what is said of him who can believe just idea of it? Of this idea, when achimself an exception to it? Why is it quired, what use should we make? a very wise law of our nature? Of that Why have exercises in speaking alrelaxed state of mind which arises ways been recommended to students? from indolence or dissipation, what is Of the societies into which they someobserved? By what will one be known times form themselves for this purpose, who is destined to excel in any art? Of what is observed? How do they become this, what is observed? If youth wants favourable to knowledge and study? it, what will be the consequence? In What do they produce; and to what the fourth place, what will contribute do they gradually inure those who are greatly towards improvement? What engaged in them? To what do they should every one who speaks endeavour accustom them; and what is, perto have; and what is the effect of sla-haps, their greatest advantage? What vish imitation? But, what remark fol- meetings are here to be understood? lows? What do they do? What institutions are not merely useOn what will much depend? And less, but hurtful in their nature? Of supposing them rightly chosen, about proving what, are they in great hawhat is a farther care requisite; and zard? Into what do they mislead those why? What should we study to ac- who, in their own calling, might be usequire? Why should not one attach him- ful members of society? Even of the self too closely to any single model? allowable meetings into which students What should be his business? What is of oratory form themselves, what is obhere not expected? Of ancient and served? Under what circumstances modern writers, from whom benefit may may they improve themselves in petube derived, what is here observed? lance, but infallibly form themselves to What does our author own is to be re- a very faulty and vicious taste in speakgretted? Among the French, in the ing? What advice is, therefore, given different departments of oratory, whose to all who are members of such socienames are mentioned? Concerning the ties? What will be the effect of pursuimitation of the style of any favourite ing this course? What inquiry, only, author, to what distinction must we now remains? Of these, what is obserattend? Of these, what is observed; ved? For professed writers on public and how is this illustrated? What style speaking, where must we look? Of does speaking admit; and of it, what is popular eloquence among the moderns, farther observed? Hence, what fol- what is observed? What is said of Jolows? What example of illustration is annes Gerardus Vossius? Among the given? Of some kinds of public dis- French, the names of what writers on course, what is observed? But still this subject appear; and what is said there is what? To what does some au- of them? To whom, chiefly, must we thors' manner of writing approach more have recourse; and what remark folnearly than others; and what is the lows? What defect, however, is there, consequence? Who are of this class? in all the ancient rhetorical writers? What does the Dean, throughout all his What is all that can, in truth, be done? writings, maintain; and of this, what is Who laid the foundation for all that observed? What is the character of was afterwards written on this subject; Lord Bolingbroke's style? What ap- and of him, what is observed? He was pearance do all his political writings the first that did what? What is said carry? What qualities do they possess; of his Treatise on Rhetoric? Of sucand of them, what is to be regretted? ceeding Greek rhetoricians, what is obIn the fifth place, what will be admit-served? What two still remain, and ted to be a necessary means of improve- what is said of them? What general ment? What sort of composition is the remarks are made on Cicero's rhetorimost useful? What advice is here cal writings? Of them, which are the given? Of him who has it for his aim to write and speak correctly, what is observed? By this remark, what is not meant? To what would this form him? But what is to be observed? Of the becoming manner, what is observed; but what does it require to seize the most distinguished; and what is said of them? Of all the ancient writers on the subject of oratory, who is the most useful, and the most instructive? Of Quintilian, and of his institutes, what is observed? ANALYSIS. Preliminary observations. Means of improving in eloquence. 1. Moral qualifications. A. Virtue favourable to the prosecu- B. The most affecting sentiments flow 2. A fund of knowledge requisite. 3. Industry and application necessary. A. The distinction between written and 5. Frequency of composing and speaking. A. Directions for the same. 6. The study of critical writers requisite. A. Ancient original writers to be consulted. LECTURE XXXV. COMPARATIVE MERIT OF THE ANCIENTS AND THE MODERNS.