An Essay on Criticism Part 8

Dic mihi, Musa, virum, captae post tempora Trojae, Qui mores Hominum Multorum vidit & Urbes.

_Muse, sing the Man, who after_ Troy _was taken The Manners of many Men and Cities saw._

I have aimed to be literal here, the better to explain _Dacier_'s Remarks. _There are considerable Faults in this Translation_, says Monsieur _Dacier_, _he has forgotten the Epithet p???t??p??, which marks_ Ulysses_'s Character; he neglects the Circ.u.mstance that makes us most concern'd for him, ?? a?a p??????, who wandered a long Time, he says in a loose Way, after the Taking of_ Troy; _whereas, it is in_ Homer _after having ruined_ Troy. Now, if _Horace_, who had studied and admired _Homer_ so much, as to make him a Pattern for all future Writers of _Heroick_ Poems, could mistake three Times in translating two Lines, what a Discouragement must it have been to those who knew how he had succeeded in attempting it? 'Tis true, no Poet will ever undertake a Translation with more Advantage than the last Translator of _Homer_ had; for besides Eight or Ten Versions in _Latin_, _Italian_, _French_, &c. there are Three or Four in _English_; a Prose Translation by Madam _Dacier_, and a Cart-load of Comments in all Languages. I am satisfy'd so good a Versifyer as the Translator of the _Ilias_ might with those Helps, have made a very good Translation, without understanding any more _Greek_ than my self; and nothing in the World could have been more easy, than out of one Commentator to have corrected another, and to have alter'd and amended the Reading in the Name of any of the Criticks, from _Eustathius_ down to _Dacier_. I do not boast of being Master of _Greek_ enough to read _Homer_ with so much Pleasure in the Original as I could do in a good Version, and it is much to be question'd, whether every one that can read him in the Original do understand what they read: Several Ladies and Gentlemen have subscribed for _Chaucer_ of the _Christ-Church_ Edition, but I doubt very much whether they understand him or not, and whether a great many, who can read _Greek_, do really know what they read. One of the greatest Masters of the _Greek Tongue_, in our Time, has often question'd whether there were Twenty Men in _England_ who understood the Strength, Beauty, and Elegance of that Language, tho' there are a Thousand that pretend to it.

He represented it as a Study for a Man's Life, and I am confirm'd in this Judgement by what _Menage_ tells us of himself, and others upon this Subject. 'Tis well known _Menage_ wrote several Things in _Greek_, particularly some Odes in Imitation of _Anacreon_, which are not thought inferiour to the _Teian_ Poet's; _J'ay toujours fait beaucoup de cas de ceux qui savent le grec_, &c. _He always highly valued those that understood_ Greek. He does not mean to construe and pa.r.s.e it as Boys do at School, which is the most of what we find in those who pretend to be Masters of it. _Without this Language_, continues he, _a Man can't be said to be more than half Learned: Monsieur_ Cotelier, _Monsieur de_ Treville, _and Monsieur_ Bigot, _are the only Men in_ France, _who can read the_ Greek _Fathers in the Original._ I suppose the Fathers are not so difficult as _Homer_ with respect to the Tongue at least; for the Language of Poetry is peculiar to it, a made Language compounded and metaphorical. If it be so, the Translation of the _Ilias_, from the _Greek_ of _Homer_, must shew the Translator to be a greater Master of the _Greek_ Language than all the Learned Men in _France_ except Three, and all the Learned Men in _England_ except about Twenty. For my own Part, I confess, I make bold with all Kinds of Versions to help me out in Originals, and am not asham'd to do as _Menage_ did; _I own I do not understand_ Pindar _enough_, says he, _to take Pleasure in him_. I have heard _Pindar_ quoted a Hundred Times by Persons who were very far from being so modest as _Menage_, and fully satisfy'd themselves that they understood him as well as the _Graecians_, to whom he read his _Odes_, tho' I suspected the contrary. _Menage_, again; _I never read a_ Greek _Author without having before read the Translation_.

