TO
HER
Royal
Highness
,
THE
DUTCHESS
.
MADAM
,
AMBITION
is
so
far
from
being
a
Vice
in
Poets
,
that
t
is
almost
impossible
for
them
to
succeed
without
it
.
Imagination
must
be
rais'd
,
by
a
desire
of
Fame
,
to
a
desire
of
Pleasing
:
And
they
whom
in
all
Ages
Poets
have
endeavour'd
most
to
please
,
have
been
the
Beautiful
and
the
Great
.
Beauty
is
their
Deity
to
which
they
Sacrifice
,
and
Greatness
is
their
Guardian-Angel
which
protects
them
.
Both
these
are
so
eminently
join'd
in
the
Person
of
Your
Royal
Highness
,
that
it
were
not
easie
for
any
,
but
a
Poet
,
to
determine
which
of
them
out-shines
the
other
.
But
I
confess
,
MADAM
,
I
am
already
byass'd
in
my
choice
:
I
can
easily
resign
to
others
the
Praise
of
Your
Illustrious
Family
,
and
that
Glory
which
You
derive
from
a
long-continu'd
Race
of
Princes
,
famous
for
their
Actions
both
in
Peace
and
War
:
I
can
give
up
to
the
Historians
of
Your
Country
,
the
Names
of
so
many
Generals
and
Heroes
which
croud
their
Annals
;
and
to
our
own
,
the
hopes
of
those
which
You
are
to
produce
for
the
British
Chronicle
.
I
can
yield
,
without
envy
,
to
the
Nation
of
Poets
,
the
Family
of
Este
to
which
Ariosto
and
Tasso
have
ow'd
their
Patronage
;
and
to
which
the
World
has
ow'd
their
Poems
:
But
I
could
not
without
extream
reluctance
resign
the
Theme
of
Your
Beauty
to
another
Hand
.
Give
me
leave
,
MADAM
,
to
acquaint
the
World
that
I
am
Jealous
of
this
Subject
;
and
let
it
be
no
dishonour
to
You
,
that
after
having
rais'd
the
Admiration
of
Mankind
,
You
have
inspir'd
one
Man
to
give
it
voice
.
But
with
whatsoever
Vanity
this
new
Honour
of
being
Your
Poet
has
fill'd
my
mind
,
I
confess
my self
too
weak
for
the
Inspiration
;
the
Priest
was
always
unequal
to
the
Oracle
:
The
God
within
him
was
too
mighty
for
his
Breast
:
He
labour'd
with
the
Sacred
Revelation
,
and
there
was
more
of
the
Mystery
left
behind
than
Divinity
it self
could
inable
him
to
express
.
I
can
but
discover
a
part
of
Your
Excellencies
to
the
World
;
and
that
too
according
to
the
measure
of
my
own
weakness
.
Like
those
who
have
survey'd
the
Moon
by
Glasses
,
I
can
only
tell
of
a
new
and
shining
World
above
us
,
but
not
relate
the
Riches
and
Glories
of
the
Place
.
'T
is
therefore
that
I
have
already
wav'd
the
Subject
of
Your
Greatness
,
to
resign
my self
to
the
Contemplation
of
what
is
more
peculiarly
Yours
.
Greatness
is
indeed
communicated
to
some
few
of
both
Sexes
;
but
Beauty
is
confin'd
to
a
more
narrow
compass
:
'T
is
only
in
Your
Sex
,
't
is
not
shar'd
by
many
,
and
its
Supreme
Perfection
is
in
You
alone
.
And
here
,
MADAM
,
I
am
proud
that
I
cannot
flatter
:
You
have
reconcil'd
the
differing
Judgments
of
Mankind
:
for
all
Men
are
equal
in
their
Judgment
of
what
is
eminently
best
.
The
Prize
of
Beauty
was
disputed
only
till
You
were
seen
;
but
now
all
Pretenders
have
withdrawn
their
Claims
:
There
is
no
Competition
but
for
the
second
place
.
Even
the
fairest
of
our
Island
(
which
is
fam'd
for
Beauties
)
not
daring
to
commit
their
Cause
against
You
,
to
the
Suffrage
of
those
who
most
partially
adore
them
.
Fortune
has
,
indeed
,
but
render'd
Justice
to
so
much
Excellence
,
in
setting
it
so
high
to
publick
view
:
or
rather
Providence
has
done
Justice
to
it self
,
in
placing
the
most
perfect
Workmanship
of
Heaven
,
where
it
may
be
admir'd
by
all
Beholders
.
Had
the
Sun
and
Stars
been
seated
lower
,
their
Glory
had
not
been
communicated
to
all
at
once
;
and
the
Creator
had
wanted
so
much
of
His
Praise
,
as
He
had
made
Your
condition
more
obscure
.
But
He
has
plac'd
You
so
near
a
Crown
,
that
You
add
a
Lustre
to
it
by
Your
Beauty
.
You
are
join'd
to
a
Prince
who
only
could
deserve
You
:
whose
Conduct
,
Courage
,
and
Success
in
War
,
whose
Fidelity
to
His
Royal
Brother
,
whose
Love
for
His
Country
,
whose
Constancy
to
His
Friends
,
whose
Bounty
to
His
Servants
,
whose
Justice
to
Merit
,
whose
Inviolable
Truth
,
and
whose
Magnanimity
in
all
His
Actions
,
seem
to
have
been
rewarded
by
Heaven
by
the
gift
of
You.
You
are
never
seen
but
You
are
blest
:
and
I
am
sure
You
bless
all
those
who
see
You.
