Hor. Is not furprise rather the effect of wit than of genius ? Eug. To determine this, we muft ftate the difference between them. This feems to me to depend on the degrees of our penetration, and the nature of our feelings. The man of wit has a limited view into the relations of ideas; and from those which he does fee, his feelings direct him to choose the most fingular, not the most beautiful. He works upon us by furprife merely; but the man of genius furprises by an excess of beauty. Hor. It fhould feem to follow from hence, that the genius may be a wit when he pleases; yet we have feen fuch, who have made the attempt without fuccefs. Eug. Very rarely, when they give into the practice of being playful: thus, who has more wit than Shakespear? If others have failed, it must have been from the influence of a better habit: accuftomed to unite ideas by their beauties, they overlook the little points of fimilitude in those which are the most opposed; or, of difference, in those which are the most united: hence, as Cunning is but a fhort-fighted Wifdom, Wit may be called the fhort-fight of Genius. Hor. You make a greater difference between them than will be allowed by many. Eug. I use them in that sense, in which they are understood, when we fay, that Ovid had wit, and Virgil genius that this is the most exact and received fense of these words, will appear from hence, that, were I to affert, that Virgil had more wit than Ovid, I should be laughed at: yet this would be the confequence of understanding Wit in too * inlarged a fenfe, or of making it equivalent to Genius. Afp. I have been often ill fatisfied with myself, for not readily entering into fuch thoughts, as have known were generally esteemed witty. You have, I thank you, Eugenio, leffened the number of my mortifications. I muft own, I have *In the Effay on Criticifm, it is faidTrue Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, But immediately after this, the Poet adds For works may have more wit than does 'em good, Now, let us fubftitute the definition in the place of the thing, and it will stand thus. A work may have more of Nature dress'd to advantage than will do it good. This is impoffible; and it is evident, that the confufion arifes from the Poet's having annexed two different ideas to the fame word always. always preferred Humour to Wit, perhaps it was, that I more eafily understood it. I fhould call upon you for a better explanation of this matter, were I not more intent on another. You remember, that, difcourfing the other day, on a paffage in the Inquiry into the Beauties of Painting, in which, the fuperiority of Poetry is rather hinted at than explained, you promifed me that you would enlarge this part of the fubject, and-- Eug. I understand you, Afpafia; and should be glad, in this, as in every thing else, to prevent your wishes. I obferved juft now, that the diftinctive property of Genius is to furprife, either by original Beauty, or Greatnefs, in the idea. The principal beauties in Poetry, fpring from the fource or elegance of its images: of thefe, we will firft examine fuch as are peculiar to Poetry; after which, we will pafs to thofe which are in common to Poetry and Painting. Of the former clafs, are all images founded on comparisons, either direct, or implied. The merit of thefe confifts in a ftriking fimilitude between two objects, which, to common obfervation, have no apparent or neceffary connexion: hence we may judge of the merit of a comparison, by the degree of our furprife, which arifes from a combined admiration of its juftnefs, its novelty, and beauty. A comparison is direct in the following inftance-- On her left breaft A mole cinque-fpotted, like the crimson drops I' th' bottom of a cowflip Cymbeline. An implied comparison, or, in the language of the Critics, a metaphor, confifts in conveying an idea intirely by the fubftitution of an image: this will be best understood by an example. Angelo, in Measure for Meafure, obferving, that his guilty paffion for Ifabella, was inflamed by his knowledge of her innocence, is fhocked at the wickedness of his nature; which he aggravates by the force of a metaphor. Can it be, That modefty may more betray our fense Than woman's lightnefs! "having waste ground enough, "Shall we defire to rafe the Sanctuary, "And pitch our evils there? Oh fie, fie, fie." Sometimes a Poet has the happinefs to blend these two kinds of beauty in the fame image: he fets out with illuftrating his object by a direct comparison; and continues to fupport it by a metaphor. This is a high degree of beauty; for, it can only happen, when the comparifon