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Show 59° The Author's Apology for Heroick Poetry, and Poetick Licence. hundred copies 0/ *""£ "vr , , ,.',_, ____j ___,. „_,,_• 7 /__,. __,,>_, /_,,»_• Difdatn. more Non. ring new Faults, it became r atversaaorvaa, WHV«""»J+ --&-- > > • ... . ' » me at ienZth a Libel againft me; and I faw, with feme Difdatn, more Non. u bad a Poet could have cram'd intoit, at a Month's warning; in which, time, SLtS£ written, and not fincrevn'J. After thisI cannot without Injury to the dcceasdAu rtr of Paradife loft, but ackmWtlgt that th, POEM asreceivdits ™ J g « ^ f * • than either I, or as thor of Paradile lolt, but acO.mw.tagt ;»« mm * « _ . ~ - . - -- --_- - , r- j_-- Dfi/n, and m«ny ofthe Ornaments f m him. What Have borrow d will be fo eafily ffrfidfim my mean Productions, that I full net need to point the Reader » the Places: And truly Ifiioudbe Zry, for my own fake, that any one ferould take the pains to compare them together the Original he:ng 'undoubtedly one of 'the greatejl, moft noble, and moft fublimeP OEMS, which either this Age or Na~ lion has product And tho I could not refufe the Partiality of my Fund, who is pleas d to commend me i» In" Verfes 1 hope they will rather be efteem d the Effetl of bis Love to me than of his deliberate and fober Judgment : His Genius is able to make be CM: fid what he pleafa: Tet, as he has been too favourable to me, I doubt not but he will hear cf his Kindnefs from many of cur Contemporaries : For we are fallen into an Age of Illiterate, Chorions, and Detracting People; who, thus qualify d, fit up for Criticks. fey-Ad delight a reafenablt Reader. If the Defign, the Conduct, tbe Thoughts, and tbe ExpreffiVH> of a Poem, be general, fuch as proceed from a true Genius of Poetry, The Critick ought to pafs his judgment tn favour ofthe Author. 'Tis malicious and unmanly to fnarl at the little lapfes of a Pen, from which Virgil himfelf ftands not exempted. Horace acknowledges that honeft H o m e r nods feme. times: He it not equally awake in every Line: But bt leaves it alfo as a ftanding Meafure for our Judgments. N o n , ubi plura nitent in Carmine, paucis Oifendi maculis, quas aut incuria fudit Aut humana parum cavit Natura And Longinus, who was undoubtedly, after Arifiotle, the greateft Critick among the Greeks, in bis twenty feventh Chapter tki i/'4«V, has judickufly preferred the fublime Genius that fometimes errsi to the midling or indifferent one which makes few Faults, but feldom or never rifts to any Excellence. He compares the firft to a Man cf large Poffeffions, who has not leifure to confider of every flight Ex-pence, will not debrfe himfelf to the management cf every Trifle: Particular Sums are not laid out or fpar d to the greateft Advantage in his Oeconcmy ; but are fometimes fufftr'd to run to wafte, while he is onlj careful of the main. On the other fide, he likens the Mediocrity of Wit, to one of a mean For' tunt, who manages his Store with extream Frugality, or rather Parfemony ; but who, with fear of run. ning mto Profufenefs, never arrives to tbe Magnificence of Living. This kind of Genius writes indeed correctly: A wary Mm be is in Grammar ; very nice as to Soltecifm or Barbartfm, judges to a Hair of little Decencies, knows bitter than any Man what is net to be written, and never hazards himfelf fo far as to fall; but plods on deliberately, and, as a grave Man ought, is fure to put bis Staff before him : **!*>*> be fit' his Heart upon it, and with wonderful Care makes bis Bufinefs fure ; that is, in plain Englifh, neither to be blam'd nor praised. 7 could, faith my Author, find out fome Blemifhes m H o m e r ; and am, perhaps, as naturally inclined to bt difgufted at a Fault as another Man. But, of. '7 7/1° ft trnpartially, ha Failings are fuch, as are only Marks of humane Frailty ; they are little Miftakes, or rather Negligences, which have efcafd bis Pen in the fervour of bis Writing; the Sub-limit, of bsSpirn carries* with me, againft his Canlefncfs: And though Apollonius his Argonau-tes, and Theocritus &r Eldullia, are more free from Errors, there is not any Man of fo falfe ajudr-ment who would chufe rather tohave been Apollonius or Theocritus than H o m er T* worth<our Confederation, a little to examine how much thefe Hypercriticks of Englifh Poetry differ from the Opinion of toe Greek and Latin Judges of Annuity; from the Italians and F r e n c h ^ Wfucaededthem; and, indeed, from the generalTafte and A probation of all Ages. Heroick Poetry r«t/Rrrn'-^r^.7-^'f ^ ^ ^^greatefiWorkif Humane Naurl\ Z^ftttt?™** **"(?> andL^rVSJ0i'UU°^UUkeEx^m!