Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

more certain judgment, by a grave and circumfpect comparison of the Witnesses with each other, or of each with himfelf. Hence alfo thou wilt be enabled to draw reflections, not only of a critical, but a moral nature, by being let into many particulars of the Perfon as well as Genius, and of the Fortune as well as Merit, of our Author: in which if I relate fome things of little concern peradventure to thee, and fome of as little even to him; I entreat thee to confider how minutely all true critics and commentators are wont to infift upon fuch, and how material they seem to them-` felves, if to none other. Forgive me, gentle reader, if (following learned example) I ever and anon become tedious: allow me to take the fame pains to find whether my author were good or bad, well or illnatured, modeft or arrogant; as another, whether his author was fair or brown, fhort or tall, or whether he wore a coat or a caflock.

We purposed to begin with his Life, Parentage and Education: But as to thefe, even his cotemporaries do exceedingly differ. One faith, he was educated at home; another b, that he was bred at St Omer's by Jefuits; a third, not at St Omer's, but at Oxford; a fourth, that he had no univerfity-education at all. Thole who allow him to be bred at home, differ as much concerning his Tutor: One faith, he was kept

a Giles Jacobs lives of Poets, vol. ii, in his life.

b Dennis's Reflections on the Effay on Crit.

e Dunciad diffected, p. 4.,, d Guardian, No 40. e Jacob's Lives, &c. vol. ii.

by his father on purpose; a second f, that he was an itinerant prieft; a third %, that he was a parfon; one calleth him a fecular clergyman of the Church of Rome; another i, a monk. As little do they agree about his Father, whom one k fuppofeth, like the Father of Hefiod a tradefman or merchant; another, a husbandman; another ", a hatter, &c. Nor has an author been wanting to give our Poet fuch a father as Apuleius hath to Plato, Jamblichus to Pythagoras, and divers to Homer, namely, a Dæmon: For thus Mr Gildon ": "Certain it is, that his original is not from Adam, "but the Devil; and that he wanteth nothing but "horns and tail to be the exact refemblance of his "infernal Father." Finding, therefore, fuch contrariety of opinions, and (whatever be ours of this fort of generation) not being fond to enter into controverfy, we shall defer writing the life of our Poet, till authors can determine among themselves what Parents or education he had, or whether he had any Education or Parents at all.

Proceed we to what is more certain, his Works, tho' not lefs uncertain the judgments concerning them;

f Dunciad diffected, p. 4. g Farmet, P. and his fon. h Duneiad diffcted i Characters of the times, p. 45. k Female Dunciad, p. ult. I Dunciad diffected. m Roome, Paraphrafe on the ivth of Genefis, printed 1729. n Character of Mr P. and his Writings, in a Letter to a Friend, printed for S. Popping 1716. P. 10. Curll, in his Key to the Dunciad (first edit said to be printed for A. Dodd) in the 10th page, declared Gildon to be ar thor of that libel; tho' in the fubfequent editions of his Key he left out this affertion, and affirmed (in the Curliad, p. 4. and 8.) that it was written by Dennis only.

beginning with his ESSAY on CRITCIISM, of which hear firft the most ancient of Critics,

Mr JOHN DENNIS.

"His precepts are falfe or trivial, or both; his thoughts are crude and abortive, his expressions ab"furd, his numbers harsh and unmusical, his rhymes "trivial and common;-instead of majesty, we have "fomething that is very mean; instead of gravity, "fomething that is very boyish; and instead of per"fpicuity and lucid order, we have but too often ob"scurity and confufion." And in another place: "What rare numbers are here! Would not one swear "that this youngfter had efpoufed fome antiquated "Mufe, who had fued out a divorce from fome fuper"annuated finner, upon account of impotence, and "who, being poxed by her former fpoufe, has got the gout in her decrepid age, which makes her hobble fo damnably."

[ocr errors]

No lefs peremptory is the cenfure of our hypercritical Hiftorian

Mr OLD MIXON.

"I dare not fay any thing of the Effay on Criti"cifm in verfe; but if any more curious reader has "discovered in it something new which is not in Dry"den's prefaces, dedications, and his effay on drama.

a Reflections critical and fatirical on a Rhapfody, called, An Ey on Criticifm. Printed for Bernard Lintot, 8vo.

-"tie poetry, not to mention the French critics, I "fhould be very glad to have the benefit of the difcovery p."

He is followed (as in fame, fo in judgement) by the modest and fimple-minded

Mr LEONARD WELSTED.

Who, out of great respect to our Poet, not naming him, doth yet glance at his Effay, together with the Duke of Buckingham's, and the Criticisms of Dryden, and of Horace, which he more openly taxeth 9: "As "to the numerous treatises, effays, arts, &c. both in "verse and profe, that have been written by the mo❝derns on this ground-work, they do but hackney the "fame thoughts over again, making them still more trite. "Most of their pieces are nothing but a pert, infipid "heap of common place. Horace has even in his Art of "Poetry thrown out feveral things which plainly shew "he thought an Art of Poetry was of no use, even "while he was writing one."

To all which great authorities, we can only oppofe that of

Mr ADDISON.

« The Art of Criticisin (faith he) which was published fome months fince, is a mafter-piece in its

p Effay on Criticism in profe, octavo, 1728, by the author of the Critical History of England.

q Preface to his Poems, p, 18. 53. r Spectator, No 253.

"kind. The obfervations follow one another, like "those in Horace's Art of Poetry, without that me"thodical regularity which would have been requifite “in a prose writer. They are fome of them uncommon, "but fuch as the reader muft affent to, when he sees "them explained with that eafe and perfpicuity in "which they are delivered. As for thofe which are "the most known and the most receiv'd, they are placed "in fo beautiful a light, and illuftrated with fuch apt "allufions, that they have in them all the graces of "novelty; and make the reader, who was before ac"quainted with them, ftill more convinced of their "truth and solidity. And here give me leave to men"tion what Monfieur Boileau has fo well enlarged up

on in the preface to his works: That wit and fine "writing doth not confist so much in advancing things that are new, as in giving things that are known an "agreeable turn. It is impoffible for us who live in "the latter ages of the world, to make obfervations

in criticifm, morality, or any art or fcience, which have not been touched upon by others; we have "little elfe left us, but to represent the common fenfe of "mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more "uncommon lights. If a reader examines Horace's "Art of Poetry, he will find but few precepts in it "which he may not meet with in Ariftotle, and which "were not commonly known by all the Poets of the "Auguftan age. His way of expreffing, and applying "them, not his invention of them, is what we are "chiefly to admire.

"Longinus, in his Reflections, has given us the fame "kind of fublime, which he obferves in the feveral

« ZurückWeiter »