And while the Mufe now ftoops, or now afcends, 375 To man's low paffions, or their glorious ends. NOTES. drefs to his friend, will furnish a Critic with example of every one of those five Species of Elocution, from which, as from its Sources, Longinus deduceth the SUBLIME". 1. The firft and chief is a Grandeur and Sublimity of Conception. Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along, And while the Muse now ftoops, or now ascends, 2. The fecond, that pathetic Enthufiafm, which, at the fame time, melts and inflames : Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, 3. A certain elegant Formation and Ordonance of Figures: Oh! while along the ftream of Time thy name 4. A fplendid diction: a When ftatefmen, heroes, kings, in duft repofe, πέντε πηγαί τινές εἰσι τῆς ὑψηγορίας. 1. Πρῶτον με καὶ και κράτισον τὸ αξὶ τας νήσεις ἀδρεπήβολον. 2. Δεύτερον δὲ τὸ σφοδρὸν καὶ ἐνθεσιαςικὸν πάθω. 3. Ποιὰ τῶν οχημάτων πλάσις. 4. Η γυναία φράσις. 5. Πέμπτη 5 μεγέθος αίτια, καὶ συγκλείωσα τὰ πρὶ ἑαυτῆς ἅπανία, ἡ ἐν ἀξιώματι και άρση σύνθεση Teach me, like thee, in various nature wife, 380 Oh! while along the stream of Time thy name 385 Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale ? NOTES. Shall then this verfe to future age pretend Shew'd erring pride whatever is, is RIGHT; That REASON, PASSION, anfwer one great A1M; And all our Knowledge is, OURSELVES TO KNOW. 1 For Wit's falfe mirror held up Nature's light; VARIATIONS. VER. 397. That virtue only, &c.] In the MS. thus, NOTES. VER. 391. Shew'd erring Pride, Whatever is, is Right ;] The poet's address to his friend, which concludeth this epiftle fo nobly, and endeth with a recapitulation of the general argument, affords me the following obfervation, with which I fhall conclude these remarks. There is one great beauty that fhines through the whole Essay: The Poet, whether he speaks of Man as an Individual, a Member of Society, or the Subject of Happiness, never miffeth an opportunity, while he is explaining his ftate under any of these capacities, to illuftrate it in the most artful manner by the inforcement of his grand Principle: THAT EVERY THING TENDETH TO THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE; from whence his fyftem receives the reciprocal advantage of having that grand Theorem realized by facts, and his facts juftified on a principle of Right or Nature. |