{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15870/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15870","id":"gutenberg_15870","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15870","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Genius","Hebrew poetry -- History and criticism"],"text":"Produced by David Starner, Sankar Viswanathan and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                         Series Four\n                  _Men, Manners and Critics_\n\n\n                              No. 2\n\n        Anonymous, \"Of Genius\", in _The Occasional Paper_,\n                  Volume III, Number 10 (1719)\n\n                               and\n\n           Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720)\n\n\n                     With an Introduction by\n                        Gretchen Graf Pahl\n\n\n\n                   The Augustan Reprint Society\n                           March, 1949\n                       _Price: One Dollar_\n\n\n\n\n\n                        _GENERAL EDITORS_\n\n\n            RICHARD C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_\n\n   EDWARD NILES HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n\n   H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_\n\n\n                       _ASSISTANT EDITOR_\n\n            W. EARL BRITTON, _University of Michigan_\n\n\n                       _ADVISORY EDITORS_\n\n          EMMETT L. AVERY, _State College of Washington_\n\n             BENJAMIN BOYCE, _University of Nebraska_\n\n           LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, _University of Michigan_\n\n                CLEANTH BROOKS, _Yale University_\n\n             JAMES L. CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_\n\n             ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_\n\n             SAMUEL H. MONK, _University of Minnesota_\n\n              ERNEST MOSSNER, _University of Texas_\n\n          JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary College, London_\n\n\n\n\n\n            Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author\n                                by\n                      Edwards Brothers, Inc.\n                   Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note: Some of the latin footnotes and the errata were\ndifficult or impossible to read. These are annotated.]\n\n\n\n\n                           INTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe anonymous essay \"Of Genius,\" which appeared in the\n_Occasional Paper_ of 1719, still considers \"genius\" largely a\nmatter of aptitude or talent, and applies the term to the\n\"mechanick\" as well as the fine arts. The work is, in fact,\nessentially a pamphlet on education. The author's main concern is\ntraining, and study, and conscious endeavor. Naturally enough,\nhis highest praise--even where poetry is in question--is reserved\nfor those solid Augustan virtues of \"judgment\" and \"good sense.\"\n\nAnd yet the pamphlet reveals some of the tangled roots from which\nthe later concept of the \"original\" or \"primitive\" genius grew.\nFor here are two prerequisites of that later, more extravagant\nconcept. One is the author's positive delight in the infinite\ndifferences of human temperaments and talents--a delight from\nwhich might spring the preference for original or unique works of\nart. The other is his conviction that there is something\nnecessary and foreordained about those differences: a conviction\nessential to faith in the artist who is apparently at the mercy\nof a genius beyond his own control. The importance of this latter\nbelief was long ago indicated in Paul Kaufman's \"Heralds of\nOriginal Genius.\"\n\nWhile his tone is perhaps more exuberant than that of most of his\nimmediate contemporaries, there is nothing particularly new in\nour author's interest in those aspects of human nature which\nrender a man different from his fellows. It is true that the main\nstress of neoclassical thought had rested on the fundamental\nlikeness of all men in all ages, and had sought an ideal and\nuniversal norm in morals, conduct, and art. But there had always\nbeen counter currents making for a recognition of the inescapable\ndifferences among various races and individuals. Such deviations\nwere often merely tolerated, but toward the close of the\nseventeenth century more and more voices had praised human\ndiversity. England, in particular, began to take notice of the\nnumber of \"originals\" abounding in the land.\n\nAt least as old as the delight in human differences was the\nbelief in the foreordained nature of at least those differences\nresulting in specific vocational aptitudes. This is the\nconviction that each man has at birth--innately and inevitably--a\npeculiar \"bent\" for some particular contribution to human\nsociety. Environment is not ignored by the man who wrote \"Of\nGenius,\" for he insists that each man's bent may be greatly\ndeveloped by favorable circumstances and proper education, and,\nconversely, that it may be entirely frustrated by unpropitious\ncircumstances or wilful neglect. But in no way can a man's inborn\ntalent for one thing be converted to a talent for anything else.\n\nIn the works of many Augustan writers, too, it is easy to see how\nthe enthusiasm for individualism, later to become one of the\nhallmarks of romanticism, actually sprang from an earlier faith\nin a God-directed universe of law and order. There is a kind of\nuniversal law of supply and demand, and the argument is simply\nthat each link in the human chain, like those in the animate and\ninanimate worlds above and below it, is predestined to a specific\nfunction for the better ordering of the whole. Lewis Maidwell,\nfor instance, still employs the medieval and Renaissance analogy\nof the correspondence between the human body and the social\norganism (_An Essay upon the Necessity and Excellency of\nEducation_):\n\n    Upon Consideration we find this Difference of Tempers to\n    arise from Providence, and the Law of the Creation, and to\n    be most Evident in al Irrational, and Inanimat Beings ... One\n    Man is no more design'd for Al Arts, than Al Arts for\n    One Man. We are born Confaederats, mutually to help One\n    another, therefor appropriated in the Body Politic, to\n    this, or that Busyness, as our Members are in the Natural\n    to perform their separat Offices.\n\nThis same comparison between the body politic and the body human\noccurs in the essay of 1719, and even the author's chief analogy\ndrawn from musical harmony bears with it some of the flavor of an\nolder system of universal correspondences. His comparison of the\nforce of genius to the pull of gravity, however, evokes a newer\npicture. Yet it is a picture no less orderly and one from which\nthe preordained function of each individual could be just as\nlogically derived. And his rhapsodic praise of the infinite\ndiversity of human temperaments is based on that favorite\ncomparison with natural scenery and that familiar canon of\nneoclassical esthetics: ordered variety within unity, whether it\nbe in nature or in art.\n\nThe author of the pamphlet of 1719 introduces another refinement\non the idea of an inborn bent or genius. A man is born not only\nwith a peculiar aptitude for the vocation of writing, but with a\npeculiar aptitude for a particular _style_ of writing. Some such\naptitude had presumably resulted in that individuality of style,\nthat particular \"character,\" which 17th-century Biblical critics\nwere busily searching out in each of the writers of Scripture.\n\nIndividuality or originality in the form or plan of a work of\nart, however, was quite another thing, and praise of it far more\nrare. Yet there had always been protests against the imposition\nof a universal classical standard, and our author's insistence\nthat some few geniuses have the right to discard the \"Rules of\nArt\" and all such \"Leading-strings\" follows a well-worn path of\nreasoning. His scientific analogy, drawn from those natural\nphilosophers who had cast off the yoke of Aristotle and all\n\"other Mens Light,\" is one which had appeared at least as early\nas 1661 in Robert Boyle's _Considerations Touching the Style of\nHoly Scripture_. It had been reiterated by Dryden and several\nothers who refused to recognize an _ipse dixit_ in letters any\nmore than in science.\n\nIt must be noted, however, that this rejection of authority for a\nfew rare individuals in no way constitutes a rejection of reason\nor conscious art. The genius has the right to cast off the\nfetters only after he has well studied them. Only in one instance\ndoes our author waver toward another conception. This is when he\npauses to echo Rowe's preface to Shakespeare and Addison's famous\n_Spectator_ no. 160. Then indeed he boasts that England has had\nmany \"Originals\" who, \"without the help of Learning, by the meer\nForce of natural Ability, have produc'd Works which were the\nDelight of their own Times, and have been the Wonder of\nPosterity.\" But when he doubts whether learning would have helped\nor \"spoiled\" them, it is hard to escape the conclusion that he is\nstill poised on the horns of the typical neoclassical antithesis:\nthat supposed enmity between reason, which was generally thought\nto create the form of the poem, and the emotions and imagination,\nwhich were considered largely responsible for its style.\n\nOnly when the admiration for such emotional and imaginative\nqualities should outweigh the desire for symmetrical form; when\n\"primitive\" literature should be preferred to Virgil and Horace;\nand when this preference should be joined with a belief in the\ndiversity and fatality of literary bents--only then could the\nconcept of original genius burst into full bloom.\n\nIn Aaron Hill's preface to the paraphrase of Genesis, published\nin 1720, we find no preoccupation with the fatality of\ntemperament and style. But we do find a rising discontent with\nthe emptiness and restraint of much contemporary verse, and a\nvery real preference for a more meaningful and a more emotional\nand imaginative poetry. We find, in fact, a genuine appreciation\nfor the poetry of the Old Testament--a poetry which Biblical\nscholars like Le Clerc were already viewing as the product of\nuntrained primitives.\n\nHill was not alone in his admiration for Biblical style, for the\npraise of the \"unclassical\" poetry of the Bible, which had begun\nin the Renaissance, had swelled rather than diminished during the\nneoclassical age. By the second decade of the 18th century such\nAugustans as Dennis, Gildon, and Pope were crying up its\nbeauties. Not all agreed, of course, on just what those beauties\nwere. And still less did they agree on the extent to which\ncontemporary poetry should imitate them.\n\nOne thing upon which almost all would have agreed, however, was\nthe adoption of the historical point of view in the approach to\nHebrew poetry. Yet many of Hill's predecessors had stopped short\nwith the historical justification. Blackmore, for instance, had\ncondemned as bigots and sectarians all those who denied that the\nHebrew way was as great as the classical. He had pronounced it a\nmere accident of fate that modern poetry of Western Europe was\nmodeled on that of Greece and Rome rather than on that of ancient\nIsrael. But he had been perfectly willing to accept that\nfate--and to remodel the form and style of the book of Job on\nwhat he considered the pattern of the classical epic.