I do not insinuate any thing to depreciate the Translator of _Homer_'s excellent Performance, which, as I have observ'd, has the Merit of the most pure and harmonious Diction and Versification; but to hint a little of the Confusion of our Taste, and the Irregularity of our Judgement, which like Things for Beauties which they have not, and not for those which they have. Thus the Version of _Homer_ is lik'd as a Translation of the best _Epick_ Poem that ever was written, and not for the Softness and Sweetness of the Elegy, which are every where to be met with, as where the G.o.d _Apollo_ appears in the Shape of _Agenor_:

_Flies from the furious Chief in this Disguise, The furious Chief still follows as he flies._

This is what the _French_ call _Jeu des Mots_, playing upon Words, and what _Dryden_'s _Virgil_ is full of, tho' he knew as well as any Body that it was a Fault: _The Turn of Thoughts, and Words_, says he, _is the chief Talent of the_ French; _but the_ Epick _Poem is too stately to receive such little Ornaments_, which would have been in Perfection in a Version of _Ovid_, and very little agrees with _Waller_ in his Epistle to my Lord _Roscommon_;

_Well sounding Verses are the Charm we use, Heroick Thoughts, and Virtue to infuse: Things of deep Sense, we may in Prose unfold, But they move more, in lofty Numbers told: By the loud Trumpet, which our Courage aids, We learn that Sound, as well as Sense, perswades._

In these Things our Taste is strangely confin'd: provided the Verses run smoothly, and the Language is soft and harmonious, we think it is fine: Let the Subject be a _Boreas_, or a _Zephyr_: Nay, I do not question but the Couplet I quoted out of the _English_ _Homer_ is reckon'd one of the finest of the Version by Ladies, and Gentleman who judge like Ladies, and who are the Nine in Ten of all Readers of Poetry. I confess, I am much more pleas'd with the following Verses, as rough and rumbling as they are, because they partic.i.p.ate of the Roughness of the Thing which is imag'd to us,

_Jumping high o'er the Shrubs of the rough Ground, Rattle the clattering Cars, and the shockt Axles bound._

When such a.s.similating the Sound to the Sense is not affected 'tis very agreeable; but when there is any Force or Affectation in it, 'tis puerile and distasteful.

The following Description of the Poetical Fire, which several Poets were enflam'd with, seems to be somewhat deficient, and to want farther Explanation; especially where the Translator tells us, MILTON's Fire _is like a Furnace, but_ Shakespear_'s like a Fire from Heaven_: VIRGIL's like a _Kenning-Gla.s.s_, and _Lucan_'s and _Statius_'s like _Lightning_.

The _Kenning-Gla.s.s_ should have given me no Manner of Disturbance: But why is _Milton_'s _Celestial Fire_ compar'd to that which destroy'd the _Three Children_; the Fire of a Furnace is boisterous and voracious, consuming whatever is within its Reach. _Milton_'s Fire, like that of the Sun, warms and enlivens; and if ever any was fetch'd from Heaven, 'twas that, which shines with so much radiant Brightness throughout his whole Poem. I was the more shockt with this Misrepresentation of _Milton_'s Fire, for that there's something burlesque in the very Expression, a _Furnace_, and one can't help being jealous that this Pa.s.sage of _Hudibras_ might give the Hint for it.

Talgol, _who had long possest Enflamed Rage in glowing Breast, Which now began to rage, and burn as Implacably as Flame in Furnace._

Tho' I am very far from taking _Dryden_ to be a perfect Master of Criticism, yet I do not think his Deficiency proceeded from Want of Judgement so much as from Inconsistency and Vanity, and an Opinion that he was Tyrant of _Parna.s.sus_, and might govern by Will and Pleasure instead of Law and Reason. I have observed elsewhere that he adapts his Prefaces to the Circ.u.mstances of every Play and Poem, and very often contradicts in one what he had said in another: Nay, in his Essay on _Dramatick Poetry_, the Contradiction is within a few Lines of the a.s.sertion, as thus; _There is no Theater in the World has any Thing so absurd as the_ English Tragi-Comedy, which he confirms by this Verse;

_Atq; ursem & Pugiles media inter Carmina posc.u.n.t_.

