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longer I pore on it. I do nothing without Gaiety. Continuation, and a too obftinate Contention, darkens, ftupifies, and tires my Judgment. My Sight is therein confounded and diffipated. I muft withdraw it, and leave it to make new Difcoveries, juft as, in order to judge rightly of the Luftre of Scarlet, we are ordered to pass it lightly with the Eye, and to run it over at several sudden repeated Views. If one Book does not please me, I take another, but never meddle with any, except at fuch Times when I begin to be weary of doing nothing.

Montaigne preferred the Writings of the Ancients to the

I don't much relish the Writings of the Moderns, becaufe I think the Ancients fuller and more fubftantial; neither am I fond of the Greek Authors, my Knowledge in that Language being too fuperficial to read them with DeModerns. light. Among the Books that are merely entertaining, I think thofe of the Moderns, viz. Boccace's Decameron, Rabelais, and the Bafia of Johannes Secundus (if these may be ranged under that Title) are worth reading. As to Amadis de Gaul, and fuch kind of Writings, they had not the Credit to take with me so much as in my childish Years.

I will fay, moreover, whether boldly or rafhly, that this old dull Fancy of mine is now no longer What be thought of O- tickled with Ariofto, nor even with honeft Ovid, in the vid: His eafy Stile, and his Imaginations, Decline of bis with which I was formetly charmed, are Life. fcarce of any Entertainment to me now. fpeak my Mind freely of all Things, nay, and of thofe that, perhaps, exceed my Reach, and which I do not

I

com

I muft declare here, by the Way, that No-body better understood the Copioufnefs and Ener y of the French Language, and fo well found his Account in it, as Rabelais. This, which I take to be a very important Remark, I borrow from Rouffeau, one of the best Poets of this Age, It was alfo undoubtedly known to La Fontaine, who has made a very good Use of it.

This is a Parcel of Epigrams on the Subject of Kiffing, by a Dutch Author, of which there have been several Editions, particularly one at Lyons, by Seb, Gryphius, in 1539, now become very scarce; which I don't mention to encourage another Impreffion of them, for I have no great Relish for any Latin Poetry composed by the Moderns, not even for the Poetry of Buchan man, Grotius, Heinfius, &c. I mean with regard to the Verfification.

comprehend to be at all within my Sphere: And the Opinion I give of them is to fhew the Extent of my Sight, and not the Measure of its Objects. When I find myself difgufted with the Axiochus of Plato", as a Performance which, with all due Refpect to fuch an Author, has no Spirit, I am not fure that my Judgment is right. It is not fo conceited of itself as to fet up against the Authori

ty of fo many other famous Judges of Antiquity, whom

it esteems as its Regents and Masters, and with whom it had rather be mistaken. In such a Case it reproves and condemns itself, either for stopping at the outward Bark for Want of Power to penetrate to the Pith, or for confidering the Thing by fome falfe Light. 'Tis contented with fecuring itself only from Trouble and Irregularity, and, as to its own Weakness, 'tis fenfible of it, and frankly confeffes it. It thinks it gives a just Interpretation by the Appearances formed in its Conception, but they are weak and imperfect. Most of the Fables of EJop have feveral Senfes and Meanings, of which the Mythologists chufe some one that tallies well with the Fable, but, for the most part, 'tis only what prefents itself at the first View, and is fuperficial, there being others more lively, effential, and internal, into which they have not been able to penetrate; and the Cafe is the very fame with me.

The Latin

But, to proceed on my Subject: I always thought, that, in Poetry, Virgil, Lucretius, Catullus, and Horace excel the reft by many Degrees; and Poets, whom efpecially Virgil, in his Georgics, which I efteem he places in the as the compleatest Work in Poetry, in Com- firft Class. parison with which 'tis easy to difcern fome Paffages of the Eneid, to which the Author would have given a little more of the File, had he had Leifure. The fifth Book of the Eneid feems to me to be the most perfect. I am alfo fond of Lucan, and often read him, not fo much for the fake of his Stile, as for his own Worth, and the Truth of his Opinions and Judgments. As for Terence, I think the Delicacy and Elegance of his Latin fo admirably adapted to reprefent our Paffions and Manners to the

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The beft Critics afcribe this Dialogue not to Plato, but to Efchines, a Difciple of Socrates.

Life, that our Actions make me have Recourse to him every now and then; and, as often foever as I read him, I ftill discover fome new Grace and Beauty.

Lucretius not

to be compared to Virgil, and much lefs A

Such as lived in the Age near Virgil's were fcandalized that any should compare Lucretius to him. I am, indeed, of Opinion, that the Comparifon is very unequal; yet I can fcarce fettle myfelf in this Belief, when I am captivated with fome of those fine Paffages in Lucretius. But, if they were fo piqued at this Comparifon, what would they have said of the brutish and barbarous Stupidity of those who, at this Hour, compare Ariofto to him and what would Ariofto himself say of it?

riofto,

O Seclum infipiens et inficetum !

Oh filly fenfeless Age!

Bad Taste of thofe who com pared Plautus

to Terence,

i. e.