-HISTORICAL WRITING. I HAVE now finished that part of the course which respected oratory, or public speaking, and which, as far as the subject allowed, I have endeavoured to form into some sort of system. It remains, that I enter on the consideration of the most distinguished kinds of composition, both in prose and verse, and point out the principles of criticism relating to them. This part of the work might easily be drawn out to a great length; but I am sensible that critical discussions, when they are pursued too far, become both trifling and tedious. I shall study, therefore, to avoid unnecessary prolixity; and hope, at the same time, to omit nothing that is very material under the several heads. I shall follow the same method here which I have all along pursued, and without which, these lectures could not be entitled to any attention; that is, I shall freely deliver my own opinion on every subject; regarding authority no farther than as it appears to me founded on good sense and reason. In former lectures, as I have often quoted several of the ancient classics for their beauties, so I have also, sometimes, pointed out their defects. Hereafter, I shall have occasion to do the same, when treating of their writings under more general heads. It may be fit that, before I proceed farther, I make some observations on the comparative merit of the ancients and the moderns; in order that we may be able to ascertain, rationally, upon what foundation that deference rests, which has so generally been paid to the ancients. These observations are the more necessary, as this subject has given rise to no small controversy in the republic of letters; and they may, with propriety, be made now, as they will serve to throw light on some things I have afterwards to deliver, concerning different kinds of composition. It is a remarkable phenomenon, and one which has often employed the speculations of curious men, that writers and artists, most distinguished for their parts and genius, have generally appeared in considerable numbers at a time. Some ages have been remarkably barren in them; while, at other periods, nature seems to have exerted herself with a more than ordinary effort, and to have poured them forth with a profuse fertility. Various reasons have been assigned for this. Some of the moral causes lie obvious; such as fa vourable circumstances of government and of manners; encouragement from great men ; emulation excited among the men of genius. But as these have been thought inadequate to the whole effect, physical causes have been also assigned; and the Abbé du Bos, in his reflections on poetry and painting, has collected a great many observations on the influence which the air, the climate, and other such natural causes, may be supposed to have upon genius. But whatever the causes be, the fact is certain, that there have been certain periods or ages of the world much more distinguished than others, for the extraordinary productions of genius. Learned men have marked out four of these happy ages. The first is the Grecian age, which commenced near the time of the Peloponnesian war, and extended till the time of Alexander the Great; within which period, we have Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, schines, Lysias, Isocrates, Pindar, Eschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Menander, Anacreon, Theocritus, Lysippus, Apelles, Phidias, Praxiteles. The second, is the Roman age, included nearly within the days of Julius Cæsar and Augustus; affording us Catullus, Lucretius, Terence, Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid, Phædrus, Cæsar, Cicero, Livy, Sallust, Varro, and Vitruvius. The third age is, that of the restoration of learning, under the Popes Julius II. and Leo X.; when flourished Ariosto, Tasso, Sannazarius, Vida, Machiavel, Guicciardini, Davila, Erasmus, Paul Jovius, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian. The fourth comprehends the age of Louis the XIV. and Queen Anne, when flourished in France, Corneille, Racine, De Retz, Moliere, Boileau, Fontaine, Baptiste, Rousseau, Bossuet, Fenelon, Bourdaloue, Pascall, Malebranche, Massillon, Bruyere, Bayle, Fontenelle, Vertot; and in England, Dryden, Pope, Addison, Prior, Swift, Parnell, Arbuthnot, Congreve, Otway, Young, Rowe, Atterbury, Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, Tillotson, Temple, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Clarke. When we speak comparatively of the ancients and the moderns, we generally mean by the ancients, such as lived in the two first of these periods, including also one or two who lived more early, as Homer in particular; and by the moderns, those who flourished in the two last of these ages, including also the eminent writers down to our own times. Any comparison between these two classes of writers, must be necessarily vague and loose, as they comprehend so many, and of such different kinds and degrees of genius. But the comparison is generally made to turn by those who are fond of making it, upon two or three of the most distinguished in each class. With much heat it was agitated in France, between Boileau and Mad. Dacier, on the one hand for the ancients, and Perrault and La Motte, on the other, for the moderns; and it was carried to extremes on both sides. To this day, among men of taste and letters, we find a leaning to one or other side. A few reflections may throw light upon the subject, and enable us to discern upon what grounds we are to rest our judgment in this controversy. If any one, at this day, in the eighteenth century, takes upon him to decry the ancient classics; if he pretends to have discovered that Homer and Virgil are poets of inconsiderable merit, and that Demosthenes and Cicero are not great orators, we may boldly venture to tell such a man, that he is come too late with his discovery. The reputation of such writers is established upon a foundation too solid, to be now shaken by any arguments whatever; for it is established upon that almost universal taste of mankind, proved and tried throughout the succession of so many ages. Imperfections in their works he may indeed point out; passages that are faulty he may show; for where is the human work that is