℣ 407.
472 Æn. III. 664.
473 Ibid. 672.
474 Æn. VII. 808.
475 Περι Ποιητκηϛ, c. IX.
476 Ibid.
477 Lib I. Ep. II. 3.
478 De Art. ℣ 317.
479 ℣ 73.
480 Lib. I. Sat. IV. 43.
481 De Art. Poet. ℣ 335.
482 Ibid. 23.
483 See p. 45. of the Author’s Preface to the Æneis, where the Comparison between these two Poets is drawn out at large. As the Case is commonly stated, Homer excell’d in Fire and Invention, and Virgil in Judgment; but Dr. Trapp does not allow Homer’s Superiority in any Respect. “It is a great Error (says he) to think that all Fire consists in quarrelling and fighting, as do three Parts in four of Homer’s, in his Iliad. The Fire we are speaking of is Spirit and Vivacity, Energy of Thought and Expression, which Way soever it affects; whether it fires us by Anger, or otherwise, nay, tho’ it does not fire us at all, but even produces a quite contrary Effect. However it may sound like a Paradox, it is the Property of this poetical Flame, to chill us with Horror, and make us weep with Pity, as well as kindle us with Indignation, Love, or Glory. Not that Virgil is deficient in that Sort of Fire, the fierce, the rapid, the fighting.”
Mr. Pope’s Sentiments of these two Poets are somewhat different; the Reader shall have the Pleasure of comparing them; “This Fire (says he) is discern’d in Virgil, but discern’d as thro’ a Glass, reflected, and more shining than warm, but every where equal and constant: In Lucan, and Statius, it bursts out in sudden, short, and interrupted Flames: In Milton it glows like a Furnace, kept to an uncommon Fierceness by the Force of Art: In Shakespear, it strikes before we are aware, like an accidental Fire from Heaven: But in Homer, and in him only, it burns every where clearly, and every where irresistibly.” Pope’s Translation of Homer’s Iliad. Dr. Trapp criticizes on this Passage.
484 Lib. III. Ep. VII.
485 Thebaid. L. X.
486 De Art. Poet. 132.
487 Lib. I. Ep. XIX. 19.
488 Lucret. IV. 1.