We
think
not
the
Day
is
long
enough
when
we
behold
You
:
And
You
are
so
much
the
business
of
our
Souls
,
that
while
You
are
in
sight
,
we
can
neither
look
nor
think
on
any
else
.
There
are
no
Eyes
for
other
Beauties
:
You
only
are
present
,
and
the
rest
of
Your
Sex
are
but
the
unregarded
parts
that
fill
Your
Triumph
.
Our
sight
is
so
intent
on
the
Object
of
its
Admiration
,
that
our
Tongues
have
not
leisure
even
to
praise
you
:
for
Language
seems
too
low
a
thing
to
express
your
Excellence
;
and
our
Souls
are
speaking
so
much
within
,
that
they
despise
all
forreign
conversation
.
Every
man
,
even
the
dullest
,
is
thinking
more
than
the
most
Eloquent
can
teach
him
how
to
utter
.
Thus
MADAM
,
in
the
midst
of
Crouds
you
Reign
in
Solitude
;
and
are
ador'd
with
the
deepest
Veneration
,
that
of
Silence
.
'T
is
true
,
you
are
above
all
mortal
wishes
:
no
man
desires
impossibilities
,
because
they
are
beyond
the
reach
of
Nature
:
To
hope
to
be
a
God
,
is
folly
exalted
into
madness
:
but
by
the
Laws
of
our
Creation
we
are
oblig'd
to
Adore
him
;
and
are
permitted
to
love
him
too
,
at
Humane
distance
.
'T
is
the
nature
of
Perfection
to
be
attractive
;
but
the
Excellency
of
the
object
refines
the
nature
of
the
love
.
It
strikes
an
impression
of
awful
reverence
;
't
is
indeed
that
Love
which
is
more
properly
a
Zeal
than
Passion
.
'T
is
the
rapture
which
Anchorites
find
in
Prayer
,
when
a
Beam
of
the
Divinity
shines
upon
them
:
that
which
makes
them
despise
all
worldly
objects
,
and
yet
't
is
all
but
contemplation
.
They
are
seldom
visited
from
above
;
but
a
single
vision
so
transports
them
,
that
it
makes
up
the
happiness
of
their
lives
.
Mortality
cannot
bear
it
often
:
it
finds
them
in
the
eagerness
and
height
of
their
Devotion
,
they
are
speechless
for
the
time
that
it
continues
,
and
prostrate
and
dead
when
it
departs
.
That
extasie
had
need
be
strong
,
which
without
any
end
,
but
that
of
Admiration
,
has
power
enough
to
destroy
all
other
Passions
.
You
render
Mankind
insensible
to
other
Beauties
:
and
have
destroy'd
the
Empire
of
Love
in
a
Court
which
was
the
seat
of
his
Dominion
.
You
have
subverted
(
may
I
dare
to
accuse
you
of
it
)
even
our
Fundamental
Laws
;
and
Reign
absolute
over
the
hearts
of
a
stubborn
and
Free-born
people
tenacious
almost
to
madness
of
their
Liberty
.
The
brightest
and
most
victorious
of
our
Ladies
make
daily
complaints
of
revolted
Subjects
:
if
they
may
be
said
to
be
revolted
,
whose
servitude
is
not
accepted
:
for
your
Royal
Highness
is
too
Great
,
and
too
Just
a
Monarch
,
either
to
want
or
to
receive
the
Homage
of
Rebellious
Fugitives
.
Yet
if
some
few
among
the
multitude
,
continue
stedfast
to
their
first
pretensions
,
't
is
an
Obedience
so
luke-warm
and
languishing
,
that
it
merits
not
the
name
of
Passion
:
their
addresses
are
so
faint
,
and
their
vows
so
hollow
to
their
Sovereigns
,
that
they
seem
only
to
maintain
their
Faith
;
out
of
a
sence
of
Honor
:
they
are
asham'd
to
defist
,
and
yet
grow
careless
to
obtain
.
Like
despairing
Combatants
they
strive
against
you
as
if
they
had
beheld
unveil'd
,
the
Magical
Shield
of
your
Ariosto
,
which
dazled
the
Beholders
with
too
much
brightness
:
they
can
no
longer
hold
up
their
Arms
,
they
have
read
their
destiny
in
your
Eyes
.
Splende
lo
Scudo
a
guisa
di
Piropo
;
E
Luce
altra
non
é
tanto
lucente
:
Cader
in
terra
a
lo
splendor
fu
d'vopo
,
Con
gli
occhi
abbacinati
,
esenza
mente
.
And
yet
,
Madam
,
if
I
could
find
in
my self
the
power
to
leave
this
argument
of
your
incomparable
Beauty
,
I
might
turn
to
one
which
would
equally
oppress
me
with
its
greatness
.
For
your
Conjugal
Virtues
have
deserv'd
to
be
set
as
an
example
,
to
a
less-degenerate
,
less-tainted
Age.
They
approach
so
near
to
Singularity
in
Ours
,
,
that
I
can
scarcely
make
a
Panegyric
to
your
Royal
Highness
,
without
a
Satyr
on
many
others
:
but
your
Person
is
a
Paradice
,
and
your
Soul
a
Cherubin
within
to
guard
it
.
If
the
excellence
of
the
outside
invite
the
Beholders
,
the
Majesty
of
your
Mind
deters
them
from
too
bold
approaches
;
and
turns
their
Admiration
into
Religion
.
Moral
perfections
are
rais'd
higher
by
you
in
the
softer
Sex
:
as
if
Men
were
of
too
course
a
mould
for
Heaven
to
work
on
,
and
that
the
Image
of
Divinity
could
not
be
cast
to
likeness
in
so
harsh
a
Metall
.
