one or two Inftances alone, fince Cecilius has already given us a larger number.

When he commends Alexander the Great, he tells us, that "he conquer'd all Asia in "fewer Years than Ifocrates was compofing "his Panegyric." A wonderful Parallel indeed between the Conqueror of the World, and a Profeffor of Rhetoric! By your Method of Computation, Timaus, the Lacedemonians fall vaftly fhort of Ifocrates in Expedition; for they spent thirty Years in the Siege of Meffene, he only ten in writing that Panegyric.

But how does he inveigh against those Athenians, who were made Prifoners after the Defeat in Sicily. "Guilty (fays he) of Sacrilege "against Hermes, and having defaced his "Images, they were now feverely punished; "and what is fomewhat extraordinary, by "one Hermocrates the Son of Hermon, who

was paternally defcended from the injured Deity." Really, my Terentianus, I am furprized that he has not pafs'd the fame Censure on Dionyfius the Tyrant, "who for his hei

nous Impiety towards Jupiter (or Dia) and “Hercules (Heraclea) was dethroned by Dion "and Heraclides."

Why

Why should I dwell any longer upon Timaus, when even the very Hero's of good Writing, Xenophon and Plato, tho' educated in the School of Socrates, fometimes forget themfelves, and tranfgrefs thro' an Affectation of fuch pretty Flourishes? The former in his Polity of the Lacedemonians fpeaks thus: "They ❝ observe an uninterrupted Silence, and keep "their Eyes as fix'd and unmoved, as if they "were fo many Statues of Stone or Brass. "You might with Reason think them more "modeft than the Virgins in their Eyes". Amphicrates might, perhaps, be allowed to use the Term of modeft Virgins for the Pupils of the Eye; but what an Indecency is it in the great Xenophon? And what a ftrange Perfuafion, that the Pupils of the Eye fhould be in general the Seats of Modefty, when Impudence is no where more visible than in the Eyes of fome? Homer, for inftance, calls a Perfon,

*

'Drunkard! thou Dog in Eye! ||

Timaus, as if he had found a Treasure, could not pass by this infipid Turn of Xenophon, without Imitation. Accordingly he speaks thus of Agathocles: "He ravifh'd his own "Coufin, tho' married to another Perfon, and

on

*The Word noon fignifying both a Virgin and the Pupil of the Eye, has given occafion for thefe cold infipid Turns. Iliad. 1. 1. v.

225.

33

on 3 the very Day when fhe was first seen by her Husband without a Veil; a Crime, "of which none but he who had Proftitutes,

not Virgins, in his Eyes, could be guilty". Neither is the divine Plato to be acquitted of this Failure, when he says, for inftance; "Af

ter they are written, they depofit in the "Temples these Cypress Memorials †”. And in another Paffage; "As to the Walls, Megil"lus, I join in the Opinion of Sparta, to let "them fleep fupine on the Earth, and not to ❝rouze them up §". Neither does an Expreffion of Herodotus fall fhort of it, 4 when he calls beautiful Women, " the Pains of the " Eye Tho' this indeed may admit of fome Excufe, fince in his Hiftory it is spoke by drunken Barbarians. But neither in fuch a Cafe, is it prudent to hazard the Censure of Pofterity, rather than pass over a pretty Conceit.

SECTION V.

ALL thefe and fuch like Indecencies in Compofition take their Rife from the fame Original; I mean that eager Pursuit of uncommon Turns of Thought, which almoft in

Plato Legam. Terpsichore c. 18.

fatuates

Plato 6. Legum. *Herod.

fatuates the Writers of the present Age. For our Excellencies and Defects flow almost from the fame common Source. So that thofe correct and elegant, those pompous and beautiful Expreffions, of which good Writing chiefly confifts, are frequently fo diftorted, as to become the unlucky Causes and Foundations of oppofite Blemishes. This is manifeft. in Hyperboles and Plurals; but the danger attending an injudicious ufe of thefe Figures, I fhall discover in the Sequel of this Work. At present it is incumbent upon me to enquire, by what Means we may be enabled to avoid those Vices, which border fo near upon, and are so easily blended with the true Sublime.

SECTION VI.

THIS indeed may be eafily learned, if we can gain a thorough Infight and Penetration into the Nature of the true Sublime, which, to speak truly, is by no means an easy, or a ready Acquifition. To pass a right Judgment upon Compofitions is generally the Effect of a long Experience, and the laft Improvement of Study and Obfervation. But however, to speak in the way of Encouragement, a more expeditious Method to form our Tafte, may perhaps by the Affiftance of Rules be fuccessfully attempted. SEG

SECTION VII.

YOU cannot be ignorant, my dearest Friend, that in common Life there is nothing great, a Contempt of which fhews a Greatness of Soul. So Riches, Honours, Titles, Crowns, and whatever is veil'd over with a theatrical Splendor, and a gawdy Out-fide, can never be regarded as intrinfically good, in the Opinion of a wife Man, fince by defpifing fuch things no little Glory is acquired. For those Persons, who have Ability fufficient to acquire, but through an inward Generofity fcorn fuch Acquifitions, are more admired than those, who actually poffefs them.

In the fame manner we muft judge of whatever looks great both in Poetry and Profe. We must carefully examine whether it be not only Appearance. We muft diveft it of all fuperficial Pomp and Garnish. If it cannot stand this Trial, without doubt it is only swell'd and puff'd up, and it will be more for our Honour to contemn than to admire it. For the Mind is naturally elevated by the true Sublime, and fo fenfibly affected with its lively Strokes, that it fwells in Transport and an inward Pride, as if what was only heard had been the Product of its own Invention.

He