I. and their reader. For my part, I cannot DIAL. imagine, why thofe fhould be most admir'd who are moft irregular. It is,. as Quintilian hints, juft as if it was more commendable to break a door with violence, than to open it, or to drag rather than lead you ". In a word, Libertinifm is methinks vicious in Writings as in Morals. CLEAND. Severity too is no lefs to be avoided in both. And as in Morals a Divine fhou'd neither be lax nor rigid, fo in Writings one fhou'd neither be fcrupulously nice, nor immoderately free. Now I do not think it at all immoderate, to venture upon occafions at a noble flight, to raise a thought above the common pitch, to hazard a new word or expreffion. Horace has pronounced it, that this always was, and ever will be lawful. The fame liberty extends to the use of fhort metaphors, which are as pleafing as they are unexpected; and to that clofenefs of fentences, that smart conciseness of Style, which seems to cut to the quick, and to mean more than is expreffed; and, in fine, to that vehemence of Style which is the effect of a lively fire and ftrength of thought. Majorem habere vim credunt ea qua non habent artem; ut effringere quàm aperire, rumpere quàm folvere, trahere quàm ducere, putant robuftius. Quint. 1. 2. сар. 12. a Licuit femperque licebit, fignatum prafente notâ producere nomen Art. Poët. 2 DIAL. I. EUDOX. But then let not fury and rage pafs for vehemence and ftrength. Some of thofe pretended ftrong authors, by the confufion, tumult, and fury of their expreflions, can scarce be defcribed in milder terms than these verses of Milton: Others with vaft Typhoean rage more fell, air In whirlwind. Hell fcarce holds the wild uproar.. At other times, notwithstanding all their feeming flashes and fire of imagination, methinks they are more cold than fnow and ice. If I may add an application of what Milton fays a little after, I will tell you, that near thofe burning lines, f "A frozen continent Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual ftorms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin feems Paradife Loft. Lib. 2. v.539. f Ibid. v. 587. And mat-m And now my hand is in, (tho' I fee thefe DIAL. applications are overftretch'd and hyperbo- I. lical, yet because proper to make the matter fenfible by exaggerating) I will read you another place which I apply to these Authors. For when in their really cold, but feemingly firy expreffions, I meet their particular rage of Antithefes, I cannot but think of these lines in the fame book: Each at the head Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands With heaven's artillery fraught, come rat- Over the Cafpian, then ftand front to front CLEAND. Well: never cou'd I imagine those places which are so noble in Milton, cou'd be brought to a fubject of this nature, and for a defcription of a firy Antithetical Style. Yet I own the method is amufing, and I wou'd willingly fee if you have ftill any more applications of that kind, which may clear your idea of fuch expreffions as feem at firft fo full of a noble fire. t Ibid. 2.711. DIAL. I. EUDOX. I will give you only one more. For to multiply them too much, wou'd foon make them tedious. Thofe expreffions, notwithftanding all the feeming luftre, and all the other deceitful appearances they bear at a distance, or fudden view, are of a very different aspect when you draw near. You then find 'em dark, obfcure, wild in the boundless extent of their notions. Tho' here and there fome glimmerings of light give a pleafing kind of reflection, the body of thofe Styles feems exprefs'd in what Milton fays of that part of the globe terreftrial, upon which Satan descends in the third Book. Here is the place". A globe far off It feem'd; now feems a boundless continent, Tho' diftant far, fome fmall reflection gains loud. CLEAND. Unless you had taught me to admire Milton, I fhou'd begin to fufpect "Lib. 3. v.423. you you defign'd a by-fling at him too, while DIAL. you feem to aim only at others. EUDOX. By no means. I am ftill the fame admirer of that Poem, in which his uncommon genius cou'd every where fupport its grandeur; and have only read you those places to enliven our discourse, by descriptions of very different objects tranffer'd to the matter we are upon, Wherein to proceed; I own I hate to read one that affects, especially in prose, a grandeur beyond his ftrength, and fubject; and will be firy beyond reason. Even those who have a more than ordinary elevation of wit, fhou'd be very cautious how far they indulge it, left it fhould raise them to a greater fall, as it commonly happens in high and fudden flights. Let 'em turn to themselves those verses of Taffo: Ai voli troppo alti & repentini Near flights that are too fudden and too high, CLEAND. Give me leave to tell you, that I fear this caution will, as I told you before, make them always creep for fear of a fall. Too great a fear of falfe eloquence I. "Canto 2, Stan. 7. |