Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III) by Samuel Johnson (best beach reads TXT) 📖

to His Own Proposal, His Verses May Be Compared

With Those Which He Censures:

 

 

 

  What Makes The Richest _Tilth_, Beneath What Signs

  To _Plough_, And When To Match Your _Elms And Vines_;

 

 

 

  What Care With _Flocks_, And What With _Herds_ Agrees,

  And All The Management Of Frugal _Bees_;

  I Sing, Maecenas! Ye Immensely Clear,

  Vast Orbs Of Light, Which Guide The Rolling year;

  Bacchus, And Mother Ceres, If By You

  We Fatt'Ning _Corn_ For Hungry _Mast_ Pursue,

  If, Taught By You, We First The _Cluster_ Prest,

  And _Thin Cold Streams_ With _Sprightly Juice_ Refresht;

  Ye _Fawns_, The Present _Numens_ Of The Field,

  _Wood Nymphs_ And _Fawns_, Your Kind Assistance Yield;

  Your Gifts I Sing! And Thou, At Whose Fear'D Stroke

  From Rending earth The Fiery _Courser_ Broke,

  Great Neptune, O Assist My Artful Song!

  And Thou To Whom The Woods And Groves Belong,

  Whose Snowy Heifers On Her Flow'Ry Plains

  In mighty Herds The Caean Isle Maintains!

  Pan, Happy Shepherd, If Thy Cares Divine

  E'Er To Improve Thy Maenalas Incline,

  Leave Thy _Lycaean Wood_ And _Native Grove_,

  And With Thy Lucky Smiles Our Work Approve!

  Be Pallas Too, Sweet Oil'S Inventor, Kind;

  And He Who First The Crooked _Plough_ Design'D!

  Sylvanus, God Of All The Woods, Appear,

  Whose Hands A New-Drawn Tender _Cypress_ Bear!

  Ye _Gods_ And _Goddesses_, Who E'Er With Love

  Would Guard Our Pastures And Our Fields Improve!

  You, Who New Plants From Unknown Lands Supply,

  And With Condensing clouds Obscure The Sky,

  And Drop 'Em Softly Thence In fruitful Show'Rs;

  Assist My Enterprise, Ye Gentler Pow'Rs!

 

 

 

  And Thou, Great Caesar! Though We Know Not Yet

  Among What Gods Thou'Lt Fix Thy Lofty Seat;

  Whether Thou'Lt Be The Kind _Tutelar_ God

  Of Thy Own Rome; Or With Thy Awful Nod

  Guide The Vast World, While Thy Great Hand Shall Bear

  The Fruits And Seasons Of The Turning year,

  And Thy Bright Brows Thy Mother'S Myrtles Wear;

  Whether Thou'Lt All The Boundless Ocean Sway,

  And Seamen Only To Thyself Shall Pray,

  Thule, The Farthest Island, Kneel To Thee,

  And, That Thou May'St Her Son By Marriage Be,

 

 

 

  Tethys Will For The Happy Purchase Yield

  To Make A _Dowry_ Of Her Wat'Ry Field;

  Whether Thou'Lt Add To Heaven A _Brighter Sign_,

  And O'Er The _Summer Months_ Serenely Shine;

  Where Between Cancer And Erigone,

  There Yet Remains A Spacious _Room_ For Thee;

  Where The Hot _Scorpion_ Too His Arms Declines,

  And More To Thee Than Half His _Arch_ Resigns;

  Whate'Er Thou'Lt Be; For Sure The Realms Below

  No Just Pretence To Thy Command Can Show:

  No Such Ambition Sways Thy Vast Desires,

  Though Greece Her Own _Elysian Fields_ Admires.

  And Now, At Last, Contented proserpine

  Can All Her Mother'S Earnest Pray'Rs Decline.

  Whate'Er Thou'Lt Be, O Guide Our Gentle Course;

  And With Thy Smiles Our Bold Attempts Enforce;

  With Me Th' Unknowing _Rustics_' Wants Relieve,

  And, Though On Earth, Our Sacred vows Receive!

 

 

 

Mr. Dryden, Having received from Rymer His Remarks On The Tragedies Of

The Last Age, Wrote Observations On The Blank Leaves; Which, Having been

In The Possession Of Mr. Garrick, Are, By His Favour, Communicated to The

Publick, That No Particle Of Dryden May Be Lost:

 

 

 

"That We May The Less Wonder Why Pity And Terrour Are Not Now The Only

Springs On Which Our Tragedies Move, And That Shakespeare May Be More

Excused, Rapin Confesses That The French Tragedies, Now All Run On The

_Tendre_; And Gives The Reason, Because Love Is The Passion Which Most

Predominates In our Souls, And That, Therefore, The Passions Represented

Become Insipid, Unless They Are Conformable To The Thoughts Of The

Audience. But It Is To Be Concluded, That This Passion Works Not Now

Amongst The French So Strongly As The Other Two Did Amongst The Ancients.

