Part 6

_Ovid_ perhaps was left out because he was in Exile at _Tomos_; but why could they not have put in _Livy_, _Propertius_, &c. They have given this Academy, the Temple and Library of _Apollo_, to meet and study in, and it is pretended, that _Horace_'s Epistle to the _Piso's_ was written by Direction of the Academy, and if there had ever been such an Academy at all, one might the sooner have given Credit to it. The _French_ Academy set an Example to other learned and ingenious Men, to make themselves Masters of their own Language, and the Encouragement they met with from _Lewis_ XIV produced an Age of Poets, Orators, and Criticks. The latter have done more towards explaining the _Classicks_ than had been done before from the _Augustan_ Age to their own. They threw Pedantry and Jargon out of their Writings, and render'd them as polite as judicious. Such are the Criticisms of _Rapin_, _Bossu_, _Segrais_, _Boileau_, _Bouhours_, and _Dacier_, who are all read with like Profit and Pleasure; and this is the Reason of the frequent Use of them, and not an Affectation of foreign Phrases, and technical Cant, as is insinuated by such as never read, or never understood them, and by such too as have not only both read and understood them, but have learnt of them all the Reading they have, and yet make use of no other Names than _Quintillian_, _Longinus_, _Donatus_, _Eustathius_, and the Ancients. This is very common, and I could easily prove it upon those who have charg'd others with Ignorance and Illiterature. The Reading _French_ Authors is inconceivably beneficial to such as do not understand _Latin_ so well as Mr. _Dryden_, and _Greek_ so well as Mr. _Pope_: They will learn as much of the _Greek_ History from _Ablancourt_'s _Thucydides_, and of the _Latin_ from _Du Ryer_'s _Livy_, as they could from the Originals. And as to the Poets, they had better read Madam _Dacier_'s _Homer_, and _Segrais_'s _Virgil_, which they do understand, than the Original _Homer_ and _Virgil_ which they do not. My Lord _Roscommon_ owns of the _French_,

_The choicest Books that_ Rome _or_ Greece _have known, Their excellent Translators made their own._

And tho' in all Translations the Spirit and Beauty of the Original must in a great measure be lost by Transfusion, yet in History especially you are sure to have the Method, the Facts, and the Politicks, tho' you have not the Strength and Ellegance of the Style. _Dryden_ tells the late Duke of _Bucks_, in the Dedication to his _Virgil_; _Impartially Speaking, the_ French _are as much better Criticks, as they are worse Poets._ The Latter is incontestable; and not to mention _Milton_, who is above all Parallel. They have nothing of _Epick_ Poetry so good as our King _Arthur_; neither are their _Corneille_ and _Racine_ a Match for our _Shakespear_ and _Otway_. They have no Body to name against _Wycherley_, _Etherege_, _Shadwel_, _Congreve_, _Vanburgh_, _Steel_. _Moliere_, the best of their Comick Poets, could write _Scapius_, _Dandins_, _Sganarelles_, and all Kinds of Farce perfectly well; but for Wit and Humour, Repartee, Polite Conversation, for what the Criticks call the _Vis Comica_, you must have recourse to the _English_ Comedies, if you would know what it is. A _French Marquis_, as _Moliere_ shew'd him upon his Stage, would only make a very good Taylor upon ours. They have no _Hopkins_ for Elegy, no _Philips_ for Pastoral: _Scarron_ will hardly serve for a _Ralpho_ to our _Hudibras_. In the _Ode_, I think, _Malherbe_ is at least equal to _Cowley_, and _Voiture_ and _Sarazin_ are not behind our _Suckling_ and _Waller_, in the gallant Way: Nor is our _Prior_ behind their _La Fontaine_ for Taletelling. On the other Hand, I am afraid we must allow, that we have no Translation in _English_ equal to _Seagrais_'s _Virgil_ for Intelligence of the Original, and a correct as well as harmonious Diction, especially if the Character given of it by _Ruæus_ is just. Did we look into other Sciences, we should find our selves more than a Match for them; What Names have they to set against our _Newton_ and _Halley_ in the Mathematicks, and our _Sydenham_ and _Willis_ in _Physick_. They have no _Bacon_, no _Boyle_ in Philosophy. In History indeed they have a _Varillas_ and a _Maimbourg_ for our _Nelson_ and _Brady_, and doubtless the Royal Historiographers will, in the History of _Lewis_ XIV, come up to the _Grand Rebellion_, and Mr. _Echard_'s History for Impartiality and Truth. If I were a _Frenchman_ I should make a Start here, and cry out, What is their _Tureune_ and their _Conde_ to our _Marlborough_, and their Great _Monarch_, who took Pleasure in Slaughter and Devastation, to our Glorious King _George_, whose only Care and Delight is to maintain Liberty and Peace.

