Mr. Oldmixon

“ If a Man must not only have Politeness, but a Genius, what will become of Aristotle and Longinus, Bossu and Dacier? They were all [Pg 13] polite Writers, but have not discover'd that they had Genius. I ever had as little Opinion of heavy tasteless Criticks as the Spectator or Guardian, yet I never could endure an arbitrary Judgement; for, what else is tasteless and heavy without Proof? But then, that Proof could not be produced without the Criticisms, which, let them be ever so poor, are often more easily despis'd than answer'd. ”

“ I shall not, in this Essay, enter into the philosophical Part of Criticism which Corneille complains of, and that Aristotle and his Commentators have treated of Poetry, rather as Philosophers than Poets. I shall not attempt to give Reasons why Thoughts are sublime, noble, delicate, agreeable, and the like, but content my self with producing Examples of every Kind of right Thinking, and leave it to Authors of more Capacity and Leisure, to treat the Matter a Fond, and teach us to imitate our selves what we admire in others. ”

“ Again, if it was necessary to be a good poet to make Criticisms on Poetry, we should never have had any Critick at all; for I do not know one Critick upon Poetry, that was himself a Poet. By this one would think, that he did not look upon Rapin as a Critick in Poetry, for he wrote a Poem on Gardening. Menage makes as little of him as Dacier; yet Dryden says, were all the Writings of other Criticks lost, Rapin's Works alone would be sufficient to teach us the whole Art of Criticism. ”

“ For no Man can do more justice to Mr. Dryden's fruitful Imagination, and harmonious Versification than my self: But it does not therefore follow, that even Errour in him is more beautiful than Regularity in others.
It I had more Room, and more Leisure, I should have endeavour'd to explain the Difference between the several Ways of Thinking. Some of them I have attempted, and I hope it may stir up a greater Genius, to do in English as Pere Bouhours has done in French, which would introduce a beautiful and just Manner both in Thought and Expression. ”

“ We all know Aristotle and Horace wrote upon Epick Poetry and Tragedy, yet neither of them ever wrote a Tragedy or Epick Poem; and perhaps neither of them would have succeeded if he had. Rymer made one poor Attempt that Way in his Edgar: But, as if it had been written only to prove that a Man may judge well of an Art, without being a Performer, like an ill-built Ship, it sunk in the very launching, and seem'd to be written only to be damned.
The Guardian seconds the Spectator, and forbids any one to criticise, that cannot write to Perfection. ”

“ I was always convinced by Example, that a Critick may have a just Taste, without being a Poet; and that the Indignation the Guardian speaks of, is never provoked, unless a weak Place is hit upon: As, in the low Phrase, A galled Horse winces when you touch the Sore. In three or four Lines, we have tasteless, heavy, dogmatical, stupid Macer and Mundungus all of the poor Criticks. ”

“ Felton will have it, than to study, to digest, to invent, to dispose, and to utter too. I do not suppose, that a Man ever applied himself to Translation, if he felt in himself any of the heavenly Fire which animates a great Genius, or was ambitious of Fame by the Merit of an Epick Poem. It must be own'd, that Judgement is requisite in Translation as well as Composition, not only to preserve the Spirit of the Original, but also to make Choice of such a One as the Translator may be best able to manage. ”

“ If I find by his own Manner of Writing, that he is heavy and tasteless, I throw aside his Criticisms with a secret Indignation, to see a Man without Genius or Politeness, dictating to the World on Subjects which I find are above his Reach. Thus Mr. Rymer, the best Critick we had till then, and all his Rules, are void and of no Effect ”

“ The Fable is without doubt the chief Part of a Tragedy, because it contains the Action, and the Action contains the Happiness or Misery, which is the End of Tragedy. Without the Fable the Poet, who had otherwise good Manners, Sentiments, and Diction, would no more have made a regular Poem, than a Painter would have made a good Picture that had mingled Blue, Yellow, Red, and other Colours confusedly together. I do not mention these Things to lessen Mr. Dryden's great Character as a Poet; but to shew how well Dr. Felton could judge of it, when he recommended him to us as a Critick. ”

“ Since 'tis Posterity only, says Boileau, which sets a Value upon all Writings, you must not, as admirable as you take a modern Author to be, presently put him upon a Level with those Writers who have been admired for so many Ages, because one cannot be sure his Works will pass with Glory to the next. Indeed without going far for Examples, How many Authors have we seen admired in our Age, whose Glory is vanished in a very few Years. ”

“ Addison observes after Pere Bouhours, That it is impossible for any Thought to be beautiful, which is not just, and has not its Foundation in the Nature of Things: That the Basis of all Wit is Truth, and that no Thought can be valuable, of which good Sense is not the Ground-work. ”

“ We take all Thoughts in the Gross; the Sublime, the Grand, the Noble, the Pretty, the Agreeable, the Fine, the Delicate, are all alike witty with us; and the Vulgar are ignorant of all other Distinction, but that of a Jest and a Bull. Sir Samuel Garth, who was extreamly fond of Father Bouhours's Treatise, did often wish that it was translated, and the Examples the French Critick takes from Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and French Authors, not to be turned into English, but English Examples to be put instead of them. ”

“ The Guardian and Spectator would not do the Poets the Honour to name them; but we know who are the Criticks which are thrown aside by them; for no Body but Mr. D—— and Mr. G—— made Remarks upon their Writings, and both of them did. I do not say with that Politeness and Elegance, which the Spectator and Guardian have laid down, as the sole Characteristicks of good Talk and Judgement; though one may almost as well say, that a Man cannot have good Sense and Wit, without good Cloaths and a genteel Air. ”

“ Satan, Sin, and Death, must needs shock the Readers of a delicate Taste. As if it was possible for the Imagination to paint any Thing so ugly as the Devil is in every One's Conception, and that the more shocking such Painting is, it was not the more natural, as being the more conformable to the Idea which every one has conceiv'd of the Original. 'Tis true, the Devil and Death are not Subjects to touch the Delicacy of Readers, but are extreamly proper to move Horrour and Detestation, which are there the Moral of [Pg 94] that Divine Poem. ”

“ However, there is Perfection enough left in the Classical Writings to prove, That what the Translator of Homer says, does not relate to the Classicks themselves, but to those that make an ill Use of them, and under their Name and Authority insult the Moderns. The Lord Bacon says somewhere, that what we call the Antiquity was the Youth of the World, and that we are properly the Antients as the Inhabitants of an older World, and having made infinite Improvements in all the most useful Parts of Learning. ”

“ History is designed to instruct Mankind by Example, to shew what Men were by what they did, and from particular Instances to form general Lessons in all the various Stations of Life; and our Historian has so far a just Conception of its Dignity and Use, that he speaks of his own Performance as if he had formed a regular noble Design, with a regular and noble View, and executed it with [Pg 18] equal Beauty and Perfection. ”

“ But to criticise on Dryden's Prefaces and Plays is a much greater Labour than to copy them all over, and equally ungenerous and impertinent: If any one will compare his Fall of Man with Milton's Paradise lost, he will quickly perceive to which of them it is that the noble Genius is to be apply'd; and if it belongs to Milton, some other Epithet should be thought of for Dryden. ”

“ Aristotle, Horace, Bossu, Boileau, Dacier, and several other Criticks, have directed us right in the Rules of Epick and Dramatick Poetry, and Rapin has done the same as to History, and other Parts of polite Learning. Several Attempts have been made in England to instruct us, as well as the French have been instructed; but far from striking out any new Lights, our Essays are infinitely short of the Criticisms of our Neighbours. They teach us nothing which is not to be found there, and give us what they take thence curtailed and imperfect. ”