Amongst Us, Who Have A Stronger Genius For Writing, The Operations From

The Writing are Much Stronger; For The Raising of Shakespeare'S Passions

Is More From The Excellency Of The Words And Thoughts, Than The Justness

Of The Occasion; And If He Has Been Able To Pick Single Occasions, He

Has Never Founded the Whole Reasonably: Yet, By The Genius Of Poetry In

Writing, He Has Succeeded.

 

 

 

"Rapin Attributes More To The _Dictio_, That Is, To The Words And

Discourse Of A Tragedy, Than Aristotle Has Done, Who Places Them In the

Last Rank Of Beauties; Perhaps, Only Last In order, Because They Are The

Last Product Of The Design, Of The Disposition Or Connexion Of Its

Parts; Of The Characters, Of The Manners Of Those Characters, And Of The

Thoughts Proceeding from Those Manners. Rapin'S Words Are Remarkable:

'Tis Not The Admirable Intrigue, The Surprising events, And Extraordinary

Incidents, That Make The Beauty Of A Tragedy; 'Tis The Discourses, When

They Are Natural And Passionate: So Are Shakespeare'S.

 

 

 

"The Parts Of A Poem, Tragick Or Heroick, Are,

 

 

 

"1. The Fable Itself.

 

 

 

"2. The Order Or Manner Of Its Contrivance, In relation Of The Parts To

The Whole.

 

 

 

"3. The Manners, Or Decency, Of The Characters, In speaking or Acting

What Is Proper For Them, And Proper To Be Shown By The Poet.

 

 

 

"4. The Thoughts Which Express The Manners.

 

 

 

"5. The Words Which Express Those Thoughts.

 

 

 

"In The Last Of These Homer Excels Virgil; Virgil All Other Ancient

Poets; And Shakespeare All Modern Poets.

 

 

 

"For The Second Of These, The Order: The Meaning is, That A Fable Ought

To Have A Beginning, Middle, And An End, All Just And Natural; So That

That Part, E.G. Which Is The Middle, Could Not Naturally Be The Beginning

Or End, And So Of The Rest: All Depend On One Another, Like The Links Of

A Curious Chain. If Terrour And Pity Are Only To Be Raised, Certainly

This Author Follows Aristotle'S Rules, And Sophocles' And Euripides'

Example: But Joy May Be Raised too, And That Doubly, Either By Seeing

A Wicked man Punished, Or A Good Man At Last Fortunate; Or, Perhaps,

Indignation, To See Wickedness Prosperous, And Goodness Depressed: Both

These May Be Profitable To The End Of Tragedy, Reformation Of Manners;

But The Last Improperly, Only As It Begets Pity In the Audience: Though

Aristotle, I Confess, Places Tragedies Of This Kind In the Second Form.

 

 

 

"He Who Undertakes To Answer This Excellent Critique Of Mr. Rymer, In

Behalf Of Our English Poets Against The Greek, Ought To Do It In this

Manner: Either By Yielding to Him The Greatest Part Of What He Contends

For, Which Consists In this, That The 'Mithos', I. E. The Design

And Conduct Of It, Is More Conducing in the Greeks To Those Ends Of

Tragedy, Which Aristotle And He Propose, Namely, To Cause Terrour And

Pity; Yet The Granting this Does Not Set The Greeks Above The English

Poets.

 

 

 

"But The Answerer Ought To Prove Two Things: First, That The Fable Is Not

The Greatest Masterpiece Of A Tragedy, Though It Be The Foundation Of It.

 

 

 

"Secondly, That Other Ends, As Suitable To The Nature Of Tragedy, May Be

Found In the English, Which Were Not In the Greek.

 

 

 

"Aristotle Places The Fable First; Not 'Quoad Dignitatem, Sed quoad

Fundamentum:' For A Fable, Never So Movingly Contrived to Those Ends Of

His, Pity And Terrour, Will Operate Nothing on Our Affections, Except The

Characters, Manners, Thoughts, And Words, Are Suitable.

 

 

 

"So That It Remains For Mr. Rymer To Prove, That In all Those, Or The

Greatest Part Of Them, We Are Inferiour To Sophocles And Euripides: And

This He Has Offered at, In some Measure; But, I Think, A Little Partially

To The Ancients.

 

 

 

"For The Fable Itself, 'Tis In the English More Adorned with Episodes,

And Larger Than In the Greek Poets; Consequently More Diverting. For, If

The Action Be But One, And That Plain, Without Any Counterturn Of Design

Or Episode, I.E. Underplot, How Can It Be So Pleasing as The English,

Which Have Both Underplot And A Turned design, Which Keeps The Audience

In Expectation Of The Catastrophe? Whereas In the Greek Poets We See

Through The Whole Design At First.

 

 

 

"For The Characters, They Are Neither So Many Nor So Various In sophocles

And Euripides, As In shakespeare And Fletcher; Only They Are More Adapted

To Those Ends Of Tragedy Which Aristotle Commends To Us, Pity And

Terrour.

 

 

 

"The Manners Flow From The Characters, And, Consequently, Must Partake Of

Their Advantages And Disadvantages.

