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diff --git a/11768-0.txt b/11768-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e7dcdc --- /dev/null +++ b/11768-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17737 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11768 *** + +Oxford English Classics + + * * * * * + +DR. JOHNSON'S WORKS. + + * * * * * + +MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. + + +THE WORKS OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. + +IN NINE VOLUMES. + +VOLUME THE FIFTH. + + +MDCCCXXV. + + + + +CONTENTS OF THE FIFTH VOLUME. + +MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. + +The plan of an English dictionary + +Preface to the English dictionary + +Advertisement to the fourth edition of the English dictionary + +Preface to the octavo edition of the English dictionary + +Observations on the tragedy of Macbeth + +Proposals for printing the works of Shakespeare + +Preface to Shakespeare + +General observations on the plays of Shakespeare + +Account of the Harleian library + +Essay on the importance of small tracts + +Preface to the catalogue of the Harleian library, vol. iii + +Controversy between Crousaz and Warburton + +Preliminary discourse to the London Chronicle + +Introduction to the World Displayed + +Preface to the Preceptor, containing a general plan of education + +----to Rolt's dictionary + +----to the translation of father Lobo's voyage to Abyssinia + +An essay on epitaphs + +Preface to an Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his +Paradise Lost + +Letter to the Rev. Mr. Douglas, occasioned by his vindication of Milton, +&c. By William Lauder, A.M. + +Testimonies concerning Mr. Lauder + +Account of an attempt to ascertain the longitude + +Considerations on the plans offered for the construction of Blackfriars +bridge + +Some thoughts on agriculture, both ancient and modern; with an account +of the honour due to an English farmer + +Further thoughts on agriculture + +Considerations on the corn laws + +A complete vindication of the licensers of the stage from the malicious +and scandalous aspersions of Mr. Brooke + +Preface to the Gentleman's Magazine, 1738 + +An appeal to the publick. From the Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1739 + +Letter on fire-works + +Proposals for printing, by subscription, Essays in Verse and Prose, by +Anna Williams + +A project for the employment of authors + +Preface to the Literary Magazine, 1756 + +A dissertation upon the Greek comedy, translated from Brumoy + +General conclusion to Brumoy's Greek theatre + +DEDICATIONS + +Preface to Payne's New Tables of Interest + +Thoughts on the coronation of his majesty king George the third + +Preface to the Artists' Catalogue for 1762 + +OPINIONS ON QUESTIONS OF LAW + +Considerations on the case of Dr. T[rapp]'s [Transcriber's note: sic] + +On school chastisement + +On vitious intromission + +On lay patronage in the church of Scotland + +On pulpit censure + + + + +THE PLAN +OF AN +ENGLISH DICTIONARY. + +TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +PHILIP DORMER, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, +One of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. + + +MY LORD, + +When first I undertook to write an English Dictionary, I had no +expectation of any higher patronage than that of the proprietors of the +copy, nor prospect of any other advantage than the price of my labour. I +knew that the work in which I engaged is generally considered as +drudgery for the blind, as the proper toil of artless industry; a task +that requires neither the light of learning, nor the activity of genius, +but maybe successfully performed without any higher quality than that of +bearing burdens with dull patience, and beating the track of the +alphabet with sluggish resolution. + +Whether this opinion, so long transmitted, and so widely propagated, had +its beginning from truth and nature, or from accident and prejudice; +whether it be decreed by the authority of reason or the tyranny of +ignorance, that, of all the candidates for literary praise, the unhappy +lexicographer holds the lowest place, neither vanity nor interest +incited me to inquire. It appeared that the province allotted me was, of +all the regions of learning, generally confessed to be the least +delightful, that it was believed to produce neither fruits nor flowers; +and that, after a long and laborious cultivation, not even the barren +laurel[1] had been found upon it. + +Yet on this province, my Lord, I entered, with the pleasing hope, that, +as it was low, it likewise would be safe. I was drawn forward with the +prospect of employment, which, though not splendid, would be useful; and +which, though it could not make my life envied, would keep it innocent; +which would awaken no passion, engage me in no contention, nor throw in +my way any temptation to disturb the quiet of others by censure, or my +own by flattery. + +I had read, indeed, of times, in which princes and statesmen thought it +part of their honour to promote the improvement of their native tongues; +and in which dictionaries were written under the protection of +greatness. To the patrons of such undertakings I willingly paid the +homage of believing that they, who were thus solicitous for the +perpetuity of their language, had reason to expect that their actions +would be celebrated by posterity, and that the eloquence which they +promoted would be employed in their praise. But I considered such acts +of beneficence as prodigies, recorded rather to raise wonder than +expectation; and, content with the terms that I had stipulated, had not +suffered my imagination to flatter me with any other encouragement, when +I found that my design had been thought by your Lordship of importance +sufficient to attract your favour. + +How far this unexpected distinction can be rated among the happy +incidents of life, I am not yet able to determine. Its first effect has +been to make me anxious, lest it should fix the attention of the publick +too much upon me; and, as it once happened to an epick poet of France, +by raising the reputation of the attempt, obstruct the reception of the +work. I imagine what the world will expect from a scheme, prosecuted +under your Lordship's influence; and I know that expectation, when her +wings are once expanded, easily reaches heights which performance never +will attain; and when she has mounted the summit of perfection, derides +her follower, who dies in the pursuit. + +Not, therefore, to raise expectation, but to repress it, I here lay +before your Lordship the plan of my undertaking, that more may not be +demanded than I intend; and that, before it is too far advanced to be +thrown into a new method, I may be advertised of its defects or +superfluities. Such informations I may justly hope, from the emulation +with which those, who desire the praise of elegance or discernment, must +contend in the promotion of a design that you, my Lord, have not thought +unworthy to share your attention with treaties and with wars. + +In the first attempt to methodise my ideas I found a difficulty, which +extended itself to the whole work. It was not easy to determine by what +rule of distinction the words of this dictionary were to be chosen. The +chief intent of it is to preserve the purity, and ascertain the meaning +of our English idiom; and this seems to require nothing more than that +our language be considered, so far as it is our own; that the words and +phrases used in the general intercourse of life, or found in the works +of those whom we commonly style polite writers, be selected, without +including the terms of particular professions; since, with the arts to +which they relate, they are generally derived from other nations, and +are very often the same in all the languages of this part of the world. +This is, perhaps, the exact and pure idea of a grammatical dictionary; +but in lexicography, as in other arts, naked science is too delicate for +the purposes of life. The value of a work must be estimated by its use; +it is not enough that a dictionary delights the critick, unless, at the +same time, it instructs the learner; as it is to little purpose that an +engine amuses the philosopher by the subtilty of its mechanism, if it +requires so much knowledge in its application as to be of no advantage +to the common workman. + +The title which I prefix to my work has long conveyed a very +miscellaneous idea, and they that take a dictionary into their hands, +have been accustomed to expect from it a solution of almost every +difficulty. If foreign words, therefore, were rejected, it could be +little regarded, except by criticks, or those who aspire to criticism; +and however it might enlighten those that write, would be all darkness +to them that only read. The unlearned much oftener consult their +dictionaries for the meaning of words, than for their structures or +formations; and the words that most want explanation are generally terms +of art; which, therefore, experience has taught my predecessors to +spread with a kind of pompous luxuriance over their productions. + +The academicians of France, indeed, rejected terms of science in their +first essay, but found afterwards a necessity of relaxing the rigour of +their determination; and, though they would not naturalize them at once +by a single act, permitted them by degrees to settle themselves among +the natives, with little opposition; and it would surely be no proof of +judgment to imitate them in an errour which they have now retracted, and +deprive the book of its chief use, by scrupulous distinctions. + +Of such words, however, all are not equally to be considered as parts of +our language; for some of them are naturalized and incorporated; but +others still continue aliens, and are rather auxiliaries than subjects. +This naturalization is produced either by an admission into common +speech, in some metaphorical signification, which is the acquisition of +a kind of property among us; as we say, the _zenith_ of advancement, the +_meridian_ of life, the _cynosure_[2] of neighbouring eyes; or it is the +consequence of long intermixture and frequent use, by which the ear is +accustomed to the sound of words, till their original is forgotten, as +in _equator, satellites_; or of the change of a foreign to an +English termination, and a conformity to the laws of the speech into +which they are adopted; as in _category, cachexy, peripneumony_. + +Of those which still continue in the state of aliens, and have made no +approaches towards assimilation, some seem necessary to be retained, +because the purchasers of the Dictionary will expect to find them. Such +are many words in the common law, as _capias, habeas corpus, +praemunire, nisi prius_: such are some terms of controversial +divinity, as _hypostasis_; and of physick, as the names of +diseases; and, in general, all terms which can be found in books not +written professedly upon particular arts, or can be supposed necessary +to those who do not regularly study them. Thus, when a reader not +skilled in physick happens in Milton upon this line, + + --pining atrophy, + Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, + +he will, with equal expectation, look into his dictionary for the word +_marasmus_, as for _atrophy_, or _pestilence_; and will +have reason to complain if he does not find it. + +It seems necessary to the completion of a dictionary, designed not +merely for criticks, but for popular use, that it should comprise, in +some degree, the peculiar words of every profession; that the terms of +war and navigation should be inserted, so far as they can be required by +readers of travels, and of history; and those of law, merchandise, and +mechanical trades, so far as they can be supposed useful in the +occurrences of common life. + +But there ought, however, to be some distinction made between the +different classes of words; and, therefore, it will be proper to print +those which are incorporated into the language in the usual character, +and those which are still to be considered as foreign, in the Italick +letter. + +Another question may arise with regard to appellatives, or the names of +species. It seems of no great use to set down the words _horse, dog, +cat, willow, alder, daisy, rose_, and a thousand others, of which it +will be hard to give an explanation, not more obscure than the word +itself. Yet it is to be considered, that, if the names of animals be +inserted, we must admit those which are more known, as well as those +with which we are, by accident, less acquainted; and if they are all +rejected, how will the reader be relieved from difficulties produced by +allusions to the crocodile, the chameleon, the ichneumon, and the +hyaena? If no plants are to be mentioned, the most pleasing part of +nature will be excluded, and many beautiful epithets be unexplained. If +only those which are less known are to be mentioned, who shall fix the +limits of the reader's learning? The importance of such explications +appears from the mistakes which the want of them has occasioned: had +Shakespeare had a dictionary of this kind, he had not made the +_woodbine_ entwine the _honeysuckle_; nor would Milton, with +such assistance, have disposed so improperly of his _ellops_ and +his _scorpion_. + +Besides, as such words, like others, require that their accents should +be settled, their sounds ascertained, and their etymologies deduced, +they cannot be properly omitted in the Dictionary. And though the +explanations of some may be censured as trivial, because they are almost +universally understood, and those of others as unnecessary, because they +will seldom occur, yet it seems not proper to omit them; since it is +rather to be wished that many readers should find more than they expect, +than that one should miss what he might hope to find. + +When all the words are selected and arranged, the first part of the work +to be considered is the orthography, which was long vague and uncertain; +which at last, when its fluctuation ceased, was in many cases settled +but by accident; and in which, according to your Lordship's observation, +there is still great uncertainty among the best criticks; nor is it easy +to state a rule by which we may decide between custom and reason, or +between the equiponderant authorities of writers alike eminent for +judgment and accuracy. + +The great orthographical contest has long subsisted between etymology +and pronunciation. It has been demanded, on one hand, that men should +write as they speak; but, as it has been shown that this conformity +never was attained in any language, and that it is not more easy to +persuade men to agree exactly in speaking than in writing, it may be +asked, with equal propriety, why men do not rather speak as they write. +In France, where this controversy was at its greatest height, neither +party, however ardent, durst adhere steadily to their own rule; the +etymologist was often forced to spell with the people; and the advocate +for the authority of pronunciation found it sometimes deviating so +capriciously from the received use of writing, that he was constrained +to comply with the rule of his adversaries, lest he should lose the end +by the means, and be left alone by following the crowd. + +When a question of orthography is dubious, that practice has, in my +opinion, a claim to preference which preserves the greatest number of +radical letters, or seems most to comply with the general custom of our +language. But the chief rule which I propose to follow is, to make no +innovation without a reason sufficient to balance the inconvenience of +change; and such reasons I do not expect often to find. All change is of +itself an evil, which ought not to be hazarded but for evident +advantage; and as inconstancy is in every case a mark of weakness, it +will add nothing to the reputation of our tongue. There are, indeed, +some who despise the inconveniencies of confusion, who seem to take +pleasure in departing from custom, and to think alteration desirable for +its own sake; and the reformation of our orthography, which these +writers have attempted, should not pass without its due honours, but +that I suppose they hold singularity its own reward, or may dread the +fascination of lavish praise. + +The present usage of spelling, where the present usage can be +distinguished, will, therefore, in this work, be generally followed; yet +there will be often occasion to observe, that it is in itself +inaccurate, and tolerated rather than chosen; particularly when, by the +change of one letter or more, the meaning of a word is obscured, as in +_farrier_ for _ferrier_, as it was formerly written, from +_ferrum_, or _fer_; in _gibberish_ for _gebrish_, the jargon of Geber, +and his chymical followers, understood by none but their own tribe. It +will be likewise sometimes proper to trace back the orthography of +different ages, and show by what gradations the word departed from its +original. + +Closely connected with orthography is pronunciation, the stability of +which is of great importance to the duration of a language, because the +first change will naturally begin by corruptions in the living speech. +The want of certain rules for the pronunciation of former ages, has made +us wholly ignorant of the metrical art of our ancient poets; and since +those who study their sentiments regret the loss of their numbers, it is +surely time to provide that the harmony of the moderns may be more +permanent. + +A new pronunciation will make almost a new speech; and, therefore, since +one great end of this undertaking is to fix the English language, care +will be taken to determine the accentuation of all polysyllables by +proper authorities, as it is one of those capricious phaenomena which +cannot be easily reduced to rules. Thus there is no antecedent reason +for difference of accent in the two words _dolorous_ and +_sonorous_; yet of the one Milton gives the sound in this line, + + He pass'd o'er many a region _dolorous_; + +and that of the other in this, + + _Sonorous_ metal blowing martial sounds. + +It may be likewise proper to remark metrical licenses, such as +contractions, _generous, gen'rous; reverend, rev'rend_; and +coalitions, as _region, question_. + +But still it is more necessary to fix the pronunciation of +monosyllables, by placing with them words of correspondent sound, that +one may guard the other against the danger of that variation, which, to +some of the most common, has already happened; so that the words +_wound_ and _wind_, as they are now frequently pronounced, +will not rhyme to _sound_ and _mind_. It is to be remarked, +that many words written alike are differently pronounced, as +_flow_, and _brow_: which may be thus registered, _flow, +woe; brow, now_; or of which the exemplification may be generally +given by a distich: thus the words _tear_, or lacerate and +_tear_, the water of the eye, have the same letters, but may be +distinguished thus, _tear, dare; tear, peer_. + +Some words have two sounds, which may be equally admitted, as being +equally defensible by authority. Thus _great_ is differently used: + + For Swift and him despised the farce of state, + The sober follies of the wise and _great_. POPE. + + As if misfortune made the throne her seat, + And none could be unhappy but the _great_. ROWE. + +The care of such minute particulars may be censured as trifling; but +these particulars have not been thought unworthy of attention in more +polished languages. + +The accuracy of the French, in stating the sounds of their letters, is +well known; and, among the Italians, Crescembeni has not thought it +unnecessary to inform his countrymen of the words which, in compliance +with different rhymes, are allowed to be differently spelt, and of which +the number is now so fixed, that no modern poet is suffered to increase +it. + +When the orthography and pronunciation are adjusted, the etymology or +derivation is next to be considered, and the words are to be +distinguished according to the different classes, whether simple, as +_day, light_, or compound, as _day-light_; whether primitive, +as, to _act_, or derivative, as _action, actionable; active, +activity_. This will much facilitate the attainment of our language, +which now stands in our dictionaries a confused heap of words without +dependence, and without relation. + +When this part of the work is performed, it will be necessary to inquire +how our primitives are to be deduced from foreign languages, which may +be often very successfully performed by the assistance of our own +etymologists. This search will give occasion to many curious +disquisitions, and sometimes, perhaps, to conjectures, which to readers +unacquainted with this kind of study, cannot but appear improbable and +capricious. But it may be reasonably imagined, that what is so much in +the power of men as language, will very often be capriciously conducted. +Nor are these disquisitions and conjectures to be considered altogether +as wanton sports of wit, or vain shows of learning; our language is well +known not to be primitive or self-originated, but to have adopted words +of every generation, and, either for the supply of its necessities, or +the increase of its copiousness, to have received additions from very +distant regions; so that in search of the progenitors of our speech, we +may wander from the tropick to the frozen zone, and find some in the +valleys of Palestine, and some upon the rocks of Norway. + +Beside the derivation of particular words, there is likewise an +etymology of phrases. Expressions are often taken from other languages; +some apparently, as to _run a risk, courir un risque_; and some even +when we do not seem to borrow their words; thus, to _bring about_, or +accomplish, appears an English phrase, but in reality our native word +_about_ has no such import, and is only a French expression, of which we +have an example in the common phrase _venir à bout d'une affaire_. + +In exhibiting the descent of our language, our etymologists seem to have +been too lavish of their learning, having traced almost every word +through various tongues, only to show what was shown sufficiently by the +first derivation. This practice is of great use in synoptical lexicons, +where mutilated and doubtful languages are explained by their affinity +to others more certain and extensive, but is generally superfluous in +English etymologies. When the word is easily deduced from a Saxon +original, I shall not often inquire further, since we know not the +parent of the Saxon dialect; but when it is borrowed from the French, I +shall show whence the French is apparently derived. Where a Saxon root +cannot be found, the defect may be supplied from kindred languages, +which will be generally furnished with much liberality by the writers of +our glossaries; writers who deserve often the highest praise, both of +judgment and industry, and may expect at least to be mentioned with +honour by me, whom they have freed from the greatest part of a very +laborious work, and on whom they have imposed, at worst, only the easy +task of rejecting superfluities. + +By tracing in this manner every word to its original, and not admitting, +but with great caution, any of which no original can be found, we shall +secure our language from being overrun with _cant_, from being crowded +with low terms, the spawn of folly or affectation, which arise from no +just principles of speech, and of which, therefore, no legitimate +derivation can be shown. + +When the etymology is thus adjusted, the analogy of our language is next +to be considered; when we have discovered whence our words are derived, +we are to examine by what rules they are governed, and how they are +inflected through their various terminations. The terminations of the +English are few, but those few have hitherto remained unregarded by the +writers of our dictionaries. Our substantives are declined only by the +plural termination, our adjectives admit no variation but in the degrees +of comparison, and our verbs are conjugated by auxiliary words, and are +only changed in the preter tense. + +To our language may be, with great justness, applied the observation of +Quintilian, that speech was not formed by an analogy sent from heaven. +It did not descend to us in a state of uniformity and perfection, but +was produced by necessity, and enlarged by accident, and is, therefore, +composed of dissimilar parts, thrown together by negligence, by +affectation, by learning or by ignorance. + +Our inflections, therefore, are by no means constant, but admit of +numberless irregularities, which in this Dictionary will be diligently +noted. Thus _fox_ makes in the plural _foxes_, but _ox_ makes _oxen_. +_Sheep_ is the same in both numbers. Adjectives are sometimes compared +by changing the last syllable, as _proud, prouder, proudest_; and +sometimes by particles prefixed, as _ambitious, more_ ambitious, _most_ +ambitious. The forms of our verbs are subject to great variety; some end +their preter tense in _ed_, as I _love_, I _loved_, I have _loved_; +which may be called the regular form, and is followed by most of our +verbs of southern original. But many depart from this rule, without +agreeing in any other, as I _shake_, I _shook_, I have _shaken_ or +_shook_, as it is sometimes written in poetry; I _make_, I _made_, I +have _made_; I _bring_, I _brought_; I _wring_, I _wrung_; and many +others, which, as they cannot be reduced to rules, must be learned from +the dictionary rather than the grammar. + +The verbs are likewise to be distinguished according to their qualities, +as actives from neuters; the neglect of which has already introduced +some barbarities in our conversation, which, if not obviated by just +animadversions, may in time creep into our writings. + +Thus, my Lord, will our language be laid down, distinct in its minutest +subdivisions, and resolved into its elemental principles. And who upon +this survey can forbear to wish, that these fundamental atoms of our +speech might obtain the firmness and immutability of the primogenial and +constituent particles of matter, that they might retain their substance +while they alter their appearance, and be varied and compounded, yet not +destroyed? + +But this is a privilege which words are scarcely to expect: for, like +their author, when they are not gaining strength, they are generally +losing it. Though art may sometimes prolong their duration, it will +rarely give them perpetuity; and their changes will be almost always +informing us, that language is the work of man, of a being from whom +permanence and stability cannot be derived. + +Words having been hitherto considered as separate and unconnected, are +now to be likewise examined as they are ranged in their various +relations to others by the rules of syntax or construction, to which I +do not know that any regard has been yet shown in English dictionaries, +and in which the grammarians can give little assistance. The syntax of +this language is too inconstant to be reduced to rules, and can be only +learned by the distinct consideration of particular words as they are +used by the best authors. Thus, we say, according to the present modes +of speech, The soldier died _of_ his wounds, and the sailor perished +_with_ hunger; and every man acquainted with our language would be +offended with a change of these particles, which yet seem originally +assigned by chance, there being no reason to be drawn from grammar why a +man may not, with equal propriety, be said to die _with_ a wound or +perish _of_ hunger. + +Our syntax, therefore, is not to be taught by general rules, but by +special precedents; and in examining whether Addison has been with +justice accused of a solecism in this passage, + + The poor inhabitant-- + Starves in the midst of nature's bounty curst, + And in the loaden vineyard _dies for thirst_--. + +it is not in our power to have recourse to any established laws of +speech; but we must remark how the writers of former ages have used the +same word, and consider whether he can be acquitted of impropriety, upon +the testimony of Davies, given in his favour by a similar passage: + + She loaths the wat'ry glass wherein she gaz'd, + And shuns it still, although for thirst she dye. + +When the construction of a word is explained, it is necessary to pursue +it through its train of phraseology, through those forms where it is +used in a manner peculiar to our language, or in senses not to be +comprised in the general explanations; as from the verb _make_ arise +these phrases, to _make love_, to _make an end_, to _make way_; as, he +_made way_ for his followers, the ship _made way_ before the wind; to +_make a bed_, to _make merry_, to _make a mock_, to _make presents_, to +_make a doubt_, to _make out an assertion_, to _make good_ a breach, to +_make good_ a cause, to _make nothing_ of an attempt, to _make +lamentation_, to _make a merit_, and many others which will occur in +reading with that view, and which only their frequency hinders from +being generally remarked. + +The great labour is yet to come, the labour of interpreting these words +and phrases with brevity, fulness, and perspicuity; a task of which the +extent and intricacy is sufficiently shown by the miscarriage of those +who have generally attempted it. This difficulty is increased by the +necessity of explaining the words in the same language; for there is +often only one word for one idea; and though it be easy to translate the +words _bright, sweet, salt, bitter_, into another language, it is not +easy to explain them. + +With regard to the interpretation, many other questions have required +consideration. It was some time doubted whether it be necessary to +explain the things implied by particular words; as under the term +_baronet_, whether, instead of this explanation, _a title of honour next +in degree to that of baron_, it would be better to mention more +particularly the creation, privileges, and rank of baronets; and +whether, under the word _barometer_, instead of being satisfied with +observing that it is _an instrument to discover the weight of the air_, +it would be fit to spend a few lines upon its invention, construction, +and principles. It is not to be expected, that with the explanation of +the one the herald should be satisfied, or the philosopher with that of +the other; but since it will be required by common readers, that the +explications should be sufficient for common use; and since, without +some attention to such demands, the Dictionary cannot become generally +valuable, I have determined to consult the best writers for explanations +real as well as verbal; and, perhaps, I may at last have reason to say, +after one of the augmenters of Furetier, that my book is more learned +than its author. + +In explaining the general and popular language, it seems necessary to +sort the several senses of each word, and to exhibit first its natural +and primitive signification; as, + +To _arrive_, to reach the shore in a voyage: he _arrived_ at a safe +harbour. + +Then to give its consequential meaning, to _arrive_, to reach any place, +whether by land or sea; as, he _arrived_ at his country-seat. + +Then its metaphorical sense, to obtain any thing desired; as, he +_arrived_ at a peerage. + +Then to mention any observation that arises from the comparison of one +meaning with another; as, it may be remarked of the word _arrive_, that, +in consequence of its original and etymological sense, it cannot be +properly applied but to words signifying something desirable; thus we +say, a man _arrived_ at happiness; but cannot say, without a mixture of +irony, he _arrived_ at misery. + +_Ground_, the earth, generally as opposed to the air or water. He swam +till he reached _ground_. The bird fell to the _ground_. + +Then follows the accidental or consequential signification in which +_ground_ implies any thing that lies under another; as, he laid colours +upon a rough _ground_. The silk had blue flowers on a red _ground_. + +Then the remoter or metaphorical signification; as, the _ground_ of his +opinion was a false computation. The _ground_ of his work was his +father's manuscript. + +After having gone through the natural and figurative senses, it will be +proper to subjoin the poetical sense of each word, where it differs from +that which is in common use; as _wanton_, applied to any thing of which +the motion is irregular without terrour; as, + + In _wanton_ ringlets curl'd her hair. + +To the poetical sense may succeed the familiar; as of _toast_, used to +imply the person whose health is drunk; as, + + The wise man's passion, and the vain man's _toast_. POPE. + +The familiar may be followed by the burlesque; as of _mellow_, applied +to good fellowship: + + In all thy humours, whether grave or _mellow_. ADDISON. + +Or of _bite_, used for _cheat_: + + --More a dupe than wit, + Sappho can tell you how this man was _bit_. POPE. + +And, lastly, may be produced the peculiar sense, in which a word is +found in any great author: as _faculties_, in Shakespeare, signifies the +powers of authority: + + --This Duncan + Has borne his _faculties_ so meek, has been + So clear in his great office, that, &c. + +The signification of adjectives may be often ascertained by uniting them +to substantives; as, _simple swain, simple sheep_. Sometimes the sense +of a substantive may be elucidated by the epithets annexed to it in good +authors; as, the _boundless ocean_, the _open lawns_: and where such +advantage can be gained by a short quotation, it is not to be omitted. + +The difference of signification in words generally accounted synonymous, +ought to be carefully observed; as in _pride, haughtiness, arrogance_: +and the strict and critical meaning ought to be distinguished from that +which is loose and popular; as in the word _perfection_, which, though +in its philosophical and exact sense it can be of little use among human +beings, is often so much degraded from its original signification, that +the academicians have inserted in their work, _the perfection of a +language_, and, with a little more licentiousness, might have prevailed +on themselves to have added the _perfection of a dictionary_. + +There are many other characters of words which it will be of use to +mention. Some have both an active and passive signification; as +_fearful_, that which gives or which feels terrour; a _fearful prodigy_, +a _fearful hare_. Some have a personal, some a real meaning; as, in +opposition to _old_, we use the adjective _young_ of animated beings, +and new of other things. Some are restrained to the sense of praise, and +others to that of disapprobation; so commonly, though not always, we +_exhort_ to good actions, we _instigate_ to ill; we _animate, incite_ +and _encourage_ indifferently to good or bad. So we usually _ascribe_ +good, but _impute_ evil; yet neither the use of these words, nor, +perhaps, of any other in our licentious language, is so established as +not to be often reversed by the correctest writers. I shall, therefore, +since the rules of style, like those of law, arise from precedents often +repeated, collect the testimonies on both sides, and endeavour to +discover and promulgate the decrees of custom, who has so long +possessed, whether by right or by usurpation, the sovereignty of words. + +It is necessary, likewise, to explain many words by their opposition to +others; for contraries are best seen when they stand together. Thus the +verb _stand_ has one sense, as opposed to _fall_, and another, as +opposed to _fly_; for want of attending to which distinction, obvious as +it is, the learned Dr. Bentley has squandered his criticism to no +purpose, on these lines of Paradise Lost: + + --In heaps + Chariot and charioteer lay overturn'd, + And fiery foaming steeds. What _stood, recoil'd_ + O'erwearied, through the faint Satanic host, + Defensive scarce, or with pale fear surpris'd, + _Fled_ ignominious.-- + +"Here," says the critick, "as the sentence is now read, we find that +what _stood, fled_:" and, therefore, he proposes an alteration, which he +might have spared, if he had consulted a dictionary, and found that +nothing more was affirmed than, that those _fled_ who did not _fall_. + +In explaining such meanings as seem accidental and adventitious, I shall +endeavour to give an account of the means by which they were introduced. +Thus, to _eke out_ any thing, signifies to lengthen it beyond its just +dimensions, by some low artifice; because the word _eke_ was the usual +refuge of our old writers, when they wanted a syllable. And _buxom_, +which means only _obedient_, is now made, in familiar phrases, to stand +for _wanton_; because in an ancient form of marriage, before the +Reformation, the bride promised complaisance and obedience, in these +terms: "I will be bonair and _buxom_ in bed and at board." + +I know well, my Lord, how trifling many of these remarks will appear, +separately considered, and how easily they may give occasion to the +contemptuous merriment of sportive idleness, and the gloomy censures of +arrogant stupidity; but dulness it is easy to despise, and laughter it +is easy to repay. I shall not be solicitous what is thought of my work, +by such as know not the difficulty or importance of philological +studies; nor shall think those that have done nothing, qualified to +condemn me for doing little. It may not, however, be improper to remind +them, that no terrestrial greatness is more than an aggregate of little +things; and to inculcate, after the Arabian proverb, that drops added to +drops constitute the ocean. + +There remains yet to be considered the distribution of words into their +proper classes, or that part of lexicography which is strictly critical. + +The popular part of the language, which includes all words not +appropriated to particular sciences, admits of many distinctions and +subdivisions; as, into words of general use; words employed chiefly in +poetry; words obsolete; words which are admitted only by particular +writers, yet not in themselves improper; words used only in burlesque +writing; and words impure and barbarous. + +Words of general use will be known by having no sign of particularity, +and their various senses will be supported by authorities of all ages. + +The words appropriated to poetry will be distinguished by some mark +prefixed, or will be known by having no authorities but those of poets. + +Of antiquated or obsolete words, none will be inserted, but such as are +to be found in authors, who wrote since the accession of Elizabeth, from +which we date the golden age of our language; and of these many might be +omitted, but that the reader may require, with an appearance of reason, +that no difficulty should be left unresolved in books which he finds +himself invited to read, as confessed and established models of style. +These will be likewise pointed out by some note of exclusion, but not of +disgrace. + +The words which are found only in particular books, will be known by the +single name of him that has used them; but such will be omitted, unless +either their propriety, elegance or force, or the reputation of their +authors, affords some extraordinary reason for their reception. + +Words used in burlesque and familiar compositions, will be likewise +mentioned with their proper authorities; such as _dudgeon_, from Butler, +and _leasing_, from Prior; and will be diligently characterised by marks +of distinction. Barbarous, or impure, words and expressions, may be +branded with some note of infamy, as they are carefully to be eradicated +wherever they are found; and they occur too frequently, even in the best +writers: as in Pope, + + --_in_ endless error _hurl'd_. + '_Tis these_ that early taint the female soul. + +In Addison: + + Attend to what a _lesser_ muse indites. + +And in Dryden: + + A dreadful quiet felt, and _worser_ far + Than arms.-- + +If this part of the work can be well performed, it will be equivalent to +the proposal made by Boileau to the academicians, that they should +review all their polite writers, and correct such impurities as might be +found in them, that their authority might not contribute, at any distant +time, to the depravation of the language. + +With regard to questions of purity or propriety, I was once in doubt +whether I should not attribute too much to myself, in attempting to +decide them, and whether my province was to extend beyond the +proposition of the question, and the display of the suffrages on each +side; but I have been since determined, by your Lordship's opinion, to +interpose my own judgment, and shall, therefore, endeavour to support +what appears to me most consonant to grammar and reason. Ausonius +thought that modesty forbad him to plead inability for a task to which +Cæsar had judged him equal: + + Cur me posse negem posse quod ille putat? + +And I may hope, my Lord, that since you, whose authority in our language +is so generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare my own +opinion, I shall be considered as exercising a kind of vicarious +jurisdiction, and that the power which might have been denied to my own +claim, will be readily allowed me as the delegate of your Lordship. + +In citing authorities, on which the credit of every part of this work +must depend, it will be proper to observe some obvious rules; such as of +preferring writers of the first reputation to those of an inferiour +rank; of noting the quotations with accuracy; and of selecting, when it +can be conveniently done, such sentences, as, besides their immediate +use, may give pleasure or instruction, by conveying some elegance of +language, or some precept of prudence or piety. + +It has been asked, on some occasions, who shall judge the judges? And +since, with regard to this design, a question may arise by what +authority the authorities are selected, it is necessary to obviate it, +by declaring that many of the writers whose testimonies will be alleged, +were selected by Mr. Pope; of whom I may be justified in affirming, that +were he still alive, solicitous as he was for the success of this work, +he would not be displeased that I have undertaken it. + +It will be proper that the quotations be ranged according to the ages of +their authors; and it will afford an agreeable amusement, if to the +words and phrases which are not of our own growth, the name of the +writer who first introduced them can be affixed; and if, to words which +are now antiquated, the authority be subjoined of him who last admitted +them. Thus, for _scathe_ and _buxom_, now obsolete, Milton may be cited: + + --The mountain oak + Stands _scath'd_ to heaven.-- + --He with broad sails + Winnow'd the _buxom_ air.-- + +By this method every word will have its history, and the reader will be +informed of the gradual changes of the language, and have before his +eyes the rise of some words, and the fall of others. But observations so +minute and accurate are to be desired, rather than expected; and if use +be carefully supplied, curiosity must sometimes bear its +disappointments. + +This, my Lord, is my idea of an English dictionary; a dictionary by +which the pronunciation of our language may be fixed, and its attainment +facilitated; by which its purity may be preserved, its use ascertained, +and its duration lengthened. And though, perhaps, to correct the +language of nations by books of grammar, and amend their manners by +discourses of morality, may be tasks equally difficult, yet, as it is +unavoidable to wish, it is natural likewise to hope, that your +Lordship's patronage may not be wholly lost; that it may contribute to +the preservation of ancient, and the improvement of modern writers; that +it may promote the reformation of those translators, who, for want of +understanding the characteristical difference of tongues, have formed a +chaotick dialect of heterogeneous phrases; and awaken to the care of +purer diction some men of genius, whose attention to argument makes them +negligent of style, or whose rapid imagination, like the Peruvian +torrents, when it brings down gold, mingles it with sand. + +When I survey the Plan which I have laid before you, I cannot, my Lord, +but confess, that I am frighted at its extent, and, like the soldiers of +Cæsar, look on Britain as a new world, which it is almost madness to +invade. But I hope, that though I should not complete the conquest, I +shall, at least, discover the coast, civilize part of the inhabitants, +and make it easy for some other adventurer to proceed further, to reduce +them wholly to subjection, and settle them under laws. + +We are taught by the great Roman orator, that every man should propose +to himself the highest degree of excellence, but that he may stop with +honour at the second or third: though, therefore, my performance should +fall below the excellence of other dictionaries, I may obtain, at least, +the praise of having endeavoured well; nor shall I think it any reproach +to my diligence, that I have retired without a triumph, from a contest +with united academies, and long successions of learned compilers. I +cannot hope, in the warmest moments, to preserve so much caution through +so long a work, as not often to sink into negligence, or to obtain so +much knowledge of all its parts, as not frequently to fail by ignorance. +I expect that sometimes the desire of accuracy will urge me to +superfluities, and sometimes the fear of prolixity betray me to +omissions; that in the extent of such variety, I shall be often +bewildered, and, in the mazes of such intricacy, be frequently +entangled; that in one part refinement will be subtilized beyond +exactness, and evidence dilated in another beyond perspicuity. Yet I do +not despair of approbation from those who, knowing the uncertainty of +conjecture, the scantiness of knowledge, the fallibility of memory, and +the unsteadiness of attention, can compare the causes of errour with the +means of avoiding it, and the extent of art with the capacity of man: +and whatever be the event of my endeavours, I shall not easily regret an +attempt, which has procured me the honour of appearing thus publickly, + +MY LORD, + +Your Lordship's most obedient, +and most humble servant, + +SAM. JOHNSON.[3] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Lord Orrery, in a letter to Dr. Birch, mentions this as one of the + very few inaccuracies in this admirable address, the _laurel_ not + being _barren_ in any sense, but bearing fruits and flowers. + Boswell's Life, vol. i. p. 160. EDIT. 1804. + +[2] Milton. + +[3] Written in the year 1747. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY. + +It is the fate of those, who toil at the lower employments of life, to +be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of +good; to be exposed to censure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced +by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where success would have been +without applause, and diligence without reward. + +Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries; whom mankind +have considered, not as the pupil, but the slave of science, the pioneer +of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstructions from +the paths, through which Learning and Genius press forward to conquest +and glory, without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that +facilitates their progress. Every other author may aspire to praise; the +lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative +recompense has been yet granted to very few. + +I have, notwithstanding this discouragement, attempted a Dictionary of +the English language, which, while it was employed in the cultivation of +every species of literature, has itself been hitherto neglected; +suffered to spread, under the direction of chance, into wild exuberance; +resigned to the tyranny of time and fashion; and exposed to the +corruptions of ignorance, and caprices of innovation. + +When I took the first survey of my undertaking, I found our speech +copious without order, and energetick without rules: wherever I turned +my view, there was perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be +regulated; choice was to be made out of boundless variety, without any +established principle of selection; adulterations were to be detected, +without a settled test of purity; and modes of expression to be rejected +or received, without the suffrages of any writers of classical +reputation or acknowledged authority. + +Having, therefore, no assistance but from general grammar, I applied +myself to the perusal of our writers; and, noting whatever might be of +use to ascertain or illustrate any word or phrase, accumulated in time +the materials of a dictionary, which, by degrees, I reduced to method, +establishing to myself, in the progress of the work, such rules as +experience and analogy suggested to me: experience, which practice and +observation were continually increasing; and analogy, which, though in +some words obscure, was evident in others. + +In adjusting the ORTHOGRAPHY, which has been to this time unsettled and +fortuitous, I found it necessary to distinguish those irregularities +that are inherent in our tongue, and, perhaps, coeval with it, from +others, which the ignorance or negligence of later writers has produced. +Every language has its anomalies, which, though inconvenient, and in +themselves once unnecessary, must be tolerated among the imperfections +of human things; and which require only to be registered, that they may +not be increased, and ascertained, that they may not be confounded: but +every language has likewise its improprieties and absurdities, which it +is the duty of the lexicographer to correct or proscribe. + +As language was at its beginning merely oral, all words of necessary or +common use were spoken, before they were written; and while they were +unfixed by any visible signs, must have been spoken with great +diversity, as we now observe those, who cannot read, catch sounds +imperfectly, and utter them negligently. When this wild and barbarous +jargon was first reduced to an alphabet, every penman endeavoured to +express, as he could, the sounds which he was accustomed to pronounce or +to receive, and vitiated in writing such words as were already vitiated +in speech. The powers of the letters, when they were applied to a new +language, must have been vague and unsettled, and, therefore, different +hands would exhibit the same sound by different combinations. + +From this uncertain pronunciation arise, in a great part, the various +dialects of the same country, which will always be observed to grow +fewer and less different, as books are multiplied; and from this +arbitrary representation of sounds by letters proceeds that diversity of +spelling, observable in the Saxon remains, and, I suppose, in the first +books of every nation, which perplexes or destroys analogy, and produces +anomalous formations, that being once incorporated, can never be +afterwards dismissed or reformed. + +Of this kind are the derivatives _length_ from _long_, _strength_ from +_strong_, _darling_ from _dear_, _breadth_ from _broad_, from _dry_, +_drought_, and from _high_, _height_, which Milton, in zeal for analogy, +writes _highth_: "Quid te exempta juvat spinis de pluribus una?" to +change all would be too much, and to change one is nothing. + +This uncertainty is most frequent in the vowels, which are so +capriciously pronounced, and so differently modified, by accident or +affectation, not only in every province, but in every mouth, that to +them, as is well known to etymologists, little regard is to be shown in +the deduction of one language from another. + +Such defects are not errours in orthography, but spots of barbarity +impressed so deep in the English language, that criticism can never wash +them away: these, therefore, must be permitted to remain untouched: but +many words have likewise been altered by accident, or depraved by +ignorance, as the pronunciation of the vulgar has been weakly followed; +and some still continue to be variously written, as authors differ in +their care or skill: of these it was proper to inquire the true +orthography, which I have always considered as depending on their +derivation, and have, therefore, referred them to their original +languages: thus I write _enchant_, _enchantment_, _enchanter_, after the +French, and _incantation_ after the Latin; thus _entire_ is chosen +rather than _intire_, because it passed to us not from the Latin +_integer_, but from the French _entier_. + +Of many words it is difficult to say, whether they were immediately +received from the Latin or the French, since at the time when we had +dominions in France, we had Latin service in our churches. It is, +however, my opinion, that the French generally supplied us; for we have +few Latin words, among the terms of domestick use, which are not French; +but many French, which are very remote from Latin. + +Even in words of which the derivation is apparent, I have been often +obliged to sacrifice uniformity to custom; thus I write, in compliance +with a numberless majority, _convey_ and _inveigh_, _deceit_ and +_receipt_, _fancy_ and _phantom_; sometimes the derivative varies from +the primitive, as _explain_ and _explanation_, _repeat_ and +_repetition_. + +Some combinations of letters, having the same power, are used +indifferently without any discoverable reason of choice, as in _choak_, +_choke_; _soap_, _sape_; _fewel_, _fuel_, and many others; which I have +sometimes inserted twice, that those, who search for them under either +form, may not search in vain. + +In examining the orthography of any doubtful word, the mode of spelling +by which it is inserted in the series of the Dictionary, is to be +considered as that to which I give, perhaps, not often rashly, the +preference. I have left, in the examples, to every author his own +practice unmolested, that the reader may balance suffrages, and judge +between us: but this question is not always to be determined by reputed +or by real learning: some men, intent upon greater things, have thought +little on sounds and derivations; some, knowing in the ancient tongues, +have neglected those in which our words are commonly to be sought. Thus +Hammond writes _fecibleness_ for _feasibleness_, because, I suppose, he +imagined it derived immediately from the Latin; and some words, such as +_dependant, dependent, dependance, dependence_, vary their final +syllable, as one or another language is present to the writer. + +In this part of the work, where caprice has long wantoned without +control, and vanity sought praise by petty reformation, I have +endeavoured to proceed with a scholar's reverence for antiquity, and a +grammarian's regard to the genius of our tongue. I have attempted few +alterations, and among those few, perhaps, the greater part is from the +modern to the ancient practice; and, I hope, I may be allowed to +recommend to those, whose thoughts have been, perhaps, employed too +anxiously on verbal singularities, not to disturb, upon narrow views, or +for minute propriety, the orthography of their fathers. It has been +asserted, that for the law to be _known_, is of more importance than to +be _right_. "Change," says Hooker, "is not made without inconvenience, +even from worse to better." There is in constancy and stability a +general and lasting advantage, which will always overbalance the slow +improvements of gradual correction. Much less ought our written language +to comply with the corruptions of oral utterance, or copy that which +every variation of time or place makes different from itself, and +imitate those changes which will again be changed, while imitation is +employed in observing them. + +This recommendation of steadiness and uniformity does not proceed from +an opinion, that particular combinations of letters have much influence +on human happiness; or that truth may not be successfully taught by +modes of spelling fanciful and erroneous: I am not yet so lost in +lexicography, as to forget that _words are the daughters of earth, and +that things are the sons of heaven_. Language is only the instrument of +science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the +instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be +permanent, like the things which they denote. + +In settling the orthography, I have not wholly neglected the +pronunciation, which I have directed, by printing an accent upon the +acute or elevated syllable. It will sometimes be found, that the accent +is placed, by the author quoted, on a different syllable from that +marked in the alphabetical series; it is then to be understood, that +custom has varied, or that the author has, in my opinion, pronounced +wrong. Short directions are sometimes given, where the sound of letters +is irregular; and if they are sometimes omitted, defect in such minute +observations will be more easily excused, than superfluity. + +In the investigation both of the orthography and signification of words, +their ETYMOLOGY was necessarily to be considered, and they were, +therefore, to be divided into primitives and derivatives. A primitive +word is that which can be traced no further to any English root; thus +_circumspect, circumvent, circumstance, delude, concave_, and +_complicate_, though compounds in the Latin, are to us primitives. +Derivatives are all those that can be referred to any word in English of +greater simplicity. + +The derivatives I have referred to their primitives, with an accuracy +sometimes needless; for who does not see that _remoteness_ comes from +_remote, lovely_ from _love, concavity_ from _concave_, and +_demonstrative_ from _demonstrate_? But this grammatical exuberance the +scheme of my work did not allow me to repress. It is of great +importance, in examining the general fabrick of a language, to trace one +word from another, by noting the usual modes of derivation and +inflection; and uniformity must be preserved in systematical works, +though sometimes at the expense of particular propriety. + +Among other derivatives, I have been careful to insert and elucidate the +anomalous plurals of nouns and preterites of verbs, which in the +Teutonick dialects are very frequent, and, though familiar to those who +have always used them, interrupt and embarrass the learners of our +language. + +The two languages from which our primitives have been derived are the +Roman and Teutonick: under the Roman I comprehend the French and +provincial tongues; and under the Teutonick range the Saxon, German, and +all their kindred dialects. Most of our polysyllables are Roman, and our +words of one syllable are very often Teutonick. + +In assigning the Roman original, it has, perhaps, sometimes happened +that I have mentioned only the Latin, when the word was borrowed from +the French; and, considering myself as employed only in the illustration +of my own language, I have not been very careful to observe whether the +Latin word be pure or barbarous, or the French elegant or obsolete. + +For the Teutonick etymologies, I am commonly indebted to Junius and +Skinner, the only names which I have forborne to quote when I copied +their books; not that I might appropriate their labours or usurp their +honours, but that I might spare a perpetual repetition by one general +acknowledgment. Of these, whom I ought not to mention but with the +reverence due to instructers and benefactors, Junius appears to have +excelled in extent of learning, and Skinner in rectitude of +understanding. Junius was accurately skilled in all the northern +languages; Skinner probably examined the ancient and remoter dialects +only by occasional inspection into dictionaries; but the learning of +Junius is often of no other use than to show him a track, by which he +may deviate from his purpose, to which Skinner always presses forward by +the shortest way. Skinner is often ignorant, but never ridiculous: +Junius is always full of knowledge, but his variety distracts his +judgment, and his learning is very frequently disgraced by his +absurdities. + +The votaries of the northern muses will not, perhaps, easily restrain +their indignation, when they find the name of Junius thus degraded by a +disadvantageous comparison; but whatever reverence is due to his +diligence, or his attainments, it can be no criminal degree of +censoriousness to charge that etymologist with want of judgment, who can +seriously derive _dream_ from _drama_, because _life is a drama, and a +drama is a dream_; and who declares with a tone of defiance, that no man +can fail to derive _moan_ from [Greek: monos], (monos,) _single_ or +_solitary_, who considers that grief naturally loves to be alone[1]. + +Our knowledge of the northern literature is so scanty, that of words +undoubtedly Teutonick, the original is not always to be found in any +ancient language; and I have, therefore, inserted Dutch or German +substitutes, which I consider not as radical, but parallel, not as the +parents, but sisters of the English. + +The words, which are represented as thus related by descent or +cognation, do not always agree in sense; for it is incident to words, as +to their authors, to degenerate from their ancestors, and to change +their manners when they change their country. It is sufficient, in +etymological inquiries, if the senses of kindred words be found such as +may easily pass into each other, or such as may both be referred to one +general idea. + +The etymology, so far as it is yet known, was easily found in the +volumes, where it is particularly and professedly delivered; and, by +proper attention to the rules of derivation, the orthography was soon +adjusted. But to COLLECT the WORDS of our language was a task of greater +difficulty: the deficiency of dictionaries was immediately apparent; and +when they were exhausted, what was yet wanting must be sought by +fortuitous and unguided excursions into books, and gleaned as industry +should find, or chance should offer it, in the boundless chaos of a +living speech. My search, however, has been either skilful or lucky; for +I have much augmented the vocabulary. + +As my design was a dictionary, common or appellative, I have omitted all +words which have relation to proper names; such as _Arian, Socinian, +Calvinist, Benedictine, Mahometan_; but have retained those-of a more +general nature, as _Heathen, Pagan_. + +Of the terms of art I have received such as could be +found either in books of science or technical dictionaries; and have +often inserted, from philosophical writers, words which are supported, +perhaps, only by a single authority, and which, being not admitted into +general use, stand yet as candidates or probationers, and must depend +for their adoption on the suffrage of futurity. + +The words which our authors have introduced by their knowledge of +foreign languages, or ignorance of their own, by vanity or wantonness, +by compliance with fashion or lust of innovation, I have registered as +they occurred, though commonly only to censure them, and warn others +against the folly of naturalizing useless foreigners to the injury of +the natives. + +I have not rejected any by design, merely because they were unnecessary +or exuberant; but have received those which by different writers have +been differently formed, as _viscid_, and _viscidity, viscous_, and +_viscosity_. Compounded or double words I have seldom noted, except when +they obtain a signification different from that which the components +have in their simple state. Thus _highwayman, woodman_, and +_horsecourser_, require an explanation; but of _thieflike_ or +_coachdriver_, no notice was needed, because the primitives contain the +meaning of the compounds. + +Words arbitrarily formed by a constant and settled analogy, like +diminutive adjectives in _ish_, as _greenish, bluish_; adverbs in _ly_, +as _dully, openly_; substantives in _ness_, as _vileness, faultiness_; +were less diligently sought, and sometimes have been omitted, when I had +no authority that invited me to insert them; not that they are not +genuine and regular offsprings of English roots, but, because their +relation to the primitive being always the same, their significations +cannot be mistaken. + +The verbal nouns in _ing_, such as the _keeping_ of the _castle_, the +_leading_ of the _army_, are always neglected, or placed only to +illustrate the sense of the verb, except when they signify things as +well as actions, and have, therefore, a plural number, as _dwelling, +living_; or have an absolute and abstract signification, as _colouring, +painting, learning_. + +The participles are likewise omitted, unless, by signifying rather habit +or quality than action, they take the nature of adjectives; as a +_thinking_ man, a man of prudence; a _pacing_ horse, a horse that can +pace: these I have ventured to call _participial adjectives_. But +neither are these always inserted, because they are commonly to be +understood without any danger of mistake, by consulting the verb. + +Obsolete words are admitted, when they are found in authors not +obsolete, or when they have any force or beauty that may deserve +revival. + +As composition is one of the chief characteristicks of a language, I +have endeavoured to make some reparation for the universal negligence of +my predecessors, by inserting great numbers of compounded words, as may +be found under _after, fore, new, night, fair_, and many more. These, +numerous as they are, might be multiplied, but that use and curiosity +are here satisfied, and the frame of our language and modes of our +combination amply discovered. + +Of some forms of composition, such as that by which _re_ is prefixed to +note _repetition_, and _un_ to signify _contrariety_ or _privation_, all +the examples cannot be accumulated, because the use of these particles, +if not wholly arbitrary, is so little limited, that they are hourly +affixed to new words, as occasion requires, or is imagined to require +them. + +There is another kind of composition more frequent in our language than, +perhaps, in any other, from which arises to foreigners the greatest +difficulty. We modify the signification of many verbs by a particle +subjoined; as to _come off_, to escape by a fetch; to _fall on_, to +attack; to _fall off_, to apostatize; to _break off_, to stop abruptly; +to _bear out_, to justify; to _fall in_, to comply; to _give over_, to +cease; to _set off_, to embellish; to _set in_, to begin a continual +tenour; to _set out_, to begin a course or journey; to _take off_, to +copy; with innumerable expressions of the same kind, of which some +appear wildly irregular, being so far distant from the sense of the +simple words, that no sagacity will be able to trace the steps by which +they arrived at the present use. These I have noted with great care; and +though I cannot flatter myself that the collection is complete, I +believe I have so far assisted the students of our language, that this +kind of phraseology will be no longer insuperable; and the combinations +of verbs and particles, by chance omitted, will be easily explained by +comparison with those that may be found. + +Many words yet stand supported only by the name of Bailey, Ainsworth, +Philips, or the contracted Dict, for _Dictionaries_ subjoined; of these +I am not always certain, that they are read in any book but the works of +lexicographers. Of such I have omitted many, because I had never read +them; and many I have inserted, because they may, perhaps, exist, though +they have escaped my notice: they are, however, to be yet considered as +resting only upon the credit of former dictionaries. Others, which I +considered as useful, or know to be proper, though I could not at +present support them by authorities, I have suffered to stand upon my +own attestation, claiming the same privilege with my predecessors, of +being sometimes credited without proof. + +The words, thus selected and disposed, are grammatically considered; +they are referred to the different parts of speech; traced, when they +are irregularly inflected, through their various terminations; and +illustrated by observations, not, indeed, of great or striking +importance, separately considered, but necessary to the elucidation of +our language, and hitherto neglected or forgotten by English +grammarians. + +That part of my work on which I expect malignity most frequently to +fasten is, the _Explanation_; in which I cannot hope to satisfy those, +who are, perhaps, not inclined to be pleased, since I have not always +been able to satisfy myself. To interpret a language by itself is very +difficult; many words cannot be explained by synonymes, because the idea +signified by them has not more than one appellation; nor by paraphrase, +because simple ideas cannot be described. When the nature of things is +unknown, or the notion unsettled and indefinite, and various in various +minds, the words by which such notions are conveyed, or such things +denoted, will be ambiguous and perplexed. And such is the fate of +hapless lexicography, that not only darkness, but light, impedes and +distresses it; things may be not only too little, but too much known, to +be happily illustrated. To explain, requires the use of terms less +abstruse than that which is to be explained, and such terms cannot +always be found; for as nothing can be proved but by supposing something +intuitively known, and evident without proof, so nothing can be defined +but by the use of words too plain to admit a definition. + +Other words there are, of which the sense is too subtile and evanescent +to be fixed in a paraphrase; such are all those which are by the +grammarians termed expletives, and, in dead languages, are suffered to +pass for empty sounds, of no other use than to fill a verse, or to +modulate a period, but which are easily perceived in living tongues to +have power and emphasis, though it be sometimes such as no other form of +expression can convey. + +My labour has likewise been much increased by a class of verbs too +frequent in the English language, of which the signification is so loose +and general, the use so vague and indeterminate, and the senses detorted +so widely from the first idea, that it is hard to trace them through the +maze of variation, to catch them on the brink of utter inanity, to +circumscribe them by any limitations, or interpret them by any words of +distinct and settled meaning; such are _bear, break, come, cast, fall, +get, give, do, put, set, go, run, make, take, turn, throw_. If of these +the whole power is not accurately delivered, it must be remembered, that +while our language is yet living, and variable by the caprice of every +one that speaks it, these words are hourly shifting their relations, and +can no more be ascertained in a dictionary, than a grove, in the +agitation of a storm, can be accurately delineated from its picture in +the water. The particles are among all nations applied with so great +latitude, that they are not easily reducible under any regular scheme of +explication: this difficulty is not less, nor, perhaps, greater, in +English, than in other languages. I have laboured them with diligence, I +hope with success; such at least as can be expected in a task, which no +man, however learned or sagacious, has yet been able to perform. + +Some words there are which I cannot explain, because I do not understand +them; these might have been omitted very often with little +inconvenience, but I would not so far indulge my vanity, as to decline +this confession; for when Tully owns himself ignorant whether _lessus_, +in the twelve tables, means a _funeral song_, or _mourning garment_; and +Aristotle doubts whether [Greek: oureus] in the Iliad, signifies a +_mule_, or _muleteer_, I may surely, without shame, leave some +obscurities to happier industry, or future information. + +The rigour of interpretative lexicography requires that _the +explanation_, and _the word explained, should be always reciprocal_; +this I have always endeavoured, but could not always attain. Words are +seldom exactly synonymous; a new term was not introduced, but because +the former was thought inadequate: names, therefore, have often many +ideas, but few ideas have many names. It was then necessary to use the +proximate word, for the deficiency of single terms can very seldom be +supplied by circumlocution; nor is the inconvenience great of such +mutilated interpretations, because the sense may easily be collected +entire from the examples. + +In every word of extensive use, it was requisite to mark the progress of +its meaning, and show by what gradations of intermediate sense it has +passed from its primitive to its remote and accidental signification; so +that every foregoing explanation should tend to that which follows, and +the series be regularly concatenated from the first notion to the last. + +This is specious, but not always practicable; kindred senses may be so +interwoven, that the perplexity cannot be disentangled, nor any reason +be assigned why one should be ranged before the other. When the radical +idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how can a consecutive +series be formed of senses in their nature collateral? The shades of +meaning sometimes pass imperceptibly into each other, so that though on +one side they apparently differ, yet it is impossible to mark the point +of contact. Ideas of the same race, though not exactly alike, are +sometimes so little different, that no words can express the +dissimilitude, though the mind easily perceives it, when they are +exhibited together; and sometimes there is such a confusion of +acceptations, that discernment is wearied and distinction puzzled, and +perseverance herself hurries to an end, by crowding together what she +cannot separate. + +These complaints of difficulty will, by those that have never considered +words beyond their popular use, be thought only the jargon of a man +willing to magnify his labours, and procure veneration to his studies by +involution and obscurity. But every art is obscure to those that have +not learned it: this uncertainty of terms, and commixture of ideas, is +well known to those who have joined philosophy with grammar; and, if I +have not expressed them very clearly, it must be remembered that I am +speaking of that which words are insufficient to explain. + +The original sense of words is often driven out of use by their +metaphorical acceptations, yet must be inserted for the sake of a +regular origination. Thus I know not whether _ardour_ is used for +_material heat_, or whether _flagrant_, in English, ever signifies the +same with _burning_; yet such are the primitive ideas of these words, +which are, therefore, set first, though without examples, that the +figurative senses may be commodiously deduced. + +Such is the exuberance of signification which many words have obtained, +that it was scarcely possible to collect all their senses; sometimes the +meaning of derivatives must be sought in the mother term, and sometimes +deficient explanations of the primitive may be supplied in the train of +derivation. In any case of doubt or difficulty, it will be always proper +to examine all the words of the same race; for some words are slightly +passed over to avoid repetition; some admitted easier and clearer +explanation than others; and all will be better understood, as they are +considered in greater variety of structures and relations. + +All the interpretations of words are not written with the same skill, or +the same happiness: things, equally easy in themselves, are not all +equally easy to any single mind. Every writer of a long work commits +errours, where there appears neither ambiguity to mislead, nor obscurity +to confound him: and, in a search like this, many felicities of +expression will be casually overlooked, many convenient parallels will +be forgotten, and many particulars will admit improvement from a mind +utterly unequal to the whole performance. + +But many seeming faults are to be imputed rather to the nature of the +undertaking, than the negligence of the performer. Thus some +explanations are unavoidably reciprocal or circular, as _hind, the +female of the stag_; _stag, the male of the hind_: sometimes easier +words are changed into harder, as _burial_ into _sepulture_, or +_interment_, _drier_ into _desiccative_, _dryness_ into _siccity_ or +_aridity_, _fit_ into _paroxysm_; for the easiest word, whatever it be, +can never be translated into one more easy. But easiness and difficulty +are merely relative; and, if the present prevalence of our language +should invite foreigners to this Dictionary, many will be assisted by +those words, which now seem only to increase or produce obscurity. For +this reason I have endeavoured frequently to join a Teutonick and Roman +interpretation, as to _cheer_, to _gladden_ or _exhilarate_, that every +learner of English may be assisted by his own tongue. + +The solution of all difficulties, and the supply of all defects, must be +sought in the examples, subjoined to the various senses of each word, +and ranged according to the time of their authors. + +When I first collected these authorities, I was desirous that every +quotation should be useful to some other end than the illustration of a +word; I, therefore, extracted from philosophers principles of science; +from historians remarkable facts; from chymists complete processes; from +divines striking exhortations; and from poets beautiful descriptions. +Such is design, while it is yet at a distance from execution. When the +time called upon me to range this accumulation of elegance and wisdom +into an alphabetical series, I soon discovered that the bulk of my +volumes would fright away the student, and was forced to depart from my +scheme of including all that was pleasing or useful in English +literature, and reduce my transcripts very often to clusters of words, +in which scarcely any meaning is retained: thus to the weariness of +copying, I was condemned to add the vexation of expunging. Some passages +I have yet spared, which may relieve the labour of verbal searches, and +intersperse with verdure and flowers the dusty deserts of barren +philology. + +The examples, thus mutilated, are no longer to be con sidered as +conveying the sentiments or doctrine of their authors; the word, for the +sake of which they are inserted, with all its appendant clauses, has +been carefully preserved; but it may sometimes happen, by hasty +detruncation, that the general tendency of the sentence may be changed: +the divine may desert his tenets, or the philosopher his system. + +Some of the examples have been taken from writers who were never +mentioned as masters of elegance, or models of style; but words must be +sought where they are used; and in what pages, eminent for purity, can +terms of manufacture or agriculture be found? Many