\n\nHill is as far as most of his contemporaries from appreciating\nsuch a literal translation as the King James Version. On the\nother hand, he is one of a small group of critics who were\nbeginning to see that at least certain aspects of Biblical style\nwere of universal appeal; that they might be as effective\npsychologically for the modern Englishman as for the ancient Jew.\nAnd he sees in this collection of ancient Oriental literature a\ncorrective for some of the worst tendencies of a degenerate\ncontemporary poetry.\n\nHill's attack upon the current preoccupation with form and\npolish, and his contempt for mere smoothness, for the padded\nredundancy of Addison and the elaborate rhetoric of Trapp, are\nall part of a campaign waged by a small group of critics to make\npoetry once again a vehicle of the very highest truth. He\ninsists, too, that great thought cannot be contained within the\nuntroubled cadences of the heroic couplet. His own preference led\nto the freer, though currently unfashionable, Pindaric, the\nirregularity of which seemed justified by Biblical example, for\ndespite a century and a half of study and speculation the secret\nof Biblical verse had not been solved and to most critics even\nthe Psalms appeared devoid of any pattern. Indeed, Cowley had\ndeclared that in their freedom of structure and abruptness of\ntransition the odes of Pindar were like nothing so much as the\npoetry of Israel.\n\nIn addition, Hill would have the modern poet profit by another\nquality of Biblical style: its magic combination of a\n\"magnificent Plainness\" with the \"Spirit of Imagery.\" This is the\nHebrew virtue of concrete suggestiveness, so highly prized by\n20th-century critics and so alien to the generalized abstractions\nand the explicit clarity of much 18th-century poetry.\n\nIn consonance with those who believed poetry best communicated\ntruth because it appealed to man's senses and emotions as well as\nto his logical faculty, Hill praises those \"pictur'd Meanings of\nPoetry\" which \"enflame a Reader's Will, and bind down his\nAttention.\" Yet his analysis of Trapp's metaphorical expansions\nof Biblical imagery reveals that Hill does not like detailed\ndescriptions or long-drawn-out comparisons. Instead, he admires\nthe Hebrew ability to spring the imagination with a few vividly\nconcrete details. Prior to Hill one can find, in a few\nparaphrasers and critics like Denham and Lamy, signs of an\nappreciation of the concrete suggestiveness of the Bible, but\nmost of the hundreds of paraphrasers had felt it desirable to\nexpand Biblical images to beautify and clarify them. Hill was\napparently the first to prove the esthetic loss in such a\npractice by an analysis of particular paraphrastic expansions.\n\nDespite his theory, however, Hill's own paraphrase seems almost\nas artificial and un-Biblical as those he condemns. He often\nforgets the principles he preaches. But even in his preface there\nis evident a blind spot that is a mark of his age. His false\nideas of decorum, admiration for Milton, and approval of Dennis's\ninterpretation of the sublime as the \"vast\" and the \"terrible,\"\nall lead him to condemn the \"low\" or the familiar. And his own\nefforts to \"raise\" both his language and his comparisons to suit\nthe \"high\" Biblical subject, result in personifications, compound\nepithets, and a Miltonic vocabulary, by which the very simplicity\nhe himself found in the Bible is destroyed.\n\nAnother decade was to pass before John Husbands would demonstrate\na clear appreciation for the true simplicity of the Bible and\npraise its \"penmen\" in terms close to those employed to describe\noriginal genius.\n\n                                              Gretchen Graf Pahl\n\n                                              Pomona College\n\n\nThe essay \"Of Genius,\" from the _Occasional Paper_ (1719), is\nreproduced from a copy in the New York Public Library. The\ntypescript of Aaron Hill's preface is based on a copy in the\nHenry E. Huntington Library. Both works are used with\npermission.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                               THE\n\n                        OCCASIONAL PAPER.\n\n                        VOL. III. NUMB. X.\n\n                                OF\n\n                             GENIUS.\n\n\n\n\n\n     The Cartesian _Categories are contain'd in these two\n    Verses,_\n\n\n      Mens, mensura, quies, motus, positura, Figura, Sunt,\n      cum materia, cunctarum Exordia rerum.\n\n\n\n_The Spiritual Nature_, Mens, _is at the head of All. It\n     ought to be look'd on here, as a Transcendent Nature,_\n     quae vagatur per omnes Categorias.\n\n\n                Bayle's Diction. _on the Heathen Doctrine of\n                  many_ Genij. See _CAINITES_.\n\n\n\n                            _LONDON_:\n\n              Printed for EM. MATTHEWS at the _Bible_\n                in _Pater-Noster-Row_; J. ROBERTS, in\n               _Warwick-Lane_; J. HARRISON, under the\n               _Royal Exchange_; and A. DODD, without\n               _Temple-Bar_. MDCCXIX.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                OF\n\n                              GENIUS.\n\n\nIt is a Matter of common Observation, that there is a vast\nVariety in the Bent of Mens Minds. Some have a Taste of one Way\nof Living, some of another; some have a Turn for one kind of\nEmployment, others for what is quite different. Whether this be\nfrom the Constitution of the Mind itself, as some Soils are more\napt to produce some Plants and Herbs than others; or from the\nLaws of Union between the Body and Mind, as some Climates are\nmore kindly to nurse particular Vegetables than others; or from\nthe immediate Impulse of that Power which governs the World, is\nnot so easy to determine.\n\nWe ascribe this to a difference of _Genius_ amongst Men. _Genius_\nwas a Deity worshipped by the Ancient Idolaters: Sometimes as the\nGod of _Nature_; sometimes as the God of a particular _City_ or\n_Country_, or _Fountain_, or _Wood_, or the like; sometimes as\nthe Guardian and Director of a _single Person._\n\n   Exuitur, _Geniumq; meum_ prostratus adorat.\n         Propert. _l_. 4. _El._ 9 V. 43.\n\nThe Heathens had a Notion, that every Man upon his Birth was\ngiven up to the[A] Conduct of some invisible Being, who was to\nform his Mind, and govern and direct his Life. This _Being_ the\n_Greeks_ called[B] [Greek: Daimon or Daimonion]; the _Latins,\nGenius_. Some of them suppos'd a[D] Pair of _Genij_ were to\nattend every _Man_ from his Birth; one Good, always putting him\non the Practice of Virtue; the other Bad, prompting him to a\nvicious Behaviour; and according as their several Suggestions\nwere most attended to, the Man became either Virtuous or Vicious\nin his Inclinations: And from this Influence, which the _Genius_\nwas suppos'd to have towards forming the Mind, the Word was by\ndegrees made to stand for the Inclination itself. Hence[E]\n_indulgere Genio_ with the _Latins_ signifies, to give Scope to\nInclination, and more commonly to what is none of the best. On\nthe other Hand, [F]_Defraudare Genium_, signifies to deny Nature\nwhat it craves.\n\n  [A] _Ferunt Theologi, in lucem editis Hominibus cunctis, Salva\n  firmitate fatali, bujusmodi quedam, velut actus vectura, numina\n  Sociari: Admodum tamen paucissimis visa, quos multiplices\n  auxere virtutes. Idque & Oracula & Autores docuerunt praclari_.\n  Ammian Marcel Lib. 21.\n\n  [B] [Greek: Hapanti Daimon andri symparistatai\n              Euthys genomeno mystagogos tou biou. Menan]\n\n  [C] Scit Genius Natale comes, qui temperat Astrum, Nature Deus\n  Humana. Horat. [Transcriber's Note: This footnote is not seen\n  in the text.]\n\n  [D] _Volunt unicuique Genium appositum Damonem benum & malum,\n  hoc est rationem qua ad meliora semper boriatur, & libidinem\n  qua ad pejora, hic est Larva & Genius malus, ille bonus Genius\n  & Lar._ Serv. in Virgil, Lib. 6. v. 743.\n\n  [E] _Indulge Genio: carpamus dulcia_. Pers. Sat. 5.\n\n  [F] _Suum defraudans Genium._ Terent. Phorm. Act 1.\n\nBut a _Genius_ in common Acceptation amongst _us_, doth not\nbarely answer to this Sense. The _Pondus Animae_ is to be taken\ninto its Meaning, as well as the bare Inclination; as Gravitation\nin a Body (to which this bears great Resemblance) doth not barely\nimply a determination of its Motion towards a certain Center, but\nthe _Vis_ or Force with which it is carried forward; and so the\n_English_ Word _Genius_, answers to the same _Latin_ Word, and\n_Ingenium_ together. [G]_Ingenium_ is the _Vis ingenita_, the\nnatural Force or Power with which every Being is indued; and\nthis, together with the particular Inclination of the Mind,\ntowards any Business, or Study, or Way of Life, is what we mean\nby a _Genius_. Both are necessary to make a Man shine in any\nStation or Employment. Nothing considerable can be done against\nthe Grain, or as the _Latins_ express it, _invita Minerva_, in\nspite of Power and Inclination, \"Forc'd Studies, says[H]\n_Seneca_, will never answer: The Labour is in vain where Nature\nrecoils.\" Indeed, where the Inclination towards any Thing is\nstrong, Diligence and Application will in a great Measure supply\nthe Defect of natural Abilities: But then only is in a finish'd\n_Genius_, when with a strong Inclination there is a due\nProportion of Force and Vigour in the Mind to pursue it.\n\n  [G] _Ingenium quasi intus genitum_.\n\n  [H] _Male respondent ingenia coacta; reluctante natura irritus\n  Labor est._\n\nThere is a vast Variety of these Inclinations among Mankind. Some\nthere are who have no bent to Business at all; but, if they could\nindulge Inclination, would doze out Life in perpetual Sloth and\nInactivity: Others can't be altogether Idle, but incline only to\ntrifling and useless Employments, or such as are altogether out\nof Character. Both these sorts of Men are properly good for\nnothing: They just live, and help to[I] consume the Products of\nthe Earth, but answer no valuable End of Living, out of\nInclination I mean; Providence and good Government have sometimes\nmade them serviceable against it.\n\n  [I] _Fruges consumere nati_. Horat.\n\nThe better, and in Truth only valuable, Part of Mankind, have a\nTurn for one sort of Business or other, but with great variety of\nTaste. Some are addicted to deep Thought and Contemplation: Some\nto the abstracted Speculations of Metaphysicks; some to the\nevident Demonstrations of the Mathematicks; some to the History\nof Nature, built upon true Narration, or accurate Observations\nand Experiments: Some to the Invention of _Hypotheses_, to solve\nthe various _Phenomena_. Some affect the study of Languages,\nCriticism, Oratory, Poetry, and such like Studies. Some have a\nTaste for Musick, some for History and those Sciences which must\nhelp to Accuracy in it: Some have Heads turned for Politicks, and\nothers for Wars. Some few there are of such quick and strong\nFaculties, as to grasp at every thing, and who have made a very\neminent Figure in several Professions at once. We have known in\nour Days the same Men learned in the Laws, acute Philosophers,\nand deep Divines: We have known others at once eloquent Orators,\nbrave Soldiers, and finished Statesmen. But these Instances are\nrare.\n\nThe more general Inclination among Men is to some Mechanical\nBusiness. Of this there is most general Use for the Purposes of\nHuman Life, and it needs most Hands to carry it on. The bulk of\nMankind seem turned for some or other of these Employments, and\nmake them their Choice; and were not such a multiplicity of Hands\nengaged in them, great part of the Conveniencies of Human Life\nwould be wanting. But even the Multitude of these Employments\nleaves room for great variety of Inclinations, and for different\n_Genij_, to display and exert themselves.