Part 9
But in such Authors, what is good more than atones for what is not so, and 'tis only where a Writer shews a Defect in Will as well as Judgement, that he renders himself blame-worthy, especially in History. Several of these Blunders are collected by _Marville_ in his _Melange_, &c. 'Tis remark'd of _Pliny_, that in translating _Democritus_, he says, the Camelion is like a Crocodile, and altogether as big--The _Crocodalos_ of _Democritus_ is in the _Jonick_ Dialect, a _Lizard_, which may be about some ten thousand Times less than a Crocodile, and yet a great many Times bigger than a _Camelion_. _Eutychius_ speaking of _Eusebius_ of _Cesarea_, sirnamed _Pamphilus_, calls him _Eusebius_, Bishop of the City of _Phili_. _Quintus Curtius_ mistakes _Arabia Fælix_ for _Arabia Deserta_. He confounds the _Euxine_ with the _Caspian_ Sea, and makes the Rivers _Tygris_ and _Euphrates_ run through _Media_, which they never enter'd. Mr. _Simon_, in his critical History, takes _Suna_ and _Fratela_, two Officers of the _Gothick_ Army, for two _German_ Ladies. The Life of _Charlemagne_, written by _Acciaioli_, having been often joyn'd with _Plutarch_'s Lives, was published by _Vicellius_ as written by _Plutarch_, who liv'd 6 or 700 Years before _Charlemagne_. _Gerard Vossius_ affirms, that the Society of the _Sorbonne_ was instituted by _Robert_, Brother of _S. Lewis_ King of _France_, instead of _Robert_ sirnamed _Sorbonne_ from the Place of his Nativity. _Pallavicini_ in his History of the Council of _Trent_, says _Lansac_, the _French_ Ambassador, was Knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost, which was not instituted till twenty Years after; but what has particular Relation to us _Englishmen_ is the Charge against _Dodwel_: _Dodowel dans ses Dissertations sur Saint Cyprien prend la Ville d'Olympe pour une Olympiade,_ takes the City _Olympus_ for an _Olympiade_, the Name of the Place where, for the Date of the Year when it was done, which is Matter of much Humiliation to all such as believe it impossible for so learned and orthodox a Man to commit so great an Oversight; and plainly proves to us, that those who write of what past 1000 or 2000 Years ago, are as likely to err, as those who write of what past three or fourscore Years ago. Whoever has a Curiosity to see more of the _Blunderings_, which the most learned are charg'd with, such as the _Port Royal_, _Baronius_, _Vasquez_, _Du Cange_, _Varillas_, _L'Abbé_, &c. may have full Satisfaction in _Marville_'s _Melange_, _p. 208. & seq._ taken from a Book written by _Boileau_'s Uncle, entituled, _Colloquium Criticum de Sphalmætis viromum in re literaria illustrium_. Of what Size would the Book be, if we should examine with the same Exactness, _Nalson_, _Heylin_, _Wharton_, _Collier_, _Dugdale_, _Brady_, the _Grand Rebellion_, the _Histories_, _&c._ And collect and publish the Errours, both of the Will and the Judgement. Nor are these Names by any Means more illustrious, than those we meet with in the _Colloquium_.
The Translator of _Homer_ has an Excuse for Mr. _Dryden_, which is much more generous than just: He says, _His Haste in Writing ought not to be imputed to him as a Fault, but to those who suffer'd so noble a Genius to lie under the Necessity of it._ Mr. _Dryden_'s Genius did not appear in any Thing more than his _Versification_; and whether the Criticks will have it ennobled for that _Versification_ only, is a Question. The Translator seems to make a good _Genius_ and a good Ear to be the same Thing. _Dryden_ himself was more sensible of the Difference between them, and when it was in Debate at _Will_'s Coffee-house, what Character he would have with Posterity; he said, with a sullen Modesty, _I believe they will allow me to be a good Versifier_. If we will believe Mr. _Dryden_, he did not lie under the Necessity of Haste: In several of his Dedications and Prefaces, he has declared, He never wanted. When he renounced his Allegiance to King _William_, and disqualified himself for keeping the Laureat's Place with that of Historiographer, he had a Pension from the then Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of _Dorset_, which was an Instance of Generosity that is rarely to be met with in the History of _Lewis_ XIV, who paid more to Poets and Historians than all the Princes of _Europe_. His Bounty has been extoll'd, even by those whom his Bigotry had banish'd, yet he seldom let it extend to any of the Reformed Religion, let their Merit be ever so great. Mademoiselle _le Fevre_, afterwards Madam _Dacier_, dedicated a Book to that Prince, and the Duke _de Montausier_ introduc'd her at Court; but the King would not accept of the Book, nor admit that his Name should be put before the Epistle.