And a little after; _I cannot but conclude, to the Honour of our Nation, that we have invented, encreased, and perfected, a more pleasant Way of Writing than was ever known to the Antients or Moderns of any Nation, which is_ Tragi-Comedy. _One of the most monstrous Inventions_, says the _Spectator_, _that ever enter'd into the Poet's Thought. An Author might as well think of weaving the Adventures of_ aeneas _and_ Hudibras _into one Poem, as of writing such a motley Piece of Mirth and Sorrow_.

Whatever others thought of Mr. _Dryden_'s Criticisms, he did himself full Justice, and seem'd to despise all other Criticks at the same Time that he laid himself most open to them. _These little Criticks do not well consider what the Work of the Poet is, and what the Graces of a Poem; the Story is the least Part of either._ Pref. to _Moch-Astrol._ Against him is every Critick, ancient and modern, from _Aristotle_ to _Rimer_, and more than all of them against him is his own self. In another Place he writes thus; _The Fable is without doubt the chief Part of a Tragedy, because it contains the Action, and the Action contains the Happiness or Misery, which is the End of Tragedy. Without the Fable the Poet, who had otherwise good Manners, Sentiments, and Diction, would no more have made a regular Poem, than a Painter would have made a good Picture that had mingled Blue, Yellow, Red, and other Colours confusedly together._ I do not mention these Things to lessen Mr. _Dryden_'s great Character as a Poet; but to shew how well Dr. _Felton_ could judge of it, when he recommended him to us as a Critick. Against Mr. _Dryden_, as to the _Story_, _is Rapin_, who he a.s.sures us would _be alone sufficient, were all other Criticks lost, to teach a-new the Rules of Writing_. Against his _Rapin_ we find the Translator of _Homer_ in an extraordinary Manner in his Notes on the Fifth _Iliad_. I hope it did not arise from any Resentment for that Jesuit's reflecting on those Poets who seem to place the Essence of Poetry in fine Language, and smooth Verse, to which he ascribes its present Decay. _As if the Art consisted only in Purity and Exactness of Language: This indeed pleased well, and was much to the Advantage of Women that had a Mind to be tampering in Writing Verse: They found it their Concern to give Vogue to this Kind of Writing, of which they were as capable as the most Part of Men: For all the Secret was no more than to make some little easy Verses, in which they were content if they cou'd dress some soft pa.s.sionate Thoughts_, &c. The most of our modern Poets being interested in this Affair, I shall say no more of it.

I have hinted more than once, that such Poets, and their Admirers, almost always mistake Affectation for Beauty, and I wonder the Translator of _Homer_ should give them the least Countenance by his Example; for I am very much deceiv'd if there is a more affected Period in the _English_ Tongue than what follows: _Nothing is more lively_ and Picturesque _than the_ Att.i.tude _of_ Patroclus _is describ'd in; The_ Pathetick _of his Speech is finely_ contrasted _by the_ Fierte _of_ Achilles. Again, _There's something inexpressibly_ riant _in the_ Compartments of _Achilles_'s Shield. In the _Spectator_, N 297. you read thus: _The last Fault which I shall take notice of in Stile, is the frequent Use of_ technical _Words or Terms of Art_. The bringing in more _French_ Words to soften and enervate our Stile is of very ill Consequence. The Translator, besides _Riant_, has also _Traits_, _ensanguin'd_, &c. I doubt, the Last is hardly a Word in any other Language, and does not at all enrich our own. _Dryden_, in an Epistle to the Earl of _Orrery_, has this Remark upon it: _I wish we might at length leave to borrow Words of another Nation, which is now a Wontonness in us, not a Necessity: But so long as some affect to speak, there will not be wanting others, who will have the Boldness to write them_.