is fo exquifitely juft, that the qualities effential to the bor rowed object, are, with the utmost propriety, transferred to the original one. Thus Bellarius, defcribing to his pupils the ruins of his fortunes at court. Cymbeline lov'd me, And when a foldier was the theme, my name Was not far off: then was I as a tree, Whofe boughs did bend with fruit. Shook Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves; And left me bare to weather. Cymbeline. Of this fpecies of beauty, the following is, perhaps, a ftill more elegant example-- She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' th' bud, Feed on her damask cheek. Twelfth Night. Shakespear's images are not mere addreffes to the fancy; they do not play about the furface of an object; they carry us into its effence.---As, where the mother of Hamlet endeavours to excufe his extravagance.. This is mere madness; And thus a while the fit will work on him : Anon, as patient as the female dove, Ere that her golden couplets are difclos'd, His filence will fit drooping. Had the Poet commanded at one view the whole circle of Nature, he could not have felected fuch another contrast to madness. It is the most perfect image of a patient, innocent, and modeft filence, that ever fprung from human invention. It is by the frequency and degree of thefe beau ties, principally, that an original Genius is diftinguished. Metaphors are to him, what the Eagle was to Jupiter, or the Doves to Venus, fymbols of Divinity; the fure indications of Majesty and Beauty. Hor. It has been a matter of wonder to many, that an imagination, at times, fo wild and ungovernable as that of Shakespear, fhould, in the finer imitations of nature, be diftinguifhed by an unequalled elegance and propriety. Eug. If we confider the nature and progrefs of the imagination, we need not wonder, that fuperior fpirits should be the moft fubject to thefe exceffes. The extremities of poetic boldness, like thofe of perfonal courage, will often have a tincture of extravagance. But, this will not be the cafe in men of fubordinate talents; trufting more to imitation than their own feelings, they move in one even tenor; with them, judgment is but an obfervance of rules; a fecurity to their weakness. And often, to their comfort fhall they find. The fharded Beetle in a fafer hold Than is the full-wing'd Eagle.-- Cymb. The laft fpecies of beauty in comparative imagery, which I fhall fpeak of here, confifts in reducing a metaphor to a point. When a picture is given us in a fingle word, to make out which, in our own imagination, we must go through a fucceffion of ideas, then are we furprifed in the most agreeable manner, and the beauty, of course, is confummate. You fhall have, Afpafia, an example of this from your favourite author, Fletcher. Amintor, in order to conceal the caufe of his grief, had put on a fhow of mirth; Merantius, his friend, who wanted to extort the fecret from him, was not to be fo impofed on. You may fhape, Amintor, Caufes to cozen the whole world withall, And yourfelf too; but 'tis not like a friend, As you were blafted, midst of all your mirth. Maid's Tragedy. It is by the force or elegance of its allufions and images, that a poetic diction is diftinguished from fimple verfification. The Mufes, according to John.fon, have their anvil, and a verse may be laboured into precifion and harmony: but, the fallies of the imagination are prompt and decifive; they fpring at once into being, and are beauties at their first conception. Thus, in the language of a Poet, the fun is the eye of heaven: the heaven itfelf-a ftarry pavement; a canopy fretted with golden fire. Does the mind exult in its fulleft freedom? It is---as broad, as general as the air. juft defcribing, they feem to me, to bear fome refemblance to those drawings of the capital Painters, in which, though the parts are rather hinted than made out, yet the ideas are compleat; they both give a delightful exercife to our minds, in continuing and enlarging the defign. (p. 65.---P. 79.) Anecdotes of Painting in England; with fome account of the principal Artifts; and incidental Notes on other Arts; collected by the late Mr. George Vertue; and now digefted and published from his original MSS. by Mr. Horace Walpole. In two Vol. Quarto. NECDOTES Wh cofing are repeated calamities Englands of Painting in What are the of life? The flings and arrows of outrageous fortune? The properties of fleep? England, is a title, which perhaps, of all others, is the most apt to excite ones curioufity, not that there is any thing very promifing in the fubject. The reverfeis rather The birth of each day's life; fore true; but we are impatient to find labours bath; Balm of hurt minds. Are our tender years expofed to the infection of vice ?