Part 3

Which may very well be introduc’d as often as one has occasion to speak of the late _Examiner_, or any one that belongs to him. Let this Learned Doctor and his new Academy do their utmost to furnish our Language with what the _French_ call _Chevilles_, with his _Thoroughs_, _Althoughs_, and the whole Army of antiquated Words before-mention’d; I can’t imagine Mr. _Dryden_’s Poetry will be in any Danger of becoming unintelligible, tho’ he has us’d Abreviations as much as any Polite Writer; and will preserve that Character when the Doctor’s is forgotten, unless we should return to our Original Barbarity, as he says we incline to do. He complains the Refinement of our Language has hitherto been trusted to _illiterate Court Fops, Half-witted Poets, and University Boys_. He would have a thin Society, if he should exclude all such from his own Academy: And if the Choice be in himself, as he seems to insinuate, I believe the Reformation of our Language would have just as much success as the Reformation of our Manners, which, ’tis said, none have more corrupted than the very Reformers. He gives us his Word, That _the Style of some great Ministers very much exceed that of any other Productions_. Where I wonder are the Instances of this Excellence? In Speeches in Parliament, for themselves or others, or what Works of theirs has been communicated to him, that he should know more than all Mankind? One would think he was their Master by what he says, in the next Page, _What I have most at Heart, is some Method for ascertaining and fixing our Language for ever._ Now you must know, that this Reverend Author, who is so concern’d for the Fixing our Language, has himself a Style of a very deficient Character; in which the Reader will perceive how much we shou’d be _improv’d_, by having his manner _ascertained and fixed_; for doubtless he thinks his own the best, and his Friends know no better than to be of his Mind. _He would be more comprehensive_, says an Author of Note, _if he would alter and correct his Style, which is too loose and diffus’d in all Conscience. So that when I read him sometimes for a good while together, tho’ I go on very evenly and smoothly, I find it difficult to recollect what I have been doing, and whether I have been reading or sleeping. My present Advice to him therefore is, that he would study +Tacitus+, and such other Politicians as say much in few Words: And if he obstinately persists in the same Childish fondness for his Style, I shall be obliged to shew in how small a Compass the whole Substance of what he says, may be contained. All this vile Drudgery will I submit to for his sake_, &c. But so little likelihood there is of his mending his Style by reading _Tacitus_, that he defies him and charges him with the Corruption of the _Roman_ Tongue, by saying that in Two or Three Words, about which such a Genius as he is might have employ’d Twenty or Thirty. This Brevity he calls Affectation, and assures us, it brought Barbarisms into the _Latin_ Tongue, even before the _Goths_ invaded _Italy_. However he exposes his own Ignorance, he should have been careful not to have discover’d his Friends: Does the _Translation_ of the _Bible_ teach us to understand _Fairfax_? Are that and the _Common-Prayer_ the Standard of Language? Yet he affirms, that without them one cou’d not understand any thing written a hundred Years ago. Whereas the _Jerusalem_ of _Fairfax_ is older than that, and whoever reads it will find the Language as new as any can be expected from the New Academy these Fifty Years. For our Tongue is not so variable in the best Authors as the Doctor represents it, and the difference between the present _English_ and the _English_ a Hundred Years ago, is not so great as between the Old and Modern _French_ in that Term. Of all the Parts of Learning, that is surely the least ally’d to Politeness that deals in Old Musty Manuscripts, and affects a Knowledge in Tongues which have not one Polite Book to recommend them. How such a Quality can be serviceable to the Advancement of Wit and _Eloquence_, I cannot conceive; but there are some Characters in the World, that encroach upon all others, and some Men that for their Interest will say any thing that comes uppermost, either for or against another. The Knowledge of Tongues is certainly very useful; but if a Person knows a great many Ancient and Modern, and can hardly speak intelligibly in his own, He shou’d be no Orator for me. I would no more value his Learning than Sir _Hudibras_’s, of which the Doctor puts me in mind more than once by his Compliments, especially of this Passage in the first Canto.

