Chapter IX: Section II (3)

THUS MUCH, then, may perhaps serve for an illustration of the first part of this Inquiry. We have found out several _marks_, and applied them to various passages in the best writers, from which we may reasonably enough be allowed to infer an Imitation in point of _Sentiment_. For what respect the other part of _Expression_, this is an easier task, and will be dispatched in few words.

Only you will indulge me in an observation or two, to prevent your expecting from me more than I undertake to perform.

When I speak of _Expression_, then I mean to confine myself “to single words of sentences, or at most the structure of a passage.” When _Imitation_ is carried so far as to affect the general cast of language, or what we call a _Style_, no great sagacity is, perhaps, required to detect it. Thus the _Ciceroniani_, if they were not ambitious of proclaiming themselves, are discoverable at the first glance. And the later Roman poets, as well as the modern Latin versifiers, are, to the best of their power, _Virgilian_. The thing is perhaps still easier in a living language; especially if that language be our own. Milton and Pope, if they have made but few poets, have made many imitators; so many, that we are ready to complain there is hardly an original poet left.

Another point seems of no importance in the present inquiry. I know, it is asked, How far a writer casually or designedly imitates? that is, whether he copies another from memory only, without recollecting, at the time, the passage from which his expression is drawn, or purposely, and with full knowledge of his original. And this consideration is of much weight, as I have shewn at large, where the question is concerning the _credit_ of the supposed imitator. For this is affected by nothing but direct and _intended_ imitation. But as we are looking at present only for those marks in the expression which shew it _not_ to be original, it is enough that the resemblance is such as cannot well be accounted for but on the supposition of some sort of commerce; whether immediately perceived by the writer himself, is not material. ’Tis true, this observation is applicable to _sentiments_ as well as expression; and I have not pretended to give the preceding articles, as proofs, or even presumptions, in all cases, that the later writer copied intentionally from a former. But there is this difference in the two cases. _Sentiments_ may be strikingly similar, or even identical, without the least thought, or even effect, of a preceding original. But the identity of _expression_, except in some few cases of no importance, is, in the same language, where the writer speaks entirely from himself, an almost impossible thing. And you will be of this mind, if you reflect on the infinitely varied lights in which the same image or sentiment presents itself to different writers; the infinitely varied purpose they have to serve by it; or where it happens to strike precisely in the same manner, and is directed precisely to the same end, the infinite combinations of words in which it may be expressed. To all which you may add, that the least imaginable variation, either in the terms or the structure of them, not only destroys the identity, but often disfigures the resemblance to that degree that we hardly know it to be a resemblance.

So that you see, the _marks_ of imitated or, if you will, _derived expression_ are much less equivocal, than of _sentiment_. We may pronounce of the _former_ without hesitation, that it is taken, when corresponding marks in the _latter_ would only authorise us to conclude that it was the _same_ or perhaps _similar_.

I need not use more words to convince you, that the distinction of _casual_ and _design’d_ imitation is still of less significancy in this class of imitations, than the other.

And with this preamble, more particular perhaps and circumstantial than was necessary, I now proceed to lay before you some of those _signs_ of derived expression, which I conceive to be _unequivocal_. If they are so, they will generally appear at first sight; so that I shall have little occasion to trouble you, as I did before, with my comments. It will be sufficient to deliver the _rule_, and to _exemplify_ it.

I. An identity of expression, especially if carried on through an intire sentence, is the most certain proof of imitation.

Mr. Waller of Sacharissa,

So little care of what is done below
Hath the bright dame, whom heav’n affecteth so;
Paints her, ’tis true, with the same hand which spreads
Like glorious colours thro’ the flow’ry meads;
_When lavish nature with her best attire_
Cloaths the gay spring, the season of desire.

Mr. Fenton takes notice that the poet is copying from the _Muiopotmos_ of Spenser.

To the gay gardens his unstaid desire
Him wholly carried to refresh his sprights:
_There lavish Nature, in her best attire,_
Pours forth sweet odours and alluring sights.

We shall see presently that, besides the identity of expression, there is also another mark of imitation in this passage.

II. But less than this will do, where the similarity of thought, and application of it, is striking.

Mr. Pope says divinely well,

Shall burning Ætna, if a sage requires,
Forget to thunder and recall its fires?
On _air_ or sea _new motions be impress’d_,
Oh blameless Bethel! to relieve thy breast?
When the loose mountain trembles from on high,
Shall _gravitation cease if you go by_?
Or some old temple nodding to its fall
For Chartres’ head reserve the hanging wall?
_Essay_ IV. v. 123.

Now turn to Mr. Wollaston, an easy natural writer (where his natural manner is not stiffened by a mathematical pedantry) and abounding in fine sallies of the imagination; and see if the poet did not catch his _expression_, as well as the fire of his conception in this place, from the philosopher:

“As to the course of Nature, if a good man be passing by an infirm building, just in the article of falling, can it be expected that God should _suspend the force of gravitation till he is gone by_, in order to his deliverance; or can we think it would be increased, and the fall hastened, if a bad man was there, only that he might be caught, crushed, and made an example? If a man’s safety or prosperity should depend upon winds or rains, must _new motions be impressed upon the atmosphere_, and new directions given to the floating parts of it, by some extraordinary and new influence from God?”

III. Sometimes the original expression is not taken but paraphrased; and the writer disguises himself in a kind of circumlocution. Yet this artifice does not conceal him, especially if some fragments, as it were, of the inventor’s phrase are found dispersedly in the imitation.

For in the secret of her troubled thought
A doubtful combat love and honour fought.
_Fairfax’s Tasso_, B. IV. S. 70.

Hence Mr. Waller,

There public care and private passion _fought_
_A doubtful combat_ in his noble _thought_.
_Poems_, p. 14.

_Public care_ is the periphrasis of _honour_, and _private passion_, of _love_. For the rest you see—_disjecti membra poetæ_.

IV. An imitation is discoverable, when there is but the least particle of the original expression, “by a peculiar and no very natural arrangement of words.”

In Fletcher’s _faithful Shepherdess_, the speaker says,

— — — — — — — In thy face
Shines more awful majesty,
Than dull weak mortality
Dare with misty eyes behold,
AND LIVE—

The writer glanced, but very improperly on such an occasion, at _Exod._ xxxiii. 20. “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, _and live_.”

V. An uncommon _construction_ of words not identical, especially if the subject be the same, or the ideas similar, will look like imitation.

Milton says finely of the _Swan_,

— — — — —The Swan with arched neck
Between her white wings mantling proudly ROWS
HER STATE—

I should think he might probably have that line of Fletcher in his head,

How like a Swan she SWIMS HER PACE!

The expression, you see, is very like. ’Tis true, the _image_ in Milton is much nobler. It is taken from a barge of state in a public procession.

VI. We may even pronounce that a _single word_ is taken, when it is new and uncommon.

Milton’s calling a ray of light—a levell’d _rule_ in Comus v. 340, is so particular that, when one reads in Euripides ἡλίου ΚΑΝΩΝ σαφὴς, Suppl. v. 650, one has no doubt that the learned poet translated the Greek word.

Again, Mr. Pope’s,

“Or ravish’d with the _whistling_ of a name,”

is for the same reason, if there were no other points of likeness, copied from Mr. Cowley’s

“Charm’d with the foolish _whistlings_ of a name.”
Transl. of Virgil’s _O! fortunati nimium_, &c.

VII. An improper _use_ of uncommon expression, in very exact writers, will sometimes create a suspicion. Milton had called the _sight_ indifferently _visual nerve_ and _visual ray_, P. L. iii. 620. xi. 415. Mr. Pope in his Messiah thought he might take the same liberty, but forgot that though the _visual nerve_ might be purged from film, the _visual ray_ could not. Had Mr. Pope _invented_ this bold expression, he would have seen to apply his _metaphor_ more properly.

VIII. Where the word or phrase is _foreign_, there is, if possible, still less doubt.

— — — —at last his sail-broad _vans_
He spreads for flight.
Milton, P. L. ii. v. 927.

Most certainly from Tasso’s,

—Spiega al grand volo i _vanni_. ix.

And that of Jonson in his _Sejanus_,

O! what is it proud slime will not believe
Of his own worth, to hear it _equal prais’d_
_Thus with the Gods_—
A. 1.

from Juvenal’s

------nihil est quod credere de se
Non possit, cum _laudatur Diis æqua_ potestas.

IX. Conclude the same when the expression is _antique_, in the writer’s own language.

In Mr. Waller’s Panegyric on the Protector,

So, when a Lion shakes his dreadful mane,
And angry grows, if he _that first took pain_
To tame his youth, approach the haughty beast,
He bends to him, but frights away the rest.

The antique formality of the phrase _that first took pain_, for, _that first took the pains_, in so pure and modern a speaker, as this poet, looks suspicious. He took it, as he found it in an older writer. There are many other marks of imitation, but we had needed no more than this to make the discovery:

So when a lion shakes his dreadful mane,
And beats his tail, with courage proud, and wroth,
If his commander come, _who first took pain_
To tame his youth, his lofty crest down go’th.
Fairfax’s _Tasso_, B. VIII. S. 83.

X. You observe in most of the instances, here given, besides other marks, there is an identity of rhyme. And this circumstance of itself, in our poetry, is no bad argument of imitation, particularly when joined to a similarity of expression. And the reason is, the rhyme itself very naturally brings the expression along with it.

1. “Stuck o’er with titles, and hung round with strings,
That thou mayst be _by Kings, or whores of Kings_.”
Essay on Man, E. IV. v. 205.

from Mr. Cowley in his translation of _Hor._ 1. _ep._ 10.

“To Kings, or to the favourites of Kings.”

2. “Such is the world’s great harmony, that _springs_
From order, union, full _consent of things_.”
Ep. III. 295.

from Denham’s _Cowper’s Hill_,

“Wisely she knew the _harmony of things_
As well as that of sounds from discord _springs_.”

3. “Far as the solar walk, or milky way.”
Essay on Man, Ep. I. v. 102.

from Mr. Dryden’s Pindaric Poem to the memory of K. Charles II.

“Out of the solar walk, or heav’n’s high way.”

Though these consonancies chyming in the writer’s head, he might not always be aware of the imitation.

XI. In the examples, just given, there was no reason to suspect the poet was imitating, till you met with the original. Then indeed the rhyme leads to the discovery. But “if an exact writer falls into a _flatness of expression_ for the sake of rhyme, you may ev’n previously conclude that he has some precedent for it.”

In the famous lines,

Let modest Foster, if he will, excell
Ten metropolitans _in preaching well_.
Ep. to Satires, v. 131.

I used to suspect that the phrase of _preaching well_ so unlike the concise accuracy of Pope, would not have been hazarded by him, if some eminent writer, though perhaps of an older age and less correct taste than his own, had not set the example. But I had no doubt left when I happened on the following couplet in Mr. Waller.

Your’s sounds aloud, and tells us you _excell_
No less in courage, than _in singing well_.
Poem to Sir W. D’Avenant.

Our great poet is more happy in the application of these rhymes on another occasion,

Let such teach others, who themselves _excell_,
And censure freely, who have written _well_.
Essay on Crit. v. 15.

The reason is apparent. But here he glanced at the Duke of Buckingham’s,

“Nature’s chief master-piece is _writing well_.”

XII. “The same pause and turn of expression are pretty sure symptoms of imitation.” These minute resemblances do not usually spring from Nature, which, when the sentiment is the same, hath a hundred ways of its own, of giving it to us.

1. That noble verse in the essay on criticism, v. 625.

“For fools rush in, where angels dare not tread,”

is certainly fashion’d upon Shakespear’s,

——————————“the world is grown so bad
That wrens make prey, where angels dare not perch.”
_Rich._ III. A. I. S. III.

2. The verses to Sir W. Trumbal in Past. 1.

“And carrying with you all the world can boast,
To all the world illustriously are lost.”

from Waller’s _Maid’s Tragedy_ alter’d,

Happy he that from the world retires
And carries with him what the world admires.
p. 215. Lond. 1712.

XIII. When to these marks the same _Rhyme_ is added, the case is still more evident.

“Men would be angels, angels would be Gods.”
Essay on Man, Ep. I. v. 126.

Without all question from Sir Fulk Grevil,

Men would be tyrants, tyrants would be _Gods_.
Works, _Lond._ 1633. p. 73.

XIV. The seeming quaintness and obscurity of an expression frequently indicates imitation. As when in Fletcher’s _Pilgrim_ we read,

“_Hummings_ of higher nature vex his brains.”
A. II. S. 2.

Had the idea been original, the poet had expressed it more plainly. In leaving it thus, he pays his reader the compliment to suppose, that he will readily call to mind,

aliena negotia centum
Per caput, et circa saliunt latus;

which sufficiently explains it: As we may see from Mr. Cowley’s application of the same passage. “Aliena negotia centum per caput et centum saliunt latus. A hundred businesses of other men fly continually about his head and _ears_, and strike him in the face like Dorres.” _Disc. of Liberty._ And still more clearly, from Mr. Pope’s,

“A hundred other men’s affairs,
Like bees, are _humming_ in my ears.”

Learned writers of quick parts abound in these delicate allusions. It makes a principal part of modern elegancy to glance in this oblique manner at well-known passages in the classics.

