Part 10
My Objections to this Gentleman's Criticisms are for what he says too ill of _Milton_'s Poem, and too good of _Clarendon_'s History, which he highly commends for the fine Characters, tho' he seems not to understand them, or not to have inform'd himself sufficiently of the Facts on which they are founded. He assures us the Lord _Clarendon_ has _unravell'd all the Springs of the Civil Wars_. I pass by the Expression to _unravel a Spring_, for that probably it sounds better in the _French_ Idiom than in the _English_: But the Sense of it is not true in Fact. _He has drawn, at full Length, the pictures of those whose Ambition shook the Foundation of his Country._ He has drawn them at full Length indeed, but as _Milton_ drew his shadowy Beings, _Death_, _Sin_, _Chaos_, by the Extent of his Imagination, and with little Regard to Historical Likeness, or copying after Nature; his Pictures on the King's Side being to a Man, all so many Heroes; on that of the Parliament so many _Scoundrels_; which was impossible to be true: For, besides that it was not in the Course, so it was not in the Nature of the Thing, that so many heroical Persons should take Party for Oppression and Superstition, and so many Blockheads and Poltrons espouse the Cause of Religion and Liberty.
But I do not wonder that this Critick is so extreamly civil to the Author of the _History of the Rebellion_. He censures _Milton_ for drawing the Pictures of _Death_ and the _Devil_ with so much Deformity. _Satan_, _Sin_, and _Death_, must needs _shock the Readers of a delicate Taste_. As if it was possible for the Imagination to paint any Thing so ugly as the Devil is in every One's Conception, and that the more shocking such Painting is, it was not the more natural, as being the more conformable to the Idea which every one has conceiv'd of the Original. 'Tis true, the _Devil_ and _Death_ are not Subjects to touch the _Delicacy_ of Readers, but are extreamly proper to move Horrour and Detestation, which are there the Moral of that Divine Poem. If the Scene of _Paradise_ was opening, the Reader might have expected something to have touch'd his _Delicacy_; but when he came, as in _Milton_, to the Gates of Hell _wide open_, he certainly should have left his Delicacy behind him. _Hans Holben_'s Death's Dance is a merry Piece, but was no more proper to admit of Delicacy than the Droll Pieces of _Heemskirk_; and it would not be more extravagant to put Perfumes among the Ingredients of a _Stink-Pot_, than to put Delicacy in a Picture of the Devil. One of the most masterly Pieces of the greatest Matter of the _Lombard_ School, a Carcass on a Butcher's Stall with the Gutts and Garbage about it, was much admir'd by the _Italians_, whose Delicacy is exemplary to other Nations; whence one may conclude, that whatever Subject has Truth and Likeness in it according to Nature, or our Conception of it, will always please, as an exact: and lively Imitation. I shall take no more Notice of the Criticisms on _Milton_ in this Place, nor perhaps in any other; but I can never read the Remarks of the Criticks on the _Paradise Lost_, without calling to Mind the Boast of King _Alphonso_, who criticising on the Form of the _Creation_, said, _If he had been consulted in it, it should have been more perfect._
_FINIS._
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
The following printer's errors have been corrected:
Page ii. "What" changed to "Want" (not for Want of Will) "Maniere" changed to "Manière" (La Manière De Bien Penser)
Page 2. "they they" changed to "they" ("for that they are put into Rhime")
Page 3. "Aristtotle" changed to "Aristotle" (given by _Aristotle_, _Horace_, &c.)