\n\nThis is an admirable and wise Provision to answer every End and\nOccasion of Mankind, for a sure and harmonious Concurrence of\nMens Actions to all the necessary and useful Affairs of the\nWorld. When in very different Ways, but with equal Pleasure and\nApplication, they contribute to the Order and Service of the\nwhole. Mr. _Dryden_ has given an Hint, how we may form a\nbeautiful and pleasing Idea of this from the Powers of Musick,\nthat arise from the Variety and artful Composition of Sounds.\n\n        _From Harmony, from Heavenly Harmony,\n      This Universal Frame began.\n      From Harmony to Harmony,\n      Thro' all the Compass of the Notes it ran,\n      The Diapasm closing full in Man._\n\nThere seems to be a wonderful Likeness in the natural Make of\nMens Minds to the various Tones and Measures of Sounds; and in\ntheir Inclinations and most pleasing Tastes to the several Styles\nand Manners of Musick. Something there is in the Mind, of alike\nComposition, that is easily touch'd by the kindred Harmony of\nMusick,\n\n      _For Man may justly tuneful Strains admire,\n       His Soul is Musick, and his Breast a Lyre._\n\nWe have all the Materials of Musick in the Tones and Measure. For\nthe infinite Variety Composition admits of, can be nothing else,\nbut higher or lower Tones, stronger or softer Sounds, with a\nslower or swifter Motion. The Artist, by an harmonious Mixture\nof these, makes the Musick either strong and martial, brisk and\nairy, grave and solemn, or soft and moving.\n\nThere seems to be in Man a Composition of natural Powers and\nCapacities, not unlike to these. From hence I would take the\nfirst Original of their distinguishing _Genij_. The Words by\nwhich they are usually explain'd, have a manifest Allusion\nhereto. Thus we say of some Men, they have a brisk and airy\n_Genius_; of others, they have a strong and active _Genius_, a\nquick and lively Spirit, a grave and solemn Temper, and the like.\nThe different readiness of Apprehension, strength of Judgment,\nvivacity of Fancy and Imagination, with a more or less active\nDisposition, and the several Mixtures of which these Powers are\ncapable, are sufficient to explain this. They may shew us how\nsome have a particular _Genius_ for Wit and Humour, others for\nThought and Speculation. Whence it is, some love a constant and\npersevering Application to whatever they undertake; and others\nare continually jumping from one Thing to another, without\nfinishing any thing at all.\n\nBut we do not only consider in Musick these Materials, as I may\ncall them, of which it is composed; but also the Style and\nManner. This diversifies the _Genius_ of the Composer, and\nproduces the most sensible and touching Difference. There is in\nall Musick the natural difference of Tone and Measure. They are\nto be found in the most vulgar Compositions of a Jig or an\nHornpipe. But it is a full Knowledge of the Force and Power of\nSounds, and a judicial Application of them to the several\nIntentions of Musick, that forms the Style of a _Purcel_ or\n_Corelli_. This is owing to successive Improvements. The Ear is\nformed to an elegant Judgment by Degrees. What is harsh and\nharmonious is discovered and corrected. By many Advantages, some\nat last come to find out what, in the whole Compass of Sounds, is\nmost soft and touching, most brisk and enlivening, most lofty and\nelevating. So that whatever the Artist intends, whether to set an\nAir, or compose a _Te Deum_, he does either, with an equal\n_Genius_, that is, with equal Propriety and Elegance. Thus long\nago,\n\n      Timotheus _to his breathing flute, and sounding Lyre,\n      Could swell the Soul to Rage, or kindle soft Desire._\n                        And,\n     _Thus_ David'_s Lyre did_ Saul'_s wild Rage controul,\n      And tune the harsh Disorders of his Soul._\n\nThis may direct us to another Cause, from whence a _Genius_\narises: A _Genius_ that is formed and acquired. For the Turn that\nEducation, Company, Business, the Taste of the Age, and above\nall, Principles of vitious or virtuous Manners, give to a Man's\nnatural Capacities, is what chiefly forms his _Genius_. Thus we\nsay of some, they have a rude unpolish'd _Genius_; of others,\nthey have a fine, polite _Genius_. The manner of applying the\nnatural Powers of the Mind, is what alone may produce the most\ndifferent and opposite _Genij_. Libertine Principles, and\nVirtuous Morals, may form the Genius of a _Rake_, from the same\nnatural Capacity, out of which Virtuous Principles might have\nform'd an _Hero_.\n\nThere is certainly in our natural Capacities themselves, a\nFitness for some Things, and Unfitness for others. Thus whatever\ngreat Capacities a Man may have, if he is naturally timorous, or\na Coward, he never can have a Warlike _Genius_. If a Man has not\na good Judgment, how great soever his Wit may be, or polite his\nManners, he never will have the _Genius_ of a Statesman. Just as\nstrong Sounds and brisk Measures can never touch the softer\nPassions. Yet as the Art and Skill of the Composer, is required\nto the _Genius_ of Musick, so is a Knowledge of the Force and\nPower of the natural Capacity, and a judicious Application of it\nto the best and most proper Purposes, what forms a _Genius_ for\nany Thing. This is the effect of Care, Experience and a right\nImprovement of every Advantage that offers. On this Observation\n_Horace_ founded his Rules for a Poetical _Genius_.\n\n       _Versate diu quid sere recusent\n      Quid valeant humeri._\n                       And,\n       _Ego nec studium sine divite vena,\n      Nec rude quid profit video ingenium._\n\n       _To speak my Thoughts, I hardly know\n    What witless Art, or artless Wit can do._\n\nThe same Observation in another kind is elegantly described by\nMr. _Waller_.\n\n     _Great_ Julius _on the Mountains bred,\n      A Flock perhaps, or Herd had led.\n      He that the World subdued, had been\n      But the best Wrestler on the Green.\n      'Tis Art and Knowledge that draw forth\n      The hidden Seeds of Native Worth.\n      They blow those Sparks, and make 'em rise\n      Into such Flames as touch the Skies._\n\nThe High and Martial Spirit of _Casar_ would have inclined and\nfitted him, to gain the Prize of Wrestling above any Country\nSport. But it was the Circumstance of his own Birth and Fortune,\nthe State and Condition of the Commonwealth, and the Concurrence\nof many other Advantages, which he improv'd with great Care and\nApplication, that made him a finish'd _Genius_, both in Arms and\nPolicy.\n\nThere is yet another Thing of Consequence to a true _Genius_ in\nMusick. A Knowledge of the Compass and peculiar Advantages of\neach several Instrument. For the same Composition will very\ndifferently touch both the Ear and the Mind, as perform'd by a\nFlute, or Trumpet, an Organ, or a Violin. A difference of which,\nall discern by the Ear, but which requires a judicious\nObservation in the Composer. Mr. _Hughes_ has thus express'd\ntheir different Powers.\n\n      _Let the Trumpet's shrill Voice,\n         And the Drum's thundering Noise\n     Rouse every dull Mortal from Sorrow profound.\n                   _And_,\n         Proceed, sweet Charmer of the Ear,\n         Proceed, and through the mellow Flute,\n              The moving Lyre,\n            And Solitary Lute,\n         Melting Airs, soft Joys inspire,\n         Airs for drooping Hope to hear.\n    _And again,\n        _Now, let the sprightly Violin\n         A louder Strain begin:\n           And now,\n         Let the deep mouth'd Organ blow,\n         Swell it high and Sink it low.\n         Hark! how the Treble and the Base\n         In wanton Fuges each other chase,\n     And swift Divisions run their Airy Race.\n         Thro' all the travers'd Scale they fly,\n         In winding Labyrinths of Harmony,\n     By turns They rise and fall, by Turns we live and die._\n\nOne might not unfitly compare to this difference of Instruments,\nthe different Make and Constitution of Mens Bodies, with the\nInfluence they have, and the Impression they make on their Minds,\nPassions and Actions. From hence alone they may know much, how to\ndirect their own proper Capacities, and how they are to suit each\nPerson they are to use, to the most proper Employment. As Mr.\n_Pope_ Speaks of the Instruments of Musick.\n\n     _In a sadly pleasing Strain,\n      Let the warbling Lute complain.\n      Let the loud Trumpet sound,\n      Till the Roofs\n      all around The shrill Echo's rebound.\n    While in more lengthen'd Notes and slow,\n    The deep, majestick, solemn Organs blow._\n\nHarmony, in its most restrain'd Sense, is the apt and agreeable\nmixture of various Sounds. Such a Composition of them as is\nfitted to please the Ear. But every thing in a more extended\nSense is harmonious, where there is a variety of Things dispos'd\nand mix'd in such apt and agreeable Manner. Things may indeed be\nthrown together in a Crowd, without Order or Art. And then every\nthing appears in Confusion, disagreeable and apt to disgust. But\nabsolute Uniformity will give little more Pleasure than meer\nConfusion. To be ever harping on one String, though it be touch'd\nby the most Masterly Hand, will give little more Entertainment to\nthe Ear, than the most confused and discordant variety of Sounds\nmingled by the Hand of a meer Bungler. To have the Eye for ever\nfix'd on one beautiful Object, would be apt to abate the\nSatisfaction, at least in our present State. Variety relieves and\nrefreshes. It is so in the natural World. Hills and Valleys,\nWoods and Pasture, Seas and Shores, not only diversify the\nProspect, but give much more Entertainment to the Eye, that can\nsuccessively go from one to the other, than any of them could\nsingly do. And could we see into all the Conveniencies of things,\nhow well they are fitted to each other, and the common Purposes\nof all, we shou'd find that the Diversity is as usefull as it is\nagreeable.\n\nIt is the same also with the World of Mankind. If all had a like\nTurn or Cast of Mind, and all were bent upon one Business or way\nof Living, it would spoil much of the present Harmony of the\nWorld, and be a manifest Inconvenience to the Publick. Perhaps\none Part of Learning, or Method of Business, would be throughly\ncultivated and improved; but how many others must be neglected,\nor remain defective? And it would create Jealousy and Uneasiness\namong themselves. As Men are forc'd to justle in a Crowd. For\nthere would not be sufficient Scope for every one to exert and\ndisplay himself, nor so much Room for many to excel, when all\nmust do it in one Way. Variety of Inclination and Capacity is an\nadmirable Means of common Benefit. It opens a wide Field for\nService to Others, and gives great Advantage to Mens own\nImprovement.\n\nAnd it is surprising to consider how great this Diversity is. It\nis almost as various as that of bodily Features and Complexion.\nThere is no Instance of any kind of Learning or Business; any\nThing relating to the Necessity or Delight of Life; not the\nmeanest Office or the hardest Labour, but some or other are found\nto answer the different Purposes of each. They are carried\nthrough all the Difficulties in their several Ways, by the meer\nForce of a _Genius_: And attempt and achieve that, with an high\nrelish of Pleasure, which would give the greatest Disgust to\nothers and utterly discourage them. This stirs up an useful\nEmulation, and gives full Scope for every one to show Himself and\nappear to advantage. And it is certainly for the Beauty and\nAdvantage of the Body. As many Hands employed in different Ways\nabout some noble Building, yet all help either to secure its\nStrength, or furnish out all the Convenience, or give a State and\nGrandeur to it.