quotations serve no +other purpose, than that of proving the bare existence of words, and +are, therefore, selected with less scrupulousness than those which are +to teach their structures and relations. + +My purpose was to admit no testimony of living authors, that I might not +be misled by partiality, and that none of my contemporaries might have +reason to complain; nor have I departed from this resolution, but when +some performance of uncommon excellence excited my veneration, when my +memory supplied me from late books with an example that was wanting, or +when my heart, in the tenderness of friendship, solicited admission for +a favourite name. + +So far have I been from any care to grace my pages with modern +decorations, that I have studiously endeavoured to collect examples and +authorities from the writers before the Restoration, whose works I +regard as _the wells of English undefiled_, as the pure sources of +genuine diction. Our language, for almost a century, has, by the +concurrence of many causes, been gradually departing from its original +Teutonick character, and deviating towards a Gallick structure and +phraseology[2], from which it ought to be our endeavour to recall it, by +making our ancient volumes the ground-work of style, admitting among the +additions of later times only such as may supply real deficiencies, such +as are readily adopted by the genius of our tongue, and incorporate +easily with our native idioms. + +But as every language has a time of rudeness antecedent to perfection, +as well as of false refinement and declension, I have been cautious lest +my zeal for antiquity might drive me into times too remote, and crowd my +book with words now no longer understood. I have fixed Sidney's work for +the boundary, beyond which I make few excursions. From the authors which +rose in the time of Elizabeth, a speech might be formed adequate to all +the purposes of use and elegance. If the language of theology were +extracted from Hooker and the translation of the Bible; the terms of +natural knowledge from Bacon; the phrases of policy, war, and navigation +from Raleigh; the dialect of poetry and fiction from Spenser and Sidney; +and the diction of common life from Shakespeare, few ideas would be lost +to mankind, for want of English words, in which they might be expressed. + +It is not sufficient that a word is found, unless it be so combined as +that its meaning is apparently determined by the tract and tenour of the +sentence; such passages I have, therefore, chosen, and when it happened +that any author gave a definition of a term, or such an explanation as +is equivalent to a definition, I have placed his authority as a +supplement to my own, without regard to the chronological order, that is +otherwise observed. + +Some words, indeed, stand unsupported by any authority, but they are +commonly derivative nouns or adverbs, formed from their primitives by +regular and constant analogy, or names of things seldom occurring in +books, or words of which I have reason to doubt the existence. + +There is more danger of censure from the multiplicity than paucity of +examples; authorities will sometimes seem to have been accumulated +without necessity or use, and, perhaps, some will be found, which might, +without loss, have been omitted. But a work of this kind is not hastily +to be charged with superfluities: those quotations, which to careless or +unskilful perusers appear only to repeat the same sense, will often +exhibit, to a more accurate examiner, diversities of significations, or, +at least, afford different shades of the same meaning: one will show the +word applied to persons, another to things; one will express an ill, +another a good, and a third a neutral sense; one will prove the +expression genuine from an ancient author; another will show it elegant +from a modern: a doubtful authority is corroborated by another of more +credit; an ambiguous sentence is ascertained by a passage clear and +determinate: the word, how often soever repeated, appears with new +associates, and in different combinations, and every quotation +contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language. +When words are used equivocally, I receive them in either sense; when +they are metaphorical, I adopt them in their primitive acceptation. + +I have sometimes, though rarely, yielded to the temptation of exhibiting +a genealogy of sentiments, by showing how one author copied the thoughts +and diction of another: such quotations are, indeed, little more than +repetitions, which might justly be censured, did they not gratify the +mind, by affording a kind of intellectual history. + +The various syntactical structures occurring in the examples have been +carefully noted; the license or negligence, with which many words have +been hitherto used, has made our style capricious and indeterminate; +when the different combinations of the same word are exhibited together, +the preference is readily given to propriety, and I have often +endeavoured to direct the choice. + +Thus I have laboured, by settling the orthography, displaying the +analogy, regulating the structures, and ascertaining the signification +of English words, to perform all the parts of a faithful lexicographer: +but I have not always executed my own scheme, or satisfied my own +expectations. The work, whatever proofs of diligence and attention it +may exhibit, is yet capable of many improvements: the orthography which +I recommend is still controvertible; the etymology which I adopt is +uncertain, and, perhaps, frequently erroneous; the explanations are +sometimes too much contracted, and sometimes too much diffused; the +significations are distinguished rather with subtilty than skill, and +the attention is harassed with unnecessary minuteness. + +The examples are too often injudiciously truncated, and perhaps +sometimes, I hope very rarely, alleged in a mistaken sense; for in +making this collection I trusted more to memory, than, in a state of +disquiet and embarrassment, memory can contain, and purposed to supply, +at the review, what was left incomplete in the first transcription. + +Many terms, appropriated to particular occupations, though necessary and +significant, are undoubtedly omitted; and, of the words most studiously +considered and exemplified, many senses have escaped observation. + +Yet these failures, however frequent, may admit extenuation and apology. +To have attempted much is always laudable, even when the enterprise is +above the strength that undertakes it: To rest below his own aim is +incident to every one whose fancy is active, and whose views are +comprehensive; nor is any man satisfied with himself, because he has +done much, but because he can conceive little. When first I engaged in +this work, I resolved to leave neither words nor things unexamined, and +pleased myself with a prospect of the hours which I should revel away in +feasts of literature, with the obscure recesses of northern learning +which I should enter and ransack, the treasures with which I expected +every search into those neglected mines to reward my labour, and the +triumph with which I should display my acquisitions to mankind. When I +had thus inquired into the original of words, I resolved to show +likewise my attention to things; to pierce deep into every science, to +inquire the nature of every substance of which I inserted the name, to +limit every idea by a definition strictly logical, and exhibit every +production of art or nature in an accurate description, that my book +might be in place of all other dictionaries, whether appellative or +technical. But these were the dreams of a poet, doomed at last to wake a +lexicographer. I soon found that it is too late to look for instruments, +when the work calls for execution, and that whatever abilities I had +brought to my task, with those I must finally perform it. To deliberate +whenever I doubted, to inquire whenever I was ignorant, would have +protracted the undertaking without end, and, perhaps, without much +improvement; for I did not find by my first experiments, that what I had +not of my own was easily to be obtained: I saw that one inquiry only +gave occasion to another, that book referred to book, that to search was +not always to find, and to find was not always to be informed; and that +thus to pursue perfection, was, like the first inhabitants of Arcadia, +to chase the sun, which, when they had reached the hill where he seemed +to rest, was still beheld at the same distance from them. + +I then contracted my design, determining to confide in myself, and no +longer to solicit auxiliaries, which produced more incumbrance than +assistance; by this I obtained at least one advantage, that I set limits +to my work, which would in time be ended, though not completed. + +Despondency has never so far prevailed as to depress me to negligence; +some faults will at last appear to be the effects of anxious diligence +and persevering activity. The nice and subtile ramifications of meaning +were not easily avoided by a mind intent upon accuracy, and convinced of +the necessity of disentangling combinations, and separating similitudes. +Many of the distinctions which to common readers appear useless and +idle, will be found real and important by men versed in the school +philosophy, without which no dictionary can ever be accurately compiled, +or skilfully examined. + +Some senses however there are, which, though not the same, are yet so +nearly allied, that they are often confounded. Most men think +indistinctly, and, therefore, cannot speak with exactness; and, +consequently, some examples might be indifferently put to either +signification: this uncertainty is not to be imputed to me, who do not +form, but register the language; who do not teach men how they should +think, but relate how they have hitherto expressed their thoughts. + +The imperfect sense of some examples I lamented, but could not remedy, +and hope they will be compensated by innumerable passages selected with +propriety, and preserved with exactness; some shining with sparks of +imagination, and some replete with treasures of wisdom. + +The orthography and etymology, though imperfect, are not imperfect for +want of care, but because care will not always be successful, and +recollection or information come too late for use. + +That many terms of art and manufacture are omitted, must be frankly +acknowledged; but for this defect I may boldly allege that it was +unavoidable: I could not visit caverns to learn the miner's language, +nor take a voyage to perfect my skill in the dialect of navigation, nor +visit the warehouses of merchants, and shops of artificers, to gain the +names of wares, tools, and operations, of which no mention is found in +books; what favourable accident or easy inquiry brought within my reach, +has not been neglected; but it had been a hopeless labour to glean up +words, by courting living information, and contesting with the +sullenness of one, and the roughness of another. + +To furnish the academicians _della Crusca_ with words of this kind, a +series of comedies called _la Fiera_, or the Fair, was professedly +written by Buonarotti; but I had no such assistant, and, therefore, was +content to want what they must have wanted likewise, had they not +luckily been so supplied. + +Nor are all words, which are not found in the vocabulary, to be lamented +as omissions. Of the laborious and mercantile part of the people, the +diction is in a great measure casual and mutable; many of their terms +are formed for some temporary or local convenience, and though current +at certain times and places, are in others utterly unknown. This +fugitive cant, which is always in a state of increase or decay, cannot +be regarded as any part of the durable materials of a language, and, +therefore, must be suffered to perish with other things unworthy of +preservation. + +Care will sometimes betray to the appearance of negligence. He that is +catching opportunities which seldom occur, will suffer those to pass by +unregarded, which he expects hourly to return; he that is searching for +rare and remote things, will neglect those that are obvious and +familiar: thus many of the most common and cursory words have been +inserted with little illustration, because in gathering the authorities, +I forbore to copy those which I thought likely to occur, whenever they +were wanted. It is remarkable that, in reviewing my collection, I found +the word SEA unexemplified. + +Thus it happens, that in things difficult there is danger from +ignorance, and in things easy from confidence; the mind, afraid of +greatness, and disdainful of littleness, hastily withdraws herself from +painful searches, and passes with scornful rapidity over tasks not +adequate to her powers; sometimes too secure for caution, and again too +anxious for vigorous effort; sometimes idle in a plain path, and +sometimes distracted in labyrinths, and dissipated by different +intentions. + +A large work is difficult, because it is large, even though all its +parts might singly be performed with facility; where there are many +things to be done, each must be allowed its share of time and labour, in +the proportion only which it bears to the whole; nor can it be expected, +that the stones which form the dome of a temple, should be squared and +polished like the diamond of a ring. + +Of the event of this work, for which, having laboured it with so much +application, I cannot but have some degree of parental fondness, it is +natural to form conjectures. Those who have been persuaded to think well +of my design, will require that it should fix our language, and put a +stop to those alterations which time and chance have hitherto been +suffered to make in it without opposition. With this consequence I will +confess that I flattered myself for a while; but now begin to fear, that +I have indulged expectation which neither reason nor experience can +justify. When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after +another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises +to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the +lexicographer be derided, who being able to produce no example of a +nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall +imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from +corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change sublunary +nature, and clear the world at once from folly, vanity and affectation. + +With this hope, however, academies have been instituted, to guard the +avenues of their languages, to retain fugitives, and repulse intruders; +but their vigilance and activity have hitherto been vain; sounds are too +volatile and subtile for legal restraints; to enchain syllables, and to +lash the wind, are equally the undertakings of pride, unwilling to +measure its desires by its strength. The French language has visibly +changed under the inspection of the academy; the style of Amelot's +translation of father Paul is observed by Le Courayer to be _un pen +passé_; and no Italian will maintain, that the diction of any modern +writer is not perceptibly different from that of Boccace, Machiavel, or +Caro. + +Total and sudden transformations of a language seldom happen; conquests +and migrations are now very rare; but there are other causes of change, +which, though slow in their operation, and invisible in their progress, +are, perhaps, as much superiour to human resistance, as the revolutions +of the sky, or intumescence of the tide. Commerce, however necessary, +however lucrative, as it depraves the manners, corrupts the language; +they that have frequent intercourse with strangers, to whom they +endeavour to accommodate themselves, must in time learn a mingled +dialect, like the jargon which serves the traffickers on the +Mediterranean and Indian coasts. This will not always be confined to the +exchange, the warehouse, or the port, but will be communicated by +degrees to other ranks of the people, and be at last incorporated with +the current speech. + +There are likewise internal causes equally forcible. The language most +likely to continue long without alteration, would be that of a nation +raised a little, and but a little, above barbarity, secluded from +strangers, and totally employed in procuring the conveniencies of life; +either without books, or, like some of the Mahometan countries, with +very few: men thus busied and unlearned, having only such words as +common use requires, would, perhaps, long continue to express the same +notions by the same signs. But no such constancy can be expected in a +people polished by arts, and classed by subordination, where one part of +the community is sustained and accommodated by the labour of the other. +Those who have much leisure to think, will always be enlarging the stock +of ideas; and every increase of knowledge, whether real or fancied, will +produce new words, or combinations of words. When the mind is unchained +from necessity, it will range after convenience; when it is left at +large in the fields of speculation, it will shift opinions; as any +custom is disused, the words that expressed it must perish with it; as +any opinion grows popular, it will innovate speech in the same +proportion as it alters practice. + +As by the cultivation of various sciences, a language is amplified, it +will be more furnished with words deflected from their original sense; +the geometrician will talk of a "courtier's zenith, or the eccentrick +virtue of a wild hero;" and the physician of "sanguine expectations and +phlegmatick delays." Copiousness of speech will give opportunities to +capricious choice, by which some words will be preferred, and others +degraded; vicissitudes of fashion will enforce the use of new, or extend +the signification of known terms. The tropes of poetry will make hourly +encroachments, and the metaphorical will become the current sense: +pronunciation will be varied by levity or ignorance, and the pen must at +length comply with the tongue; illiterate writers will, at one time or +other, by publick infatuation, rise into renown, who, not knowing the +original import of words, will use them with colloquial licentiousness, +confound distinction, and forget propriety. As politeness increases, +some expressions will be considered as too gross and vulgar for the +delicate, others as too formal and ceremonious for the gay and airy; new +phrases are, therefore, adopted, which must, for the same reasons, be in +time dismissed. Swift, in his petty treatise on the English language, +allows that new words must sometimes be introduced, but proposes that +none should be suffered to become obsolete. But what makes a word +obsolete, more than general agreement to forbear it? and how shall it be +continued, when it conveys an offensive idea, or recalled again into the +mouths of mankind, when it has once become unfamiliar by disuse, and +unpleasing by unfamiliarity? + +There is another cause of alteration more prevalent than any other, +which yet in the present state of the world cannot be obviated. A +mixture of two languages will produce a third distinct from both; and +they will always be mixed, where the chief part of education, and the +most conspicuous accomplishment, is skill in ancient or in foreign +tongues. He that has long cultivated another language, will find its +words and combinations crowd upon his memory; and haste and negligence, +refinement and affectation, will obtrude borrowed terms and exotick +expressions. + +The great pest of speech is frequency of translation. No book was ever +turned from one language into another, without imparting something of +its native idiom; this is the most mischievous and comprehensive +innovation; single words may enter by thousands, and the fabrick of the +tongue continue the same; but new phraseology changes much at once; it +alters not the single stones of the building, but the order of the +columns. If an academy should be established for the cultivation of our +style; which I, who can never wish to see dependance multiplied, hope +the spirit of English liberty will hinder or destroy, let them, instead +of compiling grammars and dictionaries, endeavour, with all their +influence, to stop the license of translators, whose idleness and +ignorance, if it be suffered to proceed, will reduce us to babble a +dialect of France. + +If the changes, that we fear, be thus irresistible, what remains but to +acquiesce with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses of +humanity? It remains that we retard what we cannot repel, that we +palliate what we cannot cure. Life may be lengthened by care, though +death cannot be ultimately defeated: tongues, like governments, have a +natural tendency to degeneration; we have long preserved our +constitution, let us make some struggles for our language.[3] + +In hope of giving longevity to that which its own nature forbids to be +immortal, I have devoted this book, the labour of years, to the honour +of my country, that we may no longer yield the palm of philology, +without a contest, to the nations of the continent. The chief glory of +every people arises from its authors: whether I shall add any thing by +my own writings to the reputation of English literature, must be left to +time: much of my life has been lost under the pressures of disease; much +has been trifled away; and much has always been spent in provision for +the day that was passing over me; but I shall not think my employment +useless or ignoble, if, by my assistance, foreign nations, and distant +ages, gain access to the propagators of knowledge, and understand the +teachers of truth; if my labours afford light to the repositories of +science, and add celebrity to Bacon, to Hooker, to Milton, and to Boyle. + +When I am animated by this wish, I look with pleasure on my book, +however defective, and deliver it to the world with the spirit of a man +that has endeavoured well. That it will immediately become popular I +have not promised to myself: a few wild blunders, and risible +absurdities, from which no work of such multiplicity was ever free, may, +for a time, furnish folly with laughter, and harden ignorance into +contempt; but useful diligence will at last prevail, and there never can +be wanting some who distinguish desert; who will consider that no +dictionary of a living tongue ever can be perfect, since, while it is +hastening to publication, some words are budding, and some falling away; +that a whole life cannot be spent upon syntax and etymology, and that +even a whole life would not be sufficient; that he, whose design +includes whatever language can express, must often speak of what he does +not understand; that a writer will sometimes be hurried by eagerness to +the end, and sometimes faint with weariness under a task, which Scaliger +compares to the labours of the anvil and the mine; that what is obvious +is not always known, and what is known is not always present; that +sudden fits of inadvertency will surprise vigilance, slight avocations +will seduce attention, and casual eclipses of the mind will darken +learning; and that the writer shall often in vain trace his memory, at +the moment of need, for that which yesterday he knew with intuitive +readiness, and which will come uncalled into his thoughts to-morrow. + +In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be +forgotten that much likewise is performed; and though no book was ever +spared out of tenderness to the author, and the world is little +solicitous to know whence proceeded the faults of that which it +condemns; yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the English +Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and +without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of +retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst +inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow. It may repress +the triumph of malignant criticism to observe, that if our language is +not here fully displayed, I have only failed in an attempt, which no +human powers have hitherto completed. If the lexicons of ancient +tongues, now immutably fixed, and comprised in a few volumes, be yet, +after the toil of successive ages, inadequate and delusive; if the +aggregated knowledge, and co-operating diligence of the Italian +academicians, did not secure them from the censure of Beni; if the +embodied criticks of France, when fifty years had been spent upon their +work, were obliged to change its economy, and give their second edition +another form, I may surely be contented without the praise of +perfection, which, if I could obtain, in this gloom of solitude, what +would it avail me? I have protracted my work till most of those, whom I +wished to please, have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage +are empty sounds: I, therefore, dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, +having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise[4]. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] That I may not appear to have spoken too irreverently of Junius, I + have here subjoined a few specimens of his etymological + extravagance. + +BANISH, _religare, ex banno vel territorio exigere, in exitium agere_. +Gal. _bannir_. It. _bandire, bandeggiare_. H. _bandir_. B. _bannen_. +Aevi medii scriptores bannire dicebant. V. Spelm. in Bannum & in +Banleuga. Quoniam vero regionum urbiumq; limites arduis plerumq; +montibus, altis fluminibus, longis deniq; flexuosisq; angustissimarum +viarum anfractibus includebantur, fieri potest id genus limites _ban_ +dici ab eo quod [Greek: Bannatai] et [Greek: Bannatroi] Tarentinis +olim, sicuti tradit Hesychius, vocabantur [Greek: ahi loxoi kai mae +ithuteneis hodoi], "obliquae ac minime in rectum tendentes viae." Ac +fortasse quoque huc facit quod [Greek: Banous], eodem Hesychio teste, +dicebant [Greek: horae strangulae], montes arduos. + +EMPTY, emtie, _vacuus, inanis_. A.S. [Anglo-Saxon: Aemtig]. Nescio an +sint ab [Greek: emeo] vel [Greek: emetuio]. Vomo, evomo, vomitu evacue. +Videtur interim etymologiam hanc non obscure firmare codex Rush. Mat. +xii. 22. ubi antique scriptum invenimus [Anglo-Saxon: gemoeted hit +emetig]. "Invenit eam vacantem." + +HILL, _mons, collis_. A.S. [Anglo-Saxon: hyll]. Quod videri potest +abscissum ex [Greek: kolonae] vel [Greek: kolonos]. Collis, tumulus, +locus in plano editior. Hom. II. B. v. 811. [Greek: esti de tis +proparoithe poleos aipeia kolonae]. Ubi authori brevium scholiorum +[Greek: kolonae] exp. [Greek: topos eis hupsos anaekon geolofos +exochae]. + +NAP, _to take a nap. Dormire, condormiscere_. Cym. _heppian_. A.S. +[Anglo-Saxon: hnaeppan]. Quod postremum videri potest desumptum ex +[Greek: knephas], obscuritas, tenebrae: nihil enim aeque solet +conciliare somnum, quam caliginosa profundae noctis obscuritas. + +STAMMERER, Balbus, blaesus. Goth. [Gothic: STAMMS]. A.S. [Anglo-Saxon: +stamer, stamur]. D. _stam_. B. _stameler_. Su. _stamma_. Isl. _stamr_. +Sunt a [Greek: stomulein] vel [Greek: stomullein], nimia loquacitate +alios offendere; quod impedite loquentes libentissime garrire soleant; +vel quod aliis nimii semper videantur, etiam parcissime loquentes. + +[2] The structure of Hume's sentences is French. For Johnson's opinion + of it, see Boswell, i. 420. Edit. 1816. + +[3] Blackstone very frequently denounces the use of Norman French in + our law proceedings, and in Parliament as a badge of slavery, which + he could have wished to see "fall into total oblivion, unless it be + reserved as a solemn memento to remind us that our liberties are + mortal, having once been destroyed by a foreign force." Much amusing + and interesting research on the once prevalent use of French in + England, is exhibited in Barrington's Observations on the more + Antient Statutes. + + And Frenche she spake full fetously; + After the schole of _Stratforde at Bowe_, + For Frenche of Paris was to her unknowne. + Chaucer's Prologue to the Prioress' Tale. + +[4] Dr. Johnson's Dictionary was published on the fifteenth day of + April 1755, in two vols. folio, price 4_l_. 10_s._ bound. The + booksellers who engaged in this national work were the Knaptons, + Longman, Hitch and Co. Millar, and Dodsley. + + + +ADVERTISEMENT +TO THE +FOURTH EDITION +OF THE +ENGLISH DICTIONARY[1]. + +Many are the works of human industry, which to begin and finish are +hardly granted to the same man. He that undertakes to compile a +dictionary, undertakes that, which, if it comprehends the full extent of +his design, he knows himself unable to perform. Yet his labours, though +deficient, may be useful, and with the hope of this inferiour praise, he +must incite his activity, and solace his weariness. + +Perfection is unattainable, but nearer and nearer approaches may be +made; and, finding my Dictionary about to be reprinted, I have +endeavoured, by a revisal, to make it less reprehensible. I will not +deny that I found many parts requiring emendation, and many more capable +of improvement. Many faults I have corrected, some superfluities I have +taken away, and some deficiencies I have supplied. I have methodised +some parts that were disordered, and illuminated some that were obscure. +Yet the changes or additions bear a very small proportion to the whole. +The critick will now have less to object, but the student who has bought +any of the former copies needs not repent; he will not, without nice +collation, perceive how they differ; and usefulness seldom depends upon +little things. + +For negligence or deficience, I have, perhaps, not need of more apology +than the nature of the work will furnish: I have left that inaccurate +which never was made exact, and that imperfect which never was +completed. + +[1] Published in folio, 1773. + + + +PREFACE +TO THE +OCTAVO EDITION +OF THE +ENGLISH DICTIONARY[1]. + +Having been long employed in the study and cultivation of the English +language, I lately published a dictionary, like those compiled by the +academies of Italy and France, for the use of such as aspire to +exactness of criticism or elegance of style. + +But it has been since considered that works of that kind are by no means +necessary to the greater number of readers, who, seldom intending to +write or presuming to judge, turn over books only to amuse their +leisure, and to gain degrees of knowledge suitable to lower characters, +or necessary to the common business of life: these know not any other +use of a dictionary than that of adjusting orthography, or explaining +terms of science, or words of infrequent occurrence or remote +derivation. + +For these purposes many dictionaries have been written by different +authors, and with different degrees of skill; but none of them have yet +fallen into my hands by which even the lowest expectations could be +satisfied. Some of their authors wanted industry, and others literature: +some knew not their own defects, and others were too idle to supply +them. + +For this reason a small dictionary appeared yet to be wanting to common +readers; and, as I may without arrogance claim to myself a longer +acquaintance with the lexicography of our language than any other writer +has had, I shall hope to be considered as having more experience at +least than most of my predecessors, and as more likely to accommodate +the nation with a vocabulary of daily use. I, therefore, offer to the +publick an abstract or epitome of my former work. + +In comparing this with other dictionaries of the same kind, it will be +found to have several advantages. + +1. It contains many words not to be found in any other. + +2. Many barbarous terms and phrases, by which other dictionaries may +vitiate the style, are rejected from this. + +3. The words are more correctly spelled, partly by attention to their +etymology, and partly by observation of the practice of the best +authors. + +4. The etymologies and derivations, whether from foreign languages or +from native roots, are more diligently traced, and more distinctly +noted. + +5. The senses of each word are more copiously enumerated, and more +clearly explained. + +6. Many words occurring in the elder authors, such as Spenser, +Shakespeare, and Milton, which had been hitherto omitted, are here +carefully inserted; so that this book may serve as a glossary or +expository index to the poetical writers. + +7. To the words, and to the different senses of each word, are subjoined +from the large dictionary the names of those writers by whom they have +been used; so that the reader who knows the different periods of the +language, and the time of its authors, may judge of the elegance or +prevalence of any word, or meaning of a word; and without recurring to +other books, may know what are antiquated, what are unusual, and what +are recommended by the best authority. + +The words of this Dictionary, as opposed to others, are more diligently +collected, more accurately spelled, more faithfully explained, and more +authentically ascertained. Of an abstract it is not necessary to say +more; and I hope, it will not be found that truth requires me to say +less. + +[1] Published in 2 vols. 1756. + + + +MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS +ON THE +TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: + +WITH REMARKS ON SIR T. HANMER'S EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE. + +FIRST PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1745. + +[Transcriber's note: There are two footnote systems in use in this +section. The numbered footnotes in square brackets, [1], [2], etc, are +those of the editor, and are to be found at the end of the section. +The lettered footnotes in round brackets, (a), (b), etc, are Johnson's, +and are to be found at the end of each Note.] + + +NOTE I. + +ACT I. SCENE I. + + _Enter three Witches._ + +In order to make a true estimate of the abilities and merit of a writer, +it is always necessary to examine the genius of his age, and the +opinions of his contemporaries. A poet, who should now make the whole +action of his tragedy depend upon enchantment, and produce the chief +events by the assistance of supernatural agents, would be censured as +transgressing the bounds of probability; he would be banished from the +theatre to the nursery, and condemned to write fairy tales instead of +tragedies; but a survey of the notions, that prevailed at the time when +this play was written, will prove, that Shakespeare was in no danger of +such censures, since he only turned the system that was then universally +admitted to his advantage, and was far from over-burdening the credulity +of his audience. + +The reality of witchcraft or enchantment, which, though not strictly the +same, are confounded in this play, has in all ages and countries been +credited by the common people, and in most by the learned themselves[1]. +These phantoms have indeed appeared more frequently, in proportion as +the darkness of ignorance has been more gross; but it cannot be shown, +that the brightest gleams of knowledge have at any time been sufficient +to drive them out of the world. The time, in which this kind of +credulity was at its height, seems to have been that of the holy war, in +which the Christians imputed all their defeats to enchantment or +diabolical opposition, as they ascribe their success to the assistance +of their military saints; and the learned Dr. Warburton appears to +believe (Supplement to the Introduction to Don Quixote) that the first +accounts of enchantments were brought into this part of the world by +those who returned from their eastern expeditions. But there is always +some distance between the birth and maturity of folly, as of wickedness: +this opinion had long existed, though, perhaps, the application of it +had in no foregoing age been so frequent, nor the reception so general. +Olympiodorus, in Photius's Extracts, tells us of one Libanius, who +practised this kind of military magick, and having promised [Greek: +choris hopliton kata barbaron energein], _to perform great things +against the barbarians without soldiers_, was, at the instances of the +emperess Placidia, put to death, when he was about to have given proofs +of his abilities. The emperess showed some kindness in her anger by +cutting him off at a time so convenient for his reputation. + +But a more remarkable proof of the antiquity of this notion may be found +in St. Chrysostom's book de Sacerdotio, which exhibits a scene of +enchantments, not exceeded by any romance of the middle age; he supposes +a spectator, overlooking a field of battle, attended by one that points +out all the various objects of horrour, the engines of destruction, and +the arts of slaughter. [Greek: Deiknuto de eti para tois enantiois kai +petomenous hippous dia tinos manganeias kai hoplitas di aeros +pheromenous, kai pasaen goaeteias dunamin kai hidean.]_Let him then +proceed to show him in the opposite armies horses flying by enchantment, +armed men transported through the air, and every power and form of +magick_. Whether St. Chrysostom believed that such performances were +really to be seen in a day of battle, or only endeavoured to enliven his +description, by adopting the notions of the vulgar, it is equally +certain, that such notions were in his time received, and that, +therefore, they were not imported from the Saracens in a later age; the +wars with the Saracens, however, gave occasion to their propagation, not +only as bigotry naturally discovers prodigies, but as the scene of +action was removed to a greater distance, and distance, either of time +or place, is sufficient to reconcile weak minds to wonderful relations. + +The reformation did not immediately arrive at its meridian, and though +day was gradually increasing upon us, the goblins of witchcraft still +continued to hover in the twilight. In the time of queen Elizabeth was +the remarkable trial of the witches of Warbois, whose conviction is +still commemorated in an annual sermon at Huntingdon. But in the reign +of king James, in which this tragedy was written, many circumstances +concurred to propagate and confirm this opinion. The king, who was much +celebrated for his knowledge, had, before his arrival in England, not +only examined in person a woman accused of witchcraft, but had given a +very formal account of the practices and illusions of evil spirits, the +compacts of witches, the ceremonies used by them, the manner of +detecting them, and the justice of punishing them, in his dialogues of +_Daemonologie_, written in the Scottish dialect, and published at +Edinburgh. This book was, soon after his accession, reprinted at London; +and, as the ready way to gain king James's favour was to flatter his +speculations, the system of _Daemonologie_ was immediately adopted by +all who desired either to gain preferment or not to lose it. Thus the +doctrine of witchcraft was very powerfully inculcated; and as the +greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than +that they are in fashion, it cannot be doubted but this persuasion made +a rapid progress, since vanity and credulity co-operated in its favour, +and it had a tendency to free cowardice from reproach. The infection +soon reached the parliament, who, in the first year of king James, made +a law, by which it was enacted, chap. xii. That, "if any person shall +use any invocation or conjuration of any evil or wicked spirit; 2. or +shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed or reward any evil +or cursed spirit to or for any intent or purpose; 3. or take up any dead +man, woman or child out of the grave,--or the skin, bone or any part of +the dead person, to be employed or used in any manner of witchcraft, +sorcery, charm or enchantment; 4. or shall use, practise or exercise any +sort of witchcraft, sorcery, charm or enchantment; 5. whereby any person +shall be destroyed, killed, wasted, consumed, pined or lamed in any part +of the body; 6. That every such person, being convicted, shall suffer +death." This law was repealed in our time. + +Thus, in the time of Shakespeare, was the doctrine of witchcraft at once +established by law and by the fashion, and it became not only unpolite, +but criminal, to doubt it; and as prodigies are always seen in +proportion as they are expected, witches were every day discovered, and +multiplied so fast in some places, that bishop Hall mentions a village +in Lancashire, where their number was greater than that of the +houses[2]. The Jesuits and Sectaries took advantage of this universal +errour, and endeavoured to promote the interest of their parties by +pretended cures of persons afflicted by evil spirits; but they were +detected and exposed by the clergy of the established church. + +Upon this general infatuation Shakespeare might be easily allowed to +found a play, especially since he has followed with great exactness such +histories as were then thought true; nor can it be doubted that the +scenes of enchantment, however they may now be ridiculed, were both by +himself and his audience thought awful and affecting[3]. + + +NOTE III. [Transcriber's note: sic] + +ACT I. SCENE II. + + --The merciless Macdonal,--from the western isles + Of _Kernes_ and _Gallowglasses_ was supply'd; + And fortune on his damned _quarry_ smiling, + Shew'd like a rebel's whore.-- + +_Kernes_ are light-armed, and _Gallowglasses_ heavy-armed soldiers. The +word _quarry_ has no sense that is properly applicable in this place, +and, therefore, it is necessary to read, + + And fortune on his damned _quarrel_ smiling. + +_Quarrel_ was formerly used for _cause_, or for _the occasion of a +quarrel_, and is to be found in that sense in Hollingshed's account of +the story of Macbeth, who, upon the creation of the prince of +Cumberland, thought, says the historian, that he had _a just quarrel_ to +endeavour after the crown. The sense, therefore, is, _fortune smiling on +his execrable cause, &c_. + + +NOTE III. + + If I say sooth, I must report, they were + As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks. + So they redoubled strokes upon the foe. + +Mr. Theobald has endeavoured to improve the sense of this passage by +altering the punctuation thus: + + --They were +As cannons overcharg'd; with double cracks +So they redoubled strokes.-- + +He declares, with some degree of exultation, that he has no idea of _a +cannon charged with double cracks_; but, surely, the great author will +not gain much by an alteration which makes him say of a hero, that he +_redoubles strokes with double cracks_, an expression not more loudly to +be applauded, or more easily pardoned, than that which is rejected in +its favour. That a _cannon is charged with thunder_ or _with double +thunders_ may be written, not only without nonsense, but with elegance: +and nothing else is here meant by _cracks_, which in the time of this +writer was a word of such emphasis and dignity, that in this play he +terms the general dissolution of nature the _crack of doom_. + +There are among Mr. Theobald's alterations others which I do not +approve, though I do not always censure them; for some of his amendments +are so excellent, that, even when he has failed, he ought to be treated +with indulgence and respect. + + +NOTE IV. + + _King_. But who comes here? + + _Mal_. The worthy Thane of Rosse. + + _Len_. What haste looks through his eyes? + So should he look, that _seems_ to speak things strange. +The meaning of this passage, as it now stands, is, _so should he look, +that looks as if he told things strange_. But Rosse neither yet told +strange things, nor could look as if he told them; Lenox only +conjectured from his air that he had strange things to tell, and, +therefore, undoubtedly said, + + --What haste looks through his eyes? + So should he look, that _teems_ to speak things strange. + +He looks like one that _is big_ with something of importance; a metaphor +so natural, that it is every day used in common discourse. + + +NOTE V. + +SCENE III. + + _Thunder. Enter the three Witches_. + + _1 Witch_. Where hast thou been, sister? + + _2 Witch_. Killing swine. + + _3 Witch_. Sister, where thou? + + _1 Witch_. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, + And mouncht, and mouncht, and mouncht. Give me, quoth I. + (a) Aroint thee, witch!--the rump-fed ronyon cries. + Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' th' Tyger: + But in a sieve I'll thither sail, + And like a rat without a tail, + I'll do--I'll do--and I'll do. + + _2 Witch_. I'll give thee a wind. + + _1 Witch_. Thou art kind. + + _3 Witch_. And I another. + + _1 Witch_. I myself have all the other. + And the (b) very points they blow; + All the quarters that they know, + I' th' ship-man's card.-- + I will drain him dry as hay, + Sleep shall neither night nor day, + Hang upon his pent-house lid; + He shall live a man (c) forbid; + Weary sev'n nights, nine times nine, + Shall he dwindle, peak and pine; + Tho' his bark cannot be lost, + Yet it shall be tempest-tost. + Look, what I have. + + _2 Witch_. Shew me, Shew me. + + +(a) Aroint thee, witch! +In one of the folio editions the reading is _anoint thee_, in a sense +very consistent with the common accounts of witches, who are related to +perform many supernatural acts by the means of unguents, and +particularly to fly through the air to the place where they meet at +their hellish festivals. In this sense _anoint thee, witch_, will mean, +_away, witch, to your infernal assembly_. This reading I was inclined to +favour, because I had met with the word _aroint_ in no other author; +till looking into Hearne's Collections, I found it in a very old +drawing, that he has published, in which St. Patrick is represented +visiting hell, and putting the devils into great confusion by his +presence, of whom one that is driving the damned before him with a +prong, has a label issuing out from his mouth with these words, "OUT OUT +ARONGT," of which the last is evidently the same with _aroint_, and used +in the same sense as in this passage. + +(b) And the _very_ points they blow. +As the word _very_ is here of no other use than to fill up the verse, it +is likely that Shakespeare wrote _various_, which might be easily +mistaken for _very_, being either negligently read, hastily pronounced, +or imperfectly heard. + +(c) He shall live a man _forbid_. +Mr. Theobald has very justly explained _forbid_ by _accursed_, but +without giving any reason of his interpretation. To _bid_ is originally +_to pray_, as in this Saxon fragment: + + [Anglo-Saxon: He is wis thaet bit g bote,] &c. + +He is wise that _prays_ and makes amends. + +As to _forbid_, therefore, implies to _prohibit_, in opposition to the +word _bid_, in its present sense, it signifies by the same kind of +opposition to _curse_, when it is derived from the same word in its +primitive meaning. + + +NOTE VI. + +SCENE V + +The incongruity of all the passages, in which the Thane of Cawdor is +mentioned, is very remarkable; in the second scene the Thanes of Rosse +and Angus bring the king an account of the battle, and inform him that +Norway, + + Assisted by that most disloyal traitor + The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict. + +It appears that Cawdor was taken prisoner, for the king says, in the +same scene, + + --Go, pronounce his death; + And with his former title greet Macbeth. + +Yet though Cawdor was thus taken by Macbeth, in arms against his king, +when Macbeth is saluted, in the fourth scene, _Thane of Cawdor_, by the +Weird Sisters, he asks, + + But how, of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor lives. + A prosp'rous gentleman;-- + +And in the next line considers the promises, that he should be Cawdor +and King, as equally unlikely to be accomplished. How can Macbeth be +ignorant of the state of the Thane of Cawdor, whom he has just defeated +and taken prisoner, or call him a _prosperous gentleman_ who has +forfeited his title and life by open rebellion? Or why should he wonder +that the title of the rebel whom he has overthrown should be conferred +upon him? He cannot be supposed to dissemble his knowledge of the +condition of Cawdor, because he inquires with all the ardour of +curiosity, and the vehemence of sudden astonishment; and because nobody +is present but Banquo, who had an equal part in the battle, and was +equally acquainted with Cawdor's treason. However, in the next scene, +his ignorance still continues; and when Rosse and Angus present him from +the king with his new title, he cries out, + + --The Thane of Cawdor lives; + Why do you dress me in his borrow'd robes? + +Rosse and Angus, who were the messengers that, in the second scene, +informed the king of the assistance given by Cawdor to the invader, +having lost, as well as Macbeth, all memory of what they had so lately +seen and related, make this answer, + + --Whether he was + Combin'd with Norway, or did line the rebel + With hidden help and 'vantage, or with both + He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not. + +Neither Rosse knew what he had just reported, nor Macbeth what he had +just done. This seems not to be one of the faults that are to be imputed +to the transcribers, since, though the inconsistency of Rosse and Angus +might be removed, by supposing that their names are erroneously +inserted, and that only Rosse brought the account of the battle, and +only Angus was sent to compliment Macbeth, yet the forgetfulness of +Macbeth cannot be palliated, since what he says could not have been +spoken by any other. + + +NOTE VII. + + My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical, + Shakes so my single state of man,-- + +The _single state of man_ seems to be used by Shakespeare for an +_individual_, in opposition to a _commonwealth_, or _conjunct body_ of +men. + + +NOTE VIII. + + _Macbeth._--Come what come may, + _Time and the hour_ runs through the roughest day. + +I suppose every reader is disgusted at the tautology in this passage, +_time and the hour_, and will, therefore, willingly believe that +Shakespeare wrote it thus, + + --Come what come may, + Time! on!--the hour runs thro' the roughest day. + +Macbeth is deliberating upon the events which are to befall him; but +finding no satisfaction from his own thoughts, he grows impatient of +reflection, and resolves to wait the close without harassing himself +with conjectures: + + --Come what come may. + +But, to shorten the pain of suspense, he calls upon time, in the usual +style of ardent desire, to quicken his motion, + + Time! on!-- + +He then comforts himself with the reflection that all his perplexity +must have an end, + + --The hour runs thro' the roughest day. + +This conjecture is supported by the passage in the letter to his lady, +in which he says, _They referr'd me to the_ coming on of time _with, +Hail, King that shall be._ + + +NOTE IX. + +SCENE VI. + + _Malcolm._--Nothing in his life + Became him like the leaving it. He dy'd, + As one that had been studied in his death, + To throw away the dearest thing he _ow'd_, + As 'twere a careless trifle. + +As the word _ow'd_ affords here no sense, but such as is forced and +unnatural, it cannot be doubted that it was originally written, The +dearest thing he _own'd_; a reading which needs neither defence nor +explication. + + +NOTE X. + + _King._--There's no art, + To find the mind's construction in the face: + +The _construction of the mind_ is, I believe, a phrase peculiar to +Shakespeare; it implies the _frame_ or _disposition_ of the mind, by +which it is determined to good or ill. + + +NOTE XI. + + _Macbeth._ The service and the loyalty I owe, + In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part + Is to receive our duties; and our duties + Are to your throne and state, children and servants; + Which do but what they should, by doing _every thing + Safe tow'rd your love and honour_. + +Of the last line of this speech, which is certainly, as it is now read, +unintelligible, an emendation has been attempted, which Dr. Warburton +and Mr. Theobald have admitted as the true reading: + + --our duties + Are to your throne and state, children and servants, + Which do but what they should, in doing every thing + _Fiefs_ to your love and honour. + +My esteem for these criticks, inclines me to believe, that they cannot +be much pleased with the expressions, _Fiefs to love_, or _Fiefs to +honour_; and that they have proposed this alteration, rather because no +other occurred to them, than because they approved it. I shall, +therefore, propose a bolder change, perhaps, with no better success, but +"sua cuique placent." I read thus, + + --our duties + Are to your throne and state, children and servants, + Which do but what they should, in doing _nothing, + Save_ tow'rd _your love and honour_. + +We do but perform our duty, when we contract all our views to your +service, when we act with _no other_ principle than regard to _your love +and honour_. + +It is probable that this passage was first corrupted by writing _safe_ +for _save_, and the lines then stood thus: + + --doing nothing + Safe tow'rd your love and honour. + +Which the next transcriber observing to be wrong, and yet not being able +to discover the real fault, altered to the present reading. + + +NOTE XII. + +SCENE VII. + + --Thou'dst have, great Glamis, + That which cries, "thus thou must do, if thou have _it_; + And that," &c. + +As the object of Macbeth's desire is here introduced speaking of itself, +it is necessary to read, + + --thou'dst have, great Glamis, + That which cries, "thus thou must do, if thou have _me_." + + +NOTE XIII. + + --Hie thee hither, + That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; + And chastise with the valour of my tongue + All that impedes thee from the golden round, + Which fate and metaphysical aid doth _seem_ + To have thee crown'd withal. + +For _seem_, the sense evidently directs us to read _seek_. The crown to +which fate destines thee, and which preternatural agents _endeavour_ to +bestow upon thee. The _golden round_ is the _diadem_. + + +NOTE XIV. + + _Lady Macbeth_.--Come, all you spirits + That tend on _mortal thoughts_, unsex me here; + And fill me, from the crown to th' toe, top-full + Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood, + Stop up th' access and passage to remorse; + That no compunctious visitings of nature + Shake my fell purpose, nor _keep peace_ between + Th' effect and it! + + +--Mortal thoughts,-- +This expression signifies not _the thoughts of mortals_, but _murderous, +deadly_, or _destructive designs_. So in Act v. + + Hold fast the _mortal_ sword. + +And in another place, + + With twenty _mortal_ murthers. + + --Nor keep _peace_ between + Th' effect and it!-- + +The intent of Lady Macbeth evidently is to wish that no womanish +tenderness, or conscientious remorse, may hinder her purpose from +proceeding to effect; but neither this, nor indeed any other sense, is +expressed by the present reading, and, therefore, it cannot be doubted +that Shakespeare wrote differently, perhaps, thus: + + + That no compunctious visitings of nature + Shake my fell purpose, nor _keep pace_ between + Th' effect and it. + +To _keep pace between_, may signify to _pass between_, to _intervene_. +Pace is, on many occasions, a favourite of Shakespeare. This phrase, is +indeed, not usual in this sense; but was it not its novelty that gave +occasion to the present corruption? + + +NOTE XV. + +SCENE VIII. + + _King_. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air + Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself + Unto our gentle senses. + + _Ban_. This guest of summer, + The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, + By his lov'd mansionry, that heaven's breath + Smells wooingly here. No jutty frieze, + Buttrice, nor coigne of 'vantage, but this bird + Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle: + Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, + The air is delicate. + +In this short scene, I propose a slight alteration to be made, by +substituting _site_ for _seat_, as the ancient word for situation; and +_sense_ for _senses_, as more agreeable to the measure; for which reason +likewise I have endeavoured to adjust this passage, + + --heaven's breath + Smells wooingly here. No jutty frieze, + +by changing the punctuation and adding the syllable thus, + + --heaven's breath + Smells wooingly. Here is no jutty frieze. + +Those who have perused books, printed at the time of the first editions +of Shakespeare, know that greater alterations than these are necessary +almost in every page, even where it is not to be doubted, that the copy +was correct. + + +NOTE XVI. + +SCENE. X. + +The arguments by which Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to commit the +murder, afford a proof of Shakespeare's knowledge of human nature. She +urges the excellence and dignity of courage, a glittering idea which has +dazzled mankind from age to age, and animated sometimes the +housebreaker, and sometimes the conqueror; but this sophism Macbeth has +for ever destroyed, by distinguishing true from false fortitude, in a +line and a half; of which it may almost be said, that they ought to +bestow immortality on the author, though all his other productions had +been lost: + + I dare do all that may become a man; + Who dares do more is none. + +This topick, which has been always employed with too much success, is +used in this scene, with peculiar propriety, to a soldier by a woman. +Courage is the distinguishing virtue of a soldier, and the reproach of +cowardice cannot be borne by any man from a woman, without great +impatience. + +She then urges the oaths by which he had bound himself to murder Duncan, +another art of sophistry by which men have sometimes deluded their +consciences, and persuaded themselves that what would be criminal in +others is virtuous in them: this argument Shakespeare, whose plan +obliged him to make Macbeth yield, has not confuted, though he might +easily have shown that a former obligation could not be vacated by a +latter. + + +NOTE XVII. + + Letting I dare not wait upon I would, + Like the poor cat i' th' adage. + +The adage alluded to is, The cat loves fish but dares not wet her foot. + +Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas. + + +NOTE XVIII. + + Will I with wine and wassel so convince. + +To convince is, in Shakespeare, to _overpower_ or _subdue_, as in this +play: + + --Their malady _convinces_ + The great assay of art. + + +NOTE XIX. + + --Who shall bear the guilt + Of our great _quell_? + +_Quell_ is _murder, manquellers_ being, in the old language, the term +for which _murderers_ is now used. + + +NOTE XX. + +ACT II. SCENE II. + + --Now o'er one half the world + (a)_Nature seems dead_, and wicked dreams abuse + The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates + Pale Hecat's offerings: and wither'd murther, + Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, + Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, + _With (b)Tarquin's ravishing sides_ tow'rds his design + Moves like a ghost.--Thou sound and firm-set earth, + Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear + Thy very stones prate of my where-about; + _And (c)take the present horror from the time, + Which now suits with it_.-- + +(a)--Now o'er one half the world + Nature seems dead. + +That is, _over our hemisphere all action and motion seem to have +ceased_. This image, which is, perhaps, the most striking that poetry +can produce, has been adopted by Dryden, in his Conquest of Mexico. + + All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead, + The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head: + The little birds in dreams their songs repeat, + And sleeping flowers beneath the night dews sweat. + Even lust and envy sleep! + +These lines, though so well known, I have transcribed, that the contrast +between them and this passage of Shakespeare may be more accurately +observed. + +Night is described by two great poets, but one describes a night of +quiet, the other of perturbation. In the night of Dryden, all the +disturbers of the world are laid asleep; in that of Shakespeare, nothing +but sorcery, lust, and murder, is awake. He that reads Dryden, finds +himself lulled with serenity, and disposed to solitude and +contemplation. He that peruses Shakespeare, looks round alarmed, and +starts to find himself alone. One is the night of a lover; the other, +that of a murderer. + + (b)--Wither'd murder, + --thus with his stealthy pace, + With Tarquin's ravishing _sides_ tow'rds his design, + Moves like a ghost.-- + +This was the reading of this passage in all the editions before that of +Mr. Pope, who for _sides_, inserted in the text _strides_, which Mr. +Theobald has tacitly copied from him, though a more proper alteration +might, perhaps, have been made. A _ravishing stride_ is an action of +violence, impetuosity, and tumult, like that of a savage rushing on his +prey; whereas the poet is here attempting to exhibit an image of secrecy +and caution, of anxious circumspection and guilty timidity, the +_stealthy pace_ of a _ravisher_ creeping into the chamber of a virgin, +and of an assassin approaching the bed of him whom he proposes to +murder, without awaking him; these he describes as _moving like ghosts_, +whose progression is so different from _strides_, that it has been in +all ages represented to be, as Milton expresses it, + + Smooth sliding without step. + +This hemistich will afford the true reading of this place, which is, I +think, to be corrected thus: + + --and wither'd murder, + --thus with his stealthy pace, + With Tarquin ravishing, _slides_ tow'rds his design, + Moves like a ghost. + +Tarquin is, in this place, the general name of a ravisher, and the sense +is: Now is the time in which every one is asleep, but those who are +employed in wickedness, the witch who is sacrificing to Hecate, and the +ravisher, and the murderer, who, like me, are stealing upon their prey. + +When the reading is thus adjusted, he wishes with great propriety, in +the following lines, that the _earth_ may not _hear his steps_. + + (c) And take the present horror from the time. + Which now suits with it.-- + +I believe every one that has attentively read this dreadful soliloquy is +disappointed at the conclusion, which, if not wholly unintelligible, is +at least obscure, nor can be explained into any sense worthy of the +author. I shall, therefore, propose a slight alteration, + + --Thou sound and firm-set earth, + Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear + Thy very stones prate of my where-about, + And _talk_--the present horror of the time!-- + That now suits with it.-- + +Macbeth has, in the foregoing lines, disturbed his imagination by +enumerating all the terrours of the night; at length he is wrought up to +a degree of frenzy, that makes him afraid of some supernatural discovery +of his design, and calls out to the stones not to betray him, not to +declare where he walks, nor _to talk_.--As he is going to say of what, +he discovers the absurdity of his suspicion, and pauses, but is again +overwhelmed by his guilt, and concludes that such are the horrours of +the present night, that the stones may be expected to cry out against +him: + + _That_ now suits with it. + +He observes in a subsequent passage, that on such occasions _stones have +been known to move_. It is now a very just and strong picture of a man +about to commit a deliberate murder, under the strongest convictions of +the wickedness of his design. + + +NOTE XXI. + +SCENE IV. + + _Len_. The night has been unruly; where we lay + Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say, + Lamentings heard i'th'air, strange screams of death, + And prophesying with accents terrible + Of dire combustion, and confused events, + _New-hatch'd to the woeful time_. + The obscure bird clamour'd the live-long night: + Some say, the earth was fev'rous, and did shake. + +These lines, I think, should be rather regulated thus: + + --prophesying with accents terrible, + Of dire combustion and confused events. + New-hatch'd to th'woeful time, the obscure bird + Clamour'd the live-long night. Some say, the earth + Was fev'rous and did shake. + +A _prophecy_ of an _event new-hatch'd_, seems to be _a prophecy_ of an +_event past_. The term _new-hatch'd_ is properly applicable to a _bird_, +and that birds of ill omen should be _new-hatch'd to the woeful time_ is +very consistent with the rest of the prodigies here mentioned, and with +the universal disorder into which nature is described as thrown, by the +perpetration of this horrid murder. + + +NOTE XXII. + + --Up, up, and see + The great doom's image, Malcolm, Banquo, + As from your graves rise up.-- + +The second line might have been so easily completed, that it cannot be +supposed to have been left imperfect by the author, who probably wrote, + + + --Malcolm! Banquo! rise! + As from your graves rise up.-- + +Many other emendations, of the same kind, might be made, without any +greater deviation from the printed copies, than is found in each of them +from the rest. + + +NOTE XXIII. + + _Macbeth_.--Here, lay Duncan, + His silver skin laced with his golden blood; + And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature, + For ruin's wasteful entrance: there, the murtherers + Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers + _Unmannerly breech'd with gore_.-- + +An _unmannerly dagger_, and a _dagger breech'd_, or as in some editions +_breach'd with gore_, are expressions not easily to be understood, nor +can it be imagined that Shakespeare would reproach the murderer of his +king only with _want of manners_. There are, undoubtedly, two faults in +this passage, which I have endeavoured to take away by reading, + + --Daggers + _Unmanly drench'd_ with gore.-- + +_I saw_ drench'd _with the king's Mood the fatal daggers, not only +instruments of murder but evidences of_ cowardice. + +Each of these words might easily be confounded with that which I have +substituted for it by a hand not exact, a casual blot, or a negligent +inspection. + +Mr. Pope has endeavoured to improve one of these lines, by substituting +_goary blood_ for _golden blood_, but it may easily be admitted, that he +who could on such an occasion talk of _lacing the silver skin_, would +_lace it_ with _golden blood_. No amendment can be made to this line, of +which every word is equally faulty, but by a general blot. + +It is not improbable, that Shakespeare put these forced and unnatural +metaphors into the mouth of Macbeth, as a mark of artifice and +dissimulation, to show the difference between the studied language of +hypocrisy, and the natural outcries of sudden passion. This whole +speech, considered in this light, is a remarkable instance of judgment, +as if consists entirely of antitheses and metaphors. + + +NOTE XXIV. + +ACT III. SCENE II. + + _Macbeth_.--Our fears in Banquo + Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature + Reigns that, which would be fear'd. 'Tis much he dares, + And to that dauntless temper of his mind, + He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour + To act in safety. There is none but he, + Whose being I do fear: and, under him, + My genius is rebuk'd; (a)_as, it is said, + Anthony's was by Cæsar_. He chid the sisters, + When first they put the name of king upon me, + And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like, + They hail'd him father to a line of kings: + Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown, + And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, + Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand, + No son of mine succeeding. If 'tis so, + For Banquo's issue have I 'fil'd my mind; + For them, the gracious Duncan have I murther'd, + Put rancours in the vessel of my peace + Only for them; and mine eternal jewel + Given to the (b)_common enemy of man_, + To make them kings,--the seed of Banquo kings. + Rather than so, come fate into the list, + (c)And champion me to th' _utterance_!-- + +(a)--As, it is said, + Anthony's was by Cæsar. + +Though I would not often assume the critick's privilege, of being +confident where certainty cannot be obtained, nor indulge myself too +far, in departing from the established reading; yet I cannot but propose +the rejection of this passage, which, I believe, was an insertion of +some player, that, having so much learning as to discover to what +Shakespeare alluded, was not willing that his audience should be less +knowing than himself, and has, therefore, weakened the author's sense by +the intrusion of a remote and useless image into a speech bursting from +a man wholly possessed with his own present condition, and, therefore, +not at leisure to explain his own allusions to himself. If these words +are taken away, by which not only the thought but the numbers are +injured, the lines of Shakespeare close together without any traces of a +breach. + + My genius is rebuk'd. He chid the sisters. + +(b)--The common enemy of man. + +It is always an entertainment to an inquisitive reader, to trace a +sentiment to its original source, and, therefore, though the term enemy +of man, applied to the devil, is in itself natural and obvious, yet some +may be pleased with being informed, that Shakespeare probably borrowed +it from the first lines of the Destruction of Troy, a book which he is +known to have read. + +That this remark may not appear too trivial, I shall take occasion from +it to point out a beautiful passage of Milton, evidently copied from a +book of no greater authority: in describing the gates of hell, Book ii. +v.879, he says, + + --On a sudden open fly, + With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, + Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate + Harsh thunder. + +In the history of Don Bellianis, when one of the knights approaches, as +I remember, the castle of Brandezar, the gates are said to open, +_grating harsh thunder upon their brazen hinges_. + + (c)--Come fate into the list, + And champion me to th' utterance.-- + +This passage will be best explained by translating it into the language +from whence the only word of difficulty in it is borrowed. _Que la +destinée se rende en lice, et qu'elle me donne un défi_ à l'outrance. A +challenge or a combat _a l'outrance, to extremity_, was a fixed term in +the law of arms, used when the combatants engaged with an _odium +internecinum, an intention to destroy each other_, in opposition to +trials of skill at festivals, or on other occasions, where the contest +was only for reputation or a prize. The sense, therefore, is, Let fate, +that has fore-doomed the exaltation of the sons of Banquo, enter the +lists against me, with the utmost animosity, in defence of its own +decrees, which I will endeavour to invalidate, whatever be the danger. + + +NOTE XXV. + + _Macbeth_. Ay, in the catalogue, ye go for men; + As hounds, and grey-hounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, + Shoughs, water-rugs, and demy-wolves are cleped + All by the name of dogs. + +Though this is not the most sparkling passage in the play, and though +the name of a dog is of no great importance, yet it may not be improper +to remark, that there is no such species of dogs as _shoughs_ mentioned +by Caius De Canibus Britannicis, or any other writer that has fallen +into my hands, nor is the word to be found in any dictionary which I +have examined. I, therefore, imagined that it is falsely printed for +_slouths_, a kind of slow hound bred in the southern parts of England, +but was informed by a lady, that it is more probably used, either by +mistake, or according to the orthography of that time, for _shocks_. + + +NOTE XXVI. + + _Macbeth_.--In this hour, at most, + I will advise you where to plant yourselves; + Acquaint you with the perfect spy o'th'time, + The moment on't; for't must be done to-night, + And something from the palace.-- + +What is meant by _the spy of the time_, it will be found difficult to +explain; and, therefore, sense will be cheaply gained by a slight +alteration.--Macbeth is assuring the assassins that they shall not want +directions to find Banquo, and, therefore, says, + +I will-- + _Acquaint you with_ a perfect spy _o'th'time_. + +Accordingly a third murderer joins them afterwards at the place of +action. + +_Perfect_ is _well instructed_, or _well informed_, as in this play, + + Though in your state of honour I am _perfect_. + +_Though I am_ well acquainted _with your quality and rank_. + + +NOTE XXVII. + +SCENE IV. + + _2 Murderer_. He needs not to mistrust, since he delivers + Our offices and what we have to do, + To the direction just. + +Mr. Theobald has endeavoured unsuccessfully to amend this passage, in +which nothing is faulty but the punctuation. The meaning of this abrupt +dialogue is this: The _perfect spy_, mentioned by Macbeth in the +foregoing scene, has, before they enter upon the stage, given them the +directions which were promised at the time of their agreement; and, +therefore, one of the murderers observes, that, since _he has given them +such exact information, he needs not doubt of their performance_. Then, +by way of exhortation to his associates, he cries out, + + --To the direction just. + +_Now nothing remains but that we conform exactly to Macbeth's +directions_. + + +NOTE XXVIII. + +SCENE V. + + _Macbeth_. You know your own degrees, sit down: + At first and last, the hearty welcome. + +As this passage stands, not only the numbers are very imperfect, but the +sense, if any can be found, weak and contemptible. The numbers will be +improved by reading, + + --sit down at first, + And last a hearty welcome. + +But for _last_ should then be written _next_. I believe the true +reading is, + + You know your own degrees, sit down--_To_ first + And last the hearty welcome. + +_All of whatever degree, from the highest to the lowest, may be assured +that their visit is well received_. + + +NOTE XXIX + + _Macbeth._--There's blood upon thy face. + [--_To the murderer, aside at the door_.] + _Murderer_. 'Tis Banquo's then. + _Macbeth_. 'Tis better thee without, than _he_ within. + +The sense apparently requires that this passage should be read thus: + + 'Tis better thee without, than _him_ within. + +That is, _I am more pleased that the blood of Banquo should be on thy +face, than in his body_. + + +NOTE XXX. + + _Lady Macbeth_. O proper stuff! + This is the very painting of your fear: + [_Aside to Macbeth_. + This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said, + Led you to Duncan. Oh, these flaws and starts, + _Impostures to true fear_, would well become + A woman's story at a winter's fire, + Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself! + Why do you make such faces? When all's done, + You look but on a stool. + +As _starts_ can neither with propriety nor sense be called _impostures +to true fear_, something else was undoubtedly intended by the author, +who, perhaps, wrote, + + --These flaws and starts, + _Impostures true to fear_, would well become + A woman's story.-- + +These symptoms of terrour and amazement might better become _impostors +true_ only _to fear, might become a coward at the recital of such +falsehoods, as no man could credit, whose understanding was not weakened +by his terrours; tales, told by a woman over a fire on the authority of +her grandam_. + + +NOTE XXXI. + + _Macbeth_.--Love and health to all! + Then I'll sit down: give me some wine, fill full:-- + I drink to the general joy of the whole table, + And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; + Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst, + _And all to all_.-- + +Though this passage is, as it now stands, capable of more meanings than +one, none of them are very satisfactory; and, therefore, I am inclined +to read it thus: + + --to all, and him, we thirst, + _And hail to all_. + +Macbeth, being about to salute his company with a bumper, declares that +he includes Banquo, though absent, in this act of kindness, and wishes +_health_ to all. _Hail_ or _heil_ for _health_ was in such continual use +among the good-fellows of ancient times, that a drinker was called a +_was-heiler_, or a _wisher of health_, and the liquor was termed +_was-heil_, because _health_ was so often _wished_ over it. Thus in the +lines of Hanvil the monk, + + Jamque vagante scypho, discincto gutture _was-heil_ + Ingeminant _was-heil_: labor est plus perdere vini + Quam sitis.-- + +These words were afterwards corrupted into _wassail_ and _wassailer_. + + +NOTE XXXII. + + _Macbeth_.--Can such things be, + And overcome us, like a summer's cloud, + Without our special wonder? You make me strange + Even to the disposition that I _owe_, + When now I think, you can behold such sights, + And keep the natural ruby of your cheek, + When mine is blanched with fear. + +This passage, as it now stands, is unintelligible, but may be restored +to sense by a very slight alteration: + + --You make me strange + Ev'n to the disposition that I _know_. + +_Though I had before seen many instances of your courage, yet it now +appears in a degree altogether_ new. _So that my long_ acquaintance +_with your_ disposition _does not hinder me from that astonishment +which_ novelty _produces_. + + +NOTE XXXIII. + + It will have blood, they say, blood will have blood, + Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; + Augurs, that understand relations, have + By magpies, and by choughs, and rooks, brought forth + The secret'st man of blood.