The Duke, whose Character had some Bluntness in it, said, _Sir, Is this the Way to encourage Learning: The Lady deserves well of your Majesty and the Publick, and if you will not reward her your self, suffer me to give her 100 Pistoles, I matter not whether I am paid again_: or Words to that Effect. This Learned Lady was far from being an Enemy to the Government as _Dryden_ was, and he did not stick to shew it upon all Occasions, even when he was pension'd by my Lord Chamberlain. The Truth is, he was like fond Fathers who can see no Faults in their Children; and as to his hasty Writing, 'tis pretty well known that as easy as his Verses appear to be, he came hard by them: He thought it a good Day's Work if he could finish 40 Verses a Day; and some learned _Antiquaries_, I suppose from a _MSS._ of _Virgil_'s Amanuensis, assure us, that _Maro_ wrote as many, and drawing them off the _Lee_ afterwards, in his Poetical Limbeck, reduced them to Ten. _Godeau_, Bishop of _Vence_, us'd to write 2 or 300 Verses a-day. I my self paid a Visit once to a Verse-maker in an Afternoon, and saw 200 political Verses on his Table, which he told me he had written since Dinner: By this Dispatch he soon furnish'd out a _Folio_. _Dryden_ was so far from spying Blemishes in his Works, that he often took them for Beauties, and particularly what the _Italians_ call _Concetti_. This noted Rant in the _Conq. Gran._
_I, alone am King of Me._
is happily imitated by him in his _State of Innocence_:
_I my self am proud of Me._
But to criticise on _Dryden_'s Prefaces and Plays is a much greater Labour than to copy them all over, and equally ungenerous and impertinent: If any one will compare his _Fall of Man_ with _Milton_'s Paradise lost, he will quickly perceive to which of them it is that the _noble Genius_ is to be apply'd; and if it belongs to _Milton_, some other Epithet should be thought of for _Dryden_.
I have already observ'd, that I did not intend to form a regular Discourse, and I think I have kept pretty well to my Intention: If the Reader misses any Thing of Instruction by it, he will find it made up in Entertainment. The Variety will excuse the Want of Method in a Subject not so capable of it as where the Matter is certain and well known. I wish I were able to give Examples of all Father _Bouhour_'s several Kinds of Thoughts out of _English_ Authors, but Examples are much nicer Work than Precepts. Every one may agree that a Thing ought to be so done, but saw that it is so done. Men's Idea's of the same Things, vary in the Reflection as much as their Views do in Prospect, according to the Light they appear in. Dr. _Felton_ makes a Trifle of it in one Part of his Preface, and an insuperable Difficulty in another. _I might, at once, with the Trouble only of Transcribing, have adorn'd the Work, and diverted the Reader._ Contrary to this, he says, _If any Body is pleas'd to try, he will hardly find it practicable to illustrate these Rules by Examples._ The Quotations, which he had before term'd transcribing only, are not so easy as he imagin'd to be done with Beauty and Judgement, was he sure of writing out nothing but what was as much to the Purpose as if it had been made for it, otherwise he might have transcrib'd puffy Thoughts for sublime, trifling Thoughts for pretty, affected Thoughts for agreeable; in short, false Thoughts for fine ones, and I am afraid that would have been his Misfortune, had he attempted it. In his Preface he blames _Tully_ for quoting himself, and _Aristotle_ for being dry; but as he has not gone much beyond the Latter in his Criticisms, nor the Former in his Eloquence, so I believe their Reputation will not be much the worse for him, and it had been better if the Doctor had follow'd the Direction of _Quintillian_, Modesto tamen & Circumspecto judicio, _&c. People should speak with a great deal of Modesty and Circumspection of such great Men, for it may happen, as it very often does, that they condemn what they do not understand._
I am apprehensive enough that this Undertaking will be censur'd as an Effect of Vanity and Arrogance, and I am well enough acquainted with the Spirit of the People I have to deal with,
_Genus irritabile Vatum._
But I please my self with the Reflection, that I have not mingled the least Spice of Malice in the Composition, as it relates to Criticism, and am so far from being vain and arrogant, that I frequently and sincerely declare, my chief Design was to excite some more capable Writer to do what I knew my self uncapable of; and if any such Person shall, by exposing my Errours, give the World a true Light, I will not only gratefully follow it, but rejoyce at it, and take hold or the Opportunity to have my Share of the Instruction, if it comes from clean Hands, and is not defil'd with ill Manners and ill Language: Such tutoring I shall despise, and it being very common for Authors to have as good an Opinion of themselves as of any Body else, I shall not think any Name of Authority enough to justify either Insolence or Scurrility. About 40 Years ago there was a Student at _Oxford_, who acquir'd a good Hand at a Fiddle; but, falling afterwards into Melancholy, he grew averse to Musick, and could not be prevail'd upon by his Friends to touch it: They had but one Way to excite him to it, and that was for some unskilful Hand to take his Violin and scrape upon it; he would then immediately snatch it away from him, and, in a Kind of Resentment, give it the utmost Elegance of Sound and Harmony. I freely own I had this Man's Example in my Head when I began this Essay, and should the Success be the same, the End of it is answer'd.
