66 the poverty of innocence to all the pomp of affluence, with which Pyrrhus endeavoured to seduce him from the arms of his country. He will approve with transport the noble generosity of his soul in rejecting the proposal of that Prince's physician, who offered to take him off by poison; and in sending the caitiff bound to his sovereign, whom he would have so basely and cruelly betrayed. practices, as they were led to execution they | inflexible integrity of Fabricius, who preferred implored his clemency, declaring in the sight of Heaven, they had no other way to procure subsistence for their wives and children; he pardoned them on the spot, and giving them all the money that was in his purse, Henry of Bearne is poor," said he, "had he more money to afford, you should have it-go home to your families in peace; and remember your duty to God, and your allegiance to your sovereign." Innumerable examples of the same kind may be selected from history both ancient and modern, the study of which we would therefore strenu-ed taste will begin to relish the irresistible ously recommend. In reading the ancient authors, even for the purposes of school education, the unform energy, greatness, and sublimity of Homer; the serene majesty, the melody, and pathos of Virgil; the tenderness of Sappho and Tibullus; the elegance and propriety of Terence; the grace vivacity, satire, and sentiment of Horace. Historical knowledge indeed becomes necessary on many other accounts, which in its place we will explain; but as the formation of the heart is of the first consequence, and should precede the cultivation of the understanding, such striking instances of superior virtue ought Nothing will more conduce to the improveto be culled for the perusal of the young pupil, ment of the scholar in his knowledge of the who will read them with eagerness, and re- languages as well as in taste and morality, than volve them with pleasure. Thus the young his being obliged to translate choice parts and mind becomes enamoured of moral beauty, passages of the most approved classics, both and the passions are listed on the side of hu- poetry and prose, especially the latter; such as manity. Meanwhile knowledge of a different the orations of Demosthenes and Isocrates, species will go hand in hand with the advances the treatise of Longinus on the Sublime, the of morality, and the understanding be gradually Commentaries of Cæsar, the Epistles of Cicero extended. Virtue and sentiment reciprocally and the younger Pliny, and the two celebrated assist each other, and both conduce to the im- speeches in the Catilinarian conspiracy by Salprovement of perception.-While the scholar's lust. By this practice he will become more chief attention is employed in learning the La- intimate with the beauties of the writing, and tin and Greek languages, and this is generally the idioms of language, from which he transthe task of childhood and early youth, it is even lates; at the same time it will form his style; then the business of the preceptor to give his and by exercising his talent of expression, mind a turn for observation, to direct his powers make him a more perfect master of his mother of discernment, to point out the distinguishing tongue. Cicero tells us, that in translating marks of character, and dwell upon the charms two orations, which the most celebrated orators of moral and intellectual beauty, as they may of Greece pronounced against each other, he chance to occur in the classics that are used performed this task, not as a servile interpretfor his instruction. In reading Cornelius Ne-er, but as an orator, preserving the sentiments, pos, and Plutarch's Lives, even with a view to grammatical improvement only, he will insensibly imbibe, and learn to compare ideas of great importance. He will become enamoured of virtue and patriotism, and acquire a detestation for vice, cruelty, and corruption. The perusal of the Roman story in the works of Florus, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus, will irresistibly engage his attention, expand his conception, cherish his memory, exercise his judgment, and warm him with a noble spirit of emulation. He will contemplate with love and admiration the disinterested candour of Aristides, surnamed the Just, whom the guilty cabals of his rival Themistocles exiled from his ungrateful country, by a sentence of Ostracism. He will be surprised to learn, that one of his fellowcitizens, an illiterate artisan, bribed by his enemies, chancing to meet him in the street without knowing his person, desired he would write Aristides on his shell (which was the method those plebeians used to vote against delinquents,) when the innocent patriot wrote his own name without complaint or expostulation. He will with equal astonishment applaud the forms, and figures of the original, but adapting Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus Nor word for word translate with painful care Nevertheless, in taking the liberty here granted, we are apt to run into the other extreme, and substitute equivalent thoughts and phrases, till hardly any features of the original remain. The metaphors of figures, especially in poetry, ought to be as religiously preserved as the im ages of painting, which we cannot alter or exchange without destroying, or injuring, at least, the character and style of the original. In this manner the preceptor will sow the seeds