Your
Person
is
so
admirable
,
that
it
can
scarce
receive
addition
,
when
it
shall
be
glorify'd
:
and
your
Soul
,
which
shines
thorough
it
,
finds
it
of
a
substance
so
near
her
own
,
that
she
will
be
pleas'd
to
pass
an
Age
within
it
,
and
to
be
confin'd
to
such
a
Palace
.
I
know
not
how
I
am
hurried
back
to
my
former
Theme
:
I
ought
,
and
purpos'd
to
have
celebrated
those
indowments
and
qualities
of
your
Mind
,
which
were
sufficient
,
even
without
the
Graces
of
your
Person
,
to
render
you
,
as
you
are
,
the
Ornament
of
the
Court
,
and
the
object
of
Wonder
to
three
Kingdoms
:
but
all
my
praises
are
but
as
a
Bull-rush
cast
upon
a
stream
,
if
they
sink
not
,
't
is
because
they
are
born
up
by
the
strength
of
the
Current
,
which
supports
their
lightness
;
but
they
are
carry'd
round
again
,
and
return
on
the
Eddy
where
they
first
began
.
I
can
proceed
no
farther
than
your
Beauty
:
and
even
on
that
too
;
I
have
said
so
little
confidering
the
greatness
of
the
Subject
;
that
,
like
him
,
who
would
lodge
a
Bowl
upon
a
Precipice
,
either
my
praise
falls
back
,
by
the
weakness
of
the
delivery
,
or
staies
not
on
the
top
,
but
rowls
over
,
and
is
lost
on
the
other
side
.
I
intended
this
a
Dedication
,
but
how
can
I
consider
what
belongs
to
my self
,
when
I
have
been
so
long
contemplating
on
you
!
Be
pleas'd
then
,
Madam
,
to
receive
this
Poem
,
without
Intituling
so
much
Excellency
as
yours
,
to
the
faults
and
imperfections
of
so
mean
a
Writer
:
And
instead
of
being
favourable
to
the
Piece
,
which
merits
nothing
,
forgive
the
presumption
of
the
Author
;
who
is
,
with
all
possible
veneration
,
Your
ROYAL
Highness's
Most
Obedient
,
Most
Humble
,
Most
Devoted
Servant
,
JOHN
DRYDEN
.
The
Authors
Apology
for
Heroique
Poetry
;
and
Poetique
Licence
.
TO
satisfie
the
Curiosity
of
those
who
will
give
themselves
the
trouble
of
reading
the
ensuing
POEM
,
I
think
my self
oblig'd
to
render
them
a
Reason
,
why
I
publish
an
OPERA
which
was
never
acted
.
In
the
first
place
I
shall
not
be
asham'd
to
own
,
that
my
chiefest
Motive
,
was
the
Ambition
which
I
acknowledg'd
in
the
Epistle
.
I
was
desirous
to
lay
at
the
feet
of
so
Beautiful
and
Excellent
a
Princess
,
a
Work
which
I
confess
was
unworthy
her
,
but
which
I
hope
she
will
have
the
goodness
to
forgive
.
I
was
also
induc'd
to
it
in
my
own
defence
:
many
hundred
Copies
of
it
being
dispers'd
,
abroad
without
my
knowledge
or
consent
:
so
that
every
one
gathering
new
faults
,
it
became
at
length
a
Libel
against
me
;
and
I
saw
,
with
some
disdain
,
more
nonsence
than
either
I
,
or
as
bad
a
Poet
,
could
have
cram'd
into
it
,
at
a
Months
warning
,
in
which
time
't
was
wholly
Written
,
and
not
since
Revis'd
.
After
this
,
I
cannot
without
injury
to
the
deceas'd
Author
of
Paradice
Lost
,
but
acknowledge
that
this
POEM
has
receiv'd
its
entire
Foundation
,
part
of
the
Design
,
and
many
of
the
Ornaments
,
from
him
.
What
I
have
borrow'd
,
will
be
so
easily
discern'd
from
my
mean
Productions
,
that
I
shall
not
need
to
point
the
Reader
to
the
places
:
And
,
truly
,
I
should
be
sorry
,
for
my
own
sake
,
that
any
one
should
take
the
pains
to
compare
them
together
:
The
Original
being
undoubtedly
,
one
of
the
greatest
,
most
noble
,
and
most
sublime
POEMS
,
which
either
this
Age
or
Nation
has
produc'd
.
And
though
I
could
not
refuse
the
partiality
of
my
Friend
,
who
is
pleased
to
commend
me
in
his
Verses
,
I
hope
they
will
rather
be
esteem'd
the
effect
of
his
love
to
me
,
than
of
his
deliberate
and
sober
judgment
.
His
Genius
is
able
to
make
beautiful
what
he
pleases
:
Yet
,
as
he
has
been
too
favorable
to
me
,
I
doubt
not
but
he
will
hear
of
his
kindness
from
many
of
our
Contemporaries
.
For
,
we
are
fallen
into
an
Age
of
Illiterate
,
Censorious
,
and
Detracting
people
,
who
thus
qualified
,
set
up
for
Critiques
.
In
the
first
place
I
must
take
leave
to
tell
them
,
that
they
wholly
mistake
the
Nature
of
Criticism
,
who
think
its
business
is
principally
to
find
fault
.
Criticism
,
as
it
was
first
instituted
by
Aristotle
,
was
meant
a
Standard
of
judging
well
.
The
chiefest
part
of
which
is
to
observe
those
Excellencies
which
should
delight
a
reasonable
Reader
.
If
the
Design
,
the
Conduct
,
the
Thoughts
,
and
the
Expressions
of
a
POEM
,
be
generally
such
as
proceed
from
a
true
Genius
of
Poetry
,
the
Critique
ought
to
pass
his
judgement
in
favor
of
the
Author
.
'T
is
malicious
and
unmanly
to
snarl
at
the
little
lapses
of
a
Pen
,
from
which
Virgil
himself
stands
not
exempted
.
Horace
acknowledges
that
honest
Homer
nods
sometimes
:
He
is
not
equally
awake
in
every
Line
:
But
he
leaves
it
also
as
a
standing
Measure
for
our
judgments
,
—
Non
,
Ubi
plura
nitent
in
Carmine
,
paucis
Offendi
maculis
,
quas
aut
incuria
fudit
Aut
humana
p●rùm
cavit
Natura
.
—
And
Longinus
,
who
was
undoubtedly
,
after
Aristotle
,
the
greatest
Critique
amongst
the
Greeks
,
in
his
twenty
seventh
Chapter
〈◊〉
〈◊〉
〈◊〉
〈◊〉
〈◊〉
,
has
judiciously
preferr'd
the
sublime
Genius
that
sometimes
erres
,
to
the
midling
or
indifferent
one
which
makes
few
faults
,
but
seldome
or
never
rises
to
any
Excellence
.
He
compares
the
first
to
a
Man
of
large
possessions
,
who
has
not
leisure
to
consider
of
every
slight
expence
,
will
not
debase
himself
to
the
management
of
every
trifle
:
particular
summs
are
not
layd
out
or
spar'd
to
the
greatest
advantage
in
his
Oeconomy
:
but
are
sometimes
suffer'd
to
run
to
waste
,
while
he
is
only
careful
of
the
Main
.
On
the
other
side
,
he
likens
the
Mediocrity
of
Wit
,
to
one
of
a
mean
fortune
,
who
manages
his
store
with
extream
frugality
,
or
rather
parsimony
:
but
who
with
fear
of
running
into
profuseness
,
never
arrives
to
the
magnificence
of
living
.
This
kind
of
Genius
writes
,
indeed
correctly
.
A
wary
man
he
is
in
Grammar
;
very
nice
as
to
Solaecism
or
Barbarism
,
judges
to
a
hair
of
little
decencies
,
knows
better
than
any
Man
what
is
not
to
be
written
:
and
never
hazards
himself
so
far
as
to
fall
:
but
plods
on
deliberately
,
and
,
as
a
grave
Man
ought
,
is
sure
to
put
his
staff
before
him
;
in
short
,
he
sets
his
heart
upon
it
;
and
with
wonderful
care
makes
his
business
sure
:
that
is
,
in
plain
English
,
neither
to
be
blam'd
,
nor
prais'd
.
—
I
could
,
sayes
my
Author
,
find
out
some
blemishes
in
Homer
:
and
am
perhaps
,
as
naturally
inclin'd
to
be
disgusted
at
a
fault
as
another
Man
:
But
,
after
all
,
to
speak
impartially
,
his
faillings
are
such
,
as
are
only
marks
of
humane
frailty
:
they
are
little
Mistakes
,
or
rather
Negligences
,
which
have
escap'd
his
pen
in
the
fervor
of
his
writing
;
the
sublimity
of
his
spirit
carries
it
with
me
against
his
carelesness
:
And
though
Apollonius
his
Argonautes
,
and
Theocritus
,
his
Eidullia
,
are
more
free
from
Errors
,
there
is
not
any
Man
of
so
false
a
judgment
,
who
would
choose
rather
to
have
been
Apollonius
or
Theocritus
,
than
Homer
.
'T
is
worth
our
consideration
,
a
little
to
examine
how
much
these
Hypercritiques
of
English
Poetry
,
differ
from
the
opinion
of
the
Greek
and
Latine
Judges
of
Antiquity
:
from
the
Italians
and
French
who
have
succeeded
them
;
and
,
indeed
,
from
the
general
tast
and
approbation
of
all
Ages
.
Heroique
Poetry
,
which
they
contemn
,
has
ever
been
esteem'd
,
and
ever
will
be
,
the
greatest
work
of
humane
Nature
:
In
that
rank
has
Aristotle
plac'd
it
,
and
Longinus
is
so
full
of
the
like
expressions
,
that
he
abundantly
confirms
the
others
Testimony
.
Horace
as
plainly
delivers
his
opinion
,
and
particularly
praises
Homer
in
these
Verses
.
Trojani
Belli
Scriptorem
,
Maxime
Lolli
,
Dum
tu
declamas
Romae
,
praeneste
relegi
:
Qui
quid
sit
pulchrum
,
quid
turpe
,
quid
utile
,
quid
non
,
Plenius
ac
melius
Chrysippo
&
Crantore
dicit
.
And
in
another
place
modestly
excluding
himself
,
from
the
number
of
Poets
,
because
he
only
writ
Odes
and
Satyres
,
he
tells
you
a
Poet
is
such
an
one
,
—
Cui
mens
Divinior
,
atque
os●
Magna
Sonaturum
.
Quotations
are
superfluous
in
an
establish'd
truth
:
othern
I
se
I
could
reckon
up
amongst
the
Moderns
,
all
the
Italian
Commentators
on
Aristotle's
Book
of
Poetry
;
and
amongst
the
French
,
the
greatest
of
this
Age
,
Boileau
and
Rapin
:
the
latter
of
which
is
alone
sufficient
,
were
all
other
Critiques
lost
,
to
teach
anew
the
rules
of
writing
.