I cannot close this Essay without taking Notice of the Perverseness of Men, who pretend to Wit and Judgement, towards one another: It appears mostly in Pretenders, and is very well markt by _Boileau_, in these two Verses translated by Mr. _Dennis_, and equal to the Original:
_Thus one Fool lolls his Tongue out at another, And shakes his empty Noddle at his Brother._
It was not so when Judgement and Wit were something more than Pretence only, when they were in the Heighth of Excellence, under the Patronage of _Augustus_. My Lord _Roscommon_, in his Preface to _Horace_'s Art of Poetry writes thus: _I am below the Envy of the Criticks, but if I durst, I would beg them to remember, that_ Horace _ow'd his Favour and his Fortune to the Character given of him by_ Virgil _and_ Varius; _that_ Fundanius _and_ Pollio _are still valued by what_ Horace _say of them, and that in that Golden Age there was a good Understanding among the Ingenious; and those who were the most esteem'd were the best natur'd._ _Dryden_ has made the same Observation: _Certainly, the Poets of_ Ovid_'s Age enjoy'd much Happiness in the Conversation and Friendship of one another._ _The antient Criticks_, says the _Spectator_, _are full of the Praises of their Contemporaries. They discover Beauties which escap'd the Observation of the Vulgar, and very often find out Reasons for palliating and excusing such Slips and Oversights, as were committed in the Writings of eminent Authors._ Mr. _Addison_ has imitated them in his Remarks upon _Milton_'s _Paradice Lost_; but it must be allowed that the Task was made very easy, and the Beauties shine so brightly, that there's no taking one's Eye off of them. It has also been wish'd, that the two or three Slips in Expression which he quotes out of _Milton_ had been excused, as they might have been by observing, that if there's a Pun in the _Paradice Lost_, 'tis the Devil that makes it.
One of the surest Signs, that the Wits of the past and present Age, _English_ and _French_, are not of the Size of those of the Age of _Augustus_, is their Jealousies and Broils. The _Spectator_ has this Remark, Nº 409; _I cannot think, that_ Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau, La Fontaine, Bruyere, Bossu, _or the_ Dacier_'s, would have written so well as they did, had they not been Friends and Contemporaries._ 'Tis said very much in Favour of good Nature, and therefore is very agreeable: But I Question, whether Emulation, and sometimes even Resentment, may not produce very good Effects in the Works of the Ingenious. _Facit Indignatio versus._ _Godeau_, _Vaugelas_, _Malherbe_, were Men of great Merit; and so were also, _Maynard_, _La Mothe Le Vayer_, and _Costar_; yet they wrote against one another with some Acrimony.
'Tis Envy and Spleen, that produce a Set of Writers in _England_, call'd _Answerers_, whose Modesty may be conceived by some of their Titles, _The best Answer that ever was._ Part 1st. _The best Answer that ever was._ Part the 2d. _A better Answer_ than the _best Answer_. The _Unanswerable Answer_, by _Lesley_ and others. You can't publish a _Pamphlet_ or _Essay_, but it is immediately snapt at to be answer'd: Nay, Dr. _Halley_'s Calculation of the Eclipse in a Half-sheet had two or three _political_ Answers.
The Itch of Answering is so great, that some Authors have taken it in Dudgeon, not to have been thought worthy of an Answer; and to prevent such Disgrace a second Time, have written on Purpose that they might answer themselves. I have heard, that the learned and ingenious _Robinson Crusoe_ is in the Number of these.