XV. I will trouble you with but one more note of _imitated expression_, and it shall be the very reverse of the last. When the passages glanced at are not familiar, the expression is frequently minute and circumstantial, corresponding to the original in the order, turn, and almost number of the words. The reasons are, that, the imitated passage not being known, the imitator may give it, as he finds it, with safety, or at least without offence; and that, besides, the force and beauty of it would escape us in a brief and general allusion. The following are instances:

1. “Man never is, but always to be blest.”
Essay on Man, Ep. I. v. 69.

from Manilius,

Victuros agimus semper, nec vivimus unquam.

2. —“Hope never comes,
That comes to all.”—
MILTON, P. L. I. v. 66.

from Euripides in the Troad. v. 676.

—οὐδ’, ὃ πᾶσι λείπεται βροτοῖς,
Ξύνεστιν ἐλπὶς.—

3. But above all, that in Jonson’s Catiline,

“He shall die:
_Shall_ was too slowly said: He’s _dying_: That
Is still too slow: He’s _dead_.”

from Seneca’s _Hercules furens_, A. III.

“Lycus Creonti debitas poenas _dabit_:
Lentum est, dabit; _dat_: hoc quoque est lentum; _dedit_.”

You have now, Sir, before you a specimen of those rules, which I have fancied might be fairly applied to the discovery of imitations, both in regard to the SENSE and EXPRESSION of great writers. I would not pretend that the same stress is to be laid on _all_; but there may be something, at least, worth attending to in every one of them. It were easy, perhaps, to enumerate still more, and to illustrate these I have given with more agreeable citations. Yet I have spared you the disgust of considering those vulgar passages, which every body recollects and sets down for acknowledged imitations. And these I have used are taken from the most celebrated of the ancient and modern writers. You may observe indeed that I have chiefly drawn from our own poets; which I did, not merely because I know you despise the pedantry of confining one’s self to learned quotations, but because I think we are better able to discern those circumstances, which betray an imitation, in our own language than in any other. Amongst other reasons, an _identity_ of words and phrases, upon which so much depends, especially in the article of _expression_, is only to be had in the _same_ language. And you are not to be told with how much more certainty we determine of the degree of evidence, which such identity affords for this purpose, in a language we speak, than in one which we only lisp or spell.

But you will best understand of what importance this affair of _expression_ is to the discovery of imitations, by considering how seldom we are able to fix an imitation on Shakespear. The reason is, not, that there are not numberless passages in him very like to others in approved authors, or that he had not read enough to give us a fair hold of him; but that his expression is so totally his own, that he almost always sets us at defiance.

You will ask me, perhaps, now I am on this subject, how it happened that Shakespear’s language is every where so much his own as to secure his imitations, if they were such, from discovery; when I pronounce with such assurance of those of our other poets. The answer is given for me in the Preface to Mr. Theobald’s Shakespear; though the observation, I think, is too good to come from that critic. It is, that, though his words, agreeably to the state of the English tongue at that time, be generally Latin, his phraseology is perfectly English: An advantage, he owed to his slender acquaintance with the Latin idiom. Whereas the other writers of his age, and such others of an older date as were likely to fall into his hands, had not only the most familiar acquaintance with the Latin idiom, but affected on all occasions to make use of it. Hence it comes to pass, that, though he might draw sometimes from the Latin (Ben Jonson, you know, tells us, _He had less Greek_) and the learned English writers, he takes nothing but the _sentiment_; the expression comes of itself, and is purely English.

I might indulge in other reflexions, and detain you still further with examples taken from his works. But we have _lain_, as the Poet speaks, _on these primrose beds_, too long. It is time that you now rise to your own nobler _inventions_; and that I return myself to those, less pleasing, perhaps, but more useful studies from which your friendly sollicitations have called me. Such as these amusements are, however, I cannot repent me of them, since they have been innocent at least, and even ingenuous; and, what I am fondest to recollect, have helped to enliven those many years of friendship we have passed together in this place. I see indeed, with regret, the approach of that time, which threatens to take me both from _it_, and _you_. But, however fortune may dispose of me, she cannot throw me to a distance, to which your affection and good wishes, at least, will not follow me.

And for the rest,

“Be no unpleasing melancholy mine.”

The coming years of my life will not, I foresee, in many respects, be what the past have been to me. But, till they take me from myself, I must always bear about me the agreeable remembrance of our friendship.

_I am,_

_Dear Sir,_

_Your most affectionate
Friend and Servant._

CAMBRIDGE,
Aug. 15, 1757.

INDEX

TO THE

TWO VOLUMES.

A.

ADDISON, Mr., his judgment of the double sense of verbs, i. 359.
his _Cato_, defended, 102.
not too poetical, ib.
its real defects, ib.
his criticism on _Milton_ proceeds on just principles, 393.
how far defective, 396.

AENEIS, prefigured under the idea of a temple, i. 333.
the destruction of Troy, an episode, why, i. 139.

AGLAOPHON, his rude manner of painting; why preferred to _Parrhasius_
and _Zeuxis_, i. 346.

ALLEGORY, the distinguished pride of ancient poetry, i. 343.
a fine instance from _Virgil_, 333.

ANCIENTS, immoderately extolled, why, i. 346.

ANTIGONE, the chorus of it defended, i. 158.

APHORISMS, condemned in the _Roman_ writers, i. 184.
why used so frequently by the Greeks, 185.

APOLLONIUS _Rhodius_, why censured by _Aristophanes_ and
_Aristarchus_, i. 267.

APOTHEOSIS, the usual mode of flattery in the _Augustan_ age, i. 333.

ARISTOTLE, his opinion of _Homer’s_ imitations, i. 67.
of _Euripides_, 116.
of the business of the chorus, 145.
of the sententious manner, 186.
his fine Ode, corrected, 188. n.
translated, 189.
of the origin of tragedy, 194.
a passage in his poetics explained, 123.
his censure of the _Iphigenia at Aulis_, considered, 131.
he was little known at Rome in Cicero’s time, 191.
why _Horace_ differs from him in his account of _Aeschylus’s_
inventions, 240.
a supposed contradiction between him and _Horace_ reconciled, 262.
his judgment of moral pictures, 375.
his admiration of an epithet in _Homer_, on what founded, ii. 126.

ART and NATURE, their provinces in forming a poet, i. 273.

ATELLANE FABLE, a species of Comedy, i. 192.
different from the satyric piece, 195.
the Oscan language used in it, 198.
why criticised by _Horace_, 206.
in what sense Pomponius, the Inventor of it, 198.

ATHENAEUS, of the moralizing turn of the Greeks, i. 187.

AUCTOR ad Herennium, defines an aphorism, i. 184.

AUGUSTUS, fond of the old Comedy, i. 228. n.

B.

BACON, Lord, his idea of poetry, ii. 178.

BALZAC, Mr., his flattery of LOUIS LE JUSTE, i. 344, 345.

BEAUTY, the idea of, how distinguished from the pathetic, i. 110.

BENTLEY, Dr., corrections of his censured, i. 71, 72, 106, 142.
an interpretation of his confuted, 110.
a conjecture of his confirmed, 349.

BOS, _M. de_, how he accounts for the effect of Tragedy, i. 119.
for the degeneracy of taste and literature, 264.
what he thought of modern imitations of the ancient poets, ii. 224.

BOUHOURS, P., his merit as a critic, pointed out, i. 393.
wherein censured, 395.

BRUMOY, P., his character, i. 133.
commends the _Athalie_ and _Esther_ of _Racine_, 145.
justifies the chorus, ib.
accounts for the sententious manner of the _Greek_ stage, 185.
an observation of his on the imitation of foreign characters, 247.

BRUYERE, _M. de la_, an observation of his concerning the manners,
ii. 135.

BUSIRIS, in what sense a ridiculous character, i. 208.

C.

CAESAR, _C. Julius_, his judgment of _Terence_, i. 225.

CASAUBON, _Isaac_, his book on satyric poetry recommended, i. 194.
an emendation of his confirmed, 208.

CHARACTER, the object of comedy, ii. 56.
of what sort, 40.
of what persons, ib.
plays of, in what faulty, 48.
instances of such plays, 53.

CHARACTERS, of comedy, general; of tragedy, particular, why, ii. 48.
this matter explained at large, to 54.

CHORUS, its use and importance, i. 145.
its moral character, 156.
more easily conducted by ancient than modern poets, 161.
improvements in the Latin tragic chorus, 179.

CICER, _M. Tullius_, of the use of old words, i. 89.
of self-murder, 162.
of poetic licence, 174.
of the language of _Democritus_ and _Plato_, 180.
of the music of his time, 182.
of the neglect of philosophy, 191.
of the mimes, 205.
of _Plautus’s_ wit, 220.
does not mention _Menander_, 229.
mentions corporal infirmities as proper subjects for ridicule, 231.
of a good poet, 249.
of decorum, 251.
of the use of philosophy, ib.

CID, of _P. Corneille_, its uncommon success, to what owing, i. 398.

CLOWNS, their character in _Shakespear_, i. 186.

COMEDY, _Roman_, three species of it, i. 192.

—— the author’s idea of it, ii. 30.
conclusions concerning its nature, from that idea, 37.
attributes, common to it and tragedy, 42.
attributes, peculiar to it, 45.
its genius, considered at large, 57.
M. _de Fontenelle’s_ notion of it, considered, 75.
idea of it enlarged since the time of _Aristotle_, 65.
polite and heroic, what we are to think of it, 86.
on high life, censured, ib.
of modern invention, ib.
accounted for, 87.
why more difficult than tragedy, ib.

COMPARISON, similarity of, in all writers, why necessary, ii. 194.
why more so in the graver than lighter poetry, 198.

CORNEILLE, P., his objection to _Euripides’s Medea_, confuted, i. 163.
his notion of comic action considered, ii. 41.

CRITICISM, the uses of it, ii. 105.
its aim, 391.
when perfect, ib.

D.

DACIER, _M._, criticisms of his considered, i. 94, 168, 173, 174, 175,
240, 244, 245, 268, ibid.
the author’s opinion of him, as a critic, 62, n. and 272.
his account of the opening of the _Epistle to Augustus_ censured,
326.

DANCE, the choral commended, i. 178.

DAVENANT, Sir _William_, his _Gondibert_ criticised, ii. 235.

DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS, characterizes the satyric piece, i. 193.

DESCRIPTION, natural and moral, why similar in the form as well as
matter in all poets, ii. 191, 192.

DIALOGUE, _Socratic_, the genius of, i. 252.

DIO CASSIUS, instances from him of the gross flattery paid to
_Caesar_, i. 330.

DIOMEDES, of the Satyric and Atellane fables, i. 195.
of the use of the Satyric piece, 203.
a passage in him corrected by _Casaubon_, 208.
his character of the Atellanes, 234.
distinguishes the different kinds of the _Roman_ drama, 241.

DIONYSIUS, of _Halicarnassus_, of the use of words, i. 92.
of _Plato’s_ figurative style, 254.

DOCTUS, the meaning of, explained, i. 350-352.

DONATUS, distinguishes the three forms of comedy, i. 192, 193.

DRAMA, see _Tragedy_, _Comedy_, _Farce_.

—— _Peruvian_, some account of, ii. 66, 67.
_Chinese_, 67.
_Greek_ and _Roman_, its character, 69.
the laws of, in what different from those of history, ii. 179.

DULCE, its distinction from _pulchrum_, i. 109.

DUPORT, _Pr._, his collection of moral parallelisms in _Homer_, and
Sacred Writ, of what use? ii. 140.

E.

ELECTRA, of _Euripides_, vindicated, i. 125.
a circumstance in the two plays of that name by _Euripides_ and
_Sophocles_ compared, 259.

ELFRIDA, of Mr. Mason, i. 148.
the best apology for the ancient chorus, ibid.

ENVY, how it operates in human nature, i. 329.
how it operated in the case of Mr. _Pope_, 328.

EPIC _Poetry_, admits new words, i. 73.
its plan how far to be copied by the tragic poet, 137.
in what different from history, ii. 179.

EPISODE, its character and laws, ii. 185.

EPISTLE, didactic and elegiac, Intr. to vol. i. 17.
_Didactic_, the offspring of the satyr, ibid.
its three-fold character, 24.
_Elegiac_, the difference of this from the didactic form, 23, 24.

ERATOSTHENES, his idea of the end of poetry, ii. 4.

EURIPIDES, his character, i. 116.
his _Medea_ commended, 121.
_Electra_ vindicated, 125.
_Iphigenia_ in _Aulis_ vindicated, 131.
the decorum of his characters, 132.
his _Hippolytus_ led _Seneca_ into mistakes, 150.
an observation on the chorus of that play, 161.
and of the _Medea_, 162.
_Quintilian’s_ character of him, 191.
a circumstance in his _Electra_ compared with _Sophocles_, 259.
his genius resembling _Virgil’s_, ii. 152.

EXPRESSION, why similar in different writers without imitation, ii.
204.

F.

FABLE, why essential to both Dramas, ii. 42.
why an unity and even simplicity in the fable, 43.
a good one, why not so essential to comedy as tragedy, 45.

FARCE, the author’s idea of it, ii. 30.
its laws, 96.
its end and character, how distinguished from those of tragedy and
comedy, 98.

FEELING, rightly made the test of poetical merit, i. 390.

FENELON, of the use of old words, i. 91.

FICTION, _poetical_, when credible, ii. 130.
the soul of poetry, ii. 11.

FLATTERY of the _Roman Emperors_ excessive, i. 330.
imported from the _Asiatic_ provinces, 331.

FONTENELLE, M. _de_, his opinion of the origin of comedy, i. 244.
his notion of the drama, ii. 75, &c.
his comedies criticised, 90.
his pastorals censured, ibid.
his opinion of the uses of criticism, 105.

