queftion, was much the better for it in his health; fo true is the faying, Nafcimur Pocta. Therefore is the Defire of Writing properly term'd Pruritus, the "Titillation of the Generative Faculty of the "Brain," and the Perfon is faid to conceive; now fuch as conceive must bring forth. I have known a man thoughtful, melancholy and raving for divers days, who forthwith grew wonderfully easy, lightfome, and cheerful, upon a discharge of the peccant humour, in exceeding purulent Metre. Nor can I queftion, but abundance of untimely deaths are occafioned for want of this laudable vent of unruly paffions: yea, perhaps, in poor wretches, (which is very lamentable) for mere want of pen, ink, and paper! From hence it follows, that a fuppreffion of the very worst Poetry is of dangerous confequence to the State. We find by experience, that the fame humours which vent themselves in fummer in Ballads and Sonnets, are condensed by the winter's cold into Pamphlets and Speeches for and against the Miniftry: Nay, I know not but many times a piece of Poetry may be the most in. nocent compofition of a Minifter himself. It is therefore manifeft that Mediocrity ought to be allowed, yea indulged, to the good Subjects of England. Nor can I conceive how the world has fwallowed the contrary as a Maxim, upon the fingle authority of that Horace? Why fhould the golden Mean, and quintefience of all Virtues, be deemed fo offenfive in this Art? or Coolness or Mediocrity be fo amiable a quality in a Man, and fo deteftable in a Poct? However, far be it from me to compare these Writers with thofe great Spirits, who are born with a Vivacité de fefanteur, or (as an English * Medincribus fè poctiv Nan dit, non homines, etc. Hor. P. Author Author calls it) an "Alacrity of finking;" and who by ftrength of Nature alone can excel. All I mean is to evince the Neceffity of Rules to these leffer Genius's, as well as the Usefulness of them to the greater. CHAP. IV. That there is an Art of the Bathos, or Profund. WE come now to prove, that there is an Art of Sinking in Poetry. Is there not an Architecture of Vaults and Cellars, as well as of lofty Domes and Pyramids? Is there not as much skill and labour in making Dikes, as in raifing Mounts? Is there not an Art of Diving as well as of Flying? And will any fober practitioner affirm, that a diving Engine is not of fingular use in making him long-winded, affifting his fight, and furnishing him with other ingenious means of keeping under water? If we fearch the Authors of Antiquity, we fhall find as few to have been diftinguifhed in the true Profund, as in the true Sublime. And the very fame thing (as it appears from Longinus) had been imagined of that, as now of this: namely, that it was entirely the Gift of Nature. I grant that to excel in the Bathos a Genius is requifite; yet the Rules of Art must be allowed fo far ufeful, as to add weight, or, as I may say, hang on lead, to facilitate and enforce our defcent, to guide us to the moft advantageous declivities, and habituate our imagination to a depth of thinking. Many there are that can fall, but few can arrive at the felicity of falling gracefully; much more for a man who is is amongst the lowest of the Creation, at the very bottom of the Atmosphere, to defcend beneath himself, is not fo eafy a tafk unlefs he calls in Art to his affiftance. It is with the Bathos as with fmall Beer, which is indeed vapid and infipid, if left at large, and let abroad; but being by our Rules confined and well ftopt, nothing grows fo frothy, pert, and bouncing. The Sublime of Nature is the Sky, the Sun, Moon, Stars, etc. The Profund of Nature is Gold, Pearls, precious Stones, and the Treasures of the Deep, which are ineftimable as unknown. But all that lies between these, as Corn, Flower, Fruits, Animals, and Things for the meer use of Man, are of mean price, and so common as not to be greatly esteemed by the curious. It being certain that any thing, of which we know the true ufe, cannot be invaluable: Which affords a folution, why common Sense hath either been totally defpifed, or held in fmall repute, by the greatest modern Critics and Authors. CHAP. V. Of the true Genius for the Profund, and by what it is constituted. A ND I will venture to lay it down, as the firft Maxim and Corner-Stone of this our Art; that whoever would excel therein, muft ftudioufly avoid, deteft, and turn his head from all the ideas, ways, and workings of that peftilent Foe to Wit, and Deftroyer of fine Figures, which is known by the Name of Common Senfe. His bufinefs must be to contract the true Gout de travers; and I and to acquire a most happy, uncommon, unaccountable Way of Thinking. He is to confider himself as a Grotefque painter, whose works would be fpoiled by an imitation of nature, or uniformity of defign. He is to mingle bits of the most various, or discordant kinds, landscape, hiftory, portraits, animals, and connect them with a great deal of flourishing, by heads or tails, as it shall please his imagination, and contribute to his principal end, which is to glare by ftrong oppofitions of colours, and surprize by contrariety of images. Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni. Hor: His defign ought to be like a labyrinth, out of which no body can get clear but himself. And fince the great Art of all Poetry is to mix Truth with Fiction, in order to join the Credible with the Surprizing; our author fhall produce the Credible, by painting nature in her lowest fimplicity; and the Surprizing, by contradicting common opinion. In the very Manners he will affect the Marvellous; he will draw Achilles with the patience of Job; a Prince talking like a Jack-pudding; a Maid of honour felling bargains; a footman fpeaking like a Philofopher; and a fine gentleman like a scholar. Whoever is converfant in modern Plays, may make a most noble collection of this kind, and, at the fame time, form a complete body of modern Ethics and Morality. Nothing seemed more plain to our great authors, than that the world had long been weary of natural things. How much the contrary are formed to please, is evident from the universal applause daily given to the admirable entertainments of Harlequins and Magicians on our stage. When an audience behold a coach turned into a wheel-barrow, a conjurer into an old woman, or a man's head head where his heels fhould be; how are they ftruck with transport and delight? Which can only be imputed to this caufe, that each object is changed into that which hath been fuggefted to them by their own low ideas before. He ought therefore to render himself master of this happy and anti-natural way of thinking to fuch a degree, as to be able, on the appearance of any object, to furnish his imagination with ideas infinitely below it. And his eyes fhould be like unto the wrong end of a perfpective glass, by which all the objects of nature are leffened. For Example; when a true genius looks upon the Sky, he immediately catches the idea of a piece of blue luteftring, or a child's mantle. *The Skies, whofe fpreading volumes fearce have room, If he looks upon a tempeft, he fhall have an image of a tumbled bed, and defcribe a fucceeding calm in this manner: † The Occan, joy'd to fee the tempeft fled, New lays his waves, and smooths his ruffled bed. The Triumphs and Acclamations of the Angels, at the Creation of the Universe, present to his imagination" the Rejoicings of the Lord Mayor's "Day;" and he beholds thofe glorious beings celebrating the Creator, by huzzaing, making il * Prince Arthur, p. 41, 42. + P. 14 N. B. In order to do Juftice to thefe great Poets, aur Citations are taken from the best, the lait, and most correct Editions of their Works. That which we ufe of Prince Arthur, is in Ducdecimo, 1714. The fourth. Edition revifed. P. luminations, |