How can it be expected, that Men of Passions, worldly Minds, and Lay-men should escape this Infection, when the Fathers themselves in the first Ages of the _Church_, could not help writing against one another, with as much Sharpness as any modern Writers. St. _Jerom_, in Particular, is charg'd with this Weakness, in his Writings against _Lactantius_, St. _Ambrose_, St. _Hilary_, _Didymus_. 'Tis said, that _he spar'd neither Antients nor Moderns_; no not the inspir'd Elders that translated the Septuagint: Himself having translated the Bible into _Latin_, and he seem'd to be as fond of his Works as are other Translators.
Our Neighbours, the _French_, have not been altogether free from this Humour of _Answering_, or rather writing against one another; as will appear by the following List of a dozen Authors of a Side; most of them of the _French_ Academy; and I might name as many more of equal Rank:
_Balzac_, } {_Pere Goulu_, _Theophile_. _Godeau_, } {_Maynard_, _Vavasseur_. _Vaugelas_, } {_La Mothe Le Vayer_. _Chapelain_, } {_Boileau_, _Ligniere_. _Ablancourt_,} {_Marole_. _Menage_, } Written against {_Pere Bouhours_. _Costar_, } by {_Girac_. _Malherbe_, } {_Costar_. _Voiture_, } {_Richelet_. _Bossu_, } {_Perrault_. _Corneille_, } {_Dacier_. _Richelet_, } {_Furetiere_.
As the most delicate Praise is that which has the _Face_ of Satyr, so the most delicate Satyr is that which has the Face of Praise. Of the latter Kind are the Verses to the honourable _Edward Howard_ on his _incomparable_ and _incomprehensible_ Play. Those Verses were written by the Duke of _Buckingham_, the Lord _Dorset_, Mr. _Waller_, and others. Of the former Kind are several of _Voiture_'s Letters to the Prince of _Conde_, and _Boileau_'s to the Duke _de Vivonne_ in Imitation of them. Indeed we must allow, that the _French_ do understand the _Belle Raillerie_ better than we do, at least for the Generality, there being some Authors in _English_, that have succeeded in fine Raillery as well as the _French_. Thus did Archbishop _Tillotson_ treat _Sergeant_ the _Popish_ Priest: Thus Bishop _Sprat_ handled _Sorbiere_; and Dr. _Burnet_ of the Charter-house treated one _Warren_ who had attack'd his _Theory_. If our Answerers could write as they did, they would both divert and instruct us. But we have already explained what they mean by Raillery. They know not how to parry like good Fencers, and therefore knock down like Cudgel Players.
The last Word puts me in Mind of a lower Order of Criticks, which are rarely heard of within the Sound of _Bow-Bell_; and these are your _Etymologists_ and your _Orthographists_, who turn to _Rider_ or _Holy Oak_ for the Derivation of Words, and have the learned _Garretson_ and other Helps for Spelling: But I know not whether this Essay may travel far enough into the Country to be of any Use; and besides, I have not converst enough with those Criticks that deal in Words and Letters only, to be Master of the Subject, which is generally learn'd by such as make a Penny of it in Conversation by laying Wagers, the Power and Test of all rural Argument.
I must own the _Etymologists_ are by much the greater Men of the Two than the _Orthographists_. I do affirm this, not only because it is necessary to know the Roots of Languages, but because it is a greater Mark of Scholarship, and has the Sanction of the most learned Universities. The profoundest of our own Antiquaries have, in Favour of the University of _Oxford_, found out an Etymology, that may match with the famous One of _Diaper Napkin_: From whence comes King _Pepin_. Bishop _Stillingfleet_ informs us, that the Champions for the Antiquity of _Oxford_ say, that the old Name is _British_, and it is read somewhere _Iren_ which should be read _Icen_, and that again _Ychen_, and that _Rydychen_, and _Rydychen_ in the _British_ Tongue is _Vadum Boum_ in _Latin_, and that in _English_, _Oxenford_, _Oxford_, and _Oxon._ Such wonderful Discoveries are made by the venerable Antiquaries. _Iren_ runs the Gauntlet through three Languages _Irish_, _Welsh_, and _Latin_, before it drops into _English_, but considering there is more _Greek_ in the _Welsh_ Tongue than there is _Latin_, it may make Work for great Scholars, to shew their Scholarship in settling the Matter as it should be with a Salvo for the Rights of the University of _Cambridge_.