\n\nThe Wisdom and Beauty of Providence appear at once in this\nVariety and Distinction of Powers and Inclinations among Mankind.\nIt is a very wise and a necessary Provision for the common Good,\nand the Advantage and Pleasure of particular Men. It answers to\nall the Ends and Occasions of Mankind. They are in this Way made\nhelpful to one another, and capable of serving Themselves, and\nthat without much trouble or fatigue. Business by this Means\nbecomes a Pleasure. The greatest Labours and Cares are easy and\nentertaining to Him who pursues his _Genius_. Inclination still\nurges the Man on: Obstacles and Oppositions only sharpen his\nAppetite, and put Him upon summoning all his Powers, that He may\nexert Himself to the uttermost, and get over his Difficulties.\nAll the several Arts and Sciences, and all the Improvements made\nin them from Time to Time; all the different Offices and\nEmployments of humane Life, are owing to this variety of Powers\nand Inclinations among Men. And is it not obvious to every Eye\nhow much of the Conveniences and Comforts of humane Life spring\nfrom these Originals? It is a glorious Display and most\nconvincing Proof of the Interest of Providence in humane Affairs,\nand the Wisdom of its Conduct, to fit Things in this Manner to\ntheir proper Uses and Ends. And so to _sort_ Mankind, and suit\ntheir Talents and Inclinations, that all may contribute somewhat\nto the Publick Good, and hardly one Member of the whole Body be\nlost in the Reckoning, useless to it self, or unserviceable to\nthe Body. Were it otherwise, what large Tracts of humane Affairs\nwould lie perfectly waste and uncultivated? Whereas now all the\nParts of humane Learning and Life lie open to Improvement, and\nsome or other is fitted by Nature, and dispos'd by Inclination,\nto help towards it.\n\nAnd as Providence gives the Hint, Men should take it, and follow\nthe Conduct of _Genius_ in the Course of their Studies, and Way\nof Employment in the World; and in the Education and Disposal of\ntheir Children. Men too often in this Case consult their own\nHumour and Convenience, not the Capacity and Inclination of the\nChild: And are governed by some or other external Circumstance,\nor lower Consideration; as, what they shall give with them, or to\nwhom to commit the Care of them, &c. Thus they after contrive\nunsuitable Marriages, on the single View of worldly Advantage.\nFrom this Cause proceed fatal Effects, and many young Men of\ngreat Hopes, and good Capacities, miscarry in the after Conduct\nof Life, and prove useless or mischievous to the World. They turn\noff from a disagreeable Employment, and run into Idleness and\nExtravagance. If People better consider'd the peculiar _Genius_\nor proper Talents of their Children, and took their Measures of\nTreatment and Disposal thence, we should certainly find\nanswerable Improvements and lasting good Effects. The several\nKinds of Learning and Business would come to be more advanced,\nand the Lives of Men become more useful and significant to the\nWorld.\n\nI have known a large Family of Children, with so remarkable a\nDiversity of _Genius_, as to be a little Epitome of Mankind. Some\nstudious and thoughtful, and naturally inclin'd to _Books_ and\n_Learning_; Others diligent and ambitious, and disposed to\n_Business_ and rising in the World. Some bold and enterprizing,\nand loved nothing so well as the _Camp_ and the _Field_; or so\ndaring and unconfined, that nothing would satisfy but _going_ to\n_Sea_ and visiting Foreign Parts. Some have been gay and airy,\nOthers solid and retired. Some curious and Observers of other\nMen; Others open and careless. In short, their Capacities have\nbeen as various as their Natural Tempers or Moral Dispositions.\n\nNow what a Blunder would be committed in the Education of such a\nFamily, if, with this different Turn of Mind in the Children,\nthere should be no difference made in the Management of them, or\ntheir Disposal in the World. If all should be put into one Way\nof Life, or brought up to one Business. Or if in the Choice of\nEmployment for Them, their several Biass and Capacity be not\nconsulted, but the roving _Genius_ mew'd up in a Closet, and\nconfounded among Books: And the studious and thoughtful _Genius_\nsent to wander about the World, and be perfectly scattered and\ndissipated, for want of proper Application and closer\nConfinement. Whereas, one such a Family wisely educated, and\ndispos'd in the World, would prove an extensive Blessing to\nMankind, and appear with a distinguished Glory; was the proper\n_Genius_ of every Child first cultivated, and he then put into a\nWay of Life that would suit his Taste.\n\n_Genius_ is a part of natural Constitution, not acquir'd, but\nborn with us. Yet it is capable of Cultivation and Improvement.\nIt has been a common Question, whether a Man be born a Poet or\nmade one? but both must concur. Nature and Art must contribute\ntheir Shares to compleat the Character. Limbs alone will not make\na Dancer, or a Wrestler. Nor will _Genius_ alone make a good\nPoet; nor the meer Strength of natural Abilities make a\nconsiderable Artist of any kind. Good Rules, and these reduc'd to\nPractice, are necessary to this End. And Use and Exercise in\nthis, as well as in all other Cases, are a second Nature. And,\noftentimes, the second Nature makes a prodigious Improvement of\nthe Force and Vigour of the first.\n\nIt has been long ago determined by the great Masters of Letters,\nthat good Sense is the chief Qualification of a good Writer.\n\n  _Scribendi certe sapere est & Principium & Fons._\n\n                                            Horat.\n\nYet the best natural Parts in the World are capable of much\nImprovement by a due Cultivation.\n\n  _Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam,\n  Rectique cultus Pectora roborant._\n\n                                             Horat.\n\nThe Spectator's golden Scales, let down from Heaven to discover\nthe true Weight and Value of Things, expresses this Matter in a\nWay which at once shews, a _Genius_, and its Cultivation. \"There\nis a Saying among the _Scots_, that an Ounce of Mother-Wit, is\nworth a Pound of Clergy. I was sensible of the Truth of this\nSaying, when I saw the difference between the Weight of natural\nParts and that of Learning. I observ'd that it was an hundred\nTimes heavier than before, when I put Learning into the same\nScale with it.\"\n\nIt has been observ'd, of an _English_ Author, that he would be\nall _Genius_. He would reap the Fruits of Art, but without the\nStudy and Pains of it. The _Limae Labor_ is what he cannot easily\ndigest. We have as many Instances of Originals, this way, as any\nNation can produce. Men, who without the help of Learning, by the\nmeer Force of natural Ability, have produced Works which were the\nDelight of their own Times, and have been the Wonder of\nPosterity. It has been a Question, whether Learning would have\nimproved or spoiled them. There appears somewhat so nobly Wild\nand Extravagant in these great _Genij_, as charms infinitely\nmore, than all the Turn and Polishing which enters into the\n_French Bel Esprit_, or the _Genius_ improved by Reading and\nConversation.\n\nBut tho' this will hold in some very rare Instances, it must be\nmuch for its Advantage in ordinary Cases, that a _Genius_ should\nbe diligently and carefully cultivated. In order to this, it\nshould be early watched and observ'd. And this is a matter that\nrequires deep Insight into Humane Nature. It is not so easy as\nmany imagine, to pronounce what the proper _Genius_ of a Youth\nis. Every one who will be fiddling, has not presently a _Genius_\nfor Musick. The Idle Boy draws Birds and Men, when he should be\ngetting his Lesson or writing his Copy; _This Boy_, says the\nFather, _must be a_ Painter; when alas! this is no more the Boy's\n_Genius_ than the _Parhelion_ is the true Sun. But those who have\nthe Care of Children, should take some Pains to know what their\ntrue _Genius_ is. For here the Foundation must be laid for\nimproving it. If a Mistake be made here, the Man sets out wrong,\nand every Step he takes carries him so much farther from Home.\n\nThe true _Genius_ being discovered, it must be supplied with\nMatter to work upon, and employ it self. This is Fuel for the\nFire. And the fitting a _Genius_ with proper Materials, is\nputting one into the Way of going through the World with Wind and\nTide. The whole Force of the Mind is applied to its proper Use.\nAnd the Man exerts all his Strength, because he follows\nInclination, and gives himself up to the proper Conduct of his\n_Genius_. This is the right way to excel. The Man will naturally\nrise to his utmost Height, when he is directed to an Employment\nthat at once fits his Abilities, and agrees with his Taste.\n\nCare must also be taken, that a _Genius_ be not overstrain'd. Our\nPowers are limited. None can carry beyond their certain Weight.\nWhilst we follow Inclination, and keep within the Bounds of our\nPower, we act with Ease and Pleasure. If we strain beyond our\nPower, we crack the Sinews, and after two or three vain Efforts,\nour Strength fails, and our Spirits are jaded. It wou'd be of\nmighty Advantage towards improving a _Genius_, to make its\nEmployment, as much as possible, a Delight and Diversion,\nespecially to young Minds. A Man toils at a Task, and finds his\nSpirits flag, and his Force abate, e'er he has gone half thro';\nwhereas he can put forth twice the Strength, and complain of no\nFatigue, in following his Pleasures. Of so much Advantage is it\nto make Business a Pleasure, if possible, and engage the Mind in\nit out of Choice. It naturally reluctates against Constraint, and\nis most unwilling to go on when it knows it _must_. But if it be\nleft to its own Choice, to follow Inclination and pursue its\nPleasure, it goes on without any Rubs, and rids twice the Ground,\nwithout being half so much tired.\n\nExercise is also very necessary to improve a _Genius_. It not\nonly shines the more, by exerting it self, but, like the Limbs of\nan Humane Body, gathers Strength by frequent and vigorous Use,\nand becomes more pliable and ready for Action. There must indeed\nsometimes be a Relaxation. Our Minds will not at present bear to\nbe continually bent, and in perpetual Exercise. But our Faculties\nmanifestly grow by using them. The more we exert our selves, if\nwe do not overstrain our Powers, the greater Readiness and\nAbility we acquire for future Action. A _Genius_, in order to be\nmuch improv'd, should be well workt, and kept in close\nApplication to its proper Pursuit.\n\nAll the Foreign Help must be procured, that can be had, towards\nthis Improvement. The Instruction and Example of such as excell\nin that particular way, to which a Man's Mind is turned, is of\nvast Use. A good Master in the Mechanical Arts, and careful\nObservation of the nicest and most dextrous Workmen, will help a\n_Genius_ of this sort. A good Tutor in the Sciences, and free\nConversation with such as have made great Proficiency in them,\nmust vastly improve the more liberal _Genius_. Reading, and\ncareful Reflection on what a Man reads, will still add to its\nForce, and carry the Improvement higher. Reading furnishes\nMatter, Reflexion digests it, and makes it our own; as the Flesh\nand Blood which are made out of the Food we eat. And Prudence and\nthe Knowledge of the World, must direct us how to employ our\n_Genius_, and on all occasions make the best Use of it. What\nwill the most exalted _Genius_ signify, if the World reaps no\nAdvantage from it? He who is possess'd of it, may make it turn to\nAccount to himself, and have much Pleasure and Satisfaction from\nit; but it is a very poor Business, if it serves no other\nPurpose, than to supply Matter for such private and narrow\nSatisfaction. It is certainly the Intention of Providence, that a\ngood _Genius_ should be a publick Benefit; and to wrap up such a\nTalent in a Napkin, and bury it in the Earth, is at once to be\nunfaithful to God, and defraud Mankind.