not continued with so much spirit, nor so uniformly noble; the tides of paffion flow not along with fo much profufion, nor do they hurry away the reader in fo rapid a current. There is not the fame volubility and quick variation of the phrafe; nor is the work embellished with so many strong and expreffive images. Yet like the ocean, whose very fhores when deferted by the tide, mark out how wide it sometimes flows, fo Homer's genius, when ebbing into all those fabulous and incredible ramblings of Ulyffes, fhews plainly how fublime it once had been. Not that I am forgetful of thofe ftorms, which are described in fo terrible a manner, in feveral parts of the Odyssey; of Ulyffes's adventures with the Cyclop, and fome other inftances of the true his 4th Canto, has opened a council of devils, but his description of them is frivolous and puerile, favouring too much of old womens tales, and the fantastic dreams of ignorance. He makes fome of them walk upon the feet of beafts, and dresses out their resemblance of a human head with twisting serpents inftead of hair, horns fprout upon their foreheads, and after them they drag an immenfe length of a tail. It is true, when he makes his Pluto speak (for he has made use of the old poetical names) he supports his character with a deal of spirit, and puts fuch words and fentiments into his mouth as are properly diabolical. His Devil talks true Sublime. No; I am speaking indeed of old-age, but 'tis the old-age of Homer. However it is evident from the whole feries of the Odyssey, that there is far more narration in it, than action. I have digreffed thus far, merely for the fake of fhewing, that, in the decline of their vigour, the greatest genius's are apt to turn afide unto trifles. Thofe ftories of fhutting up the winds in a bag; of the men in Circe's island metamorphos'd into fwine, whom (13) Zoilus calls, little Squeaking pigs; of Jupiter's being nursed by the doves like one of their young; of Ulyffes in a wreck, when he took no sustenance for ten days; and those incredible abfurdities concerning the death of the fuitors: all these are undeniable inftances of this talks fomewhat like Milton's, but looks not with half that horrible pomp, that height of obfcured glory. (13) Zoitus.] The most infamous name of a certain author of Thracian extraction, who wrote a treatise against the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, and intitled it, Homer's Reprimand: which so exasperated the people of that age that they put the author to death, and facrificed him as it were to the injured genius of Homer. His enterprise was certainly too daring, his punishment undoubtedly too fevere. G Dr. Pearce. (14) After this in the Odysey. (14) Dreams indeed they are, but fuch as even Jove might dream. Accept, my friend, in further excufe of this digreffion, my defire of convincing you, that a decrease of the Pathetic in great orators and poets often ends in the (15) moral kind of writing. Thus the Odyssey furnishing us with rules of morality, drawn from that course of life, which the fuitors lead in the palace of Ulyffes, has in fome degree the air of a Comedy, where the various manners of men are ingeniously and faithfully defcribed. SEC (14) After Longinus had thus fummed up the imperfections of Homer, one might imagine, from the ufual bitternefs of critics, that a heavy cenfure would immediately follow. But the true Critic knows how to pardon, to excufe, and to extenuate. Such conduct is uncommon, but just. We fee by it at once the worth of the author, and the candor of the judge. With perfons of fo generous a bent, his Tranflator has fared as well as Homer. Mr. Pope's faults (in that performance) are the faults of a man, but "his beauties are the beauties of an angel." Effay on the Odysey. (15) The word moral does not fully give the idea of the original word Jos, but our language will not furnish any other that comes fo near it. The meaning of the paffage is, that great authors in the youth and fire of their genius, abound chiefly in fuch paffions, as are strong and vehement; but in their old-age and decline, they betake themselves to fuch, as are mild, peaceable, and fedate. At first they endeavour to move, to warm, to transport; but afterwards to amufe, LET us confider next, whether we cannot find out fome other means, to infufe Sublimity into our writings. Now, as there are no fubjects, which are not attended by fome adherent Circumstances, an accurate and judicious choice of the most fuitable of thefe Circumftances, and an ingenious and skilful connexion of them into one body, must neceffarily produce the Sublime. For what by the judicious choice, amuse, delight, and perfuade. In youth, they strike at the imagination; in age, they speak more to our reason. For tho' the paffions are the fame in their nature, yet, at different ages, they differ in degree. Love, for inftance, is a violent, hot, and impetuous paffion; Efteem is a fedate, and cool, and peaceable affection of the mind. The youthful fits and transports of the former, in progrefs of time, fubfide and fettle in the latter. So a Storm is different from a Gale, tho' both are wind. Hence it is, that bold scenes of action, dreadful alarms, affecting images of terror, and fuch violent turns of paffion, as require a stretch of fancy to exprefs or to conceive, employ the vigour and maturity of youth, in which confifts the nature of the Pathetic; but amusing narrations, calm defcriptions, delightful landskips, and more even and peaceable affections, are agreeable in the ebb of life, and therefore more frequently attempted, and more fuccessfully expreffed by a declining genius. This is the moral kind of writing here mentioned, and by these particulars is Homer's Odyfey distinguished from his Iliad. The Ga oc and 50 choice, and what by the skilful connexion, they cannot but very much affect the imagination. Sappho is an inftance of this, who having obferv'd the anxieties and tortures infeparable to jealous love, has collected and displayed them But in all with the most lively exactness. what particular has fhe fhewn her excellence? In selecting those circumftances, which suit best with her fubject, and afterwards connecting them together with so much art. Bleft as th' immortal gods is he, 'Twas and os fo frequently used, and fo important in the Greek critics, are fully explained by Quinctilian, in the fixth book of his Inftitut. Orat. (1) There is a line at the end of this Ode of Sappho in the original, which is taken no notice of in the translation, because the sense is complete without it, and if admitted, it would throw confufion on the whole. The title of this Ode in Urfinus in the fragments of Sappho, is, To the beloved fair; and it is the right. For Plutarch (to omit the teftimonies of many others) in his Eroticon, has these words: "The beautiful Sappho says, that at fight of her beloved fair, her voice was fuppreffed, &c." Befides, Strabo and Athenæus tell us, that the name of this fair one was Dorica, and that fhe was loved by Charaxus, Sappho's |