_We grant, altho’ he had much Wit, He was very shy of using it, As being loth to wear it out. And therefore bore it not about, Unless on Holydays or so, As Men their best Apparel do. Besides, ’tis known he could speak +Greek+ As naturally as Pigs squeak.: That +Latin+ was no more difficile Than to a Blackbird ’tis to whistle; Being rich in both he never scanted His Bounty unto such as wanted; But much of either wou’d afford, To many that had not one Word: For +Hebrew+ Roots altho they’re found To flourish but in barren Ground, He had such Plenty as suffic’d To make some think him circumcis’d._

The rest of Sir _Hudibras_’s Merit in Letters is of a Piece, and set off with a Puritanical Air, that renders the whole truly Ridiculous, and makes a good Comment on several Pages of the Doctor’s Epistle, which is most valuable for the great Judgment and Sincerity that he has shewn in it.

It has already been observ’d, that _Horace_ asserts _Osse_ to be the only Rule of Language; and the Letter-Writer repeats what he says, _of Words going off and perishing like Leaves, and new ones coming in their Places_, which he tells us did not approve of _Horace_, notwithstanding his own Law of paying Obedience to usage. For if that were necessary, what, according to our Author, would become of his _Monumentum Ære perennius_? Did not the _Roman_ Tongue even by his own confession, change as much as ours has done. _The Latin Three Hundred Years before Tully was as unintelligible in his Time as the +English+ and +French+ of the same Period are now._ And the Corruptions afterwards by the _Barbarians_ made it as different from _Cicero_’s as _Ennius_’s; yet amidst all those variations, _Horace_’s Works are still _Monumentum ære perennius_. When a Tongue is come to any degree of Perfection, whoever writes well in it will Live; there’s a Thirst after Wit in all Ages, and those that have a Taste of it will distinguish the Thought from the Diction. _Chaucer_ will, no doubt, be admir’d as long as the _English_ Tongue has a Being; and the Changes that have happen’d to our Language have not hinder’d his Works out living their Contemporary Monuments of Brass or Marble.

The Doctor may as well set up a Society to find out the _Grand Elixir_, the _Perpetual Motion_, the _Longitude_, and other such Discoveries, as to fix our Language beyond their own Times. The Test of their Successors will vary with the Age, and their Rules grow obsolete as well as their Words. He would make us believe, that the _French_ Academy have not been able to preserve their Language from Decay, and who are the Men in _Britain_ who pretend to greater Genius for Eloquence than the most Polite of the Politest Nation in _Europe_. Mr. _Waller_ Elegantly complains of the Change which necessarily happens to Stile, and does it however in Language which shews, that the Doctor need not be afraid of People’s forgetting his Patron a Hundred Years hence, if he can write as good _English_ upon him now, as Mr. _Waller_ did on this Subject Threescore Years ago.

_But who can hope his Lines should long Last, in a daily changing Tongue, While they are new, Envy prevails, And as that dies, our Language fails._

_When Architects have done their Part, The Matter may betray their Art, Time, if we use ill Chosen Stone, Soon brings a well-built Palace down._

_Poets that Lasting Marble seek, Must carve in +Latin+ or in +Greek+, We write in Sand, our Language grows, And like our Tide, Ours overflows._

Our Author sees _no necessity of this Changing our Language_. What has been the Fate of all Tongues Ancient and Modern, and for the same Reasons will Eternally be so, he wou’d defend ours from, because the Chinese _have Books in their Tongue above 2000 Years Old_; And a History of 30000 Years Period with a Succession of Kings, 20000 Years before _Adam_. It wou’d be a Discovery worthy those Men who have lately been reconciling Contradictions, and building Arguments upon Nonsence, to find out that _certain Standard for our Tongue, to which, if it were refin’d_, he assures us, _it might be fixt for Ever_. This wou’d be doing what was never done before, what neither _Roman_ nor _Greek_, which lasted the longest of any in its Purity, could pretend to. And this would not be the only strange thing that has lately happen’d to us, which never happen’d to a Nation before. It will be in vain to pretend to _ascertain_ Language, unless they had the Secret of setting Rules for Thinking, and could bring Thought to a Standard too. For every Age, as well as every Nation, has its different manner of Thinking, of which the Expression and Words will always have a Relish, and be Barbarous or Polite, according as the Times take their Turn. If from the abundance of good Sense which appears lately in every thing we do, The Doctor can demonstrate, that we never were in a better way towards the Perfection of Thought and Language, let him set about his Academy as soon as he pleases. But if the contrary is apparent, it may not be improper to wait for some more propitious Opportunity. Besides, there will in all times be irregular Genius’s, who out of Humour will prefer Affectation to Nature, and mistake Novelty for Beauty. _Boileau_ in his Reflections upon _Longinus_, has several Observations of this kind, which will shew the difference between true and false Judgment, by comparing what he writes with several Passages in the Doctor’s Letter; he is speaking of the Famous _Ronsard_ and his Imitators, _Du-Bellai_, _Du Bartas_, _Desportes_, and other _French_ Poets in the Reigns of _Henry_ III. and IV. who were in great Fame for a long while, and when he wrote, sunk into the last Contempt. _The same among the_ +Romans+, says he, _was the Fate of_ +Nævius+, +Livius+, _and_ +Ennius+_,