Any
Man
who
will
seriously
consider
the
nature
of
an
Epique
Poem
,
how
it
agrees
with
that
of
Poetry
in
general
,
which
is
to
instruct
and
to
delight
;
what
actions
it
describes
,
and
what
persons
they
are
chiefly
whom
it
insorms
,
will
find
it
a
work
which
indeed
is
full
of
difficulty
in
the
attempt
,
but
admirable
when
't
is
well
performed
.
I
write
not
this
with
the
least
intention
to
undervalue
the
other
parts
of
Poetry
:
for
Comedy
is
both
excellently
instructive
,
and
extreamly
pleasant
:
Satyre
lashes
Vice
into
Reformation
,
and
humor
represents
folly
,
so
as
to
render
it
ridiculous
.
Many
of
our
present
Writers
are
eminent
in
both
these
kinds
;
and
particularly
the
Author
of
the
Plain
Dealer
,
whom
I
am
proud
to
call
my
Friend
,
has
oblig'd
all
honest
and
vertuous
Men
,
by
one
of
the
most
bold
,
most
general
,
and
most
useful
Satyres
which
has
ever
been
presented
on
the
English
Theater
.
I
do
not
dispute
the
preference
of
Tragedy
;
let
every
Man
enjoy
his
tast
:
but
't
is
unjust
,
that
they
who
have
not
the
least
notion
of
Heroique
writing
,
should
therefore
condemn
the
pleasure
which
others
receive
from
it
,
because
they
cannot
comprehend
it
.
Let
them
please
their
appetites
in
eating
what
they
like
:
but
let
them
not
force
their
dish
on
all
the
Table
.
They
who
would
combat
general
Authority
,
with
particular
Opinion
,
must
first
establish
themselves
a
reputation
of
understanding
better
,
than
other
men
.
Are
all
the
flights
of
Heroique
Poetry
,
to
be
concluded
bombast
,
unnatural
,
and
meer
madness
,
because
they
are
not
affected
with
their
Excellencies
?
'T
is
just
as
reasonable
as
to
conclude
there
is
no
day
,
because
a
blind
Man
cannot
distinguish
of
Light
and
Colours
?
ought
they
not
rather
,
in
modesty
,
to
doubt
of
their
own
judgments
,
when
they
think
this
or
that
expression
in
Homer
,
Virgil
,
Tasso
,
or
Milton's
Paradice
,
to
be
too
far
strain'd
,
than
positively
to
conclude
,
that
't
is
all
fustian
,
and
meer
nonsence
?
'T
is
true
,
there
are
limits
to
be
set
betwixt
the
boldness
and
rashness
of
a
Poet
;
but
he
must
understand
those
limits
who
pretends
to
judge
,
as
well
as
he
who
undertakes
to
write
:
and
he
who
has
no
liking
to
the
whole
,
ought
in
reason
to
be
excluded
from
censuring
of
the
parts
.
He
must
be
a
Lawyer
before
he
mounts
the
Tribunal
:
and
the
Judicature
of
one
Court
too
,
does
not
qualifie
a
man
to
preside
in
another
.
He
may
be
an
excellent
Pleader
in
the
Chancery
,
who
is
not
fit
to
rule
the
Common
Pleas.
But
I
will
presume
for
once
to
tell
them
,
that
the
boldest
strokes
of
Poetry
,
when
they
are
manag'd
Artfully
,
are
those
which
most
delight
the
Reader
.
Virgil
and
Horace
,
the
severest
Writers
of
the
severest
Age
,
have
made
frequent
use
of
the
hardest
Metaphors
,
and
of
the
strongest
Hyperboles
:
And
in
this
case
the
best
Authority
is
the
best
Argument
.
For
generally
to
have
pleas'd
,
and
through
all
ages
,
must
bear
the
force
of
Universal
Tradition
.
And
if
you
would
appeal
from
thence
to
right
Reason
,
you
will
gain
no
more
by
it
in
effect
,
than
First
,
to
set
up
your
Reason
against
those
Authors
;
and
Secondly
,
against
all
those
who
have
admir'd
them
.
You
must
prove
why
that
ought
not
to
have
pleas'd
,
which
has
pleas'd
the
most
Learn'd
,
and
the
most
Judicious
:
and
to
be
thought
knowing
,
you
must
first
put
the
fool
upon
all
Mankind
.
If
you
can
enter
more
deeply
,
than
they
have
done
,
into
the
Causes
and
Ressorts
of
that
which
moves
pleasure
in
a
Reader
,
the
Field
is
open
,
you
may
be
heard
:
but
those
Springs
of
humane
Nature
are
not
so
easily
discover'd
by
ever
superficial
Judge
:
It
requires
Philosophy
as
well
as
Poetry
,
to
sound
the
depth
of
all
the
Passions
;
what
they
are
in
themselves
,
and
how
they
are
to
be
provok'd
:
and
in
this
Science
the
best
Poets
have
excell'd
.
Aristotle
rais'd
the
Fabrique
of
his
Poetry
,
from
observation
of
those
things
,
in
which
Euripides
,
Sophocles
,
and
AEschylus
pleas'd
:
He
consider'd
how
they
rais'd
the
Passions
,
and
thence
has
drawn
rules
for
our
Imitation
.
From
hence
have
sprung
the
Tropes
and
Figures
,
for
which
they
wanted
a
name
,
who
first
practis'd
them
,
and
succeeded
in
them
,
Thus
I
grant
you
,
that
the
knowledge
of
Nature
was
the
Original
Rule
;
and
that
all
Poets
ought
to
study
her
;
as
well
as
Aristotle
and
Horace
her
Interpretors
.
But
then
this
also
undeniably
follows
,
that
those
things
which
delight
all
Ages
,
must
have
been
an
imitation
of
Nature
;
which
is
all
I
contend
.
Therefore
is
Rhetorick
made
an
Art
:
therefore
the
Names
of
so
many
Tropes
and
Figures
were
invented
:
because
it
was
observ'd
they
had
such
and
such
an
effect
upon
the
Audience
.
Therefore
Catachreses
and
Hyperboles
have
found
their
place
amongst
them
;
not
that
they
were
to
be
avoided
,
but
to
be
us'd
judiciously
,
and
plac'd
in
Poetry
,
as
heightnings
and
shadows
are
in
Painting
,
to
make
the
Figure
bolder
,
and
cause
it
to
stand
off
to
sight
.
Nec
retia
Cervis
Ulla
,
dolum
meditantur
;
sayes
Virgil
in
his
Eclogues
:
and
speaking
of
Leander
in
his
Georgiques
,
Caecâ
nocte
natat
serus
freta
,
quem
super
,
ingens
Porta
tonat
Coeli
;
&
scopulis
illisa
reclamant
AEquora
:
In
both
of
these
you
see
he
fears
not
to
give
Voice
and
Thought
to
things
inanimate
.
Will
you
arraign
your
Master
Horace
,
for
his
hardness
of
Expression
,
when
he
describes
the
death
of
Cleopatra
?
and
sayes
she
did
Asperos
tractare
serpentes
,
ut
atrum
corpore
combiberet
venenum
?
because
the
Body
in
that
action
,
performs
what
is
proper
to
the
mouth
?
As
for
Hyperboles
,
I
will
neither
quote
Lucan
,
nor
Statius
,
Men
of
an
unbounded
imagination
,
but
who
often
wanted
the
Poyze
of
Judgement
.
The
Divine
Virgil
was
not
liable
to
that
exception
;
and
yet
he
describes
Polyphemus
thus
:
—
Graditurque
per
aequor
Jam
medium
;
nec
dum
fluctus
latera
ardua
tingit
.
In
imitation
of
this
place
,
our
Admirable
Cowley
thus
paints
Goliah
.
The
Valley
,
now
,
this
Monster
seem'd
to
fill
;
And
we
,
methought
,
look'd
up
to
him
from
our
Hill.
Where
the
two
words
seem'd
,
and
methought
,
have
mollify'd
the
Figure
:
and
yet
if
they
had
not
been
there
,
the
fright
of
the
Israelites
might
have
excus'd
their
belief
of
the
Giants
Stature
.
In
the
8th
of
the
AEneids
,
Virgil
paints
the
swiftness
of
Camilla
thus
:
Illa
vel
intactae
segetis
per
summa
volaret
Gramina
,
nec
teneras
cursu
laesisset
aristas
;
Vel
Mare
per
medium
,
fluctu
suspensa
tumenti
,
Ferret
iter
,
celeres
nec
tingeret
aequore
plantas
.
You
are
not
oblig'd
,
as
in
History
,
to
a
literal
belief
of
what
the
Poet
says
;
but
you
are
pleas'd
with
the
Image
,
without
being
couzen'd
by
the
Fiction
.
Yet
even
in
History
,
Longinus
quotes
Herodotus
on
this
occasion
of
Hyperboles
.
The
Lacedemonians
,
sayes
he
,
at
the
straights
of
Thermopylae
,
defended
themselves
to
the
last
extremity
:
and
when
their
Arms
fail'd
them
,
fought
it
out
with
their
Nails
and
Teeth
:
till
at
length
,
(
the
Persians
shooting
continually
upon
them
)
they
lay
buried
under
the
Arrows
of
their
enemies
.
It
is
not
reasonable
,
(
continues
the
Critique
)
to
believe
that
Men
could
defend
themselves
with
their
Nails
and
Teeth
from
an
arm'd
multitude
:
nor
that
they
lay
buried
under
a
pile
of
Darts
and
Arrows
;
and
yet
there
wants
not
probability
for
the
Figure
:
because
the
Hyperbole
seems
not
to
have
been
made
for
the
sake
of
the
description
;
but
rather
to
have
been
produc'd
from
the
occasion
.
'T
is
true
,
the
boldness
of
the
Figures
are
to
be
hidden
,
sometimes
by
the
address
of
the
Poet
;
that
they
may
work
their
effect
upon
the
Mind
,
without
discovering
the
Art
which
caus'd
it
.
And
therefore
they
are
principally
to
be
us'd
in
passion
;
when
we
speak
more
warmly
,
and
with
more
precipitation
than
at
other
times
:
for
then
,
Si
vis
me
flere
dolendum
est
primùm
ipsi
tibi
;
the
Poet
must
put
on
the
Passion
he
endeavours
to
represent
:
A
man
in
such
an
occasion
is
not
cool
enough
,
either
to
reason
rightly
,
or
to
talk
calmly
.
Aggravations
are
then
in
their
proper
places
,
Interogations
,
Exclamations
,
Hyperbata
,
or
a
disorder'd
connection
of
discourse
,
are
graceful
there
,
because
they
are
Natural
.
The
summ
of
all
depends
on
what
before
I
hinted
,
that
this
boldness
of
expression
is
not
to
be
blam'd
;
if
if
be
manag'd
by
the
coolness
and
discretion
,
which
is
necessary
to
a
Poet.
