Dr. Tillotson, who is frequently mentioned as having carried this fpecies of eloquence to its highest perfection, feems to have had no fort of notion of rhetorical numbers: and may I venture to add, without hazarding the imputation of an affected fingularity, that I think no man had ever lefs pretenfions to genuine oratory than this celebrated preacher? If any thing could raife a flame of eloquence in the breat of an orator, there is no occafion upon which one should imagine it would be more likely to break out, than in celebrating departed merit: yet the two fermons which he preached on the death of Mr. Gouge and Dr. Whichcote, are as cold and languid performances as were ever, perhaps, produced upon fuch an animating fubject. One cannot indeed but regret, that he, who abounds with fuch noble and generous fentiments, fhould want the art of fetting them off with all the advantage they deferve; that the fublime in morals fhould not be attended with a fuitable elevation of language. The truth however is, his words are frequently ill-chofen, and almost always ill-placed: his periods are both tedious and unharmonious; as his metaphors are generally mean, and often ridiculous. It were eafy to produce numberlefs inftances in fupport of this affertion. Thus, in his fermon preached before queen Anne, when he was princefs of Denmark, he talks of fqueezing a parable, thrufting religion by, driving a ftrict bargain with God, tharking fhifts, &c.; and, fpeaking of the day of judgment, he defcribes the world as cracking about our ears. I cannot however but acknowledge, in juftice to the oratorical character of this moft valcable prelate, that there is a noble fimplicity, in fome few of his fermons; as his excellent difcourfe on fincerity deferves to be mentioned with particular applause. But to show his deficiency in the article I am confidering at prefent, the following ftricture will be fufficient, among many others that might be cited to the fame purpofe. "One might be apt," fays he, "to think, at first view, that this parable "was over-done, and wanted fomething " of a due decorum; it being hardly credible, that a man, after he had been fo mercifully and generously dealt withal, as upon his humble request to have fo huge a debt fo freely forgiven, fhould, "whilft the memory of fo much mercy "was fresh upon him, even in the very next moment handle his fellow-fervant, 66 "who had made the fame humble requeft "to him which he had done to his lord, "with fo much roughnefs and cruelty, for "fo inconfiderable a fum." This whole period (not to mention other objections which might juftly be raised against it) is unmufical throughout; but the concluding members, which ought to have been particularly flowing, are most miferably loote and disjointed. If the delicacy of Tully's ear was fo exquifitely refined, as not always to be fatisfied even when he read Demosthenes; how would it have been offended at the harshness and diffonance of fo unharmonious a fentence! Nothing, perhaps, throws our eloquence at a greater diftance from that of the an cients, than this Gothic arrangement; as thofe wonderful effects, which fometimes attended their elocution, were, in all probability, chiefly owing to their skill in mufical concords. It was by the charm of numbers, united with the ftrength of reafon, that Tully confounded the audacious Catiline, and filenced the eloquent Hortenfius. It was this that deprived Curio of all power of recollection, when he rofe up to oppofe that great mafter of enchanting rhetoric: it was this, in a word, made even Cæfar himfeif tremble; nay, what is yet more extraordinary, made Cæfar alter his determined purpofe, and acquit the man he had refolved to condemn. You will not fufpect that I attribute too much to the power of numerous compofition, when you recollect the intance which Tully produces of its wonderful effect. He informs us, you may remember, in one of his rhetorical treatifes, that he was himself a witnefs of its influence, as Carbo was once haranguing to the people. When that orator pronounced the following fentence, Patris dicium fapiens, temeritas filii comprobavit, it was aftonishing, fays he, to obferve the general applaufe which followed that harmonious clofe. A modern ear, perhaps, would not be much affected upon this occafion: and, indeed, it is more than probable, that we are ignorant of the art of pronouncing that period with its genuine emphafis and cadence. We are certain, however, that the mufic of it confifted in the dichoree with which it is terminated: for Cicero himself affures us, that if the final measure had been changed, and the words placed in a