Dr. _Felton_ declares we began to refine our Language much sooner than the _French_, and that the Writers in Queen _Elizabeth_'s Reign are far preferable to _Shakespear_, _Fletcher_, _Waller_, _Suckling_, _May_, _Sands_, and all the Writers from the _Gunpowder_ Plot to the Restoration. He will not be advis'd by the best Critick in Poetry, as he represents him. Mr. _Dryden_, who speaking of _Beaumont_ and _Fletcher_, writes thus; _I am apt to believe the_ English _Language in them arrived to its Perfection_: They wrote between the Beginning of King _James_ I and the Reign of King _Charles_ II, a Period in which Dr. _Felton_ makes the _English_ Language to have declin'd; though, if I were permitted to give Judgement, I should continue the Improvement of our Tongue till the Time of the _Spectator_, and the Translation of _Homer_, where, I think, it is in the greatest Purity and Elegance, and that one of the first deplorable Signs of its Declension was even the Discourse upon the _Classicks_. _Dryden_ himself continues the good Taste till the Opening of the Long Parliament 1640, when, if you'l believe him, the Muses were struck dead at a Blow, abandon'd to a barbarous Race of Men, Enemies of all good Learning, such as _Selden_, _Whitlock_, _Bathurst_, _Wilkins_, and the immortal _Milton_. This Passage should have been transplanted into the two famous Histories of those Times, publish'd since King _William_'s Death, particularly that of the _Grand Rebellion_, which Dr. _Felton_ protests is the most impartial one that ever was written; but it is very well it does not stand in need of his Certificate, for there would have been great Exception taken against his Authority. As good a Word as the Doctor gives Mr. _Dryden_ as a _Critick_, _Dryden_ out-does him in his own Panegyrick.

_Let_ Dryden _with new Rules our Stage refine, And his great Models form by this Design._

This Piece of Modesty in Verse is excelled by another in Prose; _Our present Poets,_ himself the Top of them, _have far surpast all the antient and modern Writers of other Countries._

Thus has he put himself above _Homer_, _Sophocles_, _Virgil_, _Horace_, _Corneille_, _Racine_, _Boileau_, &c. Notwithstanding we were so happy in Mr. _Dryden_'s Criticisms, Doctor _Felton_ is of Opinion the Art is not brought enough to Perfection among us; and therefore earnestly sollicites Sir _Richard Steel_ to write Comments upon _Homer_ and _Virgil_, as Mr. _Addison_ has done upon _Milton_. I am satisfied Sir _Richard Steel_ did not keep his Countenance if ever that Passage of the Doctor's came in his Way. I will not say the same of Mr. _Trap_, who, they tell me, is a Poet by his Place, or a _made_ Poet, better by half than one born so; but if Doctor _Felton_ had foreseen that the ingenious Gentleman would have came off as He did with _Virgil_, and in what a sad Place Doctor _Swift_ would find his Translation, I believe he would have postpon'd the Encomium, _What a polite Critick may do if he pleases_, says the Doctor, _and in how different an Aspect_ Criticism _appears, when formed by Men of Parts and Fire, we may see in Mr._ Trap; and the Encomium continues for a Page or two: But the aforesaid Translation having cut the Matter short, I will repeat no more of it.