G.

GEDDES, J. Esq., his notion of the most essential principles of
Eloquence, i. 381.

GELLIUS, _Aulus_, his opinion of _Laberius_, i. 206.

GENIUS, original, a proof of, in the particularity of description,
ii. 126.
similarity of, in two writers, its effects, 225.

GEORGIC, the form of this poem, what, ii. 183.

GREEKS, their most ancient writers falsely supposed to be the best,
i. 347.

H.

HEINSIUS, his idea of true criticism, i. 65.
his explanation of a passage in _Horace_, 148.
thought one part of the Epistle to the _Pisos_ inexplicable, 269.
his transposition of the Epistle censured, 272.

HIPPOLYTUS, of _Euripides_; an observation on the chorus, i. 161.
of _Seneca_, censured, 149.

HOBBES, Mr., his censure of the Italian romancers in their unnatural
fiction, ii. 238.

HOESLINUS, his opinion of the fourth book of the Aeneis, ii. 154.

HOMER, first invented dramatic imitations, i. 42.
his excellence in painting the _effects_ of the manners, ii. 157.

HORACE, explained and illustrated, _passim_.
his _Epistle to the Pisos_, a criticism on the Roman drama, Introd.
to vol. i. 15.
the character of his genius, 24.
his _Epistle to Augustus_, an apology for the _Roman_ poets, 325.
design and character of his other critical works, 407.
what may be said for his flattery of _Augustus_, 330.
fond of the old _Latin_ poets, 349.
his knowledge of the world, 379.

HUME, _David_, Esq., his account of the pathos in tragedy, considered,
i. 118.
his judgment of Fontenelle’s discourse on pastoral poetry, 218.

HUMOUR, the end of comedy, ii. 57.
two species of humour, 59.
one of these not much known to the ancients, ibid.
neither of them in that perfection on the ancient as modern stage,
60.
may subsist without ridicule, 62.
yet enlivened by it, 64.

HYMNS, profane and sacred, why similar, ii. 138.

I. and J.

INVENTION, in poetry, what, ii. 111.
principally displayed in the _manner_ of imitation, 158.

JESTER, a character by profession amongst the _Greeks_, i. 235.

IMITATION, primary and secondary, what, ii. 113.
the latter not easily distinguishable from the former, ibid.
shewn at large in respect of the matter of poetry, 115 to 176.
of the _manner_, 176 to 215.
in painting, sooner detected than in poetry, why, 162.
how it may be detected, 208 and _Letter to Mr. Mason_, throughout.
Why no rules delivered for it in the _Discourse on imitation_, 214.
confessed, no certain proof of an inferiority of genius, 215, 216.
accounted for from habit, 217.
from authority, 221.
from judgment, 222.
from similarity of genius, 224.
from the nature of the subject, 226.
its singular merit, 228.
not to be avoided by literate writers without affectation, 234.

INCOLUMI GRAVITATE, a learned critic’s interpretation of these words,
i. 201.

INNOVATION, in words, why allowed to old writers, and not to others,
i. 88.

INTRIGUE, when faulty in comedy, ii. 39.

JONSON, _Ben_, a criticism on his _Catiline_, i. 135.
his _Every man out of his humour_ censured, ii. 52.
his _Alchymist_ and _Volpone_ criticized, 101.
the character of his genius and comedy, 103.

IPHIGENIA at AULIS, of Euripides, vindicated, i. 131.

JULIUS POLLUX, shews the _Tibia_ to have been used in the chorus,
i. 177.

JUNCTURA CALLIDA, explained, i. 74.
exemplified from Shakespear, 77.

K.

KNOWLEDGE of the world, what, i. 379.

L.

LABERIUS, his mimes, what, i. 205.

LAMBIN, his comment on _communia_ supported, i. 133.

LANDSKIP-PAINTING, wherein its beauty consists, i. 71.

LEX TALIONIS, i. 127.

LICENCE, of particular seasons in _Greece_ and _Rome_, its effect
on taste, i. 234, 235.
of ancient wit, to what owing, 231.

LIPSIUS, his extravagant flattery, i. 332.

LONGINUS, his opinion of imitators without genius, i. 250.
accounts for the decline of the arts, 265.
his opinion of the mutual assistance of art and nature, 273.
his method of criticizing, scientific, 392.
wherein defective, 394.

LOVE, subjects of, a defect in modern tragedy, why, ii. 34.
passion of, how described by _Terence_ and _Shakespear_, ii. 144.
by _Catullus_ and _Ovid_, 151.
by _Virgil_, 152.

LUCIAN, the first of the ancients who has left us any considerable
specimens of comic humour, i. 225.
his ΑΛΕΚΤΡΥΩΝ and ΛΑΠΙΘΑΙ, 235.

M.

MACHINERY, essential to the epic poetry, why, ii. 166.

MALHERBE, M., the character and fortune of his poetry, i. 358.

MANNERS, why imperfect in both dramas, ii. 60.
description of, whence taken, 129.

MARKLAND, Mr., an emendation of his confirmed, i. 71.

MARKS, of _Imitation_, ii. _Letter to Mr. Mason_.

MASON, his _Elfrida_, commended, i. 148.

MEDEA, of _Euripides_, commended, i. 121.
its chorus vindicated, 162.
of _Seneca_, censured, 122.

MENAGE, his judgment of ancient wit, i. 230.
his intended discourse on imitation, 405.

MENANDER, why most admired after the _Augustan_ age, i. 223.
did not excel in comic humour, 225.
his improvements of comedy, ii. 72.

MILTON, his angels, whence taken, ii. 116.
his attention to the effects of the manners, 158.

MIMES, the character of them, i. 205.
defined by _Diomedes_, 206.

MODERNS, bad imitators of _Plato_, i. 234.

MOLIERE, his comedies farcical, ii. 100.
his _Misanthrope_ and _Tartuffe_ commended, 101.

MONEY, love of, the bane of the ancient arts, i. 264.

MORNING, descriptions of, in the poets compared, ii. 123.
when most original, 126.

MUSIC, old, why preferred by the _Greek_ writers, i. 181.
why by the _Latin_, 182.

—— of the stage, its rise and progress at _Rome_, i. 168.
defects of the old music, 182.

N.

NARRATION, oratorial, the credibility of, on what it depends,
ii. 130. n.

NOVELS, modern, criticized, ii. 18.

O.

ODE, its character, i. 94.
its end, 270.
the poet’s own odes, apologized for, ibid.

OPINION, popular, of writings, under what circumstances to be
regarded, i. 355.

D’ORVILLE, Mr., his defence of the double sense of verbs examined,
i. 358.

OSCI, their language used in the Atellanes, i. 196.

OTWAY, his _Orphan_ censured, i. 68.