\n\nThose who have such a Trust put into their Hands, should be very\ncareful that they do not abuse it, nor squander it away. The best\n_Genius_ may be spoiled. It suffers by nothing more, than by\nneglecting it, and by an Habit of Sloth and Inactivity. By\nDisuse, it contracts [J]Rust, or a Stiffness which is not easily\nto be worn off. Even the sprightly and penetrating, have, thro'\nthis neglect, sunk down to the Rank of the dull and stupid. Some\nMen have given very promising Specimens in their early Days, that\nthey could think well themselves; but, whether from a\npusillanimous Modesty, or a lazy Temper at first, I know not;\nthey have by Degrees contracted such an Habit of Filching and\nPlagiary, as to lose their Capacity at length for one Original\nThought. Some Writers indeed, as well as Practitioners in other\nArts, seem only born to copy; but it is Pity those, who have a\nStock of their own, should so entirely lose it by Disuse, as to\nbe reduc'd to a Necessity, when they must appear in Publick, to\nborrow from others.\n\n  [J] Otium ingera rubig. [Transcriber's Note: \"rubig\" not readable,\n       may be the word for rust or stiffness.]\n\nMen should guard against this Mischief with great Care. A\n_Genius_ once squandered away by neglect, is not easily to be\nrecovered. _Tacitus_ assigns a very proper Reason for this.\n\"[K]Such is the Nature, saith he, of Humane Infirmity, that\nRemedies cannot be applied, as quick as Mischiefs may be\nsuffered; and as the Body must grow up by slow Degrees, but is\npresently destroyed; so you may stifle a _Genius_ much more\neasily than you can recover it. For you'll soon relish Ease and\nInactivity, and be in Love with Sloth, which was once your\nAversion.\" This can hardly fail of raining the best Capacity,\nespecially, if from a neglect of severer Business, Men run into a\nDissolution of Manners, which is the too common Consequence. The\ngreatest Minds have thus been often wholly enervated, and the\nbest Parts buried in utter Obscurity.\n\n[K] Natura infirmitatis humanae, tadiora sunt remedia\nquam mala; & ut corpora lente augescunt, cito extinguuntur,\nsic ingenia studiaque oppresseris, facilius quam revocaveris;\nsubit quippe ipsius inertiae dulcedo, et invisa primo desidia\npostremo amatur. Tacit. Vit. Agricol. c. 3.\n\nThough the Rules of Art may be of great Service to improve a\n_Genius_, it is very prejudicial, in many Cases, to fetter it\nself with these Rules, or confine itself within those Limits\nwhich others have fixed. How little would Science have been\nimprov'd, if every new _Genius_, that applies himself to any\nBranch of it, had made other Mens Light, his _ne plus_ _ultra_,\nand resolved to go no farther into it, than the Road had been\nbeaten before him. No doubt there were Men of as good natural\nAbilities in the Ages before the Revival of Learning, as there\nhave been since. But they were cramped with the Jargon of a wordy\nand unintelligible Philosophy, and durst not give themselves the\nLiberty to think in Religion, without the Boundaries fixed by the\nChurch, for fear of Anathemas, and an Inquisition. Till those\nFetters were broken, little Advance was made, for many Ages\ntogether, in any useful or solid Knowledge. In truth, every Man\nwho makes a new Discovery, goes at first by himself; and as long\nas the greatest Minds are Content to go in Leading-strings, they\nwill be but upon a Level with their Neighbours.\n\nOn the other Hand, Capacities of a lower size must be obliged to\nmore of Imitation. All their Usefulness will be spoiled by forming\ntoo high Models for themselves. If they will be of Service, they\nmust be content to keep the beaten Road. Should they attempt to\nsoar too high, they will only meet with _Icarus_'s Fate. A common\n_Genius_ will serve many common Purposes exceeding well, and\nrender a Man conspicuous enough, tho' there may be no\ndistinguishing Splendor about him to dazzle the Beholders Eyes.\nBut if he attempts any Thing beyond his Strength, he is sure to\nlose the Lustre which he had, if he does not also weaken his\nCapacity, and impair his _Genius_ into the Bargain. So just in\nall Cases is the Poet's Advice to Writers.\n\n      _Sumite Materiam vestris qui scribitis aquam\n       Veribus_.                         Horat.\n      _Weigh well your Strength_, _and never undertake\n       What is above your Power_.\n\nAnd this brings to Mind another very common Occasion of ruining\nmany a good _Genius_; I mean, wrong Application. Nothing will\nsatisfie Parents, but their Children must apply their Minds to\none of the learned Professions, when, instead of consulting the\nReputation or Interest of their Children, by such a preposterous\nChoice, they turn them out to live in an Element no way suited to\ntheir Nature, and expose them to Contempt and Beggary all their\nDays; while at the same Time they spoil an Head, admirably turn'd\nfor Traffick or Mechanicks. And he is left to bring up the Rear\nin the learned Profession, or it may be lost in the Crowd, who\nwould have shined in Trade, and made a prime Figure upon the\nExchange. Many have by this Means _run their Heads against a\nPulpit_, (as a Satyrical _Genius_ once expressed it) _who would\nhave made admirable Ploughmen_.\n\nThere is a different Taste in Men, as to the learned Professions\nthemselves, which qualities and disposes them for the one, but\nwould never make them appear with any Lustre in another. This has\nbeen often made evident in the different Figures, which some, who\nlived in Obscurity before, have made upon a lucky Incident that\nled them out of the mistaken Track into which they were first\nput. Where Providence does not relieve a _Genius_ from this Error\nin setting out, the Man must be kept under the Hatches all his\nDays.\n\nThere are very different Manners of Writing, and each of them\njust and agreeable in their Kind, when Nature is followed, and a\nMan endeavours Perfection in that Style and Manner which suits\nhis own Humour and Abilities. Some please, and indeed excel in a\nMediocrity, [L]who quite lose themselves if they attempt the\nSublime. Some succeed to a wonder in the Account of all Readers\nwhilst they confine themselves to close Reasoning; who, if they\nare so ill advise'd, as to meddle with Wit; only make themselves\nthe Jest. [M]That is easy and agreeable which is natural; what is\nforc'd, will appear distorted and give Disgust.\n\n  [L] _Dum vitat humum, nubes et inania captet_. Horat.\n\n  [M] _Ingenio, sicut in Agro, quanquam alia diu Serantur\n       atque elaborentur, gratiora tamen quae sua sponte nascuntur_.\n       Tacit. de Orator, c. 6.\n\nIt is of fatal Consequence to a good _Genius_ to grasp at too\nmuch. \"A certain Magistrate (says _Bruyere_) arriving, by his\nMerit, to the first Dignities of the Gown, thought himself\nqualified for every Thing. He printed a Treatise of Morality, and\npublished himself a Coxcomb.\" Universal _Genij_ and universal\nScholars are generally excellent at nothing. He is certainly the\nwisest Man, who endeavours to be perfectly furnished for some\nBusiness, and regards other Matters as no more than his\nAmusement.\n\nA _Genius_ being thus observed, humoured and cultivated, is to be\nkept in Heart, and upon proper Occasions to be exerted. Without\nthis, it may sink and be lost. All Habits are weakened by Disuse.\nAnd Men who are furnished with a _Genius_, for publick\nUsefulness, should put themselves forward; I mean, with due\nModesty and Prudence, and not suffer their Talents to be hid,\nwhen a fair Opportunity offers to do Service with them. Indeed it\nis too common an Unhappiness for Men to be so placed, as to have\nno Opportunity and Advantage for shewing their _Genius_. As\nMatters are generally managed in the World, Men are for the most\npart staked down to such Business, in such Alliances, or in such\nCircumstances, that they have no proper Occasions of exerting\nthemselves; but instead of that, are continually tugging and\nstriving with things that are cross and ungrateful to them. And\nthat must be a strong Mind indeed, that shall break through the\nCensures and Opposition of the World, and dare to quit a Station,\nfor which a Man has been brought up, and in which he has acted\nfor some Time, that he may get into another Sphere, where he sees\nhe can act according to the Impulses of his _Genius_. Tho' such\nas have had the Courage and Skill to follow those Impulses, till\nthey have gain'd the Stations which suited their Taste and\nInclination, have seldom fail'd of appearing considerable. But\nMultitudes, by this Situation of Affairs, have been forc'd, in a\nmanner, to stifle a _Genius_, because they could have no fair\nOpportunity of exerting it.\n\nA crazy Constitution, and a Body liable to continual Disorders,\ncall off the Attention of many a great Mind, from what might\notherwise procure very great Reputation and Regard. Their\n_Genius_ no sooner begins a little to exert itself, but the\nSpirits flag, and one unhappy Ail or other, enfeebles and\ndiscourages the Mind.\n\nLust and Wine mightily obstruct all Attempts that require\nApplication; and will neither allow a Man duly to furnish his\nMind, nor rightly to use that Furniture he has. An Intrigue or a\nBottle may sometimes give an Opportunity for a Man to shew his\n_Genius_, but will utterly spoil all regular and reputable\nExertings of it. He who would put forth his _Genius_ to the\nAdvantage of Himself or the World, should give into no Pleasures\nthat will enervate or dissolve his Mind. He must keep it bent for\nBusiness, or he will bring all Business to nothing.\n\nConceit and Affectation on one hand, and Peevishness and\nPerverseness of Temper on the other, will lay the best _Genius_\nunder great Disadvantages, and raise such Dislike and Opposition,\nas will bear it down in spite of all its Force and Furniture. A\ngraceful Mixture of Boldness and Modesty, with a Smoothness and\nBenignity of Temper, will much better make a Man's Way into the\nWorld, and procure him the Opportunity of exerting his _Genius_.\n\nBut there is nothing lies as an heavier Weight upon a Man, or\nhinders Him more from shewing Himself to Advantage, and employing\nhis great Abilities for the Service of Others; than the Quarrels\nand Contentions of Parties. Many have their Talents imprison'd,\nby being of the hated and sinking Side. Their Light is wholly\nsmother'd and suppress'd, that it may not shine out with a Lustre\non the Party to which they belong, whether it be in Politicks or\nReligion. And all Struggles of a _Genius_ are vain, when a Man is\nborn down at once by Clamour and Power.\n\nThis is very discouraging to a Man who has taken much Pains in\ncultivating his _Genius_; and many have, without doubt, been\ntempted wholly to neglect themselves, from the Dread of these\nDiscouragements. I own this Neglect is not to be excused\naltogether, though it grieves one that there should be any\nOccasion given for it. There is still Room for Men to follow and\nimprove a _Genius_, and hope by it to benefit Mankind, and\nprocure Regard to Themselves. And it is hard to say, what Way of\nexerting it will turn most to Account. Peculiar Honours are due\nto those who appear to Advantage in the _Pulpit_. Numerous\nApplauses and Preferments attend those who acquit themselves well\nat the _Bar_. There is a great deal of Renown to those who are\neminent in the _Senate_. There are high Advantages to such as\nexcel in _Counsel_ and on _Embassies_. Immortal Lawrels will\ncrown such as are brave, expert and victorious in _Arms_. There\nare the Blessings of Wealth and Plenty to those who manage well\ntheir _Trades_ and _Merchandize_. The Names of the skilful\n_Architect_, the cunning _Artificer_, the fine, exact and well\ndevising _Painter_, are sometimes enrolled in the Lists of Fame.