poffeffed of every beauty. I have tried ferious reasoning upon this fubject; but ridicule, I fuppofe, will be found a more fuccefsful weapon, which Addison has applied in an elegant manner : "Whereas the time of a general peace is, in all "appearance, drawing near; being informed "that there are feveral ingenious perfons who in"tend to fhew their talents on fo happy an occafion, and being willing, as much as in me lies,

1

to prevent that effusion of nonsense which we "have good caufe to apprehend; I do hereby "ftrictly require every person who fhall write on "this fubject, to remember that he is a Chri"ftian, and not to facrifice his catechifm to his 66 poetry. In order to it, I do expect of him, in "the first place, to make his own poem, with"out

out depending upon Phoebus for any part of it, "or calling out for aid upon any of the mufes by name. I do likewife pofitively forbid the "fending of Mercury with any particular meffage "or dispatch relating to the peace; and fhall by no means fuffer Minerva to take upon her the shape of any plenipotentiary concerned in this ec great work. I do further declare, that I fhall

not allow the deftinies to have had an hand in "the deaths of the feveral thoufands who have "been flain in the late war; being of opinion "that all fuch deaths may be very well accounted "for by the Chriftian fyftem of powder and ball. "I do therefore strictly forbid the fates to cut VOL. II.

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"the

"the thread of man's life upon any pretence "whatsoever, unless it be for the fake of the "rhyme. And whereas I have good reason to "fear, that Neptune will have a great deal of "bufinefs on his hands in feveral poems which "we may now fuppofe are upon the anvil, I do "alfo prohibit his appearance, unless it be done "in metaphor, fimile, or any very fhort allu"fion; and that even here he may not be per"mitted to enter, but with great caution and "circumfpection. I defire that the fame rule “ may be extended to his whole fraternity of "Heathen gods; it being my defign to condemn

66

every poem to the flames in which Jupiter "thunders, or exercifes any other act of autho"rity which does not belong to him. In fhort, "I expect that no Pagan agent fhall be introdu"ced, or any fact related which a man cannot "give credit to with a good confcience. Provi"ded always, that nothing herein contained fhall "extend, or be conftrued to extend, to feveral "of the female poets in this nation, who fhall "ftill be left in full poffeffion of their gods "and goddeffes," in the fame manner as if this paper had never been written." *

.

The marvellous is indeed fo much promoted by machinery, that it is not wonderful to find it embraced by the bulk of writers, and perhaps of readers. If indulged at all, it is

Spectator, N° 523.

generally

generally indulged to excefs. Homer introduces his deities with no greater ceremony than his mortals; and Virgil has ftill lefs moderation: a pilot spent with watching cannot fall afleep and drop into the fea by natural means: one bed cannot hold the two lovers, Eneas and Dido, without the immediate interpofition of fuperior powers. The ridiculous in fuch fictions, must appear even through the thickest vail of gravity and folemnity.

Angels and devils ferve equally with the Heathen deities, as materials for figurative language, perhaps better among Chriftians, because we believe in them, and not in the Heathen deities. But every one is fenfible, as well as Boileau, that the invisible powers in our creed make a much worse figure as actors in a modern poem, than the invisible powers in the Heathen creed did in ancient poems. poems. The reafon I take to be what follows. The Heathen deities, in the opinion of their votaries, were beings elevated one step on

above mankind, actuated by the fame paffions, and directed by the fame motives; therefore not altogether improper to mix with men in an important action. In our creed, fuperior beings are placed at fuch a mighty distance from us, and are of a nature so different, that with no propriety can they appear with us upon the fame stage : man is a creature fo much inferior, that he lofes all dignity when fet in oppofition.

There can be no doubt, that an hiftorical

poem admits the embellishment of allegory, as well as of metaphor, fimile, or other figure. Moral truth, in particular, is finely illuftrated in the allegorical manner: it amufes the fancy to find abstract terms, by a fort of magic, converted into active beings; and it is delightful to trace a general proposition in a pictured event. But allegorical beings fhould be confined within their own sphere, and never be admitted to mix in the principal action, nor to co-operate in retarding or advancing the catastrophe; which would have a ftill worse effect than invisible powers, and I am ready to affign the reafon. The impreffion of real existence, effential to an epic poem, is inconfiftent with that figurative existence which is effential to an allegory *; and therefore no method can be more effectual to prevent the impreffion of reality, than to introduce allegorical beings co-operating with those whom we conceive to be really exifting. The love-episode in the Henriade †, infufferable by the difcordant mixture of allegory with real life, is copied from that of Rinaldo and Armida in the Gicrufalemme liberata, which hath no merit to intitle it to be copied. An allegorical object, fuch as Fame in the Eneid, and the Temple of Love in the Henriade, may find place in a defcription: but to introduce Difcord as a real perfonage, imploring the affistance of Love as another real perfonage, to e

* See chap. 20. fect. 6.

+ Canto 9.

nervate

nervate the courage of the hero, is making these figurative beings act beyond their fphere, and creating a strange jumble of truth and fiction. The allegory of Sin and Death in the Paradife Loft, is, I prefume, not generally relished, though it is not entirely of the fame nature with what I have been condemning: the Paradife Loft is not confined to the history of our first parents; and in a work comprehending the atchievements of fuperior beings, there is more room for fancy than where it is confined to human actions.

What is the true notion of an episode? or how is it to be diftinguished from the principal action? Every incident that promotes or retards the catastrophe, must be a part of the principal action. This clears the nature of an epifode; which may be defined, "An incident connected "with the principal action, but contributing "neither to advance nor retard it." The defcent of Æneas into hell doth not advance nor retard the catastrophe; and therefore is an episode. The story of Nifus and Euryalus, producing an alteration in the affairs of the contending parties, is a part of the principal action. The familyfcene in the fixth book of the Iliad is of the fame nature: by Hector's retiring from the field of battle to vifit his wife, the Grecians had liberty to breathe, and even to prefs upon the Trojans. Such being the nature of an episode, the unavoidable effect of it must be, to break in upon the uni

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