to difcourage youth from poetry, and endeavour to prejudice them against it; if they are of a poetical genius, there is no retraining them: Ovid, you know, was deaf to his father's frequent admonitions. But if they are not quite fmitten and bewitched with love of verfe, they should be trained to it, to make them masters of every kind of poetry, that by learning to imitate the originals, they may arrive at a right conception, and a true taste of their authors and being able to write in verfe upon occation, I can affure you, is no difadvantage to profe; for without relishing the one, a man muft never pretend to any tate of the other.

Tafte is a metaphor, borrowed from the palate, by which we approve or diflike what we eat and drink, from the agreeableness or difagreeablenefs of the relish in our mouth. Nature directs us in the common ufe, and every body can tell fweet from bitter, what is fharp, or four, or vapid, or nauseous; but it requires fenfes more refined and exercifed, to difcover every tate that is most perfect in its kind; every palate is not a judge of that, and yet drinking is more ufed than reading. All that I pretend to know of the matter, is, that wine fhould be, like a ftyle, clear, deep, bright, and strong, fincere and pure found and dry (as our advertisements do well exprefs it) which laft is a commendable term, that contains the juice of the richest fpirits, and only keeps out all cold and dampnefs.

It is common to commend a man for an ear to music, and a tafle of painting; which are nothing but a juft difcernment of what is excellent and most perfect in them. The first depends entirely on the ear; a man can never expect to be a mafter, that has not an ear tuned and fet to mufic; and you can no more fing an ode without an ear, than without a genius you can write one. Painting, we should think, requires fome understanding in the art, and exact knowledge of the best mafter's manner, to be a judge of it; but this faculty, like the reft, is founded in nature: knowledge in the art, and frequent converfation with the beft originals, will certainly perfect a man's judgment; but if there is not a natural fagacity and aptnefs, experience will be of no great fervice. A good tafle is an argument of a great foul, as well as a lively wit. It is the infirmity of poor fpirits to be taken with every appearance, and dazzled by every thing that sparkles:

but to pafs by what the generality of the world admires, and to be detained with nothing but what is most perfect and excellent in its kind, fpeaks a fuperior genius, and a true difcernment: a new picture by fomne meaner hand, where the colours are fresh and lively, will engage the eye, but the pleafure goes off with looking, and what we ran to at firft with cagernels, we prefently leave with indifference: but the old pieces of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Tintoret, and Titian, though not fo inviting at first, open to the eye by degrees; and the longer and oftener we look, we still difcover new beauties, and find new pleafure. I am not a man of fo much feverity in my temper, as to allow you to be plealed with nothing but what is in the last perfection; for then, poffibly, fo many are the infirmities of writing, beyond other arts, you could never be pleafed. There is a wide difference in being nice to judge of every degree of perfection, and rigid in refufing whatever is deficient in any point. This would only be weakness of ftomach, not any commendation of a good palate; a true tafte judges of defects as well as perfections, and the best judges are always the perfons of the greatest candour. They will find none but real faults, and whatever they commend, the praife is justly due.

I have intimated already, that a good tafte is to be formed by reading the beft authors; and when you fhall be able to point out their beauties, to difcern the brighteft paffages, the ftrength and elegance of their language, you will always write yourfelf, and read others by that ftandard, and must therefore neceffarily excel. Felton.

§ 105. Tafe to be improved by Imitation.

In Rome there were fome popular ora tors, who, with a falfe cloquence and violent action, carried away the applaufe of the people and with us we have fome popular men, who are followed and admired for the loudness of their voice, and a falfe pathos both in utterance and writ ing. I have been sometimes in fome confufion to hear fuch perfons commended by thofe of fuperior fenfe, who could diftinguish, one would think, between empty, pompous, fpecious harangues, and thofe pieces in which all the beauties of writing are combined. A natural tafte must there fore be improved, like fine parts, and a great genius; it must be affifted by art, or

it will be eafily vitiated and corrupted. Falfe eloquence paffes only where true is not understood; and nobody will commend bad writers, that is acquainted with good.

