with fo much pleasure, as to make a thorough and intimate acquaintance with them. Thucydides and Salluft are generally compared, as Livy is with Herodotus; and, fince I am fallen upon their characters, I cannot help touching the comparifons. Salluft is reprefented as a concife, a ftrong, and nervous writer; and fo far he agrees with Thucydides's manner: but he is alfo charged with being obfcure, as concife writers very often are, without any reafon. For, if I may judge by my own apprehenfions, as I read him, no writer can be more clear, more obvious and intelligible. He has not, indeed, as far as I can obferve, one redundant expreffion; but his words are all weighed and chofen, fo expreffive and fignificant, that I will challenge any critic to take a fentence of his, and exprefs it clearer or better; his contraction feems wrought and laboured. To me he appears as a man that confidered and ftudied perfpicuity and brevity to that degree, that he would not retrench a word which might help him to exprefs his meaning, nor fuffer one to ftand, if his fenfe was clear without it. Being more diffufe, would have weakened his language, and have made it obfcurer rather than clearer: for a multitude of words only ferve to cloud or diffipate the fenfe; and though a copious ftyle in a mafter's hand is clear and beautiful, yet where concifenefs and perfpicuity are once reconciled, any attempt to enlarge the expreffions, if it does not darken, does certainly make the light much feebler. Salluft is all life and fpirit, yet grave and majestic in his diction: his ufe of old words is perfectly right; there is no affectation, but more weight and fignificancy in them: the boldness of his metaphors are among his greatest beauties; they are chofen with great judgment, and fhew the force of his genius; the colouring is ftrong, and the trokes are bold; and in my opinion he chofe them for the fake of the brevity he loved, to exprefs more clearly and more forcibly, what otherwife he must have written in loofer characters with lefs ftrength and beauty. And no fault can be objected to the jufteft and exacteft of the Roman writers.

Livy is the most confiderable of the Roman hiftorians, if to the perfection of his ftyle we join the compafs of his fubject; in which he has the advantage over all that wrote before him, in any nation but the Jewish, especially over Thucydides;

whofe history, however drawn out into length, is confined to the fhorteft period of any, except what remains of Salluft. No hiftorian could be happier in the greatness and dignity of his fubject, and none was better qualified to adorn it; for his genius was equal to the majefty of the Roman empire, and every way capable of the mighty undertaking. He is not fo copious in words, as abundant in matter, rich in his expreffion, grave, majestic, and lively; and if I may have liberty to enlarge on the old commendation, I would fay his ftyle flows with milk and honey, in fuch abundance, fuch pleasure and sweetness, that when once you are proficient enough to read him readily, you will go on with unwearied delight, and never lay him out of your hands without impatience to refume him. We may refemble him to He rodotus, in the manner of his diction; but he is more like Thucydides in the grandeur and majefty of expreffion; and if we obferve the multitude of claufes in the length of his periods, perhaps Thucydides himself is not more crowded; only the length of the periods is apt to deceive us; and great men among the ancients, as well as moderns, have been induced to think this writer was copious, becaufe his fentences were long. Copious he is indeed, and forcible in his defcriptions, not lavish in the number, but exuberant in the richnefs and fignificancy of his words. You will obferve, for I fpeak upon my own obfervation, that Livy is not fo eafy and obvious to be understood as Salluft; the experiment is made every where in reading five or fix pages of each author together. The fhortnefs of Salluft's fentences, as long as they are clear, fhews his fenfe and meaning all the way in an instant: the progrefs is quick and plain, and every three lines gives us a new and complete idea; we are carried from one thing to another with fo fwift a pace, that we run as we read, and yet cannot, if we read diftinely, run fafter than we understand him. This is the brigheft teftimony that can be given of a clear and obvious style. In Livy we cannot pafs on fo readily; we are forced to wait for his meaning till we come to the end of the fentence, and have fo many claufes to fort and refer to their proper places in the way, that I muft own I cannot read him fo readily at fight as I can Salluft; though with attention and confideration I understand him as well. He is not fo eafy, nor fo well adapted to 24

young

and has equalled him in his verse more than he falls below him in the compafs and dignity of his fubject. The Shilling is truly fplendid in his lines, and his poems will live longer than the unfinished castle, as long as Blenheim is remembered, or Cyder drank in England, But I have digreffed from Milton; and that I may return, and say all in a word; his style, his thoughts, his verfe, are as fuperior to the generality of other poets, as his fubject.