_Cowley_ was in as great Vogue 60 or seventy Years ago, as any Composer or Translater of our Time has been, and Doctor _Felton_ without knowing that his Character is worn, informs us, that his _Davideis_ is as good an Epick Poem as the _Ilias_, that his Lyricks are as good as _Pindar_'s or _Horace_'s, that he wrote Elegies as well as _Tibullus_, Epistles as well as _Ovid_, Pastorals as well as _Theocritus_; and that his _Cutter of Colmanstreet_ is as good a Comedy as the _Adelphi of Terence_. The Doctor's own Words are; _He rivalled the_ Greek _and_ Latin _Poets in every Thing but Tragedy._ His saying so is the more remarkable, for that he had seen the Preface to _Dryden_'s Fables, wherein that incomparable Critick, as he terms him, says _Cowley_ is sunk in his Reputation, and the late Duke of _Bucks_ in his Essay acknowledges as much:

Cowley _might boast to have perform'd his Part, Had he with Nature joyn'd the Rules of Art: But ill Expression gives sometimes Allay To noble Thoughts------------ Tho' All appears in Heat and Fury done, The Language still must soft and easy run._

Doctor _Felton_ in Praise of Criticism tells us, with equal Elegance and Perspicuity, _If the Rules had not been given, we had not been troubled with_ many fewer _Writers:_ And in the Pursuit of his own excellent Work, he declares, _He has tempered the_ Briskness _of Thought with the Sedateness of Judgement._ The _French_ have their _Pensees Brusques_, but the Doctor could not fall so low as that. _Brusque_ signifying _blunt_, _rash_, and the like. This _Briskness_ is, I suppose, more agreeable to the Conception of a certain Bookseller, who being written to by a certain Squire for a _brisk History_, sent him by the next Carrier that of _Don Quixot_. This was thirty Years ago, before we were so well furnished with _brisk Histories_ as we have been since.

I take _brisk_ in our Tongue to be to _lively_, as _pert_ is to _witty_: But I cannot depend on my own Judgement; the Translator of _Homer_ having used _Briskness_ in the same Sense as Doctor _Felton_ uses it: _Heaven and Earth became engaged in the Subject, by which it rises to a great Importance, and is hastened forward into the briskest Scenes of Action._ If that Author could bear the least Objection to any Thing that belongs to him, I would ask the Reader whether he does not fancy there is some Affectation in the Expression. But let that pass; if we are rightly informed, the Word _Brisk_ is in the _Teutonick Friesch_, which is in plain English _Frisk_, and then for the Gods and Demi-gods to frisk up and down the Field of Action, or the Doctor to frisk up and down his Closet is very indecorous. The Duke of _Buckingham_ in the _Rehearsal_ seems to take _Brisk_ in the latter Sense, as when Thunder and Lightning act their Parts on the Stage. The former says, I am the _bold Thunder_, the latter the _brisk Lightning I_. And not at all to derogate from the Character of Lightning, which has been so serviceable to all Sorts of Poetry and Poets, I cannot help confirming my Opinion by a very common Simile, and saying _As brisk as bottled Ale_.

Among all the Refiners of our Tongue, 'tis the vulgar Notion, that Sir _Roger L'Estrange_ was most eminent. True it is, Doctor _Felton_ owns he was good for nothing but _Banter_ and _Railing_; for that is what we in _England_ generally mean by Raillery. Tho' _Smith_ and _Johnson_ in the _Rehearsal_ are not the most lively Characters; yet their Dialogue with _Bayes_ is what the _French_ call _Raillery_. We in _England_ do mean very often the Dialogue of _Billinsgate_, where it is common enough to hear one Fish-Woman cry to another, _No more of your Raillery_, which is there the worst Sort of Railling; and for that and Banter the Doctor assures us _L'Estrange_ was most proper. The same say I, and that he understood no more of true Eloquence than he did of _Greek_, out of which the Booksellers hired him to translate _Josephus_, and he did it from the _French_ Translation. The Philosopher _Seneca_'s Works he pretended to translate from the _Latin_, and I wish Mr. _Trap_ would translate the following Phrases in his _Seneca_'s _Morals_ back into that Tongue again, _One good Turn is the shoeing Horn to another._ _He does me Good in spite of my Teeth._ _After a Matter of eight Years_; and this into _Greek_ for _Esop_'s Fables, The _Moon was in a heavy Twitter_: Yet I'm satisfied these fine Sayings are some of those that gained him the Reputation of being a polite Writer of _English_: I have heard that about the Moon very much commended, which shews that we are not sufficiently sensible how mean Words debase a Thought. _There's nothing_, says _Boileau_, _which debases a Discourse more than mean Words. A mean Thought exprest in noble Terms, is generally better than the most noble Thoughts exprest in mean Terms._ I know no greater Instance of the ill Effect of mean Terms, than what we find in two Verses of Mr. _Montague_'s Epistle to the Lord _Dorset_ on King _William_'s Victory at the _Boyne_. 'Tis in the greatest Heat of that glorious Action, and in the Middle of the _Sublime_, which is not wanting in that Poem.

