cret he excells all men that ever lived, but Shakespeare, in humour, by never dropping into an approach towards burlesque and buffoonery, even when his humour defcended to characters that, in any other hands, would have been vulgarly low. Is it not clear that Will Whimble was a gentleman, though he always lived at a diftance from good company? Fielding had as much humour perhaps as Addifon? but having no idea of grace, is perpetual difgufting. His innkeepers and parfons are the groffeft of their profeffion; and his gentlemen are awkward when they fhould be at their ease.

The Grecians had grace in every thing, in poetry, in oratory, in ftatuary, in architecture, and probably in mufic and painting. The Romans, it is true, where their imitators; but having grace too, imparted it to their copies, which gave them a merit, that almost raises them to the rank of originals. Horace's Odes acquired their fame, no doubt, from the graces of his manner, and purity of his ftyle; the chief praise of Tibullus and Propertius, who certainly cannot boast of more meaning than Horace's Odes.

Waller, whom you prefcribe, Sir, owed his reputation to the graces of his manner, though he frequently ftumbled, and even fell flat: but a few of his fmall pieces are as graceful as poffible: one might say, that he excelled in painting ladies in enamel, but could not fucceed in portraits in oil large as life. Milton had fuch fuperior merit, that I will only fay, that if his Angels, his Satan, and his Adam, have as much dignity as the Apollo Belvedere, his Eve has all the delicacy and graces of the Venus of Medici,

as

as his defcription of Eden has the colouring of Albano. Milton's tendernefs imprints ideas as graceful as Guido's Madonnas; and the Allegro, Penferofo, and Comus, might be denoted from the three Graces; as the Italians give fingular titles to two or three of Petrarch's best fonnets.

Cowley, I think, would have had grace (for his mind was graceful) if he had had any ear, or if his tafte had not been vitiated by the purfuit of wit; which, when it does not offer itfelf naturally, degenerates into tinfel or pertnefs. Pertnefs is the miftaken affectation of grace, as pedantry produces erroneous dignity; the familiarity of the one, and the clumfinefs of the other, diftort, or prevent, grace. Nature, that furnishes famples of all qualities, and in the fcale of gradation exhibits all poffible fhades, affords us types that are more appofite than words. The eagle is fublime, the lion majeftic, the swan graceful, the monkey pert; the bear ridiculously awkard. I mention these as more expreffive and comprehenfive than I could make definitions of my meaning; but I will apply the fwan only, under whofe wings I will shelter an apology for Racine, whofe pieces give me an idea of that bird. The colouring of the fwan is pure, his attitudes are graceful, he never difpleases you when failing on his proper element, His feet may be ugly, his notes hiffing, not mufical, his walk not natural; he can foar, but it is with difficulty. Still the impreffion the swan leaves is that of grace-fo does Racine.

Boileau may be compared to the dog, whofe fagacity is remarkable, as well as its fawning on its matter, and its fnarling at thofe its diflikes. E 4

If

If Boileau was too auftere to admit the pliability of grace, he compenfates by fenfe and propriety. He is like (for I will drop animals) an upright magiftrate whom you refpect; but whofe juftice and feverity leave an awe, that difcourages fa miliarity. His copies of the ancients may be too fervile-but if a good translator deferve praife, Boileau deferves more: he certainly does not fall below his originals; and, confidering at what period he wrote, has greater merit still. By his imitations he held out to his countrymen models of tafte, and banished totally the bad taste of his predeceffors. For his Lutrin, replete with excellent poetry, wit humour, and fatire, he certainly was not obliged to the ancients. Excepting Horace, how little idea had either Greeks or Romans of wit and humour! Aristophanes and Lucian, compared with moderns, were, the one a blackguard, the other a buffoon. In my eyes, the Lutrin, the Difpenfary, and the Rape of the Lock, are ftandards of grace and elegance, not to be paralelled by antiquity; and eternal reproaches to Voltaire, whofe indelicacy in the Pucelle degraded him as much, when compared with the three authors I have named, as his Henriade leaves Virgil, and even Lucan, whom he more refembles, by far his fuperiors. The Dunciad is blemished by the offenfive images of the games, but the poctry appears to me admirable; and though the fourth book has obfcurities, I prefer it to the three others. It has defcriptions not furpaffed by any poet that ever exifted; and which furely a writer merely ingenious will never equal. The lines on Italy, on Venice, on Convents, have all the grace for which I contend, as diftinct

from poetry, though united with the most beautiful; and the Rape of the Lock, befides the originality of great part of the invention, is a -ftandard of graceful writing.

In general, I believe that what I call grace,, is denominated elegance; but by grace I mean fomething higher. I will explain_my-felf by inftances; Apollo is graceful, Mercury elegant.

Petrarch perhaps owed his whole merit to the harmony of his numbers, and the graces of his ftyle. They conceal his poverty of meaning, and want of variety. His complaints too may have added an intereft, which, had his paffion been fuccessful, and had expreffed itself with equal famenefs, would have made the numberof his fonnets infupportable. Melancholy in poetry, I am inclined to think, contributes to grace, when it is not difgraced by pitiful lamentations, fuch as Ovid's and Cicero's in their banishments. We refpect melancholy, because it imparts a fimilar affection, pity. A gay writer, who fhould only exprefs fatisfaction without variety, would foon be nauseous.

Madame de Sevigné fhines both in grief and gaiety. There is too much of forrow for her daughter's abfence; yet it is always expreffed by new turns, new images; and often by wit, whose tenderness has a melancholy air. When The forgets her concern, and returns to her na tural difpofition, gaiety, every paragraph has novelty her allufions, her applications, are the happiest poffible. She has the art of making you acquainted with all her acquaintance; and attaches you even to the fpots the inhabited. Her language is correct, though unftudied; and when

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when her mind is full of any great event, fhe interests you with the warmth of a dramatic writer, not with the chilling impartiality of an hiftorian. Pray read her accounts of the death of Turenne and of the arrival of King James in France, and tell me whether you do not know their perfons, as if you had lived at the time. For my part, if you will allow me a word of digreffion (not that I have written with any method), I hate the cold impartiality recommended to historians; fi vis me flere, dolendum eft primum ipfi tibi-but that I may not wander again, nor tire, nor contradict you any more, I will finish now; and fhall be glad if you will dine at Strawberry-Hill next Sunday, and take a bed there; when I will tell you how many more parts of your book have pleafed me, than have ftartled my opinions, or, perhaps, prejudices.

I am, Sir, your obedient, humble fervant,

HOR. WALPOle.

P. S. Be fo good as to let me know, by a line by the poft to Strawberry-Hill, whether I fhall have the pleasure of feeing you on Sunday.

Anecdotes of the Streets

There is a French book called Anedotes des Rues de Paris. I had begun a fimilar work, "Anecdotes of the Streets of London." I intended, in imitation of the French original, to have pointed out the streets and houfes where any remarkable incident had happened. But I found the 1..bour would be too great, in collect