Series Four _Men, Manners and Critics_

 No. 2

 Anonymous, "Of Genius", in _The Occasional Paper_, Volume III, Number 10 (1719)

 and

 Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720)

 With an Introduction by Gretchen Graf Pahl

 The Augustan Reprint Society March, 1949 _Price: One Dollar_

 _GENERAL EDITORS_

 RICHARD C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_

 EDWARD NILES HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_

 H. T. SWEDENBERG, JR. , _University of California, Los Angeles_

 _ASSISTANT EDITOR_

 W. EARL BRITTON, _University of Michigan_

 _ADVISORY EDITORS_

 EMMETT L. AVERY, _State College of Washington_

 BENJAMIN BOYCE, _University of Nebraska_

 LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, _University of Michigan_

 CLEANTH BROOKS, _Yale University_

 JAMES L. CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_

 ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_

 SAMUEL H. MONK, _University of Minnesota_

 ERNEST MOSSNER, _University of Texas_

 JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary College, London_

 Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author by Edwards Brothers, Inc. Ann Arbor, Michigan, U. S. A. 

[Transcriber's Note: Some of the latin footnotes and the errata weredifficult or impossible to read. These are annotated. ]

 INTRODUCTION

The anonymous essay "Of Genius, " which appeared in the_Occasional Paper_ of 1719, still considers "genius" largely amatter of aptitude or talent, and applies the term to the"mechanick" as well as the fine arts. The work is, in fact, essentially a pamphlet on education. The author's main concern istraining, and study, and conscious endeavor. Naturally enough, his highest praise--even where poetry is in question--is reservedfor those solid Augustan virtues of "judgment" and "good sense. "

And yet the pamphlet reveals some of the tangled roots from whichthe later concept of the "original" or "primitive" genius grew. For here are two prerequisites of that later, more extravagantconcept. One is the author's positive delight in the infinitedifferences of human temperaments and talents--a delight fromwhich might spring the preference for original or unique works ofart. The other is his conviction that there is somethingnecessary and foreordained about those differences: a convictionessential to faith in the artist who is apparently at the mercyof a genius beyond his own control. The importance of this latterbelief was long ago indicated in Paul Kaufman's "Heralds ofOriginal Genius. "

While his tone is perhaps more exuberant than that of most of hisimmediate contemporaries, there is nothing particularly new inour author's interest in those aspects of human nature whichrender a man different from his fellows. It is true that the mainstress of neoclassical thought had rested on the fundamentallikeness of all men in all ages, and had sought an ideal anduniversal norm in morals, conduct, and art. But there had alwaysbeen counter currents making for a recognition of the inescapabledifferences among various races and individuals. Such deviationswere often merely tolerated, but toward the close of theseventeenth century more and more voices had praised humandiversity. England, in particular, began to take notice of thenumber of "originals" abounding in the land. 

At least as old as the delight in human differences was thebelief in the foreordained nature of at least those differencesresulting in specific vocational aptitudes. This is theconviction that each man has at birth--innately and inevitably--apeculiar "bent" for some particular contribution to humansociety. Environment is not ignored by the man who wrote "OfGenius, " for he insists that each man's bent may be greatlydeveloped by favorable circumstances and proper education, and, conversely, that it may be entirely frustrated by unpropitiouscircumstances or wilful neglect. But in no way can a man's inborntalent for one thing be converted to a talent for anything else. 

In the works of many Augustan writers, too, it is easy to see howthe enthusiasm for individualism, later to become one of thehallmarks of romanticism, actually sprang from an earlier faithin a God-directed universe of law and order. There is a kind ofuniversal law of supply and demand, and the argument is simplythat each link in the human chain, like those in the animate andinanimate worlds above and below it, is predestined to a specificfunction for the better ordering of the whole. Lewis Maidwell, for instance, still employs the medieval and Renaissance analogyof the correspondence between the human body and the socialorganism (_An Essay upon the Necessity and Excellency ofEducation_):

 Upon Consideration we find this Difference of Tempers to arise from Providence, and the Law of the Creation, and to be most Evident in al Irrational, and Inanimat Beings ... One Man is no more design'd for Al Arts, than Al Arts for One Man. We are born Confaederats, mutually to help One another, therefor appropriated in the Body Politic, to this, or that Busyness, as our Members are in the Natural to perform their separat Offices. 

This same comparison between the body politic and the body humanoccurs in the essay of 1719, and even the author's chief analogydrawn from musical harmony bears with it some of the flavor of anolder system of universal correspondences. His comparison of theforce of genius to the pull of gravity, however, evokes a newerpicture. Yet it is a picture no less orderly and one from whichthe preordained function of each individual could be just aslogically derived. And his rhapsodic praise of the infinitediversity of human temperaments is based on that favoritecomparison with natural scenery and that familiar canon ofneoclassical esthetics: ordered variety within unity, whether itbe in nature or in art. 

The author of the pamphlet of 1719 introduces another refinementon the idea of an inborn bent or genius. A man is born not onlywith a peculiar aptitude for the vocation of writing, but with apeculiar aptitude for a particular _style_ of writing. Some suchaptitude had presumably resulted in that individuality of style, that particular "character, " which 17th-century Biblical criticswere busily searching out in each of the writers of Scripture. 

Individuality or originality in the form or plan of a work ofart, however, was quite another thing, and praise of it far morerare. Yet there had always been protests against the impositionof a universal classical standard, and our author's insistencethat some few geniuses have the right to discard the "Rules ofArt" and all such "Leading-strings" follows a well-worn path ofreasoning. His scientific analogy, drawn from those naturalphilosophers who had cast off the yoke of Aristotle and all"other Mens Light, " is one which had appeared at least as earlyas 1661 in Robert Boyle's _Considerations Touching the Style ofHoly Scripture_. It had been reiterated by Dryden and severalothers who refused to recognize an _ipse dixit_ in letters anymore than in science. 

It must be noted, however, that this rejection of authority for afew rare individuals in no way constitutes a rejection of reasonor conscious art. The genius has the right to cast off thefetters only after he has well studied them. Only in one instancedoes our author waver toward another conception. This is when hepauses to echo Rowe's preface to Shakespeare and Addison's famous_Spectator_ no. 160. Then indeed he boasts that England has hadmany "Originals" who, "without the help of Learning, by the meerForce of natural Ability, have produc'd Works which were theDelight of their own Times, and have been the Wonder ofPosterity. " But when he doubts whether learning would have helpedor "spoiled" them, it is hard to escape the conclusion that he isstill poised on the horns of the typical neoclassical antithesis:that supposed enmity between reason, which was generally thoughtto create the form of the poem, and the emotions and imagination, which were considered largely responsible for its style. 

Only when the admiration for such emotional and imaginativequalities should outweigh the desire for symmetrical form; when"primitive" literature should be preferred to Virgil and Horace;and when this preference should be joined with a belief in thediversity and fatality of literary bents--only then could theconcept of original genius burst into full bloom. 

In Aaron Hill's preface to the paraphrase of Genesis, publishedin 1720, we find no preoccupation with the fatality oftemperament and style. But we do find a rising discontent withthe emptiness and restraint of much contemporary verse, and avery real preference for a more meaningful and a more emotionaland imaginative poetry. We find, in fact, a genuine appreciationfor the poetry of the Old Testament--a poetry which Biblicalscholars like Le Clerc were already viewing as the product ofuntrained primitives. 

Hill was not alone in his admiration for Biblical style, for thepraise of the "unclassical" poetry of the Bible, which had begunin the Renaissance, had swelled rather than diminished during theneoclassical age. By the second decade of the 18th century suchAugustans as Dennis, Gildon, and Pope were crying up itsbeauties. Not all agreed, of course, on just what those beautieswere. And still less did they agree on the extent to whichcontemporary poetry should imitate them. 

One thing upon which almost all would have agreed, however, wasthe adoption of the historical point of view in the approach toHebrew poetry. Yet many of Hill's predecessors had stopped shortwith the historical justification. Blackmore, for instance, hadcondemned as bigots and sectarians all those who denied that theHebrew way was as great as the classical. He had pronounced it amere accident of fate that modern poetry of Western Europe wasmodeled on that of Greece and Rome rather than on that of ancientIsrael. But he had been perfectly willing to accept thatfate--and to remodel the form and style of the book of Job onwhat he considered the pattern of the classical epic. 

Hill is as far as most of his contemporaries from appreciatingsuch a literal translation as the King James Version. On theother hand, he is one of a small group of critics who werebeginning to see that at least certain aspects of Biblical stylewere of universal appeal; that they might be as effectivepsychologically for the modern Englishman as for the ancient Jew. And he sees in this collection of ancient Oriental literature acorrective for some of the worst tendencies of a degeneratecontemporary poetry. 

Hill's attack upon the current preoccupation with form andpolish, and his contempt for mere smoothness, for the paddedredundancy of Addison and the elaborate rhetoric of Trapp, areall part of a campaign waged by a small group of critics to makepoetry once again a vehicle of the very highest truth. Heinsists, too, that great thought cannot be contained within theuntroubled cadences of the heroic couplet. His own preference ledto the freer, though currently unfashionable, Pindaric, theirregularity of which seemed justified by Biblical example, fordespite a century and a half of study and speculation the secretof Biblical verse had not been solved and to most critics eventhe Psalms appeared devoid of any pattern. Indeed, Cowley haddeclared that in their freedom of structure and abruptness oftransition the odes of Pindar were like nothing so much as thepoetry of Israel. 

