Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barb'rous age, 695 And drove those holy Vandals off the stage. NOTES. France and England, as in Italy, in the early part of the fourteenth century, was interrupted and declined, but this is perhaps to be attributed to the superior attention paid to classical literature, which continued in an uninterrupted progress till its final establishment in the sixteenth century. This passage in the Essay on Criticism gave rise to a short and friendly controversy between the author and a certain Abbé, which is referred to in the Life of Pope, and in which the critic appears to have had the advantage. Ver. 693. At length Erasmus, &c.] Nothing can be more artful than the application of this example: or more happy than the turn of the compliment. To throw glory quite round the character of this admirable person, he makes it to be (as in fact it really was) by his assistance chiefly, that Leo was enabled to restore letters and the fine arts in his Pontificate. Warburton. This is not exactly true; others had a share in this great and important work. Warton. If the restoration of learning consisted in recovering the works and reviving the spirit of the ancients, it had been in a great degree accomplished before the time of Erasmus.-This however cannot detract from the superlative merits of that eminent scholar, who may be considered in literature as the apostle of the Gentiles, who by his writings and his exertions diffused a spirit of sound learning through every part of Europe. Erasmus was good-sense personified, and his merits appear no less in restraining and opposing a too implicit subservience to the ancients, than in recommending and restoring their works. In this respect he resembled his predecessor Politian, who did not attempt to write precisely as the ancients wrote, but as they would have written had they lived in his own times. Ver. 694. (The glory of the Priesthood and the shame!)] Our author elsewhere lets us know what he esteems to be the glory of the Priesthood as well as of a Christian in general, where, comparing himself to Erasmus, he says, "In Moderation placing all my glory." and consequently what he regards as the shame of it. The whole of this character belonged eminently and almost solely to Eras mus: But see! each Muse, in LEO's golden days, COMMENTARY. Ver. 697. But see each Muse in LEO's golden days,] This presents us with the second period in which the true Critic appeared; of whom he has given us a complete idea in the single example of Marcus Hieronymus Vida: For his subject being poetical Criticism, for the use principally of a critical Poet, his example is an eminent poetical Critic, who had written of the Art of Poetry in verse. NOTES. mus: For the other Reformers, such as Luther, Calvin, and their followers, understood so little in what true christian liberty consisted, that they carried with them, into the reformed churches, that very spirit of persecution, which had driven them from the church of Rome. Warburton. Ver. 696. And drove those holy Vandals off the stage.] In this attack on the established ignorance of the times, Erasmus succeeded so well, as to bring good letters into fashion: to which he gave new splendour, by preparing for the press correct editions of many of the best ancient writers, both ecclesiastical and prophane. But having laughed and shamed his age out of one folly, he had the mortification of seeing it run headlong into another. The Virtuosi of Italy, in a superstitious dread of that monkish barbarity which he had so severely handled, would use no term, (for now almost every man was become a Latin writer,) not even when they treated of the highest mysteries of religion, which had not been consecrated in the Capitol, and dispensed unto them from the sacred hand of Cicero. Erasmus observed the growth of this classical folly with the greater concern, as he discovered under all their attention to the language of old Rome, a certain fondness for its religion, in a growing impiety which disposed them to think irreverently of the Christian Faith. And he no sooner discovered it than he set upon reforming it; which he did so effectually in the Dialogue, entitled Ciceronianus, that he brought the age back to that just temper, which he had been, all his life, endeavouring to mark out to it: Purity, but not pedantry, in Letters; and zeal, but not bigotry, in Religion, In a word, by employing his great talents of genius and literature on subjects of general im portance; Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins spread, Shakes off the dust, and rears his rev'rend head. 700 NOTES. portance; and by opposing the extremes of all parties in their turns; he completed the real character of a true Critic and an honest Man. Warburton. Ver. 697. But see! each Muse in LEO's golden days,] History has recorded five ages of the world, in which the human mind has exerted itself in an extraordinary manner; and in which its productions in literature and the fine arts have arrived at a perfection, not equalled in other periods. The First is the age of Philip and Alexander; about which time flourished Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, Aristotle, Lysippus, Apelles, Phidias, Praxiteles, Thucydides, Xenophon, Æschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Menander, Philemon. The Second age, which seems not to have been taken sufficient notice of, was that of Ptolomy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, in which appeared Lycophron, Aratus, Nicander, Apollonius Rhodius, Theocritus, Callimachus, Eratosthenes, Philichus, Erasistratus the physician, Timæus