Commutual death the fate of war confounds. Iliad, viii. 85. and xi. 117. Speaking of Proteus, Inftant he wears, elufive of the rape, Ody. iv. 563. Rolling convulfive on the floor, is feen Ibid. iv. 952. Autumn, 337. The mingling tempeft weaves its gloom. A various sweetness fwells the gentle race. A fober calm fleeces unbounded ether. The diftant water-fall fwells in the breeze. Ibid, 640. Ibid, 967. Winter, 738. In the tenth place, When a fubject is introduced by its proper name, it is abfurd to attribute to it the properties of a different fubject to which the word is fometimes apply'd in a figurative fense: Hear me, oh Neptune! thou whose arms are hurl'd Ody. ix. 617 Neptune Neptune is here introduced perfonally, and not figuratively for the ocean: the description therefore, which is only applicable to the latter, is altogether improper. It is not fufficient, that a figure of speech be regularly constructed, and be free from blemish: it requires tafte to difcern when it is proper when improper; and taite, I fufpect, is the only guide we can rely on. One however may gather from reflection and experience, that orna ments and graces fuit not any of the difpiriting paffions, nor are proper for expreffing any thing grave and important. In familiar converfation, they are in fome measure ridiculous: Profpero, in the Tempest, speaking to his daughter Miranda, fays, The fringed curtains of thine eyes advance, No exception can be taken to the juftnefs of the figure; and circumstances may be imagined to make it proper but it is certainly not proper in familiar converfation. In the last place, Though figures of fpeech have a charming effect when accurately constructed and properly introduced, they ought however to be scattered with a fparing hand: nothing is more luscious, and nothing consequently more fatiating, than redundant ornaments of any kind. VOL. II. X CHAP. 322 CH A P. XXI. NARRATION AND DESCRIPTION. H ORACE, and many critics after him, exhort writers to chufe a fubject adapted to their genius. But the defcending to fuch peculiarities, would multiply rules of criticifm without end. The aim of the prefent work is, to confider human nature in general, and to explore what is common to the fpecies. The choice of a fubject comes not under fuch a plan: but the manner of execution comes under it; because the manner of execution is fubjected to general rules, derived from principles common to the species. Thefe rules, as they concern the things expreffed as well as the language or expreffion, require a division of this chapter into two parts; firft of thoughts, and next of words. I pretend not to justify this divifion as entirely accurate for in difcourfing of thoughts, it is difficult to abstract altogether from words; and ftill more difficult, in difcourfing of words, to abftract altogether from thought. The firft obfervation is, That in hiftory, the reflections ought to be chafte and folid; for while the mind is intent upon truth, it is little difpofed to the operations of the imagination. Strada's Belgic hiftory is full of poetical images, which being difcordant with the fubject, are difguftful; and they have a ftill worfe effect, by giving an air of fiction to a genuine hiftory. Such flowers ought to be fcattered with a fparing hand, even in epic poetry; and at no rate are they proper, till the reader be warmed, and by an enlivened imagination be prepared to relish them in that state of mind, they are extremely agreeable; but while we are fedate, and attentive to an historical chain of facts, we reject with difdain every fiction. This Belgic hiftory is indeed wofully vicious both in matter and in form: it is stuffed with frigid and unmeaning reflections; and its poetical flashes, even laying aside their impropriety, are mere tinfel. Secondly, Vida *, following Horace, recom-, mends a modeft commencement of an epic poem ; giving for a reafon, That the writer ought to hufband his fire. This reafon has weight; but what is faid above fuggefts a reafon ftill more weighty : bold thoughts and figures are never relifhed till the mind be heated and thoroughly engaged, which is not the reader's cafe at the commencement. Homer introduces not a fingle fi Poet. lib. 2. 1. 30. X 2 mile mile in the first book of the Iliad, nor in the first book of the Odyffey. On the contrary, Shake. fpear begins one of his plays with a fentiment too bold for the most heated imagination : Bedford. Hung be the heav'ns with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, And with them fcourge the bad revolting stars, The paffage with which Strada begins his history, is too poetical for a fubject of that kind; and at any rate too high for the beginning of a grave performance. A third reafon ought to have not lefs influence than either of the former, That a man who, upon his first appearance, endeavours to exhibit all his talents, is too oftentatious to be relished. Hence the first periods of a work ought to be short, natural, and fimple. Cicero, in his oration pro Archia poeta, errs against this rule: his reader is out of breath at the very first period, which feems never to end. Burnet begins the history of his own times with a period long and intricate. A third rule or obfervation is, That where the fubject is intended for entertainment folely, not for |