Genius's of this age wandering (as I may fay) in the dark without a guide, I have undertaken this arduous but neceffary task, to lead them as it were by the hand, and step by step, the gentle down-hill. way to the Bathos; the bottom, the end, the central point, the non plus ultra, of true Modern Poefy!

When I confider (my dear Countrymen) the extent, fertility, and populoufnefs of our Lowlands of Parnaffus, the flourishing ftate of our Trade, and the plenty of our Manufacture; there are two reflections which adminifter great occafion of furprize: The one, that all dignities and honours fhould be bestowed upon the exceeding few meager inhabitants of the Top of the mountain; the other, that our own nation fhould have arrived to that pitch of greatness it now poffeffes, without any regular Syftem of Laws. As to the firft, it is with great pleasure I have obferved of late the gradual Decay of Delicacy and Refinement among mankind, who are become too reafonable to require that we should labour with infinite pains to come up to the taste of these Mountaineers, when they without any may condescend to ours. But as we have now an unquestionable Majority on our fide, I doubt not but we shall shortly be able to level the Highlanders, and procure a farther vent for our own product, which is already fo much relifhed, encouraged, and rewarded, by the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain.

Therefore to fupply our former defect, I purpose to collect the fcattered rules of our Art into regular Institutes, from the example and practice of the deep Genius's of our nation; imitating herein my predeceflors the Mafter of Alexander, and the Secretary of the renowned Zenobia. And in this my undertaking I am the more animated, as I expect more fuccefs than has attended even thofe great Critics; fince their Laws (tho' they might be good) have ever been flackly executed, and their Precepts (however ftrict) obey'd only by fits, and by a very finall number.

At the fame time I intend to do juftice upon our neighbours, inhabitants of the upper Parnafius; who, taking advantage of the rifing ground, are perpetually throwing down rubbish, dirt and ftones upon us, never fuffering us to live in peace. Thefe men, while they enjoy the cryftal ftream of Helicon, envy us our common water, which (thank our stars) tho' it is fomewhat muddy, flows in much greater abundance. Nor is this the greateft injuftice that we have to complain of; for though it is evident that we never made the leaft attempt or inrode into Their territories, but lived contented in our native fens; they have often not only committed Petty Larcenies upon our borders, but driven the country, and carried off at once whole Cart-loads of our manufacture; to reclaim some of which stolen goods is part of the defign of this Treatife."

For we shall fee in the course of this work, that our greatest Adverfaries have fometimes defcended towards us; and doubtless might now and then have arrived at the Bathos itself, had it not been for that mistaken opinion they all entertained, that the Rules of the Ancients were equally neceffary to the Moderns than which there cannot be a more grievous Error, as will be amply proved in the following discourse.

;

And indeed when any of thefe have gone fo far, as by the light of their own Genius to attempt new Models, it is wonderful to obferve, how nearly they have approached us in thofe particular pieces; tho' in their others they differed toto cælo from us,

CHA P. II.

That the Bathos, or Profund, is the natural Tafte of Man, and in particular, of the prefent Age.

ΤΗ

HE Tafte of the Bathos is implanted by Nature itfelf in the foul of man; till, perverted by cuftom or example, he is taught, or rather compelled, to relifh the Sublime. Accordingly, we

fee the unprejudiced minds of Children delight only in fuch productions, and in such images, as our true modern writers fet before them. I have obferved how fast the general Taste is returning to this first Simplicity and Innocence: and if the intent of all Poetry be to divert and instruct, certainly that kind which diverts and inftructs the greatest number, is to be preferred. Let us look round among the Admirers of Poetry, we shall find those who have a tafte of the Sublime to be very few; but the Profund ftrikes univerfally, and is adapted to every capacity.

"Tis a fruitless undertaking to write for men of a nice and foppish Gufto, whom after all it is almost impoffible to please, and 'tis ftill more chimerical to write for Pofterity, of whose Tafte we cannot make any judgment, and whose Applause we can never enjoy. It must be confessed our wiser authors have a prefent end.

Et prodeffe volunt et delectare Poetæ.

Their true design is Profit or Gain; in order to acquire which, 'tis necessary to procure applause by adminiftring pleasure to the reader: From whence it follows demonftrably, that their productions must be fuited to the prefent Tafte. And I cannot but congratulate our age on this peculiar felicity, that though we have made indeed great progress in all other branches of Luxury, we are not yet debauched with

any high Relish in Poetry, but are in this one Tafte lefs nice than our ancestors. If an Art is to be eflimated by its fuccefs, I appeal to experience whether there have not been, in proportion to their number, as many starving good Poets, as bad ones.

Nevertheless, in making Gain the principal end of our Art, far be it from me to exclude any great Genius's of Rank or Fortune from diverting themfelves this way. They ought to be praised no less than those Princes, who pass their vacant hours in fome ingenious mechanical or manual Art. And to fuch as thefe, it would be ingratitude not to own, that our Art has been often infinitely indebted.

CHA P. III.

The Neceffity of the Bathos, phyfically

F

confidered.

Arthermore, it were great cruelty and injustice,

if all fuch Authors as cannot write in the other way, were prohibited from writing at all. Against this I draw an argument from what feems to me an undoubted phyfical Maxim, That Poetry is a natural or morbid Secretion from the Brain. As I