“ I take brisk in our Tongue to be to lively, as pert is to witty: But I cannot depend on my own Judgement; the Translator of Homer having used Briskness in the same Sense as Doctor Felton uses it: Heaven and Earth became engaged in the Subject, by which it rises to a great Importance, and is hastened forward into the briskest Scenes of Action. ”

“ One of the greatest Masters of the Greek Tongue, in our Time, has often question'd whether there were Twenty Men in England who understood the Strength, Beauty, and Elegance of that Language, tho' there are a Thousand that pretend to it. ”

“ But since their Writings prove nothing but their Ignorance and Superstition, I believe Men of Taste and Genius will be so generous as to leave such hidden Treasures to enrich those, whose Invention and Judgement lie under the Calamity of the most extream Poverty. There is nothing but Labour and Patience requisite to acquire a Mastery in these Studies, whether the Matter collected be good or bad, 'tis the same Thing if it be Old, if it be Teutonick or Runick, Danish or Saxon, that's sufficient. ”

“ The Battle grew so fierce and so furious, that there were scarce any Thing to be seen but Masts overturn'd into the Sea, Splinters flying on all Sides, Sails rent and torn in Pieces, Cables and Cordage cut in sunder: How it terrifies one! ”

“ I might further observe, that there is not a Greek or Latin Critick, who has not shewn, even in the Stile of his Criticisms, that he was Master of all the Elegance and Delicacy of his native Language. Here does this excellent Author forbid any one's Claim to the Character of a Critick, who is not like himself Master of the Delicacy and Elegance of his native Tongue; though I am apt to believe, that as a Man may be a [Pg 8] very good Judge of Painting without being himself a Painter, so he may make very good Criticisms in Poetry and Eloquence, without being a Poet or an Orator. ”

“ I am satisfied nothing would be of more Advantage towards the Refinement of our Manner, both of Thinking and Writing. I know the Undertaking would be very difficult, and the greatest Part of the Difficulty be to preserve the Spirit and Turn of Thought in the English Examples, to make it answer Father Bouhours's Remarks. Who is there, that does not take a sublime Thought, a noble Thought, a grand Thought, to be synonymous Terms, though they differ from one another, almost as much as from the Agreeable and the Delicate. ”

“ The Spectator gives us another Mark, by which we may discover a Critick, who has neither Taste nor Learning, and that is, He seldom ventures to praise any Passage in an Author, which has not been before received and applauded by the Publick. ”

“ One of the most monstrous Inventions, says the Spectator, that ever enter'd into the Poet's Thought. An Author might as well think of weaving the Adventures of Æneas and Hudibras into one Poem, as of writing such a motley Piece of Mirth and Sorrow. Whatever others thought of Mr. Dryden's Criticisms, he did himself full Justice, and seem'd to despise all other Criticks at the same Time that he laid himself most open to them. These little Criticks do not well consider what the Work of the Poet is, and what the Graces of a Poem ”

“ Having gone through a stormy and tempestuous Season of various Misery, we arrive at a sudden Brightness and Splendour, a most unexpected Order, and glorious Calm and Sunshine. The Splendour and Brightness harder to be born than the preceeding Clouds and Darkness. ”

“ The Delicacy of Thought is recommended to us by the Spectator, in this beautiful Passage out of Milton, where after the most dismal Prospect of Death, which the Heart of Man was ever terrify'd with, Adam is presented with one of the gayest Scenes with which it ever was delighted. ”

“ Of all the Modern Criticks, who have given us Rules, Dr. Felton upon the Classicks is the Author, who seems to have stood most upon his own Legs: Others have learnt much of the French, and have been much blam'd for it by those who have and have not read their Books. Rymer confesses the French began the Art of Criticism among the Moderns: They fell not to it in earnest, says he, in his Preface to Rapin, till the Royal Academy was founded, and Cardinal Richelieu encourag'd and rally'd all the scatter'd Wits under his Banner: Then Malherbe reform'd their ancient licentious Poetry. ”