-- + +In this passage the first line loses much of its force by the present +punctuation. Macbeth having considered the prodigy which has just +appeared, infers justly from it, that the death of Duncan cannot pass +unpunished; + + It will have blood:-- + +then, after a short pause, declares it as the general observation of +mankind, that murderers cannot escape: + + --they say, blood will have blood. + +Murderers, when they have practised all human means of security, are +detected by supernatural directions: + + Augurs, that understand relations, &c. + +By the word _relation_ is understood the _connexion_ of effects with +causes; to _understand relations_ as _an augur_, is to know how those +things _relate_ to each other, which have no visible combination or +dependence. + + +NOTE XXXIV. + +SCENE VII. + + _Enter Lenox and another Lord_. + +As this tragedy, like the rest of Shakespeare's, is, perhaps, +overstocked with personages, it is not easy to assign a reason, why a +nameless character should be introduced here, since nothing is said that +might not, with equal propriety, have been put into the mouth of any +other disaffected man. I believe, therefore, that in the original copy, +it was written, with a very common form of contraction, _Lenox and An_. +for which the transcriber, instead of Lenox and Angus, set down, Lenox +and _another Lord_. The author had, indeed, been more indebted to the +transcriber's fidelity and diligence, had he committed no errours of +greater importance. + + +NOTE XXXV. + +As this is the chief scene of enchantment in the play, it is proper, in +this place, to observe, with how much judgment Shakespeare has selected +all the circumstances of his infernal ceremonies, and how exactly he has +conformed to common opinions and traditions: + + Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. + +The usual form in which familiar spirits are reported to converse with +witches, is that of a cat. A witch, who was tried about half a century +before the time of Shakespeare, had a cat named Rutterkin, as the spirit +of one of those witches was Grimalkin; and when any mischief was to be +done, she used to bid Rutterkin _go and fly_; but once, when she would +have sent Rutterkin to torment a daughter of the countess of Rutland, +instead of _going_ or _flying_, he only cried _mew_, from whence she +discovered that the lady was out of his power, the power of witches +being not universal, but limited, as Shakespeare has taken care to +inculcate: + + Though his bark cannot be lost, + Yet it shall be tempest-tost. + +The common afflictions which the malice of witches produced, were +melancholy, fits, and loss of flesh, which are threatened by one of +Shakespeare's witches: + +Weary sev'n nights, nine times nine, + Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. + +It was, likewise, their practice to destroy the cattle of their +neighbours, and the farmers have, to this day, many ceremonies to secure +their cows and other cattle from witchcraft; but they seem to have been +most suspected of malice against swine. Shakespeare has, accordingly, +made one of his witches declare that she has been _killing swine_; and +Dr. Harsenet observes, that, about that time, "a sow could not be ill of +the measles, nor a girl of the sullens, but some old woman was charged +with witchcraft." + + Toad, that under the cold stone, + Days and nights hast thirty-one, + Swelter'd venom sleeping got, + Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. + +Toads have, likewise, long lain under the reproach of being by some +means accessary to witchcraft, for which reason Shakespeare, in the +first scene of this play, calls one of the spirits Padocke, or Toad, and +now takes care to put a toad first into the pot. When Vaninus was seized +at Tholouse, there was found at his lodgings, "ingens bufo vitro +inclusus," _a great toad shut in a vial_, upon which those that +prosecuted him "veneficium exprobrabant," _charged him_, I suppose, +_with witchcraft_. + + Fillet of a fenny snake, + In the cauldron boil and bake: + Eye of newt, and toe of frog;--For a charm, &c. + +The propriety of these ingredients may be known by consulting the books +De Viribus Animalium and De Mirabilibus Mundi, ascribed to Albertus +Magnus, in which the reader, who has time and credulity, may discover +very wonderful secrets. + + Finger of birth-strangled babe, + Ditch-deliver'd by a drab-- + +It has been already mentioned, in the law against witches, that they are +supposed to take up dead bodies to use in enchantments, which was +confessed by the woman whom king James examined, and who had of a dead +body, that was divided in one of their assemblies, two fingers for her +share. It is observable, that Shakespeare, on this great occasion, which +involves the fate of a king, multiplies all the circumstances of +horrour. The babe, whose finger is used, must be strangled in its birth; +the grease must not only be human, but must have dropped from a gibbet, +the gibbet of a murderer; and even the sow, whose blood is used, must +have offended nature by devouring her own farrow. These are touches of +judgment and genius. + + And now about the cauldron sing-- + + Black spirits and white, + Red spirits and grey, + Mingle, mingle, mingle, + You that mingle may. + +And, in a former part: + + --weird sisters hand in hand,-- + Thus do go about, about; + Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, + And thrice again, to make up nine; + +These two passages I have brought together, because they both seem +subject to the objection of too much levity for the solemnity of +enchantment, and may both be shown, by one quotation from Camden's +account of Ireland, to be founded upon a practice really observed by the +uncivilized natives of that country. "When any one gets a fall," says +the informer of Camden, "he starts up, and, _turning three times to the +right_, digs a hole in the earth; for they imagine that there is a +spirit in the ground, and if he falls sick in two or three days, they +send one of their women that is skilled in that way to the place, where +she says, I call thee from the east, west, north, and south, from the +groves, the woods, the rivers, and the fens, from the _fairies, red, +black, white_." There was, likewise, a book written before the time of +Shakespeare, describing, amongst other properties, the _colours_ of +spirits. + +Many other circumstances might be particularized, in which Shakespeare +has shown his judgment and his knowledge[4]. + + +NOTE XXXVI. + +SCENE II. + + _Macbeth_. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down! + Thy crown does (a)sear mine eye-balls:--and thy (b)_hair_, + Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first:-- + A third is like the former. + +(a) The expression of Macbeth, that the _crown sears_ his eye-balls, is +taken from the method formerly practised of destroying the sight of +captives or competitors, by holding a burning bason before the eye, +which dried up its humidity. Whence the Italian, _abacinare, to blind_. + +(b) As Macbeth expected to see a train of kings, and was only inquiring +from what race they would proceed, he could not be surprised that the +_hair_ of the second was _bound with gold_, like that of the first; he +was offended only that the second resembled the first, as the first +resembled Banquo, and, therefore, said: + + --and thy _air_, + Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. + + +NOTE XXXVII. + + I will--give to the edge o' th' sword + His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls + That _trace him in his line_.--No boasting like a fool: + This deed I'll do before my purpose cool. + +Both the sense and measure of the third line, which, as it rhymes, +ought, according to the practice of this author, to be regular, are, at +present, injured by two superfluous syllables, which may easily be +removed by reading, + + --souls + That trace his line:--No boasting like a fool. + + +NOTE XXXVIII. + +SCENE III. + + _Rosse_. My dearest cousin, + I pray you, school yourself: But for your husband, + He's noble, wise, judicious, and best knows + The fits o'th'time, I dare not speak much further, + But cruel are the times when we are traitors, + And do not know't ourselves, when we (a)_hold rumour + From what we fear_, yet know not what we fear; + But float upon a wild and violent sea, + Each way, and (b)_move_. I'll take my leave of you: + Shall not be long but I'll be here again: + Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward + To what they were before: my pretty cousin, + Blessing upon you! + +(a)--When we hold rumour + From what we fear, yet know not what we fear. + +The present reading seems to afford no sense; and, therefore, some +critical experiments may be properly tried upon it, though, the verses +being without any connexion, there is room for suspicion, that some +intermediate lines are lost, and that the passage is, therefore, +irretrievable. If it be supposed that the fault arises only from the +corruption of some words, and that the traces of the true reading are +still to be found, the passage may be changed thus: + + --when we _bode ruin_ + From what we fear, yet know not what we fear. + +Or, in a sense very applicable to the occasion of the conference: + +--when the _bold, running_ + From what they fear, yet know not what they fear. + +(b) But float upon a wild and violent sea + Each way, and move. + +That he who _floats_ upon a _rough sea_ must move, is evident, too +evident for Shakespeare so emphatically to assert. The line, therefore, +is to be written thus: + + Each way, and move--I'll take my leave of you. + +Rosse is about to proceed, but, finding himself overpowered by his +tenderness, breaks off abruptly, for which he makes a short apology, and +retires. + + +NOTE XXXIX. + +SCENE IV. + + _Malcolm_. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there + Weep our sad bosoms empty. + _Macduff_. Let us rather + Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men, + Bestride our _downfal birth-doom_: each new morn, + New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows + Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds + As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out + Like syllables of dolour. + +He who can discover what is meant by him that earnestly exhorts him to +_bestride_ his _downfal birth-doom_, is at liberty to adhere to the +present text; but those who are willing to confess that such counsel +would to them be unintelligible, must endeavour to discover some reading +less obscure. It is probable that Shakespeare wrote: + + --like good men, + Bestride our _downfall'n birthdom_-- + +The allusion is to a man from whom something valuable is about to be +taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without encumbrance, +lays it on the ground, and stands over it with his weapon in his hand. +Our birthdom, or birthright, says he, lies on the ground, let us, like +men who are to fight for what is dearest to them, not abandon it, but +stand over it and defend it. This is a strong picture of obstinate +resolution. + +_Birthdom_ for _birthright_ is formed by the same analogy with +_masterdom_ in this play, signifying the _privileges_ or _rights of a +master_. + +Perhaps it might be _birth-dame_ for _mother_; let us stand over our +mother that lies bleeding on the ground. + + +NOTE XL. + + _Malcolm_. Now we'll together; and the _chance of goodness_ + Be like our warranted quarrel! + +The _chance of goodness_, as it is commonly read, conveys no sense. If +there be not some more important errour in the passage, it should, at +least, be pointed thus: + + --And the chance, of goodness, + Be like our warranted quarrel! + +That is, may the event be, of the goodness of heaven, [_pro justicia +divina_,] answerable to the cause. + +But I am inclined to believe that Shakespeare wrote, + + --and the chance, O goodness, + Be like our warranted quarrel! + +This some of his transcribers wrote with a small _o_, which another +imagined to mean _of_. If we adopt this reading, the sense will be, _and +O! thou sovereign goodness, to whom we now appeal, may our fortune +answer to our cause._ + + +NOTE XLI. + +ACT V. SCENE III. + + _Macbeth_. Bring me no more reports, let them fly all, + Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, + I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Malcolm? + Was he not born of woman?-- + --fly false thanes, + And mingle with the English epicures. + +In the first line of this speech, the proper pauses are not observed in +the present editions. + + Bring me no more reports--let them fly all-- + +_Tell me not any more of desertions--Let all my subjects leave me--I am +safe till, &c._ + +The reproach of epicurism, on which Mr. Theobald has bestowed a note, is +nothing more than a natural invective, uttered by an inhabitant of a +barren country, against those who have more opportunities of luxury. + + +NOTE XLII. + + _Macbeth_. I have liv'd long enough: my _way_ of life + Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf. + +As there is no relation between the _way of life_, and _fallen into the +sear_, I am inclined to think, that the _W_ is only an _M_ inverted, and +that it was originally written, my _May_ of life. + +_I am now passed from the spring to the autumn of my days, but I am +without those comforts that should succeed the sprightliness of bloom, +and support me in this melancholy season._ + + +NOTE XLIII. + +SCENE IV. + + _Malcolm_. 'Tis his main hope: + For where there is _advantage to be given_, + Both more and less have given him the revolt; + And none serve with him but constrained things, + Whose hearts are absent too. + +The impropriety of the expression _advantage to be given_, instead of +_advantage given_, and the disagreeable repetition of the word _given_ +in the next line incline me to read, + + --where there is _a'vantage_ to be _gone_, + Both more and less have given him the revolt. + +_Advantage_ or _'vantage_, in the time of Shakespeare, signified +_opportunity_. + +_More and less_ is the same with _greater and less_. So in the +interpolated Mandeville, a book of that age, there is a chapter of India +the more and the less. + + +NOTE XLIV. + +SCENE V. + + _Macbeth_.--Wherefore was that cry? + _Seyton_. The queen, my lord, is dead. + _Macbeth_. She should (a)have, died hereafter: + There would have been a time for such a _word_. + To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, + Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, + To the last syllable of (b)recorded time; + And all our yesterdays have lighted fools + The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! + Life's but a walking shadow.-- + + (a) She should have died hereafter, + There would have been a time for such a _word_. + +This passage has very justly been suspected of being corrupt. It is not +apparent for what _word_ there would have been a _time_, and that there +would or would not be a _time_ for any _word_, seems not a consideration +of importance sufficient to transport Macbeth into the following +exclamation. I read, therefore: + + She should have died hereafter, + There would have been a time for--such a _world!_-- + To-morrow, &c. + +It is a broken speech, in which only part of the thought is expressed, +and may be paraphrased thus: The queen is dead. _Macbeth_. Her death +should have been deferred to some more peaceful hour; had she lived +longer, _there would at length have been a time for_ the honours due to +her as a queen, and that respect which I owe her for her fidelity and +love. Such is the _world_--such is the condition of human life, that we +always think _to-morrow_ will be happier than to-day; but to-morrow and +to-morrow steals over us unenjoyed and unregarded, and we still linger +in the same expectation to the moment appointed for our end. All these +days, which have thus passed away, have sent multitudes of fools to the +grave, who were engrossed by the same dream of future felicity, and, +when life was departing from them, were, like me, reckoning on to- +morrow. + +(b) To the last syllable of recorded time. + +_Recorded time_ seems to signify the time fixed in the decrees of heaven +for the period of life. The _record_ of _futurity_ is, indeed, no +accurate expression, but as we only know transactions past or present, +the language of men affords no term for the volumes of prescience, in +which future events may be supposed to be written. + + +NOTE XLV. + + _Macbeth_. If thou speak'st false. + Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, + Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth, + I care not if thou dost for me as much.-- + I _pull_ in resolution; and begin + To doubt th' equivocation of the fiend, + That lies like truth: "Fear not till Birnam wood + Do come to Dunsinane," and now a wood + Comes toward Dunsinane. + + I _pull_ in resolution.-- + +Though this is the reading of all the editions, yet as it is a phrase +without either example, elegance, or propriety, it is surely better to +read: + +I _pall_ in resolution.-- + +_I languish in my constancy, my confidence begins to forsake me._ It is +scarcely necessary to observe how easily _pall_ might be changed into +_pull_ by a negligent writer, or mistaken for it by an unskilful +printer. + + +NOTE XLVI. + +SCENE VIII. + + _Siward_ Had I as many sons as I have hairs, + I would not wish them to a fairer death: + And so his knell is knoll'd. + +This incident is thus related from Henry of Huntingdon, by Camden, in +his Remains, from which our author probably copied it. + +When Siward, the martial Earl of Northumberland, understood that his +son, whom he had sent in service against the Scotchmen, was slain, he +demanded whether his wound were in the fore part or hinder part of his +body. When it was answered in the fore part, he replied, "I am right +glad; neither wish I any other death to me or mine." + + * * * * * + +After the foregoing pages were printed, the late edition of Shakespeare, +ascribed to Sir Thomas Hanmer, fell into my hands; and it was, +therefore, convenient for me to delay the publication of my remarks, +till I had examined whether they were not anticipated by similar +observations, or precluded by better. I, therefore, read over this +tragedy, but found that the editor's apprehension is of a cast so +different from mine, that he appears to find no difficulty in most of +those passages which I have represented as unintelligible, and has, +therefore, passed smoothly over them, without any attempt to alter or +explain them. + +Some of the lines with which I had been perplexed, have been, indeed, so +fortunate as to attract his regard; and it is not without all the +satisfaction which it is usual to express on such occasions, that I find +an entire agreement between us in substituting [see Note II.] _quarrel_ +for _quarry_, and in explaining the adage of the cat, [Note XVII.] But +this pleasure is, like most others, known only to be regretted; for I +have the unhappiness to find no such conformity with regard to any other +passage. + +The line which I have endeavoured to amend, Note XI. is, likewise, +attempted by the new editor, and is, perhaps, the only passage in the +play in which he has not submissively admitted the emendations of +foregoing criticks. Instead of the common reading, + + --Doing every thing + _Safe_ towards your love and honour, + +he has published, + + --Doing every thing + _Shap'd_ towards your love and honour. + +This alteration, which, like all the rest attempted by him, the reader +is expected to admit, without any reason alleged in its defence, is, in +my opinion, more plausible than that of Mr. Theobald: whether it is +right, I am not to determine. + +In the passage which I have altered in Note XL. an emendation is, +likewise, attempted in the late edition, where, for, + + --and the chance _of_ goodness + Be like our warranted quarrel, + +is substituted--and the chance _in_ goodness--whether with more or less +elegance, dignity, and propriety, than the reading which I have offered, +I must again decline the province of deciding. + +Most of the other emendations which he has endeavoured, whether with +good or bad fortune, are too trivial to deserve mention. For surely the +weapons of criticism ought not to be blunted against an editor, who can +imagine that he is restoring poetry, while he is amusing himself with +alterations like these: for, + + --This is the sergeant, + Who like a good and hardy soldier fought; + --This is the sergeant, who + Like a _right_ good and hardy soldier fought. + +For, + + --Dismay'd not this + Our captains Macbeth and Banquo?--Yes; + + --Dismay'd not this + Our captains _brave_ Macbeth and Banquo?--Yes. + +Such harmless industry may, surely, be forgiven, if it cannot be +praised: may he, therefore, never want a monosyllable, who can use it +with such wonderful dexterity. + + Rumpatur quisquis rumpitur invidia! + +The rest of this edition I have not read, but, from the little that I +have seen, think it not dangerous to declare that, in my opinion, its +pomp recommends it more than its accuracy. There is no distinction made +between the ancient reading, and the innovations of the editor; there is +no reason given for any of the alterations which are made; the +emendations of former criticks are adopted without any acknowledgment, +and few of the difficulties are removed which have hitherto embarrassed +the readers of Shakespeare. + +I would not, however, be thought to insult the editor, nor to censure +him with too much petulance, for having failed in little things, of whom +I have been told, that he excels in greater. But I may, without +indecency, observe, that no man should attempt to teach others what he +has never learned himself; and that those who, like Themistocles, have +studied the arts of policy, and "can teach a small state how to grow +great," should, like him, disdain to labour in trifles, and consider +petty accomplishments as below their ambition.[5] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] "To deny the possibility, nay, the actual existence of witchcraft + and sorcery, is, at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of + God, in various passages both of the Old and New Testament: and the + thing itself is a truth to which every nation in the world hath, in + its turn, borne testimony, either by examples seemingly well-attested, + or by prohibitory laws, which, at least, suppose the possibility of + commerce with evil spirits." Blackstone, Commentaries iv. 60. The + learned judge, however, concludes with calling it a "dubious crime," + and approves the maxim of the philosophic Montesquieu, whom no one + would lightly accuse of superstition, that "il faut être très + circonspect dans la poursuite de la magie et de l'hérésie." Esprit + des Lois, xii. 5. Selden attempted to justify the punishing of + witchcraft capitally. Works, iii. 2077. See Spectator, 117. + Barrington's Ancient Statutes, 407. + +[2] In Nashe's Lenten Stuff, 1599, it is said, that no less than six + hundred witches were executed at one time. Reed.--Boswell's + Shakespeare, xi. 5. Dr. Grey, in his notes on Hudibras, mentions, + that Hopkins the noted witch-finder hanged sixty suspected witches + in one year. He also cites Hutchinson on Witchcraft for thirty + thousand having been burnt in 150 years. _See Barrington on Ancient + Statutes_. + +[3] Johnson's apprehensions here are surely unfounded. The region of + Fancy, however, in his mind, was very circumscribed. Mrs. Montague's + chapter on Shakespeare's Preternatural Beings, in her excellent + Essay, will repay perusal. See too Schlegel on Dramatic Literature. + +[4] Compare the Incantations of the Erichtho of Lucan, the Canidie of + Horace, the Cantata of Salvator Rosa, "all' incanto all' incante," + and the Eumenides of Æschylus. The Gothic wildness of Shakespeare's + "weird sisters" will thence be better appreciated.--Ed. + +[5] These excellent observations extorted praise from the supercilious + Warburton himself. In the Preface to his Shakespeare, published two + years after the appearance of Johnson's anonymous pamphlet, he thus + alludes to it: "As to all those things which have been published + under the titles of Essays, Remarks, Observations, &c. on + Shakespeare, (if you except some critical notes on Macbeth, given as + a specimen of a projected edition, and written, as appears, by a man + of parts and genius,) the rest are absolutely below a serious + notice." According to Boswell, Johnson ever retained a grateful + remembrance of this distinguished compliment; "He praised me," said + he, "at a time when praise was of value to me." Boswell, I. Johnson + affixed to this tract, proposals for a Shakespeare in 10 volumes, + 18mo. price, to subscribers, 1_l_ 5_s_. in sheets, half-a-guinea of + which moderate sum was to be deposited at the time of subscription. + The following fuller proposals were published in 1756; but they were + not realized until the lapse of nine years from that period. + Boswell, I.--Ed. + + + +PROPOSALS +FOR PRINTING THE +DRAMATICK WORKS +OF +WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. + +PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1756. + +When the works of Shakespeare are, after so many editions, again offered +to the publick, it will, doubtless, be inquired, why Shakespeare stands +in more need of critical assistance than any other of the English +writers, and what are the deficiencies of the late attempts, which +another editor may hope to supply? + +The business of him that republishes an ancient book is, to correct what +is corrupt, and to explain what is obscure. To have a text corrupt in +many places, and in many doubtful, is, among the authors that have +written since the use of types, almost peculiar to Shakespeare. Most +writers, by publishing their own works, prevent all various readings, +and preclude all conjectural criticism. Books, indeed, are sometimes +published after the death of him who produced them; but they are better +secured from corruption than these unfortunate compositions. They +subsist in a single copy, written or revised by the author; and the +faults of the printed volume can be only faults of one descent. + +But of the works of Shakespeare the condition has been far different: he +sold them, not to be printed, but to be played. They were immediately +copied for the actors, and multiplied by transcript after transcript, +vitiated by the blunders of the penman, or changed by the affectation of +the player; perhaps enlarged to introduce a jest, or mutilated to +shorten the representation; and printed at last without the concurrence +of the author, without the consent of the proprietor, from compilations +made by chance or by stealth out of the separate parts written for the +theatre; and thus thrust into the world surreptitiously and hastily, +they suffered another depravation from the ignorance and negligence of +the printers, as every man who knows the state of the press, in that +age, will readily conceive. + +It is not easy for invention to bring together so many causes concurring +to vitiate the text. No other author ever gave up his works to fortune +and time with so little care: no books could be left in hands so likely +to injure them, as plays frequently acted, yet continued in manuscript: +no other transcribers were likely to be so little qualified for their +task as those who copied for the stage, at a time when the lower ranks +of the people were universally illiterate: no other editions were made +from fragments so minutely broken, and so fortuitously reunited; and in +no other age was the art of printing in such unskilful hands[1]. + +With the causes of corruption that make the revisal of Shakespeare's +dramatick pieces necessary, may be enumerated the causes of obscurity, +which may be partly imputed to his age, and partly to himself. + +When a writer outlives his contemporaries, and remains almost the only +unforgotten name of a distant time, he is necessarily obscure. Every age +has its modes of speech, and its cast of thought; which, though easily +explained when there are many books to be compared with each other, +become sometimes unintelligible and always difficult, when there are no +parallel passages that may conduce to their illustration. Shakespeare is +the first considerable author of sublime or familiar dialogue in our +language. Of the books which he read, and from which he formed his +style, some, perhaps, have perished, and the rest are neglected. His +imitations are, therefore, unnoted, his allusions are undiscovered, and +many beauties, both of pleasantry and greatness, are lost with the +objects to which they were united, as the figures vanish when the +canvass has decayed. + +It is the great excellence of Shakespeare, that he drew his scenes from +nature, and from life. He copied the manners of the world, then passing +before him, and has more allusions than other poets to the traditions +and superstition of the vulgar; which must, therefore, be traced, before +he can be understood. + +He wrote at a time when our poetical language was yet unformed, when the +meaning of our phrases was yet in fluctuation, when words were adopted +at pleasure from the neighbouring languages, and while the Saxon was +still visibly mingled in our diction. The reader is, therefore, +embarrassed at once with dead and with foreign languages, with +obsoleteness and innovation. In that age, as in all others, fashion +produced phraseology, which succeeding fashion swept away before its +meaning was generally known, or sufficiently authorised: and in that +age, above all others, experiments were made upon our language, which +distorted its combinations, and disturbed its uniformity. + +If Shakespeare has difficulties above other writers, it is to be imputed +to the nature of his work, which required the use of the common +colloquial language, and consequently admitted many phrases allusive, +elliptical, and proverbial, such as we speak and hear every hour without +observing them; and of which, being now familiar, we do not suspect that +they can ever grow uncouth, or that, being now obvious, they can ever +seem remote. + +These are the principal causes of the obscurity of Shakespeare; to which +might be added the fulness of idea, which might sometimes load his words +with more sentiment than they could conveniently convey, and that +rapidity of imagination which might hurry him to a second thought before +he had fully explained the first. But my opinion is, that very few of +his lines were difficult to his audience, and that he used such +expressions as were then common, though the paucity of contemporary +writers makes them now seem peculiar. + +Authors are often praised for improvement, or blamed for innovation, +with very little justice, by those who read few other books of the same +age. Addison, himself, has been so unsuccessful in enumerating the words +with which Milton has enriched our language, as, perhaps, not to have +named one of which Milton was the author; and Bentley has yet more +unhappily praised him as the introducer of those elisions into English +poetry, which had been used from the first essays of versification among +us, and which Milton was, indeed, the last that practised. + +Another impediment, not the least vexatious to the commentator, is the +exactness with which Shakespeare followed his authors. Instead of +dilating his thoughts into generalities, and expressing incidents with +poetical latitude, he often combines circumstances unnecessary to his +main design, only because he happened to find them together. Such +passages can be illustrated only by him who has read the same story, in +the very book which Shakespeare consulted. + +He that undertakes an edition of Shakespeare, has all these difficulties +to encounter, and all these obstructions to remove. + +The corruptions of the text will be corrected by a careful collation of +the oldest copies, by which it is hoped that many restorations may yet +be made: at least it will be necessary to collect and note the variation +as materials for future criticks; for it very often happens that a wrong +reading has affinity to the right. + +In this part all the present editions are apparently and intentionally +defective. The criticks did not so much as wish to facilitate the labour +of those that followed them. The same books are still to be compared; +the work that has been done, is to be done again; and no single edition +will supply the reader with a text, on which he can rely, as the best +copy of the works of Shakespeare. + +The edition now proposed will, at least, have this advantage over +others. It will exhibit all the observable varieties of all the copies +that can be found; that, if the reader is not satisfied with the +editor's determination, he may have the means of choosing better for +himself. + +Where all the books are evidently vitiated, and collation can give no +assistance, then begins the task of critical sagacity: and some changes +may well be admitted in a text never settled by the author, and so long +exposed to caprice and ignorance. But nothing shall be imposed, as in +the Oxford edition, without notice of the alteration; nor shall +conjecture be wantonly or unnecessarily indulged. + +It has been long found, that very specious emendations do not equally +strike all minds with conviction, nor even the same mind, at different +times; and, therefore, though, perhaps, many alterations may be proposed +as eligible, very few will be obtruded as certain. In a language so +ungrammatical as the English, and so licentious as that of Shakespeare, +emendatory criticism is always hazardous, nor can it be allowed to any +man who is not particularly versed in the writings of that age, and +particularly studious of his author's diction. There is danger lest +peculiarities should be mistaken for corruptions, and passages rejected +as unintelligible, which a narrow mind happens not to understand. + +All the former criticks have been so much employed on the corrections of +the text, that they have not sufficiently attended to the elucidation of +passages obscured by accident or time. The editor will endeavour to read +the books which the author read, to trace his knowledge to its source, +and compare his copies with their originals. If, in this part of his +design, he hopes to attain any degree of superiority to his +predecessors, it must be considered, that he has the advantage of their +labours; that, part of the work being already done, more care is +naturally bestowed on the other part; and that, to declare the truth, +Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope were very ignorant of the ancient English +literature; Dr. Warburton was detained by more important studies; and +Mr. Theobald, if fame be just to his memory, considered learning only as +an instrument of gain, and made no further inquiry after his author's +meaning, when once he had notes sufficient to embellish his page with +the expected decorations. + +With regard to obsolete or peculiar diction, the editor may, perhaps, +claim some degree of confidence, having had more motives to consider the +whole extent of our language than any other man from its first +formation. He hopes that, by comparing the works of Shakespeare with +those of writers who lived at the same time, immediately preceded, or +immediately followed him, he shall be able to ascertain his ambiguities, +disentangle his intricacies, and recover the meaning of words now lost +in the darkness of antiquity. + +When, therefore, any obscurity arises from an allusion to some other +book, the passage will be quoted. When the diction is entangled, it will +be cleared by a paraphrase or interpretation. When the sense is broken +by the suppression of part, of the sentiment in pleasantry or passion, +the connexion will be supplied. When any forgotten custom is hinted, +care will be taken to retrieve and explain it. The meaning assigned to +doubtful words will be supported by the authorities of other writers, or +by parallel passages of Shakespeare himself. + +The observation of faults and beauties is one of the duties of an +annotator, which some of Shakespeare's editors have attempted, and some +have neglected.--For this part of his task, and for this only, was Mr. +Pope eminently and indisputably qualified; nor has Dr. Warburton[2] +followed him with less diligence or less success. But I have never +observed that mankind was much delighted or improved by their asterisks, +commas, or double commas; of which the only effect is, that they +preclude the pleasure of judging for ourselves; teach the young and +ignorant to decide without principles; defeat curiosity and discernment, +by leaving them less to discover; and at last show the opinion of the +critick, without the reasons on which it was founded, and without +affording any light by which it may be examined. + +The editor, though he may less delight his own vanity, will, probably, +please his reader more, by supposing him equally able with himself to +judge of beauties and faults, which require no previous acquisition of +remote knowledge. A description of the obvious scenes of nature, a +representation of general life, a sentiment of reflection or experience, +a deduction of conclusive arguments, a forcible eruption of effervescent +passion, are to be considered as proportionate to common apprehension, +unassisted by critical officiousness; since, to conceive them, nothing +more is requisite than acquaintance with the general state of the world, +and those faculties which he must almost bring with him who would read +Shakespeare. + +But when the beauty arises from some adaptation of the sentiment to +customs worn out of use, to opinions not universally prevalent, or to +any accidental or minute particularity, which cannot be supplied by +common understanding, or common observation, it is the duty of a +commentator to lend his assistance. + +The notice of beauties and faults, thus limited, will make no distinct +part of the design, being reducible to the explanation of some obscure +passages. + +The editor does not, however, intend to preclude himself from the +comparison of Shakespeare's sentiments or expression with those of +ancient or modern authors, or from the display of any beauties not +obvious to the students of poetry; for, as he hopes to leave his author +better understood, he wishes, likewise, to procure him more rational +approbation. + +The former editors have affected to slight their predecessors: but in +this edition all that is valuable will be adopted from every +commentator, that posterity may consider it as including all the rest, +and exhibiting whatever is hitherto known of the great, father of the +English drama. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] It is not true, that the plays of this author were more incorrectly + printed than those of any of his contemporaries: for in the plays of + Massinger, Marlowe, Marston, Fletcher, and others, as many errors + may be found. It is not true, that the art of printing was in no + other age in such unskilful hands. Nor is it true, in the latitude + in which it is stated, that "these plays were printed from + compilations made by chance or by stealth, out of the separate parts + written for the theatre:" two only of all his dramas, The Merry + Wives of Windsor, and King Henry V. appear to have been thus thrust + into the world; and of the former it is yet a doubt, whether it is a + first sketch, or an imperfect copy. See Malone's Preface throughout. + --Ed. + +[2] See how this respectful reference to his labours was rewarded by + this "meek and modest ecclesiastic" in his Letters, 410, 272, 273. + Also Edinburgh Review for January, 1809. + + + + +PREFACE +TO +SHAKESPEARE. + +PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1768[1]. + +That praises are without reason lavished on the dead, and that the +honours due only to excellence are paid to antiquity, is a complaint +likely to be always continued by those, who, being able to add nothing +to truth, hope for eminence from the heresies of paradox; or those, who, +being forced by disappointment upon consolatory expedients, are willing +to hope from posterity what the present age refuses, and flatter +themselves that the regard, which is yet denied by envy, will be at last +bestowed by time. + +Antiquity, like every other quality that attracts the notice of mankind, +has undoubtedly votaries that reverence it, not from reason, but from +prejudice. Some seem to admire indiscriminately whatever has been long +preserved, without considering that time has sometimes co-operated with +chance; all, perhaps, are more willing to honour past than present +excellence; and the mind contemplates genius through the shades of age, +as the eye surveys the sun through artificial opacity. The great +contention of criticism is to find the faults of the moderns, and the +beauties of the ancients. While an author is yet living, we estimate his +powers by his worst performance, and when he is dead we rate them by his +best. + +To works, however, of which the excellence is not absolute and definite, +but gradual and comparative; to works not raised upon principles +demonstrative and scientifick, but appealing wholly to observation and +experience, no other test can be applied than length of duration and +continuance of esteem. What mankind have long possessed they have often +examined and compared; and if they persist to value the possession, it +is because frequent comparisons have confirmed opinion in its favour. +As, among the works of nature, no man can properly call a river deep, or +a mountain high, without the knowledge of many mountains, and many +rivers; so, in the productions of genius, nothing can be styled +excellent till it has been compared with other works of the same kind. +Demonstration immediately displays its power, and has nothing to hope or +fear from the flux of years; but works tentative and experimental must +be estimated by their proportion to the general and collective ability +of man, as it is discovered in a long succession of endeavours. Of the +first building that was raised, it might be, with certainty, determined +that it was round or square; but whether it was spacious or lofty must +have been referred to time. The Pythagorean scale of numbers was at once +discovered to be perfect; but the poems of Homer we yet know not to +transcend the common limits of human intelligence, but by remarking, +that nation after nation, and century after century, has been able to do +little more than transpose his incidents, new name his characters, and +paraphrase his sentiments. + +The reverence due to writings that have long subsisted, arises, +therefore, not from any credulous confidence in the superiour wisdom of +past ages, or gloomy persuasion of the degeneracy of mankind, but is the +consequence of acknowledged and indubitable positions, that what has +been longest known has been most considered, and what is most considered +is best understood. + +The poet, of whose works I have undertaken the revision, may now begin +to assume the dignity of an ancient, and claim the privilege of +established fame and prescriptive veneration. He has long outlived his +century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary merit[2]. +Whatever advantages he might once derive from personal allusions, local +customs, or temporary opinions, have for many years been lost; and every +topick of merriment, or motive of sorrow, which the modes of artificial +life afforded him, now only obscure the scenes which they once +illuminated. The effects of favour and competition are at an end; the +tradition of his friendships and his enmities has perished; his works +support no opinion with arguments, nor supply any faction with +invectives; they can neither indulge vanity, nor gratify malignity; but +are read without any other reason than the desire of pleasure, and are, +therefore, praised only as pleasure is obtained; yet, thus unassisted by +interest or passion, they have passed through variations of taste and +changes of manners, and, as they devolved from one generation to +another, have received new honours at every transmission. + +But because human judgment, though it be gradually gaining upon +certainty, never becomes infallible; and approbation, though long +continued, may yet be only the approbation of prejudice or fashion; it +is proper to inquire, by what peculiarities of excellence Shakespeare +has gained, and kept the favour of his countrymen. + +Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of +general nature. Particular manners can be known to few, and, therefore, +few only can judge how nearly they are copied. The irregular +combinations of fanciful invention may delight awhile, by that novelty +of which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest; but the +pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only +repose on the stability of truth. + +Shakespeare is, above all writers, at least above all modern writers, +the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful +mirror of manners and of life. His characters are not modified by the +customs of particular places, unpractised by the rest of the world; by +the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon +small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions or temporary +opinions: they are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the +world will always supply, and observation will always find. His persons +act and speak by the influence of those general passions and principles +by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is +continued in motion. In the writings of other poets a character is too +often an individual: in those of Shakespeare it is commonly a species. + +It is from this wide extension of design that so much instruction is +derived. It is this which fills the plays of Shakespeare with practical +axioms and domestick wisdom. It was said of Euripides, that every verse +was a precept; and it may be said of Shakespeare, that from his works +may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence. Yet his real +power is not shown in the splendour of particular passages, but by the +progress of his fable, and the tenour of his dialogue; and he that tries +to recommend him by select quotations, will succeed like the pedant in +Hierocles, who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in +his pocket as a specimen. + +It will not easily be imagined how much Shakespeare excels in +accommodating his sentiments to real life, but by comparing him with +other authors. It was observed of the ancient schools of declamation, +that the more diligently they were frequented, the more was the student +disqualified for the world, because he found nothing there which he +should ever meet in any other place. The same remark may be applied to +every stage but that of Shakespeare. The theatre, when it is under any +other direction, is peopled by such characters as were never seen, +conversing in a language which was never heard, upon topicks which will +never arise in the commerce of mankind. But the dialogue of this author +is often so evidently determined by the incident which produces it, and +is pursued with so much ease and simplicity, that it seems scarcely to +claim the merit of fiction, but to have been gleaned, by diligent +selection, out of common conversation and common occurrences. + +Upon every other stage the universal agent is love, by whose power all +good and evil is distributed, and every action quickened or retarded. To +bring a lover, a lady, and a rival into the fable; to entangle them in +contradictory obligations, perplex them with oppositions of interest, +and harass them with violence of desires inconsistent with each other; +to make them meet in rapture, and part in agony; to fill their mouths +with hyperbolical joy and outrageous sorrow; to distress them as nothing +human ever was distressed; to deliver them as nothing human ever was +delivered; is the business of a modern dramatist. For this, probability +is violated, life is misrepresented, and language is depraved. But love +is only one of many passions; and, as it has no great influence upon the +sum of life[3], it has little operation in the dramas of a poet, who +caught his ideas from the living world, and exhibited only what he saw +before him. He knew that any other passion, as it was regular or +exorbitant, was a cause of happiness or calamity. + +Characters thus ample and general were not easily discriminated and +preserved, yet, perhaps, no poet ever kept his personages more distinct +from each other. I will not say, with Pope, that every speech may be +assigned to the proper speaker, because many speeches there are which +have nothing characteristical; but, perhaps, though some may be equally +adapted to every person, it will be difficult to find any that can be +properly transferred from the present possessor to another claimant. The +choice is right, when there is reason for choice. + +Other dramatists can only gain attention by hyperbolical or aggravated +characters, by fabulous and unexampled excellence or depravity, as the +writers of barbarous romances invigorated the reader by a giant and a +dwarf; and he that should form his expectations of human affairs from +the play, or from the tale, would be equally deceived. Shakespeare has +no heroes; his scenes are occupied only by men, who act and speak as the +reader thinks that he should himself have spoken or acted on the same +occasion: even where the agency is supernatural, the dialogue is level +with life. Other writers disguise the most natural passions and most +frequent incidents; so that he who contemplates them in the book will +not know them in the world: Shakespeare approximates the remote, and +familiarizes the wonderful; the event which he represents will not +happen, but, if it were possible, its effects would, probably, be such +as he has assigned[4]; and it may be said, that he has not only shown +human nature as it acts in real exigencies, but as it would be found in +trials, to which it cannot be exposed. + +This, therefore, is the praise of Shakespeare, that his drama is the +mirror of life; that he who has mazed his imagination, in following the +phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of +his delirious ecstacies, by reading human sentiments in human language, +by scenes from which a hermit may estimate the transactions of the +world, and a confessor predict the progress of the passions. + +His adherence to general nature has exposed him to the censure of +criticks, who form their judgments upon narrower principles. Dennis and +Rymer think his Romans not sufficiently Roman; and Voltaire censures his +kings as not completely royal[5]. Dennis is offended, that Menenius, a +senator of Rome, should play the buffoon; and Voltaire, perhaps, thinks +decency violated when the Danish usurper is represented as a drunkard. +But Shakespeare always makes nature predominate over accident; and, if +he preserves the essential character, is not very careful of +distinctions superinduced and adventitious. His story requires Romans or +kings, but he thinks only on men. He knew that Rome, like every other +city, had men of all dispositions; and, wanting a buffoon, he went into +the senate-house for that which the senate-house would certainly have +afforded him. He was inclined to show an usurper and a murderer, not +only odious, but despicable; he, therefore, added drunkenness to his +other qualities, knowing that kings love wine like other men, and that +wine exerts its natural power upon kings. These are the petty cavils of +petty minds; a poet overlooks the casual distinction of country and +condition, as a painter, satisfied with the figure, neglects the +drapery. + +The censure which he has incurred by mixing comick and tragick scenes, +as it extends to all his works, deserves more consideration. Let the +fact be first stated, and then examined. + +Shakespeare's plays are not, in the rigorous or critical sense, either +tragedies or comedies, but compositions of a distinct kind; exhibiting +the real state of sublunary nature, which partakes of good and evil, joy +and sorrow, mingled with endless variety of proportion and innumerable +modes of combination; and expressing the course of the world, in which +the loss of one is the gain of another; in which, at the same time, the +reveller is hasting to his wine, and the mourner burying his friend; in +which the malignity of one is sometimes defeated by the frolick of +another; and many mischiefs and many benefits are done and hindered +without design. + +Out of this chaos of mingled purposes and casualties the ancient poets, +according to the laws which custom had prescribed, selected some the +crimes of men, and some their absurdities; some the momentous +vicissitudes of life, and some the lighter occurrences; some the +terrours of distress and some the gaieties of prosperity. Thus rose the +two modes of imitation, known by the names of _tragedy_ and _comedy_, +compositions intended to promote different ends by contrary means, and +considered as so little allied, that I do not recollect among the Greeks +or Romans a single writer who attempted both[6]. + +Shakespeare has united the powers of exciting laughter and sorrow, not +only in one mind, but in one composition. Almost all his plays are +divided between serious and ludicrous characters, and, in the successive +evolutions of the design, sometimes produce seriousness and sorrow, and +sometimes levity and laughter. + +That this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will be +readily allowed; but there is always an appeal open from criticism to +nature. The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to +instruct by pleasing. That the mingled drama may convey all the +instruction of tragedy or comedy cannot be denied, because it includes +both in its alternations of exhibition, and approaches nearer than +either to the appearance of life, by showing how great machinations and +slender designs may promote or obviate one another, and the high and the +low co-operate in the general system by unavoidable concatenation. + +It is objected, that by this change of scenes the passions are +interrupted in their progression, and that the principal event, being +not advanced by a due gradation of preparatory incidents, wants, at +last, the power to move, which constitutes the perfection of dramatick +poetry. This reasoning is so specious, that it is received as true even +by those who, in daily experience, feel it to be false. The interchanges +of mingled scenes seldom fail to produce the intended vicissitudes of +passion. Fiction cannot move so much, but that the attention may be +easily transferred; and though it must be allowed that pleasing +melancholy may be sometimes interrupted by unwelcome levity, yet let it +be considered, likewise, that melancholy is often not pleasing, and that +the disturbance of one man may be the relief of another; that different +auditors have different habitudes; and that, upon the whole, all +pleasure consists in variety. + +The players, who, in their edition, divided our author's works into +comedies, histories and tragedies, seem not to have distinguished the +three kinds by any very exact or definite ideas. + +An action which ended happily to the principal persons, however serious +or distressful through its intermediate incidents, in their opinion, +constituted a comedy. This idea of a comedy continued long amongst us; +and plays were written, which, by changing the catastrophe, were +tragedies to-day, and comedies to-morrow[7]. + +Tragedy was not in those times a poem of more general dignity or +elevation than comedy; it required only a calamitous conclusion, with +which the common criticism of that age was satisfied, whatever lighter +pleasure it afforded in its progress. + +History was a series of actions, with no other than chronological +succession, independent of each other, and without any tendency to +introduce or regulate the conclusion. It is not always very nicely +distinguished from tragedy. There is not much nearer approach to unity +of action in the tragedy of Anthony and Cleopatra, than in the history +of Richard the second. But a history might be continued through many +plays, as it had no plan, it had no limits. + +Through all these denominations of the drama, Shakespeare's mode of +composition is the same; an interchange of seriousness and merriment, by +which the mind is softened at one time, and exhilarated at another. But +whatever be his purpose, whether to gladden or depress, or to conduct +the story, without vehemence or emotion, through tracts of easy and +familiar dialogue, he never fails to attain his purpose; as he commands +us, we laugh or mourn, or sit silent with quiet expectation, in +tranquillity without indifference. + +When Shakespeare's plan is understood, most of the criticisms of Rymer +and Voltaire vanish away. The play of Hamlet is opened, without +impropriety, by two centinels; Iago bellows at Brabantio's window, +without injury to the scheme of the play, though in terms which a modern +audience would not easily endure; the character of Polonius is +seasonable and useful; and the Gravediggers themselves may be heard with +applause. + +Shakespeare engaged in dramatick poetry with the world open before him; +the rules of the ancients were yet known to few; the publick judgment +was unformed; he had no example of such fame as might force him upon +imitation, nor criticks of such authority as might restrain his +extravagance: he, therefore, indulged his natural disposition, and his +disposition, as Rymer has remarked, led him to comedy. In tragedy he +often writes, with great appearance of toil and study, what is written +at last with little felicity; but, in his comick scenes, he seems to +produce, without labour, what no labour can improve. In tragedy he is +always struggling after some occasion to be comick; but in comedy he +seems to repose, or to luxuriate, as in a mode of thinking congenial to +his nature. In his tragick scenes there is always something wanting, but +his comedy often surpasses expectation or desire. His comedy pleases by +the thoughts and the language, and his tragedy, for the greater part, by +incident and action. His tragedy seems to be skill, his comedy to be +instinct[8]. + +The force of his comick scenes has suffered little diminution from the +changes made by a century and a half, in manners or in words. As his +personages act upon principles arising from genuine passion, very little +modified by particular forms, their pleasures and vexations are +communicable to all times and to all places; they are natural, and, +therefore, durable; the adventitious peculiarities of personal habits +are only superficial dies, bright and pleasing for a little while, yet +soon fading to a dim tinct, without any remains of former lustre; but +the discriminations of true passion are the colours of nature; they +pervade the whole mass, and can only perish with the body that exhibits +them. The accidental compositions of heterogeneous modes are dissolved +by the chance that combined them; but the uniform simplicity of +primitive qualities neither admits increase, nor suffers decay. The sand +heaped by one flood is scattered by another, but the rock always +continues in its place. The stream of time, which is continually washing +the dissoluble fabricks of other poets, passes, without injury, by the +adamant of Shakespeare[9]. + +If there be, what I believe there is, in every nation, a style which +never becomes obsolete, a certain mode of phraseology so consonant and +congenial to the analogy and principles of its respective language, as +to remain settled and unaltered; this style is probably to be sought in +the common intercourse of life, among those who speak only to be +understood, without ambition of elegance. The polite are always catching +modish innovations, and the learned depart from established forms of +speech, in hope of finding or making better; those who wish for +distinction forsake the vulgar, when the vulgar is right; but there is a +conversation above grossness and below refinement, where propriety +resides, and where this poet seems to have gathered his comick dialogue. +He is, therefore, more agreeable to the ears of the present age than any +other author equally remote, and among his other excellencies deserves +to be studied as one of the original masters of our language. + +These observations are to be considered not as unexceptionably constant, +but as containing general and predominant truth. Shakespeare's familiar +dialogue is affirmed to be smooth and clear, yet not wholly without +ruggedness or difficulty; as a country may be eminently fruitful, though +it has spots unfit for cultivation: his characters are praised as +natural, though their sentiments are sometimes forced, and their actions +improbable; as the earth upon the whole is spherical, though its surface +is varied with protuberances and cavities. + +Shakespeare with his excellencies has likewise faults, and faults +sufficient to obscure and overwhelm any other merit. I shall show them +in the proportion in which they appear to me, without envious malignity +or superstitious veneration. No question can be more innocently +discussed than a dead poet's pretensions to renown; and little regard is +due to that bigotry which sets candour higher than truth. + +His first defect is that to which may be imputed most of the evil in +books or in men. He sacrifices virtue to convenience, and is so much +more careful to please than to instruct, that he seems to write without +any moral purpose. From his writings, indeed, a system of social duty +may be selected, for he that thinks reasonably must think morally; but +his precepts and axioms drop casually from him; he makes no just +distribution of good or evil, nor is always careful to show in the +virtuous a disapprobation of the wicked; he carries his persons +indifferently through right and wrong, and, at the close, dismisses them +without further care, and leaves their examples to operate by chance. +This fault the barbarity of his age cannot extenuate; for it is always a +writer's duty to make the world better, and justice is a virtue +independent on time or place. + +The plots are often so loosely formed, that a very slight consideration +may improve them, and so carelessly pursued, that he seems, not always +fully to comprehend his own design. He omits opportunities of +instructing or delighting, which the train of his story seems to force +upon him, and apparently rejects those exhibitions which would be more +affecting, for the sake of those which are more easy. + +It may be observed, that in many of his plays the latter part is +evidently neglected. When he found himself near the end of his work, and +in view of his reward, he shortened the labour to snatch the profit. He, +therefore, remits his efforts where he should most vigorously exert +them, and his catastrophe is improbably produced or imperfectly +represented. + +He had no regard to distinction of time or place, but gives to one age +or nation, without scruple, the customs, institutions, and opinions of +another, at the expense not only of likelihood, but of possibility. +These faults Pope has endeavoured, with more zeal than judgment, to +transfer to his imagined interpolators. We need not wonder to find +Hector quoting Aristotle, when we see the loves of Theseus and Hippolyta +combined with the Gothick mythology of fairies. Shakespeare, indeed, was +not the only violator of chronology, for in the same age Sidney, who +wanted not the advantages of learning, has, in his Arcadia, confounded +the pastoral with the feudal times, the days of innocence, quiet, and +security, with those of turbulence, violence, and adventure[10]. + +In his comick scenes he is seldom very successful, when he engages his +characters in reciprocations of smartness and contests of sarcasm; their +jests are commonly gross, and their pleasantry licentious; neither his +gentlemen nor his ladies have much delicacy, nor are sufficiently +distinguished from his clowns by any appearance of refined manners. +Whether he represented the real conversation of his time is not easy to +determine; the reign of Elizabeth is commonly supposed to have been a +time of stateliness, formality, and reserve; yet, perhaps, the +relaxations of that severity were not very elegant[11]. There must, +however, have been always some modes of gaiety preferable to others, and +a writer ought to choose the best. + +In tragedy his performance seems constantly to be worse, as his labour +is more. The effusions of passion, which exigence forces out, are, for +the most part, striking and energetick; but whenever he solicits his +invention, or strains his faculties, the offspring of his throes is +tumour, meanness, tediousness, and obscurity. + +In narration he affects a disproportionate pomp of diction, and a +wearisome train of circumlocution, and tells the incident imperfectly in +many words, which might have been more plainly delivered in few. +Narration in dramatick poetry is naturally tedious, as it is unanimated +and inactive, and obstructs the progress of the action; it should, +therefore, always be rapid, and enlivened by frequent interruption. +Shakespeare found it an incumbrance, and instead of lightening it by +brevity, endeavoured to recommend it by dignity and splendour. + +His declamations or set speeches are commonly cold and weak, for his +power was the power of nature; when he endeavoured, like other tragick +writers, to catch opportunities of amplification, and instead of +inquiring what the occasion demanded, to show how much his stores of +knowledge could supply, he seldom escapes without the pity or resentment +of his reader. + +It is incident to him to be now and then entangled with an unwieldy +sentiment, which he cannot well express, and will not reject; he +struggles with it a while, and, if it continues stubborn, comprises it +in words such as occur, and leaves it to be disentangled and evolved by +those who have more leisure to bestow upon it. + +Not that always where the language is intricate, the thought is subtile, +or the image always great where the line is bulky; the equality of words +to things is very often neglected, and trivial sentiments and vulgar +ideas disappoint the attention, to which they are recommended by +sonorous epithets and swelling figures. + +But the admirers of this great poet have most reason to complain when he +approaches nearest to his highest excellence, and seems fully resolved +to sink them in dejection, and mollify them with tender emotions, by the +fall of greatness, the danger of innocence, or the crosses of love. What +he does best, he soon ceases to do. He is not long soft and pathetick +without some idle conceit, or contemptible equivocation. He no sooner +begins to move, than he counteracts himself; and terrour and pity, as +they are rising in the mind, are checked and blasted by sudden +frigidity. + +A quibble is to Shakespeare, what luminous vapours are to the traveller; +he follows it at all adventures it is sure to lead him out of his way, +and sure to ingulf him in the mire. It has some malignant power over his +mind, and its fascinations are irresistible. Whatever be the dignity or +profundity of his disquisitions, whether he be enlarging knowledge or +exalting affection, whether he be amusing attention with incidents, or +enchaining it in suspense, let but a quibble spring up before him, and +he leaves his work unfinished. A quibble is the golden apple for which +he will always turn aside from his career, or stoop from his elevation. +A quibble, poor and barren as it is, gave him such delight, that he was +content to purchase it, by the sacrifice of reason, propriety and truth. +A quibble was to him the fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world, +and was content to lose it. + +It will be thought strange, that, in enumerating the defects of this +writer, I have not yet mentioned his neglect of the unities; his +violation of those laws which have been instituted and established by +the joint authority of poets and of criticks. + +For his other deviations from the art of writing, I resign him to +critical justice, without making any other demand in his favour, than +that which must be indulged to all human excellence; that his virtues be +rated with his failings: but, from the censure which this irregularity +may bring upon him, I shall, with due reverence to that learning which I +must oppose, adventure to try how I can defend him. + +His histories, being neither tragedies nor comedies, are not subject to +any of their laws; nothing more is necessary to all the praise which +they expect, than that the changes of action be so prepared as to be +understood; that the incidents be various and affecting, and the +characters consistent, natural and distinct. No other unity is intended, +and, therefore, none is to be sought. + +In his other works he has well enough preserved the unity of action. He +has not, indeed, an intrigue regularly perplexed and regularly +unravelled: he does not endeavour to hide his design only to discover +it, for this is seldom the order of real events, and Shakespeare is the +poet of nature: but his plan has commonly what Aristotle requires, a +beginning, a middle, and an end; one event is concatenated with another, +and the conclusion follows by easy consequence. There are, perhaps, some +incidents that might be spared, as in other poets there is much talk +that only fills up time upon the stage; but the general system makes +gradual advances, and the end of the play is the end of expectation. + +To the unities of time and place he has shown no regard; and, perhaps, a +nearer view of the principles on which they stand will diminish their +value, and withdraw from them the veneration which, from the time of +Corneille, they have generally received, by discovering that they have +given more trouble to the poet, than pleasure to the auditor. + +The necessity of observing the unities of time and place arises from the +supposed necessity of making the drama credible. The criticks hold it +impossible, that an action of months or years can be possibly believed +to pass in three hours; or that the spectator can suppose himself to sit +in the theatre, while ambassadors go and return between distant kings, +while armies are levied and towns besieged, while an exile wanders and +returns, or till he whom they saw courting his mistress, shall lament +the untimely fall of his son. The mind revolts from evident falsehood, +and fiction loses its force when it departs from the resemblance of +reality. + +From the narrow limitation of time necessarily arises the contraction of +place. The spectator, who knows that he saw the first act at Alexandria, +cannot suppose that he sees the next at Rome, at a distance to which not +the dragons of Medea could, in so short a time, have transported him; he +knows with certainty that he has not changed his place; and he knows +that place cannot change itself; that what was a house cannot become a +plain; that what was Thebes can never be Persepolis. + +Such is the triumphant language with which a critick exults over the +misery of an irregular poet, and exults commonly without resistance or +reply. It is time, therefore, to tell him, by the authority of +Shakespeare, that he assumes, as an unquestionable principle, a +position, which, while his breath is forming it into words, his +understanding pronounces to be false. It is false, that any +representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatick fable in its +materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment, was ever +credited. + +The objection arising from the impossibility of passing the first hour +at Alexandria, and the next at Rome, supposes, that when the play opens, +the spectator really imagines himself at Alexandria, and believes that +his walk to the theatre has been a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in +the days of Anthony and Cleopatra. Surely he that imagines this may +imagine more. He that can take the stage at one time for the palace of +the Ptolemies, may take it in half an hour for the promontory of Actium. +Delusion, if delusion be admitted, has no certain limitation; if the +spectator can be once persuaded, that his old acquaintance are Alexander +and Cæsar, that a room illuminated with candles is the plain of +Pharsalia, or the bank of Granicus, he is in a state of elevation above +the reach of reason, or of truth, and from the heights of empyrean +poetry, may despise the circumscriptions of terrestrial nature. There is +no reason why a mind thus wandering in ecstacy should count the clock, +or why an hour should not be a century in that calenture of the brains +that can make the stage a field. + +The truth is, that the spectators are always in their senses, and know, +from the first act to the last, that the stage is only a stage, and that +the players are only players. They come to hear a certain number of +lines recited with just gesture and elegant modulation. The lines relate +to some action, and an action must be in some place; but the different +actions that complete a story may be in places very remote from each +other; and where is the absurdity of allowing that space to represent +first Athens, and then Sicily, which was always known to be neither +Sicily nor Athens, but a modern theatre? + +By supposition, as place is introduced, time may be extended; the time +required by the fable elapses, for the most part, between the acts; for, +of so much of the action as is represented, the real and poetical +duration is the same. If, in the first act, preparations for war against +Mithridates are represented to be made in Rome, the event of the war +may, without absurdity, be represented, in the catastrophe, as happening +in Pontus; we know that there is neither war, nor preparation for war; +we know that we are neither in Rome nor Pontus; that neither Mithridates +nor Lucullus are before us. The drama exhibits successive imitations of +successive actions; and why may not the second imitation represent an +action that happened years after the first, if it be so connected with +it, that nothing but time can be supposed to intervene? Time is, of all +modes of existence, most obsequious to the imagination; a lapse of years +is as easily conceived as a passage of hours. In contemplation we easily +contract the time of real actions, and, therefore, willingly permit it +to be contracted when we only see their imitation. + +It will be asked, how the drama moves, if it is not credited. It is +credited with all the credit due to a drama. It is credited, whenever it +moves, as a just picture of a real original; as representing to the +auditor what he would himself feel, if he were to do or suffer what is +there feigned to be suffered or to be done. The reflection that strikes +the heart is not, that the evils before us are real evils, but that they +are evils to which we ourselves may be exposed. If there be any fallacy, +it is not that we fancy the players, but that we fancy ourselves unhappy +for a moment; but we rather lament the possibility than suppose the +presence of misery, as a mother weeps over her babe, when she remembers +that death may take it from her. The delight of tragedy proceeds from +our consciousness of fiction; if we thought murders and treasons real, +they would please no more. + +Imitations produce pain or pleasure, not because they are mistaken for +realities, but because they bring realities to mind. When the +imagination is recreated by a painted landscape, the trees are not +supposed capable to give us shade, or the fountains coolness; but we +consider how we should be pleased with such fountains playing beside us, +and such woods waving over us. We are agitated in reading the history of +Henry the fifth, yet no man takes his book for the field of Agincourt. A +dramatick exhibition is a book recited with concomitants that increase +or diminish its effect. Familiar comedy is often more powerful on the +theatre, than in the page; imperial tragedy is always less. The humour +of Petruchio may be heightened by grimace; but what voice or what +gesture can hope to add dignity or force to the soliloquy of Cato? + +A play read, affects the mind like a play acted. It is, therefore, +evident, that the action is not supposed to be real; and it follows, +that between the acts a longer or shorter time may be allowed to pass, +and that no more account of space or duration is to be taken by the +auditor of a drama, than by the reader of a narrative, before whom may +pass in an hour the life of a hero, or the revolutions of an empire. + +Whether Shakespeare knew the unities, and rejected them by design, or +deviated from them by happy ignorance, it is, I think, impossible to +decide, and useless to inquire. We may reasonably suppose, that, when he +rose to notice, he did not want the counsels and admonitions of scholars +and criticks, and that he, at last, deliberately persisted in a +practice, which he might have begun by chance. As nothing is essential +to the fable but unity of action, and as the unities of time and place +arise evidently from false assumptions, and, by circumscribing the +extent of the drama, lessen its variety, I cannot think it much to be +lamented, that they were not known by him, or not observed: nor, if such +another poet could arise, should I very vehemently reproach him, that +his first act passed at Venice, and his next in Cyprus. Such violations +of rules merely positive, become the comprehensive genius of +Shakespeare, and such censures are suitable to the minute and slender +criticism of Voltaire. + + Non usque adeo permiscuit imis + Longus summa dies, ut non, si voce Metelli + Serventur leges, malint a Cæsare tolli. + +Yet when I speak thus slightly of dramatick rules, I cannot but +recollect how much wit and learning may be produced against me; before +such authorities I am afraid to stand, not that I think the present +question one of those that are to be decided by mere authority, but +because it is to be suspected, that these precepts have not been so +easily received, but for better reasons than I have yet been able to +find. The result of my inquiries, in which it would be ludicrous to +boast of impartiality, is, that the unities of time and place are not +essential to a just drama; that though they may sometimes conduce to +pleasure, they are always to be sacrificed to the nobler beauties of +variety and instruction; and that a play written with nice observation +of critical rules, is to be contemplated as an elaborate curiosity, as +the product of superfluous and ostentatious art, by which is shown, +rather what is possible, than what is necessary. + +He that, without diminution of any other excellence, shall preserve all +the unities unbroken, deserves the like applause with the architect, who +shall display all the orders of architecture in a citadel, without any +deduction from its strength; but the principal beauty of a citadel is to +exclude the enemy; and the greatest graces of a play are to copy nature, +and instruct life. + +Perhaps, what I have here not dogmatically but deliberately written, may +recall the principles of the drama to a new examination. I am almost +frighted at my own temerity; and when I estimate the fame and the +strength of those that maintain the contrary opinion, am ready to sink +down in reverential silence; as Æneas withdrew from the defence of +Troy, when he saw Neptune shaking the wall, and Juno heading the +besiegers. + +Those whom my arguments cannot persuade to give their approbation to the +judgment of Shakespeare, will easily, if they consider the condition of +his life, make some allowance for his ignorance. + +Every man's performances, to be rightly estimated, must be compared with +the state of the age in which he lived, and with his own particular +opportunities; and though to the reader a book be not worse or better +for the circumstances of the author, yet, as there is always a silent +reference of human works to human abilities, and as the inquiry, how far +man may extend his designs, or how high he may rate his native force, is +of far greater dignity than in what rank we shall place any particular +performance, curiosity is always busy to discover the instruments, as +well as to survey the workmanship, to know how much is to be ascribed to +original powers, and how much to casual and adventitious help. The +palaces of Peru or Mexico were certainly mean and incommodious +habitations, if compared to the houses of European monarchs; yet who +could forbear to view them with astonishment, who remembered that they +were built without the use of iron? + +The English nation, in the time of Shakespeare, was yet struggling to +emerge from barbarity. The philology of Italy had been transplanted +hither in the reign of Henry the eighth; and the learned languages had +been successfully cultivated by Lilly, Linacre, and More; by Pole, +Cheke, and Gardiner; and afterwards by Smith, Clerk, Haddon, and Ascham. +Greek was now taught to boys in the principal schools; and those who +united elegance with learning, read, with great diligence, the Italian +and Spanish poets. But literature was yet confined to professed +scholars, or to men and women of high rank. The publick was gross and +dark; and to be able to read and write, was an accomplishment still +valued for its rarity. + +Nations, like individuals, have their infancy. A people newly awakened +to literary curiosity, being yet unacquainted with the true state of +things, knows not how to judge of that which is proposed as its +resemblance. Whatever is remote from common appearances is always +welcome to vulgar, as to childish credulity; and of a country +unenlightened by learning, the whole people is the vulgar. The study of +those who then aspired to plebeian learning was laid out upon +adventures, giants, dragons, and enchantments. The Death of Arthur was +the favourite volume. + +The mind, which has feasted on the luxurious wonders of fiction, has no +taste of the insipidity of truth. A play, which imitated only the common +occurrences of the world, would, upon the admirers of Palmerin and Guy +of Warwick, have made little impression; he that wrote for such an +audience was under the necessity of looking round for strange events and +fabulous transactions; and that incredibility, by which maturer +knowledge is offended, was the chief recommendation of writings to +unskilful curiosity. + +Our author's plots are generally borrowed from novels; and it is +reasonable to suppose, that he chose the most popular, such as were read +by many, and related by more; for his audience could not have followed +him through the intricacies of the drama, had they not held the thread +of the story in their hands. + +The stories, which we now find only in remoter authors, were, in his +time, accessible and familiar. The fable of As You Like It, which is +supposed to be copied from Chaucer's Gamelyn, was a little pamphlet of +those times; and old Mr. Cibber remembered the tale of Hamlet in plain +English prose, which the criticks have now to seek in Saxo Grammaticus. + +His English histories he took from English chronicles and English +ballads; and as the ancient writers were made known to his countrymen by +versions, they supplied him with new subjects; he dilated some of +Plutarch's lives into plays, when they had been translated by North. + +His plots, whether historical or fabulous, are always crowded with +incidents, by which the attention of a rude people was more easily +caught than by sentiment or argumentation; and such is the power of the +marvellous, even over those who despise it, that every man finds his +mind more strongly seized by the tragedies of Shakespeare than of any +other writer: others please us by particular speeches; but he always +makes us anxious for the event, and has, perhaps, excelled all but Homer +in securing the first purpose of a writer, by exciting restless and +unquenchable curiosity, and compelling him that reads his work to read +it through. + +The shows and bustle with which his plays abound have the same original. +As knowledge advances, pleasure passes from the eye to the ear, but +returns, as it declines, from the ear to the eye. Those to whom our +author's labours were exhibited had more skill in pomps or processions +than in poetical language, and, perhaps, wanted some visible and +discriminated events, as comments on the dialogue. He knew how he should +most please; and whether his practice is more agreeable to nature, or +whether his example has prejudiced the nation, we still find that on our +stage something must be done as well as said, and inactive declamation +is very coldly heard, however musical or elegant, passionate or sublime. + +Voltaire expresses his wonder, that our author's extravagancies are +endured by a nation, which has seen the tragedy of Cato. Let him be +answered, that Addison speaks the language of poets, and Shakespeare of +men. We find in Cato innumerable beauties, which enamour us of its +author, but we see nothing that acquaints us with human sentiments or +human actions; we place it with the fairest and the noblest progeny +which judgment propagates by conjunction with learning; but Othello is +the vigorous and vivacious offspring of observation impregnated by +genius. Cato affords a splendid exhibition of artificial and fictitious +manners, and delivers just and noble sentiments, in diction easy, +elevated, and harmonious, but its hopes and fears communicate no +vibration to the heart; the composition refers us only to the writer; we +pronounce the name of Cato, but we think on Addison. + +The work of a correct and regular writer is a garden accurately formed +and diligently planted, varied with shades, and scented with flowers; +the composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend their +branches, and pines tower in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds +and brambles, and sometimes giving shelter to myrtles and to roses; +filling the eye with awful pomp, and gratifying the mind with endless +diversity. Other poets display cabinets of precious rarities, minutely +finished, wrought into shape, and polished into brightness. Shakespeare +opens a mine which contains gold and diamonds in unexhaustible plenty, +though clouded by incrustations, debased by impurities, and mingled with +a mass of meaner minerals. + +It has been much disputed, whether Shakespeare owed his excellence to +his own native force, or whether he had the common helps of scholastick +education, the precepts of critical science, and the examples of ancient +authors. + +There has always prevailed a tradition, that Shakespeare wanted +learning, that he had no regular education, nor much skill in the dead +languages. Jonson, his friend, affirms, that "he had small Latin and +less Greek;" who, besides that he had no imaginable temptation to +falsehood, wrote at a time when the character and acquisitions of +Shakespeare were known to multitudes. His evidence ought, therefore, to +decide the controversy, unless some testimony of equal force could be +opposed[12]. + +Some have imagined, that they have discovered deep learning in many +imitations of old writers; but the examples which I have known urged +were drawn from books translated in his time; or were such easy +coincidences of thought, as will happen to all who consider the same +subjects; or such remarks on life, or axioms of morality, as float in +conversation, and are transmitted through the world in proverbial +sentences. + +I have found it remarked, that, in this important sentence, "Go before, +I'll follow," we read a translation of, _I prae, sequar_. I have been +told, that when Caliban, after a pleasing dream, says, "I cry'd to sleep +again," the author imitates Anacreon[13], who had, like every other man, +the same wish on the same occasion. + +There are a few passages which may pass for imitations, but so few, that +the exception only confirms the rule; he obtained them from accidental +quotations, or by oral communication, and as he used what he had, would +have used more if he had obtained it. + +The Comedy of Errors is confessedly taken from the Menaechmi of +Plautus[14]; from the only play of Plautus which was then in English. +What can be more probable, than that he who copied that, would have +copied more; but that those which were not translated were inaccessible? + +Whether he knew the modern languages is uncertain. That his plays have +some French scenes proves but little; he might easily procure them to be +written, and probably, even though he had known the language in the +common degree, he could not have written it without assistance. In the +story of Romeo and Juliet, he is observed to have followed the English +translation, where it deviates from the Italian: but this, on the other +part, proves nothing against his knowledge of the original. He was to +copy, not what he knew himself, but what was known to his audience. + +It is most likely that he had learned Latin sufficiently to make him +acquainted with construction, but that he never advanced to an easy +perusal of the Roman authors. Concerning his skill in modern languages, +I can find no sufficient ground of determination; but as no imitations +of French or Italian authors have been discovered, though the Italian +poetry was then high in esteem, I am inclined to believe, that he read +little more than English, and chose for his fables only such tales as he +found translated. + +That much knowledge is scattered over his works is very justly observed +by Pope; but it is often such knowledge as books did not supply. He that +will understand Shakespeare, must not be content to study him in the +closet; he must look for his meaning sometimes among the sports of the +field, and sometimes among the manufactures of the shop. + +There is, however, proof enough that he was a very diligent reader; nor +was our language then so indigent of books, but that he might very +liberally indulge his curiosity without excursion into foreign +literature. Many of the Roman authors were translated, and some of the +Greek[15]; the Reformation had filled the kingdom with theological +learning; most of the topicks of human disquisition had found English +writers; and poetry had been cultivated, not only with diligence, but +success. This was a stock of knowledge sufficient for a mind so capable +of appropriating and improving it. + +But the greater part of his excellence was the product of his own +genius. He found the English stage in a state of the utmost rudeness; no +essays, either in tragedy or comedy, had appeared, from which it could +be discovered to what degree of delight either one or other might be +carried. Neither character nor dialogue were yet understood. Shakespeare +may be truly said to have introduced them both amongst us, and in some +of his happier scenes to have carried them both to the utmost height. + +By what gradations of improvement he proceeded, is not easily known; for +the chronology of his works is yet unsettled. Rowe is of opinion, that +"perhaps we are not to look for his beginning, like those of other +writers, in his least perfect works; art had so little, and nature so +large a share in what he did, that for aught I know," says he, "the +performances of his youth, as they were the most vigorous, were the +best." But the power of nature is only the power of using to any certain +purpose the materials which diligence procures, or opportunity supplies. +Nature gives no man knowledge, and, when images are collected by study +and experience, can only assist in combining or applying them. +Shakespeare, however favoured by nature, could impart only what he had +learned; and, as he must increase his ideas, like other mortals, by +gradual acquisition, he, like them, grew wiser, as he grew older, could +display life better, as he knew it more, and instruct with more +efficacy, as he was himself more amply instructed. + +There is a vigilance of observation and accuracy of distinction which +books and precepts cannot confer; from this almost all original and +native excellence proceeds. Shakespeare must have looked upon mankind +with perspicacity, in the highest degree curious and attentive. Other +writers borrow their characters from preceding writers, and diversify +them only by the accidental appendages of present manners; the dress is +a little varied, but the body is the same. Our author had both matter +and form to provide; for, except the characters of Chaucer, to whom I +think he is not much indebted, there were no writers in English, and, +perhaps, not many in other modern languages, which showed life in its +native colours. + +The contest about the original benevolence or malignity of man had not +yet commenced. Speculation had not yet attempted to analyze the mind, to +trace the passions to their sources, to unfold the seminal principles of +vice and virtue, or sound the depths of the heart for the motives of +action. All those inquiries, which from that time that human nature +became the fashionable study, have been made sometimes with nice +discernment, but often with idle subtilty, were yet unattempted. The +tales, with which the infancy of learning was satisfied, exhibited only +the superficial appearances of action, related the events, but omitted +the causes, and were formed for such as delighted in wonders rather than +in truth. Mankind was not then to be studied in the closet; he that +would know the world, was under the necessity of gleaning his own +remarks, by mingling as he could in its business and amusements. + +Boyle congratulated himself upon his high birth, because it favoured his +curiosity, by facilitating his access. Shakespeare had no such +advantage: he came to London a needy adventurer, and lived for a time by +very mean employments. Many works of genius and learning have been +performed in states of life that appear very little favourable to +thought or to inquiry; so many, that he who considers them is inclined +to think that he sees enterprize and perseverance predominating over all +external agency, and bidding help and hindrance vanish before them. The +genius of Shakespeare was not to be depressed by the weight of poverty, +nor limited by the narrow conversation to which men in want are +inevitably condemned; the encumbrances of his fortune were shaken from +his mind, "as dewdrops from a lion's mane". + +Though he had so many difficulties to encounter, and so little +assistance to surmount them, he has been able to obtain an exact +knowledge of many modes of life, and many casts of native dispositions; +to vary them with great multiplicity; to mark them by nice distinctions; +and to show them in full view by proper combinations. In this part of +his performances he had none to imitate, but has himself been imitated +by all succeeding writers; and it may be doubted, whether from all his +successors more maxims of theoretical knowledge, or more rules of +practical prudence, can be collected, than he alone has given to his +country. + +Nor was his attention confined to the actions of men; he was an exact +surveyor of the inanimate world; his descriptions have always some +peculiarities, gathered by contemplating things as they really exist. It +may be observed, that the oldest poets of many nations preserve their +reputation, and that the following generations of wit, after a short +celebrity, sink into oblivion. The first, whoever they be, must take +their sentiments and descriptions immediately from knowledge; the +resemblance is, therefore, just, their descriptions are verified by +every eye, and their sentiments acknowledged by every breast. Those whom +their fame invites to the same studies, copy partly them and partly +nature, till the books of one age gain such authority, as to stand in +the place of nature to another, and imitation, always deviating a +little, becomes at last capricious and casual. Shakespeare, whether life +or nature be his subject, shows plainly that he has seen with his own +eyes; he gives the image which he receives, not weakened or distorted by +the intervention of any other mind; the ignorant feel his +representations to be just, and the learned see that they are complete. + +Perhaps it would not be easy to find any author, except Homer, who +invented so much as Shakespeare, who so much advanced the studies which +he cultivated, or effused so much novelty upon his age or country. The +form, the characters, the language, and the shows of the English drama +are his. "He seems," says Dennis, "to have been the very original of our +English tragical harmony, that is, the harmony of blank verse, +diversified often by dissyllable and trisyllable terminations. For the +diversity distinguishes it from heroick harmony, and by bringing it +nearer to common use makes it more proper to gain attention, and more +fit for action and dialogue. Such verse we make when we are writing +prose; we make such verse in common conversation.[16]" + +I know not whether this praise is rigorously just. The dissyllable +termination, which the critick rightly appropriates to the drama, is to +be found, though, I think, not in Gorboduc, which is confessedly before +our author; yet in Hieronymo[17] of which the date is not certain, but +which there is reason to believe, at least, as old as his earliest +plays. This, however, is certain, that he is the first who taught either +tragedy or comedy to please, there being no theatrical piece of any +older writer, of which the name is known, except to antiquaries and +collectors of books, which are sought because they are scarce, and would +not have been scarce, had they been much esteemed. + +To him we must ascribe the praise, unless Spenser may divide it with +him, of having first discovered to how much smoothness and harmony the +English language could be softened. He has speeches, perhaps, sometimes +scenes, which have all the delicacy of Rowe, without his effeminacy. He +endeavours, indeed, commonly to strike by the force and vigour of his +dialogue, but he never executes his purpose better, than when he tries +to sooth by softness. + +Yet it must be at last confessed, that as we owe every thing to him, he +owes something to us; that, if much of his praise is paid by perception +and judgment, much is, likewise, given by custom and veneration. We fix +our eyes upon his graces, and turn them from his deformities, and endure +in him what we should in another loathe or despise. If we endured +without praising, respect for the father of our drama might excuse us; +but I have seen, in the book of some modern critick, a collection of +anomalies, which show that he has corrupted language by every mode of +depravation, but which his admirer has accumulated as a monument of +honour. + +He has scenes of undoubted and perpetual excellence; but, perhaps, not +one play, which, if it were now exhibited as the work of a contemporary +writer, would be heard to the conclusion. I am, indeed, far from +thinking that his works were wrought to his own ideas of perfection; +when they were such as would satisfy the audience, they satisfied the +writer. It is seldom that authors, though more studious of fame than +Shakespeare, rise much above the standard of their own age; to add a +little to what is best will always be sufficient for present praise; and +those who find themselves exalted into fame, are willing to credit their +encomiasts, and to spare the labour of contending with themselves. + +It does not appear, that Shakespeare thought his works worthy of +posterity, that he levied any ideal tribute upon future times, or had +any further prospect, than of present popularity and present profit. +When his plays had been acted, his hope was at an end; he solicited no +addition of honour from the reader. He, therefore, made no scruple to +repeat the same jests in many dialogues, or to entangle different plots +by the same knot of perplexity; which may be at least forgiven him, by +those who recollect that of Congreve's four comedies, two are concluded +by a marriage in a mask, by a deception, which, perhaps, never happened, +and which, whether likely or not, he did not invent. + +So careless was this great poet of future fame, that, though he retired +to ease and plenty, while he was yet little _declined into the vale of +years_, before he could be disgusted with fatigue, or disabled by +infirmity, he made no collection of his works, nor desired to rescue +those that had been already published from the depravations that +obscured them, or secure to the rest a better destiny, by giving them to +the world in their genuine state. + +Of the plays which bear the name of Shakespeare in the late editions, +the greater part were not published till about seven years after his +death; and the few which appeared in his life are apparently thrust into +the world without the care of the author, and, therefore, probably +without his knowledge. + +Of all the publishers, clandestine or professed, the negligence and +unskilfulness has, by the late revisers, been sufficiently shown. The +faults of all are, indeed, numerous and gross, and have not only +corrupted many passages, perhaps, beyond recovery, but have brought +others into suspicion, which are only obscured by obsolete phraseology, +or by the writer's unskilfulness and affectation. To alter is more easy +than to explain, and temerity is a more common quality than diligence. +Those who saw that they must employ conjecture to a certain degree, were +willing to indulge it a little further. Had the author published his own +works, we should have sat quietly down to disentangle his intricacies, +and clear his obscurities; but now we tear what we cannot loose, and +eject what we happen not to understand. + +The faults are more than could have happened without the concurrence of +many causes. The style of Shakespeare was in itself ungrammatical, +perplexed, and obscure; his works were transcribed for the players by +those who may be supposed to have seldom understood them; they were +transmitted by copiers equally unskilful, who still multiplied errours; +they were, perhaps, sometimes mutilated by the actors, for the sake of +shortening the speeches; and were at last printed without correction of +the press[18]. + +In this state they remained, not, as Dr. Warburton supposes, because +they were unregarded, but because the editor's art was not yet applied +to modern languages, and our ancestors were accustomed to so much +negligence of English printers, that they could very patiently endure +it. At last an edition was undertaken by Rowe; not because a poet was to +be published by a poet, for Rowe seems to have thought very little on +correction or explanation; but that our author's works might appear like +those of his fraternity, with the appendages of a life and +recommendatory preface. Rowe has been clamorously blamed for not +performing what he did not undertake; and it is time that justice be +done him, by confessing, that, though he seems to have had no thought of +corruption beyond the printer's errours, yet he has made many +emendations, if they were not made before, which his successors have +received without acknowledgment, and which, if they had produced them, +would have filled pages and pages with censures of the stupidity by +which the faults were committed, with displays of the absurdities which +they involved, with ostentatious expositions of the new reading, and +self-congratulations on the happiness of discovering it. + +As of the other editors I have preserved the prefaces, I have likewise +borrowed the author's life from Howe, though not written with much +elegance or spirit; it relates, however, what is now to be known, and, +therefore, deserves to pass through all succeeding publications. + +The nation had been for many years content enough with Mr. Rowe's +performance, when Mr. Pope made them acquainted with the true state of +Shakespeare's text, showed that it was extremely corrupt, and gave +reason to hope that there were means of reforming it. He collated the +old copies, which none had thought to examine before, and restored many +lines to their integrity; but, by a very compendious criticism, he +rejected whatever he disliked, and thought more of amputation than of +cure. + +I know not why he is commended by Dr. Warburton for distinguishing the +genuine from the spurious plays. In this choice he exerted no judgment +of his own; the plays which he received were given by Hemings and +Condel, the first editors; and those which he rejected, though, +according to the licentiousness of the press in those times, they were +printed during Shakespeare's life, with his name, had been omitted by +his friends, and were never added to his works before the edition of +1664, from which they were copied by the later printers. + +This was a work which Pope seems to have thought unworthy of his +abilities, being not able to suppress his contempt of _the dull duty of +an editor_. He understood but half his undertaking. The duty of a +collator is, indeed, dull, yet, like other tedious tasks, is very +necessary; but an emendatory critick would ill discharge his duty, +without qualities very different from dulness. In perusing a corrupted +piece, he must have before him all possibilities of meaning, with all +possibilities of expression. Such must be his comprehension of thought, +and such his copiousness of language. Out of many readings possible, he +must be able to select that which best suits with the state, opinions, +and modes of language prevailing in every age, and with his author's +particular cast of thought, and turn of expression. Such must be his +knowledge, and such his taste. Conjectural criticism demands more than +humanity possesses, and he that exercises it with most praise, has very +frequent need of indulgence. Let us now be told no more of the dull duty +of an editor. + +Confidence is the common consequence of success. They whose excellence +of any kind has been loudly celebrated, are ready to conclude that their +powers are universal. Pope's edition fell below his own expectations, +and he was so much offended when he was found to have left any thing for +others to do, that he passed the latter part of his life in a state of +hostility with verbal criticism. + +I have retained all his notes, that no fragment of so great a writer may +be lost; his preface, valuable alike for elegance of composition and +justness of remark, and containing a general criticism on his author, so +extensive that little can be added, and so exact that little can be +disputed, every editor has an interest to suppress, but that every +reader would demand its insertion. + +Pope was succeeded by Theobald, a man of narrow comprehension, and small +acquisitions, with no native and intrinsick splendour of genius, with +little of the artificial light of learning, but zealous for minute +accuracy, and not negligent in pursuing it. He collated the ancient +copies, and rectified many errours. A man so anxiously scrupulous might +have been expected to do more, but what little he did was commonly +right. + +In his reports of copies and editions he is not to be trusted without +examination. He speaks sometimes indefinitely of copies, when he has +only one. In his enumeration of editions, he mentions the two first +folios as of high, and the third folio as of middle authority; but the +truth is, that the first is equivalent to all others, and that the rest +only deviate from it by the printer's negligence. Whoever has any of the +folios has all, excepting those diversities which mere reiteration of +editions will produce[19]. I collated them all, at the beginning, but +afterwards used only the first. + +Of his notes I have generally retained those which he retained himself +in his second edition, except when they were confuted by subsequent +annotators, or were too minute to merit preservation. I have sometimes +adopted his restoration of a comma, without inserting the panegyrick in +which he celebrated himself for his achievement. The exuberant +excrescence of his diction I have often lopped, his triumphant +exultations over Pope and Howe I have sometimes suppressed, and his +contemptible ostentation I have frequently concealed; but I have in some +places shown him, as he would have shown himself, for the reader's +diversion, that the inflated emptiness of some notes may justify or +excuse the contraction of the rest. + +Theobald, thus weak and ignorant, thus mean and faithless, thus petulant +and ostentatious, by the good luck of having Pope for his enemy, has +escaped, and escaped alone, with reputation, from this undertaking. So +willingly does the world support those who solicit favour against those +who command reverence; and so easily is he praised whom no man can envy. + +Our author fell then into the hands of Sir Thomas Hanmer, the Oxford +editor, a man, in my opinion, eminently qualified by nature for such +studies. He had, what is the first requisite to emendatory criticism, +that intuition by which the poet's intention is immediately discovered, +and that dexterity of intellect which despatches its work by the easiest +means. He had undoubtedly read much; his acquaintance with customs, +opinions, and traditions, seems to have been large; and he is often +learned without show. He seldom passes what he does not understand, +without an attempt to find or to make a meaning, and sometimes hastily +makes what a little more attention would have found. He is solicitous to +reduce to grammar what he could not be sure that his author intended to +be grammatical. Shakespeare regarded more the series of ideas, than of +words; and his language, not being designed for the reader's desk, was +all that he desired it to be, if it conveyed his meaning to the +audience. + +Hanmer's care of the metre has been too violently censured. He found the +measure reformed in so many passages by the silent labours of some +editors, with the silent acquiescence of the rest, that he thought +himself allowed to extend a little further the license, which had +already been carried so far without reprehension; and, of his +corrections in general, it must be confessed, that they are often just, +and made commonly with the least possible violation of the text. + +But, by inserting his emendations, whether invented or borrowed, into +the page, without any notice of varying copies, he has appropriated the +labour of his predecessors, and made his own edition of little +authority. His confidence indeed, both in himself and others, was too +great; he supposes all to be right that was done by Pope and Theobald; +he seems not to suspect a critick of fallibility; and it was but +reasonable that he should claim what he so liberally granted. + +As he never writes without careful inquiry and diligent consideration, I +have received all his notes, and believe that every reader will wish for +more. + +Of the last editor it is more difficult to speak. Respect is due to high +place, tenderness to living reputation, and veneration to genius and +learning; but he cannot be justly offended at that liberty of which he +has himself so frequently given an example, nor very solicitous what is +thought of notes, which he ought never to have considered as part of his +serious employments, and which, I suppose, since the ardour of +composition is remitted, he no longer numbers among his happy effusions. + +The original and predominant errour of his commentary is acquiescence in +his first thoughts; that precipitation which is produced by +consciousness of quick discernment; and that confidence which presumes +to do, by surveying the surface, what labour only can perform, by +penetrating the bottom. His notes exhibit sometimes perverse +interpretations, and sometimes improbable conjectures; he at one time +gives the author more profundity of meaning than the sentence admits, +and at another discovers absurdities, where the sense is plain to every +other reader. But his emendations are likewise often happy and just; and +his interpretation of obscure passages learned and sagacious. + +Of his notes, I have commonly rejected, those against which the general +voice of the publick has exclaimed, or which their own incongruity +immediately condemns, and which, I suppose, the author himself would +desire to be forgotten. Of the rest, to part I have given the highest +approbation, by inserting the offered reading in the text; part I have +left to the judgment of the reader, as doubtful, though specious; and +part I have censured without reserve, but, I am sure, without bitterness +of malice, and, I hope, without wantonness of insult. + +It is no pleasure to me, in revising my volumes, to observe how much +paper is wasted in confutation. Whoever considers the revolutions of +learning, and the various questions of greater or less importance, upon +which wit and reason have exercised their powers, must lament the +unsuccessfulness of inquiry, and the slow advances of truth, when he +reflects that great part of the labour of every writer is only the +destruction of those that went before him. The first care of the builder +of a new system, is to demolish the fabricks which are standing. The +chief desire of him that comments an author, is to show how much other +commentators have corrupted and obscured him. The opinions prevalent in +one age, as truths above the reach of controversy, are confuted and +rejected in another, and rise again to reception in remoter times. Thus +the human mind is kept in motion without progress. Thus sometimes truth +and errour, and sometimes contrarieties of errour, take each other's +place by reciprocal invasion. The tide of seeming knowledge, which is +poured over one generation, retires and leaves another naked and barren; +the sudden meteors of intelligence, which for awhile appear to shoot +their beams into the regions of obscurity, on a sudden withdraw their +lustre, and leave mortals again to grope their way. + +These elevations and depressions of renown, and the contradictions to +which all improvers of knowledge must for ever be exposed, since they +are not escaped by the highest and brightest of mankind, may, surely, be +endured with patience by criticks and annotators, who can rank +themselves but as the satellites of their authors. How canst thou beg +for life, says Homer's hero to his captive, when thou knowest that thou +art now to suffer only what must another day be suffered by Achilles? + +Dr. Warburton had a name sufficient to confer celebrity on those who +could exalt themselves into antagonists, and his notes have raised a +clamour too loud to be distinct. His chief assailants are the authors of +The Canons of Criticism, and of The Revisal of Shakespeare's Text; of +whom one ridicules his errours with airy petulance, suitable enough to +the levity of the controversy; the other attacks them with gloomy +malignity, as if he were dragging to justice an assassin or incendiary. +The one stings like a fly, sucks a little blood, takes a gay flutter, +and returns for more; the other bites like a viper, and would be glad to +leave inflammations and gangrene behind him. When I think on one, with +his confederates, I remember the danger of Coriolanus, who was afraid +that "girls with spits, and boys with stones, should slay him in puny +battle;" when the other crosses my imagination, I remember the prodigy +in Macbeth: + + A falcon tow'ring in his pride of place, + Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd. + +Let me, however, do them justice. One is a wit, and one a scholar[20]. +They have both shown acuteness sufficient in the discovery of faults, +and have both advanced some probable interpretations of obscure +passages; but when they aspire to conjecture and emendation, it appears +how falsely we all estimate our own abilities, and the little which they +have been able to perform might have taught them more candour to the +endeavours of others. + +Before Dr. Warburton's edition, Critical Observations on Shakespeare had +been published by Mr. Upton[21], a man skilled in languages, and +acquainted with books, but who seems to have had no great vigour of +genius or nicety of taste. Many of his explanations are curious and +useful, but he, likewise, though he professed to oppose the licentious +confidence of editors, and adhere to the old copies, is unable to +restrain the rage of emendation, though his ardour is ill seconded by +his skill. Every cold empirick, when his heart is expanded by a +successful experiment, swells into a theorist, and the laborious +collator at some unlucky moment frolicks in conjecture. + +Critical, historical, and explanatory notes have been, likewise, +published upon Shakespeare by Dr. Grey, whose diligent perusal of the +old English writers has enabled him to make some useful observations. +What he undertook he has well enough performed; but as he neither +attempts judicial or emendatory criticism, he employs rather his memory +than his sagacity. It were to be wished that all would endeavour to +imitate his modesty, who have not been able to surpass his knowledge. + +I can say, with great sincerity, of all my predecessors, what I hope +will hereafter be said of me, that not one has left Shakespeare without +improvement; nor is there one to whom I have not been indebted for +assistance and information. Whatever I have taken from them, it was my +intention to refer to its original author, and it is certain, that what +I have not given to another, I believed when I wrote it to be my own. In +some, perhaps, I have been anticipated; but if I am ever found to +encroach upon the remarks of any other commentators, I am willing that +the honour, be it more or less, should be transferred to the first +claimant, for his right, and his alone, stands above dispute; the second +can prove his pretensions only to himself, nor can himself always +distinguish invention, with sufficient certainty, from recollection. + +They have all been treated by me with candour, which they have not been +careful of observing to one another. It is not easy to discover from +what cause the acrimony of a scholiast can naturally proceed. The +subjects to be discussed by him are of very small importance; they +involve neither property nor liberty; nor favour the interest of sect or +party. The various readings of copies, and different interpretations of +a passage, seem to be questions that might exercise the wit, without +engaging the passions. But whether it be that "small things make mean +men proud," and vanity catches small occasions; or that all contrariety +of opinion, even in those that can defend it no longer, makes proud men +angry; there is often found in commentaries a spontaneous strain of +invective and contempt, more eager and venomous than is vented by the +most furious controvertist in politicks against those whom he is hired +to defame. + +Perhaps the lightness of the matter may conduce to the vehemence of the +agency; when the truth to be investigated is so near to inexistence, as +to escape attention, its bulk is to be enlarged by rage and exclamation: +that to which all would be indifferent in its original state, may +attract notice when the fate of a name is appended to it. A commentator +has, indeed, great temptations to supply by turbulence what he wants of +dignity, to beat his little gold to a spacious surface, to work that to +foam which no art or diligence can exalt to spirit. + +The notes which I have borrowed or written are either illustrative, by +which difficulties are explained; or judicial, by which faults and +beauties are remarked; or emendatory, by which depravations are +corrected. + +The explanations transcribed from others, if I do not subjoin any other +interpretation, I suppose commonly to be right, at least I intend by +acquiescence to confess, that I have nothing better to propose. + +After the labours of all the editors, I found many passages which +appeared to me likely to obstruct the greater number of readers, and +thought it my duty to facilitate their passage. It is impossible for an +expositor not to write too little for some, and too much for others. He +can only judge what is necessary by his own experience; and how long +soever he may deliberate, will at last explain many lines which the +learned will think impossible to be mistaken, and omit many for which +the ignorant will want his help. These are censures merely relative, and +must be quietly endured. I have endeavoured to be neither superfluously +copious, nor scrupulously reserved, and hope that I have made my +author's meaning accessible to many, who before were frighted from +perusing him, and contributed something to the publick, by diffusing +innocent and rational pleasure. + +The complete explanation of an author not systematick and consequential, +but desultory and vagrant, abounding in casual allusions and light +hints, is not to be expected from any single scholiast. All personal +reflections, when names are suppressed, must be in a few years +irrecoverably obliterated; and customs, too minute to attract the notice +of law, such as modes of dress, formalities of conversation, rules of +visits, disposition of furniture, and practices of ceremony, which +naturally find places in familiar dialogue, are so fugitive and +unsubstantial, that they are not easily retained or recovered. What can +be known will be collected by chance, from the recesses of obscure and +obsolete papers, perused commonly with some other view. Of this +knowledge every man has some, and none has much; but when an author has +engaged the publick attention, those who can add any thing to his +illustration, communicate their discoveries, and time produces what had +eluded diligence. + +To time I have been obliged to resign many passages, which, though I did +not understand them, will, perhaps, hereafter be explained; having, I +hope, illustrated some, which others have neglected or mistaken, +sometimes by short remarks, or marginal directions, such as every editor +has added at his will, and often by comments more laborious than the +matter will seem to deserve; but that which is most difficult is not +always most important, and to an editor nothing is a trifle by which his +author is obscured. + +The poetical beauties or defects I have not been very diligent to +observe. Some plays have more, and some fewer judicial observations, not +in proportion to their difference of merit, but because I gave this part +of my design to chance and to caprice. The reader, I believe, is seldom +pleased to find his opinion anticipated; it is natural to delight more +in what we find or make, than in what we receive. Judgment, like other +faculties, is improved by practice, and its advancement is hindered by +submission to dictatorial decisions, as the memory grows torpid by the +use of a table-book. Some initiation is, however, necessary; of all +skill, part is infused by precept, and part is obtained by habit; I +have, therefore, shown so much as may enable the candidate of criticism +to discover the rest. + +To the end of most plays I have added short strictures, containing a +general censure of faults, or praise of excellence; in which I know not +how much I have concurred with the current opinion; but I have not, by +any affectation of singularity, deviated from it. Nothing is minutely +and particularly examined, and, therefore, it is to be supposed, that in +the plays which are condemned there is much to be praised, and in those +which are praised much to be condemned. + +The part of criticism in which the whole succession of editors has +laboured with the greatest diligence, which has occasioned the most +arrogant ostentation, and excited the keenest acrimony, is the +emendation of corrupted passages, to which the publick attention, having +been first drawn by the violence of the contention between Pope and +Theobald, has been continued by the persecution, which, with a kind of +conspiracy, has been since raised against all the publishers of +Shakespeare. + +That many passages have passed in a state of depravation through all the +editions, is indubitably certain; of these the restoration is only to be +attempted by collation of copies, or sagacity of conjecture. The +collator's province is safe and easy, the conjecturer's perilous and +difficult. Yet, as the greater part of the plays are extant only in one +copy, the peril must not be avoided, nor the difficulty refused. + +Of the readings which this emulation of amendment has hitherto produced, +some from the labours of every publisher I have advanced into the text; +those are to be considered as, in my opinion, sufficiently supported; +some I have rejected without mention, as evidently erroneous; some I +have left in the notes without censure or approbation, as resting in +equipoise between objection and defence; and some, which seemed specious +but not right, I have inserted with a subsequent animadversion. + +Having classed the observations of others, I was at last to try what I +could substitute for their mistakes, and how I could supply their +omissions. I collated such copies as I could procure, and wished for +more, but have not found the collectors of these rarities very +communicative. Of the editions which chance or kindness put into my +hands I have given an enumeration, that I may not be blamed for +neglecting what T had not the power to do. + +By examining the old copies, I soon found that the later publishers, +with all their boasts of diligence, suffered many passages to stand +unauthorised, and contented themselves with Rowe's regulation of the +text, even where they knew it to be arbitrary, and with a little +consideration might have found it to be wrong. Some of these alterations +are only the ejection of a word for one that appeared to him more +elegant or more intelligible. These corruptions I have often silently +rectified; for the history of our language, and the true force of our +words, can only be preserved, by keeping the text of authors free from +adulteration. Others, and those very frequent, smoothed the cadence, or +regulated the measure: on these I have not exercised the same rigour; if +only a word was transposed, or a particle inserted or omitted, I have +sometimes suffered the line to stand; for the inconstancy of the copies +is such, as that some liberties may be easily permitted. But this +practice I have not suffered to proceed far, having restored the +primitive diction wherever it could for any reason be preferred. + +The emendations, which comparison of copies supplied, I have inserted in +the text: sometimes, where the improvement was slight, without notice, +and sometimes with an account of the reasons of the change. + +Conjecture, though it be sometimes unavoidable, I have not wantonly nor +licentiously indulged. It has been my settled principle, that the +reading of the ancient books is probably true, and, therefore, is not to +be disturbed for the sake of elegance, perspicuity, or mere improvement +of the sense. For though much credit is not due to the fidelity, nor any +to the judgment of the first publishers, yet they who had the copy +before their eyes were more likely to read it right, than we, who read +it only by imagination. But it is evident that they have often made +strange mistakes by ignorance or negligence, and that, therefore, +something may be properly attempted by criticism, keeping the middle way +between presumption and timidity. + +Such criticism I have attempted to practise, and, where any passage +appeared inextricably perplexed have endeavoured to discover how it may +be recalled to sense, with least violence. But my first labour is, +always to turn the old text on every side, and try if there be any +interstice, through which light can find its way; nor would Huetius +himself condemn me, as refusing the trouble of research, for the +ambition of alteration. In this modest industry I have not been +unsuccessful. I have rescued many lines from the violations of temerity, +and secured many scenes from the inroads of correction. I have adopted +the Roman sentiment, that it is more honourable to save a citizen than +to kill an enemy, and have been more careful to protect than to attack. + +I have preserved the common distribution of the plays into acts, though +I believe it to be in almost all the plays void of authority. Some of +those which are divided in the later editions have no division in the +first folio, and some that are divided in the folio have no division in +the preceding copies. The settled mode of the theatre requires four +intervals in the play; but few, if any, of our author's compositions can +be properly distributed in that manner. An act is so much of the drama +as passes without intervention of time, or change of place. A pause +makes a new act. In every real, and, therefore, in every imitative +action, the intervals may be more or fewer, the restriction of five acts +being accidental and arbitrary. This Shakespeare knew, and this he +practised; his plays were written, and, at first, printed in one +unbroken continuity, and ought now to be exhibited with short pauses, +interposed as often as the scene is changed, or any considerable time is +required to pass. This method would at once quell a thousand +absurdities. + +In restoring the author's works to their integrity, I have considered +the punctuation as wholly in my power; for what could be their care of +colons and commas, who corrupted words and sentences? Whatever could be +done by adjusting points, is, therefore, silently performed, in some +plays with much diligence, in others with less; it is hard to keep a +busy eye steadily fixed upon evanescent atoms, or a discursive mind upon +evanescent truth. + +The same liberty has been taken with a few particles, or other words of +slight effect. I have sometimes inserted or omitted them without notice. +I have done that sometimes, which the other editors have done always, +and which, indeed, the state of the text may sufficiently justify. + +The greater part of readers, instead of blaming us for passing trifles, +will wonder that on mere trifles so much labour is expended, with such +importance of debate, and such solemnity of diction. To these I answer +with confidence, that they are judging of an art which they do not +understand; yet cannot much reproach them with their ignorance, nor +promise that they would become in general, by learning criticism, more +useful, happier, or wiser. + +As I practised conjecture more, I learned to trust it less; and after I +had printed a few plays, resolved to insert none of my own readings in +the text. Upon this caution I now congratulate myself, for every day +increases my doubt of my emendations. + +Since I have confined my imagination to the margin, it must not be +considered as very reprehensible, if I have suffered it to play some +freaks in its own dominion. There is no danger in conjecture, if it be +proposed as conjecture; and while the text remains uninjured, those +changes may be safely offered, which are not considered, even by him +that offers them, as necessary or safe. + +If my readings are of little value, they have not been ostentatiously +displayed or importunately obtruded. I could have written longer notes, +for the art of writing notes is not of difficult attainment. The work is +performed, first by railing at the stupidity, negligence, ignorance, and +asinine tastelessness of the former editors, and showing, from all that +goes before and all that follows, the inelegance and absurdity of the +old reading; then by proposing something, which to superficial readers +would seem specious, but which the editor rejects with indignation; then +by producing the true reading, with a long paraphrase, and concluding +with loud acclamations on the discovery, and a sober wish for the +advancement and prosperity of genuine criticism. + +All this may be done, and, perhaps, done sometimes without impropriety. +But I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires +many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that cannot +without so much labour appear to be right. The justness of a happy +restoration strikes at once, and the moral precept may be well applied +to criticism, "quod dubitas ne feceris." + +To dread the shore which he sees spread with wrecks, is natural to the +sailor. I had before my eye so many critical adventures ended in +miscarriage, that caution was forced upon me. I encountered in every +page, wit struggling with its own sophistry, and learning confused by +the multiplicity of its views. I was forced to censure those whom I +admired, and could not but reflect, while I was dispossessing their +emendations, how soon the same fate might happen to my own, and how many +of the readings which I have corrected may be, by some other editor, +defended and established. + + Critics I saw, that others' names efface, + And fix their own, with labour, in the place; + Their own, like others, soon their place resign'd, + Or disappear'd, and left the first behind. + POPE. + +That a conjectural critick should often be mistaken, cannot be +wonderful, either to others or himself, if it be considered, that in his +art there is no system, no principal and axiomatical truth that +regulates subordinate positions. His chance of errour is renewed at +every attempt; an oblique view of the passage, a slight misapprehension +of a phrase, a casual inattention to the parts connected, is sufficient +to make him not only fail, but fail ridiculously; and when he succeeds +best, he produces, perhaps, but one reading of many probable, and he +that suggests another will always be able to dispute his claims. + +It is an unhappy state, in which danger is hid under pleasure. The +allurements of emendation are scarcely resistible. Conjecture has all +the joy and all the pride of invention, and he that has once started a +happy change, is too much delighted to consider what objections may rise +against it. + +Yet conjectural criticism has been of great use in the learned world; +nor is it my intention to depreciate a study, that has exercised so many +mighty minds, from the revival of learning to our own age, from the +bishop of Aleria[22] to English Bentley. The criticks on ancient authors +have, in the exercise of their sagacity, many assistances, which the +editor of Shakespeare is condemned to want. They are employed upon +grammatical and settled languages, whose construction contributes so +much to perspicuity, that Homer has fewer passages unintelligible than +Chaucer. The words have not only a known regimen, but invariable +quantities, which direct and confine the choice. There are commonly more +manuscripts than one; and they do not often conspire in the same +mistakes. Yet Scaliger could confess to Salmasius how little +satisfaction his emendations gave him: "Illudunt nobis conjecturæ +nostræ, quarum nos pudet, posteaquam in meliores codices incidimus." And +Lipsius could complain that criticks were making faults, by trying to +remove them: "Ut olim vitiis, ita nunc remediis laboratur." And, indeed, +where mere conjecture is to be used, the emendations of Scaliger and +Lipsius, notwithstanding their wonderful sagacity and erudition, are +often vague and disputable, like mine or Theobald's. + +Perhaps I may not be more censured for doing wrong, than for doing +little; for raising in the publick expectations which at last I have not +answered. The expectation of ignorance is indefinite, and that of +knowledge is often tyrannical. It is hard to satisfy those who know not +what to demand, or those who demand by design what they think impossible +to be done. I have, indeed, disappointed no opinion more than my own; +yet I have endeavoured to perform my task with no slight solicitude. Not +a single passage in the whole work has appeared to me corrupt, which I +have not attempted to restore; or obscure, which I have not endeavoured +to illustrate. In many I have failed, like others; and from many, after +all my efforts, I have retreated, and confessed the repulse. I have not +passed over, with affected superiority, what is equally difficult to the +reader and to myself, but, where I could not instruct him, have owned my +ignorance. I might easily have accumulated a mass of seeming learning +upon easy scenes; but it ought not to be imputed to negligence, that, +where nothing was necessary, nothing has been done, or that, where +others have said enough, I have said no more. + +Notes are often necessary, but they are necessary evils. Let him, that +is yet unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare, and who desires to +feel the highest pleasure that the drama can give, read every play, from +the first scene to the last, with utter negligence of all his +commentators. When his fancy is once on the wing, let it not stoop at +correction or explanation. When his attention is strongly engaged, let +it disdain alike to turn aside to the name of Theobald and of Pope. Let +him read on through brightness and obscurity, through integrity and +corruption; let him preserve his comprehension of the dialogue and his +interest in the fable. And when the pleasures of novelty have ceased, +let him attempt exactness, and read the commentators. + +Particular passages are cleared by notes, but the general effect of the +work is weakened. The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts +are diverted from the principal subject; the reader is weary, he +suspects not why; and at last throws away the book which he has too +diligently studied. Parts are not to be examined till the whole has been +surveyed; there is a kind of intellectual remoteness necessary for the +comprehension of any great work in its full design and in its true +proportions; a close approach shows the smaller niceties, but the beauty +of the whole is discerned no longer. + +It is not very grateful to consider how little the succession of editors +has added to this author's power of pleasing. He was read, admired, +studied, and imitated, while he was yet deformed with all the +improprieties which ignorance and neglect could accumulate upon him; +while the reading was yet not rectified, nor his allusions understood; +yet then did Dryden pronounce "that Shakespeare was the man, who, of all +modern and, perhaps, ancient poets, had the largest and most +comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, +and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any +thing, you more than see it, you feel it too. Those, who accuse him to +have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was +naturally learned: he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; +he looked inwards, and found her there. I cannot say he is every where +alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare him with the +greatest of mankind. He is many times flat and insipid; his comick wit +degenerating into clinches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is +always great when some great occasion is presented to him: no man can +say, he ever had a fit subject for his wit, and did not then raise +himself as high above the rest of poets, + + Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi." + +It is to be lamented that such a writer should want a commentary; that +his language should become obsolete, or his sentiments obscure. But it +is vain to carry wishes beyond the condition of human things; that which +must happen to all, has happened to Shakespeare, by accident and time; +and more than has been suffered by any other writer since the use of +types[23], has been suffered by him through his own negligence of fame, +or, perhaps, by that superiority of mind, which despised its own +performances, when it compared them with its powers, and judged those +works unworthy to be preserved, which the criticks of following ages +were to contend for the fame of restoring and explaining. + +Among these candidates of inferiour fame, I am now to stand the judgment +of the publick; and wish that I could confidently produce my commentary +as equal to the encouragement which I have had the honour of receiving. +Every work of this kind is by its nature deficient, and I should feel +little solicitude about the sentence, were it to be pronounced only by +the skilful and the learned. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Dr. Johnson's Preface first appeared in 1765. Malone's Shakespeare, + i. 108. and Boswell's Life of Johnson, i. + +[2] Est vetus atque probus, centum qui perficit annos. Hon. Ep. II. 1. + v. 39. + +[3] With all respect for our great critic's memory we must maintain, + that love has the _greatest_ influence on the sum of life: and every + popular tale or poem derives its main charm and power of pleasing + from the incidents of this universal passion. Other passions have, + undoubtedly, their sway, but love, when it does prevail, like + Aaron's rod, swallows up every feeling beside. It is one thing to + introduce the fulsome _badinage_ of compliment with which French + tragedy abounds, and another to exhibit the + + --"very ecstacy of love: + Whose violent property foredoes itself, + And leads the will to desperate undertakings, + _As oft as any passion under heaven_, + That does afflict our natures."-- + +HAMLET. Act ii. Sc. i. + +[4] + Quaerit quod nusquam est gentium, repent tamen. + Facit illud verisimile, quod mendacrium est. + PLAUTI PSEUDOLUS, Act i. Sc. 4. + + Ficta voluptatis causa, sint proxima veris. HOR. ARS POET, 338. + + See too the celebrated passage of Shakespeare himself-- + Midsummer-night's Dream, Act v. Sc. 1; and Idler, 84.--Ed. + +[5] The judgment of French poets on these points may be inferred from + the tenour of Boileau's admonitions: + + Gardez donc de donner, ainsi que dans Clélie, + L'air ni l'esprit françois à l'antique Italie; + Et, sous des noms romains faisant notre portrait, + Peindre Caton galant, et Brutus dameret. + Art Poétique, iii.--Ed. + +[6] The critic must, when he wrote this, have forgotten the Cyclops of + Euripides, and also the fact, that when an Athenian dramatist + brought out his _three_ tragedies at the Dionysiac festival, he + added, as a fourth, a sort of farce; a specimen of which Schlegel + considers the Cyclops. Mr. Twining, in his amusing and instructive + notes on Aristotle's Poetics, refers to the drunken jollity of + Hercules in the Alcestis, and to the ludicrous dialogue between + Ulysses and Minerva, in the first scene of the Ajax of Sophocles, as + instances of Greek tragi-comedy. We may add the Electra of + Euripides; for if the poet did not intend to burlesque the rules of + tragic composition in many of the scenes of that play, and to make + his audience laugh, he calculated on more dull gravity in Athens, + than we are accustomed to give that city of song the credit for. The + broad ridicule which Aristophanes casts against the tragedians is + not half so laughable. + +[7] Thus, says Dowries the Prompter, p. 22: "The tragedy of Romeo and + Juliet was made some time after [1662] into a tragi-comedy, by Mr. + James Howard, he preserving Romeo and Juliet alive; so that when the + tragedy was revived again, 'twas played alternately, tragical one + day, and tragi-comical another, for several days together." + STEEVENS. + +[8] This opinion is controverted, and its effects deplored, by Dr. J. + Warton, in a note to Malone's Shakespeare, i. p. 71.--Ed. + +[9] Dr. Drake conceives that Dr. Wolcot was indebted to the above noble + passage for the _prima stamina_ of the following stanza: + + Thus, while I wond'ring pause o'er Shakespeare's page + I mark, in visions of delight, the sage + High o'er the wrecks of man who stands sublime, + A column in the melancholy waste, + (Its cities humbled, and its glories past,) + Majestic 'mid the solitude of time.--Ed. + +[10] The poets and painters before and of Shakespeare's time were all + guilty of the same fault. The former "combined the Gothic mythology + of fairies" with the fables and traditions of Greek and Roman lore; + while the latter dressed out the heroes of antiquity in the arms + and costume of their own day. The grand front of Rouen cathedral + affords ample and curious illustration of what we state. Mr. + Steevens, in his Shakespeare, adds, "that in Arthur Hall's version + of the fourth Iliad, Juno says to Jupiter: + + "The time will come that _Totnam French_ shall turn." + + And in the tenth Book we hear of "The Bastile": "Lemster wool," and + "The Byble." + +[11] The relaxations of "England's queen" with her maids of honour were + not, if we may credit the existing memoirs of her court, precisely + such as modern fastidiousness would assign to the "fair vestal + throned by the west." + +[12] A very full and satisfactory essay on the learning of Shakespeare, + may be found in Mr. Malone's Edition of Shakespeare, i. 300. + +[13] + [Greek: Memonomenos d' o tlaemon + Aealin aethelon katheudein.] Anac. 8. + +[14] The Comedy of Errors, which has been partly taken by some wretched + playwright from the Menaechmi of Plautus, is intolerably stupid: + that it may occasionally display the touch of Shakespeare, cannot + be denied; but these _purpurei panni_ are lamentably infrequent; + and, to adopt the language of Mr. Stevens, "that the entire play + was no work of his, is an opinion which (as Benedick says) fire + cannot melt out of me; I will die in it at the stake." Dr. Drake's + Literary Life of Johnson.--Ed. + +[15] A list of these translations may be seen in Malone's Shakespeare, + i. 371. It was originally drawn up by Mr. Steevens.--Ed. + +[16] See Dryden in the Epistle Dedicatory to his Rival Ladies.--Ed. + +[17] It appears, from the induction of Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair," + to have been acted before the year 1590.--STEEVENS. + +[18] The errors of the promoter's books of the present day excite the + violent invective of Mr. Steevens, in his notes on Johnson's + Preface.--Ed. + +[19] This assertion is contradicted by Steevens and Malone, as regards + the second edition 1632. The former editor says, that it has the + advantage of various readings which are not merely such as + reiteration of copies will produce. The curious examiner of + Shakespeare's text, who possesses the first of these folio + editions, ought not to be unfurnished with the second. See Malone's + List of Early Editions in his Shakespeare, ii. 656.--Ed. + +[20] It is extraordinary that this gentleman should attempt so + voluminous a work, as the Revisal of Shakespeare's text, when he + tells us in his preface, "he was not so fortunate as to be + furnished with either of the folio editions, much less any of the + ancient quartos: and even Sir Thomas Hanmer's performance was known + to him only by Dr. Warburton's representation."--FARMER. + +[21] Republished by him in 1748, after Dr. Warburton's edition, with + alterations, &c.--STEEVENS. + +[22] John Andreas. He was secretary to the Vatican library during the + papacies of Paul the second and Sixtus the fourth. By the former, + he was employed to superintend such works as were to be multiplied + by the new art of printing, at that time brought into Rome. He + published Herodotus, Strabo, Livy, Aulus Gellius, &c. His + schoolfellow, Cardinal de Cusa, procured him the bishopric of + Arcia, a province in Corsica; and Paul the second afterwards + appointed him to that of Aleria, in the same island, where he died + in 1493. See Fabric. Bibl. Lat. iii. 894, and Steevens, in Malone's + Shak. i. 106. + +[23] See this assertion refuted by examples in a former note.--Ed. + + + + +GENERAL OBSERVATIONS +ON THE +PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE. + + +TEMPEST. + +It is observed of The Tempest, that its plan is regular; this the author +of The Revisal[1] thinks, what I think too, an accidental effect of the +story, not intended or regarded by our author. But whatever might be +Shakespeare's intention in forming or adopting the plot, he has made it +instrumental to the production of many characters, diversified with +boundless invention, and preserved with profound skill in nature, +extensive knowledge of opinions, and accurate observation of life. In a +single drama are here exhibited princes, courtiers, and sailors, all +speaking in their real characters. There is the agency of airy spirits, +and of an earthly goblin; the operations of magick, the tumults of a +storm, the adventures of a desert island, the native effusion of +untaught affection, the punishment of guilt, and the final happiness of +the pair for whom our passions and reason are equally interested. + + +TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. + +In this play there is a strange mixture of knowledge and ignorance, of +care and negligence. The versification is often excellent, the allusions +are learned and just; but the author conveys his heroes by sea from one +inland town to another in the same country; he places the emperour at +Milan, and sends his young men to attend him, but never mentions him +more; he makes Protheus, after an interview with Silvia, say he has only +seen her picture;[2] and, if we may credit the old copies, he has, by +mistaking places, left his scenery inextricable. The reason of all this +confusion seems to be, that he took his story from a novel, which he +sometimes followed, and sometimes forsook, sometimes remembered, and +sometimes forgot. + +That this play is rightly attributed to Shakespeare, I have little +doubt. If it be taken from him, to whom shall it be given? This question +may be asked of all the disputed plays, except Titus Andronicus; and it +will be found more credible that Shakespeare might sometimes sink below +his highest flights, than that any other should rise up to his lowest. + + +MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. + +Of this play there is a tradition preserved by Mr. Rowe, that it was +written at the command of queen Elizabeth, who was so delighted with the +character of Falstaff, that she wished it to be diffused through more +plays; but, suspecting that it might pall by continued uniformity, +directed the poet to diversify his manner, by showing him in love. No +task is harder than that of writing to the ideas of another. Shakespeare +knew what the queen, if the story be true, seems not to have known, that +by any real passion of tenderness, the selfish craft, the careless +jollity, and the lazy luxury of Falstaff must have suffered so much +abatement, that little of his former cast would have remained. Falstaff +could not love, but by ceasing to be Falstaff. He could only counterfeit +love, and his professions could be prompted, not by the hope of +pleasure, but of money. Thus the poet approached as near as he could to +the work enjoined him; yet having, perhaps, in the former plays, +completed his own idea, seems not to have been able to give Falstaff all +his former power of entertainment. + +This comedy is remarkable for the variety and number of the personages, +who exhibit more characters appropriated and discriminated, than, +perhaps, can be found in any other play. + +Whether Shakespeare was the first that produced upon the English stage +the effect of language distorted and depraved by provincial or foreign +pronunciation, I cannot certainly decide[3]. This mode of forming +ridiculous characters can confer praise only on him who originally +discovered it, for it requires not much of either wit or judgment; its +success must be derived almost wholly from the player, but its power in +a skilful mouth even he that despises it is unable to resist. + +The conduct of this drama is deficient; the action begins and ends often +before the conclusion, and the different parts might change places +without inconvenience; but its general power, that power by which all +works of genius shall finally be tried, is such, that, perhaps, it never +yet had reader or spectator, who did not think it too soon at an end. + + +MEASURE FOR MEASURE. + +There is, perhaps, not one of Shakespeare's plays more darkened than +this, by the peculiarities of its author, and the unskilfulness of its +editors, by distortions of phrase, or negligence of transcription. + +The novel of Giraldi Cynthio, from which Shakespeare is supposed to have +borrowed this fable, may be read in Shakespeare Illustrated, elegantly +translated, with remarks, which will assist the inquirer to discover how +much absurdity Shakespeare has admitted or avoided. + +I cannot but suspect that some other had new modelled the novel of +Cynthio, or written a story which, in some particulars, resembled it, +and that Cynthio was not the author whom Shakespeare immediately +followed. The emperour, in Cynthio, is named Maximine; the duke, in +Shakespeare's enumeration of the persons of the drama, is called +Vincentio. This appears a very slight remark; but since the duke has no +name in the play, nor is ever mentioned but by his title, why should he +be called Vincentio among the persons, but because the name was copied +from the story, and placed superfluously at the head of the list, by the +mere habit of transcription? It is, therefore, likely that there was +then a story of Vincentio duke of Vienna, different from that of +Maximine emperour of the Romans. + +Of this play, the light or comick part is very natural and pleasing, but +the grave scenes, if a few passages be excepted, have more labour than +elegance. The plot is rather intricate than artful. The time of the +action is indefinite; some time, we know not how much, must have elapsed +between the recess of the duke and the imprisonment of Claudio; for he +must have learned the story of Mariana in his disguise, or he delegated +his power to a man already known to be corrupted. The unities of action +and place are sufficiently preserved. + + +LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. + +In this play, which all the editors have concurred to censure, and some +have rejected as unworthy of our poet, it must be confessed that there +are many passages mean, childish and vulgar; and some which ought not to +have been exhibited, as we are told they were, to a maiden queen. But +there are scattered through the whole many sparks of genius; nor is +there any play that has more evident marks of the hand of +Shakespeare[4]. + + +MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. + +Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts, in their various +modes, are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author +designed. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; common tradition had +made them familiar, and Spenser's poem had made them great[5]. + + +MERCHANT OF VENICE. + +It has been lately discovered, that this fable is taken from a story in +the Pecorone[6] of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, a novelist, who wrote in +1378. The story has been published in English, and I have epitomized the +translation. The translator is of opinion that the choice of the caskets +is borrowed from a tale of Boccace, which I have, likewise, abridged, +though I believe that Shakespeare must have had some other novel in +view. + +Of The Merchant of Venice the style is even and easy, with few +peculiarities of diction, or anomalies of construction. The comick part +raises laughter, and the serious fixes expectation. The probability of +either one or the other story cannot be maintained. The union of two +actions in one event is, in this drama, eminently happy. Dryden was much +pleased with his own address in connecting the two plots of his Spanish +Friar, which yet, I believe, the critick will find excelled by this +play. + + +AS YOU LIKE IT. + +Of this play the fable is wild and pleasing. I know not how the ladies +will approve the facility with which both Rosalind and Celia give away +their hearts. To Celia much may be forgiven for the heroism of her +friendship. The character of Jaques is natural and well preserved. The +comick dialogue is very sprightly, with less mixture of low buffoonery +than in some other plays; and the graver part is elegant and harmonious. +By hastening to the end of his work, Shakespeare suppressed the dialogue +between the usurper and the hermit, and lost an opportunity of +exhibiting a moral lesson, in which he might have found matter worthy of +his highest powers. + + +TAMING OF THE SHREW. + +Of this play the two plots are so well united, that they can hardly be +called two, without injury to the art with which they are interwoven. +The attention is entertained with all the variety of a double plot, yet +is not distracted by unconnected incidents. + +The part between Catharine and Petruchio is eminently sprightly and +diverting. At the marriage of Bianca, the arrival of the real father, +perhaps, produces more perplexity than pleasure. The whole play is very +popular and diverting. + + +ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. + +This play has many delightful scenes, though not sufficiently probable, +and some happy characters, though not new, nor produced by any deep +knowledge of human nature. Parolles is a boaster and a coward, such as +has always been the sport of the stage, but, perhaps, never raised more +laughter or contempt than in the hands of Shakespeare. + +I cannot reconcile my heart to Bertram; a man noble without generosity, +and young without truth; who marries Helen as a coward, and leaves her +as a profligate: when she is dead by his unkindness, sneaks home to a +second marriage, is accused by a woman whom he has wronged, defends +himself by falsehood, and is dismissed to happiness[7]. + +The story of Bertram and Diana had been told before of Mariana and +Angelo, and, to confess the truth, scarcely merited to be heard a second +time. + + +TWELFTH NIGHT. + +This play is, in the graver part, elegant and easy, and, in some of the +lighter scenes, exquisitely humorous. Aguecheek is drawn with great +propriety, but his character is, in a great measure, that of natural +fatuity, and is, therefore, not the proper prey of a satirist. The +soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comick; he is betrayed to ridicule merely +by his pride. The marriage of Olivia, and the succeeding perplexity, +though well enough contrived to divert on the stage, wants credibility, +and fails to produce the proper instruction required in the drama, as it +exhibits no just picture of life. + + +WINTER'S TALE. + +The story of this play is taken from The Pleasant History of Dorastus +and Fawnia, written by Robert Greene. + +This play, as Dr. Warburton justly observes, is, with all its +absurdities, very entertaining. The character of Autolycus is very +naturally conceived, and strongly represented. + + +MACBETH. + +This play is deservedly celebrated for the propriety of its fictions, +and solemnity, grandeur, and variety of its action; but it has no nice +discriminations of character; the events are too great to admit the +influence of particular dispositions, and the course of the action +necessarily determines the conduct of the agents. + +The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may +not be said, in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that, +in Shakespeare's time, it was necessary to warn credulity against vain +and illusive predictions. + +The passions are directed to their true end. Lady Macbeth is merely +detested; and though the courage of Macbeth preserves some esteem, yet +every reader rejoices at his fall. + + +KING JOHN. + +The tragedy of King John, though not written with the utmost power of +Shakespeare, is varied with a very pleasing interchange of incidents and +characters. The lady's grief is very affecting, and the character of the +bastard contains that mixture of greatness and levity which this author +delighted to exhibit. + + +KING RICHARD II. + +This play is extracted from the Chronicle of Holinshed, in which many +passages may be found which Shakespeare has, with very little +alteration, transplanted into his scenes; particularly a speech of the +bishop of Carlisle in defence of King Richard's unalienable right, and +immunity from human jurisdiction. + +Jonson, who, in his Catiline and Sejanus, has inserted many speeches +from the Roman historians, was, perhaps, induced to that practice by the +example of Shakespeare, who had condescended sometimes to copy more +ignoble writers. But Shakespeare had more of his own than Jonson, and, +if he sometimes was willing to spare his labour, showed by what he +performed at other times, that his extracts were made by choice or +idleness rather than necessity. This play is one of those which +Shakespeare has apparently revised[8]; but as success in works of +invention is not always proportionate to labour, it is not finished at +last with the happy force of some other of his tragedies, nor can be +said much to affect the passions or enlarge the understanding. + + +KING HENRY IV. PART II. + +I fancy every reader, when he ends this play, cries out with Desdemona, +"O most lame and impotent conclusion!" As this play was not, to our +knowledge, divided into acts by the author, I could be content to +conclude it with the death of Henry the Fourth. + + "In that Jerusalem shall Harry die." + +These scenes, which now make the fifth act of Henry IV. might then be +the first of Henry V. but the truth is, that they do not unite very +commodiously to either play. When these plays were represented, I +believe they ended as they are now ended in the books; but Shakespeare +seems to have designed that the whole series of action, from the +beginning of Richard II. to the end of Henry V. should be considered by +the reader as one work, upon one plan, only broken into parts by the +necessity of exhibition. + +None of Shakespeare's plays are more read than the first and second +parts of Henry IV. Perhaps no author has ever in two plays afforded so +much delight. The great events are interesting, for the fate of kingdoms +depends upon them; the slighter occurrences are diverting, and, except +one or two, sufficiently probable; the incidents are multiplied with +wonderful fertility of invention, and the characters diversified with +the utmost nicety of discernment, and the profoundest skill in the +nature of man. + +The prince, who is the hero both of the comick and tragick part, is a +young man of great abilities and violent passions, whose sentiments are +right, though his actions are wrong; whose virtues are obscured by +negligence, and whose understanding is dissipated by levity. In his idle +hours he is rather loose than wicked; and when the occasion forces out +his latent qualities, he is great without effort, and brave without +tumult. The trifler is roused into a hero, and the hero again reposes in +the trifler. This character is great, original and just. + +Percy is a rugged soldier, cholerick and quarrelsome, and has only the +soldier's virtues, generosity and courage. But Falstaff, unimitated, +unimitable Falstaff, how shall I describe thee! thou compound of sense +and vice; of sense which may be admired, but not esteemed; of vice which +may be despised, but hardly detested. Falstaff is a character loaded +with faults, and with those faults which naturally produce contempt. He +is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a boaster, always ready to cheat +the weak, and prey upon the poor; to terrify the timorous, and insult +the defenceless. At once obsequious and malignant, he satirizes in their +absence those whom he lives by flattering. He is familiar with the +prince only as an agent of vice, but of this familiarity he is so proud, +as not only to be supercilious and haughty with common men, but to think +his interest of importance to the duke of Lancaster. Yet the man thus +corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself necessary to the prince that +despises him, by the most pleasing of all qualities, perpetual gaiety, +by an unfailing power of exciting laughter, which is the more freely +indulged, as his wit is not of the splendid or ambitious kind, but +consists in easy scapes and sallies of levity, which make sport, but +raise no envy. It must be observed, that he is stained with no enormous +or sanguinary crimes, so that his licentiousness is not so offensive but +that it may be borne for his mirth. + +The moral to be drawn from this representation is, that no man is more +dangerous than he that, with a will to corrupt, hath the power to +please; and that neither wit nor honesty ought to think themselves safe +with such a companion, when they see Henry seduced by Falstaff. + + +KING HENRY V. + +This play has many scenes of high dignity, and many of easy merriment. +The character of the king is well supported, except in his courtship, +where he has neither the vivacity of Hal, nor the grandeur of Henry. The +humour of Pistol is very happily continued; his character has, perhaps, +been the model of all the bullies that have yet appeared on the English +stage. + +The lines given to the chorus have many admirers; but the truth is, that +in them a little may be praised, and much must be forgiven: nor can it +be easily discovered why the intelligence given by the chorus is more +necessary in this play than in many others where it is omitted. The +great defect of this play is the emptiness and narrowness of the last +act, which a very little diligence might have easily avoided. + + +KING HENRY VI. PART I. + +Of this play there is no copy earlier than that of the folio in 1623, +though the two succeeding parts are extant in two editions in quarto. +That the second and third parts were published without the first, may be +admitted, as no weak proof that the copies were surreptitiously +obtained, and that the printers of that time gave the publick those +plays, not such as the author designed, but such as they could get them. +That this play was written before the two others is indubitably +collected from the series of events; that it was written and played +before Henry V. is apparent, because in the epilogue there is mention +made of this play, and not of the other parts: + + Henry the sixth in swaddling bands crown'd king, + Whose state so many had i' the managing + That they lost France, and made all England rue, + Which oft our stage hath shown. + +France is lost in this play. The two following contain, as the old title +imports, the contention of the houses of York and Lancaster. + +The two first parts of Henry VI. were printed in 1600. When Henry V. was +written, we know not, but it was printed likewise in 1600, and, +therefore, before the publication of the first and second parts: the +first part of Henry VI. had been often shown on the stage, and would +certainly have appeared in its place had the author been the publisher. + + +KING HENRY VI. PART III. + +The three parts of Henry VI. are suspected, by Mr. Theobald, of being +supposititious, and are declared, by Dr. Warburton, to be certainly not +Shakespeare's[9]. Mr. Theobald's suspicion arises from some obsolete +words; but the phraseology is like the rest of our author's style, and +single words, of which, however, I do not observe more than two, can +conclude little. + +Dr. Warburton gives no reason, but I suppose him to judge upon deeper +principles and more comprehensive views, and to draw his opinion from +the general effect and spirit of the composition, which he thinks +inferiour to the other historical plays. + +From mere inferiority nothing can be inferred; in the productions of wit +there will be inequality. Sometimes judgment will err, and sometimes the +matter itself will defeat the artist. Of every author's works one will +be the best, and one will be the worst. The colours are not equally +pleasing, nor the attitudes equally graceful, in all the pictures of +Titian or Reynolds. + +Dissimilitude of style, and heterogeneousness of sentiment, may +sufficiently show that a work does not really belong to the reputed +author. But in these plays no such marks of spuriousness are found. The +diction, the versification, and the figures, are Shakespeare's. These +plays, considered without regard to characters and incidents, merely as +narratives in verse, are more happily conceived, and more accurately +finished, than those of King John, Richard II. or the tragick scenes of +Henry IV. and V. If we take these plays from Shakespeare, to whom shall +they be given? What author of that age had the same easiness of +expression and fluency of numbers? + +Having considered the evidence given by the plays themselves, and found +it in their favour, let us now inquire what corroboration can be gained +from other testimony. They are ascribed to Shakespeare by the first +editors, whose attestation may be received in questions of fact, however +unskilfully they superintended their edition. They seem to be declared +genuine by the voice of Shakespeare himself, who refers to the second +play in his epilogue to Henry V. and apparently connects the first act +of Richard III. with the last of the third part of Henry VI. If it be +objected that the plays were popular, and that, therefore, he alluded to +them as well known; it may be answered, with equal probability, that the +natural passions of a poet would have disposed him to separate his own +works from those of an inferiour hand. And, indeed, if an author's own +testimony is to be overthrown by speculative criticism, no man can be +any longer secure of literary reputation. + +Of these three plays I think the second the best. The truth is, that +they have not sufficient variety of action, for the incidents are too +often of the same kind; yet many of the characters are well +discriminated. King Henry and his queen, king Edward, the duke of +Gloucester, and the earl of Warwick, are very strongly and distinctly +painted. + +The old copies of the two latter parts of Henry VI. and of Henry V. are +so apparently imperfect and mutilated, that there is no reason for +supposing them the first draughts of Shakespeare. I am inclined to +believe them copies taken by some auditor who wrote down, during the +representation, what the time would permit, then, perhaps, filled up +some of his omissions at a second or third hearing, and when he had by +this method formed something like a play, sent it to the printer[10]. + + +KING RICHARD III. + +This is one of the most celebrated of our author's performances; yet I +know not whether it has not happened to him as to others, to be praised +most, when praise is not most deserved. That this play has scenes noble +in themselves, and very well contrived to strike in the exhibition, +cannot be denied. But some parts are trifling, others shocking, and some +improbable. + +I have nothing to add to the observations of the learned criticks, but +that some traces of this antiquated exhibition are still retained in the +rustick puppet-plays, in which I have seen the Devil very lustily +belaboured by Punch, whom I hold to be the legitimate successor of the +old Vice[11]. + + +KING HENRY VIII. + +The play of Henry VIII. is one of those which still keeps possession of +the stage by the splendour of its pageantry. The coronation, about forty +years ago, drew the people together in multitudes for a great part of +the winter[12]. Yet pomp is not the only merit of this play. The meek +sorrows and virtuous distress of Catharine have furnished some scenes +which may be justly numbered among the greatest efforts of tragedy. But +the genius of Shakespeare comes in and goes out with Catharine[13]. +Every other part may be easily conceived, and easily written. + +The historical dramas are now concluded, of which the two parts of Henry +IV. and Henry V. are among the happiest of our author's compositions; +and King John, Richard III. and Henry VIII. deservedly stand in the +second class. Those whose curiosity would refer the historical scenes to +their original, may consult Holinshed, and sometimes Hall: from +Holinshed, Shakespeare has often inserted whole speeches, with no more +alteration than was necessary to the numbers of his verse. To transcribe +them into the margin was unnecessary, because the original is easily +examined, and they are seldom less perspicuous in the poet than in the +historian. + +To play histories, or to exhibit a succession of events by action and +dialogue, was a common entertainment among our rude ancestors upon great +festivities. The parish clerks once performed at Clerkenwell a play, +which lasted three days, containing the History of the World. + + +CORIOLANUS. + +The tragedy of Coriolanus is one of the most amusing of our author's +performances. The old man's merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady's +dignity in Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and +military haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity, and +tribunitian insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and +interesting variety: and the various revolutions of the hero's fortune +fill the mind with anxious curiosity. There is, perhaps, too much bustle +in the first act, and too little in the last. + + +JULIUS CAESAR. + +Of this tragedy many particular passages deserve regard, and the +contention and reconcilement of Brutus and Cassius is universally +celebrated; but I have never been strongly agitated in perusing it, and +think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with some other of +Shakespeare's plays; his adherence to the real story, and to Roman +manners, seems to have impeded the natural vigour of his genius. + + +ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. + +This play keeps curiosity always busy, and the passions always +interested. The continual hurry of the action, the variety of incidents, +and the quick succession of one personage to another, call the mind +forward, without intermission, from the first act to the last. But the +power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of +the scene; for, except the feminine arts, some of which are too low, +which distinguish Cleopatra, no character is very strongly +discriminated. Upton, who did not easily miss what he desired to find, +has discovered that the language of Antony is, with great skill and +learning, made pompous and superb, according to his real practice. But I +think his diction not distinguishable from that of others: the most +tumid speech in the play is that which Cæsar makes to Octavia. + +The events, of which the principal are described according to history, +are produced without any art of connexion or care of disposition. + + +TIMON OF ATHENS. + +The play of Timon is a domestick tragedy, and, therefore, strongly +fastens on the attention of the reader. In the plan there is not much +art, but the incidents are natural, and the characters various and +exact. The catastrophe affords a very powerful warning against that +ostentatious liberality, which scatters bounty, but confers no benefits, +and buys flattery, but not friendship. + +In this tragedy are many passages perplexed, obscure, and probably +corrupt, which I have endeavoured to rectify or explain, with due +diligence; but having only one copy, cannot promise myself that my +endeavours will be much applauded. + + +TITUS ANDRONICUS. + +All the editors and criticks agree with Mr. Theobald in supposing this +play spurious. I see no reason for differing from them; for the colour +of the style is wholly different from that of the other plays, and there +is an attempt at regular versification and artificial closes, not always +inelegant, yet seldom pleasing. The barbarity of the spectacles, and the +general massacre, which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived +tolerable to any audience; yet we are told by Jonson, that they were not +only borne, but praised. That Shakespeare wrote any part, though +Theobald declares it incontestable, I see no reason for believing. + +The testimony produced at the beginning of this play, by which it is +ascribed to Shakespeare, is by no means equal to the argument against +its authenticity, arising from the total difference of conduct, language +and sentiments, by which it stands apart from all the rest. Meres had +probably no other evidence than that of a title-page, which, though in +our time it be sufficient, was then of no great authority; for all the +plays which were rejected by the first collectors of Shakespeare's +works, and admitted in later editions, and again rejected by the +critical editors, had Shakespeare's name on the title[14], as we must +suppose, by the fraudulence of the printers, who, while there were yet +no gazettes, nor advertisements, nor any means of circulating literary +intelligence, could usurp at pleasure any celebrated name. Nor had +Shakespeare any interest in detecting the imposture, as none of his fame +or profit was produced by the press. + +The chronology of this play does not prove it not to be Shakespeare's. +If it had been written twenty-five years in 1614, it might have been +written when Shakespeare was twenty-five years old. When he left +Warwickshire I know not; but at the age of twenty-five it was rather too +late to fly for deer-stealing. + +Ravenscroft, who in the reign of Charles II. revised this play, and +restored it to the stage, tells us, in his preface, from a theatrical +tradition, I suppose, which in his time might be of sufficient +authority, that this play was touched, in different parts, by +Shakespeare, but written by some other poet. I do not find Shakespeare's +touches very discernible. + + +TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. + +This play is more correctly written than most of Shakespeare's +compositions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of +his views or elevation of his fancy is fully displayed. As the story +abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has +diversified his characters with great variety, and preserved them with +great exactness. His vicious characters sometimes disgust, but cannot +corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemned. The +comick characters seem to have been the favourites of the writer; they +are of the superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners than nature; +but they are copiously filled, and powerfully impressed. + +Shakespeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old +book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of +Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was +written after Chapman had published his version of Homer[15]. + + +CYMBELINE. + +This play has many just sentiments, some natural dialogues, and some +pleasing scenes, but they are obtained at the expense of much +incongruity. To remark the folly of the fiction, the absurdity of the +conduct, the confusion of the names and manners of different times, and +the impossibility of the events in any system of life, were to waste +criticism upon unresisting imbecility, upon faults too evident for +detection, and too gross for aggravation. + + +KING LEAR. + +The tragedy of Lear is deservedly celebrated among the dramas of +Shakespeare. There is, perhaps, no play which keeps the attention so +strongly fixed; which so much agitates our passions, and interests our +curiosity. The artful involutions of distinct interests, the striking +oppositions of contrary characters, the sudden changes of fortune, and +the quick succession of events, fill the mind with a perpetual tumult of +indignation, pity and hope. There is no scene which does not contribute +to the aggravation of the distress or conduct of the action, and scarce +a line which does not conduce to the progress of the scene. So powerful +is the current of the poet's imagination, that the mind, which once +ventures within it, is hurried irresistibly along. + +On the seeming improbability of Lear's conduct, it may be observed, that +he is represented according to histories at that time vulgarly received +as true. And, perhaps, if we turn our thoughts upon the barbarity and +ignorance of the age to which this story is referred, it will appear not +so unlikely as while we estimate Lear's manners by our own. Such +preference of one daughter to another, or resignation of dominion on +such conditions, would be yet credible, if told of a petty prince of +Guinea or Madagascar. Shakespeare, indeed, by the mention of his earls +and dukes, has given us the idea of times more civilized, and of life +regulated by softer manners; and the truth is, that though he so nicely +discriminates, and so minutely describes the characters of men, he +commonly neglects and confounds the characters of ages, by mingling +customs ancient and modern, English and foreign. + +My learned friend Mr. Warton, who has, in the Adventurer, very minutely +criticised this play, remarks, that the instances of cruelty are too +savage and shocking, and that the intervention of Edmund destroys the +simplicity of the story. These objections may, I think, be answered, by +repeating, that the cruelty of the daughters is an historical fact, to +which the poet has added little, having only drawn it into a series by +dialogue and action. But I am not able to apologize with equal +plausibility for the extrusion of Gloster's eyes, which seems an act too +horrid to be endured in dramatick exhibition, and such as must always +compel the mind to relieve its distress by incredulity. Yet let it be +remembered that our author well knew what would please the audience for +which he wrote. + +The injury done by Edmund to the simplicity of the action is abundantly +recompensed by the addition of variety, by the art with which he is made +to co-operate with the chief design, and the opportunity which he gives +the poet of combining perfidy with perfidy, and connecting the wicked +son with the wicked daughters, to impress this important moral, that +villany is never at a stop, that crimes lead to crimes, and at last +terminate in ruin. + +But though this moral be incidentally enforced, Shakespeare has suffered +the virtue of Cordelia to perish in a just cause, contrary to the +natural ideas of justice, to the hope of the reader, and, what is yet +more strange, to the faith of chronicles. Yet this conduct is justified +by the Spectator, who blames Tate for giving Cordelia success and +happiness in his alteration, and declares, that, in his opinion, "the +tragedy has lost half its beauty." Dennis has remarked, whether justly +or not, that, to secure the favourable reception of Cato, "the town was +poisoned with much false and abominable criticism," and that endeavours +had been used to discredit and decry poetical justice. A play in which +the wicked prosper, and the virtuous miscarry, may doubtless be good, +because it is a just representation of the common events of human life: +but since all reasonable beings naturally love justice, I cannot easily +be persuaded, that the observation of justice makes a play worse; or +that, if other excellencies are equal, the audience will not always rise +better pleased from the final triumph of persecuted virtue. + +In the present case the publick has decided[16]. Cordelia, from the time +of Tate, has always retired with victory and felicity. And, if my +sensations could add any thing to the general suffrage, I might relate, +I was many years ago so shocked by Cordelia's death, that I know not +whether I ever endured to read again the last scenes of the play till I +undertook to revise them as an editor. + +There is another controversy among the criticks concerning this play. It +is disputed whether the predominant image in Lear's disordered mind be +the loss of his kingdom or the cruelty of his daughters. Mr. Murphy, a +very judicious critick, has evinced by induction of particular passages, +that the cruelty of his daughters is the primary source of his distress, +and that the loss of royalty affects him only as a secondary and +subordinate evil. He observes, with great justness, that Lear would move +our compassion but little, did we not rather consider the injured father +than the degraded king. + +The story of this play, except the episode of Edmund, which is derived, +I think, from Sidney, is taken originally from Geoffry of Monmouth, whom +Holinshed generally copied; but, perhaps, immediately from an old +historical ballad. My reason for believing that the play was posterior +to the ballad, rather than the ballad to the play, is, that the ballad +has nothing of Shakespeare's nocturnal tempest, which is too striking to +have been omitted, and that it follows the chronicle; it has the +rudiments of the play, but none of its amplifications: it first hinted +Lear's madness, but did not array it in circumstances. The writer of the +ballad added something to the history, which is a proof that he would +have added more, if more had occurred to his mind, and more must have +occurred if he had seen Shakespeare. + + +ROMEO AND JULIET. + +This play is one of the most pleasing of our author's performances. The +scenes are busy and various, the incidents numerous and important, the +catastrophe irresistibly affecting, and the process of the action +carried on with such probability, at least with such congruity to +popular opinions, as tragedy requires. + +Here is one of the few attempts of Shakespeare to exhibit the +conversation of gentlemen, to represent the airy sprightliness of +juvenile elegance. Mr. Dryden mentions a tradition, which might easily +reach his time, of a declaration made by Shakespeare, that "he was +obliged to kill Mercutio in the third act, lest he should have been +killed by him." Yet he thinks him "no such formidable person, but that +he might have lived through the play, and died in his bed," without +danger to the poet. Dryden well knew, had he been in quest of truth, +that, in a pointed sentence, more regard is commonly had to the words +than the thought, and that it is very seldom to be rigorously +understood. Mercutio's wit, gaiety and courage, will always procure him +friends that wish him a longer life; but his death is not precipitated, +he has lived out the time allotted him in the construction of the play; +nor do I doubt the ability of Shakespeare to have continued his +existence, though some of his sallies are, perhaps, out of the reach of +Dryden; whose genius was not very fertile of merriment, nor ductile to +humour, but acute, argumentative, comprehensive and sublime. + +The nurse is one of the characters in which the author delighted; he +has, with great subtilty of distinction, drawn her at once loquacious +and secret, obsequious and insolent, trusty and dishonest. + +His comick scenes are happily wrought, but his pathetick strains are +always polluted with some unexpected depravations. His persons, however +distressed, have a conceit left them in their misery, a miserable +conceit. + + +HAMLET. + +If the dramas of Shakespeare were to be characterized, each by the +particular excellence which distinguishes it from the rest, we must +allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of variety. The incidents are +so numerous, that the argument of the play would make a long tale. The +scenes are interchangeably diversified with merriment and solemnity; +with merriment, that includes judicious and instructive observations; +and solemnity, not strained by poetical violence above the natural +sentiments of man. New characters appear from time to time in continual +succession, exhibiting various forms of life and particular modes of +conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet causes much mirth, the +mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart with tenderness, and +every personage produces the effect intended, from the apparition that, +in the first act, chills the blood with horrour, to the fop, in the +last, that exposes affectation to just contempt. + +The conduct is, perhaps, not wholly secure against objections. The +action is, indeed, for the most part, in continual progression, but +there are some scenes which neither forward nor retard it. Of the +feigned madness of Hamlet there appears no adequate cause[17], for he +does nothing which he might not have done with the reputation of sanity. +He plays the madman most, when he treats Ophelia with so much rudeness, +which seems to be useless and wanton cruelty. + +Hamlet is, through the whole piece, rather an instrument than an agent. +After he has, by the stratagem of the play, convicted the king, he makes +no attempt to punish him; and his death is at last effected by an +incident which Hamlet had no part in producing. + + The catastrophe is not very happily produced; the exchange of weapons +is rather an expedient of necessity, than a stroke of art. A scheme +might easily have been formed to kill Hamlet with the dagger, and +Laertes with the bowl. + +The poet is accused of having shown little regard to poetical justice, +and may be charged with equal neglect of poetical probability. The +apparition left the regions of the dead to little purpose; the revenge +which he demands is not obtained, but by the death of him that was +required to take it; and the gratification, which would arise from the +destruction of an usurper and a murderer, is abated by the untimely +death of Ophelia, the young, the beautiful, the harmless, and the pious. + + +OTHELLO. + +The beauties of this play impress themselves so strongly upon the +attention of the reader, that they can draw no aid from critical +illustration. The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and +credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, +inflexible in his resolution, and obdurate in his revenge; the cool +malignity of Iago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs, and +studious at once of his interest and his vengeance; the soft simplicity +of Desdemona, confident of merit, and conscious of innocence, her +artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she +can be suspected, are such proofs of Shakespeare's skill in human +nature, as, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The +gradual progress which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the +circumstances which he employs to inflame him, are so artfully natural, +that, though it will, perhaps, not be said of him as he says of himself, +that he is "a man not easily jealous," yet we cannot but pity him, when +at last we find him "perplexed in the extreme." + +There is always danger, lest wickedness, conjoined with abilities, +should steal upon esteem, though it misses of approbation; but the +character of Iago is so conducted, that he is, from the first scene to +the last, hated and despised. + +Even the inferiour characters of this play would be very conspicuous in +any other piece, not only for their justness, but their strength. Cassio +is brave, benevolent and honest, ruined only by his want of stubbornness +to resist an insidious invitation. Roderigo's suspicious credulity, and +impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised upon him, and +which, by persuasion, he suffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong +picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful desires to a false friend; +and the virtue of Aemilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but +not cast off, easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at +atrocious villanies. + +The scenes, from the beginning to the end, are busy, varied by happy +interchanges, and regularly promoting the progression of the story; and +the narrative, in the end, though it tells but what is known already, +yet is necessary to produce the death of Othello. + +Had the scene opened in Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been +occasionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the +most exact and scrupulous regularity. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Mr. Heath, who wrote a Revisal of Shakespeare's text, published in + 8vo. circa 1760. + +[2] This is not a blunder of Shakespeare's, but a mistake of Johnson's, + who considers the passage alluded to in a more literal sense than + the author intended it. Sir Proteus, it is true, had seen Silvia for + a few moments; but though he could form from thence some idea of her + person, he was still unacquainted with her temper, manners, and the + qualities of her mind. He, therefore, considers himself as having + seen her picture only. The thought is just and elegantly expressed. + So in the Scornful Lady, the elder Loveless says to her, "I was mad + once when I loved pictures. For what are _shape_ and _colours_ else + but _pictures?_"--Mason in Malone's Shak. iv. 137.--Ed. + +[3] In the Three Ladies of London, 1584, is the character of an Italian + merchant, very strongly marked by foreign pronunciation. Dr. + Dodypoll, in the Comedy which bears his name, is, like Caius, a + French physician. This piece appeared, at least, a year before The + Merry Wives of Windsor. The hero of it speaks such another jargon as + the antagonist of Sir Hugh, and, like him, is cheated of his + mistress. In several other pieces, more ancient than the earliest of + Shakespeare's, provincial characters are introduced--Steevens. + + In the old play of Henry V. French soldiers are introduced speaking + broken English.--Boswell. + +[4] See, however, Dr. Drake's Essays on Rambler &c. ii. 392.--Ed. + +[5] Johnson's concluding observation on this play, is not conceived with + his usual judgment. There is no analogy or resemblance whatever + between the fairies of Spenser, and those of Shakespeare. The + fairies of Spenser, as appears from his description of them in the + second book of the Faerie Queene, Canto 10. were a race of mortals + created by Prometheus, of the human size, shape, and affections, and + subject to death. But those of Shakespeare, and of common tradition, + as Johnson calls them, were a diminutive race of sportful beings, + endowed with immortality and supernatural power, totally different + from those of Spenser.--M. MASON. + +[6] The first novel of the fourth day. An epitome of the novels, from + which the story of this play is supposed to be taken, is appended to + it in Malone's edition, v. 154. + +[7] This opinion of the character of Bertram is examined at considerable + length in the New Monthly Magazine, iv. 481.--Ed. + +[8] The notion that Shakespeare revised this play, though it has long + prevailed, appears to me extremely doubtful; or to speak more + plainly, I do not believe it. MALONE. See too the Essay on the + Chronological order of Shakespeare's plays, Malone's edition, ii. + +[9] For a full discussion of this point, see the Dissertation on the + three parts of King Henry VI. tending to show that those plays were + not written originally by Shakespeare. The dissertation was written + by Malone, and pronounced by Porson to be one of the most convincing + pieces of criticism he had ever met with. Malone's Shakespeare, + xviii. 557. + +[10] See this opinion controverted. Malone's Shakespeare, xviii. 550. + --Ed. + +[11] This paragraph, apparently so unconnected with the preceding, + refers to some critical dissertations on the character of Vice. + They may be found in Malone's Shakespeare, xix. 244. See likewise + Pursuits of Literature, Dialogue the First.--Ed. + +[12] Chetwood says, that during one season it was exhibited 75 times. + See his History of the Stage, p. 68.--Ed. + +[13] Dr. Johnson told Mrs. Siddons that he admired her most in this + character.--Mrs. Piozzi. + +[14] This statement is not quite accurate concerning the seven spurious + plays, which the printer of the folio in 1664 improperly admitted + into his volume. The name of Shakespeare appears only in the + title-pages of four of them: Pericles, Sir John Oldcastle, the + London Prodigal, and the Yorkshire Tragedy. Malone's Shak. xxi. 382. + +[15] The first seven books of Chapman's Homer were published in the year + 1596, and again in 1598. The whole twenty-four of the Iliad + appeared in 1611.--STEEVENS. + +[16] Dr. Johnson should rather have said that the managers of the + theatres-royal have decided, and that the public has been obliged + to acquiesce in their decision. The altered play has the upper + gallery on its side; the original drama was patronized by Addison: + Victrix causa _Diis_ placuit, sed victa _Catomi_. LUCAN. Malone's + Shak. x. 290. + +[17] See, however, Mr. Boswell's long and erudite note in his + Shakespeare, vii. 536. "Il me semble," says Madame De Staël, "cu'en + lisant cette tragédie, on distingue parfaitement dans Hamlet + l'égarement réel à travers l'égarement affecté."--Mme. De Staël de + la Littérature, c. xiii. See also Schlegel in his Dramatic + literature, ii.--Ed. + + + + +AN ACCOUNT OF THE +HARLEIAN LIBRARY. + +To solicit a subscription for a catalogue of books exposed to sale, is +an attempt for which some apology cannot but be necessary; for few would +willingly contribute to the expense of volumes, by which neither +instruction nor entertainment could be afforded, from which only the +bookseller could expect advantage, and of which the only use must cease, +at the dispersion of the library[1]. + +Nor could the reasonableness of an universal rejection of our proposal +be denied, if this catalogue were to be compiled with no other view, +than that of promoting the sale of the books which it enumerates, and +drawn up with that inaccuracy and confusion which may be found in those +that are daily published. + +But our design, like our proposal, is uncommon, and to be prosecuted at +a very uncommon expense: it being intended, that the books shall be +distributed into their distinct classes, and every class ranged with +some regard to the age of the writers; that every book shall be +accurately described; that the peculiarities of editions shall be +remarked, and observations from the authors of literary history +occasionally interspersed; that, by this catalogue, we may inform +posterity of the excellence and value of this great collection, and +promote the knowledge of scarce books, and elegant editions. For this +purpose, men of letters are engaged, who cannot even be supplied with +amanuenses, but at an expense above that of a common catalogue. + +To show that this collection deserves a particular degree of regard from +the learned and the studious, that it excels any library that was ever +yet offered to publick sale, in the value, as well as number, of the +volumes, which it contains; and that, therefore, this catalogue will not +be of less use to men of letters, than those of the Thuaniau, Heinsian, +or Barberinian libraries, it may not be improper to exhibit a general +account of the different classes, as they are naturally divided by the +several sciences. + +By this method we can, indeed, exhibit only a general idea, at once +magnificent and confused; an idea of the writings of many nations, +collected from distant parts of the world, discovered sometimes by +chance, and sometimes by curiosity, amidst the rubbish of forsaken +monasteries, and the repositories of ancient families, and brought +hither from every part, as to the universal receptacle of learning. + +It will be no unpleasing effect of this account, if those that shall +happen to peruse it, should be inclined by it to reflect on the +character of the late proprietors, and to pay some tribute of veneration +to their ardour for literature, to that generous and exalted curiosity +which they gratified with incessant searches and immense expense, and to +which they dedicated that time, and that superfluity of fortune, which +many others of their rank employ in the pursuit of contemptible +amusements, or the gratification of guilty passions. And, surely, every +man, who considers learning as ornamental and advantageous to the +community, must allow them the honour of publick benefactors, who have +introduced amongst us authors, not hitherto well known, and added to the +literary treasures of their native country. + +That our catalogue will excite any other man to emulate the collectors +of this library, to prefer books and manuscripts to equipage and luxury, +and to forsake noise and diversion for the conversation of the learned, +and the satisfaction of extensive knowledge, we are very far from +presuming to hope; but shall make no scruple to assert, that, if any man +should happen to be seized with such laudable ambition, he may find in +this catalogue hints and informations which are not easily to be met +with; he will discover, that the boasted Bodleian library is very far +from a perfect model, and that even the learned Fabricius cannot +completely instruct him in the early editions of the classick writers. + +But the collectors of libraries cannot be numerous; and, therefore, +catalogues could not very properly be recommended to the publick, if +they had not a more general and frequent use, an use which every student +has experienced, or neglected to his loss. By the means of catalogues +only, can it be known what has been written on every part of learning, +and the hazard avoided of encountering difficulties which have already +been cleared, discussing questions which have already been decided, and +digging in mines of literature which former ages have exhausted. + +How often this has been the fate of students, every man of letters can +declare; and, perhaps, there are very few who have not sometimes valued +as new discoveries, made by themselves, those observations, which have +long since been published, and of which the world, therefore, will +refuse them the praise; nor can the refusal be censured as any enormous +violation of justice; for, why should they not forfeit by their +ignorance, what they might claim by their sagacity? + +To illustrate this remark, by the mention of obscure names, would not +much confirm it; and to vilify, for this purpose, the memory of men +truly great, would be to deny them the reverence which they may justly +claim from those whom their writings have instructed. May the shade, at +least, of one great English critick[2] rest without disturbance; and may +no man presume to insult his memory, who wants his learning, his reason, +or his wit. + +From the vexatious disappointment of meeting reproach, where praise is +expected, every man will certainly desire to be secured; and, therefore, +that book will have some claim to his regard, from which he may receive +informations of the labours of his predecessors, such as a catalogue of +the Harleian library will copiously afford him. + +Nor is the use of catalogues of less importance to those whom curiosity +has engaged in the study of literary history, and who think the +intellectual revolutions of the world more worthy of their attention, +than the ravages of tyrants, the desolation of kingdoms, the rout of +armies, and the fall of empires. Those who are pleased with observing +the first birth of new opinions, their struggles against opposition, +their silent progress under persecution, their general reception, and +their gradual decline, or sudden extinction; those that amuse themselves +with remarking the different periods of human knowledge, and observe how +darkness and light succeed each other; by what accident the most gloomy +nights of ignorance have given way to the dawn of science; and how +learning has languished and decayed, for want of patronage and regard, +or been overborne by the prevalence of fashionable ignorance, or lost +amidst the tumults of invasion, and the storms of violence. All those +who desire any knowledge of the literary transactions of past ages, may +find in catalogues, like this at least, such an account as is given by +annalists, and chronologers of civil history. + +How the knowledge of the sacred writings has been diffused, will be +observed from the catalogue of the various editions of the Bible, from +the first impression by Fust, in 1462, to the present time; in which +will be contained the polyglot editions of Spain, France, and England, +those of the original Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin +Vulgate; with the versions which are now used in the remotest parts of +Europe, in the country of the Grisons, in Lithuania, Bohemia, Finland, +and Iceland. + +With regard to the attempts of the same kind made in our own country, +there are few whose expectations will not be exceeded by the number of +English Bibles, of which not one is forgotten, whether valuable for the +pomp and beauty of the impression, or for the notes with which the text +is accompanied, or for any controversy or persecution that it produced, +or for the peculiarity of any single passage. With the same care have +the various editions of the book of Common Prayer been selected, from +which all the alterations which have been made in it may be easily +remarked. + +Amongst a great number of Roman missals and breviaries, remarkable for +the beauty of their cuts and illuminations, will be found the Mosarabick +missal and breviary, that raised such commotions in the kingdom of +Spain. + +The controversial treatises written in England, about the time of the +Reformation, have been diligently collected, with a multitude of +remarkable tracts, single sermons, and small treatises; which, however +worthy to be preserved, are, perhaps, to be found in no other place. + +The regard which was always paid, by the collectors of this library, to +that remarkable period of time, in which the art of printing was +invented, determined them to accumulate the ancient impressions of the +fathers of the church; to which the later editions are added, lest +antiquity should have seemed more worthy of esteem than accuracy. + +History has been considered with the regard due to that study by which +the manners are most easily formed, and from which the most efficacious +instruction is received; nor will the most extensive curiosity fail of +gratification in this library, from which no writers have been excluded, +that relate either the religious, or civil affairs of any nation. + +Not only those authors of ecclesiastical history have been procured, +that treat of the state of religion in general, or deliver accounts of +sects or nations, but those, likewise, who have confined themselves to +particular orders of men in every church; who have related the original, +and the rules of every society, or recounted the lives of its founder +and its members; those who have deduced in every country the succession +of bishops, and those who have employed their abilities in celebrating +the piety of particular saints, or martyrs, or monks, or nuns. + +The civil history of all nations has been amassed together; nor is it +easy to determine which has been thought most worthy of curiosity. + +Of France, not only the general histories and ancient chronicles, the +accounts of celebrated reigns, and narratives of remarkable events, but +even the memorials of single families, the lives of private men, the +antiquities of particular cities, churches, and monasteries, the +topography of provinces, and the accounts of laws, customs, and +prescriptions, are here to be found. + +The several states of Italy have, in this treasury, their particular +historians, whose accounts are, perhaps, generally more exact, by being +less extensive; and more interesting, by being more particular. + +Nor has less regard been paid to the different nations of the Germanick +empire, of which neither the Bohemians, nor Hungarians, nor Austrians, +nor Bavarians, have been neglected; nor have their antiquities, however +generally disregarded, been less studiously searched, than their present +state. + +The northern nations have supplied this collection, not only with +history, but poetry, with Gothick antiquities and Runick inscriptions; +which, at least, have this claim to veneration, above the remains of the +Roman magnificence, that they are the works of those heroes by whom the +Roman empire was destroyed; and which may plead, at least in this +nation, that they ought not to be neglected by those that owe to the men +whose memories they preserve, their constitution, their properties, and +their liberties. + +The curiosity of these collectors extended equally to all parts of the +world; nor did they forget to add to the northern the southern writers, +or to adorn their collection with chronicles of Spain, and the conquest +of Mexico. + +Even of those nations with which we have less intercourse, whose customs +are less accurately known, and whose history is less distinctly +recounted, there are in this library reposited such accounts as the +Europeans have been hitherto able to obtain; nor are the Mogul, the +Tartar, the Turk, and the Saracen, without their historians. + +That persons, so inquisitive with regard to the transactions of other +nations, should inquire yet more ardently after the history of their +own, may be naturally expected; and, indeed, this part of the library is +no common instance of diligence and accuracy. Here are to be found, with +the ancient chronicles, and larger histories of Britain, the narratives +of single reigns, and the accounts of remarkable revolutions, the +topographical histories of counties, the pedigrees of families, the +antiquities of churches and cities, the proceedings of parliaments, the +records of monasteries, and the lives of particular men, whether eminent +in the church or the state, or remarkable in private life; whether +exemplary for their virtues, or detestable for their crimes; whether +persecuted for religion, or executed for rebellion. + +That memorable period of the English history, which begins with the +reign of king Charles the first, and ends with the Restoration, will +almost furnish a library alone; such is the number of volumes, pamphlets +and papers, which were published by either party; and such is the care +with which they have been preserved. + +Nor is history without the necessary preparatives and attendants, +geography and chronology: of geography, the best writers and delineators +have been procured, and pomp and accuracy have been both regarded; the +student of chronology may here find, likewise, those authors who +searched the records of time, and fixed the periods of history. + +With the historians and geographers may be ranked the writers of voyages +and travels, which may be read here in the Latin, English, Dutch, +German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages. + +The laws of different countries, as they are in themselves equally +worthy of curiosity with their history, have, in this collection, been +justly regarded; and the rules by which the various communities of the +world are governed, may be here examined and compared. Here are the +ancient editions of the papal decretals, and the commentators on the +civil law, the edicts of Spain, and the statutes of Venice. + +But with particular industry have the various writers on the laws of our +own country been collected, from the most ancient to the present time, +from the bodies of the statutes to the minutest treatise; not only the +reports, precedents, and readings of our own courts, but even the laws +of our West-Indian colonies, will be exhibited in our catalogue. + +But neither history nor law have been so far able to engross this +library, as to exclude physick, philosophy, or criticism. Those have +been thought, with justice, worthy of a place, who have examined the +different species of animals, delineated their forms, or described their +properties and instincts; or who have penetrated the bowels of the +earth, treated on its different strata, and analyzed its metals; or who +have amused themselves with less laborious speculations, and planted +trees, or cultivated flowers. + +Those that have exalted their thoughts above the minuter parts of the +creation, who have observed the motions of the heavenly bodies, and +attempted systems of the universe, have not been denied the honour which +they deserved by so great an attempt, whatever has been their success. +Nor have those mathematicians been rejected, who have applied their +science to the common purposes of life; or those that have deviated into +the kindred arts of tacticks, architecture, and fortification. + +Even arts of far less importance have found their authors, nor have +these authors been despised by the boundless curiosity of the +proprietors of the Harleian library. The writers on horsemanship and +fencing are more numerous and more bulky than could be expected by those +who reflect, how seldom those excel in either, whom their education has +qualified to compose books. + +The admirer of Greek and Roman literature will meet, in this collection, +with editions little known to the most inquisitive criticks, and which +have escaped the observation of those whose great employment has been +the collation of copies; nor will he find only the most ancient editions +of Faustus, Jenson, Spira, Sweynheim and Pannartz, but the most +accurate, likewise, and beautiful of Colinaeus, the Juntae, Plantin, +Aldus, the Stephens, and Elzevir, with the commentaries and observations +of the most learned editors. + +Nor are they accompanied only with the illustrations of those who have +confined their attempts to particular writers, but of those, likewise, +who have treated on any part of the Greek or Roman antiquities, their +laws, their customs, their dress, their buildings, their wars, their +revenues, or the rites and ceremonies of their worship, and those that +have endeavoured to explain any of their authors from their statues or +their coins. + +Next to the ancients, those writers deserve to be mentioned, who, at the +restoration of literature, imitated their language and their style with +so great success, or who laboured with so much industry to make them +understood: such were Philelphus and Politian, Scaliger and Buchanan, +and the poets of the age of Leo the tenth; these are, likewise, to be +found in this library, together with the Deliciæ, or collections of all +nations. + +Painting is so nearly allied to poetry, that it cannot be wondered that +those who have so much esteemed the one, have paid an equal regard to +the other; and, therefore, it may be easily imagined, that the +collection of prints is numerous in an uncommon degree; but, surely, the +expectation of every man will be exceeded, when he is informed that +there are more than forty thousand engraven from Raphael, Titian, Guido, +the Carraccis, and a thousand others, by Nanteuil, Hollar, Callet, +Edelinck, and Dorigny, and other engravers of equal reputation. + +Their is also a great collection of original drawings, of which three +seem to deserve a particular mention: the first exhibits a +representation of the inside of St. Peter's church at Rome; the second, +of that of St. John Lateran; and the third, of the high altar of St. +Ignatius; all painted with the utmost accuracy, in their proper colours. + +As the value of this great collection may he conceived from this +account, however imperfect; as the variety of subjects must engage the +curiosity of men of different studies, inclinations, and employments, it +may be thought of very little use to mention any slighter advantages, or +to dwell on the decorations and embellishments which the generosity of +the proprietors has bestowed upon it; yet, since the compiler of the +Thuanian catalogue thought not even that species of elegance below his +observation, it may not be improper to observe, that the Harleian +library, perhaps, excels all others, not more in the number and +excellence, than in the splendour of its volumes[3]. + +We may now, surely, be allowed to hope, that our catalogue will not be +thought unworthy of the publick curiosity; that it will be purchased as +a record of this great collection, and preserved as one of the memorials +of learning. + +The patrons of literature will forgive the purchaser of this library, if +he presumes to assert some claim to their protection and encouragement, +as he may have been instrumental in continuing to this nation the +advantage of it. The sale of Vossius's collection into a foreign +country, is, to this day, regretted by men of letters; and if this +effort for the prevention of another loss of the same kind should be +disadvantageous to him, no man will hereafter willingly risk his fortune +in the cause of learning. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This apology is no longer necessary, when the catalogue of Lord + Spencer's library is published at 16_l_. 16_s_. See Dibdin's + Bibliomania, Aedes Althorpianæ, and the indignant complaints of the + author of the Pursuits of Literature.--Ed. + +[2] It is not quite clear to whom Johnson here alludes; perhaps to + Bentley, and with reference to some of Garth's expressions: + + So diamonds take a lustre from their foil; + And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle. + Dispensary, Canto V. + +[3] Mr. Dibdin informs us, that Lord Oxford gave 18,000_l_ for the + _binding_ only the least part of the Harleian Library. See his + Bibliomania.--Ed. + + + + +AN +ESSAY +ON THE +ORIGIN AND IMPORTANCE +OF +SMALL TRACTS AND FUGITIVE PIECES. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTRODUCTION TO +THE HARLEIAN MISCELLANY. + +Though the scheme of the following miscellany is so obvious, that the +title alone is sufficient to explain it; and though several collections +have been formerly attempted, upon plans, as to the method, very little, +but, as to the capacity and execution, very different from ours; we, +being possessed of the greatest variety for such a work, hope for a more +general reception than those confined schemes had the fortune to meet +with; and, therefore, think it not wholly unnecessary to explain our +intentions, to display the treasure of materials out of which this +miscellany is to be compiled, and to exhibit a general idea of the +pieces which we intend to insert in it. + +There is, perhaps, no nation in which it is so necessary, as in our own, +to assemble, from time to time, the small tracts and fugitive pieces, +which are occasionally published; for, besides the general subjects of +inquiry, which are cultivated by us, in common with every other learned +nation, our constitution in church and state naturally gives birth to a +multitude of performances, which would either not have been written, or +could not have been made publick in any other place. + +The form of our government, which gives every man, that has leisure, or +curiosity, or vanity, the right of inquiring into the propriety of +publick measures, and, by consequence, obliges those who are intrusted +with the administration of national affairs, to give an account of their +conduct to almost every man who demands it, may be reasonably imagined +to have occasioned innumerable pamphlets, which would never have +appeared under arbitrary governments, where every man lulls himself in +indolence under calamities, of which he cannot promote the redress, or +thinks it prudent to conceal the uneasiness, of which he cannot complain +without danger. + +The multiplicity of religious sects tolerated among us, of which every +one has found opponents and vindicators, is another source of +unexhaustible publication, almost peculiar to ourselves; for +controversies cannot be long continued, nor frequently revived, where an +inquisitor has a right to shut up the disputants in dungeons; or where +silence can be imposed on either party, by the refusal of a license. + +Not, that it should be inferred from hence, that political or religious +controversies are the only products of the liberty of the British press; +the mind once let loose to inquiry, and suffered to operate without +restraint, necessarily deviates into peculiar opinions, and wanders in +new tracks, where she is, indeed, sometimes lost in a labyrinth, from +which though she cannot return, and scarce knows how to proceed; yet, +sometimes, makes useful discoveries, or finds out nearer paths to +knowledge. + +The boundless liberty with which every man may write his own thoughts, +and the opportunity of conveying new sentiments to the publick, without +danger of suffering either ridicule or censure, which every man may +enjoy, whose vanity does not incite him too hastily to own his +performances, naturally invites those who employ themselves in +speculation, to try how their notions will be received by a nation, +which exempts caution from fear, and modesty from shame; and it is no +wonder, that where reputation may be gained, but needs not be lost, +multitudes are willing to try their fortune, and thrust their opinions +into the light; sometimes with unsuccessful haste, and sometimes with +happy temerity. + +It is observed, that, among the natives of England, is to be found a +greater variety of humour, than in any other country; and, doubtless, +where every man has a full liberty to propagate his conceptions, variety +of humour must produce variety of writers; and, where the number of +authors is so great, there cannot but be some worthy of distinction. + +All these, and many other causes, too tedious to be enumerated, have +contributed to make pamphlets and small tracts a very important part of +an English library; nor are there any pieces, upon which those, who +aspire to the reputation of judicious collectors of books, bestow more +attention, or greater expense; because many advantages may be expected +from the perusal of these small productions, which are scarcely to be +found in that of larger works. + +If we regard history, it is well known, that most political treatises +have for a long time appeared in this form, and that the first relations +of transactions, while they are yet the subject of conversation, divide +the opinions, and employ the conjectures of mankind, are delivered by +these petty writers, who have opportunities of collecting the different +sentiments of disputants, of inquiring the truth from living witnesses, +and of copying their representations from the life; and, therefore, they +preserve a multitude of particular incidents, which are forgotten in a +short time, or omitted in formal relations, and which are yet to be +considered as sparks of truth, which, when united, may afford light in +some of the darkest scenes of state, as, we doubt not, will be +sufficiently proved in the course of this miscellany; and which it is, +therefore, the interest of the publick to preserve unextinguished. + +The same observation may be extended to subjects of yet more importance. +In controversies that relate to the truths of religion, the first essays +of reformation are generally timorous; and those, who have opinions to +offer, which they expect to be opposed, produce their sentiments, by +degrees, and, for the most part, in small tracts: by degrees, that they +may not shock their readers with too many novelties at once; and in +small tracts, that they may be easily dispersed, or privately printed. +Almost every controversy, therefore, has been, for a time, carried on in +pamphlets, nor has swelled into larger volumes, till the first ardour of +the disputants has subsided, and they have recollected their notions +with coolness enough to digest them into order, consolidate them into +systems, and fortify them with authorities. + +From pamphlets, consequently, are to be learned the progress of every +debate; the various state to which the questions have been changed; the +artifices and fallacies which have been used, and the subterfuges by +which reason has been eluded. In such writings may be seen how the mind +has been opened by degrees, how one truth has led to another, how errour +has been disentangled, and hints improved to demonstration, which +pleasure, and many others, are lost by him that only reads the larger +writers, by whom these scattered sentiments are collected, who will see +none of the changes of fortune which every opinion has passed through, +will have no opportunity of remarking the transient advantages which +errour may sometimes obtain, by the artifices of its patron, or the +successful rallies, by which truth regains the day, after a repulse; but +will be to him, who traces the dispute through into particular +gradations, as he that hears of a victory, to him that sees the battle. + +Since the advantages of preserving these small tracts are so numerous, +our attempt to unite them in volumes cannot be thought either useless or +unseasonable; for there is no other method of securing them from +accidents; and they have already been so long neglected, that this +design cannot be delayed, without hazarding the loss of many pieces, +which deserve to be transmitted to another age. + +The practice of publishing pamphlets on the most important subjects has +now prevailed more than two centuries among us; and, therefore, it +cannot be doubted, but that, as no large collections have been yet made, +many curious tracts must have perished; but it is too late to lament +that loss; nor ought we to reflect upon it, with any other view, than +that of quickening our endeavours for the preservation of those that yet +remain; of which we have now a greater number, than was, perhaps, ever +amassed by any one person. + +The first appearance of pamphlets among us is generally thought to be at +the new opposition raised against the errours and corruptions of the +church of Rome. Those who were first convinced of the reasonableness of +the new learning, as it was then called, propagated their opinions in +small pieces, which were cheaply printed, and, what was then of great +importance, easily concealed. These treatises were generally printed in +foreign countries, and are not, therefore, always very correct. There +was not then that opportunity of printing in private; for the number of +printers was small, and the presses were easily overlooked by the +clergy, who spared no labour or vigilance for the suppression of heresy. +There is, however, reason to suspect, that some attempts were made to +carry on the propagation of truth by a secret press; for one of the +first treatises in favour of the Reformation, is said, at the end, to be +printed at "Greenwich, by the permission of the Lord of Hosts." + +In the time of king Edward the sixth, the presses were employed in +favour of the reformed religion, and small tracts were dispersed over +the nation, to reconcile them to new forms of worship. In this reign, +likewise, political pamphlets may be said to have been begun, by the +address of the rebels of Devonshire; all which means of propagating the +sentiments of the people so disturbed the court, that no sooner was +queen Mary resolved to reduce her subjects to the Romish superstition, +but she artfully, by a charter[1], granted to certain freemen of London, +in whose fidelity, no doubt, she confided, entirely prohibited ALL +presses, but what should be licensed by them; which charter is that by +which the corporation of Stationers in London is, at this time, +incorporated. + +Under the reign of queen Elizabeth, when liberty again began to +flourish, the practice of writing pamphlets became more general; presses +were multiplied, and books were dispersed; and, I believe, it may +properly be said, that the trade of writing began at this time, and that +it has, ever since, gradually increased in the number, though, perhaps, +not in the style of those that followed it. + +In this reign was erected the first secret press against the church, as +now established, of which I have found any certain account. It was +employed by the Puritans, and conveyed from one part of the nation to +another, by them, as they found themselves in danger of discovery. From +this press issued most of the pamphlets against Whitgift and his +associates, in the ecclesiastical government; and, when it was at last +seized at Manchester, it was employed upon a pamphlet called More Work +for a Cooper. + +In the peaceable reign of king James, those minds which might, perhaps, +with less disturbance of the world, have been engrossed by war, were +employed in controversy; and writings of all kinds were multiplied among +us. The press, however, was not wholly engaged in polemical +performances, for more innocent subjects were sometimes treated; and it +deserves to be remarked, because it is not generally known, that the +treatises of husbandry and agriculture, which were published about that +time, are so numerous, that it can scarcely be imagined by whom they +were written, or to whom they were sold. + +The next reign is too well known to have been a time of confusion and +disturbance, and disputes of every kind; and the writings, which were +produced, bear a natural proportion to the number of the questions that +were discussed at that time; each party had its authors and its presses, +and no endeavours were omitted to gain proselytes to every opinion. I +know not whether this may not properly be called, The Age of Pamphlets; +for, though they, perhaps, may not arise to such multitudes as Mr. +Rawlinson imagined, they were, undoubtedly, more numerous than can be +conceived by any who have not had an opportunity of examining them. + +After the Restoration, the same differences, in religious opinions, are +well known to have subsisted, and the same political struggles to have +been frequently renewed; and, therefore, a great number of pens were +employed, on different occasions, till, at length, all other disputes +were absorbed in the popish controversy. + +From the pamphlets which these different periods of time produced, it is +proposed, that this miscellany shall be compiled, for which it cannot be +supposed that materials will be wanting; and, therefore, the only +difficulty will be in what manner to dispose them. + +Those who have gone before us, in undertakings of this kind, have ranged +the pamphlets, which chance threw into their hands, without any regard +either to the subject on which they treated, or the time in which they +were written; a practice in no wise to be imitated by us, who want for +no materials; of which we shall choose those we think best for the +particular circumstances of times and things, and most instructing and +entertaining to the reader. + +Of the different methods which present themselves, upon the first view +of the great heaps of pamphlets which the Harleian library exhibits[2], +the two which merit most attention are, to distribute the treatises +according to their subjects, or their dates; but neither of these ways +can be conveniently followed. By ranging our collection in order of +time, we must necessarily publish those pieces first, which least engage +the curiosity of the bulk of mankind; and our design must fall to the +ground, for want of encouragement, before it can be so far advanced as +to obtain general regard: by confining ourselves for any long time to +any single subject, we shall reduce our readers to one class; and, as we +shall lose all the grace of variety, shall disgust all those who read +chiefly to be diverted. There is, likewise, one objection of equal +force, against both these methods, that we shall preclude ourselves from +the advantage of any future discoveries; and we cannot hope to assemble +at once all the pamphlets which have been written in any age, or on any +subject. + +It may be added, in vindication of our intended practice, that it is the +same with that of Photius, whose collections are no less miscellaneous +than ours, and who declares, that he leaves it to his reader, to reduce +his extracts under their proper heads. + +Most of the pieces which shall be offered in this collection to the +publick, will be introduced by short prefaces, in which will be given +some account of the reasons for which they are inserted; notes will be +sometimes adjoined, for the explanation of obscure passages, or obsolete +expressions; and care will be taken to mingle use and pleasure through +the whole collection. Notwithstanding every subject may not be relished +by every reader, yet the buyer may be assured that each number will +repay his generous subscription. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Which begins thus, "Know ye, that We, considering and manifestly + perceiving, that several seditious and heretical books or tracts-- + against the faith and sound catholick doctrine of holy mother, the + Church," &c. + +[2] The pamphlets in the Harleian collection amounted in number to about +400,000. See Gough's Brit. Topog. 1669. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE CATALOGUE +OF THE +HARLEIAN LIBRARY, VOL. III. + +Having prefixed to the former volumes of my catalogue an account of the +prodigious collection accumulated in the Harleian library, there would +have been no necessity of any introduction to the subsequent volumes, +had not some censures, which this great undertaking has drawn upon me, +made it proper to offer to the publick an apology for my conduct. + +The price, which I have set upon my catalogue, has been represented by +the booksellers as an avaricious innovation; and, in a paper published +in the Champion, they, or their mercenary, have reasoned so justly, as +to allege, that, if I could afford a very large price for the library, I +might, therefore, afford to give away the catalogue. + +I should have imagined that accusations, concerted by such heads as +these, would have vanished of themselves, without any answer; but, since +I have the mortification to find that they have been in some degree +regarded by men of more knowledge than themselves, I shall explain the +motives of my procedure. + +My original design was, as I have already explained, to publish a +methodical and exact catalogue of this library, upon the plan which has +been laid down, as I am informed, by several men of the first rank among +the learned. It was intended by those who undertook the work, to make a +very exact disposition of all the subjects, and to give an account of +the remarkable differences of the editions, and other peculiarities, +which make any book eminently valuable: and it was imagined, that some +improvements might, by pursuing this scheme, be made in literary +history. + +With this view was the catalogue begun, when the price was fixed upon it +in publick advertisements; and it cannot be denied, that such a +catalogue would have been willingly purchased by those who understood +its use. But, when a few sheets had been printed, it was discovered, +that the scheme was impracticable, without more hands than could be +procured, or more time than the necessity of a speedy sale would allow: +the catalogue was, therefore, continued without notes, at least in the +greatest part; and, though it was still performed better than those +which are daily offered to the publick, fell much below the original +design. + +It was then no longer proper to insist upon a price; and, therefore, +though money was demanded, upon delivery of the catalogue, it was only +taken as a pledge that the catalogue was not, as is very frequent, +wantonly called for, by those who never intended to peruse it, and I, +therefore, promised that it should be taken again in exchange for any +book rated at the same value. + +It may be still said, that other booksellers give away their catalogues +without any such precaution, and that I ought not to make any new or +extraordinary demands. But I hope it will be considered, at how much +greater expense my catalogue was drawn up: and be remembered, that when +other booksellers give their catalogues, they give only what will be of +no use when their books are sold, and what, if it remained in their +hands, they must throw away: whereas I hope that this catalogue will +retain its use, and, consequently, its value, and be sold with the +catalogues of the Barberinian and Marckian libraries. + +However, to comply with the utmost expectations of the world, I have now +published the second part of my catalogue, upon conditions still more +commodious for the purchaser, as I intend, that all those who are +pleased to receive them at the same price of five shillings a volume, +shall be allowed, at any time, within three months after the day of +sale, either to return them in exchange for books, or to send them back, +and receive their money. + +Since, therefore, I have absolutely debarred myself from receiving any +advantage from the sale of the catalogue, it will be reasonable to +impute it rather to necessity than choice, that I shall continue it to +two volumes more, which the number of the single tracts which have been +discovered, makes indispensably requisite. I need not tell those who are +acquainted with affairs of this kind, how much pamphlets swell a +catalogue, since the title of the least book may be as long as that of +the greatest. + +Pamphlets have been for many years, in this nation, the canals of +controversy, politicks, and sacred history, and, therefore, will, +doubtless, furnish occasion to a very great number of curious remarks. +And I take this opportunity of proposing to those who are particularly +delighted with this kind of study, that, if they will encourage me, by a +reasonable subscription, to employ men qualified to make the +observations, for which this part of the catalogue will furnish +occasion, I will procure the whole fifth and sixth volumes[1] to be +executed in the same manner with the most laboured part of this, and +interspersed with notes of the same kind. + +If any excuse were necessary for the addition of these volumes, I have +already urged in my defence the strongest plea, no less than absolute +necessity, it being impossible to comprise in four volumes, however +large, or however closely printed, the titles which yet remain to be +mentioned. + +But, I suppose, none will blame the multiplication of volumes, to +whatever number they may be continued, which every one may use without +buying them, and which are, therefore, published at no expense but my +own. + +There is one accusation still remaining, by which I am more sensibly +affected, and which I am, therefore, desirous to obviate, before it has +too long prevailed. I hear that I am accused of rating my books at too +high a price, at a price which no other person would demand. To answer +this accusation, it is necessary to inquire what those who urge it, mean +by a high price. The price of things, valuable for their rarity, is +entirely arbitrary, and depends upon the variable taste of mankind, and +the casual fluctuation of the fashion, and can never be ascertained, +like that of things only estimable according to their use. + +If, therefore, I have set a high value upon books: if I have vainly +imagined literature to be more fashionable than it really is, or idly +hoped to revive a taste well nigh extinguished, I know not why I should +be persecuted with clamour and invective, since I only shall suffer by +my mistake, and be obliged to keep those books, which I was in hopes of +selling. + +If those who charge me with asking a _high price_, will explain their +meaning, it may be possible to give them an answer less general. If they +measure the price at which the books are now offered, by that at which +they were bought by the late possessor, they will find it diminished at +least three parts in four; if they would compare it with the demands of +other booksellers, they must first find the same books in their hands, +and they will be, perhaps, at last reduced to confess, that they mean, +by a high price, only a price higher than they are inclined to give. + +I have, at least, a right to hope, that no gentleman will receive an +account of the price from the booksellers, of whom it may easily be +imagined that they will be willing, since they cannot depreciate the +books, to exaggerate the price: and I will boldly promise those who have +been influenced by malevolent reports, that, if they will be pleased, at +the day of sale, to examine the prices with their own eyes, they will +find them lower than they have been represented. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This scheme was never executed; the fifth volume, the only one + subsequently published, was a mere shop catalogue. + + + + +A VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN +MONS. CROUSAZ AND MR. WARBURTON, +ON THE SUBJECT OF +MR. POPE'S ESSAY ON MAN, + +In a Letter to the Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xiii. 1743. + +Mr. Urban, + +It would not be found useless in the learned world, if in written +controversies as in oral disputations, a moderator could be selected, +who might, in some degree, superintend the debate, restrain all needless +excursions, repress all personal reflections, and, at last, recapitulate +the arguments on each side; and who, though he should not assume the +province of deciding the question, might at least exhibit it in its true +state. + +This reflection arose in my mind upon the consideration of Mr. Crousaz's +commentary on the Essay on Man, and Mr. Warburton's answer to it. The +importance of the subject, the reputation and abilities of the +controvertists, and, perhaps, the ardour with which each has endeavoured +to support his cause, have made an attempt of this kind necessary for +the information of the greatest number of Mr. Pope's readers. + +Among the duties of a moderator, I have mentioned that of recalling the +disputants to the subject, and cutting off the excrescences of a debate, +which Mr. Crousaz will not suffer to be long unemployed, and the +repression of personal invectives which have not been very carefully +avoided on either part, and are less excusable, because it has not been +proved, that, either the poet, or his commentator, wrote with any other +design than that of promoting happiness by cultivating reason and piety. + +Mr. Warburton has, indeed, so much depressed the character of his +adversary, that before I consider the controversy between them, I think +it necessary to exhibit some specimens of Mr. Crousaz's sentiments, by +which it will probably be shown, that he is far from deserving either +indignation or contempt; that his notions are just, though they are +sometimes introduced without necessity; and defended when they are not +opposed; and that his abilities and piety are such as may entitle him to +reverence from those who think his criticisms superfluous. + +In page 35 of the English translation, he exhibits an observation which +every writer ought to impress upon his mind, and which may afford a +sufficient apology for his commentary. + +On the notion of a ruling passion he offers this remark: "Nothing so +much hinders men from obtaining a complete victory over their ruling +passion, as that all the advantages gained in their days of retreat, by +just and sober reflections, whether struck out by their own minds, or +borrowed from good books, or from the conversation of men of merit, are +destroyed in a few moments by a free intercourse and acquaintance with +libertines; and, thus, the work is always to be begun anew. A gamester +resolves to leave off play, by which he finds his health impaired, his +family ruined, and his passions inflamed; in this resolution he persists +a few days, but soon yields to an invitation, which will give his +prevailing inclination an opportunity of reviving in all its force. The +case is the same with other men; but is reason to be charged with these +calamities and follies, or rather the man who refuses to listen to its +voice in opposition to impertinent solicitations?" + +On the means, recommended for the attainment of happiness, he observes, +"that the abilities which our Maker has given us, and the internal and +external advantages with which he has invested us, are of two very +different kinds; those of one kind are bestowed in common upon us and +the brute creation, but the other exalt us far above other animals. To +disregard any of these gifts would be ingratitude; but to neglect those +of greater excellence, to go no farther than the gross satisfactions of +sense, and the functions of mere animal life, would be a far greater +crime. We are formed by our Creator capable of acquiring knowledge, and +regulating our conduct by reasonable rules; it is, therefore, our duty +to cultivate our understandings, and exalt our virtues. We need but make +the experiment to find, that the greatest pleasures will arise from such +endeavours. + +"It is trifling to allege, in opposition to this truth, that knowledge +cannot be acquired, nor virtue pursued, without toil and efforts, and +that all efforts produce fatigue. God requires nothing disproportioned +to the powers he has given, and in the exercise of those powers consists +the highest satisfaction. + +"Toil and weariness are the effects of vanity: when a man has formed a +design of excelling others in merit, he is disquieted by their advances, +and leaves nothing unattempted, that he may step before them: this +occasions a thousand unreasonable emotions, which justly bring their +punishment along with them. + +"But let a man study and labour to cultivate and improve his abilities +in the eye of his Maker, and with the prospect of his approbation; let +him attentively reflect on the infinite value of that approbation, and +the highest encomiums that men can bestow will vanish into nothing at +the comparison. When we live in this manner, we find that we live for a +great and glorious end. + +"When this is our frame of mind, we find it no longer difficult to +restrain ourselves in the gratifications of eating and drinking, the +most gross enjoyments of sense. We take what is necessary to preserve +health and vigour, but are not to give ourselves up to pleasures that +weaken the attention, and dull the understanding." + +And the true sense of Mr. Pope's assertion, that "Whatever is, is +right," and, I believe, the sense in which it was written, is thus +explained:--"A sacred and adorable order is established in the +government of mankind. These are certain and unvaried truths: he that +seeks God, and makes it his happiness to live in obedience to him, shall +obtain what he endeavours after, in a degree far above his present +comprehension. He that turns his back upon his Creator, neglects to obey +him, and perseveres in his disobedience, shall obtain no other happiness +than he can receive from enjoyments of his own procuring; void of +satisfaction, weary of life, wasted by empty cares and remorses, equally +harassing and just, he will experience the certain consequences of his +own choice. Thus will justice and goodness resume their empire, and that +order be restored which men have broken." + +I am afraid of wearying you or your readers with more quotations, but if +you shall inform me that a continuation of my correspondence will be +well received, I shall descend to particular passages, show how Mr. Pope +gave sometimes occasion to mistakes, and how Mr. Crousaz was misled by +his suspicion of the system of fatality[1]. + +I am, Sir, yours, &c. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] It does not appear that Dr. Johnson found leisure or encouragement +to continue this subject any farther. + + + + +PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE +TO +THE LONDON CHRONICLE, + +JANUARY 1, 1757. + +It has always been lamented, that of the little time allotted to man, +much must be spent upon superfluities. Every prospect has its +obstructions, which we must break to enlarge our view; every step of our +progress finds impediments, which, however eager to go forward, we must +stop to remove. Even those who profess to teach the way to happiness, +have multiplied our encumbrances, and the author of almost every book +retards his instructions by a preface. + +The writers of the Chronicle hope to be easily forgiven, though they +should not be free from an infection that has seized the whole +fraternity, and instead of falling immediately to their subjects, should +detain the reader for a time with an account of the importance of their +design, the extent of their plan, and the accuracy of the method which +they intend to prosecute. Such premonitions, though not always necessary +when the reader has the book complete in his hand, and may find, by his +own eyes, whatever can be found in it, yet may be more easily allowed to +works published gradually in successive parts, of which the scheme can +only be so far known as the author shall think fit to discover it. + +The paper which we now invite the publick to add to the papers with +which it is already rather wearied than satisfied, consists of many +parts, some of which it has in common with other periodical sheets, and +some peculiar to itself. + +The first demand, made by the reader of a journal, is, that he should +find an accurate account of foreign transactions and domestick +incidents. This is always expected, but this is very rarely performed. +Of those writers who have taken upon themselves the task of +intelligence, some have given and others have sold their abilities, +whether small or great, to one or other of the parties that divide us; +and without a wish for truth or thought of decency, without care of any +other reputation than that of a stubborn adherence to their abettors, +carry on the same tenour of representation through all the vicissitudes +of right and wrong, neither depressed by detection, nor abashed by +confutation, proud of the hourly increase of infamy, and ready to boast +of all the contumelies that falsehood and slander may bring upon them, +as new proofs of their zeal and fidelity. + +With these heroes we have no ambition to be numbered; we leave to the +confessors of faction the merit of their sufferings, and are desirous to +shelter ourselves under the protection of truth. That all our facts will +be authentick, or all our remarks just, we dare not venture to promise: +we can relate but what we hear, we can point out but what we see. Of +remote transactions, the first accounts are always confused, and +commonly exaggerated: and in domestick affairs, if the power to conceal +is less, the interest to misrepresent is often greater; and, what is +sufficiently vexatious, truth seems to fly from curiosity, and as many +inquiries produce many narratives, whatever engages the publick +attention is immediately disguised by the embellishments of fiction. We +pretend to no peculiar power of disentangling contradiction or denuding +forgery, we have no settled correspondence with the antipodes, nor +maintain any spies in the cabinets of princes. But as we shall always be +conscious that our mistakes are involuntary, we shall watch the gradual +discoveries of time, and retract whatever we have hastily and +erroneously advanced. + +In the narratives of the daily writers every reader perceives somewhat +of neatness and purity wanting, which, at the first view, it seems easy +to supply; but it must be considered, that those passages must be +written in haste, and, that there is often no other choice, but that +they must want either novelty or accuracy; and that, as life is very +uniform, the affairs of one week are so like those of another, that by +any attempt after variety of expression, invention would soon be +wearied, and language exhausted. Some improvements, however, we hope to +make; and for the rest we think that, when we commit only common faults, +we shall not be excluded from common indulgence. + +The accounts of prices of corn and stocks are to most of our readers of +more importance than narratives of greater sound; and, as exactness is +here within the reach of diligence, our readers may justly require it +from us. + +Memorials of a private and personal kind, which relate deaths, +marriages, and preferments, must always be imperfect by omission, and +often erroneous by misinformation; but even in these there shall not be +wanting care to avoid mistakes, or to rectify them, whenever they shall +be found. + +That part of our work, by which it is distinguished from all others, is +the literary journal, or account of the labours and productions of the +learned. This was for a long time among the deficiencies of English +literature; but, as the caprice of man is always starting from too +little to too much, we have now, amongst other disturbers of human +quiet, a numerous body of reviewers and remarkers. + +Every art is improved by the emulation of competitors; those who make no +advances towards excellence, may stand as warnings against faults. We +shall endeavour to avoid that petulance which treats with contempt +whatever has hitherto been reputed sacred. We shall repress that elation +of malignity, which wantons in the cruelties of criticism, and not only +murders reputation, but murders it by torture. Whenever we feel +ourselves ignorant we shall at least be modest. Our intention is not to +preoccupy judgment by praise or censure, but to gratify curiosity by +early intelligence, and to tell rather what our authors have attempted, +than what they have performed. The titles of books are necessarily +short, and, therefore, disclose but imperfectly the contents; they are +sometimes fraudulent and intended to raise false expectations. In our +account this brevity will be extended, and these frauds, whenever they +are detected, will be exposed; for though we write without intention to +injure, we shall not suffer ourselves to be made parties to deceit. + +If any author shall transmit a summary of his work, we shall willingly +receive it; if any literary anecdote, or curious observation, shall be +communicated to us, we will carefully insert it. Many facts are known +and forgotten, many observations are made and suppressed; and +entertainment and instruction are frequently lost, for want of a +repository in which they may be conveniently preserved. + +No man can modestly promise what he cannot ascertain: we hope for the +praise of knowledge and discernment, but we claim only that of diligence +and candour[1]. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Dr. Johnson received the humble reward of a guinea from Mr. Dodsley +for this composition. + + + + +INTRODUCTION +TO THE +WORLD DISPLAYED[1]. + +Navigation, like other arts, has been perfected by degrees. It is not +easy to conceive that any age or nation was without some vessel, in +which rivers might be passed by travellers, or lakes frequented by +fishermen; but we have no knowledge of any ship that could endure the +violence of the ocean before the ark of Noah. + +As the tradition of the deluge has been transmitted to almost all the +nations of the earth, it must be supposed that the memory of the means, +by which Noah and his family were preserved, would be continued long +among their descendants, and that the possibility of passing the seas +could never be doubted. + +What men know to be practicable, a thousand motives will incite them to +try; and there is reason to believe, that from the time that the +generations of the postdiluvian race spread to the seashores, there were +always navigators that ventured upon the sea, though, perhaps, not +willingly beyond the sight of land. + +Of the ancient voyages little certain is known, and it is not necessary +to lay before the reader such conjectures as learned men have offered to +the world. The Romans, by conquering Carthage, put a stop to great part +of the trade of distant nations with one another, and because they +thought only on war and conquest, as their empire increased, commerce +was discouraged; till under the latter emperours, ships seem to have +been of little other use than to transport soldiers. + +Navigation could not be carried to any great degree of certainty without +the compass, which was unknown to the ancients. The wonderful quality by +which a needle or small bar of steel, touched with a loadstone or +magnet, and turning freely by equilibration on a point, always preserves +the meridian, and directs its two ends north and south, was discovered, +according to the common opinion, in 1299, by John Gola of Amalfi, a town +in Italy. + +From this time it is reasonable to suppose that navigation made +continual, though slow, improvements, which the confusion and barbarity +of the times, and the want of communication between orders of men so +distant as sailors and monks, hindered from being distinctly and +successively recorded. + +It seems, however, that the sailors still wanted either knowledge or +courage, for they continued for two centuries to creep along the coast, +and considered every head-land as impassable, which ran far into the +sea, and against which the waves broke with uncommon agitation. + +The first who is known to have formed the design of new discoveries, or +the first who had power to execute his purposes, was Don Henry the +fifth[2], son of John, the first king of Portugal, and Philippina, +sister of Henry the fourth of England. Don Henry, having attended his +father to the conquest of Ceuta, obtained, by conversation with the +inhabitants of the continent, some accounts of the interiour kingdoms +and southern coast of Africa; which, though rude and indistinct, were +sufficient to raise his curiosity, and convince him, that there were +countries yet unknown and worthy of discovery. + +He, therefore, equipped some small vessels, and commanded that they +should pass, as far as they could, along that coast of Africa which +looked upon the great Atlantick ocean, the immensity of which struck the +gross and unskilful navigators of those times with terrour and +amazement. He was not able to communicate his own ardour to his seamen, +who proceeded very slowly in the new attempt; each was afraid to venture +much farther than he that went before him, and ten years were spent +before they had advanced beyond cape Bajador, so called from its +progression into the ocean, and the circuit by which it must be doubled. +The opposition of this promontory to the course of the sea, produced a +violent current and high waves, into which they durst not venture, and +which they had not yet knowledge enough to avoid, by standing off from +the land into the open sea. + +The prince was desirous to know something of the countries that lay +beyond this formidable cape, and sent two commanders, named John +Gonzales Zarco, and Tristan Vas, in 1418, to pass beyond Bajador, and +survey the coast behind it. They were caught by a tempest, which drove +them out into the unknown ocean, where they expected to perish by the +violence of the wind, or, perhaps, to wander for ever in the boundless +deep. At last, in the midst of their despair, they found a small island, +where they sheltered themselves, and which the sense of their +deliverance disposed them to call Puerto Santo, or the Holy Haven. + +When they returned with an account of this new island, Henry performed a +publick act of thanksgiving, and sent them again with seeds and cattle; +and we are told by the Spanish historian, that they set two rabbits on +shore, which increased so much in a few years, that they drove away the +inhabitants, by destroying their corn and plants, and were suffered to +enjoy the island without opposition. + +In the second or third voyage to Puerto Santo, (for authors do not agree +which,) a third captain, called Perello, was joined to the two former. +As they looked round the island upon the ocean, they saw at a distance +something which they took for a cloud, till they perceived that it did +not change its place. They directed their course towards it, and, in +1419, discovered another island covered with trees, which they, +therefore, called Madera, or the Isle of Wood. + +Madera was given to Vaz or Zarco, who set fire to the woods, which are +reported by Souza to have burnt for seven years together, and to have +been wasted, till want of wood was the greatest inconveniency of the +place. But green wood is not very apt to burn, and the heavy rains which +fall in these countries must, surely, have extinguished the +conflagration, were it ever so violent. + +There was yet little progress made upon the southern coast, and Henry's +project was treated as chimerical by many of his countrymen. At last +Gilianes, in 1433, passed the dreadful cape, to which he gave the name +of Bajador, and came back, to the wonder of the nation. + +In two voyages more, made in the two following years, they passed +forty-two leagues farther, and in the latter, two men with horses being +set on shore, wandered over the country, and found nineteen men, whom, +according to the savage mariners of that age, they attacked; the +natives, having javelins, wounded one of the Portuguese, and received +some wounds from them. At the mouth of a river they found sea-wolves in +great numbers, and brought home many of their skins, which were much +esteemed. + +Antonio Gonzales, who had been one of the associates of Gilianes, was +sent again, in 1440, to bring back a cargo of the skins of sea-wolves. +He was followed in another ship by Nunno Tristam. They were now of +strength sufficient to venture upon violence; they, therefore, landed, +and, without either right or provocation, made all whom they seized +their prisoners, and brought them to Portugal, with great commendations +both from the prince and the nation. + +Henry now began to please himself with the success of his projects, and, +as one of his purposes was the conversion of infidels, he thought it +necessary to impart his undertaking to the pope, and to obtain the +sanction of ecclesiastical authority. To this end Fernando Lopez +d'Azevedo was despatched to Rome, who related to the pope and cardinals +the great designs of Henry, and magnified his zeal for the propagation +of religion. The pope was pleased with the narrative, and by a formal +bull, conferred upon the crown of Portugal all the countries which +should be discovered as far as India, together with India itself, and +granted several privileges and indulgences to the churches which Henry +had built in his new regions, and to the men engaged in the navigation +for discovery. By this bull all other princes were forbidden to encroach +upon the conquests of the Portuguese, on pain of the censures incurred +by the crime of usurpation. + +The approbation of the pope, the sight of men, whose manners and +appearance were so different from those of Europeans, and the hope of +gain from golden regions, which has been always the great incentive to +hazard and discovery, now began to operate with full force. The desire +of riches and of dominion, which is yet more pleasing to the fancy, +filled the court of the Portuguese prince with innumerable adventurers +from very distant parts of Europe. Some wanted to be employed in the +search after new countries, and some to be settled in those which had +been already found. + +Communities now began to be animated by the spirit of enterprise, and +many associations were formed for the equipment of ships, and the +acquisition of the riches of distant regions, which, perhaps, were +always supposed to be more wealthy, as more remote. These undertakers +agreed to pay the prince a fifth part of the profit, sometimes a greater +share, and sent out the armament at their own expense. + +The city of Lagos was the first that carried on this design by +contribution. The inhabitants fitted out six vessels, under the command +of Lucarot, one of the prince's household, and soon after fourteen more +were furnished for the same purpose, under the same commander; to those +were added many belonging to private men, so that, in a short time, +twenty-six ships put to sea in quest of whatever fortune should present. + +The ships of Lagos were soon separated by foul weather, and the rest, +taking each its own course, stopped at different parts of the African +coast, from cape Blanco to cape Verd. Some of them, in 1444, anchored at +Gomera, one of the Canaries, where they were kindly treated by the +inhabitants, who took them into their service against the people of the +isle of Palma, with whom they were at war; but the Portuguese, at their +return to Gomera, not being made so rich as they expected, fell upon +their friends, in contempt of all the laws of hospitality and +stipulations of alliance, and, making several of them prisoners and +slaves, set sail for Lisbon. + +The Canaries are supposed to have been known, however imperfectly, to +the ancients; but, in the confusion of the subsequent ages, they were +lost and forgotten, till, about the year 1340, the Biscayners found +Lucarot, and invading it, (for to find a new country, and invade it has +always been the same,) brought away seventy captives, and some +commodities of the place. Louis de la Cerda, count of Clermont, of the +blood royal both of France and Spain, nephew of John de la Cerda, who +called himself the Prince of Fortune, had once a mind to settle in those +islands, and applying himself first to the king of Arragon, and then to +Clement the sixth, was by the pope crowned at Avignon, king of the +Canaries, on condition that he should reduce them to the true religion; +but the prince altered his mind, and went into France to serve against +the English. The kings both of Castile and Portugal, though they did not +oppose the papal grant, yet complained of it, as made without their +knowledge, and in contravention of their rights. + +The first settlement in the Canaries was made by John de Betancour, a +French gentleman, for whom his kinsman Robin de Braquement, admiral of +France, begged them, with the title of king, from Henry the magnificent +of Castile, to whom he had done eminent services. John made himself +master of some of the isles, but could never conquer the grand Canary; +and having spent all that he had, went back to Europe, leaving his +nephew, Massiot de Betancour, to take care of his new dominion. Massiot +had a quarrel with the vicar-general, and was, likewise, disgusted by +the long absence of his uncle, whom the French king detained in his +service, and being able to keep his ground no longer, he transferred his +rights to Don Henry, in exchange for some districts in the Madera, where +he settled his family. + +Don Henry, when he had purchased those islands, sent thither, in 1424, +two thousand five hundred foot, and a hundred and twenty horse; but the +army was too numerous to be maintained by the country. The king of +Castile afterwards claimed them, as conquered by his subjects under +Betancour, and held under the crown of Castile by fealty and homage: his +claim was allowed, and the Canaries were resigned. + +It was the constant practice of Henry's navigators, when they stopped at +a desert island, to land cattle upon it, and leave them to breed, where, +neither wanting room nor food, they multiplied very fast, and furnished +a very commodious supply to those who came afterwards to the same place. +This was imitated, in some degree, by Anson, at the isle of Juan +Fernandez. + +The island of Madera he not only filled with inhabitants, assisted by +artificers of every kind, but procured such plants as seemed likely to +flourish in that climate, and introduced the sugar-canes and vines which +afterwards produced a very large revenue. + +The trade of Africa now began to be profitable, but a great part of the +gain arose from the sale of slaves, who were annually brought into +Portugal, by hundreds, as Lafitau relates, and without any appearance of +indignation or compassion; they, likewise, imported gold dust in such +quantities, that Alphonso the fifth coined it into a new species of +money called Crusades, which is still continued in Portugal. + +In time they made their way along the south coast of Africa, eastward to +the country of the negroes, whom they found living in tents, without any +political institutions, supporting life, with very little labour, by the +milk of their kine, and millet, to which those who inhabited the coast +added fish dried in the sun. Having never seen the natives, or heard of +the arts of Europe, they gazed with astonishment on the ships, when they +approached their coasts, sometimes thinking them birds, and sometimes +fishes, according as their sails were spread or lowered; and sometimes +conceiving them to be only phantoms, which played to and fro in the +ocean. Such is the account given by the historian, perhaps, with too +much prejudice against a negro's understanding, who, though he might +well wonder at the bulk and swiftness of the first ship, would scarcely +conceive it to be either a bird or a fish, but having seen many bodies +floating in the water, would think it, what it really is, a large boat; +and, if he had no knowledge of any means by which separate pieces of +timber may be joined together, would form very wild notions concerning +its construction, or, perhaps, suppose it to be a hollow trunk of a +tree, from some country where trees grow to a much greater height and +thickness than in his own. + +When the Portuguese came to land, they increased the astonishment of the +poor inhabitants, who saw men clad in iron, with thunder and lightning +in their hands. They did not understand each other, and signs are a very +imperfect mode of communication, even to men of more knowledge than the +negroes, so that they could not easily negotiate or traffick: at last +the Portuguese laid hands on some of them, to carry them home for a +sample; and their dread and amazement was raised, says Lafitau, to the +highest pitch, when the Europeans fired their cannons and muskets among +them, and they saw their companions fall dead at their feet, without any +enemy at hand, or any visible cause of their destruction. + +On what occasion, or for what purpose, cannons and muskets were +discharged among a people harmless and secure, by strangers who, without +any right, visited their coast, it is not thought necessary to inform +us. The Portuguese could fear nothing from them, and had, therefore, no +adequate provocation; nor is there any reason to believe but that they +murdered the negroes in wanton merriment, perhaps, only to try how many +a volley would destroy, or what would be the consternation of those that +should escape. We are openly told, that they had the less scruple +concerning their treatment of the savage people, because they scarcely +considered them as distinct from beasts; and, indeed, the practice of +all the European nations, and among others, of the English barbarians +that cultivate the southern islands of America, proves, that this +opinion, however absurd and foolish, however wicked and injurious, still +continues to prevail. Interest and pride harden the heart, and it is in +vain to dispute against avarice and power. + +By these practices the first discoverers alienated the natives from +them; and whenever a ship appeared, every one that could fly betook +himself to the mountains and the woods, so that nothing was to be got +more than they could steal: they sometimes surprised a few fishers, and +made them slaves, and did what they could to offend the negroes, and +enrich themselves. This practice of robbery continued till some of the +negroes, who had been enslaved, learned the language of Portugal, so as +to be able to interpret for their countrymen, and one John Fernandez +applied himself to the negro tongue. + +From this time began something like a regular traffick, such as can +subsist between nations where all the power is on one side; and a +factory was settled in the isle of Arguin, under the protection of a +fort. The profit of this new trade was assigned, for a certain term, to +Ferdinando Gomez; which seems to be the common method of establishing a +trade, that is yet too small to engage the care of a nation, and can +only be enlarged by that attention which is bestowed by private men upon +private advantage. Gomez continued the discoveries to cape Catharine, +two degrees and a half beyond the line. + +In the latter part of the reign of Alphonso the fifth, the ardour of +discovery was somewhat intermitted, and all commercial enterprises were +interrupted by the wars in which he was engaged with various success. +But John the second, who succeeded, being fully convinced both of the +honour and advantage of extending his dominions in countries hitherto +unknown, prosecuted the designs of prince Henry with the utmost vigour, +and in a short time added to his other titles, that of king of Guinea +and of the coast of Africa. + +In 1463, in the third year of the reign of John the second, died prince +Henry, the first encourager of remote navigation, by whose incitement, +patronage and example, distant nations have been made acquainted with +each other, unknown countries have been brought into general view, and +the power of Europe has been extended to the remotest parts of the +world. What mankind has lost and gained by the genius and designs of +this prince, it would be long to compare, and very difficult to +estimate. Much knowledge has been acquired, and much cruelty been +committed; the belief of religion has been very little propagated, and +its laws have been outrageously and enormously violated. The Europeans +have scarcely visited any coast, but to gratify avarice, and extend +corruption; to arrogate dominion without right, and practise cruelty +without incentive. Happy had it, then, been for the oppressed, if the +designs of Henry had slept in his bosom, and surely more happy for the +oppressors. But there is reason to hope that out of so much evil, good +may sometimes be produced; and that the light of the gospel will at last +illuminate the sands of Africa, and the deserts of America, though its +progress cannot but be slow, when it is so much obstructed by the lives +of Christians. + +The death of Henry did not interrupt the progress of king John, who was +very strict in his injunctions, not only to make discoveries, but to +secure possession of the countries that were found. The practice of the +first navigators was only to raise a cross upon the coast, and to carve +upon trees the device of Don Henry, the name which they thought it +proper to give to the new coast, and any other information, for those +that might happen to follow them; but now they began to erect piles of +stone with a cross on the top, and engraved on the stone the arms of +Portugal, the name of the king, and of the commander of the ship, with +the day and year of the discovery. This was accounted sufficient to +prove their claim to the new lands; which might be pleaded, with justice +enough, against any other Europeans, and the rights of the original +inhabitants were never taken into notice. Of these stone records, nine +more were erected in the reign of king John, along the coast of Africa, +as far as the cape of Good Hope. + +The fortress in the isle of Arguin was finished, and it was found +necessary to build another at S. Georgio de la Mina, a few degrees north +of the line, to secure the trade of gold dust, which was chiefly carried +on at that place. For this purpose a fleet was fitted out, of ten large +and three smaller vessels, freighted with materials for building the +fort, and with provisions and ammunition for six hundred men, of whom +one hundred were workmen and labourers. Father Lafitau relates, in very +particular terms, that these ships carried hewn stones, bricks, and +timber, for the fort, so that nothing remained but barely to erect it. +He does not seem to consider how small a fort could be made out of the +lading often ships. + +The command of this fleet was given to Don Diego d'Azambue, who set sail +December 11, 1481, and reaching La Mina January 19, 1482, gave immediate +notice of his arrival to Caramansa, a petty prince of that part of the +country, whom he very earnestly invited to an immediate conference. + +Having received a message of civility from the negro chief, he landed, +and chose a rising ground, proper for his intended fortress, on which he +planted a banner with the arms of Portugal, and took possession in the +name of his master. He then raised an altar at the foot of a great tree, +on which mass was celebrated, the whole assembly, says Lafitau, breaking +out into tears of devotion at the prospect of inviting these barbarous +nations to the profession of the true faith. Being secure of the +goodness of the end, they had no scruple about the means, nor ever +considered how differently from the primitive martyrs and apostles they +were attempting to make proselytes. The first propagators of +Christianity recommended their doctrines by their sufferings and +virtues; they entered no defenceless territories with swords in their +hands; they built no forts upon ground to which they had no right, nor +polluted the purity of religion with the avarice of trade, or insolence +of power. + +What may still raise higher the indignation of a Christian mind, this +purpose of propagating truth appears never to have been seriously +pursued by any European nation; no means, whether lawful or unlawful, +have been practised with diligence and perseverance for the conversion +of savages. When a fort is built, and a factory established, there +remains no other care than to grow rich. It is soon found that ignorance +is most easily kept in subjection, and that by enlightening the mind +with truth, fraud and usurpation would be made less practicable and less +secure. + +In a few days an interview was appointed between Caramansa and Azambue. +The Portuguese uttered, by his interpreter, a pompous speech, in which +he made the negro prince large offers of his master's friendship, +exhorting him to embrace the religion of his new ally; and told him, +that, as they came to form a league of friendship with him, it was +necessary that they should build a fort, which might serve as a retreat +from their common enemies, and in which the Portuguese might be always +at hand to lend him assistance. + +The negro, who seemed very well to understand what the admiral intended, +after a short pause, returned an answer full of respect to the king of +Portugal, but appeared a little doubtful what to determine with relation +to the fort. The commander saw his diffidence, and used all his art of +persuasion to overcome it. Caramansa, either induced by hope, or +constrained by fear, either desirous to make them friends, or not daring +to make them enemies, consented, with a show of joy, to that which it +was not in his power to refuse; and the new comers began the next day to +break the ground for the foundation of a fort. + +Within the limit of their intended fortification were some spots +appropriated to superstitious practices; which the negroes no sooner +perceived in danger of violation by the spade and pickaxe, than they ran +to arms, and began to interrupt the work. The Portuguese persisted in +their purpose, and there had soon been tumult and bloodshed, had not the +admiral, who was at a distance to superintend the unlading the materials +for the edifice, been informed of the danger. He was told, at the same +time, that the support of their superstition was only a pretence, and +that all their rage might be appeased by the presents which the prince +expected, the delay of which had greatly offended him. + +The Portuguese admiral immediately ran to his men, prohibited all +violence, and stopped the commotion; he then brought out the presents, +and spread them with great pomp before the prince; if they were of no +great value, they were rare, for the negroes had never seen such wonders +before; they were, therefore, received with ecstacy, and, perhaps, the +Portuguese derided them for their fondness of trifles, without +considering how many things derive their value only from their scarcity, +and that gold and rubies would be trifles, if nature had scattered them +with less frugality. + +The work was now peaceably continued, and such was the diligence with +which the strangers hastened to secure the possession of the country, +that in twenty days they had sufficiently fortified themselves against +the hostility of the negroes. They then proceeded to complete their +design. + +A church was built in the place where the first altar had been raised, +on which a mass was established to be celebrated for ever once a day, +for the repose of the soul of Henry, the first mover of these +discoveries. + +In this fort the admiral remained with sixty soldiers, and sent back the +rest in the ships, with gold, slaves, and other commodities. It may be +observed that slaves were never forgotten, and that, wherever they went, +they gratified their pride, if not their avarice, and brought some of +the natives, when it happened that they brought nothing else. + +The Portuguese endeavoured to extend their dominions still farther. They +had gained some knowledge of the Jaloffs, a nation inhabiting the coast +of Guinea, between the Gambia and Senegal. The king of the Jaloffs being +vicious and luxurious, committed the care of the government to Bemoin, +his brother by the mother's side, in preference to two other brothers by +his father. Bemoin, who wanted neither bravery nor prudence, knew that +his station was invidious and dangerous, and, therefore, made an +alliance with the Portuguese, and retained them in his defence by +liberality and kindness. At last the king was killed by the contrivance +of his brothers, and Bemoin was to lose his power, or maintain it by +war. + +He had recourse, in this exigence, to his great ally the king of +Portugal, who promised to support him, on condition that he should +become a Christian, and sent an ambassador, accompanied with +missionaries. Bemoin promised all that was required, objecting only, +that the time of a civil war was not a proper season for a change of +religion, which would alienate his adherents; but said, that when he was +once peaceably established, he would not only embrace the true religion +himself, but would endeavour the conversion of the kingdom. + +This excuse was admitted, and Bemoin delayed his conversion for a year, +renewing his promise from time to time. But the war was unsuccessful, +trade was at a stand, and Bemoin was not able to pay the money which he +had borrowed of the Portuguese merchants, who sent intelligence to +Lisbon of his delays, and received an order from the king, commanding +them, under severe penalties, to return home. + +Bemoin here saw his ruin approaching, and, hoping that money would +pacify all resentment, borrowed of his friends a sum sufficient to +discharge his debts; and finding that even this enticement would not +delay the departure of the Portuguese, he embarked his nephew in their +ships with a hundred slaves, whom he presented to the king of Portugal, +to solicit his assistance. The effect of this embassy he could not stay +to know; for being soon after deposed, he sought shelter in the fortress +of Arguin, whence he took shipping for Portugal, with twenty-five of his +principal followers. + +The king of Portugal pleased his own vanity and that of his subjects, by +receiving him with great state and magnificence, as a mighty monarch who +had fled to an ally for succour in misfortune. All the lords and ladies +of the court were assembled, and Bemoin was conducted with a splendid +attendance into the hall of audience, where the king rose from his +throne to welcome him. Bemoin then made a speech with great ease and +dignity, representing his unhappy state, and imploring the favour of his +powerful ally. The king was touched with his affliction, and struck by +his wisdom. + +The conversion of Bemoin was much desired by the king; and it was, +therefore, immediately, proposed to him that he should become a +Christian. Ecclesiasticks were sent to instruct him; and having now no +more obstacles from interest, he was easily persuaded to declare himself +whatever would please those on whom he now depended. He was baptized on +the third day of December, 1489, in the palace of the queen, with great +magnificence, and named John, after the king. + +Some time was spent in feasts and sports on this great occasion, and the +negroes signalized themselves by many feats of agility, far surpassing +the power of Europeans, who, having more helps of art, are less diligent +to cultivate the qualities of nature. In the mean time twenty large +ships were fitted out, well manned, stored with ammunition, and laden +with materials necessary for the erection of a fort. With this powerful +armament were sent a great number of missionaries under the direction of +Alvarez the king's confessor. The command of this force, which filled +the coast of Africa with terrour, was given to Pedro Vaz d'Acugna, +surnamed Bisagu; who, soon after they had landed, not being well pleased +with his expedition, put an end to its inconveniencies, by stabbing +Bemoin suddenly to the heart. The king heard of this outrage with great +sorrow, but did not attempt to punish the murderer. + +The king's concern for the restoration of Bemoin was not the mere effect +of kindness, he hoped by his help to facilitate greater designs. He now +began to form hopes of finding a way to the East Indies, and of +enriching his country by that gainful commerce: this he was encouraged +to believe practicable, by a map which the Moors had given to prince +Henry, and which subsequent discoveries have shown to be sufficiently +near to exactness, where a passage round the south-east part of Africa +was evidently described. + +The king had another scheme, yet more likely to engage curiosity, and +not irreconcilable with his interest. The world had, for some time, been +filled with the report of a powerful Christian prince, called Prester +John, whose country was unknown, and whom some, after Paulus Venetus, +supposed to reign in the midst of Asia, and others in the depth of +Ethiopia, between the ocean and Red sea. The account of the African +Christians was confirmed by some Abyssinians who had travelled into +Spain, and by some friars that had visited the Holy Land; and the king +was extremely desirous of their correspondence and alliance. + +Some obscure intelligence had been obtained, which made it seem probable +that a way might be found from the countries lately discovered, to those +of this far-famed monarch. In 1486, an ambassador came from the king of +Bemin, to desire that preachers might be sent to instruct him and his +subjects in the true religion. He related that, in the inland country, +three hundred and fifty leagues eastward from Bemin, was a mighty +monarch, called Ogane, who had jurisdiction, both spiritual and +temporal, over other kings; that the king of Bemin and his neighbours, +at their accession, sent ambassadors to him with rich presents, and +received from him the investiture of their dominions, and the marks of +sovereignty, which were a kind of sceptre, a helmet, and a latten cross, +without which they could not be considered as lawful kings; that this +great prince was never seen but on the day of audience, and then held +out one of his feet to the ambassador, who kissed it with great +reverence, and who, at his departure, had a cross of latten hung on his +neck, which ennobled him thenceforward, and exempted him from all +servile offices. + +Bemoin had, likewise, told the king, that to the east of the kingdom of +Tombut, there was, among other princes, one that was neither Mahometan +nor idolater, but who seemed to profess a religion nearly resembling the +Christian. These informations, compared with each other, and with the +current accounts of Prester John, induced the king to an opinion, which, +though formed somewhat at hazard, is still believed to be right, that by +passing up the river Senegal his dominions would be found. It was, +therefore, ordered that, when the fortress was finished, an attempt +should be made to pass upward to the source of the river. The design +failed then, and has never yet succeeded. + +Other ways, likewise, were tried of penetrating to the kingdom of +Prester John; for the king resolved to leave neither sea nor land +unsearched, till he should be found. The two messengers who were sent +first on this design, went to Jerusalem, and then returned, being +persuaded that, for want of understanding the language of the country, +it would be vain or impossible to travel farther. Two more were then +despatched, one of whom was Pedro de Covillan, the other, Alphonso de +Pavia; they passed from Naples to Alexandria, and then travelled to +Cairo, from whence they went to Aden, a town of Arabia, on the Red sea, +near its mouth. From Aden, Pavia set sail for Ethiopia, and Covillan for +the Indies. Covillan visited Canavar, Calicut, and Goa in the Indies, +and Sosula in the eastern Africa, thence he returned to Aden, and then +to Cairo, where he had agreed to meet Pavia. At Cairo he was informed +that Pavia was dead, but he met with two Portuguese Jews, one of whom +had given the king an account of the situation and trade of Ormus: they +brought orders to Covillan, that he should send one of them home with +the journal of his travels, and go to Ormus with the other. + +Covillan obeyed the orders, sending an exact account of his adventures +to Lisbon, and proceeding with the other messenger to Ormus; where, +having made sufficient inquiry, he sent his companion homewards, with +the caravans that were going to Aleppo, and embarking once more on the +Red sea, arrived in time at Abyssinia, and found the prince whom he had +sought so long, and with such danger. + +Two ships were sent out upon the same search, of which Bartholomew Diaz +had the chief command; they were attended by a smaller vessel laden with +provisions, that they might not return, upon pretence of want either +felt or feared. + +Navigation was now brought nearer to perfection. The Portuguese claim +the honour of many inventions by which the sailor is assisted, and which +enable him to leave sight of land, and commit himself to the boundless +ocean. Diaz had orders to proceed beyond the river Zaire, where Diego +Can had stopped, to build monuments of his discoveries, and to leave +upon the coasts negro men and women well instructed, who might inquire +after Prester John, and fill the natives with reverence for the +Portuguese. + +Diaz, with much opposition from his crew, whose mutinies he repressed, +partly by softness, and partly by steadiness, sailed on till he reached +the utmost point of Africa, which from the bad weather that he met +there, he called cabo Tormentoso, or the cape of Storms. He would have +gone forward, but his crew forced him to return. In his way back he met +the victualler, from which he had been parted nine months before; of the +nine men, which were in it at the separation, six had been killed by the +negroes, and of the three remaining, one died for joy at the sight of +his friends. Diaz returned to Lisbon in December, 1487, and gave an +account of his voyage to the king, who ordered the cape of Storms to be +called thenceforward cabo de Buena Esperanza, or the cape of Good Hope. + +Some time before the expedition of Diaz, the river Zaire and the kingdom +of Congo had been discovered by Diego Can, who found a nation of negroes +who spoke a language which those that were in his ships could not +understand. He landed, and the natives, whom he expected to fly, like +the other inhabitants of the coast, met them with confidence, and +treated them with kindness; but Diego, finding that they could not +understand each other, seized some of their chiefs, and carried them to +Portugal, leaving some of his own people in their room to learn the +language of Congo. + +The negroes were soon pacified, and the Portuguese left to their mercy +were well treated; and, as they by degrees grew able to make themselves +understood, recommended themselves, their nation, and their religion. +The king of Portugal sent Diego back in a very short time with the +negroes whom he had forced away; and when they were set safe on shore, +the king of Congo conceived so much esteem for Diego, that he sent one +of those, who had returned, back again in the ship to Lisbon, with two +young men despatched as ambassadors, to desire instructors to be sent +for the conversion of his kingdom. + +The ambassadors were honourably received, and baptized with great pomp, +and a fleet was immediately fitted out for Congo, under the command of +Gonsalvo Sorza, who dying in his passage, was succeeded in authority by +his nephew Roderigo. + +When they came to land, the king's uncle, who commanded the province, +immediately requested to be solemnly initiated into the Christian +religion, which was granted to him and his young son, on Easter day, +1491. The father was named Manuel, and the son Antonio. Soon afterwards +the king, queen, and eldest prince, received at the font the names of +John, Eleanor, and Alphonso; and a war breaking out, the whole army was +admitted to the rites of Christianity, and then sent against the enemy. +They returned victorious, but soon forgot their faith, and formed a +conspiracy to restore paganism; a powerful opposition was raised by +infidels and apostates, headed by one of the king's younger sons; and +the missionaries had been destroyed, had not Alphonso pleaded for them +and for Christianity. + +The enemies of religion now became the enemies of Alphonso, whom they +accused to his father of disloyalty. His mother, queen Eleanor, gained +time by one artifice after another, till the king was calmed; he then +heard the cause again, declared his son innocent, and punished his +accusers with death. + +The king died soon after, and the throne was disputed by Alphonso, +supported by the Christians, and Aquitimo his brother, followed by the +infidels. A battle was fought, Aquitimo was taken and put to death, and +Christianity was for a time established in Congo; but the nation has +relapsed into its former follies. + +Such was the state of the Portuguese navigation, when, in 1492, Columbus +made the daring and prosperous voyage, which gave a new world to +European curiosity and European cruelty. He had offered his proposal, +and declared his expectations to king John of Portugal, who had slighted +him as a fanciful and rash projector, that promised what he had not +reasonable hopes to perform. Columbus had solicited other princes, and +had been repulsed with the same indignity; at last, Isabella of Arragon +furnished him with ships, and having found America, he entered the mouth +of the Tagus in his return, and showed the natives of the new country. +When he was admitted to the king's presence, he acted and talked with so +much haughtiness, and reflected on the neglect which he had undergone +with so much acrimony, that the courtiers, who saw their prince +insulted, offered to destroy him; but the king, who knew that he +deserved the reproaches that had been used, and who now sincerely +regretted his incredulity, would suffer no violence to be offered him, +but dismissed him with presents and with honours. + +The Portuguese and Spaniards became now jealous of each other's claim to +countries which neither had yet seen; and the pope, to whom they +appealed, divided the new world between them by a line drawn from north +to south, a hundred leagues westward from cape Verd and the Azores, +giving all that lies west from that line to the Spaniards, and all that +lies east to the Portuguese. This was no satisfactory division, for the +east and west must meet at last, but that time was then at a great +distance. + +According to this grant, the Portuguese continued their discoveries +eastward, and became masters of much of the coast both of Africa and the +Indies; but they seized much more than they could occupy, and while they +were under the dominion of Spain, lost the greater part of their Indian +territories. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] A collection of Voyages and Travels, selected from the writers of + all nations, in twenty small pocket volumes, and published by + Newbery; to oblige whom, it is conjectured that Johnson drew up this + curious and learned paper, which appeared in the first volume, + 1759. + +[2] Read Mickle's very excellent introduction to his translation of + Camoens' Lusiad.--Ed. + + + + +THE PREFACE +TO THE PRECEPTOR, +CONTAINING +A GENERAL PLAN OF EDUCATION[1] + +The importance of education is a point so generally understood and +confessed, that it would be of little use to attempt any new proof or +illustration of its necessity and advantages. + +At a time, when so many schemes of education have been projected, so +many proposals offered to the publick, so many schools opened for +general knowledge, and so many lectures in particular sciences attended; +at a time when mankind seems intent rather upon familiarizing than +enlarging the several arts; and every age, sex, and profession, is +invited to an acquaintance with those studies, which were formerly +supposed accessible only to such as had devoted themselves to literary +leisure, and dedicated their powers to philosophical inquiries; it seems +rather requisite that an apology should be made for any further attempt +to smooth a path so frequently beaten, or to recommend attainments so +ardently pursued, and so officiously directed. + +That this general desire may not be frustrated, our schools seem yet to +want some book, which may excite curiosity by its variety, encourage +diligence by its facility, and reward application by its usefulness. In +examining the treatises, hitherto offered to the youth of this nation, +there appeared none that did not fail in one or other of these essential +qualities; none that were not either unpleasing, or abstruse, or crowded +with learning very rarely applicable to the purposes of common life. + +Every man, who has been engaged in teaching, knows with how much +difficulty youthful minds are confined to close application, and how +readily they deviate to any thing, rather than attend to that which is +imposed as a task. That this disposition, when it becomes inconsistent +with the forms of education, is to be checked, will readily be granted; +but since, though it may be in some degree obviated, it cannot wholly be +suppressed, it is surely rational to turn it to advantage, by taking +care that the mind shall never want objects on which its faculties may +be usefully employed. It is not impossible, that this restless desire of +novelty, which gives so much trouble to the teacher, may be often the +struggle of the understanding starting from that to which it is not by +nature adapted, and travelling in search of something on which it may +fix with greater satisfaction. For, without supposing each man +particularly marked out by his genius for particular performances, it +may be easily conceived, that when a numerous class of boys is confined +indiscriminately to the same forms of composition, the repetition of the +same words, or the explication of the same sentiments, the employment +must, either by nature or accident, be less suitable to some than +others; that the ideas to be contemplated may be too difficult for the +apprehension of one, and too obvious for that of another: they may be +such as some understandings cannot reach, though others look down upon +them, as below their regard. Every mind, in its progress through the +different stages of scholastick learning, must be often in one of these +conditions; must either flag with the labour, or grow wanton with the +facility of the work assigned; and in either state it naturally turns +aside from the track before it. Weariness looks out for relief, and +leisure for employment, and, surely, it is rational to indulge the +wanderings of both. For the faculties which are too lightly burdened +with the business of the day, may, with great propriety, add to it some +other inquiry; and he that finds himself overwearied by a task, which, +perhaps, with all his efforts, he is not able to perform, is undoubtedly +to be justified in addicting himself rather to easier studies, and +endeavouring to quit that which is above his attainment, for that which +nature has not made him incapable of pursuing with advantage. + +That, therefore, this roving curiosity may not be unsatisfied, it seems +necessary to scatter in its way such allurements as may withhold it from +an useless and unbounded dissipation; such as may regulate it without +violence, and direct it without restraint; such as may suit every +inclination, and fit every capacity; may employ the stronger genius, by +operations of reason, and engage the less active or forcible mind, by +supplying it with easy knowledge, and obviating that despondence, which +quickly prevails, when nothing appeals but a succession of difficulties, +and one labour only ceases that another may be imposed. + +A book, intended thus to correspond with all dispositions, and afford +entertainment for minds of different powers, is necessarily to contain +treatises on different subjects. As it is designed for schools, though +for the higher classes, it is confined wholly to such parts of knowledge +as young minds may comprehend; and, as it is drawn up for readers yet +unexperienced in life, and unable to distinguish the useful from the +ostentatious or unnecessary parts of science, it is requisite that a +very nice distinction should be made, that nothing unprofitable should +be admitted for the sake of pleasure, nor any arts of attraction +neglected, that might fix the attention upon more important studies. + +These considerations produced the book which is here offered to the +publick, as better adapted to the great design of pleasing by +instruction, than any which has hitherto been admitted into our +seminaries of literature. There are not indeed wanting in the world +compendiums of science, but many were written at a time when philosophy +was imperfect, as that of G. Valla; many contain only naked schemes, or +synoptical tables, as that of Stierius; and others are too large and +voluminous, as that of Alstedius; and, what is not to be considered as +the least objection, they are generally in a language, which, to boys, +is more difficult than the subject; and it is too hard a task to be +condemned to learn a new science in an unknown tongue. As in life, so in +study, it is dangerous to do more things than one at a time; and the +mind is not to be harassed with unnecessary obstructions, in a way, of +which the natural and unavoidable asperity is such as too frequently +produces despair. + +If the language, however, had been the only objection to any of the +volumes already extant, the schools might have been supplied at a small +expense by a translation; but none could be found that was not so +defective, redundant, or erroneous, as to be of more danger than use. It +was necessary then to examine, whether upon every single science there +was not some treatise written for the use of scholars, which might be +adapted to this design, so that a collection might be made from +different authors, without the necessity of writing new systems. This +search was not wholly without success; for two authors were found, whose +performances might be admitted with little alteration. But so widely +does this plan differ from all others, so much has the state of many +kinds of learning been changed, or so unfortunately have they hitherto +been cultivated, that none of the other subjects were explained in such +a manner as was now required; and, therefore, neither care nor expense +has been spared to obtain new lights, and procure to this book the merit +of an original. + +With what judgment the design has been formed, and with what skill it +has been executed, the learned world is now to determine. But before +sentence shall pass, it is proper to explain more fully what has been +intended, that censure may not be incurred by the omission of that which +the original plan did not comprehend; to declare more particularly who +they are to whose instructions these treatises pretend, that a charge of +arrogance and presumption may be obviated; to lay down the reasons which +directed the choice of the several subjects; and to explain more +minutely the manner in which each particular part of these volumes is to +be used. + +The title has already declared, that these volumes are particularly +intended for the use of schools, and, therefore, it has been the care of +the authors to explain the several sciences, of which they have treated, +in the most familiar manner; for the mind, used only to common +expressions, and inaccurate ideas, does not suddenly conform itself to +scholastick modes of reasoning, or conceive the nice distinctions of a +subtile philosophy, and may be properly initiated in speculative studies +by an introduction like this, in which the grossness of vulgar +conception is avoided, without the observation of metaphysical +exactness. It is observed, that in the course of the natural world no +change is instantaneous, but all its vicissitudes are gradual and slow; +the motions of intellect proceed in the like imperceptible progression, +and proper degrees of transition from one study to another are, +therefore, necessary; but let it not be charged upon the writers of this +book, that they intended to exhibit more than the dawn of knowledge, or +pretended to raise in the mind any nobler product than the blossoms of +science, which more powerful institutions may ripen into fruit. + +For this reason it must not be expected, that in the following pages +should be found a complete circle of the sciences; or that any authors, +now deservedly esteemed, should be rejected to make way for what is here +offered. It was intended by the means of these precepts, not to deck the +mind with ornaments, but to protect it from nakedness; not to enrich it +with affluence, but to supply it with necessaries. The inquiry, +therefore, was not what degrees of knowledge are desirable, but what are +in most stations of life indispensably required; and the choice was +determined, not by the splendour of any part of literature, but by the +extent of its use, and the inconvenience which its neglect was likely to +produce. + +1. The prevalence of this consideration appears in the first part, which +is appropriated to the humble purposes of teaching to read, and speak, +and write letters; an attempt of little magnificence, but in which no +man needs to blush for having employed his time, if honour be estimated +by use. For precepts of this kind, however neglected, extend their +importance as far as men are found who communicate their thoughts one to +another; they are equally useful to the highest and the lowest; they may +often contribute to make ignorance less inelegant; and may it not be +observed, that they are frequently wanted for the embellishment even of +learning? + +In order to show the proper use of this part, which consists of various +exemplifications of such differences of style as require correspondent +diversities of pronunciation, it will be proper to inform the scholar, +that there are, in general, three forms of style, each of which demands +its particular mode of elocution: the familiar, the solemn, and the +pathetick. That in the familiar, he that reads is only to talk with a +paper in his hand, and to indulge himself in all the lighter liberties +of voice, as when he reads the common articles of a newspaper, or a +cursory letter of intelligence or business. That the solemn style, such +as that of a serious narrative, exacts an uniform steadiness of speech, +equal, clear, and calm. That for the pathetick, such as an animated +oration, it is necessary the voice be regulated by the sense, varying +and rising with the passions. These rules, which are the most general, +admit a great number of subordinate observations, which must be +particularly adapted to every scholar; for it is observable, that though +very few read well, yet every man errs in a different way. But let one +remark never be omitted: inculcate strongly to every scholar the danger +of copying the voice of another; an attempt which, though it has been +often repeated, is always unsuccessful. + +The importance of writing letters with propriety, justly claims to be +considered with care, since, next to the power of pleasing with his +presence, every man would wish to be able to give delight at a distance. +This great art should be diligently taught, the rather, because of those +letters which are most useful, and by which the general business of life +is transacted, there are no examples easily to be found. It seems the +general fault of those who undertake this part of education, that they +propose for the exercise of their scholars, occasions which rarely +happen; such as congratulations and condolences, and neglect those +without which life cannot proceed. It is possible to pass many years +without the necessity of writing panegyricks or epithalamiums; but every +man has frequent occasion to state a contract, or demand a debt, or make +a narrative of some minute incidents of common life. On these subjects, +therefore, young persons should be taught to think justly, and write +clearly, neatly, and succinctly, lest they come from school into the +world without any acquaintance with common affairs, and stand idle +spectators of mankind, in expectation that some great event will give +them an opportunity to exert their rhetorick. + +2. The second place is assigned to geometry; on the usefulness of which +it is unnecessary to expatiate in an age when mathematical studies have +so much engaged the attention of all classes of men. This treatise is +one of those which have been borrowed, being a translation from the work +of Mr. Le Clerc; and is not intended as more than the first initiation. +In delivering the fundamental principles of geometry, it is necessary to +proceed by slow steps, that each proposition may be fully understood +before another is attempted. For which purpose it is not sufficient, +that when a question is asked in the words of the book, the scholar, +likewise, can in the words of the book return the proper answer; for +this may be only an act of memory, not of understanding: it is always +proper to vary the words of the question, to place the proposition in +different points of view, and to require of the learner an explanation +in his own terms, informing him, however, when they are improper. By +this method the scholar will become cautious and attentive, and the +master will know with certainty the degree of his proficiency. Yet, +though this rule is generally right, I cannot but recommend a precept of +Pardie's[2], that when the student cannot be made to comprehend some +particular part, it should be, for that time, laid aside, till new light +shall arise from subsequent observation. + +When this compendium is completely understood, the scholar may proceed +to the perusal of Tacquet, afterwards of Euclid himself, and then of the +modern improvers of geometry, such as Barrow, Keil, and Sir Isaac +Newton. + +3. The necessity of some acquaintance with geography and astronomy will +not be disputed. If the pupil is born to the ease of a large fortune, no +part of learning is more necessary to him than the knowledge of the +situation of nations, on which their interests generally depend; if he +is dedicated to any of the learned professions, it is scarcely possible +that he will not be obliged to apply himself, in some part of his life, +to these studies, as no other branch of literature can be fully +comprehended without them; if he is designed for the arts of commerce or +agriculture, some general acquaintance with these sciences will be found +extremely useful to him; in a word, no studies afford more extensive, +more wonderful, or more pleasing scenes; and, therefore, there can be no +ideas impressed upon the soul, which can more conduce to its future +entertainment. + +In the pursuit of these sciences, it will be proper to proceed with the +same gradation and caution as in geometry. And it is always of use to +decorate the nakedness of science, by interspersing such observations +and narratives as may amuse the mind, and excite curiosity. Thus, in +explaining the state of the polar regions, it might be fit to read the +narrative of the Englishmen that wintered in Greenland, which will make +young minds sufficiently curious after the cause of such a length of +night, and intenseness of cold; and many stratagems of the same kind +might be practised to interest them in all parts of their studies, and +call in their passions to animate their inquiries. When they have read +this treatise, it will be proper to recommend to them Varenius's +Geography, and Ferguson's Astronomy. + +4. The study of chronology and history seems to be one of the most +natural delights of the human mind. It is not easy to live, without +inquiring by what means every thing was brought into the state in which +we now behold it, or without finding in the mind some desire of being +informed, concerning the generations of mankind that have been in +possession of the world before us, whether they were better or worse +than ourselves; or what good or evil has been derived to us from their +schemes, practices, and institutions. These are inquiries which history +alone can satisfy; and history can only be made intelligible by some +knowledge of chronology, the science by which events are ranged in their +order, and the periods of computation are settled; and which, therefore, +assists the memory by method, and enlightens the judgment by showing the +dependence of one transaction on another. Accordingly it should be +diligently inculcated to the scholar, that, unless he fixes in his mind +some idea of the time in which each man of eminence lived, and each +action was performed, with some part of the contemporary history of the +rest of the world, he will consume his life in useless reading, and +darken his mind with a crowd of unconnected events; his memory will be +perplexed with distant transactions resembling one another, and his +reflections be like a dream in a fever, busy and turbulent, but confused +and indistinct. + +The technical part of chronology, or the art of computing and adjusting +time, as it is very difficult, so it is not of absolute necessity, but +should, however, be taught, so far as it can be learned without the loss +of those hours which are required for attainments of nearer concern. The +student may join with this treatise Le Clerc's Compendium of History; +and afterwards may, for the historical part of chronology, procure +Helvicus's and Isaacson's Tables; and, if he is desirous of attaining +the technical part, may first peruse Holder's Account of Time, Hearne's +Ductor Historicus, Strauchius, the first part of Petavius's Rationarium +Temporum; and, at length, Scaliger de Emendatiene Temporum. And, for +instruction in the method of his historical studies, he may consult +Hearne's Ductor Historicus, Wheare's Lectures, Rawlinson's Directions +for the Study of History; and, for ecclesiastical history, Cave and +Dupin, Baronius and Fleury. + +5. Rhetorick and poetry supply life with its highest intellectual +pleasures; and, in the hands of virtue, are of great use for the +impression of just sentiments, and recommendation of illustrious +examples. In the practice of these great arts, so much more is the +effect of nature than the effect of education, that nothing is attempted +here but to teach the mind some general heads of observation, to which +the beautiful passages of the best writers may commonly be reduced. In +the use of this, it is not proper that the teacher should confine +himself to the examples before him; for, by that method, he will never +enable his pupils to make just application of the rules; but, having +inculcated the true meaning of each figure, he should require them to +exemplify it by their own observations, pointing to them the poem, or, +in longer works, the book or canto in which an example may be found, and +leaving them to discover the particular passage, by the light of the +rules which they have lately learned. + +For a farther progress in these studies, they may consult Quintilian, +and Vossius's Rhetorick; the art of poetry will be best learned from +Bossu and Bohours in French, together with Dryden's Essays and Prefaces, +the critical Papers of Addison, Spence on Pope's Odyssey, and Trapp's +Praelectiones Poeticae: but a more accurate and philosophical account is +expected from a commentary upon Aristotle's Art of Poetry, with which +the literature of this nation will be, in a short time, augmented. + +6. With regard to the practice of drawing, it is not necessary to give +any directions, the use of the treatise being only to teach the proper +method of imitating the figures which are annexed. It will be proper to +incite the scholars to industry, by showing in other books the use of +the art, and informing them how much it assists the apprehension, and +relieves the memory; and if they are obliged sometimes to write +descriptions of engines, utensils, or any complex pieces of workmanship, +they will more fully apprehend the necessity of an expedient which so +happily supplies the defects of language, and enables the eye to +conceive what cannot be conveyed to the mind any other way. When they +have read this treatise, and practised upon these figures, their theory +may be improved by the Jesuit's Perspective, and their manual operations +by other figures which may be easily procured. + +7. Logick, or the art of arranging and connecting ideas, of forming and +examining arguments, is universally allowed to be an attainment, in the +utmost degree, worthy the ambition of that being whose highest honour is +to be endued with reason; but it is doubted whether that ambition has +yet been gratified, and whether the powers of ratiocination have been +much improved by any systems of art, or methodical institutions. The +logick, which for so many ages kept possession of the schools, has at +last been condemned as a mere art of wrangling, of very little use in +the pursuit of truth; and later writers have contented themselves with +giving an account of the operations of the mind, marking the various +stages of her progress, and giving some general rules for the regulation +of her conduct. The method of these writers is here followed; but +without a servile adherence to any, and with endeavours to make +improvements upon all. This work, however laborious, has yet been +fruitless, if there be truth in an observation very frequently made, +that logicians out of the school do not reason better than men +unassisted by those lights which their science is supposed to bestow. It +is not to be doubted but that logicians may be sometimes overborne by +their passions, or blinded by their prejudices; and that a man may +reason ill, as he may act ill, not because he does not know what is +right, but because he does not regard it; yet it is no more the fault of +his art that it does not direct him, when his attention is withdrawn +from it, than it is the defect of his sight that he misses his way, when +he shuts his eyes. Against this cause of errour there is no provision to +be made, otherwise than by inculcating the value of truth, and the +necessity of conquering the passions. But logick may, likewise, fail to +produce its effects upon common occasions, for want of being frequently +and familiarly applied, till its precepts may direct the mind +imperceptibly, as the fingers of a musician are regulated by his +knowledge of the tune. This readiness of recollection is only to be +procured by frequent impression; and, therefore, it will be proper, when +logick has been once learned, the teacher take frequent occasion, in the +most easy and familiar conversation, to observe when its rules are +preserved, and when they are broken; and that afterwards he read no +authors, without exacting of his pupil an account of every remarkable +exemplification or breach of the laws of reasoning. + +When this system has been digested, if it be thought necessary to +proceed farther in the study of method, it will be proper to recommend +Crousaz, Watts, Le Clerc, Wolfius, and Locke's Essay on Human +Understanding; and if there be imagined any necessity of adding the +peripatetick logick, which has been, perhaps, condemned without a candid +trial, it will be convenient to proceed to Sanderson, Wallis, +Crackanthorp, and Aristotle. + +8. To excite a curiosity after the works of God, is the chief design of +the small specimen of natural history inserted in this collection; +which, however, may be sufficient to put the mind in motion, and in some +measure to direct its steps; but its effects may easily be improved by a +philosophick master, who will every day find a thousand opportunities of +turning the attention of his scholars to the contemplation of the +objects that surround them, of laying open the wonderful art with which +every part of the universe is formed, and the providence which governs +the vegetable and animal creation. He may lay before them the Religious +Philosopher, Ray, Derham's Physico-Theology, together with the Spectacle +de la Nature; and in time recommend to their perusal Rondoletius, +Aldrovandus, and Linnæus. + +9. But how much soever the reason may be strengthened by logick, or the +conceptions of the mind enlarged by the study of nature, it is necessary +the man be not suffered to dwell upon them so long as to neglect the +study of himself, the knowledge of his own station in the ranks of +being, and his various relations to the innumerable multitudes which +surround him, and with which his Maker has ordained him to be united for +the reception and communication of happiness. To consider these aright +is of the greatest importance, since from these arise duties which he +cannot neglect. Ethicks, or morality, therefore, is one of the studies +which ought to begin with the first glimpse of reason, and only end with +life itself. Other acquisitions are merely temporary benefits, except as +they contribute to illustrate the knowledge, and confirm the practice of +morality and piety, which extend their influence beyond the grave, and +increase our happiness through endless duration. + +This great science, therefore, must be inculcated with care and +assiduity, such as its importance ought to incite in reasonable minds; +and for the prosecution of this design, fit opportunities are always at +hand. As the importance of logick is to be shown by detecting false +arguments, the excellence of morality is to be displayed by proving the +deformity, the reproach, and the misery of all deviations from it. Yet +it is to be remembered, that the laws of mere morality are of no +coercive power; and, however they may, by conviction, of their fitness +please the reasoner in the shade, when the passions stagnate without +impulse, and the appetites are secluded from their objects, they will be +of little force against the ardour of desire, or the vehemence of rage, +amidst the pleasures and tumults of the world. To counteract the power +of temptations, hope must be excited by the prospect of rewards, and +fear by the expectation of punishment; and virtue may owe her +panegyricks to morality, but must derive her authority from religion. + +When, therefore, the obligations of morality are taught, let the +sanctions of Christianity never be forgotten; by which it will be shown +that they give strength and lustre to each other; religion will appear +to be the voice of reason, and morality the will of God. Under this +article must be recommended Tully's Offices, Grotius, Puffendorf, +Cumberland's Laws of Nature, and the excellent Mr. Addison's Moral and +Religious Essays. + +10. Thus far the work is composed for the use of scholars, merely as +they are men. But it was thought necessary to introduce something that +might be particularly adapted to that country for which it is designed; +and, therefore, a discourse has been added upon trade and commerce, of +which it becomes every man of this nation to understand, at least, the +general principles, as it is impossible that any should be high or low +enough not to be, in some degree, affected by their declension or +prosperity. It is, therefore, necessary that it should be universally +known among us, what changes of property are advantageous, or when the +balance of trade is on our side; what are the products or manufactures +of other countries; and how far one nation may in any species of +traffick obtain or preserve superiority over another. The theory of +trade is yet but little understood, and, therefore, the practice is +often without real advantage to the publick; but it might be carried on +with more general success, if its principles were better considered; and +to excite that attention is our chief design. To the perusal of this +part of our work may succeed that of Mun upon Foreign Trade, Sir Josiah +Child, Locke upon Coin, Davenant's Treatises, the British Merchant, +Dictionnaire de Commerce, and, for an abstract or compendium, Gee, and +an improvement that may, hereafter, be made upon his plan. + +11. The principles of laws and government come next to be considered; by +which men are taught to whom obedience is due, for what it is paid, and +in what degree it may be justly required. This knowledge, by peculiar +necessity, constitutes a part of the education of an Englishman, who +professes to obey his prince, according to the law, and who is himself a +secondary legislator, as he gives his consent, by his representative, to +all the laws by which he is bound, and has a right to petition the great +council of the nation, whenever he thinks they are deliberating upon an +act detrimental to the interest of the community. This is, therefore, a +subject to which the thoughts of a young man ought to be directed; and, +that he may obtain such knowledge as may qualify him to act and judge as +one of a free people, let him be directed to add to this introduction +Fortescue's Treatises, N. Bacon's Historical Discourse on the Laws and +Government of England, Blackstone's Commentaries, Temple's Introduction, +Locke on Government, Zouch's Elementa Juris Civilis, Plato Redivivus, +Gurdon's History of Parliaments, and Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity. + +12. Having thus supplied the young student with knowledge, it remains +now that he learn its application; and that thus qualified to act his +part, he be at last taught to choose it. For this purpose a section is +added upon human life and manners; in which he is cautioned against the +danger of indulging his passions, of vitiating his habits, and depraving +his sentiments. He is instructed in these points by three fables, two of +which were of the highest authority in the ancient pagan world. But at +this he is not to rest; for, if he expects to be wise and happy, he must +diligently study the Scriptures of God. + +Such is the book now proposed, as the first initiation into the +knowledge of things, which has been thought by many to be too long +delayed in the present forms of education. Whether the complaints be not +often ill-grounded, may, perhaps, be disputed; but it is at least +reasonable to believe, that greater proficiency might sometimes be made; +that real knowledge might be more early communicated; and that children +might be allowed, without injury to health, to spend many of those hours +upon useful employments, which are generally lost in idleness and play; +therefore the publick will surely encourage an experiment, by which, if +it fails, nobody is hurt; and, if it succeeds, all the future ages of +the world may find advantage; which may eradicate or prevent vice, by +turning to a better use those moments in which it is learned or +indulged; and in some sense lengthen life, by teaching posterity to +enjoy those years which have hitherto been lost. The success, and even +the trial of this experiment, will depend upon those to whom the care of +our youth is committed; and a due sense of the importance of their trust +will easily prevail upon them to encourage a work which pursues the +design of improving education. If any part of the following performance +shall, upon trial, be found capable of amendment; if any thing can be +added or altered, so as to render the attainment of knowledge more easy; +the editor will be extremely obliged to any gentleman, particularly +those who are engaged in the business of teaching, for such hints or +observations as may tend towards the improvement, and will spare neither +expense nor trouble in making the best use of their information. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In this year, 1748, Mr. Dodsley brought out his Preceptor, one of + the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds, that has + appeared in any language; and to this meritorious work Johnson + furnished the preface. Boswell's Life of Johnson, i. + +[2] "And albeit the reader shall not at any one day (do what he can) + reach to the meaning of our author, or of our commentaries, yet let + him not discourage himself, but proceed; for, on some other day, in + some other place, that doubt will be cleared." This is the advice of + Lord Coke to the student bewildered in the mazes of legal + investigation. Preface to the first Institute. + + + + +PREFACE TO ROLT'S DICTIONARY[1]. + + +No expectation is more fallacious than that which authors form of the +reception which their labours will find among mankind. Scarcely any man +publishes a book, whatever it be, without believing that he has caught +the moment when the publick attention is vacant to his call, and the +world is disposed, in a particular manner, to learn the art which he +undertakes to teach. + +The writers of this volume are not so far exempt from epidemical +prejudices, but that they, likewise, please themselves with imagining +that they have reserved their labours to a propitious conjuncture, and +that this is the proper time for the publication of a dictionary of +commerce. + +The predictions of an author are very far from infallibility; but, in +justification of some degree of confidence, it may be properly observed, +that there was never, from the earliest ages, a time in which trade so +much engaged the attention of mankind, or commercial gain was sought +with such general emulation. Nations which have hitherto cultivated no +art but that of war, nor conceived any means of increasing riches but by +plunder, are awakened to more inoffensive industry. Those whom the +possession of subterraneous treasures have long disposed to accommodate +themselves by foreign industry, are at last convinced that idleness +never will be rich. The merchant is now invited to every port; +manufactures are established in all cities; and princes, who just can +view the sea from some single corner of their dominions, are enlarging +harbours, erecting mercantile companies, and preparing to traffick in +the remotest countries. + +Nor is the form of this work less popular than the subject. It has +lately been the practice of the learned to range knowledge by the +alphabet, and publish dictionaries of every kind of literature. This +practice has, perhaps, been carried too far by the force of fashion. +Sciences, in themselves systematical and coherent, are not very properly +broken into such fortuitous distributions. A dictionary of arithmetick +or geometry can serve only to confound; but commerce, considered in its +whole extent, seems to refuse any other method of arrangement, as it +comprises innumerable particulars unconnected with each other, among +which there is no reason why any should be first or last, better than is +furnished by the letters that compose their names. + +We cannot, indeed, boast ourselves the inventors of a scheme so +commodious and comprehensive. The French, among innumerable projects for +the promotion of traffick, have taken care to supply their merchants +with a Dictionnaire de Commerce, collected with great industry and +exactness, but too large for common use, and adapted to their own trade. +This book, as well as others, has been carefully consulted, that our +merchants may not be ignorant of any thing known by their enemies or +rivals. + +Such, indeed, is the extent of our undertaking, that it was necessary to +solicit every information, to consult the living and the dead. The great +qualification of him that attempts a work thus general is diligence of +inquiry. No man has opportunity or ability to acquaint himself with all +the subjects of a commercial dictionary, so as to describe from his own +knowledge, or assert on his own experience. He must, therefore, often +depend upon the veracity of others, as every man depends in common life, +and have no other skill to boast than that of selecting judiciously, and +arranging properly. + +But to him who considers the extent of our subject, limited only by the +bounds of nature and of art, the task of selection and method will +appear sufficient to overburden industry and distract attention. Many +branches of commerce are subdivided into smaller and smaller parts, +till, at last, they become so minute, as not easily to be noted by +observation. Many interests are so woven among each other, as not to be +disentangled without long inquiry; many arts are industriously kept +secret, and many practices, necessary to be known, are carried on in +parts too remote for intelligence. + +But the knowledge of trade is of so much importance to a maritime +nation, that no labour can be thought great by which information may be +obtained; and, therefore, we hope the reader will not have reason to +complain, that, of what he might justly expect to find, any thing is +omitted. + +To give a detail or analysis of our work is very difficult; a volume +intended to contain whatever is requisite to be known by every trader, +necessarily becomes so miscellaneous and unconnected, as not to be +easily reducible to heads; yet, since we pretend in some measure to +treat of traffick as a science, and to make that regular and +systematical which has hitherto been, to a great degree, fortuitous and +conjectural, and has often succeeded by chance rather than by conduct, +it will be proper to show that a distribution of parts has been +attempted, which, though rude and inadequate, will, at least, preserve +some order, and enable the mind to take a methodical and successive view +of this design. + +In the dictionary which we here offer to the publick, we propose to +exhibit the materials, the places, and the means of traffick. + +The materials or subjects of traffick are whatever is bought and sold, +and include, therefore, every manufacture of art, and almost every +production of nature. + +In giving an account of the commodities of nature, whether those which +are to be used in their original state, as drugs and spices, or those +which become useful when they receive a new form from human art, as +flax, cotton, and metals, we shall show the places of their production, +the manner in which they grow, the art of cultivating or collecting +them, their discriminations and varieties, by which the best sorts are +known from the worse, and genuine from fictitious, the arts by which +they are counterfeited, the casualties by which they are impaired, and +the practices by which the damage is palliated or concealed. We shall, +likewise, show their virtues and uses, and trace them through all the +changes which they undergo. + +The history of manufactures is, likewise, delivered. Of every artificial +commodity the manner in which it is made is, in some measure, described, +though it must be remembered, that manual operations are scarce to be +conveyed by any words to him that has not seen them. Some general +notions may, however, be afforded: it is easy to comprehend, that plates +of iron are formed by the pressure of rollers, and bars by the strokes +of a hammer; that a cannon is cast, and that an anvil is forged. But, as +it is to most traders of more use to know when their goods are well +wrought, than by what means, care has been taken to name the places +where every manufacture has been carried furthest, and the marks by +which its excellency may be ascertained. + +By the places of trade, are understood all ports, cities, or towns, +where staples are established, manufactures are wrought, or any +commodities are bought and sold advantageously. This part of our work +includes an enumeration of almost all the remarkable places in the +world, with such an account of their situation, customs, and products, +as the merchant would require, who, being to begin a new trade in any +foreign country, was yet ignorant of the commodities of the place, and +the manners of the inhabitants. + +But the chief attention of the merchant, and, consequently, of the +author who writes for merchants, ought to be employed upon the means of +trade, which include all the knowledge and practice necessary to the +skilful and successful conduct of commerce. + +The first of the means of trade is proper education, which may confer a +competent skill in numbers; to be afterwards completed in the +counting-house, by observation of the manner of stating accounts, and +regulating books, which is one of the few arts which, having been studied +in proportion to its importance, is carried as far as use can require. The +counting-house of an accomplished merchant is a school of method, where +the great science may be learned of ranging particulars under generals, +of bringing the different parts of a transaction together, and of +showing, at one view, a long series of dealing and exchange. Let no man +venture into large business while he is ignorant of the method of +regulating books; never let him imagine that any degree of natural +abilities will enable him to supply this deficiency, or preserve +multiplicity of affairs from inextricable confusion. + +This is the study, without which all other studies will be of little +avail; but this alone is not sufficient. It will be necessary to learn +many other things, which, however, may be easily included in the +preparatory institutions, such as an exact knowledge of the weights and +measures of different countries, and some skill in geography and +navigation, with which this book may, perhaps, sufficiently supply him. + +In navigation, considered as part of the skill of a merchant, is +included not so much the art of steering a ship, as the knowledge of the +seacoast, and of the different parts to which his cargoes are sent; the +customs to be paid; the passes, permissions, or certificates to be +procured; the hazards of every voyage, and the true rate of insurance. +To this must be added, an acquaintance with the policies and arts of +other nations, as well those to whom the commodities are sold, as of +those who carry goods of the same kind to the same market; and who are, +therefore, to be watched as rivals endeavouring to take advantage of +every errour, miscarriage, or debate. + +The chief of the means of trade is money, of which our late refinements +in traffick have made the knowledge extremely difficult. The merchant +must not only inform himself of the various denominations and value of +foreign coins, together with their method of counting and reducing; such +as the milleries of Portugal, and the livres of France; but he must +learn what is of more difficult attainment; the discount of exchanges, +the nature of current paper, the principles upon which the several banks +of Europe are established, the real value of funds, the true credit of +trading companies, with all the sources of profit, and possibilities of +loss. + +All this he must learn, merely as a private dealer, attentive only to +his own advantage; but, as every man ought to consider himself as part +of the community to which he belongs, and while he prosecutes his own +interest to promote, likewise, that of his country, it is necessary for +the trader to look abroad upon mankind, and study many questions which +are, perhaps, more properly political than mercantile. + +He ought, therefore, to consider very accurately the balance of trade, +or the proportion between things exported and imported; to examine what +kinds of commerce are unlawful, either as being expressly prohibited, +because detrimental to the manufactures or other interest of his +country, as the exportation of silver to the East-Indies, and the +introduction of French commodities; or unlawful in itself, as the +traffick for negroes. He ought to be able to state with accuracy the +benefits and mischiefs of monopolies, and exclusive companies; to +inquire into the arts which have been practised by them to make +themselves necessary, or by their opponents to make them odious. He +should inform himself what trades are declining, and what are +improvable; when the advantage is on our side, and when on that of our +rivals. + +The state of our colonies is always to be diligently surveyed, that no +advantage may be lost which they can afford, and that every opportunity +may be improved of increasing their wealth and power, or of making them +useful to their mother country. + +There is no knowledge of more frequent use than that, of duties and +impost, whether customs paid at the ports, or excises levied upon the +manufacturer. Much of the prosperity of a trading nation depends upon +duties properly apportioned; so that what is necessary may continue +cheap, and what is of use only to luxury may, in some measure, atone to +the publick for the mischief done to individuals. Duties may often be so +regulated as to become useful even to those that pay them; and they may +be, likewise, so unequally imposed as to discourage honesty, and depress +industry, and give temptation to fraud and unlawful practices. + +To teach all this is the design of the Commercial Dictionary; which, +though immediately and primarily written for the merchants, will be of +use to every man of business or curiosity. There is no man who is not, +in some degree, a merchant, who has not something to buy and something +to sell, and who does not, therefore, want such instructions as may +teach him the true value of possessions or commodities. + +The descriptions of the productions of the earth and water, which this +volume will contain, may be equally pleasing and useful to the +speculatist with any other natural history; and the accounts of various +manufactures will constitute no contemptible body of experimental +philosophy. The descriptions of ports and cities may instruct the +geographer, as well as if they were found in books appropriated only to +his own science; and the doctrines of funds, insurances, currency, +monopolies, exchanges, and duties, is so necessary to the politician, +that without it he can be of no use either in the council or the senate, +nor can speak or think justly either on war or trade. + +We, therefore, hope that we shall not repent the labour of compiling +this work; nor flatter ourselves unreasonably, in predicting a +favourable reception to a book which no condition of life can render +useless, which may contribute to the advantage of all that make or +receive laws, of all that buy or sell, of all that wish to keep or +improve their possessions, of all that desire to be rich, and all that +desire to be wise[2]. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] A new Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, compiled from the + information of the most eminent merchants, and from the works of the + best writers on commercial subjects in all languages, by Mr. Rolt. + Folio, 1757. + +[2] Of this preface, Mr. Boswell informs us that Dr. Johnson said he + never saw Rolt, and never read the book. "The booksellers wanted a + preface to a dictionary of trade and commerce. I knew very well what + such a dictionary should be, and I wrote a preface accordingly." + This may be believed; but the book is a most wretched farrago of + articles plundered without acknowledgment, or judgment, which, + indeed, was the case with most of Rolt's compilations. + + + + +PREFACE +TO THE TRANSLATION OF +FATHER LOBO'S VOYAGE TO ABYSSINIA[1]. + +The following relation is so curious and entertaining, and the +dissertations that accompany it so judicious and instructive, that the +translator is confident his attempt stands in need of no apology, +whatever censures may fall on the performance. + +The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his +countrymen, has amused his reader with no romantick absurdities or +incredible fictions: whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at +least probable; and he who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of +probability, has a right to demand that they should believe him who +cannot contradict him. + +He appears, by his modest and unaffected narration, to have described +things as he saw them, to have copied nature from the life, and to have +consulted his senses, not his imagination. He meets with no basilisks +that destroy with their eyes; his crocodiles devour their prey without +tears; and his cataracts fall from the rock without deafening the +neighbouring inhabitants. + +The reader will here find no regions cursed with irremediable +barrenness, or blest with spontaneous fecundity; no perpetual gloom or +unceasing sunshine; nor are the nations here described either devoid of +all sense of humanity, or consummate in all private and social virtues: +here are no Hottentots without religion, polity, or articulate language; +no Chinese perfectly polite, and completely skilled in all sciences: he +will discover what will always be discovered by a diligent and impartial +inquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, there is a mixture +of vice and virtue, a contest of passion and reason; and that the +Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has balanced +in most countries their particular inconveniencies by particular +favours. + +In his account of the mission, where his veracity is most to be +suspected, he neither exaggerates overmuch the merits of the Jesuits, if +we consider the partial regard paid by the Portuguese to their +countrymen, by the Jesuits to their society, and by the papists to their +church; nor aggravates the vices of the Abyssinians; but if the reader +will not be satisfied with a popish account of a popish mission, he may +have recourse to the history of the church of Abyssinia, written by Dr. +Geddes, in which he will find the actions and sufferings of the +missionaries placed in a different light, though the same in which Mr. +LeGrand, with all his zeal for the Roman church, appears to have seen +them. + +This learned dissertator, however valuable for his industry and +erudition, is yet more to be esteemed for having dared so freely, in the +midst of France, to declare his disapprobation of the patriarch Oviedo's +sanguinary zeal, who was continually importuning the Portuguese to beat +up their drums for missionaries who might preach the gospel with swords +in their hands, and propagate, by desolation and slaughter, the true +worship of the God of peace. + +It is not easy to forbear reflecting with how little reason these men +profess themselves the followers of JESUS, who left this great +characteristick to his disciples, that they should be known by loving +one another, by universal and unbounded charity and benevolence. + +Let us suppose an inhabitant of some remote and superiour region, yet +unskilled in the ways of men, having read and considered the precepts of +the gospel, and the example of our Saviour, to come down in search of +the true church. If he would not inquire after it among the cruel, the +insolent, and the oppressive; among those who are continually grasping +at dominion over souls as well as bodies; among those who are employed +in procuring to themselves impunity for the most enormous villanies, and +studying methods of destroying their fellow-creatures, not for their +crimes, but their errours; if he would not expect to meet benevolence +engage in massacres, or to find mercy in a court of inquisition,--he +would not look for the true church in the church of Rome. + +Mr. LeGrand has given, in one dissertation, an example of great +moderation, in deviating from the temper of his religion; but, in the +others, has left proofs, that learning and honesty are often too weak to +oppose prejudice. He has made no scruple of preferring the testimony of +father Du Bernat to the writings of all the Portuguese jesuits, to whom +he allows great zeal, but little learning, without giving any other +reason than that his favourite was a Frenchman. This is writing only to +Frenchmen and to papists: a protestant would be desirous to know, why he +must imagine that father Du Bernat had a cooler head or more knowledge, +and why one man, whose account is singular, is not more likely to be +mistaken than many agreeing in the same account. + +If the Portuguese were biassed by any particular views, another bias +equally powerful may have deflected the Frenchman from the truth; for +they evidently write with contrary designs: the Portuguese, to make +their mission seem more necessary, endeavoured to place, in the +strongest light, the differences between the Abyssinian and Roman +church; but the great Ludolfus, laying hold on the advantage, reduced +these later writers to prove their conformity. + +Upon the whole, the controversy seems of no great importance to those +who believe the holy Scriptures sufficient to teach the way of +salvation; but, of whatever moment it may be thought, there are no +proofs sufficient to decide it. + +His discourses on indifferent subjects will divert, as well as instruct; +and if either in these, or in the relation of father Lobo, any argument +shall appear unconvincing, or description obscure, they are defects +incident to all mankind, which, however, are not rashly to be imputed to +the authors, being sometimes, perhaps, more justly chargeable on the +translator. + +In this translation (if it may be so called) great liberties have been +taken, which, whether justifiable or not, shall be fairly confessed, and +let the judicious part of mankind pardon or condemn them. + +In the first part, the greatest freedom has been used, in reducing the +narration into a narrow compass; so that it is by no means a +translation, but an epitome, in which, whether every thing either useful +or entertaining be comprised, the compiler is least qualified to +determine. + +In the account of Abyssinia, and the continuation, the authors have been +followed with more exactness; and as few passages appeared either +insignificant or tedious, few have been either shortened or omitted. + +The dissertations are the only part in which an exact translation has +been attempted; and even in those, abstracts are sometimes given, +instead of literal quotations, particularly in the first; and sometimes +other parts have been contracted. + +Several memorials and letters, which are printed at the end of the +dissertations to secure the credit of the foregoing narrative, are +entirely left out. + +It is hoped that, after this confession, whoever shall compare this +attempt with the original, if he shall find no proofs of fraud or +partiality, will candidly overlook any failure of judgment. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] This translation was Johnson's first literary production, and was + published in 1735, with London on the title page, though, according + to Boswell, it was printed at Birmingham. In the preface and + dedication, the elegant structure of the sentences, and the harmony + of their cadence, are such as characterize his maturer works. Here + we may adopt the words of Mr. Murphy, and affirm that "we see the + infant Hercules." In the merely translated parts, no vestige of the + translator's own style appears. For Burke's opinion on the work, see + Boswell's Life of Johnson, i.; and for Johnson's own, see Boswell, + iii. In Murphy's Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson, there + is a compendious account of the benevolent travels of the Portuguese + missionary, who may fairly be called the precursor of Bruce. + Independent of its intrinsic merits, this translation is interesting + as illustrative of Johnson's early fondness for voyages and travels; + the perusal of which, refreshed Gray when weary of heavier labours, + and were pronounced by Warburton to constitute an important part of + a philosopher's library. + + + + +AN ESSAY ON EPITAPHS[1]. +[1] From the Gentleman's Magazine. + +Though criticism has been cultivated in every age of learning, by men of +great abilities and extensive knowledge, till the rules of writing are +become rather burdensome than instructive to the mind; though almost +every species of composition has been the subject of particular +treatises and given birth to definitions, distinctions, precepts and +illustrations; yet no critick of note, that has fallen within my +observation, has hitherto thought sepulchral inscriptions worthy of a +minute examination, or pointed out, with proper accuracy, their beauties +and defects. + +The reasons of this neglect it is useless to inquire, and, perhaps, +impossible to discover; it might be justly expected that this kind of +writing would have been the favourite topick of criticism, and that +self-love might have produced some regard for it, in those authors that +have crowded libraries with elaborate dissertations upon Homer; since to +afford a subject for heroick poems is the privilege of very few, but +every man may expect to be recorded in an epitaph, and, therefore, finds +some interest in providing that his memory may not suffer by an +unskilful panegyrick. + +If our prejudices in favour of antiquity deserve to have any part in the +regulation of our studies, epitaphs seem entitled to more than common +regard, as they are, probably, of the same age with the art of writing. +The most ancient structures in the world, the pyramids, are supposed to +be sepulchral monuments, which either pride or gratitude erected; and +the same passions which incited men to such laborious and expensive +methods of preserving their own memory, or that of their benefactors, +would, doubtless, incline them not to neglect any easier means by which +the same ends might be obtained. Nature and reason have dictated to +every nation, that to preserve good actions from oblivion, is both the +interest and duty of mankind: and, therefore, we find no people +acquainted with the use of letters, that omitted to grace the tombs of +their heroes and wise men with panegyrical inscriptions. + +To examine, therefore, in what the perfection of epitaphs consists, and +what rules are to be observed in composing them, will be, at least, of +as much use as other critical inquiries; and for assigning a few hours +to such disquisitions, great examples, at least, if not strong reasons, +may be pleaded. + +An epitaph, as the word itself implies, is an inscription on a tomb, +and, in its most extensive import, may admit, indiscriminately, satire +or praise. But as malice has seldom produced monuments of defamation, +and the tombs, hitherto raised, have been the work of friendship and +benevolence, custom has contracted the original latitude of the word, so +that it signifies, in the general acceptation, an inscription engraven +on a tomb in honour of the person deceased. + +As honours are paid to the dead, in order to incite others to the +imitation of their excellencies, the principal intention of epitaphs is +to perpetuate the examples of virtue, that the tomb of a good man may +supply the want of his presence, and veneration for his memory produce +the same effect as the observation of his life. Those epitaphs are, +therefore, the most perfect, which set virtue in the strongest light, +and are best adapted to exalt the readers ideas, and rouse his +emulation. + +To this end it is not always necessary to recount the actions of a hero, +or enumerate the writings of a philosopher; to imagine such informations +necessary, is to detract from their characters, or to suppose their +works mortal, or their achievements in danger of being forgotten. The +bare name of such men answers every purpose of a long inscription. + +Had only the name of Sir Isaac Newton been subjoined to the design upon +his monument, instead of a long detail of his discoveries, which no +philosopher can want, and which none but a philosopher can understand, +those, by whose direction it was raised, had done more honour both to +him and to themselves. + +This, indeed, is a commendation which it requires no genius to bestow, +but which can never become vulgar or contemptible, if bestowed with +judgment; because no single age produces many men of merit superiour to +panegyrick. None but the first names can stand unassisted against the +attacks of time; and if men raised to reputation by accident or caprice, +have nothing but their names engraved on their tombs, there is danger +lest, in a few years, the inscription require an interpreter. Thus have +their expectations been disappointed who honoured Picus of Mirandola +with this pompous epitaph: + + Hic situs est PICUS MIRANDOLA, caetera norunt + Et Tagus et Ganges, forsan et Antipodes. + +His name, then celebrated in the remotest corners of the earth, is now +almost forgotten; and his works, then studied, admired, and applauded, +are now mouldering in obscurity. + +Next in dignity to the bare name is a short character simple and +unadorned, without exaggeration, superlatives, or rhetorick. Such were +the inscriptions in use among the Romans, in which the victories gained +by their emperours were commemorated by a single epithet; as Cæsar +Germanicus, Cæsar Dacicus, Germanicus, Illyricus. Such would be this +epitaph, ISAACUS NEWTONUS, naturae legibus investigatis, hic quiescit. + +But to far the greatest part of mankind a longer encomium is necessary +for the publication of their virtues, and the preservation of their +memories; and, in the composition of these it is, that art is +principally required, and precepts, therefore, may be useful. + +In writing epitaphs, one circumstance is to be considered, which affects +no other composition; the place in which they are now commonly found +restrains them to a particular air of solemnity, and debars them from +the admission of all lighter or gayer ornaments. In this, it is that, +the style of an epitaph necessarily differs from that of an elegy. The +customs of burying our dead, either in or near our churches, perhaps, +originally founded on a rational design of fitting the mind for +religious exercises, by laying before it the most affecting proofs of +the uncertainty of life, makes it proper to exclude from our epitaphs +all such allusions as are contrary to the doctrines, for the propagation +of which the churches are erected, and to the end for which those who +peruse the monuments must be supposed to come thither. Nothing is, +therefore, more ridiculous than to copy the Roman inscriptions, which +were engraven on stones by the highway, and composed by those who +generally reflected on mortality only to excite in themselves and others +a quicker relish of pleasure, and a more luxurious enjoyment of life, +and whose regard for the dead extended no farther than a wish that "the +earth might be light upon them." + +All allusions to the heathen mythology are, therefore, absurd, and all +regard for the senseless remains of a dead man impertinent and +superstitious. One of the first distinctions of the primitive +Christians, was their neglect of bestowing garlands on the dead, in +which they are very rationally defended by their apologist in Manutius +Felix. "We lavish no flowers nor odours on the dead," says he, "because +they have no sense of fragrance or of beauty." We profess to reverence +the dead, not for their sake, but for our own. It is, therefore, always +with indignation or contempt that I read the epitaph on Cowley, a man +whose learning and poetry were his lowest merits. + + Aurea dum late volitant tua scripta per orbem, + Et fama eternum vivis, divine poeta, + Hic placida jaceas requie, custodiat urnam + Cana fides, vigilenique perenni lampade muse! + Sit sacer ille locus, nec quis temerarius ausit + Sacrilega turbare manu venerabile bustum. + Intacti maneant, maneant per sæcula dulces + COWLEII cineres, serventque immobile saxum. + +To pray that the ashes of a friend may lie undisturbed, and that the +divinities that favoured him in his life may watch for ever round him, +to preserve his tomb from violation, and drive sacrilege away, is only +rational in him who believes the soul interested in the repose of the +body, and the powers which he invokes for its protection able to +preserve it. To censure such expressions, as contrary to religion, or as +remains of heathen superstition, would be too great a degree of +severity. I condemn them only as uninstructive and unaffecting, as too +ludicrous for reverence or grief, for Christianity and a temple. + +That the designs and decorations of monuments ought, likewise, to be +formed with the same regard to the solemnity of the place, cannot be +denied; it is an established principle, that all ornaments owe their +beauty to their propriety. The same glitter of dress, that adds graces +to gaiety and youth, would make age and dignity contemptible. Charon +with his boat is far from heightening the awful grandeur of the +universal judgment, though drawn by Angelo himself; nor is it easy to +imagine a greater absurdity than that of gracing the walls of a +Christian temple, with the figure of Mars leading a hero to battle, or +Cupids sporting round a virgin. The pope who defaced the statues of the +deities at the tomb of Sannazarius is, in my opinion, more easily to be +defended, than he that erected them. + +It is, for the same reason, improper to address the epitaph to the +passenger, a custom which an injudicious veneration for antiquity +introduced again at the revival of letters, and which, among many +others, Passeratius suffered to mislead him in his epitaph upon the +heart of Henry, king of France, who was stabbed by Clement the monk, +which yet deserves to be inserted, for the sake of showing how beautiful +even improprieties may become in the hands of a good writer. + + Adsta, viator, et dole regum vices. + Cor regis isto conditur sub marmore, + Qui jura Gallis, jura Sarmatis dedit; + Tectus cucullo hunc sustulit sicarius. + Abi, viator, et dole regum vices. + +In the monkish ages, however ignorant and unpolished, the epitaphs were +drawn up with far greater propriety than can be shown in those which +more enlightened times have produced. + + Orate pro anima miserrimi peccatoris, + +was an address, to the last degree, striking and solemn, as it flowed +naturally from the religion then believed, and awakened in the reader +sentiments of benevolence for the deceased, and of concern for his own +happiness. There was nothing trifling or ludicrous, nothing that did not +tend to the noblest end, the propagation of piety, and the increase of +devotion. + +It may seem very superfluous to lay it down as the first rule for +writing epitaphs, that the name of the deceased is not to be omitted; +nor should I have thought such a precept necessary, had not the practice +of the greatest writers shown, that it has not been sufficiently +regarded. In most of the poetical epitaphs, the names for whom they were +composed, may be sought to no purpose, being only prefixed on the +monument. To expose the absurdity of this omission, it is only necessary +to ask how the epitaphs, which have outlived the stones on which they +were inscribed, would have contributed to the information of posterity, +had they wanted the names of those whom they celebrated. + +In drawing the character of the deceased, there are no rules to be +observed which do not equally relate to other compositions. The praise +ought not to be general, because the mind is lost in the extent of any +indefinite idea, and cannot be affected with what it cannot comprehend. +When we hear only of a good or great man, we know not in what class to +place him, nor have any notion of his character, distinct from that of a +thousand others; his example can have no effect upon our conduct, as we +have nothing remarkable or eminent to propose to our imitation. The +epitaph composed by Ennius for his own tomb, has both the faults last +mentioned. + + Nemo me decoret lacrumis, nec funera fletu + Faxit. Cur?--Volito vivu' per ora virum. + +The reader of this epitaph receives scarce any idea from it; he neither +conceives any veneration for the man to whom it belongs, nor is +instructed by what methods this boasted reputation is to be obtained. + +Though a sepulchral inscription is professedly a panegyrick, and, +therefore, not confined to historical impartiality, yet it ought always +to be written with regard to truth. No man ought to be commended for +virtues which he never possessed, but whoever is curious to know his +faults must inquire after them in other places; the monuments of the +dead are not intended to perpetuate the memory of crimes, but to exhibit +patterns of virtue. On the tomb of Maecenas his luxury is not to be +mentioned with his munificence, nor is the proscription to find a place +on the monument of Augustus. + +The best subject for epitaphs is private virtue; virtue exerted in the +same circumstances in which the bulk of mankind are placed, and which, +therefore, may admit of many imitators. He that has delivered his +country from oppression, or freed the world from ignorance and errour, +can excite the emulation of a very small number; but he that has +repelled the temptations of poverty, and disdained to free himself from +distress, at the expense of his virtue, may animate multitudes, by his +example, to the same firmness of heart and steadiness of resolution. + +Of this kind I cannot forbear the mention of two Greek inscriptions; one +upon a man whose writings are well known, the other upon a person whose +memory is preserved only in her epitaph, who both lived in slavery, the +most calamitous estate in human life: + + [Greek: Zosimae ae prin eousa mono to somati doulae + Kai to somati nun euren eleutheriaen.] + + "Zosima, quae solo fuit olim corpore serva, + Corpore nunc etiam libera facta fuit." + + "Zosima, who, in her life, could only have her body enslaved, now + finds her body, likewise, set at liberty." + +It is impossible to read this epitaph without being animated to bear the +evils of life with constancy, and to support the dignity of human nature +under the most pressing afflictions, both, by the example of the +heroine, whose grave we behold, and the prospect of that state in which, +to use the language of the inspired writers, "The poor cease from their +labours, and the weary be at rest."-- + +The other is upon Epictetus, the Stoick philosopher: + + [Greek: Doulos Epiktaetos genomaen, kai som anapaeros, + Kai peniaen Iros, kai philos Athanatois.] + + "Servus Epictetus, mutilatus corpore, vixi + Pauperieque Irus, curaque prima deum." + + "Epictetus, who lies here, was a slave and a cripple, poor as the + beggar in the proverb, and the favourite of heaven." + +In this distich is comprised the noblest panegyrick, and the most +important instruction. We may learn from it, that virtue is +impracticable in no condition, since Epictetus could recommend himself +to the regard of heaven, amidst the temptations of poverty and slavery; +slavery, which has always been found so destructive to virtue, that in +many languages a slave and a thief are expressed by the same word. And +we may be, likewise, admonished by it, not to lay any stress on a man's +outward circumstances, in making an estimate of his real value, since +Epictetus the beggar, the cripple, and the slave, was the favourite of +heaven. + + + + +PREFACE TO AN ESSAY[1] +ON MILTON'S USE AND IMITATION OF THE MODERNS +IN HIS PARADISE LOST. + +FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1750. + +It is now more than half a century since the Paradise Lost, having broke +through the clouds with which the unpopularity of the author, for a +time, obscured it, has attracted the general admiration of mankind; who +have endeavoured to compensate the errour of their first neglect, by +lavish praises and boundless veneration. There seems to have arisen a +contest, among men of genius and literature, who should most advance its +honour, or best distinguish its beauties. Some have revised editions, +others have published commentaries, and all have endeavoured to make +their particular studies, in some degree, subservient to this general +emulation. + +Among the inquiries, to which this ardour of criticism has naturally +given occasion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of +rational curiosity, than a retrospection of the progress of this mighty +genius, in the construction of his work; a view of the fabrick gradually +rising, perhaps, from small beginnings, till its foundation rests in the +centre, and its turrets sparkle in the skies; to trace back the +structure, through all its varieties, to the simplicity of its first +plan; to find what was first projected, whence the scheme was taken, how +it was improved, by what assistance it was executed, and from what +stores the materials were collected, whether its founder dug them from +the quarries of nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his +own. + +This inquiry has been, indeed, not wholly neglected, nor, perhaps, +prosecuted with the care and diligence that it deserves. Several +criticks have offered their conjectures; but none have much endeavoured +to enforce or ascertain them. Mr. Voltaire[2] tells us, without proof, +that the first hint of Paradise Lost was taken from a farce called +Adamo, written by a player; Dr. Pearce[3], that it was derived from an +Italian tragedy, called Il Paradiso Perso; and Mr. Peck[4], that it was +borrowed from a wild romance. Any of these conjectures may possibly be +true, but, as they stand without sufficient proof, it must be granted, +likewise, that they may all possibly be false; at least they cannot +preclude any other opinion, which, without argument, has the same claim +to credit, and may, perhaps, be shown, by resistless evidence, to be +better founded. + +It is related, by steady and uncontroverted tradition, that the Paradise +Lost was at first a tragedy, and, therefore, amongst tragedies the first +hint is properly to be sought. In a manuscript, published from Milton's +own hand, among a great number of subjects for tragedy, is Adam +unparadised, or Adam in exile; and this, therefore, may be justly +supposed the embryo of this great poem. As it is observable, that all +these subjects had been treated by others, the manuscript can be +supposed nothing more, than a memorial or catalogue of plays, which, for +some reason, the writer thought worthy of his attention. When, +therefore, I had observed, that Adam in exile was named amongst them, I +doubted not but, in finding the original of that tragedy, I should +disclose the genuine source of Paradise Lost. Nor was my expectation +disappointed; for, having procured the Adamus exul of Grotius, I found, +or imagined myself to find, the first draught, the prima stamina of this +wonderful poem. + +Having thus traced the original of this work, I was naturally induced to +continue my search to the collateral relations, which it might be +supposed to have contracted, in its progress to maturity: and having, at +least, persuaded my own judgment that the search has not been entirely +ineffectual, I now lay the result of my labours before the publick; with +full conviction that, in questions of this kind, the world cannot be +mistaken, at least, cannot long continue in errour. + +I cannot avoid acknowledging the candour of the author of that excellent +monthly book, the Gentleman's Magazine, in giving admission to the +specimens in favour of this argument; and his impartiality in as freely +inserting the several answers. I shall here subjoin some extracts from +the seventeenth volume of this work, which I think suitable to my +purpose. To which I have added, in order to obviate every pretence for +cavil, a list of the authors quoted in the following essay, with their +respective dates, in comparison with the date of Paradise Lost. + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +When this Essay was almost finished, the splendid edition of Paradise +Lost, so long promised by the reverend Dr. Newton, fell into my hands; +of which I had, however, so little use, that, as it would be injustice +to censure, it would be flattery to commend it: and I should have +totally forborne the mention of a book that I have not read, had not one +passage at the conclusion of the life of Milton, excited in me too much +pity and indignation to be suppressed in silence. + +"Deborah, Milton's youngest daughter," says the editor, "was married to +Mr. Abraham Clarke, a weaver, in Spitalfields, and died in August, 1727, +in the 76th year of her age. She had ten children. Elizabeth, the +youngest, was married to Mr. Thomas Foster, a weaver, in Spitalfields, +and had seven children, who are all dead; and she, herself, is aged +about sixty, and weak and infirm. She seemeth to be a good, plain, +sensible woman, and has confirmed several particulars related above, and +informed me of some others, which she had often heard from her mother." +These the doctor enumerates, and then adds, "In all probability, +Milton's whole family will be extinct with her, and he can live only in +his writings. And such is the caprice of fortune, this granddaughter of +a man, who will be an everlasting glory to the nation, has now for some +years, with her husband, kept a little chandler's or grocer's shop, for +their subsistence, lately at the lower Holloway, in the road between +Highgate and London, and, at present, in Cocklane, not far from +Shoreditch-church." + +That this relation is true cannot be questioned: but, surely, the honour +of letters, the dignity of sacred poetry, the spirit of the English +nation, and the glory of human nature, require--that it should be true +no longer. In an age, in which statues are erected to the honour of this +great writer, in which his effigy has been diffused on medals, and his +work propagated by translations, and illustrated by commentaries; in an +age, which amidst all its vices, and all its follies, has not become +infamous for want of charity: it may be, surely, allowed to hope, that +the living remains of Milton will be no longer suffered to languish in +distress. It is yet in the power of a great people, to reward the poet +whose name they boast, and from their alliance to whose genius, they +claim some kind of superiority to every other nation of the earth; that +poet, whose works may possibly be read when every other monument of +British greatness shall be obliterated; to reward him--not with +pictures, or with medals, which, if he sees, he sees with contempt, but +--with tokens of gratitude, which he, perhaps, may even now consider as +not unworthy the regard of an immortal spirit. And, surely, to those, +who refuse their names to no other scheme of expense, it will not be +unwelcome, that a subscription is proposed, for relieving, in the +languor of age, the pains of disease, and the contempt of poverty, the +granddaughter of the author of Paradise Lost. Nor can it be questioned, +that if I, who have been marked out as the Zoilus of Milton, think this +regard due to his posterity, the design will be warmly seconded by +those, whose lives have been employed, in discovering his excellencies, +and extending his reputation. + +Subscriptions for the relief of Mrs. ELIZABETH FOSTER, granddaughter to +JOHN MILTON, are taken in by Mr. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall; Messrs. Cox and +Collings, under the Royal Exchange; Mr. Cave, at St. John's Gate, +Clerkenwell; and Messrs. Payne and Bouquet, in Paternoster-Row. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The history of Lauder's imposition is now almost forgotten, and is, + certainly, not worth revival. It is fully detailed in Dr. Drake's + Literary Life of Johnson, and in Boswell's Life, i. The conflicting + inferences drawn from Johnson's connexion with Lauder, by Hayley, + Dr. Symonds and Boswell, may easily be settled by those who have + leisure for, or take interest in, such inquiries. In the very heat + of the controversy, Johnson was never accused of intentional + deception. Dr. Douglas, in the year 1750, published a letter to the + earl of Bath, entitled, Milton vindicated from the charge of + plagiarism brought against him by Mr. Lauder. In this masterly + letter, after exposing the gross impositions and forgeries of + Lauder, he thus adverts to the author of the preface and postscript. + "It is to be hoped, nay, it is _expected_, that the elegant and + nervous writer, whose judicious sentiments, and inimitable style, + point out the author of Lauder's preface and postscript, will no + longer allow one to plume himself with his feathers, who appears so + little to have deserved his assistance; an assistance which, I am + persuaded, would never have been communicated, had there been the + least suspicion of those facts, which I have been the instrument of + conveying to the world in these sheets." p. 77. 8vo. 1751. + + In Boswell's Life, i. 209, ed. 1816, Mr. Boswell thus writes, in a + note: "His lordship (Dr. Douglas, then bishop of Salisbury) has been + pleased now to authorise me to say, in the strongest manner, that + there is no ground whatever for any unfavourable reflection against + Dr. Johnson, who expressed the strongest indignation against + Lauder."--Ed. + +[2] Essay upon the civil wars of France, and also upon the epick poetry + of the European nations, from Homer down to Milton, 8vo. 1727, + p. 103. + +[3] Preface to a review of the text of the twelve books of Milton's + Paradise Lost, in which the chief of Dr. Bentley's emendations are + considered, 8vo. 1733. + +[4] New memoirs of Mr. John Milton, by Francis Peck. 4to. 1740. p. 52. + + + + +A LETTER +TO THE REVEREND MR. DOUGLAS, +OCCASIONED BY HIS +VINDICATION OF MILTON. + +To which are subjoined several curious original letters from the authors +of the Universal History, Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Mac-Laurin, &c. + +BY WILLIAM LAUDER, A.M. + + _Quem pænitet peccasse pene est innocens._ SENECA. + _Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse Leoni: + Pugna suum finem, quum jacet hostis, habet._ OVID. + --_Prætuli clementiam + Juris rigori_.-- GROTII Adamus Exul. + +FIRST PRINTED THE YEAR 1751. + +PREFATORY OBSERVATIONS. + +Dr. Johnson no sooner discovered the iniquitous conduct and designs of +Lauder, than he compelled him to confess and recant, in the following +letter to the reverend Mr. Douglas, which he drew up for him: but +scarcely had Lauder exhibited this sign of contrition, when he addressed +an apology to the archbishop of Canterbury, soliciting his patronage for +an edition of the very poets whose works he had so misapplied, and +concluding his address in the following spirit: "As for the +interpolations for which I am so highly blamed, when passion is +subsided, and the minds of men can patiently attend to truth, I promise +amply to replace them with passages equivalent in value, that are +genuine, that the public may be convinced that it was rather passion and +resentment, than a penury of evidence, the twentieth part of which has +not yet been produced, that obliged me to make use of them." This did +not satiate his malice: in 1752, he published the first volume of the +proposed edition of the Latin poets, and in 1753, a second, accompanied +with notes, both Latin and English, in a style of acrimonious +scurrility, indicative almost of insanity. In 1754, he brought forward a +pamphlet, entitled, King Charles vindicated from the charge of +plagiarism, brought against him by Milton, and Milton himself convicted +of forgery and gross imposition on the public. 8vo. In this work he +exhausts every epithet of abuse, and utterly disclaims every statement +made in his apology. It was reviewed, probably by Johnson, in the Gent. +Mag. 1754, p. 97.--Ed. + + + + +TO THE REVEREND MR. DOUGLAS. + +Sir, + +Candour and tenderness are, in any relation, and on all occasions, +eminently amiable; but when they are found in an adversary, and found so +prevalent as to overpower that zeal which his cause excites, and that +heat which naturally increases in the prosecution of argument, and which +may be, in a great measure, justified by the love of truth, they +certainly appear with particular advantages; and it is impossible not to +envy those who possess the friendship of him, whom it is, even, some +degree of good fortune to have known as an enemy. + +I will not so far dissemble my weakness, or my fault, as not to confess +that my wish was to have passed undetected; but, since it has been my +fortune to fail in my original design, to have the supposititious +passages, which I have inserted in my quotations, made known to the +world, and the shade which began to gather on the splendour of Milton +totally dispersed, I cannot but count it an alleviation of my pain, that +I have been defeated by a man who knows how to use advantages, with so +much moderation, and can enjoy the honour of conquest, without the +insolence of triumph. + +It was one of the maxims of the Spartans, not to press upon a flying +army, and, therefore, their enemies were always ready to quit the field, +because they knew the danger was only in opposing. The civility with +which you have thought proper to treat me, when you had incontestable +superiority, has inclined me to make your victory complete, without any +further struggle, and not only publicly to acknowledge the truth of the +charge which you have hitherto advanced, but to confess, without the +least dissimulation, subterfuge, or concealment, every other +interpolation I have made in those authors, which you have not yet had +opportunity to examine. + +On the sincerity and punctuality of this confession, I am willing to +depend for all the future regard of mankind, and cannot but indulge some +hopes, that they, whom my offence has alienated from me, may, by this +instance of ingenuity and repentance, be propitiated and reconciled. +Whatever be the event, I shall, at least, have done all that can be done +in reparation of my former injuries to Milton, to truth, and to mankind; +and entreat that those who shall continue implacable, will examine their +own hearts, whether they have not committed equal crimes, without equal +proofs of sorrow, or equal acts of atonement[1]. + +[1] The interpolations are distinguished by inverted commas. + + +PASSAGES INTERPOLATED IN MASENIUS. + +The word "pandemonium," in the marginal notes of +Book i. Essay, page 10. + +Citation 6. Essay, page 38. + + Annuit ipsa Dolo, malumque (heu! longa dolendi + Materies! et triste nefas!) vesana momordit, + Tanti ignara mali. Mora nulla: solutus avernus + Exspuit infandas acies; fractumque remugit, + Divulsa compage, solum: Nabathaea receptum + Regna dedere sonum, Pharioque in littore Nercus + Territus erubuit: simul aggemuere dolentes + Hesperiæ valles, Libyaeque calentis arenae + Exarsere procul. Stupefacta Lycaonis ursa + Constitit, et pavido riguit glacialis in axe: + Omnis cardinibus submotus inhorruit orbis; + "Angeli hoc efficiunt, coelestia jussa secuti." + +Citation 7. Essay, page 41. + + Ilia quidem fugiens, sparsis per terga capillis, + Ora rigat lacrimis, et coelum questibus implet: + Talia voce rogans. Magni Deus arbiter orbis! + Qui rerum momenta tenes, solusque futuri + Praescius, elapsique memor: quem terra potentem + Imperio, coelique tremunt; quem dite superbus + Horrescit Phlegethon, pavidoque furore veretur: + En! Styge crudeli premimur. Laxantur hiatus + Tartarei, dirusque solo dominatur Avernus, + "Infernique canes populantur cuncta creata," + Et manes violant superos: discrimina rerum + Sustulit Antitheus, divumque oppressit honorem. + Respice Sarcotheam: nimis, heu! decepta momordit + Infaustas epulas, nosque omnes prodidit hosti. + +Citation 8. Essay, page 42; the whole passage. + + "Quadrupedi pugnat quadrupes, volucrique volucris; + Et piscis cum pisce ferox hostilibus armis + Prælia sæva gerit: jam pristina pabula spernunt, + Jam tondere piget viridantes gramine campos: + Alterum et alterius vivunt animalia letho: + Prisca nec in gentem humanam reverentia durat; + Sed fugiunt, vel, si steterant, fera bella minantur + Fronte truci, torvosque oculos jaculantur in illam." + +Citation 9. Essay, page 43. + + "Vatibus antiquis numerantur lumine cassis," + Tiresias, "Phineus," Thamyrisque, et magnus Homerus. + +The above passage stands thus in Masenius, in one line: + + Tiresias caecus, Thamyrisque, et Daphnis, Homerus. + +N.B. The verse now cited is in Masenius's poems, but not in the +Sarcotis. + +Citation 10. Essay, page 46. + + In medio, turmas inter provectus ovantes + Cernitur Antitheus; reliquis hic altior unus + Eminet, et circum vulgus despectat inane: + Frons nebulis obscura latet, torvumque furorem + Dissimulat, fidae tectus velamine noctis: + "Persimilis turri praecelsae, aut montibus altis + Antique cedro, nudatae frondis honore." + + +PASSAGES INTERPOLATED IN GROTIUS. + +Citation 1. Essay, page 55. + + Sacri tonantis hostis, exsul patriæ + Coelestis adsum; Tartari tristem specum + Fugiens, et atram noctis æternæ plagam. + Hac spe, quod unum maximum fugio malum, + Superos videbo. Fallor? an certe meo + Concussa tellus tota trepidat pondere? + "Quid dico? Tellus? Orcus et pedibus tremit." + +Citation 2. Essay, page 58; the whole passage. + + --"Nam, me judice, + Regnare dignum est ambitu, etsi in Tartaro: + Alto præcesse Tartaro siquidem juvat, + Coelis quam in ipsis servi obire munera." + +Citation 4. Essay, page 61; the whole passage. + + "Innominata quæque nominibus suis, + Libet vocare propriis vocabulis." + +Citation 5. Essay, page 63. + + Terrestris orbis rector! et princeps freti! + "Coeli solique soboles; ætherium genus!" + Adame! dextram liceat amplecti tuam! + +Citation 6. Essay, _ibid_. + + Quod illud animal, tramite obliquo means, + Ad me volutum flexili serpit via? + Sibila retorquet ora setosum caput + Trifidamque linguam vibrat: oculi ardent duo, + "Carbunculorum luce certantes rubra." + +Citation 7. Essay, page 65; the whole passage. + + --"Nata deo! atque homine sata! + Regina mundi! eademque interitus inscia! + Cunctis colenda!"-- + +Citation 8. Essay, page 66; the whole passage. + + "Rationis etenim omnino paritas exigit, + Ego bruta quando bestia evasi loquens; + Ex homine, qualis ante, te fieri deam." + +Citation 9. Essay, _ibid_. + + Per sancta thalami sacra, per jus nominis + Quodcumque nostri: sive me natam vocas, + Ex te creatam; sive communi patre + Ortam, sororem; sive potius conjugem: + "Cassam, oro, dulci luminis jubare tui" + Ne me relinquas: nunc tuo auxilio est opus. + Cum versa sors est. Unicum lapsæ mihi + Firmamen, unam spem gravi adflictæ malo, + Te mihi reserva, dum licet: mortalium + Ne tota soboles pereat unius nece: + "Tibi nam relicta, quo petam? aut ævum exigam?" + +Citation 10. Essay, page 67; the whole passage. + + "Tu namque soli numini contrarius, + Minus es nocivus; ast ego nocentior, + (Adeoque misera magis, quippe miseriæ comes + Origoque scelus est, lurida mater male!) + Deumque læsi scelere, teque, vir! simul." + +Citation 11. Essay, page 68; the whole passage. + + "Quod comedo, poto, gigno, diris subjacet." + + +INTERPOLATION IN RAMSAY. + +Citation 6. Essay, page 88. + + O judex! nova me facies inopinaque terret; + Me maculæ turpes, nudæque in corpore sordes, + Et cruciant duris exercita pectora poenis: + Me ferus horror agit. Mihi non vernantia prata, + Non vitræi fontes, coeli non aurea templa, + Nec sunt grata mihi sub utroque jacentia sole: + Judicis ora dei sic terrent, lancinat ægrum + Sic pectus mihi noxa. O si mî abrumpere vitam, + Et detur poenam quovis evadere letho! + Ipsa parens utinam mihi tellus ima dehiscat! + Ad piceas trudarque umbras, atque infera regna! + "Pallentes umbras Erebi, noctemque profundam!" + Montibus aut premar injectis, coelique ruina! + Ante tuos vultus, tua quam flammantiaque ora + Suspiciam, caput objectem et coelestibus armis! + + +INTERPOLATIONS IN STAPHORSTIUS. + +Citation 3. Essay, page 104. + + Foedus in humanis fragili quod sanctius aevo! + Firmius et melius, quod magnificentius, ac quam + Conjugii, sponsi sponsaeque jugalia sacra! + "Auspice te, fugiens alieni subcuba lecti, + Dira libido hominum tota de gente repulsa est: + Ac tantum gregibus pecudum ratione carentum + Imperat, et sine lege tori furibunda vagatur. + Auspice te, quam jura probant, rectumque, piumque, + Filius atque pater, fraterque innotuit: et quot + Vincula vicini sociarunt sanguinis, a te + Nominibus didicere suam distinguere gentem." + +Citation 6. Essay, page 109. + + Coelestes animæ! sublimia templa tenentes, + Laudibus adcumulate deum super omnia magnum!--Tu + quoque nunc animi vis tota ac maxuma nostri! + Tota tui in Domini grates dissolvere laudes! + "Aurora redeunte nova, redeuntibus umbris." + Immensum! augustum! verum! inscrutabile numen! + Summe Deus! sobolesque Dei! concorsque duorum, + Spiritus! aeternas retines, bone rector! habenas, + Per mare, per terras, coelosque, atque unus Jehova + Existens, celebrabo tuas, memorique sonabo + Organico plectro laudes. Te pectore amabo, + "Te primum, et medium, et summum, sed fine carentem," + O miris mirande modis! ter maxime rerum! + Collustrat terras dum humine Titan Eoo! + + +INTERPOLATION IN FOX. + +Essay, page 116. + + --Tu Psychephone + Hypocrisis esto, hoc sub Francisci pallio. + Tu Thanate, Martyromastix re et nomine sies. + +Altered thus, + + --Tu Pyschephone! + Hypocrisis esto; hoc sub Francisci pallio, + "Quo tuto tecti sese credunt emori." + + +INTERPOLATION IN QUINTIANUS. + +Essay, page 117. + + _Mic._ Cur hue procaci veneris cursu refer? + Manere si quis in sua potest domo, + Habitare numquam curet alienas domos. + + _Luc._ Quis non, relicta Tartari nigri domo, + Veniret? Illic summa tenebrarum lues, + Ubi pedor ingens redolet extremum situm. + Hic autem amoena regna, et dulcis quies; + Ubi serenus ridet æternum dies. + Mutare facile[1] est pondus immensum levi; + "Summos dolores maximisque gaudiis." +[1] For _facile_, the word _votupe_ was substituted in the Essay. + + +INTERPOLATION IN BEZA. + +Essay, page 119. + + Stygemque testor, et profunda Tartari, + Nisi impediret livor, et queis prosequor + Odia supremum numen, atque hominum genus, + Pietate motus hinc patris, et hinc filii, + Possem parenti condolere et filio, + "Quasi exuissem omnem malitiam ex pectore." + + +INTERPOLATION IN FLETCHER. + +Essay, page 124. + + Nec tamen aeternos obliti (absiste timere) + Umquam animos, fessique ingentes ponimus iras. + Nec fas; non sic deficimus, nec talia tecum + Gessimus, in coelos olim tua signa secuti. + Est hic, est vitæ et magni contemptor Olympi, + Quique oblatam animus lucis nunc respuat aulam, + Et domiti tantum placeat cui regia coeli. + Ne dubita, numquam fractis hæc pectora, numquam + Deficient animis: prius ille ingentia coeli + Atria, desertosque aeternae lucis alumnos + Destituens, Erebum admigret noctemque profundam, + Et Stygiis mutet radiantia lumina flammis. + "In promptu caussa est: superest invicta voluntas, + Immortale odium, vindictae et saeva cupido." + + +INTERPOLATIONS IN TAUBMAN. + +Essay, page 132. + + Tune, ait, imperio regere omnia solus; et una + Filius iste tuus, qui se tibi subjicit ultro, + Ac genibus minor ad terram prosternit, et offert + Nescio quos toties animi servilis bonores? + Et tamen aeterni proles aeterna Jehovae + Audit ab aetherea luteaque propagine mundi. + ("Scilicet hunc natum dixisti cuncta regentem; + Caelitibus regem cunctis, dominumque supremum") + Huic ego sim supplex? ego? quo praestantior alter + Non agit in superis. Mihi jus dabit ille, suum qui + Dat caput alterius sub jus et vincula legum? + Semideus reget iste polos? reget avia terrae? + Me pressum leviore manu fortuna tenebit? + "Et cogar aeternum duplici servire tyranno?" + Haud ita. Tu solus non polles fortibus ausis. + Non ego sic cecidi, nec sic mea fata premuntur, + Ut nequeam relevare caput, colloque superbum + Excutere imperium. Mihi si mea dextra favebit, + Audeo totius mihi jus promittere mundi. + +Essay, page 152. + +"Throni, dominationes, principatus, virtutes, potestates," is said to be +a line borrowed by Milton from the title-page of Heywood's Hierarchy of +Angels. But there are more words in Heywood's title; and, according to +his own arrangement of his subjects, they should be read thus:-- +"Seraphim, cherubim, throni, potestates, angeli, archangeli, +principatus, dominationes." + +These are my interpolations, minutely traced without any arts of +evasion. Whether from the passages that yet remain, any reader will be +convinced of my general assertion, and allow, that Milton had recourse +for assistance to any of the authors whose names I have mentioned, I +shall not now be very diligent to inquire, for I had no particular +pleasure in subverting the reputation of Milton, which I had myself once +endeavoured to exalt[1]; and of which, the foundation had always +remained untouched by me, had not my credit and my interest been +blasted, or thought to be blasted, by the shade which it cast from its +boundless elevation. + +About ten years ago, I published an edition of Dr. Johnston's +translation of the Psalms, and having procured from the general assembly +of the church of Scotland, a recommendation of its use to the lower +classes of grammar schools, into which I had begun to introduce it, +though not without much controversy and opposition, I thought it likely +that I should, by annual publications, improve my little fortune, and be +enabled to support myself in freedom from the miseries of indigence. But +Mr. Pope, in his malevolence to Mr. Benson, who had distinguished +himself by his fondness for the same version, destroyed all my hopes by +a distich, in which he places Johnston in a contemptuous comparison with +the author of Paradise Lost[2]. From this time, all my praises of +Johnston became ridiculous, and I was censured, with great freedom, for +forcing upon the schools an author whom Mr. Pope had mentioned only as a +foil to a better poet. On this occasion, it was natural not to be +pleased, and my resentment seeking to discharge itself somewhere, was +unhappily directed against Milton. I resolved to attack his fame, and +found some passages in cursory reading, which gave me hopes of +stigmatizing him as a plagiary. The farther I carried my search, the +more eager I grew for the discovery; and the more my hypothesis was +opposed, the more I was heated with rage. The consequence of my blind +passion, I need not relate; it has, by your detection, become apparent +to mankind. Nor do I mention this provocation, as adequate to the fury +which I have shown, but as a cause of anger, less shameful and +reproachful than fractious malice, personal envy, or national jealousy. + +But for the violation of truth, I offer no excuse, because I well know, +that nothing can excuse it. Nor will I aggravate my crime, by +disingenuous palliations. I confess it, I repent it, and resolve, that +my first offence shall be my last. More I cannot perform, and more, +therefore, cannot be required. I entreat the pardon of all men, whom I +have by any means induced to support, to countenance, or patronise my +frauds, of which, I think myself obliged to declare, that not one of my +friends was conscious. I hope to deserve, by better conduct, and more +useful undertakings, that patronage which I have obtained from the most +illustrious and venerable names by misrepresentation and delusion, and +to appear hereafter in such a character, as shall give you no reason to +regret that your name is frequently mentioned with that of, + +Reverend Sir, + +Your most humble servant, + +WILLIAM LAUDER. + +December 20, 1750. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Virorum maximus--Joannes Miltonus--Poeta celeberrimus--non Angliae + modo, soli natalis, verum generis humani ornamentum--cujus eximius + liber, Anglicanis versibus conscriptus, vulgo Paradisus amissus, + immortalis illud ingenii monumentum, cum ipsa fere aeternitate + perennaturum est opus!--Hujus memoriam Anglorum primus, post tantum, + proh dolor! ab tanti excessu poetae intervallum, statua eleganti in + loco celeberrimo, coenobio Westmonasteriensi, posita, regum, + principum, antistitum, illustriumque Angliae virorum caemeterio, vir + ornatissimus, Gulielmus Benson prosecutus est. + _Poetarum Scotorum Musae Sacrae, in praefatione, Edinb. 