In addition, Hill would have the modern poet profit by anotherquality of Biblical style: its magic combination of a"magnificent Plainness" with the "Spirit of Imagery. " This is theHebrew virtue of concrete suggestiveness, so highly prized by20th-century critics and so alien to the generalized abstractionsand the explicit clarity of much 18th-century poetry. 

In consonance with those who believed poetry best communicatedtruth because it appealed to man's senses and emotions as well asto his logical faculty, Hill praises those "pictur'd Meanings ofPoetry" which "enflame a Reader's Will, and bind down hisAttention. " Yet his analysis of Trapp's metaphorical expansionsof Biblical imagery reveals that Hill does not like detaileddescriptions or long-drawn-out comparisons. Instead, he admiresthe Hebrew ability to spring the imagination with a few vividlyconcrete details. Prior to Hill one can find, in a fewparaphrasers and critics like Denham and Lamy, signs of anappreciation of the concrete suggestiveness of the Bible, butmost of the hundreds of paraphrasers had felt it desirable toexpand Biblical images to beautify and clarify them. Hill wasapparently the first to prove the esthetic loss in such apractice by an analysis of particular paraphrastic expansions. 

Despite his theory, however, Hill's own paraphrase seems almostas artificial and un-Biblical as those he condemns. He oftenforgets the principles he preaches. But even in his preface thereis evident a blind spot that is a mark of his age. His falseideas of decorum, admiration for Milton, and approval of Dennis'sinterpretation of the sublime as the "vast" and the "terrible, "all lead him to condemn the "low" or the familiar. And his ownefforts to "raise" both his language and his comparisons to suitthe "high" Biblical subject, result in personifications, compoundepithets, and a Miltonic vocabulary, by which the very simplicityhe himself found in the Bible is destroyed. 

Another decade was to pass before John Husbands would demonstratea clear appreciation for the true simplicity of the Bible andpraise its "penmen" in terms close to those employed to describeoriginal genius. 

 Gretchen Graf Pahl

 Pomona College

The essay "Of Genius, " from the _Occasional Paper_ (1719), isreproduced from a copy in the New York Public Library. Thetypescript of Aaron Hill's preface is based on a copy in theHenry E. Huntington Library. Both works are used withpermission. 

 THE

 OCCASIONAL PAPER. 

 VOL. III. NUMB. X. 

 OF

 GENIUS. 

 The Cartesian _Categories are contain'd in these two Verses, _

 Mens, mensura, quies, motus, positura, Figura, Sunt, cum materia, cunctarum Exordia rerum. 

_The Spiritual Nature_, Mens, _is at the head of All. It ought to be look'd on here, as a Transcendent Nature, _ quæ vagatur per omnes Categorias. 

 Bayle's Diction. _on the Heathen Doctrine of many_ Genij. See _CAINITES_. 

 _LONDON_:

 Printed for EM. MATTHEWS at the _Bible_ in _Pater-Noster-Row_; J. ROBERTS, in _Warwick-Lane_; J. HARRISON, under the _Royal Exchange_; and A. DODD, without _Temple-Bar_. MDCCXIX. 

 OF

 GENIUS. 

It is a Matter of common Observation, that there is a vastVariety in the Bent of Mens Minds. Some have a Taste of one Wayof Living, some of another; some have a Turn for one kind ofEmployment, others for what is quite different. Whether this befrom the Constitution of the Mind itself, as some Soils are moreapt to produce some Plants and Herbs than others; or from theLaws of Union between the Body and Mind, as some Climates aremore kindly to nurse particular Vegetables than others; or fromthe immediate Impulse of that Power which governs the World, isnot so easy to determine. 

We ascribe this to a difference of _Genius_ amongst Men. _Genius_was a Deity worshipped by the Ancient Idolaters: Sometimes as theGod of _Nature_; sometimes as the God of a particular _City_ or_Country_, or _Fountain_, or _Wood_, or the like; sometimes asthe Guardian and Director of a _single Person. _

 Exuitur, _Geniumq; meum_ prostratus adorat. Propert. _l_. 4. _El. _ 9 V. 43. 

The Heathens had a Notion, that every Man upon his Birth wasgiven up to the[A] Conduct of some invisible Being, who was toform his Mind, and govern and direct his Life. This _Being_ the_Greeks_ called[B] [Greek: Daimôn or Daimonion]; the _Latins, Genius_. Some of them suppos'd a[D] Pair of _Genij_ were toattend every _Man_ from his Birth; one Good, always putting himon the Practice of Virtue; the other Bad, prompting him to avicious Behaviour; and according as their several Suggestionswere most attended to, the Man became either Virtuous or Viciousin his Inclinations: And from this Influence, which the _Genius_was suppos'd to have towards forming the Mind, the Word was bydegrees made to stand for the Inclination itself. Hence[E]_indulgere Genio_ with the _Latins_ signifies, to give Scope toInclination, and more commonly to what is none of the best. Onthe other Hand, [F]_Defraudare Genium_, signifies to deny Naturewhat it craves. 

 [A] _Ferunt Theologi, in lucem editis Hominibus cunctis, Salva firmitate fatali, bujusmodi quedam, velut actus vectura, numina Sociari: Admodum tamen paucissimis visa, quos multiplices auxere virtutes. Idque & Oracula & Autores docuerunt praclari_. Ammian Marcel Lib. 21. 

 [B] [Greek: Hapanti Daimôn andri symparistatai Euthys genomenô mystagôgos tou biou. Menan]

 [C] Scit Genius Natale comes, qui temperat Astrum, Nature Deus Humana. Horat. [Transcriber's Note: This footnote is not seen in the text. ]

 [D] _Volunt unicuique Genium appositum Damonem benum & malum, hoc est rationem qua ad meliora semper boriatur, & libidinem qua ad pejora, hic est Larva & Genius malus, ille bonus Genius & Lar. _ Serv. In Virgil, Lib. 6. V. 743. 

 [E] _Indulge Genio: carpamus dulcia_. Pers. Sat. 5. 

 [F] _Suum defraudans Genium. _ Terent. Phorm. Act 1. 

But a _Genius_ in common Acceptation amongst _us_, doth notbarely answer to this Sense. The _Pondus Animæ_ is to be takeninto its Meaning, as well as the bare Inclination; as Gravitationin a Body (to which this bears great Resemblance) doth not barelyimply a determination of its Motion towards a certain Center, butthe _Vis_ or Force with which it is carried forward; and so the_English_ Word _Genius_, answers to the same _Latin_ Word, and_Ingenium_ together. [G]_Ingenium_ is the _Vis ingenita_, thenatural Force or Power with which every Being is indued; andthis, together with the particular Inclination of the Mind, towards any Business, or Study, or Way of Life, is what we meanby a _Genius_. Both are necessary to make a Man shine in anyStation or Employment. Nothing considerable can be done againstthe Grain, or as the _Latins_ express it, _invita Minerva_, inspite of Power and Inclination, "Forc'd Studies, says[H]_Seneca_, will never answer: The Labour is in vain where Naturerecoils. " Indeed, where the Inclination towards any Thing isstrong, Diligence and Application will in a great Measure supplythe Defect of natural Abilities: But then only is in a finish'd_Genius_, when with a strong Inclination there is a dueProportion of Force and Vigour in the Mind to pursue it. 

 [G] _Ingenium quasi intus genitum_. 

 [H] _Male respondent ingenia coacta; reluctante naturâ irritus Labor est. _

There is a vast Variety of these Inclinations among Mankind. Somethere are who have no bent to Business at all; but, if they couldindulge Inclination, would doze out Life in perpetual Sloth andInactivity: Others can't be altogether Idle, but incline only totrifling and useless Employments, or such as are altogether outof Character. Both these sorts of Men are properly good fornothing: They just live, and help to[I] consume the Products ofthe Earth, but answer no valuable End of Living, out ofInclination I mean; Providence and good Government have sometimesmade them serviceable against it. 

 [I] _Fruges consumere nati_. Horat. 

The better, and in Truth only valuable, Part of Mankind, have aTurn for one sort of Business or other, but with great variety ofTaste. Some are addicted to deep Thought and Contemplation: Someto the abstracted Speculations of Metaphysicks; some to theevident Demonstrations of the Mathematicks; some to the Historyof Nature, built upon true Narration, or accurate Observationsand Experiments: Some to the Invention of _Hypotheses_, to solvethe various _Phenomena_. Some affect the study of Languages, Criticism, Oratory, Poetry, and such like Studies. Some have aTaste for Musick, some for History and those Sciences which musthelp to Accuracy in it: Some have Heads turned for Politicks, andothers for Wars. Some few there are of such quick and strongFaculties, as to grasp at every thing, and who have made a veryeminent Figure in several Professions at once. We have known inour Days the same Men learned in the Laws, acute Philosophers, and deep Divines: We have known others at once eloquent Orators, brave Soldiers, and finished Statesmen. But these Instances arerare. 

The more general Inclination among Men is to some MechanicalBusiness. Of this there is most general Use for the Purposes ofHuman Life, and it needs most Hands to carry it on. The bulk ofMankind seem turned for some or other of these Employments, andmake them their Choice; and were not such a multiplicity of Handsengaged in them, great part of the Conveniencies of Human Lifewould be wanting. But even the Multitude of these Employmentsleaves room for great variety of Inclinations, and for different_Genij_, to display and exert themselves. 