of that taste which will soon germinate, rise, blossom, and produce perfect fruit by dint of future care and cultivation. In order to restrain the luxuriancy of the young imagination, which is apt to run riot, to enlarge the stock of ideas, exercise the reason, and ripen the judgment, the pupil must be engaged in the severer study of science. He must learn geometry, Which Plato recommends for strengthening the mind, and enabling it to think with precision. He must be made acquainted with geography and chronology, and trace philosophy through all her branches. Without geography and chronology, he will not be able to acquire a distinct idea of history; nor judge of the propriety of many interesting scenes, and a thousand allusions, that present themselves in the works of genius. Nothing opens the mind so much as the researches of philosophy; they inspire us with sublime conceptions of the Creator, and subject, as it were, all nature to our command. These bestow that liberal turn of thinking, and in a great measure contribute to that universality in learning, by which a man of taste ought to he eminently distinguished. But history is the inexhaustible source from which he will derive his most useful knowledge respecting the progress of the human mind, the constitution of government, the rise and decline of empires, the revolution of arts, the variety of character, and the vicissitudes of fortune. according to which his idea was modelled, and produced in execution. Every body knows the story of Zeuxis, the famous painter of Heraclea, who, according to Pliny, invented the "chiaro oscuro," or disposition of light and shade among the ancients,' and excelled all his contemporaries in the chromatique, or art of colouring. This great artist being employed to draw a perfect beauty in the character of Helen, to be placed in the temple of Juno, called out five of the most beautiful damsels the city could produce, and selecting what was excellent in each, combined them in one picture according to the predisposition of his fancy, so that it shone forth an amazing model of perfection.* In like manner every man of genius, regulated by true taste, entertains in his imagination an ideal beauty, conceived and cultivated as an improvement upon nature; and this we refer to the article of invention. It is the business of art to imitate nature, but not with a servile pencil; and to choose those attitudes and dispositions only, which are beautiful and engaging. With this view, we must avoid all disagreeable prospects of nature which excite the ideas of abhorrence and disgust. For example, a painter would not find his account in exhibiting the resemblance of a dead carcase half consumed by vermin, or of swine wallowing in ordure, or of a beggar lousing himself on a dunghill, though these scenes should be painted never so naturally, and all the world must allow that the scenes were taken from nature, because the merit of the imitation would be greatly overbalanced by the vile choice of the artist. There are nevertheless many scenes of horror, which please in the represen tation, from a certain interesting greatness which we shall endeavour to explain, when we come to consider the sublime. The knowledge of history enables the poet not only to paint characters, but also to describe magnificent and interesting scenes of battle and adventure. Not that the poet or painter ought to be restrained to the letter of historical truth. History represents what has really happened in nature; the other arts exhibit what might have happened, with such exaggeration of circumstance and feature, as may be deemed an improvement on nature; but this Were we to judge every production by the exaggeration must not be carried beyond the rigorous rules of nature, we should reject the bounds of probability; and these, generally Iliad of Homer, the Eneid of Virgil, and every speaking, the knowledge of history will ascer- celebrated tragedy of antiquity and the present tain. It would be extremely difficult, if not times, because there is no such thing in nature impossible, to find a man actually existing, as a Hector or Turnus talking in hexameters, whose proportions should answer to those of or an Othello in blank verse; we should conthe Greek statue distinguished by the name of demn the Hercules of Sophocles, and the Miser Apollo of Belvidere; or to produce a woman of Moliere, because we never knew a hero so similar in proportion of parts to the other cele-strong as the one, or a wretch so sordid as the brated piece called the Venus de Medicis; therefore it may be truly affirmed, that they are not conformable to the real standard of nature: nevertheless every artist will own, that they are the very archetypes of grace, elegance, and symmetry; and every judging eye must behold them with admiration, as improvements on the lines and lineaments of nature. The truth is, the sculptor, or statuary composed the various proportions in nature from a great number of different subjects, every individual of which he found imperfect or defective in some one particular, though beautiful in all the rest; and from these observations, corroborated by taste and judgment, he formed an ideal pattern, other. But if we consider poetry as an eleva. tion of natural dialogue, as a delightful vehicle for conveying the noblest sentiments of heroism and patriot virtue, to regale the sense with the sounds of musical expression, while the fancy is ravished with enchanting images, and the heart warmed to rapture and ecstasy, we must *Præbete igitur mihi quæso, inquit, ex istis virginibus formosissimas, dum pingo id, quod pollicitus sum vobis, ut mutum in simulacrum ex animali exemplo veritas transferatur. Ille autem quinque delegit. Neque enim putavit omnia, quæ quæreret ad venustatem, uno in corpore se reperire posse; ideo quod nihil simplici in genere omnibus ex partibus perfectum natura expolivit Cic. Lib. ii. de Inv. cap. 1. Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Suppose a painter, to a human head, The magazine of nature supplies all those allow that poetry is a perfection to which nature would gladly aspire; and that though it surpasses, it does not deviate from her, provided the characters are marked with propriety and sustained by genius. Characters therefore, both in poetry and painting, may be a little overcharged or exaggerated without offering violence to nature; nay, they must be exaggerated in order to be striking, and to preserve the idea of imitation, whence the reader and spectator derive in many instances their chief delight. If we meet a common acquaintance in the street, we see him without emotion; but should we chance to spy his portrait well exe-images which compose the most beautiful imicuted, we are struck with pleasing admiration. In this case the pleasure arises entirely from the imitation. We every day hear unmoved the natives of Ireland and Scotland speaking their own dialects; but should an Englishman mimic either, we are apt to burst out into a loud laugh of applause, being surprised and tickled by the imitation alone; though at the same time, we cannot but allow that the imitation is imperfect. We are more affected by reading Shakspeare's description of Dover Cliff, and Otway's picture of the Old Hag, than we should be were we actually placed on the summit of the one, or met in reality with such a beldame as the other; because in reading these descriptions we refer to our own experience, and perceive with surprise the justness of the imitations. But if it is so close as to be mistaken for nature, the pleasure then will cease, because the penis or imitation no long-fectly attained without long practice of manual * tations. This the artist examines occasionally, as he would consult a collection of masterly sketches; and selecting particulars for his purpose, mingles the ideas with a kind of enthusiasm, or ro Duov, which is that gift of Heaven we call genius, and finally produces such a whole, as commands admiration and applause. ESSAY XIV. THE study of polite literature is generally supposed to include all the liberal arts of poetry, painting, sculpture, music, eloquence, and architecture. All these are founded on imitation; and all of them mutually assist and illustrate each other. But as painting, sculpture, music, and architecture, cannot be per operation, we shall distinguish them from poetry and eloquence, which depend entirely on the faculties of the mind; and on these last, as on the arts which immediately constitute the Belles Lettres, employ our attention in the present inquiry: or, if it should run to a greater length than we propose, it shall be confined to poetry alone; a subject that comprehends in its full extent the province of taste, or what is called polite literature; and differs essentially from eloquence, both in its end and origin. er appears. Aristotle says, that all poetry and music is imitation, whether epic, tragic, or comic, whether vocal or instrumental, from the pipe or the lyre. He observes, that in man there is a propensity to imitate even from his infancy; that the first perceptions of the mind are acquired by imitation; and seems to think, that the pleasure derived from imitation is the gratification of an appetite implanted by nature. We should rather think the pleasure it gives arises from the mind's contemplating that excellency of art which thus rivals nature, and Poetry sprang from ease, and was consecratseems to vie with her in creating such a strik-ed to pleasure; whereas eloquence arose from ing resemblance of her works. Thus the arts necessity, and aims at conviction. When we may be justly termed imitative, even in the say poetry sprang from ease, perhaps we ought article of invention: for in forming a character, to expect that species of it, which owed it contriving an incident, and describing a scene, rise to inspiration and enthusiasm, and properly he must still keep nature in view, and refer belonged to the culture of religion. In the first every particular of his invention to her stan- ages of mankind, and even in the original dard; otherwise his production will be destitute state of nature, the unlettered mind must have of truth and probability, without which the been struck with sublime conceptions, with adbeauties of imitation cannot subsist. It will miration and awe, by those great phenomena, be a monster of incongruity, such as Horace which, though every day repeated, can never alludes to, in the beginning of his Epistle to be viewed without internal emotion. Those the Pisos : would break forth in exclamations expressive of the passion produced, whether surprise or gratitude, terror or exultation. The rising, the apparent course, the setting, and seeming renovation of the sun; the revolution of light and darkness ; the splendour, change, and circuit of the