A Dissertation on Reading the Classics and Forming a Just Style/Preface
THE
PREFACE.
HE following Sheets were the Product of some leisure Hours in the Country, about three or four Years ago. They were written in the Year 1709, and not transcribed till the latter End of the next Summer, as the Reader will find by several Passages up and down, which will clear the Time, and save the Critics the Trouble of making any Mistakes in their Conjectures. For Want of such Informations, of from the Loss of them, Learned Men have been at a World of Pains in settling the Date of many excellent Pieces, and have differed vastly from one another not only in a Day, or a Month, but even in a Year, nay sometimes in two or three. But I have always observed, that the disagree most, where they differ least; the nearer they come to one another, the closer is the Engagement; and the critical War is always hottest, when there is nothing between them.
I hope the Readers will be so candid, as not to expect what they do not find, for I am very sensible from the better Judgment of Mankind, that they will be under a strange Temptation to blame such a Work as this, for laying down Rules without giving Examples; and I must own, it does not seem easy for me to excuse so great an Omission, when I might at once with the Trouble only of Transcribing, have enlarged the Book, adorned the Work, and diverted the courteous Reader.
But, perhaps, I had a Mind to be the first Modern that ever composed a Piece of this Nature without the Pomp of Quotations; and since I did not see the Necessity of it, I was willing to avoid all Ostentation of Learning. Tully is very sparing in Quotations. Most that he useth are to show the Force and Varyings of Action and Elocution, rather than the Rules of Writing, except when he quotes himself, which is next to not quoting at all, and the worst Way of producing Examples in the World. Aristotle's Way is dry and formal; and Longinus who hath recorded some of the most beautiful Passages of the Greek Authors in his Treatise of Sublime, could not have been understood without them. I have dwell'd only in general Rules, without descending into the Provinces of the Grammarian and Rhetorician, and perhaps any Body is pleased to try, he will hardly find it practicable to illustrate these Rules by Examples.
The Rules I have given, are the Result of a thousand others, the Abstract and Essence of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic; and the Examples of a perfect Style are to be taken from the best Authors in general, not from any separate Quotations. Tully and Quintilian do frequently commend the illustrious Writers they mention for their several Excellencies, and propose them as Standards in general for the several Ways of Writing they were distinguished in; but they never descend to Particulars, nor support their Opinions by formal Citations. For that they referr themselves to every Man's Taste and Judgment.
If we consider others, who have delivered any Rules of Writing, we shall find, the Examples they produce, are in minuter Matters to explain the Terms and Signification of the lower Rules, which relate to Grammar and Rhetoric, to the Art and Mechanism of Writing. But where they treat in generals, as I have done, they never illustrate their Rules by Examples. Quintilian's Institution is full of Quotations, for the first nine Books in which he treats his Subject as a Rhetorician, but in the three last, especially the twelfth, where he rises from Particulars to more general Considerations, we hardly have one Citation; and the same may be observed of Tully in his general Rules of Oratory. No body produces Examples of consistent Writers by particular Quotations, and the several Rules I have given for the Idiom, Purity, Plainness, and Decorations of Speech, &c. cannot be farther illustrated by any Passages from Authors; for we have natural Notions of these Things, and can only set them off by showing the several Ways of offending against them.
Rules speak themselves; they draw the Picture of Nature, and give us sure Criterions of an Original in every Performance. I am very certain, the World had seen the fairest Draughts before any settled Rules were given; and perhaps, the Works of the Learned have been more formal, but not more correct, since Men wrote according to Art. For those who first prescribed the Rules of Writing, did not take Nature stripped and naked for their Copy; but they looked upon her, as she was dressed and adorned by her Adorers: They took off indeed all false Colours, but allowed her a little Paint, and were content she should be set out like any Lady, provided her Dressers did not spoil her native Beauty. They formed their Rules upon the Model of the best Writers; they were so artful as to conceal their Art, and while they seemed to prescribe to others, they were only Copiers themselves. But after they had fixed the Standard, they were sure every Writer would be brought to their Bar; and as the first admirable Copies of Nature gave them a Foundation for their Rules, they knew every good Genius would write and judge by Nature, whether any Rules had been set or no. And perhaps, (for I love to doubt in Matters so hazardous Conjecture) if the Rules had not been given, we had been troubled with many fewer Writers; for then those who had not Nature for their Rule, could have had no Rule at all. But now how many Scriblers are there who observe the Rule, and neglect the Meaning, and what Number of Pedants do we meet with, that keep to the Letter, and lose the Spirit?
I won't pretend to answer my Want of Method, perhaps I have observed it, tho' I seem to neglect it. Nor shall I need any Apology for the Style and Manner I have used, which the graver Critics will censure as too light and juvenile for one of my Profession. But I was not writing to myself, nor to the grave and learned, but to a young Nobleman of sprightly Parts, and a lively Imagination. My Business was to engage his Attention, and give the Piece such Colours, as would strike his Fancy. And I am very glad, that while I wrote to a Youth, I could write something like a Youth, only tempering the Briskness of Thought with the Sedateness of Judgement.