The Learned in _France_ have an Etymology almost as good as that of _Oxford_ from _Iren_, which is the Word _Cemetiere_ a Church-yard; They derive it from the _Latin_ Word _cum_ with, and _mittere_ to put, as much as to say the dead Bodies are put together in one burying Place. Thus the Boxes at the _Opera_ are a _Cemetiere_ or Church-yard, because the Ladies and Gentlemen are put with one another there, and thus by Virtue of the same Etymology, the Place where People are born and where they are bury'd are all one, from _Cum_ with, and _Mittere_ to put, as I have heard, that the same Word serves for Life and Death in one of the oriental Languages.
As to _Orthography_, the only Passage I have read in a polite Author concerning it is that of _Boileau_, who taxes _Perrault_ with false Spelling, by putting an _s_ in one Word, and leaving out an _s_ in another. By putting an _s_ into the Word _Contemples_, it lost the Imperative Mood which is _Contemple_; and by leaving out an _s_ in the Word _Casuiste_, written _Casuite_, it became no Word at all. When Moods and Tenses, Numbers and Cases, Substantives and Adjectives, suffer by _Orthography_, the curious Country-man has reason to cry out, otherwise the Printer may be answerable for the Spelling.
After all that has been said of the _Sublime, &c._ perhaps the Criticks do make more of Things than is necessary, or in Nature: Tho' Poets pretend to Inspiration, and cry out, _The god, the god_, they are, in the Main, but meer Men, and have their Tricks and Quirks to keep up the Reputation of that Art: Nay, like other Professions, they would have us believe, that there's Mystery in it too; not, I suppose, as Divines understand it, but in the vulgar Sense, as it is understood when we say, the Trade or Mystery of a _Cordwainer_. Some of these Poetical Mysteries are as follow.
We are told that this Verse of _Homer_'s Third _Iliad_ was said, by _Alexander the Great_, to be the best in all the Poem:
_Great in the Wars, and great in Arts of Sway._
Methinks our _Gazette_ Men, and _Courant_ Men, express themselves every whit as well, when in Honour of a defunct General, whose Activity had long furnish'd them with Matter for their News-Books, they tell us, He was great alike in the Camp, and in the Cabinet, which easily runs into as good a Verse as the other.
_Great in the Camp, and in the Cabinet._
The next best Verses that ever were, are _Boileaus_; and they were said to be the best in all his Works, by _La Fontaine_: The Subject is the _French_ King's setting up Lace-making at _Roan_.
Et nos voisins frustrez de ces tributs serviles, Que paiat a leur Art, le Luxe de nos Villes.
_No more by foreign Tributes are we griev'd, Which, from our Luxury, alien Arts receiv'd._
Why these are better Verses than all other best Verses, is the Mystery we are speaking of, and like that of the Free-Masons, it cannot be unfolded but by a Brother; nay, one may suspect of this Mystery what is justly suspected of that; they do not tell it us, for fear we shou'd laugh at it.
Of this Kind, doubtless, is the famous Couplet, taken out of Sir _John Denham_'s _Coopers-Hill_, which _Dryden_ says, are the two best Verses in the _English_ Tongue:
_Tho' Deep, yet clear; tho' Gentle, yet not dull; Strong without Rage, without o'erflowing full._
He said he would not reveal the Secret why they were the best Verses, but left it as a Riddle to Posterity. I dare say, there are a Thousand as good Verses in Mr. _Pope_'s _Homer_, if by good Verses he means smooth ones, and one would think Three such Monysyllables as _Yet_, _Not_, _Dull_, all together, was enough to set aside the Claim of that Line.
Having said so much already of my honest Intention In this _Essay_, I must, at last, refer it to the Judgement of the Reader, and whatever it is, shall receive it with Pleasure, when it is given with Candour.
If he approves of what I have said, I cannot but be pleased with having given some few Hints to another.
If he does not approve of it, 'twill please me still more to receive new Light my self.
Since this Essay was finish'd, I have seen a Book written by a _French_ Gentleman, which has been receiv'd with much Civility; and as that Gentleman is commanded to make Remarks on our Manners in _England_, he will not do us Justice unless he puts the Reception his Book has met with, among the Instances of our Humanity to Strangers.
I must own I have not learnt a good deal by it, and the Reading of it has not excited any Impatience in me to read any new _Heroick_ Poem. I have long despair'd to see another good _Dramatick_, and much more an _Epick_ Poem in _English_, and cannot hope now to see one in _French_, which never yet was seen: However, I wish so well to all such generous Enterprizes, that I think it barbarous to give them the least Discouragement.