 

 

 

"The Thoughts And Words, Which Are The Fourth And Fifth Beauties Of

Tragedy, Are Certainly More Noble And More Poetical In the English Than

In The Greek, Which Must Be Proved by Comparing them Somewhat More

Equitably Than Mr. Rymer Has Done.

 

 

 

"After All, We Need not Yield, That The English Way Is Less Conducing to

Move Pity And Terrour, Because They Often Show Virtue Oppressed and Vice

Punished; Where They Do Not Both, Or Either, They Are Not To Be Defended.

 

 

 

"And If We Should Grant That The Greeks Performed this Better, Perhaps It

May Admit Of Dispute, Whether Pity And Terrour Are Either The Prime, Or,

At Least, The Only Ends Of Tragedy.

 

 

 

"'Tis Not Enough That Aristotle Has Said So; For Aristotle Drew His

Models Of Tragedy From Sophocles And Euripides; And, If He Had Seen Ours,

Might Have Changed his Mind. And Chiefly We Have To Say (What I Hinted on

Pity And Terrour, In the Last Paragraph Save One,) That The Punishment Of

Vice And Reward Of Virtue Are The Most Adequate Ends Of Tragedy, Because

Most Conducing to Good Example Of Life. Now, Pity Is Not So Easily Raised

For A Criminal (And The Ancient Tragedy Always Represents Its Chief

Person Such) As It Is For An Innocent Man; And The Suffering of Innocence

And Punishment Of The Offender Is Of The Nature Of English Tragedy:

Contrarily, In the Greek, Innocence Is Unhappy Often, And The Offender

Escapes. Then We Are Not Touched with The Sufferings Of Any Sort Of Men

So Much As Of Lovers; And This Was Almost Unknown To The Ancients; So

That They Neither Administered poetical Justice, Of Which Mr. Rymer

Boasts, So Well As We; Neither Knew They The Best Commonplace Of Pity,

Which Is Love.

 

 

 

"He, Therefore, Unjustly Blames Us For Not Building on What The Ancients

Left Us; For It Seems, Upon Consideration Of The Premises, That We Have

Wholly Finished what They Began.

 

 

 

"My Judgment On This Piece Is This: That It Is Extremely Learned, But

That The Author Of It Is Better Read In the Greek Than In the English

Poets; That All Writers Ought To Study This Critique, As The Best Account

I Have Ever Seen Of The Ancients; That The Model Of Tragedy He Has Here

Given Is Excellent, And Extremely Correct; But That It Is Not The Only

Model Of All Tragedy, Because It Is Too Much Circumscribed in plot,

Characters, &C.; And, Lastly, That We May Be Taught Here Justly To Admire

And Imitate The Ancients, Without Giving them The Preference With This

Author, In prejudice To Our Own Country.

 

 

 

"Want Of Method In this Excellent Treatise Makes The Thoughts Of The

Author Sometimes Obscure.

 

 

 

"His Meaning, That Pity And Terrour Are To Be Moved, Is, That They Are

To Be Moved, As The Means Conducing to The Ends Of Tragedy, Which Are

Pleasure And Instruction.

 

 

 

"And These Two Ends May Be Thus Distinguished. The Chief End Of The Poet

Is To Please; For His Immediate Reputation Depends On It.

 

 

 

"The Great End Of The Poem Is To Instruct, Which Is Performed by Making

Pleasure The Vehicle Of That Instruction; For Poesy Is An Art, And All

Arts Are Made To Profit. _Rapin_.

 

 

 

"The Pity, Which The Poet Is To Labour For, Is For The Criminal, Not For

Those Or Him Whom He Has Murdered, Or Who Have Been The Occasion Of The

Tragedy. The Terrour Is Likewise In the Punishment Of The Same Criminal;

Who, If He Be Represented too Great An Offender, Will Not Be Pitied: If

Altogether Innocent, His Punishment Will Be Unjust.

 

 

 

"Another Obscurity Is, Where He Says, Sophocles Perfected tragedy By

Introducing the Third Actor; That Is, He Meant, Three Kinds Of Action;

One Company Singing, Or Speaking; Another Playing on The Musick; A Third

Dancing.

 

 

 

"To Make A True Judgment In this Competition Betwixt The Greek Poets And

The English, In tragedy:

 

 

 

"Consider, First, How Aristotle Has Defined a Tragedy. Secondly, What He

Assigns The End Of It To Be. Thirdly, What He Thinks The Beauties Of It.

Fourthly, The Means To Attain The End Proposed.

 

 

 

"Compare The Greek And English Tragick Poets Justly, And Without

Partiality, According to Those Rules.

 

 

 

"Then, Secondly, Consider Whether Aristotle Has Made A Just Definition Of

Tragedy; Of Its Parts, Of Its Ends, And Of Its Beauties; And Whether He,

Having not Seen Any Others But Those Of Sophocles, Euripides, &C. Had

Or Truly Could Determine What All The Excellencies Of Tragedy Are, And

Wherein They Consist.

 

 

 

"Next, Show In what