If I might make Use of the Word _Contrast_, nothing can be more so than Affectation and Simplicity; and the Translator seems, either not to have a just Notion of the Latter, or to have a very ill Opinion of it: For without distinguishing between Simplicity and Negligence, he affirms, _That Simplicity is a Word of Disguise for a shameful unpoetical Neglect of Expression_, he makes no Exception in this general Charge. And thus one of the greatest Beauties of both Thought and Expression is rendered one of the greatest Deformities. Father _Bouhours_ a.s.serts, that _Simplicity contributes the most of any Thing to make a Stile perfect_; and again, _The Holy Scripture, the Stile of which is, at the same Time, so_ simple _and so_ sublime.

Mr. _Addison_ has treated of the n.o.ble Force of Simplicity as it relates to Thought; and in the following Verses, if I am not mistaken, the Simplicity of Expression as well as Thought is n.o.ble:

_So chear'd he his fair Spouse, and she was chear'd; But silently a gentle Tear let fall From either Eye, and wip'd them with her Hair.

Two other precious Drops, that ready stood Each in their chrystal Sluice, he 'ere they fell Kist, as the gracious Signs of sweet Remorse, And pious Awe, that fear'd to have offended._

It is certain, Simplicity, as well as other Virtues in Speech, has its Vice, and that is Meanness which falls naturally into Burlesque, as this Line:

_Then he will talk--good G.o.ds! How he will talk._

Which the _Spectator_ speaks of as inexpressibly beautiful for its Simplicity, though I think one can hardly repeat it with a grave Tone; and when I have heard it p.r.o.nounced on the Stage in a burlesque Way, as it is in _The Plot and No Plot_; it has never fail'd of a hearty Laugh and Clap. _Spectator_, N 39. _There is a Simplicity in the Words, which out-shines the utmost Pride of Expression_; and he attributes it to the Break, _good G.o.ds_! He also informs us, that the Thought is at once _natural_, _soft_, _pa.s.sionate_, and _simple_. It would have been well for us, if the learned Critick had told us in what this Thought is _simple_, in what _pa.s.sionate_, in what _soft_, and in what _natural_, there being so few Words to express it; and I cannot help thinking, that it is but one fond Rant of an amorous Woman. True it is, Simplicity is not of it self very wordy, but methinks the Break, _good G.o.ds!_ has more of the _Pa.s.sionate_ in it, than of the _Simple_ or the _Soft_; and may be as well used in Anger as in Love, as well in a Fright as in a Transport. It would have gone a good Way in explaining the different Kinds of Thought, if the judicious Author had distinguished them in this Line; for there are not so many Kinds in one Verse in all Father _Bouhour_'s _Maniere de bien penser_. I would not be mistaken here, nor be charged with Ostentation, in setting up my Judgement in Opposition to the _Spectator_'s; from whose Writings and Lessons, I have learned more than from all other Authors. I only offer it as an Instance, that the Best of our Criticks do not seem to have gone to the Bottom of this Subject. It never enter'd into the Heads of Writers and Readers in General, that Thought was any Thing but Thought, or Stile any Thing but Stile, or that there were any other Terms or Distinctions for them, but the Good and the Bad, as is already hinted; nor were they at all sensible of my Lord _Roscommon_'s Meaning in these Verses:

_Whose incoherent Stile, like sick Men's Dreams, Varies all Shapes, and mixes all Extreams._

The same may be said of Thought.

I want very much to be informed, whether there is a perfect Agreement of Thought in these several Quotations out of _Homer_, or how they must be understood so as not to contradict one another. The first Couplet is against _Wine_:

_Inflaming Wine, pernicious to Mankind, Unnerves the Limbs, and dulls the n.o.ble Mind._

The next Couplet is for Wine:

_With_ Thracian _Wines recruit thy honour'd Guests, For happy Counsels flow from sober Feasts._

What follows taken out of the _Notes_ upon _Homer_ is against Wine.