different order, their whole effect would have been abfolutely deftroyed. This art was first introduced among the Greeks by Thrafymachus, though fome of Letter. When I mentioned Grace as effential in conftituting a fine writer, I rather hoped to have found my fentiments reflected back with a clearer light by yours, than imagined you would have called upon me to explain in form, what I only threw out by accident. To confefs the truth, I know not whether, after all that can be faid to illuftrate this uncommon quality, it muft not at last be refolved into the poet's nequeo monftrare et fentio tantùm. In cafes of this kind, where language does not fupply us with proper words to exprefs the notions of one's mind, we can only convey our fentiments in figurative terms: a defect which neceffarily introduces fome obscurity. the admirers of Ifocrates attributed the in- $238. Upon Grace in Writing. In a vention to that orator. It does not appear to have been obferved by the Romans till near the time of Tully, and even then it was by no means univerfally received. The ancient and lefs numerous manner of compofition had ftill many admirers, who were fuch enthufiafts to antiquity as to adopt her very defects. A difpofition of the fame kind may, perhaps, prevent its being received with us; and while the archbishop fhall maintain his authority as an orator, it is not to be expected that any great advancement will be made in this fpecies of eloquence. That ftrength of understand ing likewife, and folidity of reafon, which is fo eminently our national characteristic, may add somewhat to the difficulty of reconciling us to a study of this kind; as at first glance it may feem to lead an orator from his grand and principal aim, and tempt him to make a facrifice of fenfe to found. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that in the times which fucceeded the diffolution of the Roman republic, this art was fo perverted from its true end, as to become the fingle study of their enervated orators. Pliny the younger often complains of this contemptible affectation; and the polite author of that elegant dialogue which, with very little probability, is attributed either to Tacitus or Quinctilian, affures us it was the ridiculous boaft of certain orators, in the time of the declenfion of genuine eloquence, that their harangues were capable of being fet to mufic, and fung upon the flage. But it must be remembered, that the true end of this art I am recommending, is to aid, not to fuperfede reafon; that it is fo far from being neceffarily effeminate, that it not only adds grace but ftrength to the powers of perfuafion. For this purpofe Tully and Quinctilian, thofe great mafters of numerous compofition, have laid it down as a fixed and invariable rule, that it must never appear the effect of labour in the orator; that the tuneful flow of his periods muft always feem the cafual refult of their difpofition; and that it is the higheft offence against the art, to weaken the expreffion, in order to give a more mufical tone to the cadence. In fhort, that no unmeaning words are to be thrown in merely to fill up the requifite measure; but that they muft fill rife in fenfe as they improve in found. Fitzofborne. I will not, therefore, undertake to mark out with any fort of precifion, that idea which I would exprefs by the word Grace: and, perhaps, it can no more be clearly defcribed than juftly defined. To give you, however, a general intimation of what I mean when I apply that term to compofitions of genius, I would resemble it to that eafy air which fo remarkably diftinguishes certain perfons of a genteel and liberal caft. It confifts not only in the particular beauty of fingle parts, but arifes from the general fymmetry and construc tion of the whole. An author may be juft in his fentiments, lively in his figures, and clear in his expreffion; yet may have no claim to be admitted into the rank of finished writers. Thofe feveral members must be fo agreeably united as mutually to reflect beauty upon each other; their arrangement must be fo happily difpofed as not to admit of the leaft tranfpofition, without manifeft prejudice to the entire piece. The thoughts, the metaphors, the allufions, and the diction, fhould appear easy and natural, and feem to arile like fo many fpontaneous productions, rather than as the effects of art or labour. Whatever, therefore, is forced or affected in the fentiments; whatever is pompous or pedantic in the expreffion, is the very reverfe of Grace. Her mien is neither that of a prude nor a coquet: fhe is regular without formality, and fprightly without be ing fantaftical. Grace, in