P Allow him but his plaything of a Pen, He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men: NOTES. Which is the proper office of tragedy, in correcting the excesses of the natural passions (ver. 122). "The reader who doth not turn himself to the Original, will be apt to mistake this detail of the virtues of poetry, for an account of the policy and legislation of ancient and modern times; whose proudest boast, when the philanthropy of their enthusiastic projectors ran at the highest, was but to prevent the impressions of vice, to form the mind to habits of virtue, and to curb and regulate the passions. "III. His Services to Religion. This might well enough be said, whether by religion we understand an internal reverence of the Gods, which poetry first and principally intended, or their popular adorations and worship, which by its fictions, as of necessity conforming to the received fancies of superstition, it must greatly tend to promote and establish; but the Poet, artfully seizing a circumstance, which supposes and includes in it both these respects, renders his defence vastly interesting. “All the customary addresses of Heathenism to its Gods, more especially on any great and solemn emergency, were the work of the Poet. For nature, it seems, had taught the Pagan world, what the Hebrew prophets themselves did not disdain to practise, that to lift the imagination, and, with it, the sluggish affections of human nature, to Heaven, it was expedient to lay hold on every assistance of art. They therefore presented their supplications to the Divinity in the richest and brightest dress of eloquence, which is poetry. Not to insist, that devotion, when sincere and ardent, from its very nature, enkindles a glow of thought which communicates strongly with the transports of poetry. Hence the language of the Gods (for so was poetry accounted, as well from its being the divinest species of communication our rude conceptions can well frame even for superior intelligences, as for that it was the fittest vehicle of our applications to them) became not the ornament only, but an essential in the ceremonial of Paganism. And this, together with an allusion to a form of public prayer (for such was his secular ode), composed by himself, gives, at once, a grace and sublimity to this part of the apology, which are perfectly inimitable. Detrimenta, fugas servorum, incendia ridet; * Militiæ quanquam piger et malus, utilis urbi. Si das hoc, parvis quoque rebus magna juvari ; "Os tenerum pueri balbumque poeta figurat : NOTES. "Thus hath the great Poet, in the compass of a few lines, drawn together a complete defence of his art; for what more could the warmest admirer of poetry, or, because zeal is quickened by opposition, what more could the vehement declaimer against Plato (who proscribed it) urge in its behalf, than that it furnishes, to the Poet himself, the surest means of solitary and social enjoyment; and farther serves to the most important civil, moral, and religious purposes." Ver. 195. Flight of Cashiers,] Alluding to Mr. Knight's (one of the Cashiers of the South-Sea Company) flying into France on the failure of that Bubble, by which Pope was a considerable sufferer. Ver. 201. Of little use] Except these two lines, vivit siliquis, and militiæ quanquam piger et malus, all that follows is serious in the Original. And I do not think os tenerum is ridicule. Ver. 204. And (tho' no Soldier)] Horace had not acquitted himself much to his credit in this capacity (non bene relicta parmula) in the battle of Philippi. It is manifest he alludes to himself, in this whole account of the Poet's character; but with an intermixture of irony: Vivit siliquis et pane secundo, has a relation to his Epicurism: Os tenerum pueri, is ridicule: the nobler office of a Poet follows; Torquet ab obscænis-Mox etiam pectus-Recte facta refert, &c. which the Imitator has applied where he thinks it more due than to himself. He hopes to be pardoned, if, as he is sincerely inclined to praise what deserves to be praised, he arraigns what deserves to be arraigned, in the 210, 211, and 212th Verses. P. Ver. 213, 214. Unhappy Dryden !-In all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays;] The sudden stop after mentioning the name of Dryden has a q Flight of Cashiers, or Mobs, he'll never mind; 195 And knows no losses while the Muse is kind. To'cheat a Friend, or Ward, he leaves to Peter; The good man heaps up nothing but mere metre, Enjoys his garden and his book in quiet; And then-a perfect Hermit in his 'diet. Of little use the Man you may suppose, Who says in verse what others say in prose; Yet let me shew, a Poet's of some weight, And ('tho' no Soldier) useful to the State. 