These are only fome curfory thoughts on a fubject that will not be reduced to rules. To treat of a true tafte in a formal method, would be very infipid; it is beft collected from the beauties and laws of writing, and muft rife from every man's own apprehenfion and notion of what he hears and reads.

It may be therefore of farther ufe, and moft advantage to you, as well as a relief and entertainment to refresh your fpirits in the end of a tedious difcourfe, if befides mentioning the claffic authors as they fall in my way, I lay before you fome of the correcteft writers of this age and the laft, in feveral faculties, upon different fubjects: Not that you should be drawn into a fervile imitation of any of them: but that you may fee into the fpirit, force, and beauty of them all, and form your pen from thofe general notions of life and delicacy, of fine thoughts and happy words, which rife to your mind upon reading the great mafters of style in their several ways, and manner of excelling.

I must beg leave, therefore, to defer a little the entertainment I promised, while I endeavour to lead you into the true way of imitation, if ever you shall propofe any original for your copy; or, which is infinitely preferable, into a perfect maftery of the fpirit and perfections of every celebrated writer, whether ancient or modern. Felton.

106. On the Hiftorical Style. Hiftory will not admit thofe decorations other fubjects are capable of; the paffions and affections are not to be moved with any thing, but the truth of the narration. All the force and beauty muft lie in the order and expreffion. To relate every event with clearness and perfpicuity, in fuch words as beft exprefs the nature of the fubject, is the chief commendation of an hiftorian's style. Hiftory gives us a draught of facts and tranfactions in the world. The colours thefe are painted in; the ftrength and fignificancy of the feveral faces; the regular confufion of a battle; the distractions of tumult fenfibly depicted; every object and every occurrence fo prefented to your view, that while you read, you seem indeed to fee them: this is

the art and perfection of an hiftorical ftyle. And you will obferve, that those who have excelled in hiftory, have excelled in this especially; and what has made them the ftandards of that ftyle, is the clearners, the life and vigour of their expreffion, every where properly varied, according to the variety of the fubjects they wrote on: for history and narration are nothing but ju and lively defcriptions of remarkable events and accidents. Ibid.

§ 107. Of HERODOTUS and THUCY

DIDES.

For this reafon we praise Herodotus and Thucydides among the Greeks, for I wi mention no more of them; and upon this account we commend Salluft and Livy among the Romans. For though they all differ in their ftyle, yet they all agree a these common excellencies. Herodot difplays a natural oratory in the beauty and clearness of a numerous and folem: diction; he flows with a fedate and majefic pace, with an eafy current, and a pleafant ftream. Thucydides does fometimes write in a ftyle fo close, that almost every word is a fentence, and every fentence almost acquaints us with fomething new; fo that from the multitude of caufes, and variety of matter crowded together; we fhould fufpect him to be obfcure: but yet fo happy, fo admirable a master is he in the art of exprefion, fo proper and fo fall, that we cannot fay whether his diction does more illuftrate the things he fpeaks of, or whether his words themselves are not illt trated by his matter, fo mutual a light do his expreffions and fubject reflect on each other. His diction, though it be prefied and close, is nevertheless great and magnificent, equal to the dignity and impor tance of his fubject. He firft, after Herodotus, ventured to adorn the hiftorian's ftyle, to make the narration more pleafing, by leaving the flatnefs and nakedness of former ages. This is moft obfervable in his battles, where he does not only relate the mere fight, but writes with a martial spirit, as if he stood in the hottest of the engagement; and what is most excellent as well as remarkable in so close a style, is that it is numerous and harmonious, that his words are not laboured nor forced, but fall into their places in a natural order, a into their most proper fituation. Ibid.

