He trudg'd along unknowing what he fought, There is not a more natural Picture in Language than this. Of the fame Kind is that of Iphigenia fleeping by the Fountain: The very Numbers exprefs the Wantonnefs of the Wind fo livelily, that we feel the Air, and are fanned by it while we read them, which I think has had the good Luck to escape Obfervation : Her Bofom to the View was only bare ; Mr. Dryden was 68 Years old when he wrote this Fable, which I have always taken for a Mafter-piece, with Refpect to natural Thoughts, which are always agreeable, and harmonious Numbers. The Reader will perceive, that I do not forbear quoting fine Paffages, because they are in the Spectator. I cannot allow of his Foreftalling the Market; and befides, I take his Example to be preferable to his Precept. Himfelf does not itick to quote even from himfelf; as, N° 91. Sidley has that prevailing gentle Art, &c. And again, N° Sidley has that prevailing gentle Art, &c. Guard 110. Motto Non ego paucis, Offendor maculis. Spec. 291. Motto Non ego paucis, Offendor maculis. This however I will declare in my own Behalf, that I have quoted nothing from him which he has quoted from Milton or Dryden, but what I had before collected my felf as remarkable Paffages in their feveral Kinds of Thinking. What follows, taken out of Mr. Charles Hopkins's Verfes to the Earl of Dorfet, is of the agreeable Kind: As Nature does in new-born Infants frame Whofe Having gone through a formy and tempeftuous Season of various Mifery, we arrive at a fudden Brightness and Splendour, a most unexpected Order, and glorious Calm and Sunshine. The Splendour and Brightness harder to be born than the preceeding Clouds and Darkness. What is Stormy and Tempestuous? what Brightnefs, Sunfhine, and Splendour? What Clouds and Darknefs? but other Words for the fame Things, and inftead of Amplification comes under the Denomination of another Figure very common in fuch puffy Rhetorick, call'd Tautology, which I am afraid the Hiftorian and his Admirers miitake for the Sublime, there being but very few that can diftinguifh Sound from Senfe, or Wind from Spirit. Let a Difcourfe be never fo fine, fays Rapin, it lofes its worth when 'tis out of its Place, and appears affected. Affectation in Stile has the fame Effect with ordinary Judges as Affectation in Air has with Women and Fops. It paffes upon them for Politeness; and Delicacy, tho' there is nothing more vicious in Language. Imght fill a Volume with Examples of this Vice, taken out of the Earl of Clarendon, and the Archdeacon's Hiftorics, but as I had never troubled my self about them, had there been nothing in them but Want of Method, and an affected Stile, I fhall content my felf with two or three Obfervations only, which are fufficient to convince all thofe that can judge right; and as for others, I have not Leifure nor Words enough to attempt it. on He fays the Sight of the Gloucefter Aldermen at once gave Mirth to the most fevere Countenances, and Sadness to the most cheerful Hearts. What Idea can one have of thefe Cavaliers, as he expreffes himself, but that of fome Idiots whom we have feen to laugh and cry in a Breath. He has two Expreffions about Mines, which are very extraordinary, both as he is a Naturalift and as he is an Orator: The one is the Brafs-Mine in Cumberland, the ly Brass-Mine that ever was, or ever will be in the World. A Copper-Mine might have been found out there, and a Mine of Lapis calaminaris, which put together, would produce Brafs enough, if there were Ore enough. Where he fpeaks of the Cleanlinefs of his Writing, he intimates, that he is one of thofe who dive into the rich Mines of Nature. What can one imagine about diving better than that of a Duck and a Dog in a Pond, or Boys in the Bath? To dive into a Mine, methinks, is like running a Man's Head into a Rock. If he had faid he had been digging in the rich Mines of Nature, one might have expected fome Mettal to have come of it, of one Sort or another. When the Parliament, that brought in King Charles II, met the first Time, Mr. Echard fays, We are now arrived at the VAST Day, which I humbly conceive to be beyond Conception, and a ftrange Specimen of the Author's Talent in Elocution. He had a mind to make this Day fomething prodigious and uncommon, and therefore fwells it up with an Epithet which burfts in the Operation. VAST might have been proper, if he had been speaking of the Ton of Heidelbergh, or Admiral Ruffel's Punch Bowl at Lisbon: But under what Figure will he put Day for the Word VAST to become it well? Doctor Littleton in his Dictionary makes V AST to be huge, burly; wide, broad, large, and what is much lefs for the Archdeacon's Purpose, mishapen, ill-favoured, defolate, infatiable, outragious; put Day to ever a one of them, and fee how the Coat fits. Mr. Bailey in his very good Dictionary is contented with two or three Interpretions only, as a huge Day, a fpacious Day. Ludlow, I believe, would have followed Littleton, and then for VAST would have underflood defolate Day, ill-fhapen Day, insatiable Day; fo dangerous is it for People to meddle with Words which they do not understand. Of all the Blunders in Expreffion which are to be avoided, there was the best Provifion made against this that could be, if a Man had had the leaft Acquaintance with the politer Authors, Monfieur St. Evremont having written a Differtation on this very Word VAST, and whoever reads it, will pity a Writer who could fall into fo grofs an Errour, if there were no Malice in what he had written. I fuppofe that almost all Mr. Echard's Readers have taken this VAST in the Senfe he intended for Important, and if he had faid this Mountainous Day, it would have done as well: They would have expected a Birth from the Mountain, and the Arch-Deacon's Hiftory is a Labour of the fame Kind. As we in England are apt to confound Sentiments and Expreffions, fo we do the fame by Talents, and think if a Man can make a School-Book or two, he can write a Hiftory. Jeremiah Collier wrote a fhort View of the Stage; which fold wonderfully, and immediately the Bookfellers 3 hir'd hir'd him to write Three Hiftories in Folio: And I queftion not but, because Sir Ifaac Newton has outdone all Philofophers in his Treatife of Fluxions, they would employ him in Heroick Poetry, if he were young enough, and would be employ'd by them. There was a Pertuefs in Collier's Stile, which was miftaken for Vivacity, and tho' there cannot be any Thing more affected, yet it recommends his Effays, Views, &c. as fomewhat in the Perfection of our Language. I wonder Dr. Felton fhould forget him, when he mentions Sir Roger L'Etrange, Mr. Trap, and other masterly Writers. You cannot name Collier's Views, Effays, &c. in Company, but fome body or other immediately cries out, Ay! that's Fine. Wonderful fine, as will be feen prefently. In his Effays he has this Expreffion, A Man may act an Excellency for the Satisfaction of Significancy, which has the fame Effect in Profe, as it is obferv'd of fome good Verses, that the Smoothness or Roughness of the Numbers are an Image of the Roughnefs or Smoothness of the Thing. You can hardly pronounce thefe Words without a prim Look, and fcrewing up your Mouth with the Affectation of a Girl at a Boarding-School. Would one imagine that this was faid by the fame Author in another place; Nothing is more nauseous than to be affected: And yet fee further, Don't let Mifs fuffer her Heels to get too much into her Head, not to fay any Thing about the Attitude, which would be very extraordinary in a Picture. Again, Seeing and Hearing are the most creditable Senfes the Brain has an unpromising Afpect, which cannot be known without Diffection. What Idea does this leave upon the Mind? or this, APRINCE made but a lame Figure in Comparison with our APOSTLE. One would think Collier had Prince Prettiman and the Spanish Fryer in his Head when he wrote it. He is fo fond of this Conceit, that he endeavours to prove, in his Effay on Theft, and elsewhere, that our Saviour's Difciples were Men of Quality, well-born, and well-bred, and if they did fish at any time, 'twas only for their Pleafure. As the Barber of Northampton told Estcourt,He was a Doctor by Profession, and fhav'd only for his Diverfion. But Collier feems to have lefs Regard for his Brotherhood in the laft Centuries, when he informs us that by Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions a Clergyman could not marry till he had made I. Oh the charming Month of May, II. Oh what Foys our Prospects yield! III. Oh how fresh the Morning Air! Tho' there is little Meaning here, yet the Dancing of the Words and the Sprightlinefs of the Images, make it a prettier Lyrick than our Italian Opera's can produce. According to my Conception nothing can be prettier than this Thought of Buchanan. Illa mihi femper prefenti dura Neera; Thefe Verfes of Mr. Waller are, methinks, as pretty as they are gallant: Phillis, why should we delay Pleafures fhorter than the Day! Cou'd we, which we never can, Stretch our Lives beyond their Span; Beauty like a Shadow flies, And our Youth before us dies. Love bath fwifter Wings than Time, &c. I Notice |