are others of the Moderns who rival him in every other part of poetry; but in the greatnefs of his fentiments he triumphs over all the poets both modern and ancient, Homer only excepted. It is impoffible for the imagination of man to diftend itself with greater ideas, than those which he has laid together in his first, fecond and fixth books. The feventh, which defcribes the creation of the world, is likewife wonderfully fublime, tho' not fo apt to ftir up emotion in the mind of the reader, nor confequently fo perfect in the epic way of writing, because it is filled with lefs action. Let the judicious reader compare what Longinus has obferved on feveral paflages in Homer, and he will find parallels for most of them in the Paradife Loft. From what has been faid we may infer, that as there are two kinds of fentiments, the natural and the fublime, which are always to be purfued in an heroic poem, there are alfo two kinds of thoughts which are carefully to be avoided. The first are fuch as are affected and unnatural; the fecond fuch as are mean and vulgar. As for the tirft kind of thoughts we meet with little or nothing that is like them in Virgil: He has none of thofe trifling points and puerilities that are fo often to be met with in Ovid, none of the epigrammatic turns of Lucan, none of thofe fwelling fentiments which are fo frequently in Statius and Claudian, none of thofe mixed embellifh. ments of Taflo. Every thing is juft and natural. His fentiments how that he had a perfect infight into human nature, and that he knew every thing which was the moft proper to affect it. Mr. Dryden has in fome places, which I may hereafter take notice of, mifrepresented Virgil's way of thinking as to this particular, in the tranflation he has given us of the Æneid. I do not remember that Homer any where falls into the faults abovementioned, which were indeed the false refinements of later ages. Milton, it must be confeft, has fometimes erred in this refpect, as I fhall fhew more at large in another paper; tho' confidering all the poets of the age in which he writ, were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did fometimes comply with the vicious taste which ftill prevails fo much among modern writers. But fince feveral thoughts may be natural which are low and groveling, an epic poet should not only avoid fuch fentiments as are unnatural or affected, but also fuch as are mean and vulgar. Homer has opened a great field of rallery to men of more delicacy than greatness of genius, by the homelinefs of fome of his fentiments. But, as I have before faid, these are rather to be imputed to the fimplicity of the age in which he lived, to which I may alfo add, of that which he defcribed, than to any imperfection in that divine poet. Zoilus, among the Ancients, and Monfieur Perrault, among the Moderns, pushed their ridicule very far upon him, on account of fome fuch fentiments. There is no blemith to be obferved in Virgil, under under this head, and but a very few in Milton. I fhall give but one inftance of this impropriety of thought in Homer, and at the fame time compare it with an instance of the fame nature, both in Virgil and Milton. Sentiments which raife laughter, can very feldom be admitted with any decency into an heroic poem, whofe bufinefs is to excite paffions of a much nobler nature. Homer, however, in his characters of Vulcan and Therfites, in his ftory of Mars and Venus, in his behaviour of Irus, and in other paffages, has been obferved to have lapfed into the burlefque character, and to have departed from that serious air which feems effential to the magnificence of an epic poem. I remember but one laugh in the whole Æneid, which rises in the fifth book upon Monates, where he is reprefented as thrown overboard, and drying himself upon a rock. But this piece of mirth is fo well timed, that the fevereft critic can have nothing to fay against it, for it is in the book of games and diverfions, where the reader's mind may be fuppofed to be fufficiently relaxed for fuch an entertainment. The only piece of pleasantry in Paradife Loft, is where the evil fpirits are described as rallying the Angels upon the fuccefs of their new invented artillery. This paffage I look upon to be the most exceptionable in the whole poem, as being nothing elfe but a ftring of puns, and those too very indifferent. Satan beheld their plight, And to his mates thus in derifion call'd. O Friends, why come not on these victors proud! Ere while they fierce were coming, and when we, To entertain them fair with open front, And breaft, (what could we more) propounded terms Of compofition; ftrait they chang'd their minds, Flew off, and into strange vaga- As they would dance, yet for a For joy of offer'd peace; but I fup- If our propofals once again were heard, We fhould compel them to a quick refult. To whom thus Belial in like gamefome mood. Leader, the terms we fent, were terms of weight, Of hard contents, and full of force urg'd home, Such as we might perceive amus'd them all, And fumbled many; who receives them right, Had need, from head to foot, well understand; Not underflood, this gift they have befides, They fhow us when our foes walk not upright. Thus they among themselves in pleasant vein Stood fcoffing HAVING already treated of the fable, the characters and fentiments in the Paradife Loft, we are in the laft place to confider the language; language; and as the learned world is very much divided upon Milton as to this point, I hope they will excufe me if I appear particular in any of my opinions, and incline to thofe who judge the most advantageously of the author. It is requifite that the language of an heroic poem fhould be both perfpicuous and fublime. In proportion as either of these two qualities are wanting, the language is imperfect. Perfpicuity is the firft and moft neceffary qualification; infomuch that a good-natur'd reader fometimes overlooks a little flip even in the grammar or fyntax, where it is impoffible for him to mistake the poet's fenfe. Of this kind is that paffage in Milton, wherein he speaks of Satan. God and his Son except, Created thing nought valu'd he nor fhunn'd. And that in which he defcribes Adam and Eve. It is plain, that in the former of thefe paffages, according to the naaral fyntax, the divine Perfons Lentioned in the first line are reprefented as created beings; and that in the other, Adam and Eve are confounded with their fons and daughters. Such little blemishes as thefe, when the thought is great and natural, we should, with Horace, impute