This is an admirable and wise Provision to answer every End andOccasion of Mankind, for a sure and harmonious Concurrence ofMens Actions to all the necessary and useful Affairs of theWorld. When in very different Ways, but with equal Pleasure andApplication, they contribute to the Order and Service of thewhole. Mr. _Dryden_ has given an Hint, how we may form abeautiful and pleasing Idea of this from the Powers of Musick, that arise from the Variety and artful Composition of Sounds. 

 _From Harmony, from Heavenly Harmony, This Universal Frame began. From Harmony to Harmony, Thro' all the Compass of the Notes it ran, The Diapasm closing full in Man. _

There seems to be a wonderful Likeness in the natural Make ofMens Minds to the various Tones and Measures of Sounds; and intheir Inclinations and most pleasing Tastes to the several Stylesand Manners of Musick. Something there is in the Mind, of alikeComposition, that is easily touch'd by the kindred Harmony ofMusick, _For Man may justly tuneful Strains admire, His Soul is Musick, and his Breast a Lyre. _

We have all the Materials of Musick in the Tones and Measure. Forthe infinite Variety Composition admits of, can be nothing else, but higher or lower Tones, stronger or softer Sounds, with aslower or swifter Motion. The Artist, by an harmonious Mixtureof these, makes the Musick either strong and martial, brisk andairy, grave and solemn, or soft and moving. 

There seems to be in Man a Composition of natural Powers andCapacities, not unlike to these. From hence I would take thefirst Original of their distinguishing _Genij_. The Words bywhich they are usually explain'd, have a manifest Allusionhereto. Thus we say of some Men, they have a brisk and airy_Genius_; of others, they have a strong and active _Genius_, aquick and lively Spirit, a grave and solemn Temper, and the like. The different readiness of Apprehension, strength of Judgment, vivacity of Fancy and Imagination, with a more or less activeDisposition, and the several Mixtures of which these Powers arecapable, are sufficient to explain this. They may shew us howsome have a particular _Genius_ for Wit and Humour, others forThought and Speculation. Whence it is, some love a constant andpersevering Application to whatever they undertake; and othersare continually jumping from one Thing to another, withoutfinishing any thing at all. 

But we do not only consider in Musick these Materials, as I maycall them, of which it is composed; but also the Style andManner. This diversifies the _Genius_ of the Composer, andproduces the most sensible and touching Difference. There is inall Musick the natural difference of Tone and Measure. They areto be found in the most vulgar Compositions of a Jig or anHornpipe. But it is a full Knowledge of the Force and Power ofSounds, and a judicial Application of them to the severalIntentions of Musick, that forms the Style of a _Purcel_ or_Corelli_. This is owing to successive Improvements. The Ear isformed to an elegant Judgment by Degrees. What is harsh andharmonious is discovered and corrected. By many Advantages, someat last come to find out what, in the whole Compass of Sounds, ismost soft and touching, most brisk and enlivening, most lofty andelevating. So that whatever the Artist intends, whether to set anAir, or compose a _Te Deum_, he does either, with an equal_Genius_, that is, with equal Propriety and Elegance. Thus longago, Timotheus _to his breathing flute, and sounding Lyre, Could swell the Soul to Rage, or kindle soft Desire. _ And, _Thus_ David'_s Lyre did_ Saul'_s wild Rage controul, And tune the harsh Disorders of his Soul. _

This may direct us to another Cause, from whence a _Genius_arises: A _Genius_ that is formed and acquired. For the Turn thatEducation, Company, Business, the Taste of the Age, and aboveall, Principles of vitious or virtuous Manners, give to a Man'snatural Capacities, is what chiefly forms his _Genius_. Thus wesay of some, they have a rude unpolish'd _Genius_; of others, they have a fine, polite _Genius_. The manner of applying thenatural Powers of the Mind, is what alone may produce the mostdifferent and opposite _Genij_. Libertine Principles, andVirtuous Morals, may form the Genius of a _Rake_, from the samenatural Capacity, out of which Virtuous Principles might haveform'd an _Hero_. 

There is certainly in our natural Capacities themselves, aFitness for some Things, and Unfitness for others. Thus whatevergreat Capacities a Man may have, if he is naturally timorous, ora Coward, he never can have a Warlike _Genius_. If a Man has nota good Judgment, how great soever his Wit may be, or polite hisManners, he never will have the _Genius_ of a Statesman. Just asstrong Sounds and brisk Measures can never touch the softerPassions. Yet as the Art and Skill of the Composer, is requiredto the _Genius_ of Musick, so is a Knowledge of the Force andPower of the natural Capacity, and a judicious Application of itto the best and most proper Purposes, what forms a _Genius_ forany Thing. This is the effect of Care, Experience and a rightImprovement of every Advantage that offers. On this Observation_Horace_ founded his Rules for a Poetical _Genius_. 

 _Versate diu quid sere recusent Quid valeant humeri. _ And, _Ego nec studium sine divite vena, Nec rude quid profit video ingenium. _

 _To speak my Thoughts, I hardly know What witless Art, or artless Wit can do. _

The same Observation in another kind is elegantly described byMr. _Waller_. 

 _Great_ Julius _on the Mountains bred, A Flock perhaps, or Herd had led. He that the World subdued, had been But the best Wrestler on the Green. 'Tis Art and Knowledge that draw forth The hidden Seeds of Native Worth. They blow those Sparks, and make 'em rise Into such Flames as touch the Skies. _

The High and Martial Spirit of _Casar_ would have inclined andfitted him, to gain the Prize of Wrestling above any CountrySport. But it was the Circumstance of his own Birth and Fortune, the State and Condition of the Commonwealth, and the Concurrenceof many other Advantages, which he improv'd with great Care andApplication, that made him a finish'd _Genius_, both in Arms andPolicy. 

There is yet another Thing of Consequence to a true _Genius_ inMusick. A Knowledge of the Compass and peculiar Advantages ofeach several Instrument. For the same Composition will verydifferently touch both the Ear and the Mind, as perform'd by aFlute, or Trumpet, an Organ, or a Violin. A difference of which, all discern by the Ear, but which requires a judiciousObservation in the Composer. Mr. _Hughes_ has thus express'dtheir different Powers. 

 _Let the Trumpet's shrill Voice, And the Drum's thundering Noise Rouse every dull Mortal from Sorrow profound. _And_, Proceed, sweet Charmer of the Ear, Proceed, and through the mellow Flute, The moving Lyre, And Solitary Lute, Melting Airs, soft Joys inspire, Airs for drooping Hope to hear. _And again, _Now, let the sprightly Violin A louder Strain begin: And now, Let the deep mouth'd Organ blow, Swell it high and Sink it low. Hark! how the Treble and the Base In wanton Fuges each other chase, And swift Divisions run their Airy Race. Thro' all the travers'd Scale they fly, In winding Labyrinths of Harmony, By turns They rise and fall, by Turns we live and die. _

One might not unfitly compare to this difference of Instruments, the different Make and Constitution of Mens Bodies, with theInfluence they have, and the Impression they make on their Minds, Passions and Actions. From hence alone they may know much, how todirect their own proper Capacities, and how they are to suit eachPerson they are to use, to the most proper Employment. As Mr. _Pope_ Speaks of the Instruments of Musick. 

 _In a sadly pleasing Strain, Let the warbling Lute complain. Let the loud Trumpet sound, Till the Roofs all around The shrill Echo's rebound. While in more lengthen'd Notes and slow, The deep, majestick, solemn Organs blow. _

Harmony, in its most restrain'd Sense, is the apt and agreeablemixture of various Sounds. Such a Composition of them as isfitted to please the Ear. But every thing in a more extendedSense is harmonious, where there is a variety of Things dispos'dand mix'd in such apt and agreeable Manner. Things may indeed bethrown together in a Crowd, without Order or Art. And then everything appears in Confusion, disagreeable and apt to disgust. Butabsolute Uniformity will give little more Pleasure than meerConfusion. To be ever harping on one String, though it be touch'dby the most Masterly Hand, will give little more Entertainment tothe Ear, than the most confused and discordant variety of Soundsmingled by the Hand of a meer Bungler. To have the Eye for everfix'd on one beautiful Object, would be apt to abate theSatisfaction, at least in our present State. Variety relieves andrefreshes. It is so in the natural World. Hills and Valleys, Woods and Pasture, Seas and Shores, not only diversify theProspect, but give much more Entertainment to the Eye, that cansuccessively go from one to the other, than any of them couldsingly do. And could we see into all the Conveniencies of things, how well they are fitted to each other, and the common Purposesof all, we shou'd find that the Diversity is as usefull as it isagreeable. 

It is the same also with the World of Mankind. If all had a likeTurn or Cast of Mind, and all were bent upon one Business or wayof Living, it would spoil much of the present Harmony of theWorld, and be a manifest Inconvenience to the Publick. Perhapsone Part of Learning, or Method of Business, would be throughlycultivated and improved; but how many others must be neglected, or remain defective? And it would create Jealousy and Uneasinessamong themselves. As Men are forc'd to justle in a Crowd. Forthere would not be sufficient Scope for every one to exert anddisplay himself, nor so much Room for many to excel, when allmust do it in one Way. Variety of Inclination and Capacity is anadmirable Means of common Benefit. It opens a wide Field forService to Others, and gives great Advantage to Mens ownImprovement. 

