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themselves to the Trouble of looking after fuch as would not only have been natural, but alfo elevated and fublime. Milton has but few Failings in this Kind, of which, however, you may meet with fome Instances, as in the following Paffages.

Embrio's and Idiots, Eremites and Friars,

White, Black, and Grey, with all their Trumpery, Here Pilgrims ream.

A while Difcourfe they bold,

No fear left Dinner cool; when thus began
Our Author--

Who of all Ages to fucceed, but feeling
The Evil on him brought by me, will curfe
My Head, ill fare our Anceftor impure,
For this we may thank Adam-

THE Great Mafters in Compofition, know very well that many an elegant Phrafe becomes improper for a Poet or an Orator, when it has been debased by common Ufe. For this Reason the Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages, have a great Advantage over those which are written in Languages that are now spoken. Were there any mean Phrafes or Idioms in Virgil and Homer, they would not fhock the Ear of the moft delicate Modern Reader, fo much as they would have done that of an old Greek or Roman, because we never hear them pronounced in our Streets, or in ordinary Converfation.

IT is not therefore fufficient, that the Language of an Epic Poem be Perfpicuous, unless it be alfo Sublime. To this end it ought to deviate from the common Forms and ordinary Phrafes of Speech. The Judgment of a Poet very much discovers it felf in fhunning the common Roads of Expreffion, without falling into fuch ways of Speech as feem ftiff and unnatural; he must not fwell into a falfe Sublime, by endeavouring to avoid the other Extreme. Among the Greeks, fchylus, and fometimes Sophocles, were guilty of this Fault; among the Latins, Claudian and Statius; and among our own Countrymen, Shakespear and

may

Lee.

In these Authors the Affectation of Greatness often hurts the Perfpicuity of the Style, as in many others the Endeavour after Perfpicuity prejudices its Greatnefs.

ARISTOTLE has obferved, that the Idiomatick Style may be avoided, and the Sublime formed, by the following Methods. Firft, by the Ufe of Metaphors: Such are thofe of Milton.

Imparadifed in one another's Arms.

And in his Hand a Reed

Stood waving tipt with Fire
The graffy Glods now calv'd.
Spangled with Eyes

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IN these and innumerable other Inftances, the Metaphors are very bold but juft; I muft however obferve that the Metaphors are not fo thick fown in Milton, which always favours too much of Wit; that they never clash with one another, which, as Ariftotle obferves, turns a Sentence into a kind of an Enigma or Riddle; and that he feldom has recourfe to them where the proper and natural Words will do as well.

ANOTHER way of raifing the Language, and giving it a Poetical Turn, is to make use of the Idioms of other Tongues. Virgil is full of the Greek Forms of Speech, which the Criticks call Hellenisms, as Horace in his Odes abounds with them much more than Virgil. I need not mention the feveral Dialects which Homer has made ufe of for this end. Milton, in conformity with the Practice of the Ancient Poets, and with Ariftotle's Rule, has infufed a great many Latinisms as well as Græcifms, and fome. times Hebraifms, into the Language of his Poem ; as towards the Beginning of it.

Nor did they not perceive the evil Plight

In which they were, or the fierce Pains not feel.
Yet to their Gen'ral's Voice they foon obey'd.
Who fball tempt with wandring Feet

The dark unbottom'd Infinite Abyss,
And through the palpable Obfcure find out
His uncouch way, or spread his airy Flight
Upborn with indefatigable Wings

Over the vast Abrupt!

So both afcend

In the Vifions of God.

B. 2

UNDER

UNDER this Head may be reckon'd the placing the Adjective after the Subftantive, the Tranfpofition of Words, the turning the Adjective into a Substantive, with feveral other Foreign Modes of Speech which this Poet has naturalized to give his Verse the greater Sound, and throw it out of Profe.

THE third Method mentioned by Ariftotle is what with the Genius of the Greek Language more than agrees with that of any other Tongue, and is therefore more ufed by Homer than by any other Poet. I mean the lengthning of a Phrafe by the Addition of Words, which may either be inferted or omitted, as alfo by the extending or contracting of particular Words by the Infertion or Omiffion of certain Syllables. Milton has put in practice this Method of raifing his Language, as far as the Nature of our Tongue will permit, as in the Paffage above-mentioned, Eremite, for what is Hermite, in common Difcourse. If you observe the Meature of his Verse, he has with great Judgment fuppreffed a Syllable in feveral Words, and fhortned thofe of two Syllables into one, by which Method, befides the above-mentioned Advantage, he has given a greater Variety to his Numbers. But this Practice is more particularly remarkable in the Names of Perfons and of Countries, as Beelzebub, Heffebon, and in many other Particulars, wherein he has either changed the Name, or made ufe of that which is not the most commonly known, that he might the better depart from the Language of the Vulgar.