to a pardonable inadvertency, or to the weakness of human nature, which cannot at tend to each minute particular, and give the laft finishing to every cir cumftance in fo long a work. The ancient critics therefore, who were acted by a fpirit of candor, rather than that of cavilling, invented certain figures of fpeech, on purpofe to palliate little errors of this nature in the writings of those authors who had fo many greater beauties to atone for them. If clearness and perfpicuity were only to be confulted, the poet would have nothing else to do but to clothe his thoughts in the moft plain and natural expreffions. But fince it often happens that the most obvious phrases, and those which are used in ordinary conversation, become too familiar to the ear, and contract a kind of meannefs by paffing through the mouths of the vulgar, a poet fhould take particular care to guard himself against idiomatic ways of fpeaking. Ovid and Lucan have many poorneffes of expreffion upon this account, as taking up with the first phrases that offered, without putting themselves to the trouble of looking after fuch as would not only be natural, but also elevated and fublime. Milton has but a few failings in this kind, of which, however, you may meet with fome inftances, as in the following paffages. Embrio's and idiots, eremites and A while discourse they hold, No fear left dinner cool; when thus began Our author Who Who of all ages to fucceed, but feeling The evil on him brought by me, will curfe My head, Ill fare our ancestor impure, For this we may thank Adam· The great mafters in compofition know very well that many an elegant phrafe becomes improper for a poet or an orator, when it has been debased by common use. For this reafon the works of ancient authors, which are written in dead languages, have a great advantage over those which are written in languages that are now fpoken. Were there any mean phrases or idioms in Virgil and Homer, they would not fhock the ear of the most delicate modern reader, fo much as they would have done that of an old Greek or Roman, becaufe we never hear them pronounced in our streets, or in ordinary conversation. It is not therefore fufficient, that the language of an epic poem be perfpicuous, unless it be alfo fublime. To this end it ought to deviate from, the common forms and ordinary phrafes of fpeech. The judgment of a poet very much difcovers itself in fhunning the common roads of expreffion, without falling into fuch ways of fpeech as may feem ftiff and unnatural; he muft not fwell into a falfe fublime, by endevoring to avoid the other extreme. Among the Greeks, Æfchylus, and fometimes Sophocles were guilty of this fault; among the Latins, Claudian and Statius; and among our own Countrymen, Shakespear and Lee. In these authors the affectation of greatnefs often hurts the perfpicuity of the ftile, as in many others the endevor after perfpicuity prejudices its greatnefs. Ariftole has obferved, that the idiomatic ftile may be avoided, and the fublime formed, by the following methods. First, by the use of metaphors: fuch are those in Milton. Imparadis'd in one another's arms. -And in his hand a reed Stood waving tipt with fire. The graffy clods now calv’d.· Spangled with eyes In thefe and innumerable other inftances, the metaphors are very bold but juft; I must however obferve, that the metaphors are not thick fown in Milton, which always favors too much of wit; that they never clash with one another, which, as Ariftotle obferves, turns a sentence into a kind of an enigma or riddle; and that he feldom has recourse to them where the proper and natural words will do as well. Another way of raifing the language, and giving it a poetical turn, is to make ufe of the idioms of other tongues. Virgil is full of the Greek forms of speech, which the critics call Hellenisms, as Horace in his odes abounds with them much more than Virgil. I need not mention the feveral dialects which Homer has made use of for this end. Milton in conformity with the practice of the ancient poets, and with Ariftotle's rule, has infufed a great many Latinifms as well as Græcifms, and fometimes Hebraifms, into the language of his poem; as towards the beginning of it, Nor Under this head may be reckoned the placing the adjective after the fubftantive, the tranfpofition of words, the turning the adjective into a fubftantive, with feveral other foreign modes of fpeech, which this poet has naturalized to give his verfe the greater found, and throw it out of profe. you obferve the meafure of his verfe, he has with great judgment fuppreffed a fyllable in feveral words, and fhortned those of two fyllables into one, by which method, befides the above-mentioned advantage, he has given a greater variety to his numbers. But this practice is more particularly remarkable in the names of perfons and of countries, as Beelzebub, Heffebon, and in many other particulars, wherein he has either changed the name, or made ufe of that which is not the most commonly known, that he might the better depart from the language of the vulgar. The fame reafon recommended to him feveral old words, which alfo makes his poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater air of antiquity. I must likewise take notice, that there are in Milton several words of his own coining, as Cerberean, mifcreated, Hell-doom'd, embryon atoms, and many others. If the reader is offended at this liberty in our English poet, I would recommend him to a discourse in Plutarch, which fhows us how frequently Homer has made use of the fame liberty. The third method mentioned by Ariftotle, is what agrees with the genius of the Greek language more than with that of any other tongue, and is therefore more used by Homer than by any other poet. I mean the lengthning of a phrafe by the addition of words, which may either be inferted or omitted, as alfo by the extending or contracting of particular words by the infertion or omiffion of certain fyllables. Milton has put in practice this method of raifing his language, as far as the nature of our tongue will permit, as in the paffage abovementioned, eremite, for what is I have been the more particular hermite, in common difcourfe. If in these observations on Milton's Milton by the above-mentioned helps, and by the choice of the nobleft words and phrafes which our tongue would afford him, has carried our language to a greater highth than any of the English poets have ever done before or after him, and made the fublimity of his ftile equal to that of his fentiments. |