And it is surprising to consider how great this Diversity is. Itis almost as various as that of bodily Features and Complexion. There is no Instance of any kind of Learning or Business; anyThing relating to the Necessity or Delight of Life; not themeanest Office or the hardest Labour, but some or other are foundto answer the different Purposes of each. They are carriedthrough all the Difficulties in their several Ways, by the meerForce of a _Genius_: And attempt and achieve that, with an highrelish of Pleasure, which would give the greatest Disgust toothers and utterly discourage them. This stirs up an usefulEmulation, and gives full Scope for every one to show Himself andappear to advantage. And it is certainly for the Beauty andAdvantage of the Body. As many Hands employed in different Waysabout some noble Building, yet all help either to secure itsStrength, or furnish out all the Convenience, or give a State andGrandeur to it. 

The Wisdom and Beauty of Providence appear at once in thisVariety and Distinction of Powers and Inclinations among Mankind. It is a very wise and a necessary Provision for the common Good, and the Advantage and Pleasure of particular Men. It answers toall the Ends and Occasions of Mankind. They are in this Way madehelpful to one another, and capable of serving Themselves, andthat without much trouble or fatigue. Business by this Meansbecomes a Pleasure. The greatest Labours and Cares are easy andentertaining to Him who pursues his _Genius_. Inclination stillurges the Man on: Obstacles and Oppositions only sharpen hisAppetite, and put Him upon summoning all his Powers, that He mayexert Himself to the uttermost, and get over his Difficulties. All the several Arts and Sciences, and all the Improvements madein them from Time to Time; all the different Offices andEmployments of humane Life, are owing to this variety of Powersand Inclinations among Men. And is it not obvious to every Eyehow much of the Conveniences and Comforts of humane Life springfrom these Originals? It is a glorious Display and mostconvincing Proof of the Interest of Providence in humane Affairs, and the Wisdom of its Conduct, to fit Things in this Manner totheir proper Uses and Ends. And so to _sort_ Mankind, and suittheir Talents and Inclinations, that all may contribute somewhatto the Publick Good, and hardly one Member of the whole Body belost in the Reckoning, useless to it self, or unserviceable tothe Body. Were it otherwise, what large Tracts of humane Affairswould lie perfectly waste and uncultivated? Whereas now all theParts of humane Learning and Life lie open to Improvement, andsome or other is fitted by Nature, and dispos'd by Inclination, to help towards it. 

And as Providence gives the Hint, Men should take it, and followthe Conduct of _Genius_ in the Course of their Studies, and Wayof Employment in the World; and in the Education and Disposal oftheir Children. Men too often in this Case consult their ownHumour and Convenience, not the Capacity and Inclination of theChild: And are governed by some or other external Circumstance, or lower Consideration; as, what they shall give with them, or towhom to commit the Care of them, &c. Thus they after contriveunsuitable Marriages, on the single View of worldly Advantage. From this Cause proceed fatal Effects, and many young Men ofgreat Hopes, and good Capacities, miscarry in the after Conductof Life, and prove useless or mischievous to the World. They turnoff from a disagreeable Employment, and run into Idleness andExtravagance. If People better consider'd the peculiar _Genius_or proper Talents of their Children, and took their Measures ofTreatment and Disposal thence, we should certainly findanswerable Improvements and lasting good Effects. The severalKinds of Learning and Business would come to be more advanced, and the Lives of Men become more useful and significant to theWorld. 

I have known a large Family of Children, with so remarkable aDiversity of _Genius_, as to be a little Epitome of Mankind. Somestudious and thoughtful, and naturally inclin'd to _Books_ and_Learning_; Others diligent and ambitious, and disposed to_Business_ and rising in the World. Some bold and enterprizing, and loved nothing so well as the _Camp_ and the _Field_; or sodaring and unconfined, that nothing would satisfy but _going_ to_Sea_ and visiting Foreign Parts. Some have been gay and airy, Others solid and retired. Some curious and Observers of otherMen; Others open and careless. In short, their Capacities havebeen as various as their Natural Tempers or Moral Dispositions. 

Now what a Blunder would be committed in the Education of such aFamily, if, with this different Turn of Mind in the Children, there should be no difference made in the Management of them, ortheir Disposal in the World. If all should be put into one Wayof Life, or brought up to one Business. Or if in the Choice ofEmployment for Them, their several Biass and Capacity be notconsulted, but the roving _Genius_ mew'd up in a Closet, andconfounded among Books: And the studious and thoughtful _Genius_sent to wander about the World, and be perfectly scattered anddissipated, for want of proper Application and closerConfinement. Whereas, one such a Family wisely educated, anddispos'd in the World, would prove an extensive Blessing toMankind, and appear with a distinguished Glory; was the proper_Genius_ of every Child first cultivated, and he then put into aWay of Life that would suit his Taste. 

_Genius_ is a part of natural Constitution, not acquir'd, butborn with us. Yet it is capable of Cultivation and Improvement. It has been a common Question, whether a Man be born a Poet ormade one? but both must concur. Nature and Art must contributetheir Shares to compleat the Character. Limbs alone will not makea Dancer, or a Wrestler. Nor will _Genius_ alone make a goodPoet; nor the meer Strength of natural Abilities make aconsiderable Artist of any kind. Good Rules, and these reduc'd toPractice, are necessary to this End. And Use and Exercise inthis, as well as in all other Cases, are a second Nature. And, oftentimes, the second Nature makes a prodigious Improvement ofthe Force and Vigour of the first. 

It has been long ago determined by the great Masters of Letters, that good Sense is the chief Qualification of a good Writer. 

 _Scribendi certe sapere est & Principium & Fons. _

 Horat. 

Yet the best natural Parts in the World are capable of muchImprovement by a due Cultivation. 

 _Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam, Rectique cultus Pectora roborant. _

 Horat. 

The Spectator's golden Scales, let down from Heaven to discoverthe true Weight and Value of Things, expresses this Matter in aWay which at once shews, a _Genius_, and its Cultivation. "Thereis a Saying among the _Scots_, that an Ounce of Mother-Wit, isworth a Pound of Clergy. I was sensible of the Truth of thisSaying, when I saw the difference between the Weight of naturalParts and that of Learning. I observ'd that it was an hundredTimes heavier than before, when I put Learning into the sameScale with it. "

It has been observ'd, of an _English_ Author, that he would beall _Genius_. He would reap the Fruits of Art, but without theStudy and Pains of it. The _Limæ Labor_ is what he cannot easilydigest. We have as many Instances of Originals, this way, as anyNation can produce. Men, who without the help of Learning, by themeer Force of natural Ability, have produced Works which were theDelight of their own Times, and have been the Wonder ofPosterity. It has been a Question, whether Learning would haveimproved or spoiled them. There appears somewhat so nobly Wildand Extravagant in these great _Genij_, as charms infinitelymore, than all the Turn and Polishing which enters into the_French Bel Esprit_, or the _Genius_ improved by Reading andConversation. 

But tho' this will hold in some very rare Instances, it must bemuch for its Advantage in ordinary Cases, that a _Genius_ shouldbe diligently and carefully cultivated. In order to this, itshould be early watched and observ'd. And this is a matter thatrequires deep Insight into Humane Nature. It is not so easy asmany imagine, to pronounce what the proper _Genius_ of a Youthis. Every one who will be fiddling, has not presently a _Genius_for Musick. The Idle Boy draws Birds and Men, when he should begetting his Lesson or writing his Copy; _This Boy_, says theFather, _must be a_ Painter; when alas! this is no more the Boy's_Genius_ than the _Parhelion_ is the true Sun. But those who havethe Care of Children, should take some Pains to know what theirtrue _Genius_ is. For here the Foundation must be laid forimproving it. If a Mistake be made here, the Man sets out wrong, and every Step he takes carries him so much farther from Home. 

The true _Genius_ being discovered, it must be supplied withMatter to work upon, and employ it self. This is Fuel for theFire. And the fitting a _Genius_ with proper Materials, isputting one into the Way of going through the World with Wind andTide. The whole Force of the Mind is applied to its proper Use. And the Man exerts all his Strength, because he followsInclination, and gives himself up to the proper Conduct of his_Genius_. This is the right way to excel. The Man will naturallyrise to his utmost Height, when he is directed to an Employmentthat at once fits his Abilities, and agrees with his Taste. 

Care must also be taken, that a _Genius_ be not overstrain'd. OurPowers are limited. None can carry beyond their certain Weight. Whilst we follow Inclination, and keep within the Bounds of ourPower, we act with Ease and Pleasure. If we strain beyond ourPower, we crack the Sinews, and after two or three vain Efforts, our Strength fails, and our Spirits are jaded. It wou'd be ofmighty Advantage towards improving a _Genius_, to make itsEmployment, as much as possible, a Delight and Diversion, especially to young Minds. A Man toils at a Task, and finds hisSpirits flag, and his Force abate, e'er he has gone half thro';whereas he can put forth twice the Strength, and complain of noFatigue, in following his Pleasures. Of so much Advantage is itto make Business a Pleasure, if possible, and engage the Mind init out of Choice. It naturally reluctates against Constraint, andis most unwilling to go on when it knows it _must_. But if it beleft to its own Choice, to follow Inclination and pursue itsPleasure, it goes on without any Rubs, and rids twice the Ground, without being half so much tired. 

Exercise is also very necessary to improve a _Genius_. It notonly shines the more, by exerting it self, but, like the Limbs ofan Humane Body, gathers Strength by frequent and vigorous Use, and becomes more pliable and ready for Action. There must indeedsometimes be a Relaxation. Our Minds will not at present bear tobe continually bent, and in perpetual Exercise. But our Facultiesmanifestly grow by using them. The more we exert our selves, ifwe do not overstrain our Powers, the greater Readiness andAbility we acquire for future Action. A _Genius_, in order to bemuch improv'd, should be well workt, and kept in closeApplication to its proper Pursuit. 