$108. Of SALLUST and LIVY. Salluft and Livy, you will read, I hope,

with fo much pleasure, as to make a thorough and intimate acquaintance with them. Thucydides and Salluft are generally compared, as Livy is with Herodotus; and, fince I am fallen upon their characters, I cannot help touching the comparifons. Salluft is reprefented as a concife, a ftrong, and nervous writer; and fo far he agrees with Thucydides's manner: but he is alfo charged with being obfcure, as concife writers very often are, without any reafon. For, if I may judge by my own apprehenfions, as I read him, no writer can be more clear, more obvious and intelligible. He has not, indeed, as far as I can obferve, one redundant expreffion; but his words are all weighed and chofen, fo expreffive and fignificant, that I will challenge any critic to take a sentence of his, and exprefs it clearer or better; his contraction feems wrought and laboured. To me he appears as a man that confidered and ftudied perfpicuity and brevity to that degree, that he would not retrench a word which might help him to exprefs his meaning, nor fuffer one to ftand, if his fenfe was clear without it. Being more diffufe, would have weakened his language, and have made it obfcurer rather than ciearer: for a multitude of words only ferve to cloud or diffipate the fenfe; and though a copious ftyle in a mafter's hand is clear and beautiful, yet where concifeness and perfpicuity are once reconciled, any attempt to enlarge the expreffions, if it does not darken, does certainly make the light much feebler. Salluft is all life and fpirit, yet grave and majeftic in his diction: his ufe of old words is perfectly right there is no affectation, but more weight and fignificancy in them: the boldness of his metaphors are among his greatest beauties; they are chofen with great judgment, and fhew the force of his genius; the colouring is strong, and the ftrokes are bold: and in my opinion he chose them for the fake of the brevity he loved, to exprefs more clearly and more forcibly, what otherwise he must have written in loofer characters with lefs ftrength and beauty. And no fault can be objected to the jufteft and exactest of the Roman writers.

Livy is the most confiderable of the Roman historians, if to the perfection of his ftyle we join the compafs of his fubjeft; in which he has the advantage over all that wrote before him, in any nation but the Jewish, efpecially over Thucydides;

whofe hiftory, however drawn out into length, is confined to the shortest period of any, except what remains of Salluft. No hiftorian could be happier in the greatness and dignity of his fubject, and none was better qualified to adorn it; for his genius was equal to the majefty of the Roman empire, and every way capable of the mighty undertaking. He is not fo copious in words, as abundant in matter, rich in his expreffion, grave, majestic, and lively; and if I may have liberty to enlarge on the old commendation, I would fay his ftyle flows with milk and honey, in fuch abundance, fuch pleasure and sweetness, that when once you are proficient enough to read him readily, you will go on with unwearied delight, and never lay him out of your hands without impatience to refume him. We may refemble him to Herodotus, in the manner of his diction; but he is more like Thucydides in the grandeur and majesty of expreffion; and if we obferve the multitude of claufes in the length of the periods, perhaps Thucydides himself is not more crowded; only the length of his periods is apt to deceive us; and great men among the ancients, as well as moderns, have been induced to think this writer was copious, because his fentences were long. Copious he is indeed, and forcible in his descriptions, not lavish in the number, but exuberant in the richnefs and fignificancy of his words. You will obferve, for I fpeak upon my own obfervation, that Livy is not fo eafy and obvious to be understood as Salluft; the experiment is made every where in reading five or fix pages of each author together. The fhortness of Salluft's fentences, as long as they are clear, fhews his fenfe and meaning all the way in an inftant: the progrefs is quick and plain, and every three lines gives us a new and complete idea; we are carried from one thing to another with fo fwift a pace, that we run as we read, and yet cannot, if we read diftinctly, run fafter than we understand him. This is the brightest testimony that can be given of a clear and obvious style. In Livy we cannot pafs on fo readily; we are forced to wait for his meaning till we come to the end of the fentence, and have so many clauses to fort and refer to their proper places in the way, that I must own I cannot read him fo readily at fight as I can Salluft; though with attention and confideration I understand him as well.

