more painted up and laboured than the description of Etna in the third Æneid? Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis, Interdumque atram prorumpit ad æthera nubem, Turbine fumantem piceo, et candente favilla, Attollitque globos flammarum, et sidera lambit. Interdum scopulos avulsaque viscera montis Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exæstuat imo. '. (I beg pardon of the gentle English reader, and such of our writers as understand not Latin.) Lo! how is this taken down by our British poet, by the single happy thought of throwing the mountain into a fit of the colic: * Etna, and all the burning mountains, find Their kindled stores with inbred storms of wind Horace, in search of the Sublim, struck his head against the stars; but Empedocles, to fathom the Profund, threw himself into Etna. And who but would imagine our excellent modern had also been there, from this description? Imitation is of two sorts: the first is when we force to our own purposes the thoughts of others; the second consists in copying the imperfections or blemishes of celebrated authors. I have seen a play proprofessedly writ in the style of Shakespear; wherein the resemblance lay in one single line, And so good morrow t'ye, good master Lieutenant. And sundry poems in imitation of Milton, where, f Pr. Arthur, p. 75. A line of his friend Rowe. Sublimi feriam sidera vertice. with the utmost exactness, and not so much as one exception, nevertheless was constantly nathless', embroider'd was broider'd, hermits were eremites, disdain'd was 'sdeign'd, shady umbrageous, enterprize emprize, pagan paynim, pinions pennons, sweet dulcet, orchards orchats, bridge-work pontifical; nay, her was bir, and their was thir, through the whole poem. And in very deed, their is no other way by which the true modern poet could read, to any purpose, the works of such men as Milton and Shakespear. It may be expected, that, like other critics, I should next speak of the Passions: But as the main end and principal effect of the Bathos is to produce tranquillity of mind, (and sure it is a better design to promote sleep than madness,) we have little to say on this subject. Nor will the short bounds of this discourse allow us to treat at large of the Emollients and Opiates of poesy, of the cool, and the manner of producing it, or of the methods used by our authors in managing the passions. I shall but transiently remark, that nothing contributes so much to the Cool, as the use of Wit in expressing passion: The true genius rarely fails of points, conceits, and proper similes on such occasions: This we may term the pathetic epigrammatical, in which even puns are made use of with good success. Hereby our best authors have avoided throwing themselves or their readers in any indecent transports. But as it is sometimes needful to excite the passions of our antagonists in the polemic way, the true students in the law have constantly taken their methods from low life, where they observed, that to move anger, use is made of scolding and railing; to move love, of bawdry; to beget favour and friendship, of gross flattery; and to produce fear, of calumniating an adversary with crimes obnoxious to the state. As He alludes particularly to Philips's Cyder. for shame, it is a silly passion, of which as our authors are incapable themselves, so they would not produce it in others. BUT we proceed to the Figures. We cannot too earnestly recommend to our authors the study of the Abuse of Speech. They ought to lay it down as a principle, to say nothing in the usual way, but (if possible) in the direct contrary. Therefore the figures must be so turned, as to manifest that intricate and wonderful cast of head which distinguishes all writers of this kind; or (as I may say) to refer exactly the mold in which they are formed, in all its inequalities, cavities, obliquities, odd crannies, and distortions. It would be endless, nay impossible, to enumerate all such figures; but we shall content ourselves to range the principal, which most powerfully contribute to the Bathos, under three classes: I. The variegating, confounding, or reversing II. The magnifying; and We cannot avoid giving to these the Greek or Roman names; but in tenderness to our countrymen and fellow-writers, many of whom, however exquisite, are wholly ignorant of those languages, we have also explained them in our mother tongue. I. Of the first sort, nothing so much conduces to the Bathos, as the From whence results the same kind of pleasure to the mind, as to the eye when we behold Harlequin trimming himself with a hatchet, hewing down a tree with a razor, making his tea in a cauldron, and brewing his ale in a tea-pot, to the incredible satisfaction of the British spectator. Another source of the Bathos is THE METONOMY, the inversion of causes for effects, of inventors for inventions, etc. Lac'd in her Cosins new appear'd the bride, Then oh! she cries, what slaves I round me see? Here a bright Red Redcoat, there a smart Toupee. THE SYNECHDOCHE, which consists in the use of a part for the whole. You may call a young woman sometimes Pretty-face and Pigs-eyes, and sometimes Snotty-nose and Draggletail. Or of accidents for persons; as a lawyer is called Split-cause, a taylor Prick-louse, etc. Or of things belonging to a man, for the man himself; as a Sword-man, a Gown-man, a T—m-T—d-man; a white-Staff, a Turn-key, etc. k Stays. Tweezer case. m Watch. n Fan. of periwig: All words in use in this present year 1727. • A sort THE APOSIOPESIS. An excellent figure for the ignorant, as, "What shall "I say?" when one has nothing to say: or "I can no 66 more,' ," when one really can no more. Expressions which the gentle reader is so good as never to take in earnest. THE METAPHOR. as when The first rule is to draw it from the lowest things, which is a certain way to sink the highest; you speak of the thunder of Heaven, say, The Lords above are angry and talk big. If you would describe a rich man refunding his treasures, express it thus, "Tho' be (as said) may Riches gorge, the Spoil Painful in massy Vomit shall recoil, Soon shall be perish with a swift decay, Like his own Ordure, cast with scorn away. The second, that, whenever you start a metaphor, you must be sure to run it down, and pursue it as far as it can go. If you get the scent of a state negociation, follow it in this manner: The stones and all the elements with thee Wild beasts their savage tempers shall forget, The finny tyrant of the spacious seas Or if you represent the Creator denouncing war against the wicked, be sure not to omit one circumstance usual in proclaiming and levying war: P Lee, Alex. r Job, p. 22. 4 Blackm. Job, p. 91.93. |