From fhort ideas; and offend in arts (As most in manners) by a love to parts. Some to Conceit alone their tafte confine, 295 And glitt'ring thoughts ftruck out at ev'ry line; 290 300 VER. 297. True Wit is Nature to advantage drefs'd, etc.] This definition is very exact. Mr. Locke had defined Wit to confift" in "the affemblage of ideas, and putting thofe together, with quick. "ness and variety, wherein can be found any resemblance or con gruity, whereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable "vifions in the fancy." But that great Philofopher, in feparating Wit from Judgment, as he does in this place, has given us (and he could therefore give us no other) only an account of Wit in general: In which false Wit, though not every species of it, is included. A friking Image therefore of Nature is, as Mr. Locke obferves, certainly Wit: But this image may ftrike on feveral other accounts, as well for its truth and beauty; and the Philofopher has explained the manner how. But it never becomes that Wit, which is the ornament of true Poefy, whofe end is to reprefent Nature, but when it dreffes that Nature to advantage, and prefents her to us in the brightest and most amiable light. And to know when the Fancy has done its office truly, the poet fubjoins this admirable Teft, viz. When we perceive that it gives us back the image of our mind. When it does that, we may be fure it plays no tricks with us: For this image is the creature of the Judgment; and whenever Wit correfponds with Judgment, we may fafely pronounce it to be true. “Naturam intueamur, hanc fequamur: id facillime accipiunt animi quod agnofcunt.". Quintil. lib. viii. c. 3. For works may have more wit than does 'em good, / Others for Language all their care exprefs, And value books, as women men, for drefs: Their praife is ftill,-the ftyle is excellent : 305 The fenfe, they humbly take upon content. Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Falfe eloquence, like the prifmatic glafs, 310 315 325 For diff'rent flyles with diff'rent fubjects fort, VER. 311. Falfe eloquence, like the prifmatic glass, etc.] This fimile is beautiful. For the falfe colouring, given to objects by the prismatic glafs, is owing to its untwifting, by its obliquities, thofe threads of light, which Nature had put together in order to fpread over its work an ingenious and fimple candour, that should not hide, but only heighten the native complexion of the objects. And falfe Eloquence is nothing else but the straining and divaricating the parts of true expreffion; and then daubing them over with what the Rhetoricians very properly term COLOURS; in lieu of that candid light, now loft, which was reflected from them in their. natural ftate while fincere and entire. VER. 324. Some by old words, etc.] "Abolita et abrogata retinere, infolentiæ cujufdam eft, et frivolæ in parvis jactantiæ.” Quint. lib. 1. c. 6. Opus eft, ut verba à vetuftate repetita neque crebra fant f Such labour'd nothings, in fo ftrange a style, Be not the first by whom the new are try'd 330 } 335 340 But moft by numbers judge a poet's fong; And fmooth or rough, with them, is right or wrong: In the bright Mufe tho' thousand charms confpire, Her voice is all thefe tuneful fools admire ; Who haunt Parnaffus but to please their ear, Not mend their minds; as fome to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there. Thefe equal fyllables alone require, Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire; While expletives their feeble aid do join ; And ten low words oft creep in one dull line: 345 "neque manifefta, quia nil eft odiofius affectatione, nec utique "ab ultimis repetita temporibus. Oratio cujus fumma virtus ef "perfpicuitas, quam fit vitiofa, fi egeat interprete? Ergo ut novorum optima erunt maxime vetera, ita veterum maxime nova." Idem. VER. 328. —unlucky as Fungofa, etc.] See Ben Johnfon's Every Man in bis Humour VER. 337. But most by numbers, etc.] Quis populi fermo eft? quis enim? nifi carmina molli Perf. Sat. i. VER. 345. Tho' oft the ear, etc.] “Fugiemus crebras vocalium concurfiones, quæ vaftam atque hiantem orationem reddunt." Cic. ad Heren, lib. iv. Vide etiam Quint. lib. ix. c. 4. While they ring round the fame unvary'd chimes, With fome unmeaning thing they call a thought, 355 That, like a wounded fnake, drags its flow length along. 360 Where Denham's ftrength, and Waller's sweetness join, 365 The found muft feem an Echo to the fenfe: 371 Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and fkims along the main, IMITATIONS. VER. 366. Soft is the ftrain, etc.] Tum fi læta canunt, etc. Vida Poet. 1. iii. ver. 403* VER. 368. But when loud funges, etc.] Tum longe fale faxa fonant, etc. Vida ib. 388. VER. 370. When Ajax ftrives, etc.] Atque ideo fi quid geritur molimine magno, etc. VER. 372. Not fo, when fwift Camilla, etc.] Vida ib. 417 375 Hear how Timotheus' vary'd lays furprise, 385 Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move; 390 For fools admire, but men of fense approve.: As things feem large which we thro' mists desery, Some foreign wiiters, fome our own defpife; 395 400 405 VER. 374. Hear bow Timotheus, etc.] See Alexander's Feaft er the Power of Mufic; an Ode by Mr. Dryden. |