\nThe learned, experienced and successful _Physician_, may become\nas considerable for Repute and Estate, as one of any other\nProfession. _Musick_ also may have its _Masters_, who shall be\nhad in lasting Esteem. The _Poets_ Performances may be [N]more\ndurable than Brass, and long lived as Time it Self. Every\n_Science_ may have Professors that shall shine in the learned\nWorld. With all the Discouragements that may damp a _Genius_,\nthere is yet a wide Field for it to exert it self, and Room to\nhope it will not be in vain.\n\n  [N] Exegi monumentum aere perennius\n      Regalique situ pyramidum altius,\n      Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens\n      Possit diruere aut innumerabilis\n      Annorum series et fuga temporum:\n\n                                Horat\n\nI was going to add something of exerting one's _Genius_ as an\n_Author_. But I found, it would fill up too much Room in my\nPaper, should I enlarge on the several Ways of Mens appearing\nconsiderable. And I was so apprehensive of the Reputation, which\nthe Divine, the Historian, the Critick, the Philosopher, and\nalmost all the other Authors, have above us _Essay-Writers_, that\nI thought I should but lessen the Regards to my own _Genius_,\nshould I have set to View the Advantages of Others. It will\nsufficiently gratify my Ambition as an Author, if the World will\nbe so good natured as to think I have handsomely excus'd my self;\nthat I am tolerably fitted, in the Way in I am, to give\nEntertainment to my Readers, and do them some Service.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\nFINIS\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nERRATA [Transcriber's Note: Not readable]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n                               THE\n\n                            CREATION.\n\n                                A\n\n                      Pindaric Illustration\n                               OF A\n\n                              POEM,\n\n                      Originally written by\n\n                              MOSES,\n\n                         On That SUBJECT.\n\n                              WITH A\n\n                       PREFACE to Mr. POPE,\n\n                            CONCERNING\n\n           The Sublimity of the Ancient HEBREW POETRY,\n        and a material and obvious Defect in the ENGLISH.\n\n                            _LONDON_:\n\n Printed for T. BICKERTON, at the _Crown_ in _Pater-noster-Row._\n\n                           M. DCC. XX.\n\n                       Price One Shilling.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                      _PREFACE to MR. POPE_\n\nSir,\n\nAbout two Years ago, upon a slight Misapprehension of some\nExpressions of yours, which my Resentment, or perhaps my Pride,\ninterpreted to the Disadvantage of a Poetical Trifle, I had then\nnewly publish'd, I suffer'd myself to be unreasonably\ntransported, so far, as to inscribe you an angry, and\ninconsiderate Preface; without previous Examination into the\nJustness of my Proceeding. I have lately had the Mortification to\nlearn from your own Hand that you were entirely guiltless of the\nfact charg'd upon you; so that, in attempting to retaliate a\nsuppos'd Injury, I have done a real Injustice.\n\nThe only Thing which an honest Man ought to be more asham'd of\nthan his faults, is a Reluctance against confessing them. I have\nalready acknowledg'd mine to yourself: But no publick Guilt is\nwell aton'd, by a private Satisfaction; I therefore send you a\nDuplicate of my Letter, by way of the World, that all, who\nremember my Offence, may also witness my Repentance.\n\n   Sir,\n\n   I am under the greatest Confusion I ever felt in my Life, to\n   find by your Letter, that I have been guilty of a Crime, which\n   I can never forgive Myself, were it for no other Reason, than\n   that You have forgiven it. I might have learnt from your\n   Writings the Extent of your Soul, and shou'd have concluded it\n   impossible for the Author of those elevated Sentiments, to sink\n   beneath them in his Practice.\n\n   You are generously moderate, when you mitigate my Guilt, and\n   miscall it a Credulity; 'twas a passionate, and most\n   unjustifiable Levity, and must still have remain'd\n   unpardonable, whatever Truth might have been found in its\n   mistaken Occasion.\n\n   What stings me most, in my Reflection on this Folly, is, that\n   I know not how to atone it; I will endeavour it, however;\n   being always asham'd, when I have attempted to revenge an\n   Injury, but never more proud, than when I have begg'd pardon\n   for an Error.\n\n   If you needed an Inducement to the strengthening your\n   Forgiveness, you might gather it from these two\n   Considerations; First, The Crime was almost a Sin against\n   Conviction; for though not happy enough to know you\n   personally, your Mind had been my intimate Acquaintance, and\n   regarded with a kind of partial Tenderness, that made it\n   little less than Miracle, that I attempted to offend you. A\n   sudden Warmth, to which, by Nature, I am much too liable,\n   transported me to a Condition, I shall best describe in\n   Shakespear's Sense, somewhere or other.\n\n      Blind in th' obscuring Mist of heedless Rage,\n      I've rashly shot my Arrows o'er a House,\n      And hurt my Brother....\n\n   A Second Consideration is, the Occasion you have gather'd to\n   punish my Injustice, with more than double Sharpness, by your\n   Manner of receiving it. The Armour of your Mind is temper'd so\n   divinely, that my mere Human Weapons have not only fail'd to\n   pierce, but broke to pieces in rebounding. You meet Assaults,\n   like some expert Arabian, who, declining any Use of his own\n   Javelin, arrests those which come against him, in the Fierceness\n   of their Motion, and overcomes his Enemies, by detaining their\n   own Weapons. 'Tis a noble Triumph you now exercise, by the\n   Superiority of your Nature; and while I see you looking down upon\n   the Distance of my Frailty, I am forc'd to own a Glory, which I\n   envy you; and am quite asham'd of the poor Figure I am making, in\n   the bottom of the Prospect. I feel, I am sure, Remorse, enough to\n   satisfy you for the Wrong, but to express it, wou'd, I think,\n   exceed even your own Power.\n\n      Yours, whose sweet Songs can rival Orpheu's Strain,\n      And force the wondring Woods to dance again,\n      Make moving Mountains hear your pow'rful Call,\n      And headlong Streams hang list'ning in their Fall.\n\n   No Words can be worthy to come after these; I will therefore\n   hasten to tell you, that I am, and will ever be, with the\n   greatest Truth and Respect,\n\n                                SIR,\n\n                                  Your Most Humble,\n\n                                    and Most Obedient Servant,\n\n                                           A. Hill.\n\nI have now attempted, as far as I am able, to throw off a Weight,\nwhich my Mind has been uneasy under. I cannot say, in the City\nPhrase, that I have balanc'd the Account, but you must admit of\nComposition, where full Payment is impossible. I shall be so far\nfrom regretting you the old Benefit of Lex talionis, that I\nforgive you heartily, beforehand, for any thing you may hereafter\nthink fit to say, or do, to my Disadvantage; nay, the Pleasure I\nenjoy by reflecting on your good Nature, will degenerate to a\nPain, if one Accident or other, in the Course of your Life, does\nnot favour me with some Occasion of advancing your Interest.\n\nHaving said thus much to you, in your Quality of a Good Man, I\nwill proceed to address you, in your other Quality, of a Great\nPoet; in which Light I look up to you with extraordinary Comfort,\nas to a new Constellation breaking out upon our World, with equal\nHeat, and Brightness, and cross-spangling, as it were, the whole\nHeaven of Wit with your milky way of Genius.\n\nYou cou'd never have been born at a Time, which more wanted the\nInfluence of your Example: All the Fire you bring with you, and\nthe Judgment you are acquiring, in the Course of your Journey,\nwill be put to their full stress, to support and rebuild the\nsinking Honours of Poetry.\n\nIt was a Custom, which prevail'd generally among the Ancients, to\nimpute Celestial Descent to their Heroes; The Vanity, methinks,\nmight have been pardonable, and rational, if apply'd to an Art;\nsince Arts, when they are at once delightful and profitable, as\nyou will certainly leave Poetry, have one real Mark of Divinity,\nthey become, in some measure, immortal. And as the oldest, and, I\nthink, the sublimest Poem in the World, is of Hebrew Original,\nand was made immediately after passing the Red-Sea, at a Time,\nwhen the Author had neither Leisure, nor Possibility, to invent a\nnew Art: It must therefore be undeniable, either that the Hebrews\nbrought Poetry out of Egypt, or that Moses receiv'd it from God,\nby immediate Inspiration. This last, being what a Poet should be\nfondest of believing, I wou'd fain suppose it probable, that God,\nwho was pleas'd to instruct Moses with what Ceremony he wou'd be\nworship'd, taught him also a Mode of Thinking, and expressing\nThought, unprophan'd by vulgar Use, and peculiar to that Worship.\nGod then taught Poetry first to the Hebrews, and the Hebrews to\nMankind in general.\n\nBut, however this may have been, there is, apparently, a divine\nSpirit, glowing forcibly in the Hebrew Poetry, a kind of terrible\nSimplicity; a magnificent Plainness! which is commonly lost, in\nParaphrase, by our mistaken Endeavours after heightening the\nSentiments, by a figurative Expression; This is very ill Judg'd:\nThe little Ornaments of Rhetorick might serve, fortunately\nenough, to swell out the Leanness of some modern Compositions;\nbut to shadow over the Lustre of a divine Hebrew Thought, by an\nAffectation of enliv'ning it, is to paint upon a Diamond, and\ncall it an Ornament.\n\nIt is a surprizing Reflection, that these noble Hebrew Poets\nshou'd have written with such admirable Vigour three Thousand\nYears ago; and that, instead of improving, we should affect to\ndespise them; as if, to write smoothly, and without the Spirit of\nImagery, were the true Art of Poetry, because the only Art we\npractise. It puts me in Mind of the famous Roman Lady, who\nsuppos'd, that Men had, naturally, stinking Breaths, because she\nhad been us'd to it, in her Husband.\n\nThe most obvious Defect in our Poetry, and I think the greatest\nit is liable to, is, that we study Form, and neglect Matter. We\nare often very flowing, and under a full Sail of Words, while we\nleave our Sense fast aground, as too weighty to float on\nFrothiness; We run on, upon false Scents, like a Spaniel, that\nstarts away at Random after a Stone, which is kept back in the\nHand, though It seem'd to fly before him. To speak with Freedom\non this Subject, is a Task of more Danger than Honour; for few\nMinds have real Greatness enough to consider a Detection of their\nErrors, as a Warning to their Conduct, and an Advantage to their\nFame; But no discerning Judgment will consider it as ill Nature,\nin one Writer, to mark the Faults of another. A general Practice\nof that Kind wou'd be the highest Service to poetry. No Disease\ncan be cur'd, till its Nature is examin'd; and the first likely\nStep towards correcting our Errors, is resolving to learn\nimpartially, that we have Errors to be corrected.