I think the Ancients had yet more Reason to complain of those who matched Plautus with Terence, (the latter being much more of the Gentleman) than Lucretius with Virgil. It makes much for the Honour and Preference of Terence, that the Father of the Roman Eloquence has him fo often in his Mouth, the only one of his Rank that he mentions, as does the Sentence which the chief Judge of Roman Poetry has paffed upon the other.

The Comic

Poets of Montaigne's Time

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I have often observed, that thofe of our Time, who have taken upon them to write Comedies, (as the Italians, who are very happy in Dramatic Compofitions) take in three or four Arguments of thofe of Terence or Plautus to make one of theirs, and croud five or fix of Boccace's

wanted Inven

tion,

1 Catul, Epigram. xli. v. 8.

Horace, who fays, in his Arte Poetica, v, 270, &c. At noftri proavi Plautinos et numeros, et

Laudavere fales, nimium patienter utrofque,

Non dicam ftulte, mirati,

i, e,

And yet our Sires with Joy could Plautus hear;
Gay were his Jefts, his Numbers charm'd their Ear
Let me not fay, too lavishly they prais'd,
But fure their Judgment was full cheaply pleas'd,

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Boccace's Tales into one fingle Comedy. That which makes them load themselves with fo much Matter is the Diffidence they have of being able to support themselves by their own Merit. They must find out Some-body to lean upon, and, having not Matter enough of their own to amuse us with, they supply the Defect with fome Tale. But the Cafe is quite contrary with our Author', the Beauty and Perfections of whofe Stile make us lose the Appetite for his Plot. His Elegancy and Delicacy captivate us in every Scene, and he is so pleasant throughout, Liquidus, puroque fimillimus amni "

i. e.

Smoothly running like a Crystal Stream.

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and so poffeffes the Soul with his Graces of Diction, that we forget those of his Fable. This very Confideration draws me on farther: I perceive that the good old Poets avoided the Affectation and Purfuit not only of fantastic Spanish and Petrarchift Flights, but even of the fofter and graver Periods which have adorned all the Poetry of the fucceeding Ages. Yet there is no good Judge who will condemn this in those Ancients, and that does not incomparably more admire the equal Smoothnefs, and that perpetual Sweetness and Beauty which flourishes in the Epigrams of Catullus, than all the Stings with which Martial has armed the Tails of his. The Reafon is the fame as I gave just now, and as Martial said of himself, in Preface, lib. viii, Minus illi ingenio laborandum fuit, in cujus locum materia fuccefferat, i. e. His Subject was fo fruitful, that he had the lefs Need for the Exercise of his Wit. The Epigrams of Catullus make themselves fufficiently felt without being moved and disgusted: They have Matter enough throughout to create Laughter; they need not raife the Laugh themselves. Martial's Epigrams have Need of foreign Affiftance; as they have the lefs Wit, they must have the

more

1 Terence, who is in the fame Degree as inferior to the Greeks as he is fuperior to the modern Poets that Montaigne fpeaks of; for Terence has Need fometimes of two Greek Pieces to make up one Latin one. See the Prologue to his Eunuch. m Hor. lib. ii. Ep. 2. v. 120. " Paffionate Rant of Lovers,

Book II. more Bulk; they mount on Horfeback because they are not strong enough to ftand on their own Legs. Juft fo, in our Balls, thofe Men of low Degree who teach to dance, because they cannot represent the Port and Decency of our Gentry, endeavour to recommend themfelves by dangerous Leaps, and other odd Motions practifed by Tumblers: And the Ladies come off better in Dances where there are feveral Coupees and Agitations of the Body, than in some other formal Dances wherein they are only to move a natural Pace, and to reprefent their ordinary Grace and Gesture. And fo I have feen excellent Tumblers, dreffed in the Cloaths, with the Countenance which they wear every Day, give us all the Pleasure that their Art is capable of, while their Apprentices, not yet arrived to fuch a Degree of Perfection, are fain to meal their Faces, to disguise themselves, and to use wild Motions and Grimaces to make us laugh. This Conception of mine is no where fo demonftrable as in the Comparison of the Eneid and OrComparison between the E- lando Furiofo. The firft we fee with expanded Wings foaring aloft, and always ftretching to its Point; while the latter flutters and hops from Tale to Tale, as from Branch to Branch, not venturing to truft its Wings but in very fhort Flights, and perching at every Turn, left its Breath and Strength fhould fail it,

neid and the

Orlando Furiofo of Ariosto.

Excurfufque breves tentat°.

i. l.

Those therefore, as to Subjects of this kind, are the Authors that please me beft.

Books of more Solidity, by aubich Montaigne learnt

As to my other Reading, which mixes a little more Profit with Pleasure, and from whence I learn how, to regulate my Opinions and Humours; the Books which I apply to, for this Purpose, are · Plutarch (fince he is tranflated into French) and Seneca: They are both remarkably adapted to my Temper, forafmuch as the Knowledge which I there feek is communicated in loofe Pieces

to regulate bis Opinion.

Georg. lib. iv. v. 194.

that

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