X.
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No. 278. Friday, January 18, 1712. Steele.
Sermones ego mallem Repentes per humum.
Hor.
_Mr_. SPECTATOR, _SIR_,
Your having done considerable Service in this great City, by rectifying the Disorders of Families, and several Wives having preferred your Advice and Directions to those of their Husbands, emboldens me to apply to you at this Time. I am a Shop-keeper, and tho but a young Man, I find by Experience that nothing but the utmost Diligence both of Husband and Wife (among trading People) can keep Affairs in any tolerable Order. My Wife at the Beginning of our Establishment shewed her self very assisting to me in my Business as much as could lie in her Way, and I have Reason to believe twas with her Inclination; but of late she has got acquainted with a Schoolman, who values himself for his great Knowledge in the _Greek_ Tongue. He entertains her frequently in the Shop with Discourses of the Beauties and Excellencies of that Language; and repeats to her several Passages out of the _Greek_ Poets, wherein he tells her there is unspeakable Harmony and agreeable Sounds that all other Languages are wholly unacquainted with. He has so infatuated her with his Jargon, that instead of using her former Diligence in the Shop, she now neglects the Affairs of the House, and is wholly taken up with her Tutor in learning by Heart Scraps of _Greek_, which she vents upon all Occasions. She told me some Days ago, that whereas I use some _Latin_ Inscriptions in my Shop, she advised me with a great deal of Concern to have them changed into _Greek;_ it being a Language less understood, would be more conformable to the Mystery of my Profession; that our good Friend would be assisting to us in this Work; and that a certain Faculty of Gentlemen would find themselves so much obliged to me, that they would infallibly make my Fortune: In short her frequent Importunities upon this and other Impertinences of the like Nature make me very uneasy; and if your Remonstrances have no more Effect upon her than mine, I am afraid I shall be obliged to ruin my self to procure her a Settlement at _Oxford_ with her Tutor, for she's already too mad for _Bedlam_. Now, Sir, you see the Danger my Family is exposed to, and the Likelihood of my Wife's becoming both troublesome and useless, unless her reading her self in your Paper may make her reflect. She is so very learned that I cannot pretend by Word of Mouth to argue with her. She laughed out at your ending a Paper in _Greek_, and said twas a Hint to Women of Literature, and very civil not to translate it to expose them to the Vulgar. You see how it is with,
_SIR_, _Your humble Servant_.
_Mr_. SPECTATOR, If you have that Humanity and Compassion in your Nature that you take such Pains to make one think you have, you will not deny your Advice to a distressed Damsel, who intends to be determined by your Judgment in a Matter of great Importance to her. You must know then, There is an agreeable young Fellow, to whose Person, Wit, and Humour no body makes any Objection, that pretends to have been long in Love with me. To this I must add, (whether it proceeds from the Vanity of my Nature, or the seeming Sincerity of my Lover, I wont pretend to say) that I verily believe he has a real Value for me; which if true, you'll allow may justly augment his Merit for his Mistress. In short, I am so sensible of his good Qualities, and what I owe to his Passion, that I think I could sooner resolve to give up my Liberty to him than any body else, were there not an Objection to be made to his Fortunes, in regard they don't answer the utmost mine may expect, and are not sufficient to secure me from undergoing the reproachful Phrase so commonly used, That she has played the Fool. Now, tho I am one of those few who heartily despise Equipage, Diamonds, and a Coxcomb, yet since such opposite Notions from mine prevail in the World, even amongst the best, and such as are esteemed the most prudent People, I cant find in my Heart to resolve upon incurring the Censure of those wise Folks, which I am conscious I shall do, if when I enter into a married State, I discover a Thought beyond that of equalling, if not advancing my Fortunes. Under this Difficulty I now labour, not being in the least determined whether I shall be governed by the vain World, and the frequent Examples I meet with, or hearken to the Voice of my Lover, and the Motions I find in my Heart in favour of him. Sir, Your Opinion and Advice in this Affair, is the only thing I know can turn the Ballance; and which I earnestly intreat I may receive soon; for till I have your Thoughts upon it, I am engaged not to give my Swain a final Discharge.
Besides the particular Obligation you will lay on me, by giving this Subject Room in one of your Papers, tis possible it may be of use to some others of my Sex, who will be as grateful for the Favour as, _SIR, Your Humble Servant,_ Florinda.
P. S. _To tell you the Truth I am Married to Him already, but pray say something to justify me._
_Mr_. SPECTATOR, You will forgive Us Professors of Musick if We make a second Application to You, in order to promote our Design of exhibiting Entertainments of Musick in _York-Buildings._ It is industriously insinuated that Our Intention is to destroy Operas in General, but we beg of you to insert this plain Explanation of our selves in your Paper. Our Purpose is only to improve our Circumstances, by improving the Art which we profess. We see it utterly destroyed at present; and as we were the Persons who introduced Operas, we think it a groundless Imputation that we should set up against the Opera in it self. What we pretend to assert is, That the Songs of different Authors injudiciously put together, and a Foreign Tone and Manner which are expected in every thing now performed among us, has put Musick it self to a stand; insomuch that the Ears of the People cannot now be entertained with any thing but what has an impertinent Gayety, without any just Spirit, or a Languishment of Notes, without any Passion or common Sense. We hope those Persons of Sense and Quality who have done us the Honour to subscribe, will not be ashamed of their Patronage towards us, and not receive Impressions that patronising us is being for or against the Opera, but truly promoting their own Diversions in a more just and elegant Manner than has been hitherto performed. _We are, SIR, Your most humble Servants,_ Thomas Clayton. Nicolino Haym. Charles Dieupart. [1]
_There will be no Performances in_ York-buildings _till after that of the Subscription._
T.
[Footnote 1: See No. 258.]
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No. 279. Saturday, January 19, 1712. Addison.
Reddere personæ scit convenientia cuique.
Hor.
We have already taken a general Survey of the Fable and Characters in _Milton's Paradise Lost_. The Parts which remain to be considered, according to _Aristotle's_ Method, are the _Sentiments_ and the _Language_. [1]
Before I enter upon the first of these, I must advertise my Reader, that it is my Design as soon as I have finished my general Reflections on these four several Heads, to give particular Instances out of the Poem which is now before us of Beauties and Imperfections which may be observed under each of them, as also of such other Particulars as may not properly fall under any of them. This I thought fit to premise, that the Reader may not judge too hastily of this Piece of Criticism, or look upon it as Imperfect, before he has seen the whole Extent of it.
The Sentiments in an Epic Poem are the Thoughts and Behaviour which the Author ascribes to the Persons whom he introduces, and are _just_ when they are conformable to the Characters of the several Persons. The Sentiments have likewise a relation to _Things_ as well as _Persons_, and are then perfect when they are such as are adapted to the Subject. If in either of these Cases the Poet [endeavours to argue or explain, to magnify or diminish, to raise] [2] Love or Hatred, Pity or Terror, or any other Passion, we ought to consider whether the Sentiments he makes use of are proper for [those [3]] Ends. _Homer_ is censured by the Criticks for his Defect as to this Particular in several parts of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, tho at the same time those, who have treated this great Poet with Candour, have attributed this Defect to the Times in which he lived. [4] It was the Fault of the Age, and not of _Homer_, if there wants that Delicacy in some of his Sentiments which now appears in the Works of Men of a much inferior Genius. Besides, if there are Blemishes in any particular Thoughts, there is an infinite Beauty in the greatest Part of them. In short, if there are many Poets who would not have fallen into the Meanness of some of his Sentiments, there are none who could have risen up to the Greatness of others. _Virgil_ has excelled all others in the Propriety of his Sentiments. _Milton_ shines likewise very much in this Particular: Nor must we omit one Consideration which adds to his Honour and Reputation. _Homer_ and _Virgil_ introduced Persons whose Characters are commonly known among Men, and such as are to be met with either in History, or in ordinary Conversation. _Milton's_ Characters, most of them, lie out of Nature, and were to be formed purely by his own Invention. It shews a greater Genius in _Shakespear_ to have drawn his _Calyban,_ than his _Hotspur_ or _Julius Cæsar:_ The one was to be supplied out of his own Imagination, whereas the other might have been formed upon Tradition, History and Observation. It was much easier therefore for _Homer_ to find proper Sentiments for an Assembly of _Grecian_ Generals, than for _Milton_ to diversify his infernal Council with proper Characters, and inspire them with a Variety of Sentiments. The Lovers of _Dido_ and _AEneas_ are only Copies of what has passed between other Persons. _Adam_ and _Eve_, before the Fall, are a different Species from that of Mankind, who are descended from them; and none but a Poet of the most unbounded Invention, and the most exquisite Judgment, could have filled their Conversation and Behaviour with [so many apt [5]] Circumstances during their State of Innocence.
Nor is it sufficient for an Epic Poem to be filled with such Thoughts as are _Natural_, unless it abound also with such as are _Sublime_. Virgil in this Particular falls short of _Homer_. He has not indeed so many Thoughts that are Low and Vulgar; but at the same time has not so many Thoughts that are Sublime and Noble. The Truth of it is, _Virgil_ seldom rises into very astonishing Sentiments, where he is not fired by the _Iliad_. He every where charms and pleases us by the Force of his own Genius; but seldom elevates and transports us where he does not fetch his Hints from _Homer_.