Page 7. "Spectator" empasized (The _Spectator_, with all his Modesty) "parricularly" changed to "particularly" (and particularly how beautiful his Imagination was) "Spectator" emphasized (read in the _Spectator_, Nº 291)
Page 8. "_Catherines_" changed to "_Catherine_'s" (her Husband at _St. Catherine_'s)
Page 12. "Aristtotle" changed to "Aristotle" (We all know _Aristotle_) "Aristottle" changed to "Aristotle" (what will become of _Aristotle_)
Page 16. "Spectator" emphasized (The _Spectator_ gives us another) "Spectator" emphasized (deprived the _Spectator_ himself)
Page 22. "Spectator" emphasized (the _Spectator_ has entered a Caveat) "geat" changed to "great" (The great Creator from his Work)
Page 23. "Spectator" emphasized (the Ode in the _Spectator_, Nº 465) "Phæbus" changed to "Phoebus" (Phoebus _is arriv'd_)
Page 28. "Spectator" emphasized (especially those Verses in the _Spectator_)
Page 31. "Jove" emphasized (_Thou once didst leave Almighty_ Jove,) "Spectator" emphasized (In the _Spectator_, Nº 388)
Page 32. "Agreeble" changed to "Agreeable" (Agreeable Thoughts may be also reckon'd)
Page 33. "Spectator" emphasized (before the _Spectator_ was thought)
Page 34. "Spectator" emphasized (because they are in the _Spectator_) "Nº Sidley" changed to "Nº [400.] Sidley" (missing number supplied)
Page 39. "llght" changed to "light" (They light the Nuptial Torch)
Page 40. "mady" changed to "many" (the _gay_, and many more)
Page 41. "Cilenos" changed to "Cileno's" (_There where_ Cileno_'s foul and loathsome Rout;_)
Page 42. "_Which_" changed to "Which" (Which / Medusa _with_ Gorgonian _Terror_)
Page 44. "_the_ Spectator" changed to "the _Spectator_" (_Nay some_, says the _Spectator_) "Stile" changed to "Stile." (the Puerile Stile.) "inftead" changed to "instead" (instead of dismaying the Combatants)
Page 48. "mishapen" changed to "misshapen" (Purpose, _misshapen_, _ill-favoured_) "Interpretions" changed to "Interpretations" (two or three Interpretations only)
Page 53. "_Piso_'s" changed to "_Piso's_" (the _Piso's_ was written by Direction of the Academy) "aod" changed to "and" (with like Profit and Pleasure) "_Ablancourt's Thucydides_" changed to "_Ablancourt_'s _Thucydides_"
Page 54. "_Du Ryer's Livy_" changed to "_Du Ryer_'s _Livy_" "_Segrais Virgil_" changed to "_Seagrais_'s _Virgil_"
Page 56. "_Pindars_" changed to "_Pindar_'s" (as good as _Pindar_'s or _Horace_'s)
Page 58. "Philosoper" changed to "Philosopher" (Philosopher _Seneca_'s Works he pretended)
Page 59. "_Philip_'s" changed to "_Philips_'s" (Mr. _Philips_'s Poems, the _splendid Shilling_ and _Cyder_) "Ariconian" emphasized (Of _Ariconian_ Products) "Philps" changed to "Philips" (stile of _Milton_ as _Philips_ has done)
Page 60. "ourtaking" changed to "our taking" (to what most of our taking Authors have been)
Page 66. "Spectator" emphasized (the _Spectator_ has disgraced the)
Page 68. "Translator" changed to "Translation" and "Translation" changed to "Translator" (undertake a Translation with more Advantage than the last Translator) "no" changed to "to" (down to _Dacier_)
Page 69. "tonjours" changed to "toujours" (J'ay toujours fait beaucoup de cas)
Page 73. "Spectator" emphasized (In the _Spectator_, Nº 297. you read thus)
Page 74. "goods" changed to "gods" (the Break, _good gods!_ has more) "Spectator" emphasized (Which the _Spectator_ speaks of as inexpressibly beautiful) "Spectator" emphasized (Laugh and Clap. _Spectator_, Nº 39) "_Bouhours_" changed to "_Bouhour_'s" (in one Verse in all Father _Bouhour_'s)
Page 75. "qnælibet" changed to "quælibet" (Et Vini bonitas, & quælibet altera Causa.)
Page 76. "_Whiston_'s" changed to "_Whistons_" (the _Whistons_ into Mathematicks)
Page 83. "suth" changed to "such" (such as the _Port Royal_) "Histories" emphasized (_Grand Rebellion_, the _Histories_, _&c._)
Page 87. "hy" changed to "by" (very well markt by _Boileau_) "Spectator" emphasized (_The antient Criticks_, says the _Spectator_)
The following errors were not corrected, as they likely reflect Oldmixon's own ignorance of Greek:
Page 22. "[Greek: Genesthô]" should be "[Greek: Genêthêtô]"
Page 68. "[Greek: hos mala planchthê]" should be "[Greek: hos mala polla planchthê]"