OVID, the character of his genius, Introd. to i. 23, 24.
a conjecture concerning his _Medea_, i. 143.
makes the satyrs to be a species of the tragic drama, 192.
his account of the mimes, 205.

P.

PAINTING, _Landskip_, wherein its beauty consists, i. 71.
_Portrait_, its excellence, ii. 49.
difference between the _Italian_ and _Flemish_ schools, i. 256.
its moral efficacy, 375.
inferior to poetry, in what, ii. 130.
wherein superior to poetry, 146.
expresses the general character, 160.
hath an advantage in this respect over poetry, 162.
unable to represent moral and œconomical sentiments, 168.

PASSIONS, the way to paint them naturally, ii. 131.

PASTORAL poetry, its genius, and fortunes, i. 214.

PATHOS, the supreme excellence of tragedy, i. 116., 397.
how far to be admitted into comedy, ii. 73.
the pleasure arising from, how to be accounted for, i. 119.

PATERCULUS, _Velleius_, an admirer of _Menander_, i. 229.
his character of Pomponius, 197.

PAUSANIAS, describes two pictures of _Polygnotus_, ii. 161.

PERRON, Cardinal, his manner of criticizing _Ronsard_, i. 394.

PLATO, his opinion of _Homer’s_ imitations, i. 67.
commends the _Aegyptian_ policy in retaining the songs of
_Isis_, 181.
his _Symposium_ criticized, 235.
his manner of writing, characterised, 255.
his _Phaedrus_ censured, ibid.
his objection to poetry answered, 256.

PLAUTUS, why _Cicero_ commends his wit, and _Horace_ condemns
it, i. 220.
copied from the middle comedy, 228.
his apology for the _Amphitruo_, why necessary, ii. 42.
preferred to _Terence_ in the _Augustan_ age, i. 228.

PLOTS, double, in the _Latin_ comedies, admired, why, i. 354.

PLUTARCH, his admiration of _Menander_, i. 229.

POETRY, the art of, wherein it consists, ii. 3.
the knowledge of its several species, necessary to the dramatic
poet, i. 94.
more philosophic than history, 257.
tragic, its peculiar excellence, 397.
hath the advantage of all other modes of imitation, in what,
ii. 172.

—— descriptive, an identity in the subject of, no proof of
imitation, ii. 118.

—— pure, the proper language of Passion, i. 104.

POETS, old, much esteemed by _Horace_, i. 349.
their apology, 380.
bad soldiers, 384.
dramatic, a rule for their observance, i. 105.
bad, characterized by _Milton_, 378.

POLYGNOTUS, his simple manner, why admired, under the emperors,
i. 346.
his expedient to explain the design of his pictures, ii. 161.

POMPONIUS, in what sense Inventor of the Atellane poem, i. 198.

POPE, Mr., honoured after death, by whom, i. 329.
his censure of a passage in the _Iliad_, defended, 359.
his judgment of the 6th book of the _Thebaid_, ii. 191.
his censure of the comparisons in _Virgil_ considered, 201.
his opinion of imitation, 234.

POUSSIN, _Gaspar_, his landskips, in what excellent, i. 70.

PRODIGIES, inquiry into, the author’s opinion of that discourse,
ii. 206.
an observation quoted from it, ib.

PULCHRUM, how distinguished from _Dulce_, i. 109.

Q.

QUINTILIAN, his judgment of new words, i. 88, 93.
of _Varius’_ tragedy of Thyestes, 95.
of the pathetic vein of _Euripides_, 116.
of _Ovid’s Medea_, 144.
of the state of Music in his time, 182.
of _Euripides’_ use of sentences, 190.
of the old _Greek_ comic writers, 223.
of _Terence’s_ wit, 225.
and elegance, 226.
of the licentious feasts of _Bacchus_, &c., 235.
of _Aeschylus_, 239.
of the false fire of bad writers, 250.
his opinion of the necessary inferiority of a copy to its
original, how far to be admitted, ii. 114.
his rule for oratorial narration, 130. n.

R.

RANDOLPH, his _Muse’s Looking-glass_, censured, ii. 53.

RHYME, how far essential to modern poetry, ii. 11.

RICCOBONI, L., his observation of the difference betwixt the
_Greek_ and _French_ drama, ii. 43. n.
a good critic, though a mere player, ib.

ROBORTELLUS, his explanation of a passage, inforced, i. 110.

ROMANS, much addicted to spectacles, i. 389.

RUISDALE, his waters, i. 71.

S.

SALMASIUS, what he thought of the method of the _Epistle to the
Pisos_, Intr. to vol. i. 25. n.

SAPERET, the meaning of this word in A. P., i. 169.

SATYRS, a species of the tragic drama, i. 192.
distinct from the Atellane fables, 195.

—— of elder _Greece_, what, i. 194.

—— why _Horace_ enlarges upon them, i. 202, 203.
their double purpose, 200.
style, 210.
measure, 219.

SCALIGER, J., what he thought of the Epistles of _Horace_, Intr.
to i. 24. n.
of the ancient Mimes, i. 205.
his wrong interpretation of the _Art of Poetry_, to what owing,
Intr. to i. 16.

SCENE, of comedy, laid at home; of tragedy, abroad; the reason
of this practice, ii. 55.

SCHOLARS, their pretensions to public honours and preferments,
on what founded, i. 399.

SCHOLIA, of the _Greeks_, i. 187.
Aristotle’s translated, 189.

SENECA, the philosopher, his account of the mimes of _Laberius_,
i. 206.

—— his _Medea_, censured, i. 121, 143.
his _Hippolytus_ censured, 149.
his Aphorisms quaint, 191.

SENTENCES, why so frequent in the _Greek_ writers, i. 185.

SENTIMENTS, religious, moral, and œconomical, why the descriptions
of, similar in all poets, ii. 136, 145.

SERMO, the meaning of this word, i. 327.

SHAFTESBURY, E., of, his opinion of _Homer’s_ imitations, i. 67.
of the writings of _Plato_, 252.
his Platonic manner liable to censure, 253.

SHAKESPEAR, excels in the _callida junctura_, i. 77.
how he characterizes his clowns, 200.
his want of a learned education, 248.
advantages of it, ib.
his excellence in drawing characters, wherein it consists, ii. 53.
his power in painting the passion of grief, 133.
his description of œconomical sentiments, original, 144.

STATIUS, his character, ii. 190.
his book of games criticized, 191.

SHIRLEY, a fine passage from one of his plays, i. 86.

SIDNEY, Sir Philip, his character, i. 116.
his encomium on the pathos of tragedy, 397.

SOCRATES, his office in the symposia of _Xenophon_ and _Plato_, i.
236. n.
his judgment of moral paintings, 375.

SOPHOCLES, the chorus of his _Antigone_ defended, i. 158, 163. n.
a satyric tragedy ascribed to him, 193.
a circumstance in his _Electra_ compared with _Euripides_, 259.

