FATHER Boubours was fometime of Opinion that he fhou'd call his Book the Hiftory of Thoughts, and not the Manner of Thinking. For he often reprefents the Origin of them, the Progrefs, the Change and the Decadence. His firft Obfervation is infallible, that Genius of it felf can do little, if it is not directed by Judgement.

Scribendi recte fapere eft & Principium & Fons. Sound Judgement is the Ground of writing well.

Rosc. Hor.

No Man can write correctly, unless he thinks juftly; the Way to think juftly, is to obferve the Errours which others have fall'n into for want of due Reflexion and rightly confidering their Subject.

PART

(5)

PART I

Of Falfe THOUGHTS, and True THOUGHTS; and in what the Difference between them confifts.

HERE Ufe does not prevail in the Manners either of Thinking or Speaking, good Senfe is to be the Rule, and that will presently direct us to diftinguish between the Falfe and the True in a Thought or Expreffion.

TRUTH is the first Quality in Thinking; 'tis the Foundation of all Thoughts. If this is wanting, the finest Thoughts become vicious, or rather those that appear fine, but in Effect are not fo; of which Kind are most of the Thoughts in our Modern Tragedies, that have been moft applauded, and procured them the greatest Currency, but after a late Example of the vileft Stuff that ever was brought on a Stage, being follow'd a whole Seafon; fuch Currency may be more infamous than to be damn'd at Sight. Thoughts are the Images of Things, as Words are the Images of Thoughts; and to Think or Speak in general Terms, is to form in One's Mind the Picture of an Object either fpiritual or fenfible. Now all Pictures and Images are no farther true than they are like. Thus a Thought is true when it is a faithful Reprefentation of Things, and falfe when it reprefents them otherwise than they are in themselves.

2

B 3

ALL

ALL ingenious Thoughts in all Writings of Hiftory, Poetry, Eloquence, fhould refemble thofe of that great O rator mentioned by Cicero; Sententie Craffi tam integre, tam vere,tam nove, tam fine pigmentis fucoque puerili; so found, fo true, fo new, fo uncommon, and free from all that falfe Brillant and Tenfel Glittering, which are alike frivolous and puerile. True it is, that what appears falfe may not rcally be fo; what strikes us moft in Epigrams and other witty Pieces, turns generally on Fiction, Point and Hyperbole, which are fo many Falfehoods; but there is a great deal of Difference between Falfehood and Fiction: The one is an Imitation, and in fome wife the Perfection of Nature; the other the Corruption and intire Destruction of it. Indeed the fabulous or poetical World has nothing real in it; 'tis made up of mere Imagination: Parnaffus, Apollo, the Muses, and the Horfe Pegafus, are only agreeable Chimera's: But that System being once allow'd, all that is feign'd within the Extent of the fame Syftem, does not pafs for Falfe among the Learned, efpecially if it carries with it Verifimility, and conceals fome Truth. Falfehood is fometimes the Beauty and Soul of a Thought; Bella falfitas, plaufibile mendacium; & ob eam caufam gratiffimum, quod excogitamus folerter & ingeniofe. Vavaff. Lib. de Epig.

FOR Inftance: According to the Fable, the Flowers fpring under the Feet of the Gods and Heroes: Which perhaps teaches us that the Great, where-ever they come, hould fcatter Abundance and Joy. The Springing of the Flowers is a Fiction, but the fcattering Abundance and Joy which is meant by it, is plaufible and probable. Such is the Sense of these Verfes of Racan upon Queen Mary de Medicis.

Paffez, cheres brebis, jouiffez de la joye
Que le ciel vous envoye :

A la fin fa clemence a pitie de nos pleurs;
Allez dans la Campagne, allez dans la prairie
N' epargnez point les Fleurs ;

Il en revient affez fous le pas de Marie.

Go my dear Flocks the Pleasures fare,

Which Heaven does for thefe Plains prepare:

Her Pity's mov'd at last, and now,

Her Bleffings fhe'll on you beftow

Go, graze the Country round, go feed

At

At large, nor Spare the flow'ry Mead:
Feed on the Flowers, and fear no wafte; enoce,
When Mary comes, beneath her Feet will grow.