All the Foreign Help must be procured, that can be had, towardsthis Improvement. The Instruction and Example of such as excellin that particular way, to which a Man's Mind is turned, is ofvast Use. A good Master in the Mechanical Arts, and carefulObservation of the nicest and most dextrous Workmen, will help a_Genius_ of this sort. A good Tutor in the Sciences, and freeConversation with such as have made great Proficiency in them, must vastly improve the more liberal _Genius_. Reading, andcareful Reflection on what a Man reads, will still add to itsForce, and carry the Improvement higher. Reading furnishesMatter, Reflexion digests it, and makes it our own; as the Fleshand Blood which are made out of the Food we eat. And Prudence andthe Knowledge of the World, must direct us how to employ our_Genius_, and on all occasions make the best Use of it. Whatwill the most exalted _Genius_ signify, if the World reaps noAdvantage from it? He who is possess'd of it, may make it turn toAccount to himself, and have much Pleasure and Satisfaction fromit; but it is a very poor Business, if it serves no otherPurpose, than to supply Matter for such private and narrowSatisfaction. It is certainly the Intention of Providence, that agood _Genius_ should be a publick Benefit; and to wrap up such aTalent in a Napkin, and bury it in the Earth, is at once to beunfaithful to God, and defraud Mankind. 

Those who have such a Trust put into their Hands, should be verycareful that they do not abuse it, nor squander it away. The best_Genius_ may be spoiled. It suffers by nothing more, than byneglecting it, and by an Habit of Sloth and Inactivity. ByDisuse, it contracts [J]Rust, or a Stiffness which is not easilyto be worn off. Even the sprightly and penetrating, have, thro'this neglect, sunk down to the Rank of the dull and stupid. SomeMen have given very promising Specimens in their early Days, thatthey could think well themselves; but, whether from apusillanimous Modesty, or a lazy Temper at first, I know not;they have by Degrees contracted such an Habit of Filching andPlagiary, as to lose their Capacity at length for one OriginalThought. Some Writers indeed, as well as Practitioners in otherArts, seem only born to copy; but it is Pity those, who have aStock of their own, should so entirely lose it by Disuse, as tobe reduc'd to a Necessity, when they must appear in Publick, toborrow from others. 

 [J] Otium ingera rubig. [Transcriber's Note: "rubig" not readable, may be the word for rust or stiffness. ]

Men should guard against this Mischief with great Care. A_Genius_ once squandered away by neglect, is not easily to berecovered. _Tacitus_ assigns a very proper Reason for this. "[K]Such is the Nature, saith he, of Humane Infirmity, thatRemedies cannot be applied, as quick as Mischiefs may besuffered; and as the Body must grow up by slow Degrees, but ispresently destroyed; so you may stifle a _Genius_ much moreeasily than you can recover it. For you'll soon relish Ease andInactivity, and be in Love with Sloth, which was once yourAversion. " This can hardly fail of raining the best Capacity, especially, if from a neglect of severer Business, Men run into aDissolution of Manners, which is the too common Consequence. Thegreatest Minds have thus been often wholly enervated, and thebest Parts buried in utter Obscurity. 

[K] Natura infirmitatis humanae, tadiora sunt remediaquam mala; & ut corpora lente augescunt, cito extinguuntur, sic ingenia studiaque oppresseris, facilius quam revocaveris;subit quippe ipsius inertiae dulcedo, et invisa primo desidiapostremo amatur. Tacit. Vit. Agricol. C. 3. 

Though the Rules of Art may be of great Service to improve a_Genius_, it is very prejudicial, in many Cases, to fetter itself with these Rules, or confine itself within those Limitswhich others have fixed. How little would Science have beenimprov'd, if every new _Genius_, that applies himself to anyBranch of it, had made other Mens Light, his _ne plus_ _ultra_, and resolved to go no farther into it, than the Road had beenbeaten before him. No doubt there were Men of as good naturalAbilities in the Ages before the Revival of Learning, as therehave been since. But they were cramped with the Jargon of a wordyand unintelligible Philosophy, and durst not give themselves theLiberty to think in Religion, without the Boundaries fixed by theChurch, for fear of Anathemas, and an Inquisition. Till thoseFetters were broken, little Advance was made, for many Agestogether, in any useful or solid Knowledge. In truth, every Manwho makes a new Discovery, goes at first by himself; and as longas the greatest Minds are Content to go in Leading-strings, theywill be but upon a Level with their Neighbours. 

On the other Hand, Capacities of a lower size must be obliged tomore of Imitation. All their Usefulness will be spoiled by formingtoo high Models for themselves. If they will be of Service, theymust be content to keep the beaten Road. Should they attempt tosoar too high, they will only meet with _Icarus_'s Fate. A common_Genius_ will serve many common Purposes exceeding well, andrender a Man conspicuous enough, tho' there may be nodistinguishing Splendor about him to dazzle the Beholders Eyes. But if he attempts any Thing beyond his Strength, he is sure tolose the Lustre which he had, if he does not also weaken hisCapacity, and impair his _Genius_ into the Bargain. So just inall Cases is the Poet's Advice to Writers. 

 _Sumite Materiam vestris qui scribitis aquam Veribus_. Horat. _Weigh well your Strength_, _and never undertake What is above your Power_. 

And this brings to Mind another very common Occasion of ruiningmany a good _Genius_; I mean, wrong Application. Nothing willsatisfie Parents, but their Children must apply their Minds toone of the learned Professions, when, instead of consulting theReputation or Interest of their Children, by such a preposterousChoice, they turn them out to live in an Element no way suited totheir Nature, and expose them to Contempt and Beggary all theirDays; while at the same Time they spoil an Head, admirably turn'dfor Traffick or Mechanicks. And he is left to bring up the Rearin the learned Profession, or it may be lost in the Crowd, whowould have shined in Trade, and made a prime Figure upon theExchange. Many have by this Means _run their Heads against aPulpit_, (as a Satyrical _Genius_ once expressed it) _who wouldhave made admirable Ploughmen_. 

There is a different Taste in Men, as to the learned Professionsthemselves, which qualities and disposes them for the one, butwould never make them appear with any Lustre in another. This hasbeen often made evident in the different Figures, which some, wholived in Obscurity before, have made upon a lucky Incident thatled them out of the mistaken Track into which they were firstput. Where Providence does not relieve a _Genius_ from this Errorin setting out, the Man must be kept under the Hatches all hisDays. 

There are very different Manners of Writing, and each of themjust and agreeable in their Kind, when Nature is followed, and aMan endeavours Perfection in that Style and Manner which suitshis own Humour and Abilities. Some please, and indeed excel in aMediocrity, [L]who quite lose themselves if they attempt theSublime. Some succeed to a wonder in the Account of all Readerswhilst they confine themselves to close Reasoning; who, if theyare so ill advise'd, as to meddle with Wit; only make themselvesthe Jest. [M]That is easy and agreeable which is natural; what isforc'd, will appear distorted and give Disgust. 

 [L] _Dum vitat humum, nubes et inania captet_. Horat. 

 [M] _Ingenio, sicut in Agro, quanquam alia diu Serantur atque elaborentur, gratiora tamen quae suâ sponte nascuntur_. Tacit. De Orator, c. 6. 

It is of fatal Consequence to a good _Genius_ to grasp at toomuch. "A certain Magistrate (says _Bruyere_) arriving, by hisMerit, to the first Dignities of the Gown, thought himselfqualified for every Thing. He printed a Treatise of Morality, andpublished himself a Coxcomb. " Universal _Genij_ and universalScholars are generally excellent at nothing. He is certainly thewisest Man, who endeavours to be perfectly furnished for someBusiness, and regards other Matters as no more than hisAmusement. 

A _Genius_ being thus observed, humoured and cultivated, is to bekept in Heart, and upon proper Occasions to be exerted. Withoutthis, it may sink and be lost. All Habits are weakened by Disuse. And Men who are furnished with a _Genius_, for publickUsefulness, should put themselves forward; I mean, with dueModesty and Prudence, and not suffer their Talents to be hid, when a fair Opportunity offers to do Service with them. Indeed itis too common an Unhappiness for Men to be so placed, as to haveno Opportunity and Advantage for shewing their _Genius_. AsMatters are generally managed in the World, Men are for the mostpart staked down to such Business, in such Alliances, or in suchCircumstances, that they have no proper Occasions of exertingthemselves; but instead of that, are continually tugging andstriving with things that are cross and ungrateful to them. Andthat must be a strong Mind indeed, that shall break through theCensures and Opposition of the World, and dare to quit a Station, for which a Man has been brought up, and in which he has actedfor some Time, that he may get into another Sphere, where he seeshe can act according to the Impulses of his _Genius_. Tho' suchas have had the Courage and Skill to follow those Impulses, tillthey have gain'd the Stations which suited their Taste andInclination, have seldom fail'd of appearing considerable. ButMultitudes, by this Situation of Affairs, have been forc'd, in amanner, to stifle a _Genius_, because they could have no fairOpportunity of exerting it. 

A crazy Constitution, and a Body liable to continual Disorders, call off the Attention of many a great Mind, from what mightotherwise procure very great Reputation and Regard. Their_Genius_ no sooner begins a little to exert itself, but theSpirits flag, and one unhappy Ail or other, enfeebles anddiscourages the Mind. 