the historian, Cleanthes, Diogenes the painter, and Sostrates the architect. This prince, from his love of learning, commanded the Old Testament to be translated into Greek. The Third age is that of Julius Cæsar, and Augustus; marked with the illustrious names of Laberius, Catullus, Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Varro, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Phædrus, Vitruvius, Dioscorides. The Fourth age was that of Julius II, and Leo X, which produced Ariosto, Tasso, Fracastorius, Sannazarius, Vida, Bembo, Sadolet, Machiavel, Guiccardin, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian. The Fifth age is that of Louis XIV., in France, and of King William and Queen Anne, in England; in which, or thereabouts, are to be found, Corneille, Moliere, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Bossuet, La Rochefoucault, Paschal, Bourdaloue, Patru, Malbranche, De Retz, La Bruyere, St. Real, Fenelon, Lully, Le Sœur, Poussin, Le Brun, Puget, Theodon, Gerradon, Edelinck, Nanteuill, Perrault the architect, Dryden, Tillotson, Temple, Pope, Addison, Garth, Congreve, Rowe, Prior, Lee, Swift, Bolingbroke, Atterbury, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Clarke, Kneller, Thornhill, Jervas, Purcell, Mead, Friend. Leo 1 Then Sculpture and her sister-arts revive; NOTES. Leo the Tenth little imagined, that by promoting the revival of ancient literature, and by the discovery and diffusion of that manly and liberal knowledge which it contained, and which opened and enlarged the bigoted minds of men, into boldness of thought, and freedom of inquiry on all important subjects, he was gradually undermining the absurdity and the tyranny of the Romish church, and emancipating its wretched devotees from ignorance and superstition. In vain, under such circumstances, was the Complutensian edition of the Bible given. Cardinal Pole, it is said, with great shrewdness, warned Leo of the consequences of thus enlightening Europe. In Bayle may be seen the pains he took, and the expenses he incurred, by purchasing curious manuscripts from every country where they could be found; and his liberalities to men of genius need not be enlarged upon. One cannot but lament that the charming Ariosto, who was once so favoured and caressed by him, was afterwards neglected and forgotten by this Pope, and denied a preferment which he had promised him, which occasioned the severity with which he treated Leo in his Fifth Satire. It is remarkable, that in the bull which this Pope gave to Ariosto, on the printing his Orlando, he speaks of it as a kind of burlesque poem; as describing, Equitum errantium Itinera, ludicro more, longo tamen studio, &c. Warton. Ver. 699. o'er its ruins spread,] In the ninth century, it was said, there were more statues than inhabitants at Rome. Warton. Ver. 703. With sweeter notes] I have the best authority, that of the learned, accurate, and ingenious Dr. Burney, for observing, that, in the age of Leo the Tenth, music did not keep pace with poetry in advancing towards perfection. Costantio Festa was the best Italian composer during the time of Leo, and Pietro Aaron the best theorist. Palestrina was not born till eight years after the death of Leo. See History of Music, Vol. II. p. 336. Warton. The Immortal Vida: on whose honour'd brow The poet's bays and critics ivy grow: NOTES. 705 The line of Pope referred to by Warton is as just and correct as it is beautiful. Leo was not only an admirer of music, but a skilful performer; and we are informed by Pietro Aaron, that "though he had acquired a consummate knowledge in most arts and sciences, he seemed to love, encourage, and exalt music more than any other."-To sacred music he paid a more particular attention; and sought throughout Europe for the most celebrated performers, both vocal and instrumental, whom he rewarded with the utmost liberality; of which instances are given in " The Life and Pontificate of Leo X." vol. iv. p. 489. 8vo. ed. Ver. 705. Immortal Vida:] But Vida was by no means the most celebrated poet that adorned the age of Leo the Tenth; and music received not so many improvements, as the other fine arts, at that period. When Vida was advanced to a bishopric, he went to pay a visit to his aged parents, who were in very low circumstances; but unhappily found they were just deceased. An action more meritorious than writing his Poetics. The merits of Vida seem not to have been particularly attended to in England, till Pope had bestowed this commendation upon him; although the Poetics had been correctly published at Oxford, by Basil Kennet, some time before. The Silk-worms of Vida are written with classical purity, and with a just mixture of the styles of Lucretius and Virgil. It was a happy choice to write a poem on Chess; nor is the execution less happy. The various stratagems and manifold intricacies of this ingenious game, so difficult to be described in Latin, are here expressed with the greatest perspicuity and elegance; so that perhaps the game might be learned from this description. Amidst many prosaic flatnesses there are many fine strokes in the Christiad; particularly his angels, with respect to their persons and insignia, are drawn with that dignity which we so much admire in Milton; who seems to have had his eye on those passages. Gravina (Della Ragion. Poet. p. 127.) applauds Vida, for having found out a method to introduce the whole history of our Saviour's life, by putting it into the mouth of St. Joseph and St. John, who relate it to Pilate. But surely this speech, consisting of as many lines as that of Dido to Eneas, was too long to be made |