_What_ Hector _says against Wine in the two first Verses has a great Deal of Truth in it: It is a vulgar Mistake to imagine the Use of Wine, either raises the Spirits or encreases Strength._

The next Words are for Wine:

_Then with a plenteous Draught refresh his Soul, And draw new Spirits from the generous Bowl._

Again for Wine:

_For Strength consists in Spirits and in Blood, And those are ow'd to generous Wine and Food._

And the Translator's Observation, that the moderate Use of Wine does not raise the Spirits, is not the truer, because it is said by _Hector_, the Son of _Priam_. Father _Sirmond_, a sober reverend as well as learned Priest says quite another Thing:

Si bene commemini causae sint quinque bibendi, Hospitis Adventus, praesens Sitis, atque futura, Et Vini bonitas, & quaelibet altera Causa.

_If all be true_, &c.

Whoever reads an Author with Exactness cannot fail of meeting with several Pa.s.sages, where Self-love, Humour, Party, or Complexion, are uppermost. Thus a good Catholick will never have a good Word for a Heretick, nor a _Puritan_ for a _Papist_. Dr. _Ch----_ will never speak well of Punch, nor Dr. _Mand----_ of Watergruel. He who writes well is jealous of him who judges well, and he who judges well envies him who writes well. The _Swifts_ turn every Thing into Grimace, the _Whistons_ into Mathematicks, and whatever touches an Author's own Taste, he is always recommending to his Reader.

We all remember how the Duke of _Malborough_ was treated by the blessed Peace-makers for beating their Friends the _French_. _Delight in War_ was a Mark set upon him in a most solemn Manner, and a memorable Instance of our Wisdom and Grat.i.tude. There is a Paraphrase upon it in the Version of _Homer_; and when the Application is made will turn the _Epick_ into Satyr.

_Curs'd is the Man, and void of Law and Right, Unworthy Property, unworthy Light; Unfit for publick Rule or private Care, That Wretch, that Monster who delights in War; Whose l.u.s.t is Murder, and whose horrid Joy To tear his Country_, &c.

To _tear_ a Country is very much in Heroicks. The Image of _Discord_ has good Lines in it; but methinks they would not have been the Worse, if they had been heated a little in _Milton_'s Furnace:

_Discord, dire Sister of the slaughtering Pow'r, Small at her Birth,_ but rising ev'ry Hour; _While scarce the Skies her horrid Head can bound, She stalks on Earth, and_ shapes _the World around: The Nations bleed, where e'er her Steps she turns, The Groan still deepens, and the Combat burns._

I refer to the Judgement of the Reader, whether the following Image of Discord taken from a modern burlesque Poem, has not more of the Epick in it:

Non tulit invisae speciem Discordia Pacis, Ilicet horrentes ad fibila concitat hydros, Ulcisci jubet Ira nefas. Spumantia felle Ora tument, micat ex oculis ardentibus Ignis.

_Discord enrag'd at the Approach of Peace Made her Snakes hiss, and urg'd to dire Revenge.

Her foaming Mouth of horrid Poison full, From her red Eyes she darted Flakes of Fire._

The new invented Words made use of by the Translator of _Homer_ are well enough chosen, and well warranted by the Practice of the greatest Poets, such as _Moveless_, _Instarr'd_, _Inurn'd_, _Conglobe_, _Deathful_, _Fountful_, _Lengthful_:

_But if you write of Things abstruse and new, Words of your own inventing may be us'd._ Roscom.

I have mention'd some of the Helps which were prepared for the Translator of the _Ilias_. But Dr. _Felton_ informs us, Dr. _Busby_ would not allow of Notes; a very curious Remark That. It is not impossible, but Dr. _Busby_ himself might have read and taught _Homer_ 50 Years as a _Grammarian_, without understanding him as a Poet. A Portion of that Genius which inspir'd the Author is requisite for the Reader to see all the Beauties that are in a Poem. I believe the Lord _Roscommon_'s Judgement will be preferred to that of both those Doctors: