FROM what has been faid we may infer, that as there are two Kinds of Sentiments, the Natural and the Sublime, which are always to be purfued in an heroic Poem, there are alfo two Kinds of Thoughts which are carefully to be avoided. The first are fuch as are affected and unnatural; the fecond fuch as are mean and vulgar. As for the first Kind of Thoughts, we meet with little or nothing that is like them in Virgil: He has none of thofe trifling Points and Puerilities that are fo often to be met with in Ovid, none of the Epigrammatic Turns of Lucan, none of those fwelling Sentiments which are fo frequent in Statius and Claudian, none of thofe mixed Embellishments of Taffo. Every Thing is just and natural. His Sentiments fhew that he had a perfect Infight into human Nature, and that he knew every thing which was the moft proper to affect it.

Mr. Dryden has in fome Places, which I may hereafter take notice of, mifreprefented Virgil's Way of Thinking as to this Particular, in the Tranflation he has given us of the Æneid. I do not remember that Homer any where falls into the Faults above mentioned, which were indeed the false Refinements of later Ages. Milton, it must be confeft, has fometimes erred in this Refpect, as I fhall fhew more at large in another Paper; though, confidering all the Poets of the Age in which he writ, were infected with this wrong Way of Thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did fometimes comply with the vicious Tafte which ftill prevails fo much among modern Writers.

BUT fince feveral Thoughts may be natural which are low and groveling, an Epic Poet fhould not only avoid fuch Sentiments as are unnatural or affected, but alfo fuch as are mean and vulgar. Hover has opened a great Field of Raillery to Men of more Delicacy than Greatness of Genius, by the Homeliness of some of his Sentiments. But, as I have before said, these are rather to be imputed to the Simplicity of the Age

in which he lived, to which I may alfo add, of that which he defcribed, than to any Imperfection in that Divine Poet. Zoilus, among the Ancients, and Monfieur Perrault, among the Moderns, pushed their Ridicule very far upon him, on account of fome fuch Sentiments. There is no Blemish to be obferved in Virgil, under this Head, and but a very few in Milton.

I fhall give but one Inftance of this Impropriety of Thought in Homer, and at the fame time compare it with an Inftance of the fame Nature, both in Virgil and Milton, Sentiments which raife Laughter, can very feldom be admitted with any Decency into an heroic Poem, whose Business is to excite Paffions of a much nobler Nature. Homer, however, in his Characters of Vulcan and Therfites, in his Story of Mars and Venus, in his Behaviour of Irus, and in other Paffages, has been obferved to have lapfed into the Burlefque Character, and to have departed from that ferious Air which feems effential to the Magnificence of an Epic Poem. I remember but one Laugh in the whole Æneid, which rifes in the fifth Book upon Monetes, where he is reprefented as thrown overboard and drying himself upon a Rock. But this Piece of Mirth is fo well timed, that the feverest Critic can have nothing to fay againft it, for it is in the Book of Games and Diverfions, where the Reader's Mind may be fuppofed to be fufficiently relaxed for fuch an Entertainment. The only Piece of Pleafantry in Paradife Loft, is where the evil Spirits are defcribed as rallying the Angels upon the Success of their new invented Artillery. This Paffage I look upon to be the moft exceptionable in the whole Poem, as being nothing else but a String of Puns, and those too very indifferent.

·Satan beheld their Plight,

And to his Mates thus in Derifion coll'd.

O Friends, why come not on those Victors proud!
Ere while they fierce were coming, and when we,

To entertain them fair with open Front,

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

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

To whom thus Belia! in like gamefome Mood:
Leader, the Terms we fent were Terms of Weight,
Of hard Contents, and full of Force urg'd Home;
Such as we might perceive amus'd them all,
And stumbled many: who receives them right,
Had need from Head to Foot well understand;
Not understood, this Gift they have befides,
They few us when our Foes walk not upright.
Thus they among themselves in pleafant Vein
Stood Scoffing

SPECTATOR, N° 285.

XXX

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

But then they did not wrong themselves fo much,
To make a Got, a Hero, or a King

(Stript of his golden Crown, and purple Robe)
Defcend to a Mechanic Dialect;

Hor,

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

AVING already treated of the Fable, the Cha

are in the laft Place to confider the Language; and

as

as the learned World is very much divided upon Milton as to this Point, I hope they will excufe me if I appear particular in any of my Opinions, and incline to thofe who judge the most advantageously of the Author.

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

-God and his Son except,

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

And that in which he defcribes Adam and Eve.

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

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

IF

IF Clearness and Perfpicuity were only to be confulted, the Poet would have nothing else to do but to clothe his Thoughts in the most plain and natural Expreffions. But fince it often happens that the moft obvious Phrafes, and those which are used in ordinary Converfation, become too familiar to the Ear, and contract a kind of Meannefs, by paffing through the Mouths of the Vulgar, a Poet fhould take particular Care to guard himself againft Idiomatic Ways of fpeaking. Ovid and Lucan have many Poorneffes of Expreffion upon this Account, as taking up with the firit Phrafes that offered, without putting themfelves to the Trouble of looking after fuch as would not only be natural, but also elevated and fublime. Milton has but a few Failings in this kind, of which, however, you may meet with fome Inftances, as in the following Paffages.

Embrios and Idiots, Eremites and Friars,

White, Black and Gray, with all their Trumpery,
Here Pilgrims roam-

-A while Difcourfe they bold,

No Fear left Dinner cool; when thus began

Our Author

Who of all Ages to fucceed, but feeling

The Evil on him brought by me, will curfe
My Head, Illfare our Anceftor impure,
For this we may thank Adam-

THE great Mafters in Compofition know very well that many an elegant Phrafe becomes improper for a Poet or an Orator, when it has been debased by common Ufe. For this Reafon the Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages, have a great Advantage over those which are written in Languages that are now spoken. Were there any Mean Phrafes or Idioms in Virgil and Homer, they would not fhock the Ear of the moft delicate Modern Reader, fo much as they would have done that of an old Greek or Roman, because we never hear

them