STEPHENS, H., his observations on the refinement of the _French_
language, i. 90.

STRABO, a passage from him to prove the Tuscan language used in
the Atellanes, i. 198.

STYLE, of poetry, defined, ii. 10.

SUBJECTS, public, how to acquire a property in them, i. 219.
domestic, why fittest for the stage, 247.
real, succeed best in tragedy; feigned, in comedy, why, ii. 46.

T.

TACITUS, a bold expression of his, justified, i. 103.

TELEMAQUE, why no new similes in this work, ii. 203.

TELEPHUS, a tragedy of _Euripides_, i. 107.
another tragedy of that name glanced at by _Horace_, 108.

TEMPE, _Aelian’s_ description of, translated, ii. 119.

TEMPLE, Sir William, his sentiments on the passion of avarice,
i. 265.
his notion of religious description in modern poets, ii. 166.

TERENCE, why his plays ill received, i. 224.
fell short of _Menander_ in the elegance of his expression, 225.
a remarkable instance of humour in the Hecyra, ii. 62.
the characteristic of his comedies, his _Hecyra_ vindicated,
i. 354, 355.
a passage in his _Andrian_ compared with one in _Shakespear’s
Twelfth-Night_, ii. 144.
his opinion of the necessary uniformity of moral description, 194.

TRAGEDY, the Author’s idea of, ii. 30.
conclusions, concerning its nature, from this idea, 31.
attributes, common to it and comedy, 42.
attributes peculiar to it, 45.

—— admits pure poetry, i. 101.
why its pathos pleases, 119.
on low life, censured, ii. 84.
a modern refinement, 86.
accounted for, 87.

TRAPP, Dr., his interpretation of _communia_, i. 134.
his judgment of the chorus, 146.

TRUTH IN POETRY, what, i. 255.
may be followed too closely in works of imitation, ib.

U.

VARRO, _M. Terentius_, assigns the distinct merit of _Cæcilius_
and _Terence_, i. 353.

VATRY, Abbé, his defence of the ancient chorus, i. 148.

VICTORIUS, of the satyric Metre, i. 219.

VIRGIL, his method in conducting the _Aeneis_ justified, i. 139.
his address in his flattery of _Augustus_, 332.
his introduction to the third _Georgic_ explained, 333.
three verses in the same, spurious, 341. n.
his moral character, vindicated, 403.
his poetical, vol. ii. _Discourse on poetical imitation_, throughout;
his book of _games_ defended from the charge of plagiarism, 187.
why few comparisons in his works, but what are to be found
in _Homer_, 201.

UNCTI, the meaning of, in the Epistle to _Augustus_, i. 349.

VOLTAIRE, _M. de_, his judgment of machinery, what, ii. 166. n.

UPTON, Mr., his criticism on the satyrs, examined, i. 202.

W.

WARBURTON, Mr., his edition of Mr. _Pope_; Intr. to i. 26.
and of Shakespear, Ded. to Epistle to Augustus, 287. and 80.
his judgment of the intricacy of the comic plot, ii. 39.
of the scene of the drama, 55.
of comic humour, 61.
of the double sense in writing, i. 365.
of the similarity in religious rites, ii. 165.

WHOLE, its beauty consists not in the accurate finishing, but in
the elegant disposition, of the parts, i. 69.

WIT, ancient, licentious, i. 230.
why, 231.

WORDS, old ones, their energy, how revived, i. 89.

X.

XENOPHON, an elegant inaccuracy in a speech in the _Cyropaedia_,
i. 99. n.
his fine narration of a circumstance in the story of _Panthea_,
unsuited to the stage, 143.
his symposium explained, 235. n.
a conversation on painting from the _Memorabilia_, translated,
375.

Z.

ZEUXIS, his pictures, in what repute under the Emperors, i. 346.

THE END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

Nichols and Son, Printers,
Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Empedocles. See Plutarch, vol. I. p. 15. Par. 1624.

[2] See STRABO, l. i. p. 15. Par. 1620.

[3] ADV. OF LEARNING, vol. i, p. 50. Dr. Birch’s Ed. 1765.

[4] Aristotle was of the same mind, as appears from his definition of comedy, which, says he, is ΜΙΜΗΣΙΣ ΦΑΥΛΟΤΕΡΩΝ; [κ. ε.] that is, _the imitation of characters_, whatever be the distinct meaning of the term φαυλότεροι. It is true, this critic, in his account of the origin of tragedy and comedy, makes them both the imitations of ACTIONS. Οἱ μὲν σεμνότεροι ΤΑΣ ΚΑΛΑΣ ἐμιμοῦντο ΠΡΑΞΕΙΣ, οἱ δὲ εὐτελέστεροι ΤΑΣ τῶν φαύλων. [κ. δ.] Yet, even here, the expression is so put, as if he had been conscious that _persons_, not _actions_, were the direct object of comedy. And the quotation, now alledged from another place, where a definition is given more in form, shews, that this was, in effect, his sentiment.

[5] The neglect of this is one of the greatest defects in the _modern drama_; which in nothing falls so much short of the perfection of the Greek scene as in this want of simplicity in the construction of its fable. The good sense of the author of the _History of the Italian Theatre_ (who, though a mere player, appears to have had juster notions of the drama, than the generality of even professed critics) was sensibly struck with this difference in _tragedy_. “Quant à l’unité d’action, says he, je trouve un grande difference entre les tragedies Grecques et les tragedies Françoises; j’apperçois toûjours aísément l’action des tragedies Grecques, et je ne la perds point de vûe; mais dans les tragedies Françoises, j’avoüe, que j’ai souvent bien de la peine à demêler l’action des episodes, dont elle est chargée.” [_Hist. du Theatre Italian_, par LOUIS RICCOBONI, p. 293. _Paris_ 1728.]

[6] _Non hominem ex ære fecit, sed iracundiam._ Plin. xxxiv. 8.

[7] P. ALVAREZ SEMEDO, speaking of their poetry, says, “Le plus grand advantage et la plus grande utilité qu’en ont tiré les CHINOIS, est cette grande modestie et retenuë incomparable, qui se voit en leurs ecrits, _n’ayant pas meme une lettre en tous leurs livres, ni en toutes leurs ecritures, pour exprimer les parties honteuses de la nature_.” [HIST. UNIV. DE LA CHINE, p. 82, à LYON 1667. 4^{to}.]

[8] LE RIDICULE EST CE QU’IL Y A DE PLUS ESSENTIEL A LA COMEDIE. [P. RAPIN, REFLEX. SUR LA POES. p. 154. PARIS 1684.]