_Stop, stop, brave Prince! What does your Muse, Sir, faint! Proceed, pursue his Conquest. Faith I can't._

Mr. _Philips_'s Poems, the _splendid Shilling_ and _Cyder_, are full of Instances where mean Thoughts are raised by noble Expressions, and they are wonderfully pleasing; as in _Cyder_; this of the _Pear-Tree_.

_What tho' the Pear Tree rival not the Worth Of_ Ariconian _Products, yet her Freight Is not contemn'd, and her wide branching Arms Best screen thy Mansion from the fervent Dog, Adverse to Life. The wintry Hurricanes In vain employ their Roar; her Trunk unmov'd, Breaks the strong Onset, and controuls their Rage; Chiefly the_ Bosbury, _whose large Increase, Annual in sumptuous Banquets, claims Applause. Thrice acceptable_ Bevrage! _could but Art Subdue the floating_ Lee, Pomona_'s self Would dread thy Praise, and shun the dubious Strife. Be it thy Choice, when Summer Heats annoy, To sit beneath her leavy Canopy, Quaffing rich Liquids, Oh! how sweet t'enjoy At once her Fruits, and hospitable Shade._

I have never met with any Author who so happily imitated the manner and stile of _Milton_ as _Philips_ has done, and there seems to be hardly any other Difference than that of the Subjects they wrote of.

What I have quoted out of _L'Estrange_ is nothing to the Delicacy of a modern Writer of Plays, who without Wit, Language, Learning, or Manners, wrote three or four Farces, which took as much as _Pradon_'s in _France_; but the _English_ have not recollected themselves so soon as the _French_ did; for _Pradon_ out-liv'd the Vogue he was in, and became a greater Jest than ever he had made. What think ye of our Poet's Delicacy and Wit, who in a gallant Letter to his Mistress, tells her, _He's gall'd with riding, Love is forging Darts in his Belly; he's a Dog in a Doublet_, &c. There's a deal of graver Nonsense with it, but it being mostly _Blasphemy_, I dare not repeat it. This Author had his Portion of temporary Fame. _Ogilvy_ had his Day, and _Dryden_ says:

_Fame, like a little Mistress of the Town, Is gain'd with Ease; but then she's lost as soon._