Yet
before
I
leave
this
subject
,
I
cannot
but
take
notice
how
dis-ingenuous
our
Adversaries
appear
:
All
that
is
dull
,
insipid
,
languishing
and
without
sinews
in
a
Poem
,
they
call
an
imitation
of
Nature
:
they
onely
offend
our
most
equitable
Judges
,
who
think
beyond
them
;
and
lively
Images
and
Elocution
,
are
never
to
be
forgiven
.
What
Fustian
,
as
they
call
it
,
have
I
heard
these
Gentlemen
find
out
in
Mr.
Imaging
is
,
in
it self
,
the
very
heighth
and
life
of
Poetry
.
'T
is
,
as
Loginus
describes
it
,
a
Discourse
,
which
,
by
a
kind
of
Enthusiasm
,
or
extraordinary
emotion
of
the
Soul
,
makes
it
seem
to
us
,
that
we
behold
those
things
which
the
Poet
paints
,
so
as
to
be
pleas'd
with
them
,
and
to
admire
them
.
If
Poetry
be
imitation
,
that
part
of
it
must
needs
be
best
,
which
describes
most
lively
our
Actions
and
Passions
;
our
Virtues
and
our
Vices
;
our
Follies
and
our
Humors
:
for
neither
is
Comedy
without
its
part
of
Imaging
:
and
they
who
do
it
best
,
are
certainly
the
most
excellent
in
their
kind
.
This
is
too
plainly
prov'd
to
be
denied
:
but
how
are
Poetical
Fictions
,
how
are
Hippocentaures
and
Chymaeras
,
or
how
are
Angels
and
immaterial
Substances
to
be
Imag'd
?
which
some
of
them
are
things
quite
out
of
Nature
:
others
,
such
whereof
we
can
have
no
notion
?
this
is
the
last
refuge
of
our
Adversaries
;
and
more
than
any
of
them
have
yet
had
the
wit
to
object
against
us
.
The
answer
is
easie
to
the
first
part
of
it
.
The
fiction
of
some
Beings
which
are
not
in
Nature
,
(
second
Notions
as
the
Logicians
call
them
)
has
been
founded
on
the
conjunction
of
two
Natures
,
which
have
a
real
separate
Being
.
So
Hippocentaures
were
imagin'd
,
by
joyning
the
Natures
of
a
Man
and
Horse
together
;
as
Lucretius
tells
us
,
who
has
us'd
this
word
of
Image
oftner
than
any
of
the
Poets
.
Nam
certé
ex
vivo
,
Centauri
non
fit
Imago
,
Nulla
fuit
quoniam
talis
natura
animai
:
Verùm
ubi
equiatque
hominis
,
casu
,
convenit
imago
,
Haerescit
facilè
extemplò
,
&c.
The
same
reason
may
also
be
alledg'd
for
Chymaera's
and
the
rest
.
And
Poets
may
be
allow'd
the
like
liberty
,
for
describing
things
which
really
exist
not
,
if
they
are
founded
on
popular
belief
:
of
this
nature
are
Fairies
,
Pigmies
,
and
the
extraordinary
effects
of
Magick
:
for
't
is
still
an
imitation
,
though
of
other
mens
fancies
:
and
thus
are
Shakespeare's
Tempest
,
his
Midsummer
nights
Dream
,
and
Ben.
Johnson's
Masque
of
Witches
to
be
defended
.
For
Immaterial
Substances
we
are
authoriz'd
by
Scripture
in
their
description
:
and
herein
the
Text
accommodates
it self
to
vulgar
apprehension
,
in
giving
Angels
the
likeness
of
beautiful
young
men
.
Thus
,
after
the
Pagan
Divinity
,
has
Homer
drawn
his
Gods
with
humane
Faces
:
and
thus
we
have
notions
of
things
above
us
,
by
describing
them
like
other
beings
more
within
our
knowledge
.
I
wish
I
could
produce
any
one
example
of
excellent
imaging
in
all
this
Poem
:
perhaps
I
cannot
:
but
that
which
comes
nearest
it
,
is
in
these
four
lines
,
which
have
been
sufficiently
canvas'd
by
my
well-natur'd
Censors
.
Seraph
and
Cherub
,
careless
of
their
charge
,
And
wanton
,
in
full
ease
now
live
at
large
:
Unguarded
leave
the
passes
of
the
Sky
;
And
all
dissolv'd
in
Hallelujahs
lye
.
I
have
heard
(
sayes
one
of
them
)
of
Anchove's
dissolv'd
in
Sauce
;
but
never
of
an
Angel
in
Hallelujahs
.
A
mighty
Wittycism
,
(
if
you
will
pardon
a
new
word
!
)
but
there
is
some
difference
between
a
Laugher
and
a
Critique
.
He
might
have
Burlesqu'd
Virgil
too
,
from
whom
I
took
the
Image
.
Invadunt
urbem
,
somno
vinoque
sepultam
.
A
Cities
being
buried
is
just
as
proper
an
occasion
,
us
an
Angels
being
dissolv'd
in
Ease
,
and
Songs
of
Triumph
.
Mr.
Cowley
lies
as
open
too
in
many
places
:
Where
there
vast
Courts
the
Mother
Waters
keep
,
&c.
for
if
the
mass
of
Waters
be
the
Mothers
,
then
their
Daughters
,
the
little
streams
,
are
bound
in
all
good
manners
,
to
make
Court'sie
to
them
,
and
ask
them
Blessing
.
