that they will imagine I durft not have prefum'd fo far, if in what I faid there was not fomething true at the Bottom: Indeed if there is not, 'tis owing entirely to the Weakness of my own Conceptions, as Father Bouhours has mifled them. But fince there is no Fear of his misleading, and as much Strength in his Argument as Elegance in his Diction, I flatter'd my felf I did not venture fo much in making this Addrefs to You, as I may be thought to have done by those who have lefs Knowledge of him and his Merit.

THE Scandal fuch Addreffes as thefe have for fome Time lain under, has not arisen fo much from the Meannefs of the Author's Views, as from their Indifcretion in the Choice of their Patrons. Thus, without having any Regard to their Character, or Capacity, we often find a Discourse of ( Politicks address'd to a Fox-hunter, a Treatise of Gardening to a Citizen of London, a Piece of Divinity to a General of the Army, a Poem to a Judge, and a Play to a Stockjobber: But ev'ry one will approve of my prefenting this Work to You, as to a perfect Master of the elegant Arts Pere Bouhours treats of; the Example of whofe Writings will teach us more of the Manner of Right-thinking in the Works of the Ingenious, than his Precepts and Leffons.

THAT Part of the following Treatife which is entirely my own, and near a Moiety of the Whole, recommends it felf to You by nothing but an exact Imitation of Father Bouhours's Obfervations

fervations on Thought and Expreffion in the beft. Authors, antient and modern; to which I have endeavour'd to adapt parallel Quotations out of the beft English Authors, Poets and Orators, in the different Manners of Thinking.

THE Difficulty of this Task will be eafily conceiv'd by thofe who judge with Your Quicknefs and Exactnefs; but the Number of them is fo few, that it will be neceffary to explain it a little. For, as Images, in Painting, do not always appear in the fame Light to all that fee them, fo neither do they, in Thought and Expreffion, to all that read them; and the leaft Variety in View will very much vary the Similitude. Being fenfible how difficult it was to fucceed in fuch parallel Quotations, I cannot but be as fenfible of the Caution I fhou'd have taken in addreffing them to You; tho' if there is not that fcrupulous Equality in all of them, which may be expected in Things of this Delicacy, there will be found the Sublime, the Grand, the Fine, the Agreeable, and all the various Kinds of Thought, which are fo finely fpun in the French Critick's Explanation of them. The Examples out of English Authors may not quadrate with thofe taken out of Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and other Writers, Antient and Modern: However, they will be found to have a nearer Relation to them than (according to Boileau) is neceffary, in comparing Things one with another; 'Tis a Truth universally acknowledg'd, fays he, That it is not neceffary in Poetry for the

Points of Comparison to answer exactly one to another, but that a general Agreement is fufficient; which general Agreement will be apparent in comparing my Quotations with Father Bouhours's. Boileau, as fevere a Critick as he is, may have too much Regard to the Difagreement which is too often found in modern Similes: Such as this of Dryden's, where he compares the Jockies at Winchester Hofe-race to the Sun, which had fo often the Honour to be a Comparison for the French King.

Over thy Course they rather fly than run,
In a wide Circle, like the glorious Sun.

BUT I cou'd name an Epiftle in English Verse where the Comparisons answer one another exactly, and where the Author was not contented with a general Agreement.

ALL Men enjoy in common with the other Gifts of Nature, those of Thinking and Speaking: But the Difference in their Look and their Air, is not greater than that in their Thought and Expreffion; the Excellence of which arifes as much from the Manner and Turn, as the Matter and Words. The Flowers which grow in the Gardens of Logick and Rhetorick are not fpontaneous, but the beautiful Effects of the niceft Culture and Care. Any one might have faid, the Paffions are too ftrong for Reafon; but it was only for the Duke de la Rochefaucault, and Perfons of his Distinction in Genius and Rank, to fay, the Head is the Dupe of the Heart.

A s

As good Breeding and Politenefs give a Grace to Reason, so they do it much more to Wit; as we fee in that excellent Epiftolary Poem, where the finest Imagination is render'd ftill finer by the Spirit and Elegance of Expreffion :

· For none have been with Admiration read,
But who, befide their Learning, were well bred;

Said the Lord Rofcommon, who understood good
Breeding, and good Learning, as well as any
Man ever did.

WITHOUT thefe glorious Advantages, which are always accompany'd with Difcretion and Decency, Authors, otherwife of agreeable Talents, fall into Trifling and Ribaldry. Lownefs of Character and Life naturally create Envy in irregu lar Minds, and thence proceeds an inordinate and mischievous Defire of Cavilling, the Corruption of Criticism, one Inftance of which is not to be found in Pere Bouhours.

SIR, If You cou'd forgive what might be faid on this Subject, and ev'ry body wou'd not know to whom and to what it refers, a great deal of the following Treatise might have been spar'd, as it concerns the Perfection of Thinking and Writing, and the very great Refinements they receive by the Knowledge of Men and Affairs, as well as Books and Letters; for Want of which there is fo much Crudity and Pedantry in the Productions of Authors by Profeffion.

I MUST Own, I am not without Apprehenfions that You may diftafte that Profufion of Praife on Lewis XIV. which we meet with in the French Critick's various Examples of the Sublime, the Grand, the Fine, the Delicate in Thought, out of French,and other Authors; Your Abhorrence of Flattery and Tyranny, and Your juft and generous Sentiments of good Policy and Liberty, will, doubtlefs, make that appear flat and infipid to You, which to him is fo elevated and grand. But in a Suppofition that the mighty Monarch was really in Fact, what in Imagination they represent him to be, thofe Thoughts are in that Sense true; and I have endeavour'd to provide an Antidote against what is poif'nous in them, by giving Inftances of all thofe different Kinds of Thinking out of English Writers, in Praise of the great Princes who reign'd in England after the Revolution, whom Your Honourable Unkle had the Honour to ferve in the most important Offices of the State, with equal Zeal, Fidelity and Applause.

AND here, SIR, You will permit me to pay Homage to the Memory of that noble Patriot, not only in General, as I am an Englishman, for his Loyalty to our Sovereigns, in whofe Service he was so useful and eminent, for his zealous afferting the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, in the many Parliaments of which he was a diftinguish'd Member; but also in Particular, as it is to his Goodness and Generofity that I owe what