\n\nI will, therefore, with much Freedom, but no manner of Malice,\nremark an Instance or two, from no mean Writers, to prove, that\nour Poetry has been degenerating apace into mere Sound, or\nHarmony; nor ought This to be consider'd as an invidious Attempt,\nsince whatever Pains we take, about polishing our Numbers, where\nwe raise not our Meaning, are as impertinently bestowed, as the\nLabour wou'd be, of setting a broken Leg after the Soul has left\nthe Body. The Gunners have a Custom, when a Ball is too little\nfor the Bore of their Canon, to wrap Towe about it, till it\nfills the Mouth of the Piece; after which, it is discharg'd, with\na Thunder, proportionable to the Size of the Gun; But its\nExecution at the Mark, will immediately discover, that the Noise\nof the Discharge was a great deal too big for the Diameter of the\nBullet. It is just the same thing with an unsinewy Imagination,\nsent abroad in sounding Numbers; The Loftiness of the Expression\nwill astonish shallow Readers into a temporary Admiration, and\nsupport it, for a while; but the Bounce, however loud, goes no\nfarther than the Ear; The Heart remains unreach'd by the Languor\nof the Sentiment.\n\nPoetry, the most elevated Exertion of human Wit, is no more than\na weak and contemptible Amusement, wanting Energy of Thought, or\nPropriety of Expression. Yet we may run into Error, by an\ninjudicious Affectation of attaining Perfection, as Men, who are\ngazing upward, when they shou'd be looking to their Footsteps,\nstumble frequently against Posts, while they have the Sun in\nContemplation.\n\nIn attempting, for Example, to modernize so lofty an Ode as the\n104th Psalm, the Choice of Metaphors shou'd, methinks, have been\nconsidered, as one of the most remarkable Difficulties. There\nseems to have been a Necessity, that they shou'd be noble, as\nwell as natural; and yet, if too much rais'd, they wou'd endanger\nan Extinction of the Charms, which they were design'd to\nillustrate. That powerful Imagination of 'the Sea, climbing over\nthe Mountains Tops, and rushing back, upon the Plains, at the\nVoice of God's Thunder,' ought certainly to have been express'd\nwith as much Plainness as possible: And, to demonstrate how ill\nthe contrary Measure has succeeded, one need only observe how it\nlooks in Mr. Trapp's Metaphorical Refinement.\n\n      \"The Ebbing Deluge did its Troops recal,\n       Drew off its Forces, and disclos'd the Ball,\n       They, at th' Eternal's Signal march'd away.\"\n\nWho does not discern, in this Place, what an Injury is done to\nthe original Image, by the military Metaphor? Recalling the\n'Troops' of a Deluge, 'Drawing off its Forces'; and its 'Marching\naway, at a Signal,' carry not only a visible Impropriety of\nThought, but are infinitely below the Majesty of That God, who is\nso dreadfully represented thundering his Commands to the Ocean;\nThey are directly the Reverse of that terrible Confusion, and\noverwhelming Uproar of Motion, which the Sea, in the Original, is\nsuppos'd to fall into. The March of an Army is pleasing, orderly,\nslow; The Inundation of a Sea, from the Tops of the Mountains,\nfrightful, wild and tumultuous; Every Justness and Grace of the\noriginal Conception is destroyed by the Metaphor.\n\nIn the same Psalm, the Hebrew Poet describing God, says, '....He\nmaketh the Clouds his Chariots, and walketh on the Wings of the\nWind.' Making the 'Clouds his Chariots,' is a strong and lively\nThought; But That of 'walking on the Wings of the Wind,' is a\nSublimity, that frightens, astonishes, and ravishes the Mind of a\nReader, who conceives it, as he shou'd do. The Judgement of the\nPoet in this Place, is discernable in three different\nParticulars; The Thought is in itself highly noble, and elevated;\nTo move at all upon the Wind, carries with it an Image of much\nMajesty and Terror; But this natural Grandeur he first encreas'd\nby the Word 'Wings,' which represents the Motion, as not only on\nthe Winds, but on the Winds in their utmost Violence, and\nRapidity of Agitation. But then at last, comes that finishing\nSublimity, which attends the Word 'walks'! The Poet is not\nsatisfied to represent God, as riding on the Winds; nor even as\nriding on them in a Tempest; He therefore tells us, that He walks\non their Wings; that so our Idea might be heighten'd to the\nutmost, by reflecting on this calm, and easy Motion of the Deity,\nupon a Violence, so rapid, so furious, and ungovernable, to our\nhuman Conception. Yet as nothing can be more sublime, so nothing\ncan be more simple, and plain, than this noble Imagination. But\nMr. Trapp, not contented to express, attempts unhappily to adorn\nthis inimitable Beauty, in the following Manner.\n\n      \"Who, borne in Triumph o'er the Heavenly Plains,\n       Rides on the Clouds, and holds a Storm in Reins,\n       Flies on the Wings of the sonorous Wind, &c.\"\n\nHere his imperfect, and diminishing Metaphor, of the 'Rains,' has\nquite ruin'd the Image; What rational, much less noble Idea, can\nany Man conceive of a Wind in a Bridle? The unlucky Word 'Plains'\ntoo, is a downright Contradiction to the Meaning of the Passage.\nWhat wider Difference in Nature, than between driving a Chariot\nover a Plain, and moving enthron'd, amidst That rolling, and\nterrible Perplexity of Motions, which we figure to our\nImagination, from a 'Chariot of Clouds'? But the mistaken\nEmbellishment of the Word 'flies,' in the last Verse, is an Error\nalmost unpardonable; Instead of improving the Conception, it has\nmade it trifling, and contemptible, and utterly destroy'd the\nvery Soul of its Energy! 'flies' on the Wind! What an Image is\nThat, to express the Majesty of God? To 'walk' on the Wind is\nastonishing, and horrible; But to 'fly' on the Wind, is the\nEmployment of a Bat, of an Owl, of a Feather! Mr. Trapp is, I\nbelieve, a Gentleman of so much Candour, and so true a Friend to\nthe Interest of the Art he professes, that there will be no\nOccasion to ask his pardon, for dragging a Criminal Metaphor, or\ntwo, out of the Immunity of his Protection.\n\nMr. Philips has lately been told in Print, by one of our best\nCriticks, that he has excell'd all the Ancients, in his Pastoral\nWritings; He will, therefore, be apt to wonder, that I take the\nLiberty to say, in downright Respect to Truth, and the Justice\ndue to Poetry, that I have not only seen modern pastorals, much\nbetter than His, but that his appear, to me, neither natural,\nnor equal. One might extend this Remark to the very Names of his\nShepherds; Lobbin, Hobbinol, and Cuddy are nothing of a Piece,\nwith Lanquet, Mico, and Argol; nor do his Personages agree\nbetter with themselves, than their Names with one another. Mico,\nfor Example, at the first Sight we have of him, is a very polite\nSpeaker, and as metaphorical as Mr. Trapp.\n\n      \"This Place may seem for Shepherds Leisure made,\n       So lovingly these Elms unite their Shade!\n       Th'ambitious Woodbine! how it climbs, to breathe\n       Its balmy Sweets around, on all beneath!\"\n\nBut, alas! this Fit of Eloquence, like most other Blessings, is\nof very short Continuance; It holds him but Just one Speech: In\nthe beginning of the next, he is as very a Rustick, as Colin\nClout, and has forgot all his Breeding.\n\n      \"No Skill of Musick can I, simple Swain,\n       No fine Device, thine Ear to entertain;\n       Albeit some deal I pipe, rude though it be,\n       Sufficient to divert my, Sheep, and Me.\"\n\nThere is no Transformation In Ovid more sudden, or surprizing; He\nhas Reason indeed to say, that, when he \"pipes some deal,\" his\n'Sheep' are 'diverted' with him. His Readers, I am afraid too,\nare as merry as his Sheep; If he was but as skilful in Change of\nTime, as he is in Change of Dialect, commend me to him for a\nMusician! The pied Piper, who drew all the Rats of a City out,\nafter his Melody, came not near him for Variety.\n\nIf the late excellent Mr. Addison, whose Verses abound in Graces,\nwhich can never be too much admir'd, shall be, often, found\nliable to an Overflow of his Meaning, by this Dropsical\nWordiness, which we so generally give into, it will serve at the\nsame time, as a Comfort, and a Warning; and incline us to a\nsevere Examination of our Writings, when we venture out upon a\nWorld, that will, one time or other, be sure to censure us\nimpartially; In That Gentleman's Works, whoever looks close, will\ndiscover Thorns on every Branch of his Roses; For Example, we all\nhear, with Delight, in his celebrated Letter from Italy, that,\nthere,\n\n      ... The Muse so oft her Harp has strung,\n      That not a Mountain rears its Head unsung.\n\nBut, he adds, in the very next Line, that every shady Thicket\ntoo, grows renown'd in Verse; now one can never help remembering,\nthat Thickets are Births, as it were of Yesterday; the mere\nInfancy of Woods! and that the oldest Woods in Italy may be\ngrowing on Foundations of ruin'd Cities, which flourish'd in the\nTimes he there speaks of; whence it must naturally be inferr'd,\nthat to say, the Italian Thickets grow renown'd in Roman Verse,\nthough the Mountains really do so, is to make Use of Words,\nwithout Regard to their Meaning; A Lapse of dangerous\nConsequence, because, when the Understanding is once shock'd,\nthis most rapturous Elevation of the Mind (as when cold Water is\nthrown suddenly upon boiling) sinks at once to chilling Flatness,\nand is considered as mere Gingle and childish Amusement.\n\nNo Man, I believe, has read without Pleasure, his fine and lively\nDescriptions of the Nar, Clitumnus, Mincio, and Albula, but the\nworst of it is, he winds us so long, in and out, between these\nRivers, that he loses himself in their Maeanders, and brings us,\nat last, to a strange Stream indeed, which is 'immortaliz'd in\nSong,' and yet 'lost In Oblivion.'\n\n      \"I look for Streams, immortaliz'd, in Song,\n       Which lost, and buried in Oblivion lie.\"\n\nThe Thought, in this Place, is very lively and just, but quite\nobscur'd by the Redundancy and Wantonness of the Expression. Had\nhe only said 'lost,' and 'buried,' It might have been urg'd, that\nthe Rivers were dry'd up, and no longer to be found, in their old\nChannels. But, let them be lost, as to Existence, as certainly as\nhe will, they can never be lost in 'Oblivion,' if they are\n'immortaliz'd' in Poetry. 'Immortal' is a favourite Word in this\nGentleman's Writings, and leads him, as most Favourites are apt\nto do, into very frequent Errors.\n\nIt is naturally unpleasant, to be detain'd too long in the\nMaziness of one tedious Thought, express'd many Ways\nsuccessively. When we read that the 'Tiber is destitute of\nStrength,' what else can we conclude, but that its Stream is a\nweak one? But we are oblig'd to hear, also, that it 'derives its\nSource from an unthrifty Urn': Well, now, may we go on? No; its\n'Urn' is not only 'unthrifty,' but its 'Source' is unfruitful. By\nthis time, one can scarce help, enquiring, what new Meaning is\nconvey'd to the Apprehension, by the Multiplication of the\nPhrases? And not finding any, we have no Reflection to satisfy\nourselves with, but, that the strongest Flow of Fancy, is most\nsubject to Whirlpools.