were a great Miftake, fays he, to pretend that Poetry is of no ufe, because it feldom raifes the Forrune of thofe who apply themselves to it; for Glo ry, rather than Gain, moves great Poets to produce thofe excellent Works, which are the Admiration of all Ages.

Our Author denies that the Ancients carried Eloquence to a greater Degree of Perfection than Poetry, and maintains that Demofthenes and Cicero are not fo perfect in their Kind as Homer and Virgil in theirs. Nanire (fays he) having a great Share in the Production of a Poet, and Art contributing very much to that of an Orator; 'tis no furprifing thing that the former fhould exceed the latter, as true Fruits are more perfect than painted

ones.

Mr. de Fontenelle afcribes the blind Admiration of the Moderns for the Ancients to the great Influence of the "Commentators, the most fuperftitious Men "of all thofe who worship Antiquity. Is there any "beautiful Woman, Says he, that would not think herfelf Happy, if he could inspire her Lover with a Paffion as foft and lively, as that with which a Greek or Latin Author infpires his refpectful Interpreter " ?

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In answer to that Raillery, the Author fays it concerns only thofe long and tedious Commentators, for whom he has no great Efteem; and then he goes on in the following Words. "If an Admirer of Epictetus pays a great Price for the Lamp of "that Philofopher; if another is more fond of a "Medal of Homer, or Anacreon, than of their own "Works: Can fuch a ridiculous Zeal leffen the "Merit of thofe great Men? If a Commentator up

2

on Homer endeavours to make us believe, that "that Poet is Solomon; that the most abftrufe Sciences, and even the Philofophers-Stone, are to be found in his Poem is Homer anfwerable for

ART. 61. of LITERATURE.

381

fuch Extravagancies? We are willing that fuch "Admirers of the Ancients fhould be banter'd and ridiculed; but we have an Efteem for *those wife Interpreters, who laying afide Gram"matical Trifles, make it their Business to find out "the Senfe of the Ancients, and to discover their true Genius".

Mr. Gacon owns that there are fome Imperfecti ons in the Works of the Ancients that are most efteemed; but he maintains that notwithstanding those Imperfections their Works are inimitable, or at least have not been equalled by any Modern Author. He denies that the Ancients have been guilty of any Impertinence, and affirms that whoever confiders their Religion, their Government, their Climates, and their Customs, will eafily clear them from fuch an Imputation.

2

The Moderns boaft of their Works relating to Galantry, and pretend to be more nice than the Ancients in their way of treating of Love. Mr. Gacon is of a contrary Opinion and believes that the Moderns difcover no Delicacy but in as much as they conform themfelves to the Works of the Ancients. "The bare Syftem of Cupid and Venus (fays he) is fufficient to fhew that "the Ancients were Mafters of the Art of Love. And "indeed can any thing be more ingenious? The "Gracefulness, the fmiling Conntenance, the Wan

tonnefs, the Wings, the Torch, the Darts, and

the Vail of Cupid; in a Word, all the Fables, "wherein the Ancients fet forth in fuch a pompous "Manner the Triumphs of that little God, are as many Proofs that they knew him perfectly. How "could they be ignorant of him, when they knew "his Mother fo well?

The Authot acknowledges, that fome Writers of our Time speak naturally of Love, without affecting a falfe Delicacy; but he thinks they are indebted

for

for it to the Ingenious Performances of the Latins, whom they have imitated. Catullus, (lays he) Pro pertius, Tibullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, have afforded them an infinite Number of fine Thoughts: And indeed Voiture, Sarafin, Segrais, la Fontaine, Corneille, Racine, Madam Ville-Dieu, and Madam Des-Houlieres, never durft deny that they took from the Writings of thofe Great Men the Charms, which procured them fo great a Reputation.

Mr. Gacon makes a Judicious Reflexion upon the Maxims of the Duke de la Rochefoucault. He ob: ferves, That this Author has feveral unnatural and far fetched Thoughts. Mr. la Bruyere (fays he) has justly blamed him for making himself unintelligible in feveral Places by too much refining, as it appears by this Maxim, Gravity is a Mystery of the Body, invented to conceal the Imperfections of the Mind, and many others.

Our Author obfervés, That the Fables of la Fontaine are very much above his Tales. Which is fo true;" that we have fome other Tales as good as his; where. as no body has been able to imitate his Fables. But (continues the Author) tho' they be never fo fine, they do not exceed thofe of Phedrus.

I omit feveral other Obfervations, that will not be unacceptable to the Readers.

3. The Author proceeds to the Third Part of his Differtation, wherein he undertakes to fhew, That the Poems of the Ancients may be better tran flated into Verfe than into Profe. He acknowledges, as Madam Dacier does, that a Tranflation of a Poet into Profe is like the Mummy of a beautiful Woman, in which no Body will fee thofe Sparkling Eyes, that Complexion animated with the moft natural and lively Colours, that Gracefulness and those Charms, which kindled the Love of the Beholders, and made an Impreffion even upon old-Age.

But

he

he denies, that any one can perceive in that Mummy the Beauty and Regularity of the Features, the Bignefs of the Eyes, the Smalnefs of the Mouth, and a Noble and Majeftick Shape. He denies, that the Imagination being ftruck with thofe precious Remains, as Madam Dacier calls them, can form an Idea of a Beauty not much unlike that, which the Imagination can conceive by itself, and without the Sight of a dead Body, tho' never fo well embalmed.

T

Mr., Gacon, in order to prove the Affertion, which makes the Subject of this Third Part of his Preface, ufes the very Arguments alledged by Madam Dacier, without any Alteration but that of the Word Poetry instead of the Word Profe. In the next Place, he brings in feveral Examples to fhew, how the moft fimple, the cleareft, and the nobleft Poetical Ideas are ftretched out, and darkened, and lofe their Beauty by a Profaick Tranflation. At the fame Time he inferts a Tranflation in Verfe, to convince the Readers, that nothing but a Poetical Verfion can be - true Copy of a Poetical Original. Radko

ARTICLE

ARTICLE LXII.

SPECULATIVĒ

THEOLOGIA SCHEMA, è variis Syftematibus modernis, magnam partem, excerptum, ab incautis quorundam placitis repurgatum, Sacrarum Scripturarum authoritate confirmatum, nec non Ecclefiæ Anglicanæ Articulis maxime confonum. Čui acceffit brevis præcipuarum Controverfiarum per totam Theologiam Difcuffio, è variis Autoribus in opem & fubfidium Tironum colle&ta, & ad locum cuique congruum relata. Per LAUR. FOGG, S. T. P. Dec. Ceftrienf. Londini. Excudebat J. H. pro R. Mingbul Bibliopola Ceftrienfi, & proftant venales apud H. & G. Mortlock ad Infigne Phanicis in Area Paulina. 1712.

That is,

A COMPENDIUM OF DIVINITY, taken (for the greatest Part) from five

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