CHAP. III.

ring that period, never attempted to exchange PART III. their native charms for the adscititious ornaments of dress for, though the limbs and body were Of Novelty. more or less concealed, as general custom or individual modesty occasionally required, they never were so disguised, but that the general forms of a human creature were suffered to appear; which is not the case with a lady in stays and a hoop. About the age of Hadrian, the Roman women of fashion began to dress their hair in fantastic forms, wholly unlike those of nature; and when once disguise was thus mistaken for embellishment, there was no longer any principle to check the extravagances of caprice. Consequently novelty and splendor. were soon mistaken for grace and elegance; and as the contagion immediately communicated itself to the other sex, all simplicity of taste in dress and manners; and, with it, all purity of style in art were banished; and the licentious and operose barbarism of the Byzantine court gradually succeeded.

9. But though the passion for novelty has

Ista jube faciant quorum Cybeleïa mater

Concinitur Phrygiis exululata modis.

Forma viros neglecta decet

OVID. de Arte Amandi, 1. i. v. 505.

See also the Portraits upon Coins, &c.

F F

1

CHAP. III.

PART III. been the principal means of corrupting taste, it has also been a principal mean of polishing Of Novelty, and perfecting it *: for, imitation being in itself pleasing, men are always delighted with the best specimens, which they have seen of it, be they ever so bad; and it is merely the desire of something new, and not any preconceived ideas of something better, that urges them on to seek for improvement. As long as this restless desire of novelty can restrain itself, in imitative art, to the imitation of real genuine nature, it will only tend to real improvement, and limit its gratifications to varieties of perfection, and degrees of refinement: but, when it calls upon invention to usurp the place of imitation; or substitute to genuine, or merely embellished nature, nature sophisticated and corrupted by artificial habits, it immediately produces vice and extravagance of manner. Of the first, Michael Angelo was a memorable instance; and of the second, Bernini; both of whom were men of extraordinary genius and talents; but stimulated into manner and extravagance of opposite kinds by an insatiate desire of novelty and ori

* άπαντα μεν τοι, τα όντως ασεμνα, δια μιαν εμφυεται τοις λογοις αιτίαν, δια το περι τας νοήσεις καινοσπεδον. αφ' ών γαρ ήμιν τ' αγαθα, σχεδόν απ' αυτων τετων και τα κακα γίγνεσθαι

LONGIN. S. v.

ginality; which was, nevertheless, more, per- PART III. haps, the general vice of the times, in which CHAP. III. they respectively lived, than their own pecu- Of Novelty. liarly for we may observe that it operates, in modes and degrees nearly similar, in the contempory Italian poets Ariosto and Marino; who were likewise men of uncommon talents; and who, in their respective faults and merits of this kind, nearly resemble the sculptors, with whom they respectively flourished. Ariosto, like Michael Angelo, is bold and spirited, but extravagant; while Marino, like Bernini, is redundant, smooth, and ingenious; but frivolous and affected. The merits and faults of the two first are certainly of a higher class; and the judgment of the public has, therefore, justly given them a higher rank and station in literature and art. Ariosto's extravagance is, indeed, of a very different kind from Michael Angelo's, whose genius more resembled Milton's; but still it is equally extravagance.

10. There is, however, another cause, besides the mere love of novelty, for that profusion of ornament, and unremited affectation of elegance and splendor, which distinguish the decline or corruption of taste in every species of literary composition. When a language has been cultivated with success, and enriched with popular works in

prose

CHAP. III.

PART III, and verse, the brilliant and prominent passages of the most popular and admired of them become Of Novelty, fixed in every person's memory; and are thus made the scale, by which they measure, and the criterion, by which they judge the general style of succeeding compositions; which are consequently condemned as flat, trite, or unpolished, if they do not uniformly stand this unfair test. If, on the contrary, they do, they necessarily display ornament, where the subject requires plainness and simplicity; and thus acquire that tawdry character, which, though generally abused, can alone secure attention; and authors can bear abuse, at all times, with much more patience than neglect.

:

11. It is observed by a great critic that men judge of the merits of a living writer by his worst performances; and of those of a dead one, by his best and this they do, not so much from any principle of malignity or envy, as because they remember only the most brilliant passages of the one; and consequently apply them, even mechanically and unintentionally, as the standards, by which they try the least brilliant of the others. Hence, an unvaried degree of brilliance and ornament being required, those, whose business it is to gratify public taste, strive to dress every

* Dr. Johnson, Rambler.

part of their compositions alike; whether the PART III. subject admit of such dress and decoration or CHAP. III. not: and as they thus get into a habit of adorn- of Novelty. ing their style by rule and system, instead of by taste and feeling, they adorn all parts of it ill; and are always either frivolous or extravagant : for, when just feeling and a discriminating tact cease to be the legitimate criteria of excellence, the caprices of novelty are freed from all restraint; and the fashion of the day becomes the only test of merit.*

12. As writers and readers multiply in a language, every plain and easy mode of expression, which it affords, becomes trite and common by frequent repetition; and certain degrees of vicious refinement and affectation become absolutely necessary to exalt the style above the familiar vulgarity of common colloquial speech; and as this common colloquial speech is constantly extending its usurpations, and vulgarising refinement; refinement can only maintain its character and keep out of its reach, by constantly retreating from it, and becoming more

* Quæ non laudantur modo a plerisque, sed (quod pejus est) propter hac ipsum, quod sunt prava laudantur: nam sermo rectus, et secundum naturam enunciatus, nihil habere ex ingenio videtur.

QUINTILIANI, Instit. l. ii. c. v.