fhort, is to good writing what a proper light is to a fine picture; it not only fhews all the figures in their feveral proportions and relations, but fhews them in the most advantageous manner. Αε As gentility (to refume my former illuftration) appears in the minuteft action, and improves the most inconfiderable gefture; fo Grace is difcovered in the placing even a fingle word, or the turn of a mere exple. tive. Neither is this inexpreffible quality confined to one fpecies of compofition only, but extends to all the various kinds; to the humble paftoral as well as to the lofty epic; from the flightett letter to the moft folemn difcourfe. I know not whether Sir William Temple may not be confidered as the first of our profe authors, who introduced a graceful manner into our language. At least that quality does not feem to have appeared early, or spread far, amongst us. But wherefoever we may look for its origin, it is certainly to be found in its highest perfection in the effays of a gentleman whofe writings will be diftinguished fo long as politenefs and good-fenfe have any admirers. That becoming air which Tully esteemed the criterion of fine compofition, and which every reader, he fays, imagines fo eafy to be imitated, yet will find fo difficult to attain, is the prevailing characteristic of all that excellent author's moft elegant performances. In a word, one may justly apply to him what Plato, in his allegorical language, fays of Ariftophanes; that the Graces, having fearched all the world round for a temple wherein they might for ever dwell, fettled at laft in the breaft of Mr. Addifon. Fitzofborne. Thus, though I admit there is both wit in the raillery, and ftrength in the fentiments of your friend's moral epiftle, it by no means falls in with thofe notions I have formed to myfelf, concerning the effential requifites in compofitions of this kind. He feems, indeed, to have widely deviated, from the model he profeffes to have had in view, and is no more like Horace, than Hyperion to a Satyr. His deficiency in point of verfification, not to mention his want of elegance in the general manner of his poem, is fufficient to destroy the pretended refemblance. Nothing, in truth, can be more abfurd, than to write in poetical measure, and yet neglect harmony; as, of all the kinds of falie ftyle, that which is neither profe nor verfe, but I know not what inartificial combination of powerless words bordered with rhyme, is far, furely, the most insufferable. But you are of opinion, I perceive (and it is an opinion in which you are not fingular) that a negligence of this kind may be juftified by the authority of the Roman fatirift: yet furely those who entertain that notion, have not thoroughly attended either to the precepts or the practice of Horace. He has attributed, I confefs, his fatirical compofition to the inspiration of a certain Mufe, whom he diftinguishes by the title of the mufa pedeftris: and it is this expreffion which feems to have misled the generality of his imitators. But though he will not allow her to fly, he by no means it may be faid of the Mufe of Horace, as intends the fhould creep: on the contrary, of the Eve of Milton, that -grace is in all her steps. $239. Concerning the Style of HORACE, in his Moral Writings. In a Letter. Are you aware how far I may mislead you, when you are willing to resign yourfelf to my guidance, through the regions That this was the idea which Horace of criticifim? Remember, however, that I himself had of her, is evident, not only take the lead in these paths, not in confi- from the general air which prevails in his dence of my own fuperior knowledge of Satires and Epiltles, but from feveral exthem, but in compliance with a request, prefs declarations, which he lets fall in his which I never yet knew how to refufe. In progrefs through them. Even when he fhort, I give you my fentiments, because it fpeaks of her in his greatest fits of mois my fentiments you require: but I give defty, and defcribes her as exhibited in his them at the fame time rather as doubts than own moral writings, he particularly infists decisions. upon the eafe and harmony of her motions. Though he humbly difclaims, indeed, all pretenfions to the higher poetry, the acer fpiritus et vis, as he calls it; he represents his ftyle as being governed by the tempora certa modefque, as flowing with a certain regular and agreeable cadence. Accordingly, we find him particularly condemning his predeceffor Lucilius for the diffonance Ne peut plaire à l'efprit quand l'oreille eft bleifée. of his numbers; and he profeffes to have made the experiment, whether the fame After having