> ** ^ abundantly it^ft Verfes ^ ^ H01'aC£ * ^^ dtllVm * ° ^ ^^ti(ularly praifes H o m e r Trojani Belli Scriptorem, maxime Lolli, , Dum tu declamas R o m x , Pra;nefte relegi; Qui quid fit pulchrunx, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non I lenius ac melius Chryfippo & Crantore dick. And in another place, modeftly excluding himQlf from the « « U -r o . L - • e.l,andS,tyrs, he tells you a Poet ts fuch tn oTef^ ' * *""' *"# ^ only writ Cui mens Divinor atque »s, magna fbnitorurrj. 4MB 0YNA. &"*'•>••> v.fmrflmtt in e. ,fiM,f,'J 7mh w Abler.,, all th Italian Cmmmam m htiRdJ, KZ iV reckon up amongji the. .»* fnd u-. wort „ « ____, TffisiiX l"t";? r f*r^," tf^i we, for Comedy it both rite not thu -u>iti\ tU. l. a • J • ,'"/"> •"" twmirame when 'tis mation, _ and Humour retrreepfreemfse nMt.s rF*o lJl.yt, 'fTo ".a>s. ?t.ot earfeimntd: eSrat lirt la^r iVd™i c*u«i Reforare eminent in both thefe'kinds ; and particul'arlfthe A Z Z . I ,1.^-°f^ Jnfm Writm proud to call m, Friend Lis oblWd aUTonlTlnd '"/^J f P^m-Dealer, whom Ian, general, and mlfl ufeful SatyrsVbuh b ^ L t T ^ ! * * \ 7 U ^ ^ »* difpute the preferefe of Tragedy; let ^ i ^ ^ t S e ^ ^ ^ £ *? have not the leafe notion of Heroick Writing, fiioud LefJeZndl te ZiewhulTbt Z T / h 0 ^ lCTfUth7 Canm/0mr^nd it. Let them pleafe tbeir A ^ ^ fj^ what they like; but kt them not force their Difli on all tbe LbL They JL would cmbl't general Authority witb particular Opinion, mu(l firft efiablijh themfelves a toputatZof Zer a. and Judgments, when they think too far ftrain'd, there are Limits ..juft underftand thofe Limits who pretends to judge, as well as he who undertakes to Write; and be who has no liking to the whole ought m reafon to be excluded from cenfeuring of the Parts. He mu(i be a Lawyer, before be mounts the Tribunal; and the Judicature of one Court too, does not qualifie a Man toprefede in another. He may be an txeeUent Pleader in the Chancery, who is not fit to rule tbe C o m m o n Pleas. But I will prefume for once to tell them, that the boldeft Strokes cf Poetry, when they are managd Artfully, art thofe which moft delight the Reader. Virgil and Horace, the fevereft Writers of the fevereft Age, have made frequent ufe of the bardeft Metaphors, and of the ftrongejt Hyperboles: And m this cafe tbe beft Authority is thi beft Argument. For generally to have pleased, through all Ages, muft bear the force of Univerfal Tradition. And if you would appeal from thence to Right Reafon, you will gain no more by it in effetl, than firft, to fet up your Reafon againft thofe Authors; and feecondly, againft all thofe who have admir'd them. Tou muft prove why that ought not to have pleas'd, which has pleas'd the moft Learned, and the moft Judicious : And to be thought knowing, you mufi firft put the Fool upon all Mankind. If you can enter moore deeply than they have done, into the Caufes and Reforts of that which moves Pleafure in a Reader, the Field is open, you may be heard ! But thofe Springs of Humane Nature are not fo eafily difcover'd by every fuptrficial Judge: It requires Philofophy as well as Poetry to found the depth of aS the Paffions; what they are in themfelves, and how they are to be provok'd ; and in this Science the beft Poets have exe Arifiotle rais'd the Fabrick of bis Poetry, from obfervations of thofe things, in which Euripides, Sophocles, and jEfchylus pleas'd: He confidered how they rais'd the Paffions, and thence has. drawn Rules for our Imitation. From hence have fprung the Tropes and Figures, for which they wanted a Name, who firft pratlis'd them, and fucceeded in them: Thus I grant you, That the knowledge of Nature was the Original Rule, and that all Poets ought to ftudy her, as well as Ariftotle and Horace her Interpreters. But then this alfo undeniably follows, That thofe things which delight all Ages, muft have been an Imitation of Nature; which is all I contend. Therefore u Rhetorick made an Art; therefore tbe Names of fo many Tropes and Figures were invented; becaufe it was obferv'd they had fuch and fuch an Effetl upon tbe Audience. Therefore Catachrefes and Hyporboles have found their place amongft them ; not that they are to bt avoided, but to be us*d judtcioufly, and pladd in Poetry, as heightnings and Shadows are tn Painting, to make the Figure bolder, and caufe it to ftand off to fight. Nec retia Cervis ... Ulla, dolum meditantur, fays Virgil in bfs Eclogues. And fpeohng of Leander ,a Georgicks, C z c a node natat ferus freta, quern luper, ingens vPEoqrutao rat:o nat Coeli; & fcopulis illifa reclamant In both of thefe you fee he fears not to give Voice and Thought to things f**"*ff- ' wil nn'lxr ?««r< Lucan, »r Statins, J4» «/ Jin I, T»f«» £«•• a*™» V 7«k-- n'DMK v"s" • and yet he defecribes Polyphemus thus', woe not liable t o toot except ion -Gradituique per a?quor vjiauiiui^"^ p"»i «m-.w , . J a m medium; nec d u m fluftus latera ardua tingn. fo |