How
easie
't
is
to
turn
into
ridicule
,
the
best
descriptions
,
when
once
a
man
is
in
the
humor
of
laughing
,
till
he
wheezes
at
his
own
dull
jest
!
but
an
Image
which
is
strongly
and
beautifully
set
before
the
eyes
of
the
Reader
,
will
still
be
Poetry
,
when
the
merry
fit
is
over
:
and
last
when
the
other
is
forgotten
.
I
promis'd
to
say
somewhat
of
Poetique
Licence
,
but
have
in
part
anticipated
my
discourse
already
.
Poetique
Licence
I
take
to
be
the
Liberty
,
which
Poets
have
assum'd
to
themselves
in
all
ages
,
of
speaking
things
in
Verse
,
which
are
beyond
the
severity
of
Prose
.
'T
is
that
particular
character
,
which
distinguishes
and
sets
the
bounds
betwixt
Oratio
soluta
,
and
Poetry
.
This
,
as
to
what
regards
the
thought
,
or
imagination
of
a
Poet
,
consists
in
Fiction
:
but
then
those
thoughts
must
be
express'd
;
and
here
arise
two
other
branches
of
it
:
for
if
this
Licence
be
included
in
a
single
word
,
it
admits
of
Tropes
:
if
in
a
Sentence
or
Proposition
,
of
Figures
:
bath
which
are
of
a
much
larger
extent
,
and
more
forcibly
to
be
us'd
in
Verse
than
Prose
.
This
is
that
Birth-right
which
is
deriv'd
to
us
from
our
great
Forefathers
,
even
from
Homer
down
to
Ben.
and
they
who
would
deny
it
to
us
,
have
,
in
plain
terms
,
the
Foxes
quarrel
to
the
Grapes
;
they
cannot
reach
it
.
How
far
these
Liberties
are
to
be
extended
,
I
will
not
presume
to
determine
here
,
since
Horace
does
not
.
But
it
is
certain
that
they
are
to
be
varied
,
according
to
the
Language
and
Age
in
which
an
Author
writes
.
That
which
would
be
allow'd
to
a
Grecian
Poet
,
Martial
tells
you
,
would
not
be
suffer'd
in
a
Roman
.
And
't
is
evident
that
the
English
,
does
more
nearly
follow
the
strictness
of
the
latter
,
than
the
freedoms
of
the
former
.
Connection
of
Epithetes
,
or
the
conjunction
of
two
words
in
one
,
are
frequent
and
elegant
in
the
Greek
,
which
yet
Sir
Philip
Sidney
,
and
the
Translator
of
Du
Bartas
,
have
unluckily
attempted
in
the
English
;
though
this
I
confess
,
is
not
so
proper
an
Instance
of
Poetique
Licence
,
as
it
is
of
variety
of
Idiom
in
Languages
.
Horace
a
little
explains
himself
on
this
subject
of
Licentia
Poetica
;
in
these
Verses
,
—
Pictoribus
atque
Poetis
Quidlibet
audendi
,
semper
fuit
aequa
potestas
:
Sed
non
,
ut
placidis
coeant
immitia
,
non
ut
Serpentes
avibus
geminentur
,
Tygribus
Haedi
.
He
would
have
a
Poem
of
a
piece
:
not
to
begin
with
one
thing
and
end
with
another
:
he
restrains
it
so
far
,
that
Thoughts
of
an
unlike
Nature
,
ought
not
to
be
joyn'd
together
:
That
were
indeed
to
make
a
Chaos
.
He
tax'd
not
Homer
,
nor
the
Divine
Virgil
,
for
interessing
their
gods
in
the
Wars
of
Troy
and
Italy
;
neither
had
he
now
liv'd
,
would
he
have
tax'd
Milton
,
as
our
false
Critiques
have
presum'd
to
do
,
for
his
choice
of
a
supernatural
Argument
:
but
he
would
have
blam'd
my
Author
,
who
was
a
Christian
,
had
he
introduc'd
into
his
Poem
Heathen
Deities
,
as
Tasso
is
condemn'd
by
,
Rapin
on
the
like
occasion
:
and
as
Camoens
,
the
Author
of
the
Lusiads
,
ought
to
be
censur'd
by
all
his
Readers
,
when
he
brings
in
Bacchus
and
Christ
into
the
same
Adventure
of
his
Fable
.
From
that
which
has
been
said
,
it
may
be
collected
,
that
the
definition
of
Wit
(
which
has
been
so
often
attempted
,
and
ever
unsuccessfully
by
many
Poets
,
)
is
only
this
:
That
it
is
a
propriety
of
Thoughts
and
Words
;
or
in
other
terms
,
Thought
and
Words
,
elegantly
adapted
to
the
Subject
.
If
our
Critiques
will
joyn
issue
on
this
Definition
,
that
we
may
convenire
in
aliquo
tertio
;
if
they
will
take
it
as
a
granted
Principle
,
't
will
be
easie
to
put
an
end
to
this
dispute
:
No
man
will
disagree
from
anothers
judgement
,
concerning
the
dignity
of
Style
,
in
Heroique
Poetry
:
but
all
reasonable
Men
will
conclude
it
necessary
,
that
sublime
Subjects
ought
to
be
adorn'd
with
the
sublimest
,
and
(
consequently
often
)
with
the
most
figurative
expressions
.
In
the
mean
time
I
will
not
run
into
their
fault
of
imposing
my
opinions
on
other
men
,
any
more
than
I
would
my
Writings
on
their
tast
:
I
have
onely
laid
down
,
and
that
superficially
enough
,
my
present
thoughts
;
and
shall
be
glad
to
be
taught
better
,
by
those
who
pretend
to
reform
our
Poetry
.