perfect? But, if he attempts to discredit their works in general, or to prove that the reputation which they have gained is, on the whole, unjust, there is an argument against him, which is equal to full demonstration. He must be in the wrong; for human nature is against him. In matters of taste, such as poetry and oratory, to whom does the appeal lie? where is the standard? and where the authority of the last decision? where is it to be looked for, but, as I formerly showed, in those feelings and sentiments that are found, on the most extensive examination, to be the common sentiments and feelings of men? These have been fully consulted on this head. The public, the unprejudiced public, has been tried and appealed to for many centuries, and throughout almost all civilized nations. It has pronounced its verdict; it has given its sanction to those writers; and from this tribunal there lies no farther appeal. In matters of mere reasoning, the world may be long in an error; and may be convinced of the error by stronger reasonings, when produced. Positions that depend upon science, upon knowledge, and matters of fact, may be overturned according as science and knowledge are enlarged, and new matiers of fact are brought to light. For this reason, a system of philosophy receives no sufficient sanction from its antiquity, or long currency. The world, as it grows older, may be justly expected to become, if not wiser, at least more knowing; and supposing it doubtful, whether Aristotle, or Newton, were the greater genius, yet Newton's philosophy may prevail over Aristotle's, by means of later discoveries, to which Aristotle was a stranger. But nothing of this kind holds as to matters of taste; which depend not on the progress of knowledge and science, but upon sentiment and feeling. It is in vain to think of undeceiving mankind, with respect to errors committed here, as in philosophy. For the universal feeling of mankind is the natural feeling; and because it is the natural, it is for that reason, the right feeling. The reputation of the Iliad and the Æneid must therefore stand upon sure ground, because it has stood so long; though that of the Aristotelian or Platonic philosophy, every one is at liberty to call in question. It is in vain also to allege, that the reputation of the ancient poets, and orators, is owing to authority, to pedantry, and to the prejudices of education, transmitted from age to age. These, it is true, are the authors put into our hands at schools and colleges, and by that means we have now an early prepossession in their favour; but how came they to gain the possession of colleges and schools? Plainly, by the high fame which these had among their own cotemporaries. For the Greek and Latin were not always dead languages. There was a time when Homer, and Virgil, and Horace, were viewed in the same light as we now view Dryden, Pope, and Addison. It is not to commentators and universities, that the classics are indebted for their fame. They became classics and school-books, in consequence of the high admiration which was paid them by the best judges in their own country and nation. As early as the days of Juvenal, who wrote under the reign of Domitian, we find Virgil and Horace become the standard books in the education of youth. Quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset SAT. 7. From this general principle, then, of the reputation of the great ancient classics being so early, so lasting, so universal among all the most polished nations, we may justly and boldly infer that their reputation cannot be wholly unjust, but must have a solid foundation in the merit of their writings. Let us guard, however, against a blind and implicit veneration for the ancients in every thing. I have opened the general principle, which must go far in instituting a fair comparison between them and the moderns. Whatever superiority the ancients may have had in point of genius, yet in all arts, where the natural progress of knowledge has had room to produce any considerable effects, the moderns cannot but have some advantage. The world may, in certain respects, be considered as a person, who must needs gain somewhat by advancing in years. Its improvements have not, I confess, been always in proportion to the centuries that have passed over it; for, during the course of some ages, it has sunk as into a total lethargy. Yet, when roused from that lethargy, it has generally been able to avail itself more or less, of former discoveries. At intervals, there arose some happy genius, who could both improve on what had gone before, and invent something new. With the advantage of a proper stock of materials, an inferior genius can make greater progress, than a much superior one, to whom these materials are wanting. Hence, in natural philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, and other sciences that depend on an extensive knowledge and observation of facts, modern philosophers have an unquestionable superiority over the ancient. I am inclined also to think, that in matters of pure reasoning, there is more precision among the moderns, than in some instances there was among the ancients; owing perhaps to a more extensive literary intercourse, which has improved and sharpened the faculties of men. In some studies too, that relate to taste and * "Then thou art bound to smell, on either hand, As many stinking lamps, as school-boys stand, When Horace could not read in his own sully'd book, And Virgil's sacred page was all besmear'd with smoke." DRYDEN. |