It is from the same unweigh"d Redundancy, and Misapplication of Words, that we so often find this excellent Writer falling into the Anticlimax. As where, for Example, he informs us of Liberty, that she is a G.o.ddess,
"Profuse of Bliss, and pregnant with Delight, Eternal Pleasures, in her Presence reign."
After "Profusion of Bliss," that is to say, the heap"d Enjoyment of all Blessings to be wish"d for; how does it cool the Imagination, to read of being "pregnant with Delight"? Had she been brought to Bed of "Delight," it had been but a poor Delivery: For what imports "Delight," in Comparison with "Bliss"? And how much less too is pregnant with Delight," than "Delight" in Possession! But then again, after both these, what cou"d the Author hope to teach us, by adding, that "Pleasure reigns in her Presence." Can there be "Bliss" without "Delight"?
Was there ever "Delight" without "Pleasure"? It shou"d gradually have ascended thus, Pleasure, Delight, Bliss; But to turn it the direct contrary Way, Bliss, Delight, Pleasure, is setting a poor Meaning upon its Head, and the same thing as to say, Mr. Addison writ incomparably, finely, nay, and tolerably. A Praise, which, I dare say, he wou"d have given no Body Thanks for. One wou"d think there were a kind of Fatality in Liberty, since scarce any Body can meddle either with the Word or the Thing, but they turn all topsey turvey.
But I am sliding insensibly into a Theme, that requires rather a Volume, than a Page or two; I hasten therefore to present you a Paraphrase on the Six Days Work of the Creator, as described to us by Moses, in the First Chapter of Genesis, which, you know, was written, originally, in Verse. It wou"d be difficult, I am sure, to match the Greatness of that inspired Author"s Images, out of all the n.o.ble Writings, which have honour"d Antiquity; and whose most remarkable Excellencies have been found, in those Parts of their Works, which they elevated, and made more solemn, by a Mixture of their Religion. Our Poetry, in so able a Hand as Yours, might receive heavenly Advantages, from a Practice of like Nature. But I am of Opinion, that no English Verse, except that, which we, I think a little improperly, call Pindaric, can allow the necessary Scope, to so masterless a Subject, as the Creation, of all others the most copious, and ill.u.s.trious; and which ought to be touch"d with most Discretion, and Choice of Circ.u.mstances.
Mr. Milton, Mr. Cowley, Sir Richard Blackmore, and now, lately, a young Gentleman, of a very lively Genius, have severally tried their Strength in this celestial Bow; Sir Richard may be said indeed to have shot farthest, but too often beside the Mark; He will permit me the Liberty of owning my Opinion, that he is too minute, and particular, and rather labours to oppress us with every Image he cou"d raise, than to refresh and enliven us, with the n.o.blest, and most differing. He is also too unmindful of the Dignity of his Subject, and diminishes it by mean, and contemptible Metaphors. Speaking of the Skies, he says they were
Spun thin, and wove, on Nature"s finest Loom.
Longinus is very angry with Timaeus for saying of Alexander, that he conquer"d all Asia, in less Time than Isocrates took to write his Panegyric, "Because, says the Critick, it is a pitiful Comparison of Alexander the Great with a Schoolmaster." What then wou"d he have said of Sir Richard"s Metaphorical Comparison of the CREATOR Himself, to a Spinster, and a Weaver? The very Beasts of Mr. Milton, who kept Moses in his Eye, carry Infinitely more Majesty, than the Skies of Sir Richard.
The Gra.s.sy Clods now calv"d; and half appear"d The tawny Lyon, pawing to get free His hinder Parts; then springs, as broke from Bonds, And, rampant, shakes aloft, his brinded Main!
The heaving Leopard, rising, like the Mole, In Heaps the crumbling Earth about him threw!
These animated Images, or pictured Meanings of Poetry, are the forcible Inspirers, which enflame a Reader"s Will, and bind down his Attention. They arise from living Words, as Aristotle calls them; that is, from Words so finely chosen, and so Justly ranged, that they call up before a Reader the Spirit of their Sense, in that very Form, and Action, it impressed upon the Writer. But when the Idea, which a Poet strives to raise, is in itself magnificent and striking, the Dawb of Metaphor, or any spumy Colourings of Rhetoric can but deaden, and efface it.
If Sir Richard had said, concerning the Skies, on any other Subject but This, of the Creation, that they were "spun thin, and wove, on Nature"s finest Loom," the Thought had been so far from Impropriety, as to have been pleasing, and praise-worthy; But when the Image he wou"d set before us, is the Maker of Heaven and Earth, in all the dreadful Majesty of his Omnipotence, producing at a Word, the n.o.blest Part of the Creation, and "spreading out the Heavens as a Curtain"; In this tremendous Exercise of his Divinity, to compare him to a Weaver, and his Expansion of the Skies, to the low Mechanism of a "Loom," is injudiciously to diminish an Idea, he pretends to heighten and ill.u.s.trate.
I will end with a Word or two concerning the different Measure of the Verse, in which the following Poem is written; and which is apt to disgust Readers, not well grounded in Poetry, because it requires a fuller Degree of Attention than the Couplet, and, as Mr. Cowley has said of it,
... Will no unskilful Touch endure, But flings Writer and Reader too, that sits not sure.
I have, in another Place, endeavoured by Arguments to demonstrate the Preference of this Kind of Verse to any other; I will here observe only, from my Experience of other Writers, that it wins, insinuates, and grows insensibly upon the Relish of a Reader, till the little seeming Harshness, which is supposed to be in it, softens gradually away, and leaves a vigorous Impression behind it, of mixed Majesty and Sweetness.
A Man, who is just beginning to try his Ear in Pindaric, may be compared to a new Scater; He totters strangely at first, and staggers backward and forward; Every Stick, or frozen Stone in his Way, is a Rub that he falls at. But when many repeated Trials have embolden"d him to strike out, and taught the true Poize of Motion, he throws forward his Body with a dextrous Velocity, and becoming ravish"d with the masterly Sweep of his Windings, knows no Pleasure greater, than to feel himself fly through that well-measured Maziness, which he first attempted with Perplexity.
But I will detain you no longer, and hasten now to the Poem, which has given me this pleasing Opportunity of telling you how much I am,
Sir,
Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant,
A. HILL
_THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY_
ANNOUNCES ITS
Publications for the Third Year(1948-1949)
_At least two_ items will be printed from each of the _three_ following groups:
Series IV: Men, Manners, and Critics
Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre _(1720).
Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation; _and Thomas Brereton, Preface to _Esther._
Ned Ward, Selected Tracts.
Series V: Drama
Edward Moore, _The Gamester _(1753).
Nevil Payne, _Fatal Jealousy _(1673).
Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busie Body _(1709).
Charles Macklin, _Man of the World _(1781).
Series VI: Poetry and Language
John Oldmixon, _Reflections on Dr. Swift"s Letter to Harley _(1712); and Arthur Mainwaring, _The British Academy _(1712).
Pierre Nicole, _De Epigrammate._
Andre Dacier, Essay on Lyric Poetry.
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