very same; they would both make sure of pleasing, and that in preference to instruction. Next, the means of this pleasure is by deceit one imposes on the sight, and the other on the understanding. Fiction is of the essence of Poetry as well as of Painting: there is a resemblance in one, of human bodies, things and actions, which are not real; and in the other, of a true story by a fiction. And as all stories are not proper subjects for an Epic Poem or a Tragedy, so neither are they for a noble Picture. The subjects both of the one and of the other ought to have nothing of immoral, low, or filthy in them; but this being treated at large in the book itself, I wave it to avoid repetition. Only I must add, that though Catullus, Ovid, and others, were of another opinion, that the subject of Poets, and even their thoughts and expressions might be loose, provided their lives were chaste and holy, yet there are no such licences permitted in that art, any more than in Painting to design and colour obscene nudities. "Vita proba est," is no excuse ;

for

it will scarcely be admitted, that either a Poet or a Painter can be chaste, who give us the contrary examples in their writings and their pictures. We see nothing of this kind in Virgil; that which comes the nearest to it is the adventure of the Cave, where Dido and Æneas were driven by the storm; yet even there, the Poet pretends a marriage before the consummation, and Juno herself was present at it. Neither is there any expression in that story which a Roman matron might not read without a blush. Besides, the Poet passes it over as hastily as he can, as if he were afraid of staying in the cave with the two lovers, and of being a witness to their actions. Now I suppose that a Painter would not be much commended, who should pick out this cavern from the whole Æneis, when there is not another in the work. He had better leave them in their obscurity, than let in a flash of lightning to clear the natural darkness of the place, by which he must discover himself as much as them. The altarpieces, and holy decorations of Painting, show that Art may be applied to better uses as well as Poetry; and amongst many

other instances, the Farnese Gallery, painted by Hannibal Carracci, is a sufficient witness yet remaining: the whole work being morally instructive, and particularly the Hercules Bivium, which is a perfect triumph of virtue over vice, as it is wonderfully well described by the ingenious Bellori.

Hitherto I have only told the reader what ought not to be the subject of a Picture or of a Poem. What it ought to be on either side our author tells us. It must in general be great and noble; and in this the parallel is exactly true. The subject of a Poet, either in Tragedy, or in an Epic Poem, is a great action of some illustrious hero. It is the same in Painting: not every action, nor every person, is considerable enough to enter into the cloth. It must be the anger of an Achilles, the piety of an Æneas, the sacrifice of an Iphigenia; for heroines as well as heroes are comprehended in the rule. But the parallel is more complete in Tragedy than in an Epic Poem: for as a Tragedy may be made out of many particular Episodes of Homer or of Virgil; so may a noble picture be designed out of this or that particular story

in either author. History is also fruitful of designs, both for the Painter and the Tragic Poet: Curtius throwing himself into a gulph, and the two Decii sacrificing themselves for the safety of their country, are subjects for Tragedy and Picture. Such is Scipio, restoring the Spanish Bride, whom he either loved, or may be supposed to love; by which he gained the hearts of a great nation, to interest themselves for Rome against Carthage: these are all but particular pieces in Livy's History, and yet are full, complete subjects for the pen and pencil. Now the reason of this is evident: Tragedy and Picture are more narrowly circumscribed by the mechanick rules of Time and Place than the Epic Poem: the Time of this last is left indefinite. It is true, Homer took up only the space of eight and forty days for his Iliad; but whether Virgil's action was comprehended in a year, or somewhat more, is not determined by Bossu. Homer made the place of his action Troy, and the Grecian camp besieging it. Virgil introduces his Æneas sometimes in Sicily, sometimes in Carthage, and other times at Cumæ, be

fore he brings him to Laurentum ; and even after that, he wanders again to the kingdom of Evander, and some parts of Tuscany, before he returns to finish the war by the death of Turnus. But Tragedy, according to the practice of the antients, was always confined within the compass of twenty-four hours, and seldom takes up so much time. As for the place of it, it was always one, and that not in a larger sense, as, for example, a whole city, or two or three several houses in it, but the market, or some other publick place, common to the chorus and all the actors; which established law of theirs, I have not an opportunity to examine in this place, because I cannot do it without digression from my subject, though it seems too strict at the first appearance, because it excludes all secret intrigues, which are the beauties of the modern stage; for nothing can be carried on with privacy, when the chorus is supposed to be always present. But to proceed: I must say this to the advantage of Painting, even above Tragedy, that what this last represents in the space of many hours, the former shows us in one