LETTER XXV. From Mr. Cromwell. Decemb. 5, 1710. THE fame judgment we made on Row's 9th of Lucan will ferve for his part of the 6th, where I find this memorable line, Parq; novum Fortuna videt concurrere, bellum For this he employs fix verses, among which is this, Pray can you trace chivalry up higher than Pharamond? will you allow it an anachroniím?-Tickell in his verfion of the Phænix from Claudian, When nature ceafes, thou shalt ftill remain, Et clades te nulla rapit, folufq; fuperftes, which plainly refers to the deluge of Deucalion and the conflagration of Phaeton; not to the final diffolution. Your thought of the priests lottery is very fine you play the wit, and not the critic, upon the errors of your brother. Your obfervations are all very juft: Virgil is eminent for adjusting his diction to his fentiments; and among the moderns, I find your practice the Profodia of of your rules. Your poem fhews you to be, what you fay of Voiture-with books well bred: the ftate of the fair, tho' fatirical, is touch'd with that delicacy and gallantry, that not the court of Auguftus, not But hold, I fhall lose what I lately recover'd, your opinion of my fincerity: yet I muft fay, 'tis as faultlefs as the fair to whom 'tis addrefs'd, be the never so perfect. The M. G. (who it seems had no right notion of you, as you of him) transcrib'd it by lucubration: From fome difcourfe of yours, he thought your inclination led you to (what the men of fashion call learning) pedantry; but now he fays he has no lefs, I affure you, than a veneration for you. LETTER XXVI. Your, &c. Decemb. 17, 1710. IT feems that my late mention of Crafhaw, and my quotation from him, has mov'd your curiofity. I therefore send you the whole author, who has held a place among my other books of this nature for fome years; in which time having read him twice or thrice, I find him one of those whose works may just deserve reading. I take this poet to have writ like a gentleman, that is, at leifure hours, and more to keep out of idleness, than to establish a reputation: fo that nothing regular or juft can be expected from him. All that regards defign, form, fable, (which is the foul of poetry) all that concerns exactness, or consent of parts, (which is the body) * To a lady, with the works of Voiture. 1 will probably be wanting; only pretty conceptions, fine metaphors, glitt'ring expreffions, and fomething of a neat cast of verse, (which are properly the dress, gems, or loose ornaments of poetry) may be found in these verses. This is indeed the cafe of most other poetical writers of mifcellanies; nor can it well be otherwife, fince no man can be a true poet, who writes for diverfion only. These authors fhou'd be confider'd as verfifiers and witty men, rather than as poets; and under this head will only fall the thoughts, the expreffion, and the numbers. Thefe are only the pleafing part of poetry, which may be judg'd of at a view, and comprehended all at once. And (to exprefs myself like a painter) their colouring entertains the fight, but the lines and life of the picture are not to be infpected too narrowly. This Author form'd himself upon Petrarch, or rather upon Marino. His thoughts one may obferve, in the main, are pretty; but oftentimes far fetch'd, and too often ftrain'd and stiffned to make them appear the greater. For men are never fo apt to think a thing great, as when it is odd or wonderful; and inconfiderate authors wou'd rather be admir'd than understood. This ambition of furprising a reader, is the true natural caufe of all fuftian, or bombaft in poetry. To confirm what I have faid you need but look into his first Poem of the Weeper, where the 2d, 4th, 6th, 14th, 21st stanza's are as fublimely dull, as the 7th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 17th, 20th and 23d ftanza's of the fame copy, are foft and pleafing and if these last want any thing, it is an eafier and more unaffected expreffion. The remaining thoughts in that poem might have been spared, being either but repetitions, or very trivial and mean, And by this example in the first one may guess at all the reft; to : be be like this, a mixture of tender gentile thoughts and fuitable expreffions, of forc'd and inextricable conceits, and of needlefs fillers-up to the rest. From all which it is plain, this author writ faft, and fet down what came uppermoft. A reader may skim off the froth, and use the clear underneath; but if he goes too deep will meet with a mouthful of dregs; either the top or bottom of him are good for little, but what he did in his own, natural, middle-way, is beft. To fpeak of his numbers is a little difficult, they are fo various and irregular, and mostly Pindarick : 'tis evident his heroic verfe (the beft example of which is his Mufick's Duel) is carelefly made up; but one may imagine from what it now is, that had he taken more care, it had been musical and pleasing enough, not extreamly majestic, but sweet: and the time confider'd of his writing, he was (ev'n as uncorrect as he is) none of the worft verfificators. I will juft obferve, that the best pieces of this author are, a paraphrafe on Pfal. 23. on Leffius, Epitaph on Mr. Afhton, wishes to his fuppos'd miftrefs, and the Dies Ira. LETTER XXVII. Decemb. 30, 1710. Refume my old liberty of throwing out myself upon paper to you, and making what thoughts float uppermoft in my head, the fubject of a letter. They are at present upon laughter, which (for ought I know) may be the caufe you might fometimes think me too remiss a friend, when I was most intirely fo: for I am never fo inclin'd to mirth as when I am moft pleas'd and most easy, which is in the company of a friend like yourself. As : As the fooling and toying with a miftrefs is a proof of fondness, not difrefpect, fo is raillery with a friend. I know there are prudes in friendship, who expect distance, awe, and adoration, but I know you are not of them; and I for my part am no Idol-worshiper, tho' a Papift. IfI were to addrefs Jupiter himself in a heathen way, I fancy I fhou'd be apt to take hold of his knee in a familiar manner, if not of his beard like Dionyfius; I was just going to fay of his buttons, but I think Jupiter wore none (however I won't be pofitive to fo nice a critic as you, but his robe might be fubnected with a Fibula.) I know fome philofophers define laughter, A recommending ourselves to our own favour, by comparison with the weakness of another but I am fure I very rarely laugh with that view, nor do I believe children have any fuch confideration in their heads, when they exprefs their pleasure this way: I laugh full as innocently as they, for the most part, and as fillily. There is a difference too betwixt laughing about a thing and laughing at a thing: one may find the inferior man (to make a kind of cafuiftical distinction) provok'd to folly at the fight or obfervation of fome circumftance of a thing, when the thing itself appears folemn and auguft to the fuperior man, that is, our judgment and reafon. Let an Ambaffador speak the best sense in the world, and deport himself in the most graceful manner before a Prince, yet if the tail of his fhirt happen (as I have known it happen to a very wife man) to hang out behind, more people fhall laugh at that than attend to the other; till they recollect themfelves, and then they will not have a jot the lefs refpect for the minifter. I must confess the iniquity of my countenance, before you; feveral mufcles of my face fometimes take an impertinent liberty |