thus acknowledged my infufficiency for the office you have affigned me, I will venture to confefs, that the poet who has gained over your approbation, has been far lefs fuccefsful with mine. I have ever thought, with a very celebrated modern writer, that Le vers le mieux rempli, la plus noble pensée, BOILEAU, kind of moral fubjects might not be treated in more foft and eafy measures: Quid vetat et nofmet Lucilî feripta legentes, Quærere num iilius, num rerum dura negarit Verficulos natura magis factos et euntes Mollius? The truth is, a tuneful cadence is the fingle prerogative of poetry, which he pretends to claim to his writings of this kind; and fo far is he from thinking it uneffential, that he acknowledges it as the only feparation which diftinguishes them from profe. If that were once to be broken down, and the mufical order of his words deftroyed, there would not, he tells us, be the leaf appearance of poetry remaining: Non Invenias etiam disjeti membra poetæ. However, when he delivers himfelf in this humble ftrain, he is not, you will obferve, ketching out a plan of this fpecies of poetry in general; but speaking merely of his own performances in particular. His demands rife much higher, when he informs us what he expects of those who would fucceed in compofitions of this moral kind. He then not only requires flowing numbers, but an expreffion concile and unincumber. ed; wit exerted with good-breeding, and managed with referve; as upon fome occafions the fentiments may be enforced with all the firength of cloquence and poetry: and though in fome parts the piece may appear with a more ferious and fo, lemn caft of colouring, yet, upon the whole, he tells us it must be lively and This I take to be his meaning in the following paffage: riant. Eft brevitate opus, ut currat fententia, neu fe Impediat verbis laffas onerantibus aures ; Such, then, was the notion which Horace had of this kind of writing. And if there is any propriety in thefe his rules, if they are founded on the truth of tafte and art; I fear the performance in question, with numberless others of the fame ftamp (which have not however wanted admirers) muit inevitably ftand condemned. The truth of it is, most of the pieces which are ufually produced upon this plan, rather give one an image of Lucilius, than of Horace: the authors of them feem to miftake the awkward negligence of the favourite of Scipio, for the eafy air of the friend of Mæcenas. You will still tell me, perhaps, that the example of Horace himself is an unanswerable objection to the notion I have embraced; as there are numberlefs lines in his Satires and Epiftles, where the verfification is evidently neglected. But are you fure, Hortenfius, that thofe lines which found fo unharmonious to a modern car, had the fame effect upon a Roman one? For myself, at least, I am much inclined to believe the contrary: and it feems highly incredible, that he who had ventured to cenfure Lucilius for the uncouthness of his numbers, fhould himself be notoriously guilty of the very fault against which he to trongly exclaims. Mott certain it is, that the delicacy of the ancients with refpect to numbers, was far fuperior to auy thing that modern tafte can pretend to; and that they difcovered differences which mention only one remarkable inftance; a are to us abfolutely imperceptible. To very ancient writer has obferved upon the following verfe in Virgil, Arma virumque cano, Trojæ qui primus ab oris. that if instead of primus we were to pronounce it primis (is being long, and us fhort) the entire harmony of the line would be deftroyed.-But whofe ear is now fo exquifitely fenfible, as to perceive the diftinction between thofe two quantities? Some refinement of this kind might probably give mufic to thofe lines in Ho race, which now feem fo untuneable. In fubjects of this nature it is not poffible, perhaps, to exprefs one's ideas in any very precife and determinate manner. I will only therefore in general obferve, with refpect to the requifite flyle of thefe perform ances, that it confifts in a natural eafe of expreffion, an elegant familiarity of phrafe, which, though formed of the most usual terms of language, has yet a grace and energy, no lefs ftriking than that of a more elevated diction. There is a certain lively colouring peculiar to compofitions in this way, which, without being fo bright and glowing as is neceffary for the higher poetry, is nevertheless equally removed from whatever appears harth and dry. But particular inftances will, perhaps, better illuftrate my meaning, than any thing I can farther fay to explain it. There is fcarce a line in the Moral