THE fame Reafon recommended to him feveral old Words, which alfo makes his Poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater Air of Antiquity.

I must likewife take notice, that there are in Milton feveral Words of his own Coining, as Cerberean, mifcreated, Hell-doom'd, Embryon Atoms, and many others. If the Reader is offended at this Liberty in our English Poet, I would recommend him to a Difcourfe in Plutarch, which fhews us how frequently Homer has made use of the fame Liberty.

MILTON, by the above-mention'd Helps, and by the Choice of the nobleft Words and Phrafes which our Tongue would afford him, has carried our Language to a greater Height than any of the English Poets have ever

done

done before or after him, and made the Sublimity of his Style equal to that of his Sentiments.

I have been the more particular in thefe Obfervations on Milton's Style, because it is that Part of him in which he appears the moft fingular. The Remarks I have here made upon the Practice of other Poets, with my Obfervations out of Ariftotle, will perhaps alleviate the Prejudice which some have taken to his Poem upon this Account; tho' after all, I must confefs that I think his Style, tho' admirable in general, is in fome places too much stiffened and obfcured by the frequent Ufe of those Methods, which Ariftotle has prescribed for the raising of it.

THIS Redundancy of thofe feveral Ways of Speech, which Ariftotle calls foreign Language, and with which Milton has fo very much enriched, and in fome Places darkned the Language of his Poem, was the more proper for his ufe, because his Poem is written in Blank Verfe. Rhyme, without any other Affiftance, throws the Language off from Profe, and very often makes an indifferent Phrafe pafs unregarded; but where the Verfe is not built upon Rhymes, there Pomp of Sound, and Energy of Expreffion, are indifpenfably neceffary to fupport the Style, and keep it from falling into the flatness of Profe.

THOSE who have not a Tafte for this Elevation of Style, and are apt to ridicule a Poet when he departs from the common Forms of Expreffion, would do well to fee how Ariftotle has treated an Ancient Author called Euclid, for his infipid Mirth upon this Occafion. Mr. Dryden used to call these fort of Men his Profe-Criticks.

I fhould, under this Head of the Language, confider Milton's Numbers, in which he has made use of several Elifions, that are not cuftomary among other English Poets, as may be particularly obferved in his cutting off the Letter 7, when it precedes a Vowel. This, and fome other Innovations in the Measure of his Verfe, has varied his Numbers in such a manner, as makes them incapable of fatiating the Ear, and cloying the Reader, which the fame uniform Meafure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual Returns of Rhyme never fail to do in long Narrative Poems. I fhall close these Re flexions upon the Language of Paradife Loft, with ob

ferving

ferving that Milton has copied after Homer rather than Virgil in the length of his Periods, the Copioufness of his Phrafes, and the running of his Verfes into one another.

N° 286.

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Monday, January 28.

Nomina Honefta prætenduntur vitiis.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I

Tacit.

York, Jan. 18, 1712. Pretend not to inform a Gentleman of fo juft a Tafte, whenever he pleases to use it; but it may not be amifs to inform your Readers that there is a falfe Delicacy as well as a true one. True Delicacy, as I take it, confifts in Exactness of Judgment and Dignity of Sentiment, or if you will, Purity of Af⚫fection, as this is oppofed to Corruption and Groffness. There are Pedants in Breeding as well as in Learning. The Eye that cannot bear the Light is not delicate but fore. A good Conftitution appears in the Soundness; and Vigour of the Parts, not in the Squeamishnefs of the Stomach; And a falfe Delicacy is Affectation, not Politeness. What then can be the Standard of Delicacy but Truth and Virtue? Virtue, which, as the Satyrist long fince obferved, is real Honour; whereas the other, Distinctions among Mankind are meerly titular. Judg ing by that Rule in my Opinion, and in that of many of your virtuous Female Readers, you are so far from deferving Mr. Courtly's Accufation, that you feem too gentle, and to allow too many Excufes for an enormous Crime, which is the Reproach of the Age, and is in all its Branches and Degrees exprefly forbidden by, that Religion we pretend to profefs; and whofe Laws, in a Nation that calls it felf Chriftian, one would think should take Place of those Rules which Men of corrupt Minds, and thofe of weak Understandings follow. I know not any thing more pernicious to good Manners, than the giving fair Names to foul Actions; for this

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confounds

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