who in _Horace_’s time had a great many Admirers as that Poet informs us, but at last they were entirely decry’d. And it must not be imagin’d that the Fall of these Authors, as well _French_ as _Latin_, was owing to the Change of their Languages. The true Reason was, they did not know how to hit the Point of Solidity and Perfection in those Languages, which is necessary to make a Work last, and set a Value upon it for ever. In effect, the _Latin_ Tongue, as it was written by _Cicero_ and _Virgil_, was very much chang’d in _Quintilian_’s Time, and still more in the Time of _Aulus Gellus_. However _Cicero_ and _Virgil_ were then more esteem’d than even in their own Time, because they attain’d the height of Perfection, of which I have spoken. It is not therefore on account of the antiquated Words and Expressions in _Ronsard_, that _Ronsard_ has lost the Reputation he once had, but because the Beauties which were thought to be in him, appear’d all at once to be no Beauties at all.

Thus we see, that in order to bring us to the degree of Perfection with which the Doctor flatters us by means of his new Academy, they must teach us first to think justly, to distinguish false Beauty from true, and glaring from Brightness, to banish those that write by Humour, and receive only such as aim at Solidity in their Writings. How the Celebrated _Tale_ of a Tub will come off then with the best Judges, I can easily guess, that excellent Treatise being much of the same nature as _Rabelais_, of whom _La Bruyere_ says, _+Rabelais+ is incomprehensible: His Book is an inexplicable Enigma, a meer Chimera; It has a Woman’s Face, with the Feet and Tail of a Serpent, or some Beast more deform’d. ’Tis a Monstrous Collection of Political and Ingenious Morality, with a Mixture of Beastliness; where ’tis bad ’tis abominable, and fit for the Diversion of the Rabble, and where ’tis good ’tis exquisite, and may entertain the most delicate._

People very often apply those Faults to the Expression and Words which are originally in the thought. The Merit of such as write by Humour, Changes with the Mode, and their Language savouring of their Sentiments, must of course grow out of Fashion. _Ronsard_ the _French_ Poet was so far from writing ill _French_, that _Pasquier_ thought the _French_ Tongue in its Perfection in his Writings and yet upon the Appearance of _Malherb_ and _Bacan_, he was no more read nor talk’d of; Whereas there were Authors before him, whose Writings are now in general Esteem, as _Marot_ and St. _Galais_, for the kind of Poetry in which they excell’d, and their Stile is imitated for its Simplicity, by which _la Fountain_ acquir’d his Fame.

Instances of this kind may be given in our own Tongue, which has improv’d in Refinement as much as the _French_. Our _Shakespear_ shone on the Stage, with all the Qualities of a Dramatick Poet, and _Diction_ in particular, when the _French_ Stage was Barbarous. His Style has its Beauties now, and is newer than many who have since Writ, and for a while with Reputation.

Among all the various ways in which we of late have endeavour’d to endear our selves to the _French_, and make ’em forgive us for beating them so, nothing certainly will oblige ’em more than our affecting to imitate them in our Political Style. Of this Nature is that Novelty the Reverend Author has introduc’d into our Language, where the Term _Prime Minister_ has no more a Place than _Will and Pleasure_. Pray who among the many Ministers Her Majesty is so happily serv’d by, does she Honour with that Name, and how comes it that _Prime_ does not go with Precedence? What Law of ours Impowers any body to order our Language to be _Inspected_, and who is there that wou’d think himself oblig’d to obey him in it? Is there no difference between the Ministers of a Despotick Monarchy, and the Servants of a limited one, who have no Rule but the Law, and are as accountable to it as the vilest of their Flatterers. We see how our Tongue would be improv’d and enlarg’d, had the Doctor and his Brethren the ordering of it. He has already impos’d on us the Court Style of _France_, and their Politicks wou’d soon come after it. He pastes a particular Compliment on our Tongue and his Patron, that they have not Merit enough to subsist a Hundred Years without mending. As bad as our _English_ is, I’ll engage it will subsist in the History of another great Man of this Nation, as long as the Names of _Edward_ the III. or _Henry_ V. shall be remembred in _Britain_. There being some Characters so illustrious that without the Ornaments of Stile or the Beauties of Wit, they Shine in their Native Dress, and make every thing look Glorious about them. Others there are which require all the Advantages of Language and Invention, and darken every Thing that comes near them. The best of it is, the Contempt with which he treats the _English_ Tongue, is not like to do it any harm, for whatever becomes of any ones History a Hundred Years hence, the Doctor’s will certainly be of much shorter Date, unless his Censurers should preserve the Memory of him, or he thinks fit to own at last some other of his Productions, when ’tis probable Fortune has done her best or her worst for him.

I have several very good Reasons why, if I were to be of this Academy, I would banish the word Dozen out of our Dictionary, and the Doctor has no doubt his to be fond of it, and fixing it there for ever. The _French_ King says _he has given about half a dozen Pensions to Learned Men in several Parts of +Europe+, and perhaps a dozen in his own Kingdom_; which, he said, purely out of Affection to the Word Dozen, because he knew full well the _French_ King bestows Pensions on a Hundred Men in several Parts of _Europe_; and on a Thousand in his own Kingdom, who excel in Arts and Literature, _which, including the whole, do not amount to half the Income of many a Private Commoner in +England+_. Whereas I will engage to name Him a Hundred Pensions in _France_ that have been given to Men of Letters, every one of which shall amount to more than half the Income of a dozen Lords, let me have the naming of them too. The History of his Reign, which has been so long Writing, has cost him near threescore Thousand Pounds Sterling. _Boileau_ himself, after he had liv’d a Life of Affluence and Pleasure, keeping a Country-House and City-House, dy’d worth above Five or Six Thousand Pounds, which he had wholly from the King. Not to mention the Rewards _Racine_, _Valincourt_, and other Poets and Historians had, who were imployed about his History; Nor those to all Academies of Sciences founded by him, and the great Pensions he allow’d the Professors. The prodigious Expences he has been at in Printing only at the _Louvre_, would perhaps amount to a Sum equal to the whole Income of several Dozens that might be thought of above the Rank of Commoners.

The last Pages of the Doctor’s Book are incomparable, full of most delicate Eulogy in the World, which I cannot read without calling to mind that Verse of _Despreaux_ to Monsieur _Seignelai_.

_Tout Eloge imposteur blesse une ame sincere._

To paint a _Mecænas_ like a _Mars_, and confound Men’s Qualities, is a Stale Practice of sorded Flatterers, which Men of Merit reject with Disdain.

_Un Cœur Noble est content de ce qu’il trouve en lui._ _Et ne Supplaudit point de Qualitez d’autrui._

A great Soul scorns to usurp another’s worth, and is always content with its own.

The Doctor seems to have an Opinion, that every body loves Flattery as well as himself, and will take any Thing kindly that is said in their Favour. A little more Sincerity would not be amiss in the Composition of a Clergy-man and if this is the way to get the _Medal_ he talks of, it will be dearly purchas’d.

I shall be heartily glad to see some of those Productions from Men above Money, that shall deserve the Laurel he has prepar’d for them. People, I doubt not, will crowd to get their Scriptions in, as they do to get Money into the Lottery; but certainly, the Society will take care of themselves, and if there’s any thing to be got have the Forestalling of the Market. The Design itself is useful, and cannot meet with too much Encouragement, Her Majesty, always willing to promote the Good of our Country, will, it is hop’d, hearken to it in due time; but if it _be defer’d till Peace_ there will be no great Harm in it, tho’ he is pleas’d to rally one of the late M------rs, as much above his Satyr as his Panagyrick, for being so silly as to prefer Necessity to Convenience.

The want of a _Grammar_ and _Dictionary_ has been long complain’d of; and we cannot expect our Tongue will ever spread abroad, unless Foreigners are put into a more regular Method of learning it. To distribute Rewards to Merit, is the Duty of a good Ministry, and nothing contributes more to the Glory of a Country than Works of _Eloquence_ and _Wit_; but he has assum’d a Post that will not be allow’d him. He has set himself in the Director’s Chair of an _English_ Academy; before he has past Examination whether he is fit for a Place at the Board; Members are nam’d that have no Right to such Honour, unless it is a Privilege that is Inseperable from their Posts and Peerage; and he has given us Assurance of fine Pieces of _Wit_ and _Eloquence_ from a Quarter it never yet came.

Projectors, like Quacks, promise Wonders but ’tis always the Labour of the Mountain------I might enlarge on this Head if I had not run my Reflections too far already. I shall therefore conclude with a Discription of one of those Quacks and Pretenders, as I find it in the Speech of the famous _Alexander Bendo_, who, as much a Quack as he was, understood our Tongue and our Constitution as well as the Doctor and his Master.

_Reflect a little_, says he, _what a kind of Creature a Quack is._ Mind what follows. _He is one who is fain to supply some higher Ability he pretends to with Craft. He draws great Companies to him by undertaking strange Things which can never be effected._ The rest is so valuable, that tho I digress’d in it Ten times more than I do, I would present the Doctor with it, and leave it to his serious Consideration.

_The Politician by his Example, no doubt, finding how the People are taken with specious, miraculous Impossibilities, plays the same Game, protests, declares, promises, I know not what things, which he is sure can ne’er be brought about. The People believe, are deluded, and pleased; the Expectation of a future Good, which shall never befal them, draws their Eyes off of a present Evil. Thus they are kept and establish’d in Subjection, Peace and Obedience, and he in Greatness, Wealth, and Power: So you see the Politician is, and must be a Quack in State Affairs and the Quack (no doubt if he thrives) is an Errant Politician in Physick._

_FINIS._

* * * * * * * * *

The _BRITISH_ ACADEMY:

being a New-Erected SOCIETY

for the Advancement of Wit and Learning:

with Some few OBSERVATIONS upon it.

----_Hæ +Tibi+ erunt Artes:_ _Pacisq; imponere Morem._ Virgil.

_LONDON_:

Printed in the Year MDCCXII.

Price Two-pence.

The

_British_ Academy, _&c._

Such is our Case at present, that if we have a Mind to be agreeably entertain’d with the State of our own Affairs, we must look into Foreign Papers, rather than into those that are publish’d here by Authority; and therefore I often read the _Dutch_ Prints with the same Eagerness and Pleasure, as the _French_ at _Paris_ read the _Post Boy_. If we have no good News for Our selves here, we may sometimes find some from _Holland_; and what is good, is so rare, that I had rather have it from any Place, than not at all. I was so delighted with the following Paragraph in the _Amsterdam_ Gazette of the 20th of _May_ 1712. _N.S._ that I cou’d not help transcribing, and turning it into _English_, that such Comfortable Tidings to _Men of Obscure Merit_, might be convey’d all over the Nation. And I shall endeavour to prove, that the Design there mention’d, is much likelier to succeed in _England_, than ever it was in _France_.

The Words of the _Dutch_ Gazette are as follows, in the Article from _London_.

_Il s’est formé ici depuis peu +une Societé pour recompenser & encourager le Mérite, par report aux beaux Arts+. Elle doit être composée de 21 Membres, dont il y en a déja 19 d’Arretez savoir les Ducs de Beaufort & d’Ormond; les Comites d’Arran & d’Orrery: les Lords Duplin, Gendre du Grand Tresorier; Harley, Fils dudit Tresorier; Lansdowne, Secretaire des Guerres; Masham & Bathurst: les Chevalier Windham: Messieurs St. Jean, Secretaire d’Etat: Harcourt Fils du Garde des Seaux; Raymond Solliciteur-General; les Colonels Hill & Desney; Swif, Docteur en Theologie; Prior Arbuthnott, Medicin de la Reine; & Friend, Medicin du Duc d’Ormond. Ces Messieurs, qui ont reservé de Nommer les Deux autre, Membres lors qu’ils le jugeront à propos, s’assemblant tous les Jeudis, & ont déja fait des gratifications à quelques Auteurs dont les ouvrages ont été goûtez, & recommandé d’autres aux Ministres d’Etat pour avoir quelque Etablissement._