36 A SUBLIME STYLE MAY BE FORMED BY INVERTING His uncouth way, or fpread his airy Flight -So both afcend In the Vifions of God B. 2.] Under this Head may be reckoned the placing the Adjective after the Subftantive, the tranfpofition of Words, the turning the Adjective into a Subftantive, with several other Foreign Modes of Speech, which this Poet has naturalized to give his Verse the greater Sound, and throw it out of Profe. The third Method mentioned by Ariftotle, is that which [what]agrees with the Genius of the Greek Language more than with that of any other Tongue, and is therefore more ufed by Homer than by any other Poet. I mean the (3) lengthning of a Phrafe by the Addition of Words, which may either be inferted or omitted, as also by the extending or contracting of particular Words by the Insertion or Omiffion of certain Syllables. Milton has put in practice this Method of raifing his Language, as far as the nature of our Tongue will permit, as in the Paffage above-mentioned, Eremite, [for] what is Hermit[e], in common Discourse. If you obferve the Measure of his Verfe, he has with great Judgment suppreffed a Syllable in feveral Words, and shortned thofe of two Syllables into one, by which Method, besides the abovementioned Advantage, he has given a greater Variety to his Numbers. But this Practice is more particularly remarkable in the Names of Perfons and Countries, as Beelzebub, Heffebon, and in many other Particulars, wherein he has either changed the Name, or made use of that which is not the most commonly known, that he might the better deviate from the Language of the Vulgar. The fame Reason recommended to him several old Words, which alfo makes his Poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater Air of Antiquity. I must likewise take notice, that there are in Milton OR LENGTHENING PHRASES. MILTON COINS WORDS. 37 several Words of his own Coining, as Cerberean, mifcreated, Hell-doom'd, Embryon Atoms, and many others. If the Reader is offended at this Liberty in our English Poet, I would recommend him to a Difcourfe in Plutarch, which fhews us how frequently Homer has made ufe of the fame Liberty. Milton, by the above-mentioned Helps, and by the choice of the noblest Words and Phrases which our Tongue wou'd afford him, has carried our Language to a greater height than any of the English Poets have ever done before or after him, and made the Sublimity of his Stile equal to that of his Sentiments. I have been the more particular in these Observations of Milton's Stile, because it is that part of him in which he appears the most fingular. The Remarks I have here made upon the Practice of other Poets, with my Obfervations out of Ariftotle, will perhaps alleviate the Prejudice which some have taken to his Poem upon this Account; tho' after all, I must confefs, that I think his Stile, tho' admirable in general, is in fome places too much stiffened and obfcured by the frequent ufe of thofe Methods, which Ariftotle has prescribed for the raising of it. This Redundancy of those several ways of Speech which Ariftotle calls foreign Language, and with which. Milton has fo very much enriched, and in fome places darkned the Language of his Poem, is [was] the more proper for his use, because his Poem is written in Blank Verse. Rhyme, without any other Affistance, throws the Language off from Profe, and very often makes an indifferent Phrafe pafs unregarded; but where the Verfe is not built upon Rhymes, there Pomp of Sound, and Energy of Expreffion, are indifpenfably neceffary to support the Stile, and keep it from falling into the Flatness of Prose. Those who have not a Tafte for this Elevation of Stile, and are apt to ridicule a Poet when he departs from the common Forms of Expreffion, would do well to fee how Ariftotle has treated an ancient Autho called Euclid, for his infipid Mirth upon this Occafion. Mr. Dryden ufed to call this fort of Men his ProfeCriticks. I should, under this Head of the Language, confider Milton's Numbers, in which he has made use of feveral Elifions, that are not cuftomary among other English Poets, as may be particularly obferved in his cutting off the Letter Y, when it precedes a Vowel. This, and fome other Innovations in the Measure of his Verfe, has varied his Numbers in fuch a manner, as makes them incapable of fatiating the Ear and cloying the Reader, which the fame uniform Measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual Returns of Rhyme never fail to do in long Narrative Poems. I fhall close these Reflections upon the Language of Paradife Loft, with obferving that Milton has copied after Homer, rather than Virgil, in the length of his Periods, the Copiousness of his Phrases, and the running of his Verfes into one another. The SPECTATOR. -Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis But in a Poem elegantly writ, I will not quarrel with a flight Miflake, Hor. Rofcommon. Saturday. February. 2. 1712. my Have now confider'd Milton's Paradife Loft under those four great Heads of the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Language; and have shewn that he excels, in general, under each of these Heads. I hope that I have made several Discoveries that [which] may appear new, even to those who are verfed in Critical Learning. Were I indeed to chuse Readers, by whofe Judgment I would stand or fall, they should not be fuch as are acquainted only with the French and Italian Criticks, but also with the Ancient and Moderns who have written in either of the learned Languages. Above all, I would have them well versed in the Greek and Latin Poets, without which a Man very often fancies that he understands a Critick, when in reality he does not comprehend his Meaning. It is in Criticism, as in all other Sciences and Speculations; one who brings with him any implicit Notions and Obfervations which he has made in his reading of the Poets, will find his own Reflections methodized and explained, and perhaps several little Hints that had paffed in his Mind, perfected and im 40 A CRITIC MUST HAVE A CLEAR & LOGICAL HEAD: & OUGHT proved in the Works of a good Critick; whereas one who has not these previous Lights, is very often an utter Stranger to what he reads, and apt to put a wrong Interpretation upon it. Nor is it fufficient, that a Man who fets up for a Judge in Criticism, should have perused the Authors above-mentioned, unless he has alfo a clear and Logical Head. Without this Talent he is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own Blunders, mistakes the Sense of those he would confute, or if he chances to think right, does not know how to convey his Thoughts to another with Clearness and Perfpicuity. Ariftotle, who was the best Critick, was also one of the best Logicians that ever appeared in the World. Mr. Lock's Effay on Human Understanding would be thought a very odd Book for a Man to make himself Master of, who would get a Reputation by Critical Writings; though at the fame time it is very certain, that an Author who has not learn'd the Art of diftinguishing between Words and Things, and of ranging his Thoughts, and fetting them in proper Lights, whatever Notions he may have, will lose himself in Confufion and Obfcurity. I might further observe, that there is not a Greek or Latin Critick, who has not shewn, even in the stile of his Criticisms, that he was a Master of all the Elegance and Delicacy of his Native Tongue. The truth of it is, there is nothing more abfurd, than for a Man to fet up for a Critick, without a good Insight into all the Parts of Learning; whereas many of those who have endeavoured to signalize themselves by Works of this Nature among our English Writers, are not only defective in the above-mentioned Particulars, but plainly discover by the Phrases which they make ufe of, and by their confufed way of thinking, that they are not acquainted with the most common and ordinary Systems of Arts and Sciences. A few general Rules extracted out of the French Authors, with a certain Cant of Words, has fometimes fet up an Illiterate heavy Writer for a moft judicious and formidable Critick. |