THERE is nothing fhocking in this Thought: If there is Falfehood in it, 'tis a Falfehood that is eftablished, and has the Air of Truth. Thus far Pere Bouhours. But as there is no Falfehood in it, fo there's not much Spirit nor Imagination. When we read in Homer, that the Goddeffes of Prayer are Cripples and deform'd; we are taught by it, that Prayer has of it felf fomething low in it, and that when one prays, one does not go fo faft as when one commands; which occafion'd the Saying, That Commands are fhort, and Prayers long, It might be added, that the one is proud and haughty, the other humble and creeping. In this Sentiment it was that Mr. Weedon, late of LincolnsInn, had a Project for a Temple of Praife to be erected in that Square, where Hymns of Praise and Thanksgiving fhould be only fung; he obferving, that we are always taking too much Care of our felves in our daily Prayers, and too rarely lift up our grateful Souls in Praifes to our heavenly Benefactor, for the Mercies we are always begging and receiving of him. As we are not fhockt at Homer's making the Goddeffes of Prayer Cripples, fo the Fiction, that the Graces are fhort and little, does not difpleafe. It teaches that little Things are moft charming; the Charm often confifts in a Gate, in a Smile, in a negligent Air, or fomething lefs than either of them. The fame may be faid of all other Fictions, which have any Wit. The fabulous System takes off what there is of Falfehood in them, and it is lawful, nay commendable in a Poet to be wittily falfe in his Thought. But where the fabulous System does not fupport him, Truth fhould be the Rule of Thinking, in Verfe as well as Profe. I do not by this intend to deprive Poetry of the Marvellous, which diftinguifhes it from the most noble and fublime Profe. I mean no more than that the Poets fhould not deftroy the Effence of Things, by endeavouring to raise and embellish them.

IT often happens, that the most noted and moft glaring Thoughts in a Poem are the moft falfe, as is before hinted. To inftance the famous Verfe of Lucan.

Victrix caufa diis placuit, fed Victa Catoni.

The Gods were for the Victors, but Calo for the
Vanquished.

B 4

IN

IN Mr. Rowe's Tranflation of this Verfe the Spirit of it is entirely evaporated.

Victorious Cæfar by the Gods was crown'd,

The vanquished Party was by Cato own'd.

THE Owning by Cato is fo poor,that it naturally falls into Burlefque, and puts me in Mind of a Story of Joe Haines and Tom Durfey. The Latter being very angry with a Perfon who had enter'd a Room, and fat down in his Chair, upon his leaving it a while, demanded again and again, who own'd him? Why, fays Joe Haines with his hoarfe Voice, I own him? As poor as this Tale is, one cannot better represent the Poverty of Mr. Rowe's Verfion of this remarkable Verfe; which Brebeuf has thus tranflated, very flatly according to Mr. Walsh,

Les Dieux fervent Cæfar: mais Caton fuit Pompée. The Gods affifted Cæfar: But Cato followed Pompey. THE Author of the Preface to Dryden's Tranflation of Virgil's Eclogues, fuppofed to be Mr. Wal,renders it thus:

Heaven meanly with the Conqu'ror did comply;
But Cato rather than fubmit would die.

That meanly makes the matter worfe than it was before one can have no Idea of Heaven's doing a mean Thing. Most Readers are of the Opinion of Father Bouhours's Philanthus, That nothing can be more grand and more fine than this Thought; whereas that learned Jefuit tells us, 'tis only fine in Appearance, and that when we examine it to the Bottom we shall find it wants good Senfe. For it reprefents the Gods efpoufing an unjust Caufe, fuch as was Cæfar's, who facrific'd his Country to his Ambition, and was endeavouring to fupprefs the Liberty of the Republick, which Pompey endeavour'd to fupport: Now, according to good Senfe, the Gods cannot approve of the Injuftice of an Ufurper, who breaks through all Laws Divine and Human, to make himself Mafter of the World; and a right Underderstanding would have let the Gods alone on this Occafion. Befides, Cato was an honeft Man, as the Poet himself has painted him; and there is no Senfe in his fetting him against the Gods, and making him engag'd in an Intereft oppofite to theirs; 'tis to deftroy his Character, and to rob him of his Virtue. For if we believe Saluft, it was a Part of the Roman Probity to bear Affection to the immortal Gods;

and