What I wished might be performed by the finest Wits upon the ancient Authors, I have with inexpressible Pleasure seen accomplished by the admirable Critic upon Milton. And if Mr. Steele, and his Friends, would do the same Justice to Horace, Homer, and Virgil, or any celebrated Names in Antiquity, we might hope to read them in a brighter Light, and peruse Ten thousand Glories, which lie covered under the Modern Way of Illustration.
Tully who hath given us those excellent Books of Orators, and Oratory, was himself the greater Orator. If Horace had not been an excellent Poet, he had never been an admirable Critic. The best Performers are the best Judges in every Art, and the ingenious Author of the Essay upon Criticism, demonstrates the Justness of his Remarks, by the Goodness of his Writing. The true Spirit of Criticism seems to revive. Lord Roscommon, and the present, with the late Duke of Bucks, opened the Scene in King Charles the Second's Time, but it soon closed again. And nothing was done but in a dry, formal Way, except by Dryden, who at once gave the best Rules, and broke them in spight of his own Knowledge, and the Rehearsal. His Prefaces are many of them admirable upon Dramatic Writing; he had some peculiar Notions, which he maintains with great Address; but his Judgment in disputed Points is of less Weight and Value, because the Inconstancy of his Temper did run into his Thoughts, and mixed with the Conduct of his Writings, as well as his Life.
The present Age seemeth to be born for carrying Criticism to its highest Pitch and Perfection. We have seen many admirable Pieces in the single Papers, which have been published of late Years, preferable to Volumes of Your stanch, formal Critics. Many ingenious Hands have concurred to rescue it from Pedantry, dullness, and Ill-Nature. It is no longer a dry, sour, verbal Study, but claimeth a Place among the politest Parts of Learning; A Critic should lift up his Head with an easy, chearful Air, and not be distinguished, as the Tribe hath generally been, by the Wrinkles of his Brows, but as Men of Candor and Ingenuity ought to be, by the Good Nature, Freedom, and Openness of his Countenance. Critics are apt to talk in a supercilious, magisterial Way, to obtrude their Sentiments on the World, and maintain every singular Opinion with Stiffness and Ill Manners. But if they would soften the Rigor of their Pen, and offer their Notions in a modest affable Address, their Civility and Complaisance would take off those Prejudices, with which Pride and Positiveness are generally entertained. The late Edition of Horace is the finest and greatest Piece of Criticism, that was ever written on any Classic; and if the most Learned Doctor had been a more popular Writer, the World I believe would have admired several Passages they endeavour to explode: And more Texts had been acknowledged admirably restored, if some had not been magisterially obtruded. What a polite Critic may do if he pleases, and in how different an Aspect Criticism appears, when formed by Men of Parts and Fire, we may see in Mr. Trapp's Prælectiones Poeticæ. A Work that cannot be enough commended, whether we consider the Curiousness of his Observations, the Justness of his Remarks, the Truth and Importance of his Rules, the Aptness and Beauty of his Examples, the Force and Elegance of his Style, and the Penetration of his Wit and Judgment: A Piece in such Perfection of Beauty, that he gives the Rules with the same Spirit we find in the Examples, and maketh those Dissertations, which in heavy, formal Hands, would have looked crabbed, dull, and dry, shine in all the Graces, that Life, and Ease, and Vigor can adorn them with; we see how entertaining the severest Criticism are in a Poet's Hand, and what Life and Spirit he can give to the dryest Part of his Subject, while he prescribes the Rules, and fixes the Laws of Poetic Diction, weigheth the Importance of Words, and considers the several Ways of Expression peculiar to the Poets. And if Men of such Learning, and such Parts, would undertake this Province, I cannot help repeating it, we should see more and more into the Propriety, Strength, and Compass, and all the hidden Beauties of the Greek and Latin Tongue.
What Advantage our Language may receive, when those will take upon them to reform it, who are the best Writer in it, we may partly conceive from the new Proposal for ascertaining the British Tongue, and fixing the Standard of it. And whenever a Work of that Public Spirit shall be undertaken, and supported by the greatest and ablest Hands in the Kingdom, I will promise myself to see our Language rival the Strength and Eloquence of the Roman Diction.
If I had seen my Lord Lansdowne's Poems in one View, I might have formed a juster Idea of the Greatness of his Genius, and the Delicacy of his Wit. For when I wrote these Sheets, they lay dispersed up and down in the Miscellanies, but some kind Hand hath assembled the scattered Stars, and added another Lyre to the Constellations.
Perhaps, the Characters I have drawn of our most celebrated Poets, Historians, and Divines, will not be agreed in by all; and therefore, so various is the Judgment of Mankind, I suffer'd that Piece to go with some Reluctance. All I can say for myself, is, that I have considered very carefully the Distinction of their Characters, and if I am not mistaken in that, I am sure I have said no more of them, than they deserve.
If I have advanced my singular Opinions, I shall be ready either to give them up, or give my Reasons for them; for, however I may differ in my Notions from the Herd of Critics and Commentators, I shall always be ambitious to think with the Politer, and more Candid Part of Mankind.
