Belianis of Greece) those parts of story which afford most scope for long Defcriptions: Put these pieces together, and throw all the adventures you fancy into one Tale. Then take a Hero, whom you may chufe for the found of his name, and put him into the midst of these adventures: There let him work for twelve books; at the end of which you may take him out, ready prepared to conquer or to marry ; it being neceffary that the conclusion of an Epic Poem be fortunate.

TO MAKE AN EPISODE.

Take any remaining adventure of your former collection, in which you could no way involve your Hero; or any unfortunate accident that was too good to be thrown away; and it will be of ufe, applied to any other perfon, who may be loft and evaporate in the course of the work, without the leaft damage to the compofition.

FOR THE MORAL AND ALLEGORY.

These you may extract out of the Fable afterwards, leifure: Be fure you ftrain them fufficiently.

at your

FOR THE MANNERS'.

For those of the Hero, take all the best qualities you can find in the most celebrated Heroes of antiquity;

1 A stroke of ridicule on Boffu. Two very different opinions are held on this fubject; and two very oppofite interpretations are given of the xora non of Ariftotle, and notandi mores of Horace. Dacier, Boffu, Shaftesbury, Harris, maintain that the words mean, that the manners should be only poetically good; but Heinfius, Hare,

Batteaux,

quity; if they will not be reduced to a Confiftency, lay them all on a heap upon him. But be fure they are qualities which your Patron would be thought to have; and to prevent any mistake which the world may be fubject to, felect from the alphabet thofe capital letters that compofe his name, and fet them at the head of a Dedication before your Poem. However, do not abfolutely obferve the exact quantity of these Virtues, it not being determined whether or no it be neceffary for the Hero of a Poem to be an honest Man. For the Under Characters, gather them from Homer and Virgil, and change the names as occafion ferves.

FOR THE MACHINES.

Take of Deities m, male and female, as many as you can use: Separate them into two equal parts, and keep Jupiter in the middle: Let Juno put him in a ferment, and Venus mollify him. Remember on all occafions to make ufe of volatile Mercury. If you have need of Devils, draw them out of Milton's Paradife, and

extract

Batteaux, Marmontel, and Twining, infift that they should be morally good. The fucceeding paragraph about the use of ma chines cannot but remind one of the different opinions held on this fubject by Petronius, by Boffu, by Hobbes, by Temple, by Hurd, by Voltaire, by Lord Kaims, by Blair, and Boileau.

m In Dryden's long dedication to Lord Dorfet of his tranflation of Juvenal, he gives an account of his defign of writing an Epic Poem on the actions either of Arthur or the Black Prince, and of the machinery he intended to have used on that occafion, which seems to have been happily and judiciously imagined, founded on an idea of a conteft between the Guardian Angels of kingdoms. But Arthur was referved for another fate, and furnishes the most abfurd examples in the Bathos.

extract your Spirits from Taffo. The use of these Machines is evident; fince no Epic Poem can poffibly fubfift without them, the wifeft way is to referve them for your greatest neceflities: When you cannot extricate your Hero by any human means, or yourself by your own wit, feek relief from Heaven, and the Gods will do your bufinefs very readily. This is according to the direct Prescription of Horace in his Art of Poetry,

Ꭵ .

Nec Deus interfit, nifi dignus vindice Nodus
Inciderit

That is to fay, A Poet fhould never call upon the Gods for their Affiftance, but when he is in great Perplexity.

FOR THE DESCRIPTIONS.

For a Tempeft. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auster, and Boreas, and caft them together in one verfe: add to thefe of Rain, Lightning, and Thunder (the loudest you can) quantum fufficit: mix your clouds and billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Description here and there with a Quickfand. Brew your Tempest well in your head, before you set it a blowing.

For a Battle. Pick a large quantity of Images and Descriptions from Homer's Iliads, with a spice or two of Virgil, and if there remain any overplus, you may lay them by for a Skirmish. Seafon it well with - Similes, and it will make an excellent Battle.

For

For a Burning Town. If fuch a Description be neceffary (because it is certain there is one in Virgil) old Troy is ready burnt to your hands. But if you fear that would be thought borrowed, a Chapter or two of the Theory of the Conflagration", well circumstanced and done into verfe, will be a good Succeda

neum.

As for Similes and Metaphors, they may be found all over the Creation; the most ignorant may gather them, but the difficulty is in applying them. For this advise with your Bookfeller ".

m An undeferved farcafm on a work full of ftrong imagery, Burnet's Theory.

n The Difcourfe of Voltaire on the Epic Poets of all nations, added to his Henriade, contains many false and rude opinions, particularly fome objections to Paradife Loft. In the Geneva edition of this Poem we are informed of a curious anecdote: When it was printed at London in 1726, in quarto, by fubfcription, Mr. Dadiky, a Greek, and native of Smyrna, who at that time refided in London, faw by chance the firft leaf as it was printing, where was the following line,

Qui forca les Francois à devenir heureax ;" he immediately paid a vifit to the Author, and faid to him, "I am of the country of Homer; he did not begin his Poems by a stroke of Wit by an Enigma." The Author immediately corrected the line: but I beg leave to add, that he did not correct many others of the fame modern kind. Voltaire has dropt a remark in the last edition of his Effay on Epic Poetry, which is not indeed very favourable to the tafte of his countrymen; but is perfectly true and juft, and which he seems to have forgotten in some of his late affertions:

"It must be owned that it is more difficult for a Frenchman to fucceed in Epic Poetry than for any other perfon; but neither the conftraint of rhyme, nor the drynefs of our language, is the cause of this difficulty. Shall I venture to name the caufe? It is because,

VOL. VI.

T

of

of all polished nations, ours is the leaft poetic. The works in verse, which are most in vogue in France, are pieces for the theatre. These pieces must be written in a style that approaches to that of converfation. Defpreaux has treated only didactic fubjects, which require fimplicity. It is well known that exactness and elegance constitute the chief merit of his verses, and those of Racine; and when Defpreaux attempted a fublime ode, he was no longer Defpreaux. These examples have accustomed the French to too uniform a march."

I

CHAP. XVI.

A PROJECT FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE

STAGE.

T may be thought that we should not wholly omit

the Drama, which makes fo great and so lucrative a part of Poetry. But this Province is fo well taken care of, by the present Managers of the Theatre, that it is perfectly needless to suggest to them any

other

Methods

• The character of a Player is in this chapter treated rather too contemptuously. Johnson fell into the fame cant, and treated his old friend Garrick unkindly and unjuftly, at a time when he was received into the familiarity of fome of the beft families in this country. Baron, Chamellè, La Covreur, Du Menil, Le Kain, were equally refpected in France. But the whole chapter is, in other refpects, replete with incomparable and original humour, particularly the third, fifth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh articles of this pro. ject. I have not been able to discover that Booth, who was a man of excellent character, or Wilkes, ever gave any fuch particular offence to our author as to deferve the farcafms here thrown upon them.