He is not fo eafy, nor fo well adapted to

young

young proficients, as the other: and is ever plaineft, when his fentences are fhortell; which I think is a demonstration. Some perhaps, will be apt to conclude, that in this I differ from Quinctilian; but I do not conceive fo myself; for Quinctilian recommends Livy before Salluit, rather for his candour, and the larger compafs of his hiftory; for he owns a good proficiency is required to understand him; and I can only refer to the experience of young proficients, which of them is more open to their apprehenfion. Diftinction of fentences, in few words, provided the words be plain and expreffive, ever gives light to the author, and carries his meaning uppermoft; but long periods, and a multiplicity of claufes, however they abound with the moft obvious and fignificant words, do neceffarily make the meaning more retired, lefs forward and obvious to the view: and in this Livy may feem as crowded as Thucydides, if not in the number of periods, certainly in the multitude of claufes, which, fo difpofed, do rather obfcure than illuminate his writings. But in fo rich, fo majestic, fo flowing a writer, we may wait with patience to the end of the fentence, for the pleafure ftill increases as we read. The elegance and purity, the greatnefs, the noblenefs of his diction, his happinefs in narration, and his wonderful eloquence, are above all commendation; and his style, if we were to decide, is certainly the ftandard of Roman hiftory. For Salluft, I must own, is too impetuous in his courfe; he hurries his reader on too faft, and hardly ever allows him the pleasure of expectation, which in reading hiftory, where it is justly raised on important events, is the greatest of all others.

Felton.

$109. Their Ufe in Style. Reading thefe celebrated authors will give you a true tafle of good writing, and form you to a juft and correct style upon every occafion that fhall demand your pen. I would not recommend any of them to a Arict imitation; that is fervile and mean; and you cannot propofe an exact copy of a pattern, without falling fhort of the original: but if you once read them with a true relish and difcernment of their beauties, you may lay them afide, and be fecure of writing with all the graces of them all, without owing your perfection to any. Your style and manner will be your own, and even your letters upon the most ordinary fobjects, will have a native beauty

and elegance in the compofition, which will equal them with the best originals, and fet them far above the common ftandard.

Upon this occafion, I cannot pass by your favourite author, the grave and fa cetious Tatler, who has drawn mankind in every drefs, and every disguise of nature, in a ftyle ever varying with the humours, fancies, and follies he defcribes. He has fhewed himself a mafter in every turn of his pen, whether his fubject be light or ferious, and has laid down the rules of common life with fo much judgment, in fuca agreeable, fuch lively and elegant la guage, that from him you at once may form your manners and your style. Ibid.

§ 110. On SPENSER and SHAKE.

SPEAR.

I may add fome poets of more ancier: date: and though their style is out of the ftandard now, there are in them still fome lines fo extremely beautiful, that our modern language cannot reach them. Chaucer is too old, I fear; but Spenser, though he, be antiquated too, hath ftill charms remaining to make you enamoured of him. His antique verfe has mufic in it to ravish any ears, that can be fenfible of the foftett, fweeteft numbers, that ever flowed from a poet's pen.

Shakespear is a wonderful genius, a fingle inftance of the force of nature and the ftrength of wit. Nothing can be greater and more lively than his thoughts; nothing nobler and more forcible than his expre fion. The fire of his fancy breaks out into his words, and fets his reader on a flame: he makes the blood run cold or warm; and is fo admirable a mafter of the paffions, that he raifes your courage, your pity, and your fear, at his pleafure; but he delights moft in terror. Ibid. § 111. On MILTON and PHILIPS.

Milton is the affertor of poetic liberty, and would have freed us from the bondage of rhyme, but, like finners, and like lo vers, we hug our chain, and are pleafed in being flaves. Some indeed have made fome faint attempts to break it, but their verfe had all the foftness and effeminacy of rhyme without the mufic; and Dryden himself, who fometimes ftruggled to get loofe, always relapfed, and was faller bound than ever: but rhyme was his province, and he could make the tinkling of his chains harmonious. Mr. Philips has trod the nearest in his great mafter's fteps,

and