However, as long as the Credit lasts, these temporary Authors bear the Port of the greatest Genius, are clapt and star'd at, as those Merchants who are driving in their Coaches to Bankrupcy, have generally the best Equipage. What are become of the _Marots_, the _Ronsards_, the _Scuderies_ of our neighbour Nation, yet these Writers were infinitely superiour to what most of our taking Authors have been. Could any Body have thought that Sir _Richard Baker_'s Chronicle would ever have past from the Justice's Hall Window to the Butler's Cellar, or that _Cowley_'s _Mistress_ would have lost all her Charms in thirty Years Time, and become a Cast-Off for City Prentices and Lawyers Clerks, to say nothing of _Orinda_, _Flatman_, &c. Yet these Writers were Originals which raises their Merit much above all Sorts of Translators, and it ought to be a Lesson to all Poets and Historians, whether first Hand or second Hand, to pay the World for their Applause with Modesty, which is the surest Way to keep it in a good Humour; _Since 'tis Posterity only_, says _Boileau_, _which sets a Value upon all Writings, you must not, as admirable as you take a modern Author to be, presently put him upon a Level with those Writers who have been admired for so many Ages, because one cannot be sure his Works will pass with Glory to the next. Indeed without going far for Examples, How many Authors have we seen admired in our Age, whose Glory is vanished in a very few Years. How were_ Balzac_'s Works admired thirty Tears ago?_ So much that Cardinal _Richelieu_ at the same Time that he was meditating the universal Monarchy for the Crown of _France_, wrote in Vindication of them. The Bishop of _Rochester_ did the same for _Cowley_; but neither the Cardinal nor the Bishop could defend them from the Fate of all Temporary Authors. Neither _Cowley_ nor _Balzac_ are now any more mentioned in _France_ or _England_. And the main Reason why they lost their Credit was for want of duly considering what their particular Talents were adapted to; for that they had both very great Talents is universally acknowledged, _Mons. de_ Balzac _a passe toute sa vie a ecrire des lettres, dont il n'a jamais pu attraper le veritable Charectere._ Balzac _spent all his Time in writing Letters, but could never hit the true Character._ _Cowley_ applied himself to Poetry, and never enough knew the Power and Harmony of Numbers. He had a great deal too much Wit to charm his Mistress with his Passion. Very few of us are let into this Secret. We cannot believe that a Poet can have too much Wit, and indeed the Offence given that Way is not very common. The last Duke of _Bucks_ rightly instructs us:

_Another Fault which often does befall,_ } _Is when the Wit of some great Poet shall_ } _So overflow, as to be none at all._ }

Again,

_That silly Thing we call sheer Wit avoid_.

This probably was a Rebuke to the Author of the _Plain-Dealer_ and _Country-Wife_, who has transgressed in this kind as much as any Body, and was the best able to do it. The Author of the _Relapse_ is not entirely free from this Censure, nor the Authors of _Love for Love_, and the _Funeral_. But it will not be more surprising than it is true, that _Peter Motteux_ declared he had taken a great deal of pains with a Character in a Farce of his, to bring it within the Duke of _Buckingham_'s Rule in those Places where he told me he had given it too much Wit. Mr. _Walsh_, one of the greatest Criticks of our Nation, observes, that the Softness, Tenderness, and Violence of Passion, are wanting in Mr. _Cowley_'s Love Verses, insomuch that he _could hardly fancy he was in Love when he wrote them_. _Pref._ to _Lett._ Yet there were Variety and Learning enough in them, and more Wit than in all our witty Poets since the Restoration, excepting those above-mentioned. Mr. _Wycherly_, who wrote as good Comedies as any in the _English_, or any other Tongue, did not value himself so much upon them as on a Folio of as bad Verses as any. _Creech_ having had Success in _Lucretius_, was put upon translating _Horace_, and it is said by _Dryden_, that he might lose so much of his Reputation, as to prevent Rivalship. Nay, _Butler_, tho' he knew the Follies of Mankind so perfectly well, did not perceive that there is no greater Folly than to undertake what one is not fit for, and was persuaded to let _Hudibras_ translate _Ovid_. On this Rock many Authors have split, who would have succeeded had they consulted their Talents, and taken the right Course: but it is a general Maxim with us in _England_, Verses are Verses. He that can write one Thing, can write another, and till our Taste is so refined, that we can distinguish the Good and the Bad in the various Kinds of Thinking, Writers will not be at the Pains to consult their Talents, but content themselves with pleasing their own Fancy, or that of the Publick, by which Means, like Flies, they make a buzzing for a Day or two, and are forgotten for ever. The _Spectator_ very judiciously animadverts on this Weakness: _Our general Taste in_ England _is for Epigram, Turns of Wit, and forced Conceits, which have no manner of Influence, either for the bettering or enlarging the Mind of him who reads them, and have been carefully avoided by the greatest Writers, both among the Antients and Moderns._ He adds after Mr. _Dryden_, _The Taste of most of our_ English _Poets is extreamly_ Gothick, _which I have endeavoured to banish in several of my Speculations_.