[9] Οἱ μὲν σεμνότεροι τὰς καλὰς ἐμιμοῦντο πράξεις, καὶ τὰς τῶν τοιούτων τύχας· οἱ δὲ εὐτελέστεροι, τὰς τῶν φαύλων, ΠΡΩΤΟΝ ΨΟΓΟΥΣ ΠΟΙΟΥΝΤΕΣ, ΩΣΠΕΡ ἙΤΕΡΟΙ ΥΜΝΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΓΚΩΜΙΑ. [ΠΕΡ. ΠΟΙΗΤ. κδ.] This is Aristotle’s account of the origin of the different _species of_ POETRY. They were occasioned, he says, by the different and even opposite _tempers and dispositions of men: those of a loftier spirit delighting in the encomiastic poetry, while the humbler sort betook themselves to satire_. But this, also, is the just account of the rise and character of the different _species of the_ DRAMA. For they grew up, he tells us in this very chapter, from the DITHYRAMBIC, and PHALLIC songs. And who were the _men_, who chaunted _these_, but the ΣΕΜΝΟΤΕΡΟΙ, and ΕΥΤΕΛΕΣΤΕΡΟΙ, before-mentioned? And how were they _employed_ in them, _but the former, in hymning the praises of Bacchus; the latter, in dealing about obscene jokes and taunting invectives on each other_? So that the _characters_ of the men, and their _subjects_, being exactly the same in _both_, what is said of the _one_ is equally applicable to the _other_. It was proper to observe this, or the reader might, perhaps, object to the use made of this passage, _here_, as well as _above_, where it is brought to illustrate Aristotle’s notion of the _natures_ of the tragic and comic poetry.

[10] _Pref. generale_, tom. vii. Par. 1751.

[11] “On attache par le grand, par le noble, par le rare, par l’imprévû. On émeut par le terrible ou affreux, par le pitoyable, par le tendre, par le plaisant ou ridicule.” p. xiv.

[12] “Que nous sommes en droit d’examiner si, en fait de Theatre, nous n’aurions pas quelquefois des _habitudes_ au lieu de _regles_, car les regles ne peuvent l’être qu’ après avoir subi les rigueurs du tribunal de la raison.” p. 37.

[13] Οὐ πᾶσαν δεῖ ζητεῖν ἡδονὴν ἀπὸ τραγῳδίας, ἀλλὰ τὴν οἰκείαν. Ποιητ. κ. ιδʹ.

[14] _Reflex. sur la Poes._ p. 132.

[15] “Ces sortes de speculations ne donnent point de genie à ceux qui en manquent; elles n’aident beaucoup ceux qui en ont: et le plus souvent même les gens de génie sont incapables d’être aidées par les speculations. A quoi donc sont-elles bonnes? A faire remonter jusqu’aux premieres idées du beau quelques gens qui aiment la raisonnement, et se plaisent à reduire sous l’empire de la philosophie les choses qui en paroissent le plus indépendantes, et que l’on croit communément abandonnées à la bizarrerie des goûts.” M. DE FONTENELLE.

[16] Μελαίνει τε, says Dionysius of Halicarnassus, speaking of his figurative manner, τὸ σαφὲς καὶ ζόφῳ ποιεῖ παραπλήσιον· [T. ii. p. 204. _Ed. Hudson_.]

[17] PLATO DE REPUB. lib. x.

[18] Spectator, No. 56.

[19] QUINCTIL. lib. x. c. 11.

[20] Botanists give it the name of _oriental bind weed_. It is said to be a very rambling plant, which climbs up trees, and rises to a great height in the Levant, where it particularly flourishes.

[21] ARIST. RHET. lib. iii. c. xi.

[22] Ὅταν ἃ λέγῃς, ὑπ’ ἐνθουσιασμοῦ καὶ πάθους βλέπειν δοκῇς, καὶ ὑπ’ ὄψιν τιθῇς ἀκούουσιν. [ΠΕΡ. ΥΨ. § xv.]

[23] What is here said of _poetical fiction_, Quinctilian hath applied to _oratorial narration_; the credibility of which will depend on the observance of this rule. _Credibilis erit narratio antè omnia, si priùs consuluerimus nostrum_ ANIMUM, _nequid naturae dicamus adversum_. [L. iv. 2.]

[24] So the great philosopher, ὃ γὰρ περὶ ἐνίας συμβαίνει πάθος ψυχὰς ἰσχυρῶς, τοῦτο ἐν πάσαις ὑπάρχει. τῷ δὲ ἧττον διαφέρει, καὶ τῷ μᾶλλον. ΠΟΛΙΤ. Θ. Whence our Hobbes seems to have taken his aphorism, which he makes the corner-stone of his philosophy. “That for the similitude of the thoughts and passions of one man to the thoughts and passions of another, whosoever looketh into himself, and considereth what he doth, when he does _think, opine, reason, hope, fear_, &c. and upon what grounds; he shall thereby read and know, what are the thoughts and passions of all other men, upon the like occasions.” LEVIATHAN, _Introd. p. 2. fol. London_. 1651.

[25] M. DE LA BRUYERE, Tom. 1. p. 91. Amst. 1701.

[26] Dr. Duport.

[27] JEREMIAS HOELSLINUS, _Prolegom. ad. Apollon. Rhodium_.

[28] DIV. LEG. vol. ii. par. 1. p. 355. ed. 1741.

[29] Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE’S _Works_, vol. i. p. 245. ed. 1740. fol.

[30] “_La machine du merveilleux_, _l’intervention d’un pouvoir céleste_, la nature des episodes, tout ce qui _depend de la tyrannie de la coutume_, & de cet instinct qui on nomme goût; voilà sur quoi il y a mille opinions, & _point de régles générales_.” M. DE VOLTAIRE, _Essaye sur la poësie Epique_, chap. i.

[31] DE AUGM. SCIENT. lib. ii. c. 13.

[32] _A Critical and Philosophical Inquiry into the causes of prodigies and miracles_, &c. p. 130.

[33] Letter to Mr. MASON.

[34] Mr. Addison.

[35] _Somn. Scip._ ii. c. 10.

[36] PLATO, _Alcibiad._

[37] _Reflex. sur la Poës. et sur la Peint._ tom. ii. 80. Par. 1746.

[38] _Inquiry into the L. and W. of Homer_, p. 174.

[39] MACROBIUS, V. _Saturnal._

[40] _Inquiry into L. &c. of Homer_, p. 319.

[41] _Mem. de l’Acad. des Inscript. &c._ tom. vi. p. 445.

[42] Mr. Pope’s Preface to his Works.

[43] Pref. to GONDIBERT, p. 2. Lond. 1651, 4^{to}.

[44] Ibid. p. 30.

[45] Pref. to GONDIBERT, p. 3. Lond. 1651, 4^{to}.

[46] Answer to the Preface, p. 81.

[47] P. 214.

[Transcriber’s Note:

All instances of a stigma (ϛ) in words have been changed to sigma tau (στ).

The original text had an alternative pi (ϖ) at the start of a word. These have been changed to the standard pi (π).

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]