Felton.

It is a remarkable phænomenon, and one which has often employed the fpeculations of curious men, that writers and artifts, moft diftinguished for their parts and genius, have generally appeared in confiderable numbers at a time. Some ages have been remarkably barren in them; while, at other periods, Nature feems to have exerted herself with a more than ordinary effort, and to have poured them forth with a profufe fertility. Various reafons have been affigned for this. Some of the moral caufes lie obvious; fuch as favourable circumstances of government and of manners; encouragement from great men; emulation excited among the men of genius. But as thefe have been thought inadequate to the whole effect, phyfical caules have been alfo affigned; and the Abbé du Bos, in his reflections on Poetry and Painting, has collected a great many obfervations on the influence which the air, the climate, and other fuch natural caufes, may be fuppofed 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 diftinguished than others, for the extraordinary productions of genius.

Blair.

§ 113. Four of these Ages marked out by the

Learned.

Learned men have marked out four of thefe happy ages. The first is the Grecian age, which commenced near the time of the Peloponnefian war, and extended till the time of Alexander the Great; within which period, we have Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Socrates, Plato, Ariftotle, Demofthenes, Æfchynes, Lyfias, Ifocrates, Pindar, Æfchylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Ariftophanes, Menander, Anacreon, Theocritus, Lyfippus, Apelles, Phidias, Praxiteles. The fecond is the Ro

man age, included nearly within the days of Julius Cæfar and Auguftus; affording us, Catullus, Lucretius, Terence, Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid, Phadrus, Cæfar, Cicero, Livy, Salluft, Varro, and Vitruvius. The third age is, that of the restoration of learning, under the Popes Julius II. and Leo X.; when flourished Ariofto, Taffo, Sannazarius, Vida, Machiavel, Guicciardini, Davila, Erafmus, Paul Jovius, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian. The fourth, comprehends the age of Louis XIV, and Queen Anne; when flourished, in France, Corneille, Racine, De Retz, Moliere, Boileau, Fontaine, Baptifte, Rouffeau, Boffuet, Fenelon, Bourdaloue, Pafcall, Malebranche, Maffillon, Bruyere, Bayle, Fontenelle, Vertot; and in England, Dryden, Pope, Addison, Prior, Swift, Parnell, Congreve, Otway, Young, Rowe, Atterbury, Shaftsbury, Bolingbroke, Tillotfon, Temple, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Clarke, Ibid.

114.

The Reputation of the Ancients efta blifhed too firmly to be shaken.

If any one, at this day, in the eighteenth century, takes upon him to decry the ancient Claffics; if he pretends to have difcovered that Homer and Virgil are po ets of inconfiderable merit, and that Demofthenes and Cicero are not great Orators we may boldly venture to tell fuch a man, that he is come too late with his difcovery. The reputation of fuch writers is eftablished upon a foundation too folid to be now thaken by any arguments whatever; for it is eftablished upon the almost univerfal tafte of mankind, proved and tried throughout the fucceffion of fo many ages. Imperfections in their works he may indeed point out; paffages that are faulty he may fhew; for where is the human work that is perfect? But if he attempts to difcredit their works in general, or to prove that the reputation which they have gained is on the whole unjuft, there is an argument against him, which is equal to full demonftration. He must be in the wrong; for human nature is against him. In matters of tafte, fuch as poetry and oratory, to whom does the appeal lie? where is the ftandard? and where the authority of the laft decifion? where is it to be looked for, but, as I formerly fhewed, in those feelings and fentiments that are found, on the moft extensive examination, to be the common sentiments and feelings of men? Thefe have been fully confulted on this

head.

than a much fuperior one, to whom thefe materials are wanting.