Epiftles of Mr. Pope, which might not be produced for this purpofe. I chufe however to lay before you the following verfes, not as preferring them to many others which might be quoted from from that inimitable fatirift; but as they afford me an opportunity of comparing them with a verfion of the fame original lines, of which they are an imitation; and, by that means, of fhewing you at one view what I conceive is, and is not, in the true manner of Horace : Peace is my dear delight-not Fleury's more; But touch me, and no minifter fo fore: I will refer you to your own memory for the Latin paffage, from whence Mr. Pope has taken the general hint of thefe verses; and content myself with adding a tranflation of the lines from Horace by another hand: Behold me blameless bard, how fond of peace! But he who hurts me (nay, I will be heard) Had better take a lion by the beard; His eyes fhall weep the folly of his tongue, By laughing crowds in rueful ballad fung. There is a ftrength and fpirit in the former of thefe paffages, and a flatnefs and languor in the latter, which cannot fail of being difcovered by every reader of the leaft delicacy of difcerament; and yet the words which compofe them both are equally founding and fignificant. The rules then, which I juft now mentioned from Horace, will point out the real caufe of the different effects which thefe two paffages produce in our minds; as the paffages themfelves will ferve to confirm the truth and juftice of the rules. In the lines of Mr. Pope, one of the principal beauties will be found to confift in the thortnefs of the expreffion; whereas the fentiments in the other are too much incumbered with words. Thus for instance, Peace is my dear delight, is pleafing, because it is concife; as, Behold me blameless bard, how fond of peace! it, in comparison of the former, the verba legas enerantia aures. Another diftinguish ing perfection in the imitator of Horace, is that fpirit of gaiety which he has diffufed through thefe lines, not to mention thofe happy, though familiar, images of fliding into verfe, and hitching in rhyme; which can never be fufficiently admired. But the tranflator, on the contrary, has caft too ferious an air over his numbers, and appears with an emotion and earneftnefs that difappoints the force of his fatire: Nay, I will be heard, has the mien of a man in a paffion; and His eyes fhall weep the folly of his tongue, though a good line in itself, is much too folemn and tragical for the undisturbed pleafantry of Horace. But I need not enter more minutely into an examination of these paffages. The ge neral hints I have thrown out in this letter will fuffice to fhew you wherein I imagine the true manner of Horace confifts. And after all, perhaps, it can no more be explained, than acquired, by rules of art. It is what true genius can only execute, and juft tafte alone discover. Fitzfborne. § 240. Concerning the Criterion of Tafle. In a Letter. It is well, my friend, that the age of transformation is no more: otherwife I fhould tremble for your fevere attack upon the Mufes, and expect to fee the flory of your metamorphoíis embellish the poetical miracles of fome modern Ovid. But it is long fince the fate of the Pierides has gained any credit in the world, and you may now, in full fecurity, contemn the divinities of Parnaffus, and fpeak irreverently of the daughters of Jove himself. You fee, nevertheless, how highly the Ancients conceived of them, when they thus reprefented them as the offspring of the great father of gods and men. You reject, I know, this article of the heathen creed: but I may venture, however, to affert, that philofophy will confirm what fable has thus invented, and that the Mufes are, in strict truth, of heavenly extraction. The charms of the fine arts are, indeed, literally derived from the Author of all nature, and founded in the original frame and conflitution of the human mind. Accordingly, the general principles of taste are common to our whole fpecies, and arife from that internal fenfe of beauty which every man, in fome degree at least, evidently poffeffes. No rational mind can be fo wholly void of all perceptions of this fort, as to be capable of contemplating the various objects that furround him, with one equa! coldness and indifference. There are certain forms which must neceffarily fill the foul with agreeable ideas; and fhe is in-. ftantly determined in her approbation of them, previous to all reafonings concerning their ufe and convenience. It is upon thefe general principles that what is called fine tafle in the arts is founded; and confequently is by no means fo precarious and unfettled |