---the canker galls the infants of the Spring. Is the night invoked to countenance deeds of horror and cruelty? Come, thick night! And pall thee in the dunneft fmoak of hell. Hor. How miferably naked of thefe beauties are the works of our ordinary fongfters? Their metaphors are like fcatter'd trees in a defert, ftarved and folitary: in Shakespear, they are vigorous, luxuriant, thickly fpread over every part of his poetry. Eug. This comparifon will hold, with refpect to images in general: as to thefe, which we have been out, what it is that can occupy two quarto volumes upon an art, which has hitherto made fo little progrefs in England. The reader will be furprised to find fo very entertaining a work arife from fuch unpromifing materials. The first of the authors, Mr. Vertue, has been deficient in no pains to collect, and the other, Mr. Walpole, is deficient in no talent to enliven every thing, which could poffibly tend to the illuftration of this agreeable art, fo far as it was cultivated, either by natives or foreigners in this kingdom. This knowledge is not contemptible. Whatever concerns the arts, is of value to those who love them; that is, to every liberal and ingenuous mind. This fubject takes up the work from the earliest times, to which it can be traced in our records, that is, from the reign of Henry III. and carries it down to the end of the reign of Charles I. and throughout abounds with curious ftories not only of the painters, but of feveral of the eminent perfons, who have been the fubject of their pencil. It contains alfo feveral ftrokes of criticifm, which fhew how far this author is capable of having gone, had he chofen a fubject which would have given a greater fcope to his critical abilities. His file is lively, peculiar, and marked; very fententious and pointed; more correct, and rather lefs charged with witticisms than that of the Royal and Noble Authors. With regard to Mr. Vertue, his merits in his profeffion are already fufficiently known to all connoiffeurs. His merits, as a compiler, are as great as could be difplayed in that fort of employment. Even in that employment virtues may be difplayed and talents exercifed. What Mr. Walpole fays of him in that refpect, forms a very beautiful eulogy. "One fatisfaction the reader will have, in the integrity of Mr. Vertue; it exceeded his induftry, which is faying much. No man living, fo bigoted to a vocation, was ever fo incapable of falfhood. He did not deal even in hypothefis, fcarce in conjecture. He vifited, and revifited every picture, every monument, that was an object of his researches; and being fo little a flave to his own imagination, he was cautious of trufting to that of others. In his memorandums he always put a quere against whatever was told him of fufpicious afpect; and never gave credit to it 'till he received the fulleft fatisfaction. Thus whatever trifles the reader finds, he will have the comfort of knowing that the greatest part at least are of most genuine authority." Preface, p. 8. Any analysis of a work of this kind would be impracticable. What follows in the preface is a fpecimen of the manner of this fpirited writer. of "If the obfervation of a dearth great names in this lift fhould excite emulation, and tend to produce abler mafters, Mr. Vertue, I believe, and I should be glad to have the continuation of the work do greater honour to our country. It would be difficult perhaps to affign a phyfical reafon, why a nation that pro duced Shakefpear, fhould owe its glory in another walk of genius to Holbein and Vandyck. It cannot be imputed to want of protection: Who countenanced the arts more than Charles the Firft? That Prince, who is cenfured for his want of tafte in penfioning Quarles, is celebrated by the fame pen for employing Bernini----but want of protection is the apology for want of genius: Milton and Fontaine did not write in the bafk of courtfavour. A poet or a painter may want an equipage or a villa, by wanting protection: They can always afford to buy ink and paper, colours and pencils. Mr. Hogarth has received no honours, but univerfal admiration. But whatever has been the complaint formerly, we have ground to hope that a new æra is receiving ts date. Genius is countenanced, and emulation will follow: Nor is it a bad indication of the flourishing ftate of a country, that it daily makes improvements in arts and fciences. They may be attended by luxury, but they certainly are produced by wealth and happiness. |