moon, and the canopy of heaven bespangled * Εποποία δὴ καὶ ἡ τῆς τραγωδίας ποίησις, ἔτι δὲ κωμωδία καὶ ἡ διθυραμβοποιητικὴ, καὶ τῆς αὐλιτικῆς ἡ πλείστη καὶ κιθαριστικῆς πᾶσαι στογχανουσιν οὖσαι μιμὴς εἰς τὸ συνόλον the carousals of the Goths were religious insti tutions, celebrated with songs of triumph The Mahometan Dervise dances to the soun of the flute, and whirls himself round until he grows giddy, and falls into a trance. The Marabous compose hymns in praise of Allah. The Chinese celebrate their grand festivals with processions of idols, songs, and instrumental music. The Tartars, Samoiedes, Lapland.. ers, Negroes, even the Caffres, called Hottentots, solemnize their worship (such as it is) with songs and dancing: so that we may venture to say, poetry is the universal vehicle, in which all nations have expressed their most with stars, must have produced expressions of wonder and adoration. "O glorious luminary! great eye of the world! source of that light which guides my steps! of that heat which warms me when chilled with cold! of that influence which cheers the face of nature! whither dost thou retire every evening with the shades? Whence dost thou spring every morning with renovated lustre, and never-fading glory? Art thou not the ruler, the creator, the god of all that I behold? I adore thee, as thy child, thy slave, thy suppliant! I crave thy protection, and the continuance of thy goodness! Leave me not to perish with cold, or to wander solitary in utter darkness! Return, return, after thy wont-sublime conceptions. ed absence! drive before thee the gloomy clouds Poetry was, in all appearance, previous to that would obscure the face of nature. The any concerted plan of worship, and to every birds begin to warble, and every animal is filled established system of legislation. When cerwith gladness at thy approach: even the trees, tain individuals, by dint of superior prowess or the herbs, and the flowers, seem to rejoice with understanding, had acquired the veneration of fresher beauties, and send forth a grateful in their fellow-savages, and erected themselves cense to thy power, whence their origin is de- into divinities on the ignorance and superstition rived!" A number of individuals, inspired of mankind; then mythology took place, and with the same ideas, would join in these orisons, such a swarm of deities arose, as produced a which would be accompanied with correspond-religion replete with the most shocking absurdiing gesticulations of the body. They would be improved by practice, and grow regular from repetition. The sounds and gestures would naturally fall into measured cadence. Thus the song and dance will be produced; and a system of worship being formed, the muse would be consecrated to the purposes of religion. ties. Those whom their superior talents had deified, were found to be still actuated by the most brutal passions of human nature; and in all probability their votaries were glad to find such examples, to countenance their own vicious inclinations. Thus fornication, incest, rape, and even bestiality, were sanctified by the amours of Jupiter, Pan, Mars, Venus, and Hence those forms of thanksgivings, and Apollo. Theft was patronized by Mercury; litanies of supplication, with which the reli- drunkenness by Bacchus; and cruelty by Diana. gious rites of all nations, even the most bar- The same heroes and legislators, those who barous, are at this day celebrated in every quar-delivered their country, founded cities, estabter of the known world. Indeed this is a circumstance in which all nations surprisingly agree, how much soever they may differ in every other article of laws, customs, manners, and religion. The ancient Egyptians celebrated the festivals of their god Apis with hymns and dances. The superstition of the Greeks, partly derived from the Egyptians, abounded with poetical ceremonies, such as choruses and hymns, sung and danced at their apotheoses, sacrifices, games, and divinations. The Romans had their carmen seculare, and Salian priests, who on certain festivals sung and danced through the streets of Rome. The Israelites were famous for this kind of exultation: "And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and with dances, and Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord." &c.-" And David danced before the Lord with all his might."-The psalms composed by this monarch, the songs of Deborah and Isaiab, are farther confirmations of what we have advanced. From the Phoenicians the Greeks borrowed the cursed Orthyan song, when they sacrificed their children to Diana. The poetry of the bards constituted great part of the religious ceremonies among the Gauls and Britons, and lished societies, invented useful arts, or contributed in any eminent degree to the security and happiness of their fellow-creatures, were inspired by the same lusts and appetites which domineered among the inferior classes of mankind; therefore every vice incident to human nature was celebrated in the worship of one or other of these divinities, and every infirmity consecrated by public feast and solemn sacrifice. In these institutions the poet bore a principal share. It was his genius that contrived the plan, that executed the form of worship, and recorded in verse the origin and adventures of their gods and demi-gods. Hence the impurities and horrors of certain rites; the groves of Paphos and Baal Peor; the orgies