200 "What will a child learn sooner than a song? 205 210 And in our own (excuse some Courtly stains) 215 No whiter page than Addison remains. NOTES. great beauty. The Poet's tenderness for his master is expressed in the second line by making his case general; and his honour for him, in the first line, by making his case particular, as the only one that deserved pity. W. Ver. 215. excuse some Courtly stains] We are not to understand this as a disapprobation of Mr. Addison for celebrating the virtues of the present Royal Family. It relates to a certain circumstance, in which he thought that amiable Poet did not act with the ingenuity that became his character. When Mr. Addison, in the year 1713, had finished his Cato, Torquet w "ab obscanis jam nunc sermonibus aurem ; Mox etiam pectus præceptis format amicis, NOTES. he brought it to Mr. Pope for his judgment. Our Poet, who thought the sentiments excellent, but the action not enough theatrical, gave him his opinion fairly; and told him that he had better not bring it upon the Stage, but print it like a classical performance, which would perfectly answer his design. Mr. Addison approved of this advice; and seem disposed to follow it. But soon after, he came to Mr. Pope, and told him, that some friends, whom he could not disoblige, insisted on his having it acted. However, he assured Mr. Pope, that it was with no Party views; and desired him to satisfy the Treasurer and the Secretary in that particular; and at the same time gave him the Poem to carry to them for their perusal. Our Poet executed his commission in the most friendly manner; and the Play, and the project for bringing it upon the Stage, had their approbation and encouragement. Throughout the carriage of this whole affair, Mr. Addison was so exceedingly afraid of party imputations, that when Mr. Pope, at his request, wrote the famous Prologue to it, and had said, "Britons, ARISE, be worth like this approv'd, And shew you have the virtue to be mov'd;" he was much troubled; said it would be called, stirring the people to rebellion; and earnestly begged he would soften it into something less obnoxious. On this account it was altered, as it now stands, to Britons, attend,-though at the expense both of the sense and spirit. Notwithstanding this, the very next year, when the present illustrious Family came to the succession, Mr. Addison thought fit to make a merit of CATO, as purposely and directly written to oppose the schemes of a faction. His Poem, to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, beginning in this manner, "The Muse, that oft with sacred raptures fir'd W. In Spence's Collections, I read these anecdotes of Addison, at his house at Byfleet in Surrey, 1754. These anecdotes, which He, from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, NOTES. were very curious, and contained many unknown particular circumstances of his contemporaries, were sold to Mr. Dodsley the bookseller, and prepared to be published; when Mr. Lowth, the late excellent bishop of London, and Dr. Ridley, on a close` inspection of them, imagined, that from some personalities in them, they were improper for the public eye. They therefore prevailed on Mr. Dodsley to relinquish his bargain, which he readily and generously agreed to do; and the Anecdotes were sealed up and delivered into the hands of the late Duke of Newcastle, the patron and friend of Spence. When Dr. Johnsonwas writing the Lives of the Poets, application was made to the Duke for an inspection of what related to Pope. It is to be hoped no farther use was ever made of them in any other publication. Ver. 216. No whiter page than Addison remains.] Mr. Addison's literary character is much mistaken, as characters generally are when taken (as his has been) in the gross. He was but an ordinary Poet, and a worse Critic. His verses are heavy, and his judgment of men and books superficial. But, in the pleasantry of comic adventures, and, in the dignity of moral allegories, he is inimitable. Nature having joined in him, as she had done once before in Lucian (who wanted the other's wisdom to make a right use of it) the sublime of Plato to the humour of Menander. W. If Addison's verses are heavy, as is asserted in this note, yet has he displayed (for I must repeat the assertion) a great power of true poetic imagination, in his Vision of Mirza, the Story of Balsora, of Constantia and Theodosius, and many most beautiful allegories. The author, who called his Campaign a Gazette in Rhyme, never meant to deny that there were many very brilliant passages in this poem. The regular march from place to place, which he followed, like the route of a muster master general, was all that was pointed at. See Boileau, Art. Poet. Ver. 217. He, from the taste obscene, &c.] This, in Imitation of his Original, refers to the true Poet, "torquet ab obscœnis;" and likewise to Mr. Addison's papers in the Tatlers, Spectators, |