\n\nIt is from the same unweigh'd Redundancy, and Misapplication of\nWords, that we so often find this excellent Writer falling into\nthe Anticlimax. As where, for Example, he informs us of Liberty,\nthat she is a Goddess,\n\n      \"Profuse of Bliss, and pregnant with Delight,\n       Eternal Pleasures, in her Presence reign.\"\n\nAfter 'Profusion of Bliss,' that is to say, the heap'd Enjoyment\nof all Blessings to be wish'd for; how does it cool the\nImagination, to read of being 'pregnant with Delight'? Had she\nbeen brought to Bed of 'Delight,' it had been but a poor\nDelivery: For what imports 'Delight,' in Comparison with\n'Bliss'? And how much less too is pregnant with Delight,' than\n'Delight' in Possession! But then again, after both these, what\ncou'd the Author hope to teach us, by adding, that 'Pleasure\nreigns in her Presence.' Can there be 'Bliss' without 'Delight'?\nWas there ever 'Delight' without 'Pleasure'? It shou'd gradually\nhave ascended thus, Pleasure, Delight, Bliss; But to turn it the\ndirect contrary Way, Bliss, Delight, Pleasure, is setting a poor\nMeaning upon its Head, and the same thing as to say, Mr. Addison\nwrit incomparably, finely, nay, and tolerably. A Praise, which, I\ndare say, he wou'd have given no Body Thanks for. One wou'd think\nthere were a kind of Fatality in Liberty, since scarce any Body\ncan meddle either with the Word or the Thing, but they turn all\ntopsey turvey.\n\nBut I am sliding insensibly into a Theme, that requires rather a\nVolume, than a Page or two; I hasten therefore to present you a\nParaphrase on the Six Days Work of the Creator, as described to\nus by Moses, in the First Chapter of Genesis, which, you know,\nwas written, originally, in Verse. It wou'd be difficult, I am\nsure, to match the Greatness of that inspired Author's Images,\nout of all the noble Writings, which have honour'd Antiquity; and\nwhose most remarkable Excellencies have been found, in those\nParts of their Works, which they elevated, and made more solemn,\nby a Mixture of their Religion. Our Poetry, in so able a Hand as\nYours, might receive heavenly Advantages, from a Practice of like\nNature. But I am of Opinion, that no English Verse, except that,\nwhich we, I think a little improperly, call Pindaric, can allow\nthe necessary Scope, to so masterless a Subject, as the Creation,\nof all others the most copious, and illustrious; and which ought\nto be touch'd with most Discretion, and Choice of Circumstances.\n\nMr. Milton, Mr. Cowley, Sir Richard Blackmore, and now, lately,\na young Gentleman, of a very lively Genius, have severally tried\ntheir Strength in this celestial Bow; Sir Richard may be said\nindeed to have shot farthest, but too often beside the Mark; He\nwill permit me the Liberty of owning my Opinion, that he is too\nminute, and particular, and rather labours to oppress us with\nevery Image he cou'd raise, than to refresh and enliven us, with\nthe noblest, and most differing. He is also too unmindful of the\nDignity of his Subject, and diminishes it by mean, and\ncontemptible Metaphors. Speaking of the Skies, he says they were\n\n      Spun thin, and wove, on Nature's finest Loom.\n\nLonginus is very angry with Timaeus for saying of Alexander, that\nhe conquer'd all Asia, in less Time than Isocrates took to write\nhis Panegyric, \"Because, says the Critick, it is a pitiful\nComparison of Alexander the Great with a Schoolmaster.\" What then\nwou'd he have said of Sir Richard's Metaphorical Comparison of\nthe CREATOR Himself, to a Spinster, and a Weaver? The very Beasts\nof Mr. Milton, who kept Moses in his Eye, carry Infinitely more\nMajesty, than the Skies of Sir Richard.\n\n      The Grassy Clods now calv'd; and half appear'd\n      The tawny Lyon, pawing to get free\n      His hinder Parts; then springs, as broke from Bonds,\n      And, rampant, shakes aloft, his brinded Main!\n      The heaving Leopard, rising, like the Mole,\n      In Heaps the crumbling Earth about him threw!\n\nThese animated Images, or pictured Meanings of Poetry, are the\nforcible Inspirers, which enflame a Reader's Will, and bind down\nhis Attention. They arise from living Words, as Aristotle calls\nthem; that is, from Words so finely chosen, and so Justly ranged,\nthat they call up before a Reader the Spirit of their Sense, in\nthat very Form, and Action, it impressed upon the Writer. But\nwhen the Idea, which a Poet strives to raise, is in itself\nmagnificent and striking, the Dawb of Metaphor, or any spumy\nColourings of Rhetoric can but deaden, and efface it.\n\nIf Sir Richard had said, concerning the Skies, on any other\nSubject but This, of the Creation, that they were 'spun thin, and\nwove, on Nature's finest Loom,' the Thought had been so far from\nImpropriety, as to have been pleasing, and praise-worthy; But\nwhen the Image he wou'd set before us, is the Maker of Heaven and\nEarth, in all the dreadful Majesty of his Omnipotence, producing\nat a Word, the noblest Part of the Creation, and 'spreading out\nthe Heavens as a Curtain'; In this tremendous Exercise of his\nDivinity, to compare him to a Weaver, and his Expansion of the\nSkies, to the low Mechanism of a 'Loom,' is injudiciously to\ndiminish an Idea, he pretends to heighten and illustrate.\n\nI will end with a Word or two concerning the different Measure of\nthe Verse, in which the following Poem is written; and which is\napt to disgust Readers, not well grounded in Poetry, because it\nrequires a fuller Degree of Attention than the Couplet, and, as\nMr. Cowley has said of it,\n\n      ... Will no unskilful Touch endure,\n      But flings Writer and Reader too, that sits not sure.\n\nI have, in another Place, endeavoured by Arguments to demonstrate\nthe Preference of this Kind of Verse to any other; I will here\nobserve only, from my Experience of other Writers, that it wins,\ninsinuates, and grows insensibly upon the Relish of a Reader,\ntill the little seeming Harshness, which is supposed to be in it,\nsoftens gradually away, and leaves a vigorous Impression behind\nit, of mixed Majesty and Sweetness.\n\nA Man, who is just beginning to try his Ear in Pindaric, may be\ncompared to a new Scater; He totters strangely at first, and\nstaggers backward and forward; Every Stick, or frozen Stone in\nhis Way, is a Rub that he falls at. But when many repeated Trials\nhave embolden'd him to strike out, and taught the true Poize of\nMotion, he throws forward his Body with a dextrous Velocity, and\nbecoming ravish'd with the masterly Sweep of his Windings, knows\nno Pleasure greater, than to feel himself fly through that\nwell-measured Maziness, which he first attempted with Perplexity.\nBut I will detain you no longer, and hasten now to the Poem,\nwhich has given me this pleasing Opportunity of telling you how\nmuch I am,\n\n                                          Sir,\n\n                                            Your Most Humble\n                                              and Obedient Servant,\n\n                                                    A. HILL\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                  _THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY_\n\n                          ANNOUNCES ITS\n\n            Publications for the Third Year(1948-1949)\n\n      _At least two_ items will be printed from each of the\n      _three_ following groups:\n\nSeries IV: Men, Manners, and Critics\n\n           Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre _(1720).\n\n           Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation; _and Thomas\n           Brereton, Preface to _Esther._\n\n           Ned Ward, Selected Tracts.\n\nSeries V: Drama\n\n           Edward Moore, _The Gamester _(1753).\n\n           Nevil Payne, _Fatal Jealousy _(1673).\n\n           Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busie Body _(1709).\n\n           Charles Macklin, _Man of the World _(1781).\n\nSeries VI: Poetry and Language\n\n           John Oldmixon, _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to\n           Harley _(1712); and\n           Arthur Mainwaring, _The British Academy _(1712).\n\n           Pierre Nicole, _De Epigrammate._\n\n           Andre Dacier, Essay on Lyric Poetry.\n\n Issues will appear, as usual, in May, July, September, November,\n January, and March. 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Be sure to become a subscriber; and take\nit upon yourself to see that your college library is on the\nmailing list.\"\n\nThe Augustan Reprint Society is a non-profit, scholarly\norganization, run without overhead expense. By careful management\nit is able to offer at least six publications each year at the\nunusually low membership fee of $2.50 per year in the United\nStates and Canada, and $2.75 in Great Britain and the continent.\n\nLibraries as well as individuals are eligible for membership.\nSince the publications are issued without profit, however, no\ndiscount can be allowed to libraries, agents, or booksellers.\n\nNew members may still obtain a complete run of the first year's\npublications for $2.50, the annual membership fee.\n\nDuring the first two years the publications are issued in three\nseries: I. Essays on Wit; II. Essays on Poetry and Language; and\nIII. Essays on the Stage.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n          _PUBLICATIONS FOR THE FIRST YEAR (1946-1947)_\n\nMAY, 1946: Series I, No. 1--Richard Blackmore's _Essay upon\n             Wit _(1716), and Addison's _Freeholder_ No. 45\n             (1716).\n\nJULY, 1946: Series II, No. 1--Samuel Cobb's _Of Poetry_ and\n            _Discourse on Criticism_ (1707).\n\nSEPT., 1946: Series III, No. 1--Anon., _Letter to A.H. Esq.;\n             concerning the Stage_ (1698), and Richard Willis'\n            _Occasional Paper_ No. IX (1698).\n\nNov., 1946: Series I, No. 2--Anon., _Essay on Wit_ (1748),\n             together with Characters by Flecknoe, and Joseph\n             Warton's _Adventurer_ Nos. 127 and 133.\n\nJAN., 1947: Series II, No. 2--Samuel Wesley's _Epistle to a\n             Friend Concerning Poetry _(1700) and _Essay on\n             Heroic Poetry_ (1693).\n\nMARCH, 1947: Series III, No. 2--Anon., _Representation of the\n             Impiety and Immorality of the Stage_ (1704) and\n             anon., _Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage_ (1704).\n\n\n\n\n          _PUBLICATIONS FOR THE SECOND YEAR (1947-1948)_\n\nMAY, 1947: Series I, No. 3--John Gay's _The Present State of\n             Wit;_ and a section on Wit from _The English\n             Theophrastus._ With an Introduction by Donald Bond.\n\nJULY, 1947: Series II, No. 3--Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali,_\n             translated by Creech. With an Introduction by\n             J.E. Congleton.\n\nSEPT., 1947: Series III, No. 3--T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on\n             the Tragedy of Hamlet._ With an Introduction by\n             Clarence D. Thorpe.\n\nNov., 1947: Series I, No. 4--Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing\n             the True Standards of Wit,_ etc. With an Introduction\n             by James L. Clifford.\n\nJAN., 1948: Series II, No. 4--Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the\n             Pastoral._ With an Introduction by Earl Wasserman.\n\nMARCH, 1948: Series III, No. 4--Essays on the Stage, selected,\n             with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.\n\n\nThe list of publications is subject to modification in response to\nrequests by members. From time to time Bibliographical Notes will be\nincluded in the issues. Each issue contains an Introduction by a\nscholar of special competence in the field represented.\n\nThe Augustan Reprints are available only to\nmembers. 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