of Bacchus ; the human sacrifices to Moloch and Diana. Hence the theogony of Hesiod; the theology of Homer; and those innumerable maxims scattered through the ancient poets, inviting mankind to gratify their sensual appetites in imitation of the gods, who were certainly the best judges of happiness. It is well known, that Plato expelled Homer from his commonwealth, on account of the infamous characters by which he has distinguished his deities, as well as for some depraved sentiments which he found diffused through the course of the Iliad and Odyssey. Cicero enters into the spirit of Plato, and exclaims, in his first book De Natura Deorum :-" Nec multa absurdiora sunt pea, quæ, poetarum vocibus fusa, ipsa suavitate nocuerunt: qui, et ira inflammatos, et libidine furentes, induxerunt Deos, feceruntque ut eorum bella, pugnas, prælia, vulnera videremus: odia præterea, dissidia, discordias, ortus, interitus, querelas, lamentationes, effusas in omni intemperantia libidines, adulteria, vincula, cum humano genere concubitus, mortalesque ex immortali procreatos."—" Nor are those things much more absurd, which flowing from the poet's tongue, have done mischief even by the sweetness of his expression. The poets have introduced gods inflamed with anger and enraged with lust; and even produced before our eyes their wars, their wrangling, their duels, and their wounds. They have exposed, besides, their antipathies, animosities, and dissentions their origin and death; their complaints and lamentations; their appetites indulged to all manner of excess, their adulteries, their fetters, their amorous commerce with the human species, and from immortal parents derived a mortal offspring." ; crambo, or iambics, between two peasants, and a goat was the prize, as Horace calls it, “ vile certamen ab hircum," "a mean contest for a hegoat." Hence the name rgaydia, signifying the goat-song, from gayos hircus, and won carmen. Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ab hircum, The tragic bard, a goat his humble prize, A lawless crowd, with wine and feasting warm. Satire then was originally a clownish dialogue in loose iambics, so called because the actors were disguised like satyrs, who not only recited the praises of Bacchus, or some other deity, but interspersed their hymns with sarcastic jokes and altercation. Of this kind is the Cyclops of Euripides, in which Ulysses is the prinAs the festivals of the gods necessarily pro- cipal actor. The Romans also had their Atelduced good cheer, which often carried to riot lane or interludes of the same nature, so called and debauchery, mirth of consequence prevail- from the city of Atella, where they were first ed; and this was always attended with buffoon- acted; but these were highly polished in comery. Taunts and jokes, and raillery and repar-parison of the original entertainment, which was tee, would necessarily ensue; and individuals altogether rude and innocent.—Indeed the Cywould contend for the victory in wit and genius. clops itself, though composed by the accomplishThese contests would in time be reduced to ed Euripides, abounds with such impurity as some regulations, for the entertainment of the ought not to appear on the stage of any civilpeople thus assembled, and some prize would ized nation. be decreed to him who was judged to excel his rivals. The candidates for fame and profit being thus stimulated, would task their talents, and naturally recommend these alternate recriminations to the audience, by clothing them with a kind of poetical measure, which should bear a near resemblance to prose. Thus, as the solemn service of the day was composed in the most sublime species of poetry, such as the ode or hymn, the subsequent altercation was carried on in iambics, and gave rise to satire. We are told by the Stagirite, that the highest | species of poetry was employed in celebrating great actions, but the humbler sort used in this kind of contention; and that in the ages of antiquity there were some bards that professed heroics, and some that pretended to iambics only. It is very remarkable, that the Atellanæ, which were in effect tragi-comedies, grew into such esteem among the Romans, that the performers in these pieces enjoyed several privileges which were refused to the ordinary actors. They were not obliged to unmask, like the other players, when their action was disagreeable to the audience. They were admitted into the army, and enjoyed the privileges of free citizens, without incurring that disgrace which was affixed to the characters of other actors.* The poet Laberius, who was of equestrian order, being pressed by Julius Cæsar to act a part in his own performance, complied with great reluctance, and complained of the dishonour he had incurred, in his proverb preserved by Macrobius, which is one of the most elegant morsels of antiquity. Tragedy and comedy flowed from the same fountain, though their streams were soon divided. The same entertainment which, under the name of tragedy, was rudely exhibited by clowns, for the prize of a goat, near some rura! altar of Bacchus, assumed the appellation of comedy when it was transferred into cities, and represented with a little more decorum in a cart cerunt genus id hominum non modo honore divium re* Cum artem ludicrum, scenamque totam probro duliquorum carere, sed etiam tribu moveri notatione censoria voluerunt.-Cic. apud S. Aug. de Civit. Dei, |