_Milton's_ chief Talent, and indeed his distinguishing Excellence, lies in the Sublimity of his Thoughts. There are others of the Moderns who rival him in every other part of Poetry; but in the Greatness of his Sentiments he triumphs over all the Poets both Modern and Ancient, _Homer_ only excepted. It is impossible for the Imagination of Man to distend itself with greater Ideas, than those which he has laid together in his first, [second,] and sixth Book[s]. The seventh, which describes the Creation of the World, is likewise wonderfully Sublime, tho not so apt to stir up Emotion in the Mind of the Reader, nor consequently so perfect in the Epic Way of Writing, because it is filled with less
## Action. Let the judicious Reader compare what _Longinus_ has observed
[6] on several Passages in _Homer_, and he will find Parallels for most of them in the _Paradise Lost_.
From what has been said we may infer, that as there are two kinds of Sentiments, the Natural and the Sublime, which are always to be pursued in an Heroic Poem, there are also two kinds of Thoughts which are carefully to be avoided. The first are such as are affected and unnatural; the second such as are mean and vulgar. As for the first kind of Thoughts, we meet with little or nothing that is like them in _Virgil:_ He has none of those [trifling [7]] Points and Puerilities that are so often to be met with in _Ovid_, none of the Epigrammatick Turns of _Lucan_, none of those swelling Sentiments which are so frequent in _Statins_ and _Claudian_, none of those mixed Embellishments of _Tasso_. Every thing is just and natural. His Sentiments shew that he had a perfect Insight into human Nature, and that he knew every thing which was the most proper to [affect it [8]].
Mr. _Dryden_ has in some Places, which I may hereafter take notice of, misrepresented _Virgil's_ way of thinking as to this Particular, in the Translation he has given us of the _AEneid_. I do not remember that _Homer_ any where falls into the Faults above-mentioned, which were indeed the false Refinements of later Ages. _Milton_, it must be confest, has sometimes erred in this Respect, as I shall shew more at large in another Paper; tho considering how all the Poets of the Age in which he writ were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did sometimes comply with the vicious Taste which still prevails so much among Modern Writers.
But since several Thoughts may be natural which are low and groveling, an Epic Poet should not only avoid such Sentiments as are unnatural or affected, but also such as are [mean [9]] and vulgar. _Homer_ has opened a great Field of Raillery to Men of more Delicacy than Greatness of Genius, by the Homeliness of some of his Sentiments. But, as I have before said, these are rather to be imputed to the Simplicity of the Age in which he lived, to which I may also add, of that which he described, than to any Imperfection in that Divine Poet. _Zoilus_ [10] among the Ancients, and Monsieur _Perrault_, [11] among the Moderns, pushed their Ridicule very far upon him, on account of some such Sentiments. There is no Blemish to be observed in _Virgil_ under this Head, and but [a] very few in Milton.
I shall give but one Instance of this Impropriety of [Thought [12]] in _Homer_, and at the same time compare it with an Instance of the same Nature, both in _Virgil_ and _Milton_. Sentiments which raise Laughter, can very seldom be admitted with any Decency into an Heroic Poem, whose Business it is to excite Passions of a much nobler Nature. _Homer_, however, in his Characters of _Vulcan_ [13] and _Thersites_ [14], in his Story of _Mars_ and _Venus_, [15] in his Behaviour of _Irus_ [16] and in other Passages, has been observed to have lapsed into the Burlesque Character, and to have departed from that serious Air which seems essential to the Magnificence of an Epic Poem. I remember but one Laugh in the whole Æneid, which rises in the fifth Book, upon _Monætes_, where he is represented as thrown overboard, and drying himself upon a Rock. But this Piece. of Mirth is so well timed, that the severest Critick can have nothing to say against it; for it is in the Book of Games and Diversions, where the Readers Mind may be supposed to be sufficiently relaxed for such an Entertainment. The only Piece of Pleasantry in _Paradise Lost_, is where the Evil Spirits are described as rallying the Angels upon the Success of their new invented Artillery. This Passage I look upon to be the most exceptionable in the whole Poem, as being nothing else but a String of Punns, and those too very indifferent ones.
--Satan beheld their Plight, And to his Mates thus in Derision call'd. O Friends, why come not on those Victors proud? Ere-while they fierce were coming, and when we, To entertain them fair with open Front, And Breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms Of Composition, straight they chang'd their Minds, Flew off, _and into strange Vagaries fell As they would dance: yet for a Dance they seem'd Somewhat extravagant, and wild; perhaps For Joy of offer'd Peace; but I suppose If our Proposals once again were_ heard, _We should compel them to a quick_ Result.
_To whom thus_ Belial _in like gamesome Mood: Leader, the Terms we sent were Terms of_ Weight, _Of_ hard Contents, _and full of force urg'd home; Such as we might perceive amus'd them all, And_ stumbled _many: who receives them right, Had need, from Head to Foot, will_ understand; _Not_ understood, _this Gift they have besides, They shew us when our Foes_ walk not upright.
_Thus they among themselves in pleasant vein Stood scoffing_ [17]----