Hence, in Natural Philofophy, Aftronomy, Chemistry, and other fciences that depend on an extenfive knowledge and obfervation of facts, modern philofophers have an unquestionable fuperiority over the ancient. I am inclined alfo to think, that in matters of pure reafoning, there is more precision among the moderns, than in fome initances there was among the ancients; owing perhaps to a more extenfive literary intercourfe, which has improved and sharpened the faculties of men. In fome ftudies too, that relate to taste and fine writing, which is our object, the progrefs of fociety muft, in equity, be admitted to have given us fome advantages. For instance, in hiftory; there is certainly more political knowledge in feveral European nations at prefent, than there was in ancient Greece and Rome. We are better acquainted with the nature of government, because we have feen it under a greater variety of forms and revolutions. The world is more laid open than it was in former times; commerce is greatly enlarged; more countries are civilized; pofts are every where established; intercourfe is become more eafy; and the knowledge of facts, by confequence, more attainable. All these are great advantages to hiftorians; of which, in fome measure, as I fhall afterwards fhew, they have availed themfelves. In the more complex kinds of poetry, likewife, we may have gained fomewhat, perhaps, in point of regularity and accuracy. În dramatic performances, having the advantage of the ancient models, we may be allowed to have made fome improvements in the variety of the characters, the conduct of the plot, attentions to probability, and to decorums.

Blair.

§ 117. We must lock to the Ancients for clegant Compofition, and to the Moderns for accurate Philofophy.

From whatever cause it happens, fo it is, that among fome of the ancient writers, we must look for the higheft models in moft of the kinds of elegant compofition. For accurate thinking and enlarged ideas, in feveral parts of philofophy, to the moderns we ought chiefly to have recourfe. Of correct and finished writing in fome works of taste, they may afford ufeful patterns; but for all that belongs to original genius, to fpirited, mafterly, and high execution, our best and most happy ideas are,

generally fpeaking, drawn from the ancients. In epic poetry, for instance, Homer' and Virgil, to this day, ftand not within many degrees of any rival. Orators, fuch as Cicero and Demofthenes, we have none. In history, notwithstanding fome defects, which I am afterwards to mention in the ancient hiftorical plans, it may be fafely afferted, that we have no fuch historical narration, fo elegant, fo picturefque, fo animated, and interefting as that of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Livy, Tacitus, and Salluft. Although the conduct of the drama may be admitted to have received fome improvements, yet for poetry and fentiment we have nothing to equal Sophocles and Euripides; nor any dialogue in comedy, that comes up to the correct, graceful, and elegant fimplicity of Terence. We have no fuch love-elegies as thofe of Tibullus; no fuch paftorals as fome of Theocritus's: and for Lyric poetry, Horace ftands quite unrivalled. The name of Horace cannot be mentioned without a particular encomium. That "curiofa felicitas," which Petronius has remarked in his expreffion; the fweetnefs, elegance, and spirit of many of his odes, the thorough knowledge of the world, the excellent fentiments, and natural easy manner which diftinguish his Satires and Epiftles, all contribute to render him one of thofe very few authors whom one never tires of reading; and from whom alone, were every other monument deftroyed, we fhould be led to form a very high idea of the taste and genius of the Auguftan age. Ibid.

§ 118. The affiduous Study of the Greek and Roman Claffics recommended.

To all fuch then, as wish to form their tafte, and nourish their genius, let me warmly recommend the affiduous ftudy of the ancient claffics, both Greek and Roman.

Nocturnâ verfate manu, verfate diurna*. Without a confiderable acquaintance with them, no man can be reckoned a polite fcholar; and he will want many affiftances for writing and fpeaking well, which the knowledge of fuch authors would afford his own tafte, who receives little or no him. Any one has great reafon to fufpect pleasure from the perufal of writings, which fo many ages and nations have confented

"Read them by day, and study them by night." FRANCIS.