Lust and Wine mightily obstruct all Attempts that requireApplication; and will neither allow a Man duly to furnish hisMind, nor rightly to use that Furniture he has. An Intrigue or aBottle may sometimes give an Opportunity for a Man to shew his_Genius_, but will utterly spoil all regular and reputableExertings of it. He who would put forth his _Genius_ to theAdvantage of Himself or the World, should give into no Pleasuresthat will enervate or dissolve his Mind. He must keep it bent forBusiness, or he will bring all Business to nothing. 

Conceit and Affectation on one hand, and Peevishness andPerverseness of Temper on the other, will lay the best _Genius_under great Disadvantages, and raise such Dislike and Opposition, as will bear it down in spite of all its Force and Furniture. Agraceful Mixture of Boldness and Modesty, with a Smoothness andBenignity of Temper, will much better make a Man's Way into theWorld, and procure him the Opportunity of exerting his _Genius_. 

But there is nothing lies as an heavier Weight upon a Man, orhinders Him more from shewing Himself to Advantage, and employinghis great Abilities for the Service of Others; than the Quarrelsand Contentions of Parties. Many have their Talents imprison'd, by being of the hated and sinking Side. Their Light is whollysmother'd and suppress'd, that it may not shine out with a Lustreon the Party to which they belong, whether it be in Politicks orReligion. And all Struggles of a _Genius_ are vain, when a Man isborn down at once by Clamour and Power. 

This is very discouraging to a Man who has taken much Pains incultivating his _Genius_; and many have, without doubt, beentempted wholly to neglect themselves, from the Dread of theseDiscouragements. I own this Neglect is not to be excusedaltogether, though it grieves one that there should be anyOccasion given for it. There is still Room for Men to follow andimprove a _Genius_, and hope by it to benefit Mankind, andprocure Regard to Themselves. And it is hard to say, what Way ofexerting it will turn most to Account. Peculiar Honours are dueto those who appear to Advantage in the _Pulpit_. NumerousApplauses and Preferments attend those who acquit themselves wellat the _Bar_. There is a great deal of Renown to those who areeminent in the _Senate_. There are high Advantages to such asexcel in _Counsel_ and on _Embassies_. Immortal Lawrels willcrown such as are brave, expert and victorious in _Arms_. Thereare the Blessings of Wealth and Plenty to those who manage welltheir _Trades_ and _Merchandize_. The Names of the skilful_Architect_, the cunning _Artificer_, the fine, exact and welldevising _Painter_, are sometimes enrolled in the Lists of Fame. The learned, experienced and successful _Physician_, may becomeas considerable for Repute and Estate, as one of any otherProfession. _Musick_ also may have its _Masters_, who shall behad in lasting Esteem. The _Poets_ Performances may be [N]moredurable than Brass, and long lived as Time it Self. Every_Science_ may have Professors that shall shine in the learnedWorld. With all the Discouragements that may damp a _Genius_, there is yet a wide Field for it to exert it self, and Room tohope it will not be in vain. 

 [N] Exegi monumentum aere perennius Regalique situ pyramidum altius, Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens Possit diruere aut innumerabilis Annorum series et fuga temporum:

 Horat

I was going to add something of exerting one's _Genius_ as an_Author_. But I found, it would fill up too much Room in myPaper, should I enlarge on the several Ways of Mens appearingconsiderable. And I was so apprehensive of the Reputation, whichthe Divine, the Historian, the Critick, the Philosopher, andalmost all the other Authors, have above us _Essay-Writers_, thatI thought I should but lessen the Regards to my own _Genius_, should I have set to View the Advantages of Others. It willsufficiently gratify my Ambition as an Author, if the World willbe so good natured as to think I have handsomely excus'd my self;that I am tolerably fitted, in the Way in I am, to giveEntertainment to my Readers, and do them some Service. 

 * * * * *

FINIS

 * * * * *

ERRATA [Transcriber's Note: Not readable]

 * * * * *

 THE

 CREATION. 

 A

 Pindaric Illustration OF A

 POEM, Originally written by

 MOSES, On That SUBJECT. 

 WITH A

 PREFACE to Mr. POPE, CONCERNING

 The Sublimity of the Ancient HEBREW POETRY, and a material and obvious Defect in the ENGLISH. 

 _LONDON_:

 Printed for T. BICKERTON, at the _Crown_ in _Pater-noster-Row. _

 M. DCC. XX. 

 Price One Shilling. 

 _PREFACE to MR. POPE_

Sir, About two Years ago, upon a slight Misapprehension of someExpressions of yours, which my Resentment, or perhaps my Pride, interpreted to the Disadvantage of a Poetical Trifle, I had thennewly publish'd, I suffer'd myself to be unreasonablytransported, so far, as to inscribe you an angry, andinconsiderate Preface; without previous Examination into theJustness of my Proceeding. I have lately had the Mortification tolearn from your own Hand that you were entirely guiltless of thefact charg'd upon you; so that, in attempting to retaliate asuppos'd Injury, I have done a real Injustice. 

The only Thing which an honest Man ought to be more asham'd ofthan his faults, is a Reluctance against confessing them. I havealready acknowledg'd mine to yourself: But no publick Guilt iswell aton'd, by a private Satisfaction; I therefore send you aDuplicate of my Letter, by way of the World, that all, whoremember my Offence, may also witness my Repentance. 

 Sir, I am under the greatest Confusion I ever felt in my Life, to find by your Letter, that I have been guilty of a Crime, which I can never forgive Myself, were it for no other Reason, than that You have forgiven it. I might have learnt from your Writings the Extent of your Soul, and shou'd have concluded it impossible for the Author of those elevated Sentiments, to sink beneath them in his Practice. 

 You are generously moderate, when you mitigate my Guilt, and miscall it a Credulity; 'twas a passionate, and most unjustifiable Levity, and must still have remain'd unpardonable, whatever Truth might have been found in its mistaken Occasion. 

 What stings me most, in my Reflection on this Folly, is, that I know not how to atone it; I will endeavour it, however; being always asham'd, when I have attempted to revenge an Injury, but never more proud, than when I have begg'd pardon for an Error. 

 If you needed an Inducement to the strengthening your Forgiveness, you might gather it from these two Considerations; First, The Crime was almost a Sin against Conviction; for though not happy enough to know you personally, your Mind had been my intimate Acquaintance, and regarded with a kind of partial Tenderness, that made it little less than Miracle, that I attempted to offend you. A sudden Warmth, to which, by Nature, I am much too liable, transported me to a Condition, I shall best describe in Shakespear's Sense, somewhere or other. 

 Blind in th' obscuring Mist of heedless Rage, I've rashly shot my Arrows o'er a House, And hurt my Brother.... 

 A Second Consideration is, the Occasion you have gather'd to punish my Injustice, with more than double Sharpness, by your Manner of receiving it. The Armour of your Mind is temper'd so divinely, that my mere Human Weapons have not only fail'd to pierce, but broke to pieces in rebounding. You meet Assaults, like some expert Arabian, who, declining any Use of his own Javelin, arrests those which come against him, in the Fierceness of their Motion, and overcomes his Enemies, by detaining their own Weapons. 'Tis a noble Triumph you now exercise, by the Superiority of your Nature; and while I see you looking down upon the Distance of my Frailty, I am forc'd to own a Glory, which I envy you; and am quite asham'd of the poor Figure I am making, in the bottom of the Prospect. I feel, I am sure, Remorse, enough to satisfy you for the Wrong, but to express it, wou'd, I think, exceed even your own Power. 

 Yours, whose sweet Songs can rival Orpheu's Strain, And force the wondring Woods to dance again, Make moving Mountains hear your pow'rful Call, And headlong Streams hang list'ning in their Fall. 

 No Words can be worthy to come after these; I will therefore hasten to tell you, that I am, and will ever be, with the greatest Truth and Respect, SIR, Your Most Humble, and Most Obedient Servant, A. Hill. 

I have now attempted, as far as I am able, to throw off a Weight, which my Mind has been uneasy under. I cannot say, in the CityPhrase, that I have balanc'd the Account, but you must admit ofComposition, where full Payment is impossible. I shall be so farfrom regretting you the old Benefit of Lex talionis, that Iforgive you heartily, beforehand, for any thing you may hereafterthink fit to say, or do, to my Disadvantage; nay, the Pleasure Ienjoy by reflecting on your good Nature, will degenerate to aPain, if one Accident or other, in the Course of your Life, doesnot favour me with some Occasion of advancing your Interest. 

Having said thus much to you, in your Quality of a Good Man, Iwill proceed to address you, in your other Quality, of a GreatPoet; in which Light I look up to you with extraordinary Comfort, as to a new Constellation breaking out upon our World, with equalHeat, and Brightness, and cross-spangling, as it were, the wholeHeaven of Wit with your milky way of Genius. 

You cou'd never have been born at a Time, which more wanted theInfluence of your Example: All the Fire you bring with you, andthe Judgment you are acquiring, in the Course of your Journey, will be put to their full stress, to support and rebuild thesinking Honours of Poetry. 

It was a Custom, which prevail'd generally among the Ancients, toimpute Celestial Descent to their Heroes; The Vanity, methinks, might have been pardonable, and rational, if apply'd to an Art;since Arts, when they are at once delightful and profitable, asyou will certainly leave Poetry, have one real Mark of Divinity, they become, in some measure, immortal. And as the oldest, and, Ithink, the sublimest Poem in the World, is of Hebrew Original, and was made immediately after passing the Red-Sea, at a Time, when the Author had neither Leisure, nor Possibility, to invent anew Art: It must therefore be undeniable, either that the Hebrewsbrought Poetry out of Egypt, or that Moses receiv'd it from God, by immediate Inspiration. This last, being what a Poet should befondest of believing, I wou'd fain suppose it probable, that God, who was pleas'd to instruct Moses with what Ceremony he wou'd beworship'd, taught him also a Mode of Thinking, and expressingThought, unprophan'd by vulgar Use, and peculiar to that Worship. God then taught Poetry first to the Hebrews, and the Hebrews toMankind in general. 

