• SIR.

· TO NESTOR IRONSIDE, ESQ.

Oxford', June 16, 1713. The classical writers, according to your advice, are by no means neglected by me, while I pursue my studies in divinity. I am persuaded that they are fountains of good sense and eloquence; and that it is absolutely necessary for a young mind to form itself upon such models. For by a careful study of their style and manner, we shall at least avoid those faults, into which a youthful imagination is apt to hurry us, such as luxuriance of fancy, licentiousness of style, redundancy of thought, and false ornaments. As I have been flattered by my friends, that I have some genius for poetry, I sometimes turn my thoughts that way: and with pleasure reflect, that I have got over that childish part of life, which delights in points and turns of wit: and that I can take a manly and rational satisfaction in that which is called painting in poetry. Whether it be, that in these copyings of nature, the object is placed in such lights

* STEELE'S.

1 William Cary of Oriel college м. A. June 2, 1711, is said to have been a writer in the Guardian. Edward afterwards Dr. Young, was likewise it is said, a coadjutor in the same work, and at this time of Corpus Christi college, Oxford. Richard Parker, M.A. of Merton, Steele's intimate friend and fellow-collegian, dean Bartelett, M. a. of the same college, and at the same time, were among Steele's Oxford correspondents, and probably his auxiliaries in the Guardian.

and circumstances as strike the fancy agreeably; or whether we are surprised to find objects that are absent, placed bofore our eyes; or whether it be our admiration of the author's art and dexterity; or whether we amuse ourselves with comparing the picture and the original; or rather (which is most probable) because all these reasons concur to affect us; we are wonderfully charmed with these drawings after the life, this magic that raises apparitions in the fancy.

'Landscapes, or still-life, work much less upon us, than representations of the postures or passions of living creatures. Again, those passions or postures strike us more or less in proportion to the ease or violence of their motions. A horse grazing moves us less than one stretching in a race, and a racer less than one in the fury of a battle. It is very difficult, I believe, to express violent motions which are fleeting and transitory, either in colours or words. In poetry it requires great spirit in thought, and energy in style; which we find more of in the Eastern poetry, than in either the Greek or Roman. The great Creator, who accommodated himself to those he vouchsafed to speak to, hath put into the mouths of his prophets such sublime sentiments and exalted language, as must abash the pride and wit of man. In the book of Job, the most ancient poem in the world, we have such paintings and descriptions, as I have, spoken of, in great variety. I shall at present make some remarks on the celebrated description of the horse in that holy book, and compare it with those drawn by Homer and Virgil.

• Homer hath the following similitude of a horse twice over in the Iliad, which Virgil hath copied from him; at least he hath deviated less from Homer than Mr. Dryden hath from him;

"Freed from his keepers, thus, with broken reins,
The wanton courser prances o'er the plains;
Or in the pride of youth o'erleaps the mounds;
And snuffs the females in forbidden grounds.
Or seeks his watering in the well-known flood,
To quench his thirst, and cool his fiery blood:
He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain,
And o'er his shoulders flows his waving mane;
He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high,

Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly." En. xi. Virgil's description is much fuller than the foregoing, which as I said, is only a simile; whereas Virgil professes to treat of the nature of the horse. It is thus admirably translated:

"The fiery courser, when he hears from far

The sprightly trumpets, and the shouts of war,
Pricks up his ears, and trembling with delight,
Shifts place, and paws; and hopes the promis'd fight.
On his right shoulder his thick mane reclin❜d,
'Ruffles at speed, and dances in the wind.
His horny hoofs are jetty black and round;
His chine is double; starting with a bound,
He turns the turf, and shakes the solid ground.
Fire from his eyes, clouds from his nostrils flow;
He bears his rider headlong on the foe.” Georg. iii,

Now follows that in the book of Job; which under all the disadvantages of having been written in a language little understood; of being expressed in phrases peculiar to a part of the world, whose manner of thinking and speaking seems to us very uncouth and above all, of appearing in a prose translation; is nevertheless so transcendently above the heathen descriptions, that hereby we may perceive how faint and languid the images are, which are formed by mortal authors, when compared with that which is figured as it were, just as it appears in the eye of the Creator. God speaking to Job, asks him. "Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou

clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength. He goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear, and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith amongst the trumpets, Ha! ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off; the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." *

Here are all the great and sprightly images, that thought can form of this generous beast, expressed in such force and vigour of style, as would have given the great wits of antiquity new laws for the sublime, had they been acquainted with these writings. I cannot but particularly observe, that whereas the classical poets chiefly endeavour to paint the outward figure, lineaments, and motions; the sacred poet makes all the beauties to flow from an inward principle in the creature he describes, and thereby gives great spirit and vivacity to his description. The following phrases and circumstances seem singularly remarkable:

"Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder ?" Homer and Virgil mention nothing about the neck of the horse, but his mane. The sacred author, by the bold figure of thunder, not only expresses the shaking of that remarkable beauty in the horse, and the flakes of hair which naturally suggest the idea of lightning; but likewise the violent agitation and force of the neck, which in the oriental tongues had been flatly expressed by a metaphor less than this.

"Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper ?"

* Job xxxix. v. 19-25.

There is a twofold beauty in this expression, which not only marks the courage of this beast, by asking if he can be scared? but likewise raises a noble image of his swiftness, by insinuating, that if he could be frightened, he would bound away with the nimbleness of a grasshopper.

"The glory of his nostrils is terrible." This is more strong and concise than that of Virgil, which yet is the noblest line that was ever written without inspiration:

"Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.”

Georg. iii. 85.

"And in his nostrils rolls collected fire."

He mocketh at

"He rejoiceth in his strengthfear-neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet-He saith among the trumpets, Ha! ha!" -are signs of courage as I said before, flowing from an inward principle. There is a particular beauty in his "not believing it is the sound of the trumpet:" that is, he cannot believe it for joy; but when he was sure of it, and is "amongst the trumpets, he saith, Ha! ha!" he neighs, he rejoices. His docility is elegantly painted in his being unmoved at the "rattling quiver, the glittering spear and the shield;" and is well imitated by Oppian (who undoubtedly read Job as well as Virgil) in his poem upon hunting: "How firm the manag'd war-horse keeps his ground, Nor breaks his order, tho' the trumpets sound! With fearless eye the glittering host surveys, And glares directly at the helmet's blaze! The master's word, the laws of war he knows,

And when to stop, and when to charge the foes."

"He swalloweth the ground" is an expression for prodigious swiftness, in use among the Arabians, Job's countrymen, at this day. The Latins have something like it: