DONATUS APUD JEROM.

HE number of original writers, of

native thought, or veins of new expreffion, is found to be extremely small in every branch of literature. Few poffefs ability or courage to think for themselves, to trust to their own powers, to rely on their own ftock; and therefore the generality creep tamely and cautiously in the track of their predeceffors. The quinteffence of the largest libraries might be reduced to the compafs of a few volumes, if all ufelefs repetitions and acknowledged truths were to be omitted in this process of critical chemistry. A learned Frenchman informs us, that he intended to compile a treatise, wegò täv • ἅπαξ εἰρημένων—concerning things that had been faid but once,' which certainly would have been contained in a very small pamphlet.

It happens unfortunately in poetry, which principally claims the merit of novelty and invention, that this want of originality arifes frequently, not from a barrennefs and timidity of genius, but from invincible neceffity, and the nature of things. The works of those who profefs an art whofe effence is imitation, muft needs be ftamped with a clofe refemblance to each other; fince the objects material or animate, extraneous or internal, which they all imitate, lie equally open to the observation of all, and are perfectly fimilar, Defcriptions, therefore, that are faithful and juft, must be uniform and alike: the first copier muft be, perhaps, entitled to the praise of priority; but a fucceeding one ought not certainly to be condemned for plagiariím.

I am inclined to think, that notwithftanding the manifold alterations dif fufed in modern times over the face of nature, by the invention of arts and manufactures, by the extent of commerce, by the improvements of philofophy and mathematics, by the manner of fortifying and fighting, by the important difcovery of both the Indies, and, above all, by the total change of religion; yet an epic or dramatic writer, though fur

rounded with fuch a multitude of no

it or impoffi

ble to be totally original, and effentially different from Homer and Sophocles. The causes that excite, and the operations that exemplify, the greater paffions, will always have an exact coincidence, though perhaps a little diversified by climate or cuftom: every exasperated hero muft rage like Achilles, and every afflicted widow mourn like Andromache: an abandoned Armida will make ufe of Dido's execrations; and a Jew will nearly refemble a Grecian, when almost placed in the fame fituation; that is, the Ioas of Racine, in his incomparable Athalia, will be very like the Iön of Euripides.

Boileau obferves, that a new and extraordinary thought is by no means a thought which no perfon ever conceived before, or could poffibly conceive; on the contrary, it is fuch a thought as mut have occurred to every man in the like cafe, and have been one of the first in any perfon's mind upon the fame occasion: and it is a maxim of Pope, that whatever is very good fenfe, must have been common fenfe at all times.

'ufe!'

*See man for mine!'replies a pamper'd goofe. POPE. Man fcruples not to fay, that he enjoyeth the heavens and the elements; as if all had been made, and still move, only for him. In this fenfe a gofling may say as much, and perhaps with more truth and juanels. CHARRON.

That he hath borrowed not only fentaments, but even expreffions, from Wolarton and Pafcal, cannot be doubted, if we confider two more paffages:

When the loofe mountain trembles from on high,

Shall gravitation ceafe if you go by?
Or fome old temple, nodding to it's fall,
For Chartres' head referve the hanging wall?
POPE.

If a good man be paffing by an infirm building, just in the article of falling, can it be expected that GoD fhould fufpend the force of gravitation till he is gone by, in order to his deliverance?

1

WOLLASTON. Chaos of thought and paffion all confus'd, Still by himself abus'd, or difabus'd; Created half to rife, and half to fall, Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endiefs error hurl'd, The gory, jet, and riddle of the world.

What a chimera then is man! what a confufed chaos! what a fubject of contradiction! a profeffed judge of all things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depofitary and guardian of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty! the glory and the scandal of the univerfe!

PASCAL

The witty allufion to the punishment of avarice, in the Epistle on RichesDamn'd to the mines, an equal fate betides The flave that digs it, and the flave that hides; is plainly taken from The Causes of the Decay of Chriftian Piety;' where that excellent and neglected writer fays- It

has always been held the feverest treat'ment of flaves and malefactors, "dam"nare ad metalla-to force them to dig "in the mines." Now this is the covetous 'man's lot, from which he is never to

expect a release.' Cowley has alfo ufed the fame allufion. The celebrated reflection with which Chartres's epitaph, in the fame epistle, concludes, is the property of Bruyere.

To rock the cradle of repofing age, is a tender and elegant image of filial piety, for which Pope is indebted to Montagne, who wishes, in one of his effays, to find a fon-in-law that may 'kindly cherish his old age, and rock it

afleep. And the character of Helluo the glutton, introduced to exemplify the force and continuance of the ruling paffion, who in the agonies of death ex

claimed

SIR,

any; and left the reader fhould be cloyed and difgufted with a cluster of quotations: it happens, however, fortunately, that each paffage I have produced, contains fome important moral truth, or conveys fome pleafing image to the mind.

Critics feem agreed in giving greater latitude to the imitation of the ancients, than of later writers. To enrich a compofition with the fentiments and images of Greece and Rome, is ever esteemed not only lawful, but meritorious. We adorn our writings with their ideas, with as little fcruple as our houfes with their ftatues. And Pouffin is not accused of plagiarifm, for having painted Agrippina covering her face with both her hands at the death of Germanicus; though Timanthes had reprefented Agamemnon clofely veiled at the facrifice of his daughter, judiciously leaving the fpectator to guefs at a forrow inexpreffible, and that mocked the power of the pencil.

Z.

OVID.

TO THE ADVENTURER.

OUR paper of last Tuesday sevennight, which I did not read till to-day, determined me to fend you an account of my friend Eugenio, by whofe diftrefs my mind has been long kept in perpetual agitation: and, perhaps, my narrative may not only illuftrate your allegory, but contribute to recover opinion from her defection.

As Orgilio, the father of Eugenio, had no principles but thofe of a man of honour, he avoided alike both the virtues and the vices which are incompatible with that character: religion he fuppofed to be a contrivance of priests and politicians, to keep the vulgar in awe; and ufed by thofe in the rank of gentlemen who pretend to acknowledge it's obligations, only as an expedient to conceal their want of fpirit. By a conduct regulated upon thefe principles he gradually reduced a paternal eftate of two thou

EUSDEN.

fand pounds per annum to five hundred. Befides Eugenio, he had only one child, a daughter: his wife died while they were infants. His younger brother, who had acquired a very confiderable fortune in trade, retired unmarried into the country: he knew that the paternal estate was greatly reduced; and therefore took the expence of his nephew's education upon himfelf. After fome years had been spent at Weftminster fchool, he fent him to the univerfity, and fupported him by a very genteel annuity.

Eugenio, though his temper was remarkably warm and fprightly, had yet a high relifh of literature, and infenfibly acquired a strong attachment to a college life. His apartment adjoined to mine, and our acquaintance was foon improved into friendship. I found in him great ardour of benevolence, and a fenfe of generofity and honour which I had conceived to confift only in romance. With refpect to Christianity, indeed, he was as yet a fceptic: but I found it easy to

obviate

obviate general objections; and, as he had great penetration and fagacity, was fuperior to prejudice, and habituated to no vice which he wished to countenance by infidelity, he began to believe as foon as he began to enquire: the evidence for Revelation at length appeared inconteftible; and without buying himself with the cavils of fubtilty against particular doctrines, he determined to adhere inviolably to the precepts as a rule of life, and to trust in the promifes as the foundation of hope. The fame ardour and firmness, the fame generofity and honour, were now exercised with more exalted views, and upon a more perfect plan. He confidered me as his preceptor, and I confidered him as my example: our friendship increased every day; and I believe he had conceived a defign to follow me into orders. But when he had continued at college about two years, he received a command from his father to come immediately to town; for that his earnest defire to place him in the army was now accomplished, and he had procured him a captain's commiffion. By the fame poft he received a letter from his uncle, in which he was ftrongly urged to continue at college, with promifes of fucceeding to his whole eftate; his father's project was zealously condemned, and his neglect of a brother's concurrence refented. Eugenio, though it was greatly his defire to continue at college, and his intereft to oblige his uncle, yet obeyed his father without the least heli

tation.

When he came to town, he discovered that a warm altercation had been carried on between his uncle and his father upon this fubject: his uncle, not being able to produce any effect upon the father, as a laft effort had written to the fon; and being equally offended with both, when his application to both had been equally inefetual, he reproached him with folly and ingratitude; and dying foon after by a fall from his horfe, it appeared that in the height of his refentiment he had left his whole fortune to a distant relation in Ireland, whom he had never feen.

Under this misfortune Eugenio comforted himself by reflecting, that he had incurred it by obedience to his father; and though it precluded hopes that were dearer than life, yet he never expreffed his difpleafure either by invective or complaint.

Orgilio had very early in life contracted an intimacy with Agreftis, a gentleman whofe character and principles were very different from his own. Agref tis had very juft notions of right and wrong, by which he regulated his conduct without any regard to the opinion of others: his integrity was univerfal and inflexible, and his temper ardent and open; he abhorred whatever had the appearance of difingenuity, he was extremeÎy jealous of his authority, and there was a rough fimplicity in his manner which many circumftances of his life had contributed to produce. His father left him a fortune of two hundred thoufand pounds; but as the parfimony which enabled him to amass it, extended to the education of his fon, by whom it was to be poffeffed, he had been taught neither politeness nor literature. He married a lady, whofe influence would have polifhed the rough diamond by degrees; but he died within the first year of her marriage, leaving him a daughter to whom he gave her name Amelia, and transferred all his affection: he, therefore, continued to live in great privacy; and being used to have only fervants and dependents about him, he indulged the peculiarities of his humour without that complaifance which becomes infenfibly habitual to thofe who mix in the company of perfons whom it is their apparent intereft to please, and whofe prefence is a perpetual restraint upon fuch irregular ftarts of temper as would incur contempt, by arrogating a fuperiority which none would acknowledge. To this difpofition his daughter accommodated herself as he grew up, from motives both of affection and duty: as he knew and regretted the defect of his own education, he fpared no coft to complete her's; and the is indeed the moft accomplifhed character I ever knew: her obedience is chearful and implicit, her affection tender and without parade; her looks exprefs the utmost sweetness and fenfibility, and yet there is a dignity in her manner which commands refpect.

The intimacy between the father of Eugenio and Agreftis produced a tender friendship between his lifter and Amelia, which began in their infancy, and increafed with their years.

Such characters as Amelia and Eugenio could not be long familiarly known to each other, without exciting

mutual

mutual efteem: the tranfition from efteem to love, between persons of different sexes, is often imperceptible even to themselves; and, perhaps, was not discovered till long after it had happened, either by Eugenio or Amelia. When he returned from the university, she was about eighteen: as her ftature and her beauty were greatly increafed during this interval, their firft effect upon Eugenio was proportionably greater; and he perceived, from whatever cause, a more fenfible emotion in her. He had too much difcernment not to discover that she loved him; and too much generofity not to conceal his love of her, because he was fo much her inferior in fortune: fometimes he reflected upon her partiality with pleasure, and fometimes with regret. But while they were thus mutually confcious to defires which they mutually fuppreffed, the late rebellion broke out, and Eugenio was commanded into Scotland. In this expedition he distinguished himself equally by his courage and humanity: and though he had not much money, and therefore could but seldom difplay his bounty, yet his concern for the real intereft of his men was fo apparent, as well in fuch acts of kindness as were in his power, as in the strict discipline which he maintained. among them, that his perfonal influence was very powerful and extenfive. During this abfence, though he felt his paffion for Amelia increase, notwithstanding all his attempts to fupprefs it; yet he never wrote to her, but contented himself with mentioning her in general terms, and including her in his remembrance of other friends, when he wrote to his father and his fifter.

When he returned, as his fifter's intimacy with Amelia ftill continued, his opportunities to fee her were equally frequent: but the pleasure of those interviews were become yet more tumul

tuous and confufed; and the lovers were both conscious, that their sentiments were every moment involuntarily difcovered to each other.

Amelia had difiniffed many fuitors, who were no lefs diftinguished by their merit than their rank, becaufe fhe still hoped to enrich Eugenio with her fortune; and Eugenio persisted in a conduct by which this hope was difappointed, because he would not degrade Amelia by an alliance with dependance and poverty. The objections of duty might, indeed, have been removed by obtaining the confent of Agreftis; but those of honour would still have remained: he was not, however, absolutely without hope; for though he had loft his uncle's fortune by obedience to his father, yet as he had greatly recommended himself to his commanding officer, who was of the highest rank, he believed it poffible that he might be advanced to a poft in the army, which would juftify his pretenfions to Amelia, and remove all his difficulties at once.

Agreftis wondered at the conduct of his daughter, but neither asked nor fufpected her motives: for he had always declared, that as he believed the would never marry against his confent, he would never urge her to marry against her own inclination.

Amelia, therefore, continued to decline every offer, and Eugenio to fee her almost every day, without the leaft intimation of his love, till the beginning of the laft winter, when he loft his fifter by the fmall-pox. His interviews with Amelia were now lefs frequent, and therefore more interefting: he feared, that as he would be feldom in her fight, the affiduities of fome fortunate rival might at length exclude him from her remembrance: he did not, however, falter in his refolution, nor did Amelia change her conduct.