But, however this may have been, there is, apparently, a divineSpirit, glowing forcibly in the Hebrew Poetry, a kind of terribleSimplicity; a magnificent Plainness! which is commonly lost, inParaphrase, by our mistaken Endeavours after heightening theSentiments, by a figurative Expression; This is very ill Judg'd:The little Ornaments of Rhetorick might serve, fortunatelyenough, to swell out the Leanness of some modern Compositions;but to shadow over the Lustre of a divine Hebrew Thought, by anAffectation of enliv'ning it, is to paint upon a Diamond, andcall it an Ornament. 

It is a surprizing Reflection, that these noble Hebrew Poetsshou'd have written with such admirable Vigour three ThousandYears ago; and that, instead of improving, we should affect todespise them; as if, to write smoothly, and without the Spirit ofImagery, were the true Art of Poetry, because the only Art wepractise. It puts me in Mind of the famous Roman Lady, whosuppos'd, that Men had, naturally, stinking Breaths, because shehad been us'd to it, in her Husband. 

The most obvious Defect in our Poetry, and I think the greatestit is liable to, is, that we study Form, and neglect Matter. Weare often very flowing, and under a full Sail of Words, while weleave our Sense fast aground, as too weighty to float onFrothiness; We run on, upon false Scents, like a Spaniel, thatstarts away at Random after a Stone, which is kept back in theHand, though It seem'd to fly before him. To speak with Freedomon this Subject, is a Task of more Danger than Honour; for fewMinds have real Greatness enough to consider a Detection of theirErrors, as a Warning to their Conduct, and an Advantage to theirFame; But no discerning Judgment will consider it as ill Nature, in one Writer, to mark the Faults of another. A general Practiceof that Kind wou'd be the highest Service to poetry. No Diseasecan be cur'd, till its Nature is examin'd; and the first likelyStep towards correcting our Errors, is resolving to learnimpartially, that we have Errors to be corrected. 

I will, therefore, with much Freedom, but no manner of Malice, remark an Instance or two, from no mean Writers, to prove, thatour Poetry has been degenerating apace into mere Sound, orHarmony; nor ought This to be consider'd as an invidious Attempt, since whatever Pains we take, about polishing our Numbers, wherewe raise not our Meaning, are as impertinently bestowed, as theLabour wou'd be, of setting a broken Leg after the Soul has leftthe Body. The Gunners have a Custom, when a Ball is too littlefor the Bore of their Canon, to wrap Towe about it, till itfills the Mouth of the Piece; after which, it is discharg'd, witha Thunder, proportionable to the Size of the Gun; But itsExecution at the Mark, will immediately discover, that the Noiseof the Discharge was a great deal too big for the Diameter of theBullet. It is just the same thing with an unsinewy Imagination, sent abroad in sounding Numbers; The Loftiness of the Expressionwill astonish shallow Readers into a temporary Admiration, andsupport it, for a while; but the Bounce, however loud, goes nofarther than the Ear; The Heart remains unreach'd by the Languorof the Sentiment. 

Poetry, the most elevated Exertion of human Wit, is no more thana weak and contemptible Amusement, wanting Energy of Thought, orPropriety of Expression. Yet we may run into Error, by aninjudicious Affectation of attaining Perfection, as Men, who aregazing upward, when they shou'd be looking to their Footsteps, stumble frequently against Posts, while they have the Sun inContemplation. 

In attempting, for Example, to modernize so lofty an Ode as the104th Psalm, the Choice of Metaphors shou'd, methinks, have beenconsidered, as one of the most remarkable Difficulties. Thereseems to have been a Necessity, that they shou'd be noble, aswell as natural; and yet, if too much rais'd, they wou'd endangeran Extinction of the Charms, which they were design'd toillustrate. That powerful Imagination of 'the Sea, climbing overthe Mountains Tops, and rushing back, upon the Plains, at theVoice of God's Thunder, ' ought certainly to have been express'dwith as much Plainness as possible: And, to demonstrate how illthe contrary Measure has succeeded, one need only observe how itlooks in Mr. Trapp's Metaphorical Refinement. 

 "The Ebbing Deluge did its Troops recal, Drew off its Forces, and disclos'd the Ball, They, at th' Eternal's Signal march'd away. "

Who does not discern, in this Place, what an Injury is done tothe original Image, by the military Metaphor? Recalling the'Troops' of a Deluge, 'Drawing off its Forces'; and its 'Marchingaway, at a Signal, ' carry not only a visible Impropriety ofThought, but are infinitely below the Majesty of That God, who isso dreadfully represented thundering his Commands to the Ocean;They are directly the Reverse of that terrible Confusion, andoverwhelming Uproar of Motion, which the Sea, in the Original, issuppos'd to fall into. The March of an Army is pleasing, orderly, slow; The Inundation of a Sea, from the Tops of the Mountains, frightful, wild and tumultuous; Every Justness and Grace of theoriginal Conception is destroyed by the Metaphor. 

In the same Psalm, the Hebrew Poet describing God, says, '.... Hemaketh the Clouds his Chariots, and walketh on the Wings of theWind. ' Making the 'Clouds his Chariots, ' is a strong and livelyThought; But That of 'walking on the Wings of the Wind, ' is aSublimity, that frightens, astonishes, and ravishes the Mind of aReader, who conceives it, as he shou'd do. The Judgement of thePoet in this Place, is discernable in three differentParticulars; The Thought is in itself highly noble, and elevated;To move at all upon the Wind, carries with it an Image of muchMajesty and Terror; But this natural Grandeur he first encreas'dby the Word 'Wings, ' which represents the Motion, as not only onthe Winds, but on the Winds in their utmost Violence, andRapidity of Agitation. But then at last, comes that finishingSublimity, which attends the Word 'walks'! The Poet is notsatisfied to represent God, as riding on the Winds; nor even asriding on them in a Tempest; He therefore tells us, that He walkson their Wings; that so our Idea might be heighten'd to theutmost, by reflecting on this calm, and easy Motion of the Deity, upon a Violence, so rapid, so furious, and ungovernable, to ourhuman Conception. Yet as nothing can be more sublime, so nothingcan be more simple, and plain, than this noble Imagination. ButMr. Trapp, not contented to express, attempts unhappily to adornthis inimitable Beauty, in the following Manner. 

 "Who, borne in Triumph o'er the Heavenly Plains, Rides on the Clouds, and holds a Storm in Reins, Flies on the Wings of the sonorous Wind, &c. "

Here his imperfect, and diminishing Metaphor, of the 'Rains, ' hasquite ruin'd the Image; What rational, much less noble Idea, canany Man conceive of a Wind in a Bridle? The unlucky Word 'Plains'too, is a downright Contradiction to the Meaning of the Passage. What wider Difference in Nature, than between driving a Chariotover a Plain, and moving enthron'd, amidst That rolling, andterrible Perplexity of Motions, which we figure to ourImagination, from a 'Chariot of Clouds'? But the mistakenEmbellishment of the Word 'flies, ' in the last Verse, is an Erroralmost unpardonable; Instead of improving the Conception, it hasmade it trifling, and contemptible, and utterly destroy'd thevery Soul of its Energy! 'flies' on the Wind! What an Image isThat, to express the Majesty of God? To 'walk' on the Wind isastonishing, and horrible; But to 'fly' on the Wind, is theEmployment of a Bat, of an Owl, of a Feather! Mr. Trapp is, Ibelieve, a Gentleman of so much Candour, and so true a Friend tothe Interest of the Art he professes, that there will be noOccasion to ask his pardon, for dragging a Criminal Metaphor, ortwo, out of the Immunity of his Protection. 

Mr. Philips has lately been told in Print, by one of our bestCriticks, that he has excell'd all the Ancients, in his PastoralWritings; He will, therefore, be apt to wonder, that I take theLiberty to say, in downright Respect to Truth, and the Justicedue to Poetry, that I have not only seen modern pastorals, muchbetter than His, but that his appear, to me, neither natural, nor equal. One might extend this Remark to the very Names of hisShepherds; Lobbin, Hobbinol, and Cuddy are nothing of a Piece, with Lanquet, Mico, and Argol; nor do his Personages agreebetter with themselves, than their Names with one another. Mico, for Example, at the first Sight we have of him, is a very politeSpeaker, and as metaphorical as Mr. Trapp. 

 "This Place may seem for Shepherds Leisure made, So lovingly these Elms unite their Shade! Th'ambitious Woodbine! how it climbs, to breathe Its balmy Sweets around, on all beneath!"

But, alas! this Fit of Eloquence, like most other Blessings, isof very short Continuance; It holds him but Just one Speech: Inthe beginning of the next, he is as very a Rustick, as ColinClout, and has forgot all his Breeding. 

 "No Skill of Musick can I, simple Swain, No fine Device, thine Ear to entertain; Albeit some deal I pipe, rude though it be, Sufficient to divert my, Sheep, and Me. "

There is no Transformation In Ovid more sudden, or surprizing; Hehas Reason indeed to say, that, when he "pipes some deal, " his'Sheep' are 'diverted' with him. His Readers, I am afraid too, are as merry as his Sheep; If he was but as skilful in Change ofTime, as he is in Change of Dialect, commend me to him for aMusician! The pied Piper, who drew all the Rats of a City out, after his Melody, came not near him for Variety. 

If the late excellent Mr. Addison, whose Verses abound in Graces, which can never be too much admir'd, shall be, often, foundliable to an Overflow of his Meaning, by this DropsicalWordiness, which we so generally give into, it will serve at thesame time, as a Comfort, and a Warning; and incline us to asevere Examination of our Writings, when we venture out upon aWorld, that will, one time or other, be sure to censure usimpartially; In That Gentleman's Works, whoever looks close, willdiscover Thorns on every Branch of his Roses; For Example, we allhear, with Delight, in his celebrated Letter from Italy, that, there, ... The Muse so oft her Harp has strung, That not a Mountain rears its Head unsung. 

But, he adds, in the very next Line, that every shady Thickettoo, grows renown'd in Verse; now one can never help remembering, that Thickets are Births, as it were of Yesterday; the mereInfancy of Woods! and that the oldest Woods in Italy may begrowing on Foundations of ruin'd Cities, which flourish'd in theTimes he there speaks of; whence it must naturally be inferr'd, that to say, the Italian Thickets grow renown'd in Roman Verse, though the Mountains really do so, is to make Use of Words, without Regard to their Meaning; A Lapse of dangerousConsequence, because, when the Understanding is once shock'd, this most rapturous Elevation of the Mind (as when cold Water isthrown suddenly upon boiling) sinks at once to chilling Flatness, and is considered as mere Gingle and childish Amusement. 

No Man, I believe, has read without Pleasure, his fine and livelyDescriptions of the Nar, Clitumnus, Mincio, and Albula, but theworst of it is, he winds us so long, in and out, between theseRivers, that he loses himself in their Maeanders, and brings us, at last, to a strange Stream indeed, which is 'immortaliz'd inSong, ' and yet 'lost In Oblivion. '

 "I look for Streams, immortaliz'd, in Song, Which lost, and buried in Oblivion lie. "

The Thought, in this Place, is very lively and just, but quiteobscur'd by the Redundancy and Wantonness of the Expression. Hadhe only said 'lost, ' and 'buried, ' It might have been urg'd, thatthe Rivers were dry'd up, and no longer to be found, in their oldChannels. But, let them be lost, as to Existence, as certainly ashe will, they can never be lost in 'Oblivion, ' if they are'immortaliz'd' in Poetry. 'Immortal' is a favourite Word in thisGentleman's Writings, and leads him, as most Favourites are aptto do, into very frequent Errors. 

It is naturally unpleasant, to be detain'd too long in theMaziness of one tedious Thought, express'd many Wayssuccessively. When we read that the 'Tiber is destitute ofStrength, ' what else can we conclude, but that its Stream is aweak one? But we are oblig'd to hear, also, that it 'derives itsSource from an unthrifty Urn': Well, now, may we go on? No; its'Urn' is not only 'unthrifty, ' but its 'Source' is unfruitful. Bythis time, one can scarce help, enquiring, what new Meaning isconvey'd to the Apprehension, by the Multiplication of thePhrases? And not finding any, we have no Reflection to satisfyourselves with, but, that the strongest Flow of Fancy, is mostsubject to Whirlpools. 

It is from the same unweigh'd Redundancy, and Misapplication ofWords, that we so often find this excellent Writer falling intothe Anticlimax. As where, for Example, he informs us of Liberty, that she is a Goddess, "Profuse of Bliss, and pregnant with Delight, Eternal Pleasures, in her Presence reign. "

After 'Profusion of Bliss, ' that is to say, the heap'd Enjoymentof all Blessings to be wish'd for; how does it cool theImagination, to read of being 'pregnant with Delight'? Had shebeen brought to Bed of 'Delight, ' it had been but a poorDelivery: For what imports 'Delight, ' in Comparison with'Bliss'? And how much less too is pregnant with Delight, ' than'Delight' in Possession! But then again, after both these, whatcou'd the Author hope to teach us, by adding, that 'Pleasurereigns in her Presence. ' Can there be 'Bliss' without 'Delight'?Was there ever 'Delight' without 'Pleasure'? It shou'd graduallyhave ascended thus, Pleasure, Delight, Bliss; But to turn it thedirect contrary Way, Bliss, Delight, Pleasure, is setting a poorMeaning upon its Head, and the same thing as to say, Mr. Addisonwrit incomparably, finely, nay, and tolerably. A Praise, which, Idare say, he wou'd have given no Body Thanks for. One wou'd thinkthere were a kind of Fatality in Liberty, since scarce any Bodycan meddle either with the Word or the Thing, but they turn alltopsey turvey. 

But I am sliding insensibly into a Theme, that requires rather aVolume, than a Page or two; I hasten therefore to present you aParaphrase on the Six Days Work of the Creator, as described tous by Moses, in the First Chapter of Genesis, which, you know, was written, originally, in Verse. It wou'd be difficult, I amsure, to match the Greatness of that inspired Author's Images, out of all the noble Writings, which have honour'd Antiquity; andwhose most remarkable Excellencies have been found, in thoseParts of their Works, which they elevated, and made more solemn, by a Mixture of their Religion. Our Poetry, in so able a Hand asYours, might receive heavenly Advantages, from a Practice of likeNature. But I am of Opinion, that no English Verse, except that, which we, I think a little improperly, call Pindaric, can allowthe necessary Scope, to so masterless a Subject, as the Creation, of all others the most copious, and illustrious; and which oughtto be touch'd with most Discretion, and Choice of Circumstances. 

Mr. Milton, Mr. Cowley, Sir Richard Blackmore, and now, lately, a young Gentleman, of a very lively Genius, have severally triedtheir Strength in this celestial Bow; Sir Richard may be saidindeed to have shot farthest, but too often beside the Mark; Hewill permit me the Liberty of owning my Opinion, that he is toominute, and particular, and rather labours to oppress us withevery Image he cou'd raise, than to refresh and enliven us, withthe noblest, and most differing. He is also too unmindful of theDignity of his Subject, and diminishes it by mean, andcontemptible Metaphors. Speaking of the Skies, he says they were

 Spun thin, and wove, on Nature's finest Loom. 

Longinus is very angry with Timaeus for saying of Alexander, thathe conquer'd all Asia, in less Time than Isocrates took to writehis Panegyric, "Because, says the Critick, it is a pitifulComparison of Alexander the Great with a Schoolmaster. " What thenwou'd he have said of Sir Richard's Metaphorical Comparison ofthe CREATOR Himself, to a Spinster, and a Weaver? The very Beastsof Mr. Milton, who kept Moses in his Eye, carry Infinitely moreMajesty, than the Skies of Sir Richard. 

 The Grassy Clods now calv'd; and half appear'd The tawny Lyon, pawing to get free His hinder Parts; then springs, as broke from Bonds, And, rampant, shakes aloft, his brinded Main! The heaving Leopard, rising, like the Mole, In Heaps the crumbling Earth about him threw!

These animated Images, or pictured Meanings of Poetry, are theforcible Inspirers, which enflame a Reader's Will, and bind downhis Attention. They arise from living Words, as Aristotle callsthem; that is, from Words so finely chosen, and so Justly ranged, that they call up before a Reader the Spirit of their Sense, inthat very Form, and Action, it impressed upon the Writer. Butwhen the Idea, which a Poet strives to raise, is in itselfmagnificent and striking, the Dawb of Metaphor, or any spumyColourings of Rhetoric can but deaden, and efface it. 

If Sir Richard had said, concerning the Skies, on any otherSubject but This, of the Creation, that they were 'spun thin, andwove, on Nature's finest Loom, ' the Thought had been so far fromImpropriety, as to have been pleasing, and praise-worthy; Butwhen the Image he wou'd set before us, is the Maker of Heaven andEarth, in all the dreadful Majesty of his Omnipotence, producingat a Word, the noblest Part of the Creation, and 'spreading outthe Heavens as a Curtain'; In this tremendous Exercise of hisDivinity, to compare him to a Weaver, and his Expansion of theSkies, to the low Mechanism of a 'Loom, ' is injudiciously todiminish an Idea, he pretends to heighten and illustrate. 

I will end with a Word or two concerning the different Measure ofthe Verse, in which the following Poem is written; and which isapt to disgust Readers, not well grounded in Poetry, because itrequires a fuller Degree of Attention than the Couplet, and, asMr. Cowley has said of it, ... Will no unskilful Touch endure, But flings Writer and Reader too, that sits not sure. 

I have, in another Place, endeavoured by Arguments to demonstratethe Preference of this Kind of Verse to any other; I will hereobserve only, from my Experience of other Writers, that it wins, insinuates, and grows insensibly upon the Relish of a Reader, till the little seeming Harshness, which is supposed to be in it, softens gradually away, and leaves a vigorous Impression behindit, of mixed Majesty and Sweetness. 

A Man, who is just beginning to try his Ear in Pindaric, may becompared to a new Scater; He totters strangely at first, andstaggers backward and forward; Every Stick, or frozen Stone inhis Way, is a Rub that he falls at. But when many repeated Trialshave embolden'd him to strike out, and taught the true Poize ofMotion, he throws forward his Body with a dextrous Velocity, andbecoming ravish'd with the masterly Sweep of his Windings, knowsno Pleasure greater, than to feel himself fly through thatwell-measured Maziness, which he first attempted with Perplexity. But I will detain you no longer, and hasten now to the Poem, which has given me this pleasing Opportunity of telling you howmuch I am, Sir, Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant, A. HILL

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