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30 SENTIMENTS EXCITING LAUGHTER SHOULD BE EXCLUDED. are rather to be imputed to the Simplicity of the Age in which he lived, to which I may also add, of that which he described, than to any Imperfection in that Divine Poet. Zoilus, among the Ancients, and Monfieur Perrault, among the Moderns, pushed their Ridicule very far upon him, on account of some fuch Sentiments. There is no Blemish to be observed in Virgil under this Head, and but very few in Milton.

I shall give but one Inftance of this Impropriety of Sentiments in Homer, and at the fame time compare it with an Inftance of the fame nature, both in Virgil and Milton. Sentiments which raise Laughter, can very seldom be admitted with any decency into an Heroic Poem, whose Business it* is to excite Paffions of a much nobler Nature. Homer, however, in his Characters of Vulcan and Therfites, in his Story of Mars and Venus, in his Behaviour of Irus, and in other Paffages, has been observed to have lapsed into the Burlefque Character, and to have departed from that ferious Air which feems effential to the Magnificence of an Epic Poem. I remember but one Laugh in the whole Eneid, which rifes in the Fifth Book upon Monates, where he is represented as thrown overboard, and drying himself upon a Rock. But this Piece of Mirth is fo well timed, that the feverest Critick can have nothing to say against it, for it is in the Book of Games and Diversions, where the Reader's Mind may be supposed to be fufficiently relaxed for fuch an Entertainment. The only Piece of Pleasantry in Paradife Loft, is where the Evil Spirits are described as rallying the Angels upon the Success of their new invented Artillery. This Paffage I look upon to be the fillieft [moft exceptionable] in the whole Poem, as being nothing else but a string of Punns, and those too very indifferent ones.

-Satan beheld their Pight,

And to his Mates thus in derifion call'd.

O Friends, why come not on theje Victors proud!

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THE ONLY PIECE OF PLEASANTRY IN PARADISE LOST.' 31

E'er while they fierce were coming, and when we,
To entertain them fair with open Front,

And Breaft, (what could we more) propounded terms
Of Compofition, ftraight they chang'd their Minds,
Flew off, and into ftrange Vagaries fell,

As they would dance, yet for a Dance they feem'd
Somewhat extravagant, and wild, perhaps
For Joy of offer'd Peace; but I fuppofe
If our Propofals once again were heard,
We fhould compel them to a quick Result.

To whom thus Belial in like gamefome mood.
Leader, the Terms we fent, were Terms of weight,
Of hard Contents, and full of force urg'd home,
Such as we might perceive amus'd them all,
And stumbled many; who receives them right,
Had need, from Head to Foot, well understand;
Not understood, this Gift they have befides,
They fhew us when our Foes walk not upright.
Thus they among themfelves in pleafant vein
Stood fcoffing-

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The SPECTATOR.

Ne quicunque Deus, quicunque adhibebitur heros,
Regali confpectus in auro nuper & oftro,
Migret in Obfcuras humili fermone tabernas:
Aut dum vitat humum, nubes & inania captet.

Hor.

{But then they did not wrong themfelves fo much,
To make a God, a Hero, or a King
(Stript of his golden Crown, and purple Robe)
Defcend to a Mechanick Dialect;

Nor (to avoid fuch Meannefs) foaring high,
With empty Sound, and airy Notions, fly.

Roscommon.}

Saturday, January 26. 1712.

AVING already treated of the Fable, the Characters, and Sentiments in the Paradife Loft, we are in the last place to confider the Language; and as the learned World is very much divided upon Milton as to this Point, I hope they will excufe me if I appear particular in any of my Opinions, and encline to those who judge the most advantagiously of the Author.

It is requifite that the Language of an Heroic Poem should be both Perfpicuous and Sublime. In proportion as either of these two Qualities are wanting, the Language is imperfect. Perfpicuity is the first and most neceffary Qualification; infomuch, that a good-natured Reader fometimes overlooks a little Slip even in the Grammar or Syntax, where it is impoffible for him to mistake the Poet's Sense. Of this kind is that Paffage in Milton, wherein he speaks of Satan.

THE LANGUAGE SHOULD BE PERSPICUOUS AND SUBLIME. 33

God and his Son except,

Created thing nought valu'd he nor fhunn'd.

And that in which he describes Adam and Eve.

Adam the goodliest Man of Men fince born
His Sons, the fairest of her Daughters Eve.

It is plain, that in the former of these Paffages, according to the natural Syntax, the Divine Perfons mentioned in the firft Line are represented as created Beings; and that in the other, Adam and Eve are confounded with their Sons and Daughters. Such little Blemishes as these, when the Thought is great and natural, we should, with Horace, impute to a pardonable Inadvertency, or to the Weakness of Human Nature, which cannot attend to each minute Particular, and give the last finishing to every Circumstance in fo long a Work. The Ancient Criticks therefore, who were acted by a Spirit of Candour, rather than that of Cavilling, invented certain figures of Speech, on purpose to palliate little Errors of this nature in the Writings of thofe Authors, who had fo many greater Beauties to atone for them.

If Clearness and Perfpicuity were only to be confulted, the Poet would have nothing else to do but to cloath his Thoughts in the most plain and natural Expreffions. But, fince it often happens, that the most obvious Phrases, and those which are used in ordinary Conversation, become too familiar to the Ear, and contract a kind of Meannefs by paffing through the Mouths of the Vulgar, a Poet fhould take particular care to guard himself against Idiomatick ways of speaking. Ovid and Lucan have many Poorneffes of Expreffion upon this account, as taking up with the first Phrases that offered, without putting themselves to the trouble of looking after fuch as would not only have been natural, but also elevated and fublime. Milton has but few Failings in this kind, of which,

however, you may fee an Instance or two [meet with fome Instances, as] in the following Passages.

Embrio's and Idiots, Eremites and Fryars

White, Black, and Grey, with all their Trumpery, Here Pilgrims roam

Awhile Difcourfe they hold,

No fear left Dinner cool; when thus began
Our Author-

Who of all Ages to fucceed, but feeling
The Evil on him brought by me, will curfe
My Head, ill fare our Anceflor impure,
For this we may thank Adam-

The great Masters in Compofition know very well that many an elegant Phrafe becomes improper for a Poet or an Orator, when it has been debased by common use. For this reason the Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages, have a great Advantage over those which are written in Languages that are now spoken. Were there any mean Phrases or Idioms in Virgil and Homer, they would not shock the Ear of the most delicate Modern Reader, fo much as they would have done that of an old Greek or Roman, because we never hear them pronounced in our Streets, or in ordinary Conversation.

It is not therefore fufficient, that the Language of an Epic Poem be Perfpicuous, unless it be alfo Sublime. To this end it ought to deviate from the common Forms and ordinary Phrafes of Speech. The Judgment of a Poet very much discovers it self in fhunning the common Roads of Expreffion, without falling into fuch ways of Speech as may seem stiff and unnatural; he must not fwell into a false Sublime, by endeavouring to avoid the other Extream. Among the Greeks, Efchylus, and fometimes Sophocles, were guilty of this Fault; among the Latins, Claudian and Statius; and among our own Countrymen, Shakespear and Lee. In thefe Authors the Affectation of Greatnefs often hurts the Perfpicuity of the Stile, as in

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