1739._ + + A character, as high and honourable as ever was bestowed upon him by + the most sanguine of his admirers! and as this was my cool and + sincere opinion of that wonderful man formerly, so I declare it to + be the same still, and ever will be, notwithstanding all appearances + to the contrary, occasioned merely by passion and resentment; which + appear, however, by the Postscript to the Essay, to be so far from + extending to the posterity of Milton, that I recommend his only + remaining descendant, in the warmest terms, to the public. + +[2] On two unequal crutches propp'd he[2a] came; + Milton's on this, on that _one_ Johnston's name. Dunciad, Book IV. + +[2a] _Benson_. This man endeavoured to raise himself to fame, by + erecting monuments, striking coins, and procuring translations of + Milton; and afterwards continued: by a great passion for Arthur + Johnston, a Scots physician's version of the Psalms, of which he + printed many fine editions. _Notes on the Dunciad_. + + No fewer than six different editions of that useful and valuable + book, two in quarto, two in octavo, and two in a lesser form, now + lie, like lumber, in the hand of Mr. Vaillant, bookseller, the + effects of Mr. Pope's ill-natured criticism. + + One of these editions in quarto, illustrated with an interpretation + and notes, after the manner of the classic authors _in usum + Delphini_, was, by the worthy editor, anno 1741, inscribed to his + Royal Highness Prince George, as a proper book for his instruction + in principles of piety, as well as knowledge of the Latin tongue, + when he should arrive at due maturity of age. To restore this book + to credit was the cause that induced me to engage in this + disagreeable controversy, rather than any design to depreciate the + just reputation of Milton. + + + + +TESTIMONIES CONCERNING MR. LAUDER. + +Edinb. May 22, 1734. + +These are certifying, that Mr. William Lauder past his course at this +university, to the general satisfaction of these masters, under whom he +studied. That he has applied himself particularly to the study of +humanity[1] ever since. That for several years past, he has taught with +success, students in the humanity class, who were recommended to him by +the professor thereof. And lastly, has taught that class itself, during +the indisposition, and since the death of its late professor: and, +therefore, is, in our opinion, a fit person to teach humanity in any +school or college whatever. + +J. GOWDIE, S.S.T.P. +MATT. CRAUFURD, S.S.T. et HIST. EC. PR. REG. +WILLIAM SCOTT, P.P. +ROBERT STUART, PH. NAT. PR. +COL. DRUMMOND, L.G. et P. PR. +COL. MAC-LAURIN, MATH. P. EDIN. +AL. BAYNE, J.P. +CHARLES MACKY, HIST. P. +ALEX. MORRO, ANAT. P. +WILLIAM DAWSON, L.H.P. + +[1] So the Latin tongue is called in Scotland, from the Latin phrase, +_classis humaniorum literarum_, the class or form where that language is +taught. + + +A Letter from the Reverend Mr. Patrick Cuming, one of the Ministers of +Edinburgh, and Regius Professor of Church History in the University +there, to the Reverend Mr. Blair, Rector of the Grammar school at +Dundee. + +D. B. + +Upon a public advertisement in the newspapers, of the vacancy of a +master's place in your school, Mr. William Lauder, a friend of mine, +proposes to set up for a candidate, and goes over for that purpose. He +has long-taught the Latin with great approbation in this place, and +given such proofs of his mastery in that language, that the best judges +do, upon all occasions, recommend him as one who is qualified in the +best manner. He has taught young boys and young gentlemen, with great +success; nor did I ever hear of any complaint of him from either parents +or children. I beg leave to recommend him to you as my friend; what +friendship you show him, I will look upon as a very great act of +friendship to me, of which he and I will retain the most grateful sense, +if he is so happy as to be preferred. I persuade myself, you will find +him ready at all times to be advised by you, as I have found him. Indeed +if justice had been done him, he should long ago have been advanced for +his merit. I ever am, + +D. B. + +Your most affectionate, humble servant, + +PATRICK CUMING. + +Edin. Nov. 13, 1742. + + +A Letter from Mr. Mac-Laurin, late Professor of Mathematicks in the +University of Edinburgh, to the Reverend Mr. George Blair, Rector of the +Grammar school at Dundee. + +SIR, +Though unacquainted, I take the liberty of giving you this trouble, from +the desire I have always had to see Mr. Lauder provided in a manner +suited to his talent. I know him to have made uncommon progress in +classical learning, to have taught it with success, and never heard +there could be any complaint against his method of teaching. I am, +indeed, a stranger to the reasons of his want of success on former +occasions. But after conversing with him, I have ground to hope, that he +will be always advised by you, for whom he professes great esteem, and +will be useful under you. I am, + +Sir, +Your most obedient, humble servant, + +COLIN MAC-LAURIN. + +College of Edinburgh, Nov. 30, 1742. + + +A Letter from the Authors of the Universal History, to Mr. Lauder. +London, August 12th, 1741. + +LEARNED SIR, + +When we so gladly took the first opportunity of reviving the memory and +merit of your incomparable Johnston, in the first volume of our +Universal History, our chief aim was to excite some generous Mecenas to +favour the world with a new edition of a poem which we had long since +beheld with no small concern, buried, as it were, by some unaccountable +fatality, into an almost total oblivion; whilst others of that kind, +none of them superior, many vastly inferior to it, rode, unjustly, as we +thought, triumphant over his silent grave. And it is with great +satisfaction that we have seen our endeavours so happily crowned in the +edition you soon after gave of it at Edinburgh, in your learned and +judicious vindication of your excellent author, and more particularly by +the just deference which your learned and pious convocation has been +pleased to pay to that admirable version. + +We have had since then, the pleasure to see your worthy example followed +here, in the several beautiful editions of the honourable Mr. Auditor +Benson, with his critical notes upon the work. + +It was, indeed, the farthest from our thoughts, to enter into the merit +of the controversy between your two great poets, Johnston and Buchanan; +neither were we so partial to either as not to see, that each had their +shades as well as lights; so that, if the latter has been more happy in +the choice and variety of his metre, it is as plain, that he has given +his poetic genius such an unlimited scope, as has in many cases quite +disfigured the peculiar and inimitable beauty, simplicity, and energy of +the original, which the former, by a more close and judicious version, +has constantly, and surprisingly displayed. Something like this we +ventured to hint in our note upon these two noble versions; to have said +more, would have been inconsistent with our designed brevity. + +We have, likewise, since seen what your opponent has writ in praise of +the one, and derogation of the other, and think you have sufficiently +confuted him, and with respect to us, he has been so far from giving us +any cause to retract what we had formerly said, that it has administered +an occasion to us of vindicating it, as we have lately done by some +critical notes on your excellent Johnston, which we communicated soon +after to Mr. A. B. who was pleased to give them a place in his last +edition of him, and which we doubt not you have seen long ago. How they +have been relished among you we know not, but with us they have been +thought sufficient to prove what we have advanced, as well as to direct +the attentive reader to discover new instances of your author's +exactness and elegance, in every page, if not almost in every line. + +We gratefully accept of the books, and kind compliments you were pleased +to transmit to us by Mr. Strahan, and had long since returned you our +thanks, but for the many avocations which the great work you know us to +be engaged in doth of necessity bring upon us; obliging us, or some, at +least, of our society, to make, from time to time, an excursion to one +or other of our two learned universities, and consulting them upon the +best method of carrying on this work to the greatest advantage to the +public. This has been some considerable part of our employment for these +twelve months past; and we flatter ourselves, that we have, with their +assistance and approbation, made such considerable improvements on our +original plan, as will scarcely fail of being acceptable to the learned +world. They will shortly appear in print, to convince the world that we +have not been idle, though this sixth volume is like to appear somewhat +later in the year than was usual with our former ones. We shall take the +liberty to transmit some copies of our new plan to you as soon as they +are printed. All we have left to wish with respect to your excellent +countryman and his version is, that it may always meet with such +powerful and impartial advocates, and that it may be as much esteemed by +all candid judges, as it is by, + +Learned Sir, +Your sincere wellwishers and humble servants, +The AUTHORS of the Universal History. + + +A Letter from the learned Mr. Robert Ainsworth, author of the Latin and +English Dictionary, to Mr. Lauder. + +LEARNED AND WORTHY SIR, + +These wait on you, to thank you for the honour you have done a person, +equally unknown as undeserving, in your valuable present, which I did +not receive till several weeks after it was sent: and since I received +it, my eyes have been so bad, and my hand so unstable, that I have been +forced to defer my duty, as desirous to thank you with my own hand. I +congratulate to your nation the just honour ascribed to it by its +neighbours and more distant countries, in having bred two such excellent +poets as your Buchanan and Johnston, whom to name is to commend; but am +concerned for their honour at home, who being committed together, seem +to me both to suffer a diminution, whilst justice is done to neither. +But at the same time I highly approve your nation's piety in bringing +into your schools sacred instead of profane poesy, and heartily wish +that ours, and all Christian governments, would follow your example +herein. If a mixture of _utile dulci_ be the best composition in poetry, +(which is too evident to need the judgment of the nicest critick in the +art,) surely the _utile_ so transcendently excels in the sacred hymns, +that a Christian must deny his name that doth not acknowledge it: and if +the _dulce_ seem not equally to excel, it must be from a vitiated taste +of those who read them in the original, and, in others, at second-hand, +from translations. For the manner of writing in the east and west is +widely distant, and which to a paraphrast must render his task exceeding +difficult, as requiring a perfect knowledge in two languages, wherein +the idioms and graces of speech, caused by the diversity of their +religion, laws, customs, &c. are as remote as the inhabitants, wherein, +notwithstanding, your poets have succeeded to admiration. + +Your main contest seems to me, when stript of persons, whether the easy +or sublime in poesy be preferable; if so, + + Non opis est nostrae tantam componere litem: + +nor think I it in your case material to be decided. Both these have +their particular excellencies and graces, and youth ought to be taught +wherein (which the matter ought chiefly to determine) the one hath +place, and where the other. Now since the hymns of David, Moses, and +other divine poets, intermixt with them, (infinitely excelling those of +Callimachus, Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon, and all others,) abound in both +these virtues, and both your poets are acknowledged to be very happy in +paraphrasing them, it is my opinion, both of them, without giving the +least preference to either, should be read alternately in your schools, +as the tutor shall direct. Pardon, learned Sir, this scribble to my age +and weakness, both which are very great, and command me wherein I may +serve you, as, + +Learned Sir, + +Your obliged, thankful, and obedient servant, + +ROBERT AINSWORTH. + +Spitalfields, Sept. 1741. + + +A Letter from the Authors of the Universal History to Mr. Auditor +Benson. + +SIR, + +It is with no small pleasure that we see Dr. Johnston's translation of +the Psalms revived in so elegant a manner, and adorned with such a just +and learned display of its inimitable beauties. As we flatter ourselves +that the character we gave it, in our first volume of the Universal +History, did, in some measure, contribute to it, we hope, that in +justice to that great poet, you will permit us to cast the following +mites into your treasury of critical notes on his noble version. We +always thought the palm by far this author's due, as upon many other +accounts, so especially for two excellencies hitherto not taken notice +of by any critic, that we know of, and which we beg leave to transmit to +you, and if you think fit, by you to the public, in the following +observations. + +We beg leave to subscribe ourselves, + +Sir, &c. + +The AUTHORS of the Universal History. + + +Dr. Isaac Watts, D.D. in his late book, entitled, The Improvement of the +Mind, Lond. 1741, p. 114. + +Upon the whole survey of things, it is my opinion, that for almost all +boys who learn this tongue, [the Latin,] it would be much safer to be +taught Latin poesy, as soon, and as far as they can need it, from those +excellent translations of David's Psalms, which are given us by Buchanan +in the various measures of Horace; and the lower classes had better read +Dr. Johnston's translation of those Psalms, another elegant writer of +the Scots nation, instead of Ovid's Epistles; for he has turned the same +Psalms, perhaps, with greater elegancy, into elegiac verse, whereof the +learned W. Benson, esq. has lately published a new edition; and I hear +that these Psalms are honoured with an increasing use in the schools of +Holland and Scotland. A stanza, or a couplet of those writers would now +and then stick upon the minds of youth, and would furnish them +infinitely better with pious and moral thoughts, and do something +towards making them good men and Christians. + + +An Act of the Commission of the General Assembly of the Kirk of +Scotland, recommending Dr. Arthur Johnston's Latin Paraphrase of the +Psalms of David, &c. + +At Edinburgh, 13th of November, 1740, post meridiem. + +A Petition having been presented to the late General Assembly, by Mr. +William Lauder, teacher of humanity in Edinburgh, craving, That Dr. +Arthur Johnston's Latin Paraphrase on the Psalms of David, and Mr. +Robert Boyd, of Trochrig, his Hecatombe Christiana, may be recommended +to be taught in all grammar schools; and the assembly having appointed a +committee of their number to take the desire of the foresaid petition +into their consideration, and report to the commission: the said +committee offered their opinion, that the commission should grant the +desire of the said petition, and recommend the said Dr. Johnston's +Paraphrase to be taught in the lower classes of the schools, and Mr. +George Buchanan's Paraphrase on the Psalms, together with Mr. Robert +Boyd of Trochrig's, Hecatombe Christiana in the higher classes of +schools, and humanity-classes in universities. The commission having +heard the said report, unanimously approved thereof, and did, and hereby +do, recommend accordingly. + +Extracted by + +WILLIAM GRANT[1], Cl. Ecl. Sc. +[1] This honourable gentleman is now his Majesty's Advocate for +Scotland. + + +A Letter from the learned Mr. Abraham Gronovius, Secretary to the +University of Leyden, to Mr. Lauder, concerning the Adamus Exsul of +Grotius. + +Clarissimo Viro, Wilhelmo Laudero, Abrahamus Gronovius, S.P.D. + +Postquam binae literae tuae ad me perlatae fuerunt, duas editiones +carminum H. Grotii, viri vere summi, excussi; verum ab utraque +tragoediam, quam Adamum Exsulem inscripsit [Greek: O AEAPY], abesse +deprehendi; neque ullum ejusdem exemplar, quamvis tres[1] editiones +exstare adnotaveram, ullibi offendere potui, adeo ut spe, quam vorabam +desiderio tuo satisfaciendi, me prorsus excidisse existimarem. + +Verum nuperrime forte contigit, ut primam tragoediae Grotianae +editionem, Hagae, an. 1601. publicatam, beneficio amicissimi mihi viri +nactus fuerim, ejusque decem priores paginas, quibus, praeter chorum, +actus primus comprehenditur, a Jacobo meo, optimae spei adolescente, +transcriptas nunc ad te mitto. Vale, vir doctissime, meque, ut facis, +amare perge. Dabam Lugd. Bat. A. D, IV. Id. Sept. A. D. MDCCXLVI. + +[1] Though Gronovius here mentions only three editions of this noble and +curious performance, the Adamus Exsul of Grotius; yet it appears from +the catalogue of his works, that no fewer than four have been printed, +two in quarto, and two in octavo, in the years 1601, 1608, and 1635; two +having been made, one in quarto, the other in octavo, anno 1601. + + +A second Letter from the same gentleman to Mr. Lauder, on the same +subject. + +Clarissime atque eruditissime vir, + +Posteaquam, tandem Jacobus meus residuam partem, quam desiderabas, +tragoediae Grotianae transcripserat, ut ea diutius careres, committere +nolui: quod autem citius illam ad finem perducere non potuerit, +obstiterunt variae occupationes, quibus districtus fuit. Nam, praeter +scholastica studia, quibus strenue incubuit, ipsi componenda erat +oratio, qua rudimenta linguæ Graecae Latinseque deponeret, eamque, quod +vehementer laetor, venuste, et quidem stilo ligato, composuit, et in +magna auditorum corona pronuntiavit. Quod autem ad exemplar ipsum, quo +Adamus Exsul comprehenditur, spectat, id lubens, si meum foret, ad te +perferri curarem, verum illud a clarissimo possessore tanti aestimatur, +ut perrsuasum habeam me istud minime ab ipso impetraturum: et sane sacra +carmina Grotii adeo raro obvia sunt, ut eorundem exemplar apud ipsos +remonstrantium ecclesiastas frustra quaesiverim. + +Opus ipsum inscriptum est HENRICO BORBONIO, PRINCIPI CONDAEO; et forma +libri est in quarto, ut nullo pacto literis includi possit. Ceterum, pro +splendidissima et Magnes Britanniae principe, cui merito dicata est, +digna editione Psalmorum, ex versione metrica omnium fere poetarum +principis JONSTONI maximas tibi grates habet agitque Jacobus. Utinam +illustrissimus Bensonus in usum serenissimi principis, atque ingeniorum +in altiora surgentium, eadem forma, lisdemque typis exarari juberet +divinos illos Ciceronis de Officiis libros, dignos sane, quos diurna +nocturnaque manu versaret princeps, a quo aliquando Britannici regni +majestas et populi salus pendebunt! Interim tibi, eruditissime vir, +atque etiam politissimo D. Caveo, pro muneribus literariis, quae per +nobilissimum Lawsonium [1] ad me curastis, magno opere me obstrictum +agnosco, cademque, summa cum voluptate, a me perlecta sunt. + +Filius meus te plurimum salutat. + +Vale, doctissime vir, meisque verbis D. Caveum saluta, atque amare +perge, + +Tuum, + +ABRAHAMUM GRONOVIUM. + +Dabam Leidis, A. D. xiv. KAL. +Maias, A. D. MDCCXLVII. + +[1] The person here meant was the learned and worthy Dr. Isaac Lawson, +late physician to the English army in Flanders; by whom Mr. Gronovius +did me the honour to transmit to me two or three acts of the Adamus +Exsul of Grotius, transcribed by his son, Mr. James. The truth of this +particular consists perfectly well with the knowledge of the Doctor's +brother, John Lawson, esq. counsellor at law; who also had the same +thing lately confirmed to him by Mr. Gronovius himself in Holland. + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +And now my character is placed above all suspicion of fraud by +authentick documents, I will make bold, at last, to pull off the mask, +and declare sincerely the true motive that induced me to interpolate a +few lines into some of the authors quoted by me in my Essay on Milton, +which was this: Knowing the prepossession in favour of Milton, how +deeply it was rooted in many, I was willing to make trial, if the +partial admirers of that author would admit a translation of his own +words to pass for his sense, or exhibit his meaning; which I thought +they would not: nor was I mistaken in my conjecture, forasmuch as +several gentlemen, seemingly persons of judgment and learning, assured +me, they humbly conceived I had not proved my point, and that Milton +might have written as he has done, supposing he had never seen these +authors, or they had never existed. Such is the force of prejudice! This +exactly confirms the judicious observation of the excellent moralist and +poet: + + Pravo favore labi mortales solent; + Et pro judicio dum stant erroris sui, + Ad poenitendum rebus manifestis agi. + + +For, had I designed, as the vindicator of Milton supposes, to impose a +trick on the publick, and procure credit to my assertions by an +imposture, I would never have drawn lines from Hog's translation of +Milton, a book common at every sale, I had almost said, at every stall, +nor ascribed them to authors so easily attained: I would have gone +another way to work, by translating forty or fifty lines, and assigning +them to an author, whose works possibly might not be found till the +world expire at the general conflagration. My imposing, therefore, on +the publick in general, instead of a few obstinate persons, for whose +sake alone the stratagem was designed, is the only thing culpable in my +conduct, for which again I most humbly ask pardon: and that this, and +this only, was, as no other could be, my design, no one, I think, can +doubt, from the account I have just now given; and whether that was so +criminal, as it has been represented, I shall leave every impartial mind +to determine. + + + + +AN ACCOUNT OF AN ATTEMPT TO ASCERTAIN THE LONGITUDE[1]. + +FIRST PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1755. + +It is well known to seamen and philosophers, that, after the numerous +improvements produced by the extensive commerce of the later ages, the +great defect in the art of sailing is ignorance of longitude, or of the +distance to which the ship has passed eastward or westward, from any +given meridian. + +That navigation might be at length set free from this uncertainty, the +legislative power of this kingdom incited the industry of searchers into +nature, by a large reward proposed to him who should show a practicable +method of finding the longitude at sea; and proportionable recompenses +to those, who, though they should not fully attain this great end, might +yet make such advances and discoveries as should facilitate the work to +those that might succeed them. + +By the splendour of this golden encouragement many eyes were dazzled, +which nature never intended to pry into her secrets. By the hope of +sudden riches many understandings were set on work very little +proportioned to their strength, among whom whether mine shall be +numbered, must be left to the candour of posterity: for I, among others, +laid aside the business of my profession, to apply myself to the study +of the longitude, not, indeed, in expectation of the reward due to a +complete discovery; yet, not without hopes that I might be considered as +an assistant to some greater genius, and receive from the justice of my +country the wages offered to an honest and not unsuccessful labourer in +science. + +Considering the various means by which this important inquiry has been +pursued, I found that the observation of the eclipses, either of the +primary or secondary planets, being possible but at certain times, could +be of no use to the sailor; that the motions of the moon had been long +attended, however accurately, without any consequence; that other +astronomical observations were difficult and uncertain, with every +advantage of situation, instruments, and knowledge; and were, therefore, +utterly impracticable to the sailor, tost upon the water, ill provided +with instruments, and not very skilful in their application. The hope of +an accurate clock or time-keeper is more specious. But when I began +these studies, no movements had yet been made that were not evidently +unaccurate and uncertain: and even of the mechanical labours which I now +hear so loudly celebrated, when I consider the obstruction of movements +by friction, the waste of their parts by attrition, the various pressure +of the atmosphere, the effects of different effluvia upon metals, the +power of heat and cold upon all matter, the changes of gravitation and +the hazard of concussion, I cannot but fear that they will supply the +world with another instance of fruitless ingenuity, though, I hope, they +will not leave upon this country the reproach of unrewarded diligence. I +saw, therefore, nothing on which I could fix with probability of +success, but the magnetical needle, an instrument easily portable, and +little subject to accidental injuries, with which the sailor has had a +long acquaintance, which he will willingly study, and can easily +consult. The magnetick needle, from the year 1300, when it is generally +supposed to have been first applied by Flavio Gioia, of Amalfi, to the +seaman's use, seems to have been long thought to point exactly to the +north and south by the navigators of those times; who sailing commonly +on the calm Mediterranean, or making only short voyages, had no need of +very accurate observations; and who, if they ever transiently observed +any deviations from the meridian, either ascribed them to some +extrinsick and accidental cause, or willingly neglected what it was not +necessary to understand. + +But when the discovery of the new world turned the attention of mankind +upon the naval sciences, and long courses required greater niceties of +practice, the variation of the needle soon became observable, and was +recorded, in 1500, by Sebastian Cabot, a Portuguese, who, at the expense +of the king of England, discovered the northern coasts of America. + +As the next century was a time of naval adventures, it might be expected +that the variation once observed, should have been well studied: yet it +seems to have been little heeded; for it was supposed to be constant, +and always the same in the same place, till, in 1625, Gellibrand noted +its changes, and published his observations. + +From this time the philosophical world had a new subject of speculation, +and the students of magnetism employed their researches upon the gradual +changes of the needle's direction, or the variations of the variation, +which have hitherto appeared so desultory and capricious, as to elude +all the schemes which the most fanciful of the philosophical dreamers +could devise for its explication. Any system that could have united +these tormenting diversities, they seem inclined to have received, and +would have contentedly numbered the revolutions of a central magnet, +with very little concern about its existence, could they have assigned +it any motion, or vicissitude of motions, which would have corresponded +with the changes of the needle. + +Yet upon this secret property of magnetism I ventured to build my hopes +of ascertaining the longitude at sea. I found it undeniably certain that +the needle varies its direction in a course eastward or westward between +any assignable parallels of latitude: and, supposing nature to be in +this, as in all other operations, uniform and consistent, I doubted not +but the variation proceeded in some established method, though, perhaps, +too abstruse and complicated for human comprehension. + +This difficulty, however, was to be encountered; and by close and steady +perseverance of attention I at last subdued, or thought myself to have +subdued it: having formed a regular system in which all the phenomena +seemed to be reconciled; and, being able, from the variation in places +where it is known, to trace it to those where it is unknown; or from the +past to predict the future; and, consequently, knowing the latitude and +variation, to assign the true longitude of any place. + +With this system I came to London, where, having laid my proposals +before a number of ingenious gentlemen, it was agreed that during the +time required to the completion of my experiments, I should be supported +by a joint subscription to be repaid out of the reward, to which they +concluded me entitled. Among the subscribers, was Mr. Rowley, the +memorable constructor of the orrery; and among my favourers was the lord +Piesley, a title not unknown among magnetical philosophers. I frequently +showed, upon a globe of brass, experiments by which my system was +confirmed, at the house of Mr. Rowley, where the learned and curious of +that time generally assembled. + +At this time great expectations were raised by Mr. Whiston, of +ascertaining the longitude by the inclination of the needle, which he +supposed to increase or diminish regularly. With this learned man I had +many conferences, in which I endeavoured to evince what he has at last +confessed in the narrative of his life, the uncertainty and inefficacy +of his method. + +About the year 1729, my subscribers explained my pretensions to the +lords of the Admiralty, and the lord Torrington declared my claim just +to the reward assigned, in the last clause of the act, to those who +should make discoveries conducive to the perfection of the art of +sailing. This he pressed with so much warmth, that the commissioners +agreed to lay my tables before Sir Isaac Newton, who excused himself, by +reason of his age, from a regular examination: but when he was informed +that I held the variation at London to be still increasing; which he and +the other philosophers, his pupils, thought to be then stationary, and +on the point of regression, he declared that he believed my system +visionary. I did not much murmur to be for a time overborne by that +mighty name, even when I believed that the name only was against me: and +I have lived till I am able to produce, in my favour, the testimony of +time, the inflexible enemy of false hypotheses; the only testimony which +it becomes human understanding to oppose to the authority of Newton. + +My notions have, indeed, been since treated with equal superciliousness +by those who have not the same title to confidence of decision; men who, +though, perhaps, very learned in their own studies, have had little +acquaintance with mine. Yet even this may be borne far better than the +petulance of boys, whom I have seen shoot up into philosophers by +experiments which I have long since made and neglected, and by +improvements which I have so long transferred into my ordinary practice, +that I cannot remember when I was without them. + +When Sir Isaac Newton had declined the office assigned him, it was given +to Mr. Molineux, one of the commissioners of the Admiralty, who engaged +in it with no great inclination to favour me; but, however, thought one +of the instruments, which, to confirm my own opinion, and to confute Mr. +Whiston's, I had exhibited to the Admiralty, so curious or useful, that +he surreptitiously copied it on paper, and clandestinely endeavoured to +have it imitated by a workman for his own use. + +This treatment naturally produced remonstrances and altercations, which, +indeed, did not continue long, for Mr. Molineux died soon afterwards; +and my proposals were for a time forgotten. + +I will not, however, accuse him of designing to condemn me, without a +trial; for he demanded a portion of my tables to be tried in a voyage to +America, which I then thought I had reason to refuse him, not yet +knowing how difficult it was to obtain, on any terms, an actual +examination. + +About this time the theory of Dr. Halley was the chief subject of +mathematical conversation; and though I could not but consider him as +too much a rival to be appealed to as a judge, yet his reputation +determined me to solicit his acquaintance and hazard his opinion. I was +introduced to him by Mr. Lowthorp and Dr. Desaguliers, and put my tables +into his hands; which, after having had them about twenty days under +consideration, he returned in the presence of the learned Mr. Machin, +and many other skilful men, with an entreaty that I would publish them +speedily; for I should do infinite service to mankind. + +It is one of the melancholy pleasures of an old man, to recollect the +kindness of friends, whose kindness he shall experience no more. I have +now none left to favour my studies; and, therefore, naturally turn my +thoughts on those by whom I was favoured in better days: and I hope the +vanity of age may be forgiven, when I declare that I can boast among my +friends, almost every name of my time that is now remembered: and that, +in that great period of mathematical competition, scarce any man failed +to appear as my defender, who did not appear as my antagonist. + +By these friends I was encouraged to exhibit to the Royal Society, an +ocular proof of the reasonableness of my theory by a sphere of iron, on +which a small compass moved in various directions, exhibiting no +imperfect system of magnetical attraction. The experiment was shown by +Mr. Hawkesbee, and the explanation, with which it was accompanied, was +read by Dr. Mortimer. I received the thanks of the society; and was +solicited to reposit my theory, properly sealed and attested, among +their archives, for the information of posterity. I am informed, that +this whole transaction is recorded in their minutes. + +After this I withdrew from publick notice, and applied myself wholly to +the continuation of my experiments, the confirmation of my system, and +the completion of my tables, with no other companion than Mr. Gray, who +shared all my studies and amusements, and used to repay my +communications of magnetism, with his discoveries in electricity. Thus I +proceeded with incessant diligence; and, perhaps, in the zeal of +inquiry, did not sufficiently reflect on the silent encroachments of +time, or remember, that no man is in more danger of doing little, than +he who flatters himself with abilities to do all. When I was forced out +of my retirement, I came loaded with the infirmities of age, to struggle +with the difficulties of a narrow fortune; cut off by the blindness of +my daughter from the only assistance which I ever had; deprived by time +of my patron and friends; a kind of stranger in a new world, where +curiosity is now diverted to other objects, and where, having no means +of ingratiating my labours, I stand the single votary of an obsolete +science, the scoff of puny pupils of puny philosophers. + +In this state of dereliction and depression, I have bequeathed to +posterity the following table; which, if time shall verify my +conjectures, will show that the variation was once known; and that +mankind had once within their reach an easy method of discovering the +longitude. + +I will not, however, engage to maintain, that all my numbers are +theoretically and minutely exact: I have not endeavoured at such degrees +of accuracy as only distract inquiry without benefiting practice. The +quantity of the variation has been settled partly by instruments, and +partly by computation: instruments must always partake of the +imperfection of the eyes and hands of those that make, and of those that +use them: and computation, till it has been rectified by experiment, is +always in danger of some omission in the premises, or some errour in the +deduction. + +It must be observed, in the use of this table, that though I name +particular cities, for the sake of exciting attention, yet the tables +are adjusted only to longitude and latitude. Thus when I predict that, +at Prague, the variation will in the year 1800 be 24-1/4 W. I intend to +say, that it will be such, if Prague be, as I-have placed it, after the +best geographers in longitude, 14 30'. E. latitude 50 40'. but that this +is its true situation I cannot be certain. The latitude of many places +is unknown, and the longitude is known of very few; and even those who +are unacquainted with science will be convinced that it is not easily to +be found, when they are told how many degrees Dr. Halley, and the French +mathematicians, place the cape of Good Hope distant from each other. + +Those who would pursue this inquiry with philosophical nicety, must, +likewise, procure better needles than those commonly in use. The needle, +which, after long experience, I recommend to mariners, must be of pure +steel, the spines and the cap of one piece, the whole length three +inches, each spine containing four grains and a half of steel, and the +cap thirteen grains and a half. + +The common needles are so ill formed, or so unskilfully suspended, that +they are affected by many causes besides magnetism; and, among other +inconveniencies, have given occasion to the idle dream of a horary +variation. + +I doubt not but particular places may produce exceptions to my system. +There may be, in many parts of the earth, bodies which obstruct or +intercept the general influence of magnetism; but those interruptions do +not infringe the theory. It is allowed, that water will run down a +declivity, though sometimes a strong wind may force it upwards. It is +granted, that the sun gives light at noon, though, in certain +conjunctions, it may suffer an eclipse. + +Those causes, whatever they are, that interrupt the course of the +magnetical powers, are least likely to be found in the great ocean, when +the earth, with all its minerals, is secluded from the compass by the +vast body of uniform water. So that this method of finding the +longitude, with a happy contrariety to all others, is most easy and +practicable at sea. + +This method, therefore, I recommend to the study and prosecution of the +sailor and philosopher; and the appendant specimen I exhibit to the +candid examination of the maritime nations, as a specimen of a general +table, showing the variation at all times and places for the whole +revolution of the magnetick poles, which I have long ago begun, and, +with just encouragement, should have long ago completed. + +[1] An account of an attempt to ascertain the longitude at sea, by an +exact theory of the variation of the magnetical needle; with a table of +variations at the most remarkable cities in Europe, from the year 1660 +to 1860. By Zachariah Williams. + + + + +CONSIDERATIONS ON THE +PLANS OFFERED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION +OF BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE. + +In three letters, to the printer of the Gazetteer. + + +LETTER I. + +SIR, Dec. 1, 1759. + +The plans which have been offered by different architects, of different +reputation and abilities, for the construction of the bridge intended to +be built at Blackfriars, are, by the rejection of the greater part, now +reduced to a small number; in which small number, three are supposed to +be much superiour to the rest; so that only three architects are now +properly competitors for the honour of this great employment; by two of +whom are proposed semicircular, and by the other elliptical arches. + +The question is, therefore, whether an elliptical or semicircular arch +is to be preferred? + +The first excellence of a bridge, built for commerce, over a large +river, is strength; for a bridge which cannot stand, however beautiful, +will boast its beauty but a little while: the stronger arch is, +therefore, to be preferred, and much more to be preferred, if, with +greater strength, it has greater beauty. + +Those who are acquainted with the mathematical principles of +architecture, are not many; and yet fewer are they who will, upon any +single occasion, endure any laborious stretch of thought, or harass +their minds with unaccustomed investigations. We shall, therefore, +attempt to show the weakness of the elliptical arch, by arguments which +appeal simply to common reason, and which will yet stand the test of +geometrical examination. + +All arches have a certain degree of weakness. No hollow building can be +equally strong with a solid mass, of which every upper part presses +perpendicularly upon the lower. Any weight laid upon the top of an arch, +has a tendency to force that top into the vacuity below; and the arch, +thus loaded on the top, stands only because the stones that form it, +being wider in the upper than in the lower parts, that part that fills a +wider space cannot fall through a space less wide; but the force which, +laid upon a flat, would press directly downwards, is dispersed each way +in a lateral direction, as the parts of a beam are pushed out to the +right and left by a wedge driven between them. In proportion as the +stones are wider at the top than at the bottom, they can less easily be +forced downwards, and, as their lateral surfaces tend more from the +centre to each side, to so much more is the pressure directed laterally +towards the piers, and so much less perpendicularly towards the vacuity. + +Upon this plain principle the semicircular arch may be demonstrated to +excel in strength the elliptical arch, which, approaching nearer to a +straight line, must be constructed with stones whose diminution +downwards is very little, and of which the pressure is almost +perpendicular. + +It has yet been sometimes asserted by hardy ignorance, that the +elliptical arch is stronger than the semicircular; or in other terms, +that any mass is more strongly supported the less it rests upon the +supporters. If the elliptical arch be equally strong with the +semicircular; that is, if an arch, by approaching to a straight line, +loses none of its stability, it will follow, that all arcuation is +useless, and that the bridge may at last, without any inconvenience, +consist of stone laid in straight lines from pillar to pillar. But if a +straight line will bear no weight, which is evident at the first view, +it is plain, likewise, that an ellipsis will bear very little; and that, +as the arch is more curved, its strength is increased. + +Having thus evinced the superiour strength of the semicircular arch, we +have sufficiently proved, that it ought to be preferred; but to leave no +objection unprevented, we think it proper, likewise, to observe, that +the elliptical arch must always appear to want elevation and dignity; +and that if beauty be to be determined by suffrages, the elliptical arch +will have little to boast, since the only bridge of that kind has now +stood two hundred years without imitation. + +If, in opposition to these arguments, and in defiance, at once, of right +reason and general authority, the elliptical arch should at last be +chosen, what will the world believe, than that some other motive than +reason influenced the determination? And some degree of partiality +cannot but be suspected by him, who has been told that one of the judges +appointed to decide this question, is Mr. M--ll--r, who, having by +ignorance, or thoughtlessness, already preferred the elliptical arch, +will, probably, think himself obliged to maintain his own judgment, +though his opinion will avail but little with the publick, when it is +known that Mr. S--ps--n declares it to be false. + +He that, in the list of the committee chosen for the superintendency of +the bridge, reads many of the most illustrious names of this great city, +will hope that the greater number will have more reverence for the +opinion of posterity, than to disgrace themselves, and the metropolis of +the kingdom, in compliance with any man, who, instead of voting, aspires +to dictate, perhaps, without any claim to such superiority, either by +greatness of birth, dignity of employment, extent of knowledge, or +largeness of fortune. + + +LETTER II. + +SIR, Dec. 8, 1759. + +In questions of general concern, there is no law of government, or rule +of decency, that forbids open examination and publick discussion. I +shall, therefore, not betray, by a mean apology, that right which no man +has power, and, I suppose, no wise man has desire to refuse me; but +shall consider the letter published by you last Friday, in defence of +Mr. M----'s[1] design for a new bridge. + +Mr. M---- proposes elliptical arches. It has been objected, that +elliptical arches are weak; and, therefore, improper for a bridge of +commerce, in a country where greater weights are ordinarily carried by +land, than, perhaps, in any other part of the world. That there is an +elliptical bridge at Florence is allowed, but the objectors maintain, +that its stability is so much doubted, that carts are not permitted to +pass over it. + +To this no answer is made, but that it was built for coaches; and if it +had been built for carts, it would have been made stronger: thus all the +controvertists agree, that the bridge is too weak for carts; and it is +of little importance, whether carts are prohibited, because the bridge +is weak, or whether the architect, knowing that carts were prohibited, +voluntarily constructed a weak bridge. The instability of the elliptical +arch has been sufficiently proved by argument, and Ammanuti's attempt +has proved it by example. + +The iron rail, whether gilt or varnished, appears to me unworthy of +debate. I suppose every judicious eye will discern it to be minute and +trifling, equally unfit to make a part of a great design, whatever be +its colour. I shall only observe how little the writer understands his +own positions, when he recommends it to be cast in whole pieces from +pier to pier. That iron forged is stronger than iron cast, every smith +can inform him; and if it be cast in large pieces, the fracture of a +single bar must be repaired by a new piece. + +The abrupt rise, which is feared from firm circular arches, may be +easily prevented, by a little extension of the abutment at each end, +which will take away the objection, and add almost nothing to the +expense. + +The whole of the argument in favour of Mr. M----, is only, that there is +an elliptical bridge at Florence, and an iron balustrade at Rome; the +bridge is owned to be weak, and the iron balustrade we consider as mean, +and are loath that our own country should unite two follies in a publick +work. + +The architrave of Perrault, which has been pompously produced, bears +nothing but its entablature; and is so far from owing its support to the +artful section of the stone, that it is held together by cramps of iron; +to which I am afraid Mr. M---- must have recourse, if he persists in his +ellipsis, or, to use the words of his vindicator, forms his arch of four +segments of circles drawn from four different centres. + +That Mr. M---- obtained the prize of the architecture at Rome, a few +months ago, is willingly confessed; nor do his opponents doubt that he +obtained it by deserving it. May he continue to obtain whatever he +deserves; but let it not be presumed that a prize granted at Rome, +implies an irresistible degree of skill. The competition is only between +boys, and the prize, given to excite laudable industry, not to reward +consummate excellence. Nor will the suffrage of the Romans much advance +any name among those who know, what no man of science will deny, that +architecture has, for some time, degenerated at Rome to the lowest +state, and that the pantheon is now deformed by petty decorations. + +I am, Sir, yours, &c. +[1] Mr. Milne. + + +LETTER III. + +Sir, Dec. 15,1759. + +It is the common fate of erroneous positions, that they are betrayed by +defence, and obscured by explanation; that their authors deviate from +the main question into incidental disquisitions, and raise a mist where +they should let in light. + +Of all these concomitants of errours, the letter of Dec. 10, in favour +of elliptical arches, has afforded examples. A great part of it is spent +upon digressions. The writer allows, that the first excellence of a +bridge is undoubtedly strength: but this concession affords him an +opportunity of telling us, that strength, or provision against decay, +has its limits; and of mentioning the monument and cupola, without any +advance towards evidence or argument. + +The first excellence of a bridge is now allowed to be strength; and it +has been asserted, that a semi-ellipsis has less strength than a +semicircle. To this he first answers, that granting this position for a +moment, the semi-ellipsis may yet have strength sufficient for the +purposes of commerce. This grant, which was made but for a moment, +needed not to have been made at all; for, before he concludes his +letter, he undertakes to prove, that the elliptical arch must, in all +respects, be superiour in strength to the semicircle. For this daring +assertion he made way by the intermediate paragraphs, in which he +observes, that the convexity of a semi-ellipsis may be increased at will +to any degree that strength may require; which is, that an elliptical +arch may be made less elliptical, to be made less weak; or that an arch, +which, by its elliptical form, is superiour in strength to the +semicircle, may become almost as strong as a semicircle, by being made +almost semicircular. + +That the longer diameter of an ellipsis may be shortened, till it shall +differ little from a circle, is indisputably true; but why should the +writer forget the semicircle differs as little from such an ellipsis? It +seems that the difference, whether small or great, is to the advantage +of the semicircle; for he does not promise that the elliptical arch, +with all the convexity that his imagination can confer, will stand +without cramps of iron, and melted lead, and large stones, and a very +thick arch; assistances which the semicircle does not require, and which +can be yet less required by a semi-ellipsis, which is, in all respects, +superiour in strength. + +Of a man who loves opposition so well, as to be thus at variance with +himself, little doubt can be made of his contrariety to others; nor do I +think myself entitled to complain of disregard from one, with whom the +performances of antiquity have so little weight; yet, in defiance of all +this contemptuous superiority, I must again venture to declare, that a +straight line will bear no weight; being convinced, that not even the +science of Vasari can make that form strong which the laws of nature +have condemned to weakness. By the position, that a straight line will +bear nothing, is meant, that it receives no strength from straightness; +for that many bodies, laid in straight lines, will support weight by the +cohesion of their parts, every one has found, who has seen dishes on a +shelf, or a thief upon the gallows. It is not denied, that stones may be +so crushed together by enormous pressure on each side, that a heavy mass +may safely be laid upon them; but the strength must be derived merely +from the lateral resistance; and the line, so loaded, will be itself +part of the load. + +The semi-elliptical arch has one recommendation yet unexamined: we are +told, that it is difficult of execution. Why difficulty should be chosen +for its own sake, I am not able to discover; but it must not be +forgotten, that, as the convexity is increased, the difficulty is +lessened; and I know not well, whether this writer, who appears equally +ambitious of difficulty, and studious of strength, will wish to increase +the convexity for the gain of strength, or to lessen it for the love of +difficulty. + +The friend of Mr. M----, however he may be mistaken in some of his +opinions, does not want the appearance of reason, when he prefers facts +to theories; and that I may not dismiss the question without some appeal +to facts, I will borrow an example, suggested by a great artist, and +recommended to those who may still doubt which of the two arches is the +stronger, to press an egg first on the ends, and then upon the sides. + +I am, Sir, yours, &c. + + + + +SOME THOUGHTS ON AGRICULTURE, +BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERN, + +With an account of the honour due to an English farmer[1]. + +Agriculture, in the primeval ages, was the common parent of traffick; +for the opulence of mankind then consisted in cattle, and the product of +tillage, which are now very essential for the promotion of trade in +general, but more particularly so to such nations as are most abundant +in cattle, corn, and fruits. The labour of the farmer gives employment +to the manufacturer, and yields a support for the other parts of the +community: it is now the spring which sets the whole grand machine of +commerce in motion; and the sail could not be spread without the +assistance of the plough. But though the farmers are of such utility in +a state, we find them, in general, too much disregarded among the +politer kind of people in the present age; while we cannot help +observing the honour that antiquity has always paid to the profession of +the husbandman; which naturally leads us into some reflections upon that +occasion. + +Though mines of gold and silver should be exhausted, +and the specie made of them lost; though diamonds and pearls should +remain concealed in the bowels of the earth, and the womb of the sea; +though commerce with strangers be prohibited; though all arts, which +have no other object than splendour and embellishment, should be +abolished; yet the fertility of the earth alone would afford an abundant +supply for the occasions of an industrious people, by furnishing +subsistence for them, and such armies as should be mustered in their +defence. We, therefore, ought not to be surprised, that agriculture was +in so much honour among the ancients; for it ought rather to seem +wonderful that it should ever cease to be so, and that the most +necessary and most indispensable of all professions should have fallen +into any contempt. + +Agriculture was in no part of the world in higher consideration than +Egypt, where it was the particular object of government and policy; nor +was any country ever better peopled, richer, or more powerful. The +satrapae, among the Assyrians and Persians, were rewarded, if the lands +in their governments were well cultivated; but were punished, if that +part of their duty was neglected. Africa abounded in corn; but the most +famous countries were Thrace, Sardinia, and Sicily. + +Cato, the censor, has justly called Sicily the magazine and nursing +mother of the Roman people, who were supplied from thence with almost +all their corn, both for the use of the city, and the subsistence of her +armies: though we also find in Livy, that the Romans received no +inconsiderable quantities of corn from Sardinia. But, when Rome had made +herself mistress of Carthage and Alexandria, Africa and Egypt became her +storehouses; for those cities sent such numerous fleets every year, +freighted with corn, to Rome, that Alexandria alone annually supplied +twenty millions of bushels: and, when the harvest happened to fail in +one of these provinces, the other came in to its aid, and supported the +metropolis of the world, which, without this supply, would have been in +danger of perishing by famine. Rome actually saw herself reduced to this +condition under Augustus; for there remained only three days' provision +of corn in the city: and that prince was so full of tenderness for the +people, that he had resolved to poison himself, if the expected fleets +did not arrive before the expiration of that time; but they came; and +the preservation of the Romans was attributed to the good fortune of +their emperour: but wise precautions were taken to avoid the like danger +for the future. + +When the seat of empire was transplanted to Constantinople, that city +was supplied in the same manner: and when the emperour, Septimius +Severus, died, there was corn in the publick magazines for seven years, +expending daily 75,000 bushels in bread, for 600,000 men. + +The ancients were no less industrious in the cultivation of the vine +than in that of corn, though they applied themselves to it later: for +Noah planted it by order, and discovered the use that might be made of +the fruit, by pressing out and preserving the juice. The vine was +carried by the offspring of Noah into the several countries of the +world; but Asia was the first to experience the sweets of this gift; +from whence it was imparted to Europe and Africa. Greece and Italy, +which were distinguished in so many other respects, were particularly so +by the excellency of their wines. Greece was most celebrated for the +wines of Cyprus, Lesbos, and Chio; the former of which is in great +esteem at present, though the cultivation of the vine has been generally +suppressed in the Turkish dominions. As the Romans were indebted to the +Grecians for the arts and sciences, so were they, likewise, for the +improvement of their wines; the best of which were produced in the +country of Capua, and were called the Massick, Calenian, Formian, +Caecuban, and Falernian, so much celebrated by Horace. Domitian passed +an edict for destroying all the vines, and that no more should be +planted throughout the greatest part of the west; which continued almost +two hundred years afterwards, when the emperour Probus employed his +soldiers in planting vines in Europe, in the same manner as Hannibal had +formerly employed his troops in planting olive trees in Africa. Some of +the ancients have endeavoured to prove, that the cultivation of vines is +more beneficial than any other kind of husbandry: but, if this was +thought so in the time of Columella, it is very different at present; +nor were all the ancients of his opinion, for several gave the +preference to pasture lands. + +The breeding of cattle has always been considered as an important part +of agriculture. The riches of Abraham, Laban, and Job, consisted in +their flocks and herds. We also find from Latinus in Virgil, and Ulysses +in Homer, that the wealth of those princes consisted in cattle. It was, +likewise, the same among the Romans, till the introduction of money, +which put a value upon commodities, and established a new kind of +barter. Varro has not disdained to give an extensive account of all the +beasts that are of any use to the country, either for tillage, breed, +carriage, or other conveniencies of man. And Cato, the censor, was of +opinion, that the feeding of cattle was the most certain and speedy +method of enriching a country. + +Luxury, avarice, injustice, violence, and ambition, take up their +ordinary residence in populous cities; while the hard and laborious life +of the husbandman will not admit of these vices. The honest farmer lives +in a wise and happy state, which inclines him to justice, temperance, +sobriety, sincerity, and every virtue that can dignify human nature. +This gave room for the poets to feign, that Astraea, the goddess of +justice, had her last residence among husbandmen, before she quitted the +earth. Hesiod and Virgil have brought the assistance of the Muses in +praise of agriculture. Kings, generals, and philosophers, have not +thought it unworthy their birth, rank, and genius, to leave precepts to +posterity upon the utility of the husbandman's profession. Hiero, +Attalus, and Archelaus, kings of Syracuse, Pergamus, and Cappadocia, +have composed books for supporting and augmenting the fertility of their +different countries. The Carthaginian general, Mago, wrote twenty-eight +volumes upon this subject; and Cato, the censor, followed his example. +Nor have Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle, omitted this article, which +makes an essential part of their politicks. And Cicero, speaking of the +writings of Xenophon, says, "How fully and excellently does he, in that +book called his Economicks, set out the advantages of husbandry, and a +country life!" + +When Britain was subject to the Romans, she annually supplied them with +great quantities of corn; and the isle of Anglesea was then looked upon +as the granary for the western provinces; but the Britons, both under +the Romans and Saxons, were employed like slaves at the plough. On the +intermixture of the Danes and Normans, possessions were better +regulated, and the state of vassalage gradually declined, till it was +entirely worn off under the reigns of Henry the seventh and Edward the +sixth; for they hurt the old nobility by favouring the commons, who grew +rich by trade, and purchased estates. + +The wines of France, Portugal, and Spain, are now the best; while Italy +can only boast of the wine made in Tuscany. The breeding of cattle is +now chiefly confined to Denmark and Ireland. The corn of Sicily is still +in great esteem, as well as what is produced in the northern countries: +but England is the happiest spot in the universe for all the principal +kinds of agriculture, and especially its great produce of corn. + +The improvement of our landed estates is the enrichment of the kingdom; +for, without this, how could we carry on our manufactures, or prosecute +our commerce? We should look upon the English farmer as the most useful +member of society. His arable grounds not only supply his fellow-subjects +with all kinds of the best grain, but his industry enables him to export +great quantities to other kingdoms, which might otherwise starve; +particularly Spain and Portugal; for, in one year, there have been +exported 51,520 quarters of barley, 219,781 of malt, 1,920 of oatmeal, +1,329 of rye, and 153,343 of wheat; the bounty on which amounted to +72,433 pounds. What a fund of treasure arises from his pasture lands, +which breed such innumerable flocks of sheep, and afford such fine herds +of cattle, to feed Britons, and clothe mankind! He rears flax and hemp +for the making of linen; while his plantations of apples and hops supply +him with generous kinds of liquors. + +The land-tax, when at four shillings in the pound, produces 2,000,000 +pounds a year. This arises from the labour of the husbandman: it is a +great sum; but how greatly is it increased by the means it furnishes for +trade! Without the industry of the farmer, the manufacturer could have +no goods to supply the merchant, nor the merchant find any employment +for the mariners: trade would be stagnated; riches would be of no +advantage to the great; and labour of no service to the poor. + + The Romans, as historians all allow, + Sought, in extreme distress, the rural plough; + _Io triumphe!_ for the village swain, + Retired to be a nobleman[2] again. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] From the Universal Visiter, for February, 1756, p. 59.--Smart, the + poet, had a considerable hand in this miscellany. The very first + sentence, however, may convince any reader that Dr. Johnson did not + write these Thoughts: they are inserted here merely as an + introduction to the Further Thoughts, which follow, and which are + undoubtedly his. + +[2] Cincinnatus. + + + + +FURTHER THOUGHTS ON AGRICULTURE[1]. +[1] From the Visiter for March, 1756, p. 111. + +At my last visit, I took the liberty of mentioning a subject, which, I +think, is not considered with attention proportionate to its importance. +Nothing can more fully prove the ingratitude of mankind, a crime often +charged upon them, and often denied, than the little regard which the +disposers of honorary rewards have paid to agriculture, which is treated +as a subject so remote from common life, by all those who do not +immediately hold the plough, or give fodder to the ox, that I think +there is room to question, whether a great part of mankind has yet been +informed that life is sustained by the fruits of the earth. I was once, +indeed, provoked to ask a lady of great eminence for genius, "Whether +she knew of what bread is made?" + +I have already observed, how differently agriculture was considered by +the heroes and wise men of the Roman commonwealth, and shall now only +add, that even after the emperours had made great alteration in the +system of life, and taught men to portion out their esteem to other +qualities than usefulness, agriculture still maintained its reputation, +and was taught by the polite and elegant Celsus among the other arts. + +The usefulness of agriculture I have already shown; I shall now, +therefore, prove its necessity: and, having before declared, that it +produces the chief riches of a nation, I shall proceed to show, that it +gives its only riches, the only riches which we can call our own, and of +which we need not fear either deprivation or diminution. + +Of nations, as of individuals, the first blessing is independence. +Neither the man nor the people can be happy to whom any human power can +deny the necessaries or conveniencies of life. There is no way of living +without the need of foreign assistance, but by the product of our own +land, improved by our own labour. Every other source of plenty is +perishable or casual. + +Trade and manufactures must be confessed often to enrich countries; and +we ourselves are indebted to them for those ships by which we now +command the sea from the equator to the poles, and for those sums with +which we have shown ourselves able to arm the nations of the north in +defence of regions in the western hemisphere. But trade and +manufactures, however profitable, must yield to the cultivation of lands +in usefulness and dignity. + +Commerce, however we may please ourselves with the contrary opinion, is +one of the daughters of Fortune, inconstant and deceitful as her mother; +she chooses her residence where she is least expected, and shifts her +abode when her continuance is, in appearance, most firmly settled. Who +can read of the present distresses of the Genoese, whose only choice now +remaining is, from what monarch they shall solicit protection? Who can +see the Hanseatick towns in ruins, where, perhaps, the inhabitants do +not always equal the number of the houses, but he will say to himself, +these are the cities, whose trade enabled them once to give laws to the +world, to whose merchants princes sent their jewels in pawn, from whose +treasuries armies were paid, and navies supplied? And who can then +forbear to consider trade as a weak and uncertain basis of power, and +wish to his own country greatness more solid, and felicity more durable? + +It is apparent, that every trading nation flourishes, while it can be +said to flourish, by the courtesy of others. We cannot compel any people +to buy from us, or to sell to us. A thousand accidents may prejudice +them in favour of our rivals; the workmen of another nation may labour +for less price, or some accidental improvement, or natural advantage, +may procure a just preference to their commodities; as experience has +shown, that there is no work of the hands, which, at different times, is +not best performed in different places. + +Traffick, even while it continues in its state of prosperity, must owe +its success to agriculture; the materials of manufacture are the produce +of the earth. The wool which we weave into cloth, the wood which is +formed into cabinets, the metals which are forged into weapons, are +supplied by nature with the help of art. Manufactures, indeed, and +profitable manufactures, are sometimes raised from imported materials, +but then we are subjected, a second time, to the caprice of our +neighbours. The natives of Lombardy might easily resolve to retain their +silk at home, and employ workmen of their own to weave it. And this will +certainly be done when they grow wise and industrious, when they have +sagacity to discern their true interest, and vigour to pursue it. + +Mines are generally considered as the great sources of wealth, and +superficial observers have thought the possession of great quantities of +precious metals the first national happiness. But Europe has long seen, +with wonder and contempt, the poverty of Spain, who thought herself +exempted from the labour of tilling the ground, by the conquest of Peru, +with its veins of silver. Time, however, has taught even this obstinate +and haughty nation, that without agriculture they may, indeed, be the +transmitters of money, but can never be the possessours. They may dig it +out of the earth, but must immediately send it away to purchase cloth or +bread, and it must at last remain with some people wise enough to sell +much, and to buy little; to live upon their own lands, without a wish +for those things which nature has denied them. + +Mines are themselves of no use, without some kind of agriculture. We +have, in our own country, inexhaustible stores of iron, which lie +useless in the ore for want of wood. It was never the design of +Providence to feed man without his own concurrence; we have from nature +only what we cannot provide for ourselves; she gives us wild fruits, +which art must meliorate, and drossy metals, which labour must refine. + +Particular metals are valuable, because they are scarce; and they are +scarce, because the mines that yield them are emptied in time. But the +surface of the earth is more liberal than its caverns. The field, which +is this autumn laid naked by the sickle, will be covered, in the +succeeding summer, by a new harvest; the grass, which the cattle are +devouring, shoots up again when they have passed over it. + +Agriculture, therefore, and agriculture alone, can support us without +the help of others, in certain plenty, and genuine dignity. Whatever we +buy from without, the sellers may refuse; whatever we sell, manufactured +by art, the purchasers may reject; but, while our ground is covered with +corn and cattle, we can want nothing; and if imagination should grow +sick of native plenty, and call for delicacies or embellishments from +other countries, there is nothing which corn and cattle will not +purchase. + +Our country is, perhaps, beyond all others, productive of things +necessary to life. The pineapple thrives better between the tropicks, +and better furs are found in the northern regions. But let us not envy +these unnecessary privileges. Mankind cannot subsist upon the +indulgences of nature, but must be supported by her more common gifts. +They must feed upon bread, and be clothed with wool; and the nation that +can furnish these universal commodities, may have her ships welcomed at +a thousand ports, or sit at home and receive the tribute of foreign +countries, enjoy their arts, or treasure up their gold. + +It is well known to those who have examined the state of other +countries, that the vineyards of France are more than equivalent to the +mines of America; and that one great use of Indian gold, and Peruvian +silver, is to procure the wines of Champaigne and Burgundy. The +advantage is, indeed, always rising on the side of France, who will +certainly have wines, when Spain, by a thousand natural or accidental +causes, may want silver. But, surely, the valleys of England have more +certain stores of wealth. Wines are chosen by caprice; the products of +France have not always been equally esteemed; but there never was any +age, or people, that reckoned bread among superfluities, when once it +was known. The price of wheat and barley suffers not any variation, but +what is caused by the uncertainty of seasons. + +I am far from intending to persuade my countrymen to quit all other +employments for that of manuring the ground. I mean only to prove, that +we have, at home, all that we can want, and that, therefore, we need +feel no great anxiety about the schemes of other nations for improving +their arts, or extending their traffick. But there is no necessity to +infer, that we should cease from commerce, before the revolution of +things shall transfer it to some other regions! Such vicissitudes the +world has often seen; and, therefore, such we have reason to expect. We +hear many clamours of declining trade, which are not, in my opinion, +always true; and many imputations of that decline to governours and +ministers, which may be sometimes just, and sometimes calumnious. But it +is foolish to imagine, that any care or policy can keep commerce at a +stand, which almost every nation has enjoyed and lost, and which we must +expect to lose as we have long enjoyed. + +There is some danger, lest our neglect of agriculture should hasten its +departure. Our industry has, for many ages, been employed in destroying +the woods which our ancestors have planted. It is well known that +commerce is carried on by ships, and that ships are built out of trees; +and, therefore, when I travel over naked plains, to which tradition has +preserved the name of forests, or see hills arising on either hand +barren and useless, I cannot forbear to wonder, how that commerce, of +which we promise ourselves the perpetuity, shall be continued by our +descendants; nor can restrain a sigh, when I think on the time, a time +at no great distance, when our neighbours may deprive us of our naval +influence, by refusing us their timber. + +By agriculture only can commerce be perpetuated; and by agriculture +alone can we live in plenty without intercourse with other nations. +This, therefore, is the great art, which every government ought to +protect, every proprietor of lands to practise, and every inquirer into +nature to improve. + + + + +CONSIDERATION ON THE CORN LAWS[1]. + +By what causes the necessaries of life have risen to a price, at which a +great part of the people are unable to procure them, how the present +scarcity may be remedied, and calamities of the same kind may, for the +future, be prevented, is an inquiry of the first importance; an inquiry, +before which all the considerations which commonly busy the legislature +vanish from the view. + +The interruption of trade, though it may distress part of the community, +leaves the rest power to communicate relief: the decay of one +manufacture may be compensated by the advancement of another: a defeat +may be repaired by victory: a rupture with one nation may be balanced by +an alliance with another. These are partial and slight misfortunes, +which leave us still in the possession of our chief comforts. They may +lop some of our superfluous pleasures, and repress some of our +exorbitant hopes; but we may still retain the essential part of civil +and of private happiness--the security of law, and the tranquillity of +content. They are small obstructions of the stream, which raise a foam +and noise, where they happen to be found, but, at a little distance, are +neither seen nor felt, and suffer the main current to pass forward in +its natural course. + +But scarcity is an evil that extends at once to the whole community: +that neither leaves quiet to the poor, nor safety to the rich; that, in +its approaches, distresses all the subordinate ranks of mankind; and, in +its extremity, must subvert government, drive the populace upon their +rulers, and end in bloodshed and massacre. Those who want the supports +of life will seize them wherever they can be found. If in any place +there are more than can be fed, some must be expelled, or some must be +destroyed. + +Of this dreadful scene there is no immediate danger; but there is +already evil sufficient to deserve and require all our diligence and all +our wisdom. The miseries of the poor are such as cannot easily be borne; +such as have already incited them, in many parts of the kingdom, to an +open defiance of government, and produced one of the greatest of +political evils--the necessity of ruling by immediate force. + +Cæsar declared, after the battle of Munda, that he had often fought for +victory, but that he had, that day, fought for life. We have often +deliberated, how we should prosper; we are now to inquire, how we shall +subsist. + +The present scarcity is imputed, by some, to the bounty for exporting +corn, which is considered as having a necessary and perpetual tendency +to pour the grain of this country into other nations. + +This position involves two questions: whether the present scarcity has +been caused by the bounty? and whether the bounty is likely to produce +scarcity in future times? + +It is an uncontroverted principle, that "sublata causa tollitur +effectus;" if, therefore, the effect continues when the supposed cause +has ceased, that effect must be imputed to some other agency. + +The bounty has ceased, and the exportation would still continue, if +exportation were permitted. The true reason of the scarcity is the +failure of the harvest; and the cause of exportation is the like failure +in other countries, where they grow less, and where they are, therefore, +always nearer to the danger of want. + +This want is such, that in countries where money is at a much higher +value than with us, the inhabitants are yet desirous to buy our corn at +a price to which our own markets have not risen. + +If we consider the state of those countries, which, being accustomed to +buy our corn cheaper than ourselves, when it was cheap, are now reduced +to the necessity of buying it dearer than ourselves, when it is dear, we +shall yet have reason to rejoice in our own exemption from the extremity +of this wide-extended calamity; and, if it be necessary, to inquire why +we suffer scarcity, it may be fit to consider, likewise, why we suffer +yet less scarcity than our neighbours. + +That the bounty upon corn has produced plenty, is apparent: + +Because, ever since the grant of the bounty, agriculture has increased; +scarce a sessions has passed without a law for enclosing commons and +waste grounds: + +Much land has been subjected to tillage, which lay uncultivated with +little profit: + +Yet, though the quantity of land has been thus increased, the rent, +which is the price of land, has generally increased at the same time. + +That more land is appropriated to tillage, is a proof that more corn is +raised; and that the rents have not fallen, proves that no more is +raised than can readily be sold. + +But it is urged, that exportation, though it increases our produce, +diminishes our plenty; that the merchant has more encouragement for +exportation than the farmer for agriculture. + +This is a paradox which all the principles of commerce and all the +experience of policy concur to confute. Whatever is done for gain, will +be done more, as more gain is to be obtained. + +Let the effects of the bounty be minutely considered. + +The state of every country, with respect to corn, is varied by the +chances of the year. + +Those to whom we sell our corn, must have every year either more corn +than they want, or less than they want. We, likewise, are naturally +subject to the same varieties. + +When they have corn equal to their wants, or more, the bounty has no +effect; for they will not buy what they do not want, unless our +exuberance be such as tempts them to store it for another year. This +case must suppose that our produce is redundant and useless to +ourselves; and, therefore, the profit of exportation produces no +inconvenience. + +When they want corn, they must buy of us, and buy at a higher price: in +this case, if we have corn more than enough for ourselves, we are again +benefited by supplying them. + +But they may want when we have no superfluity. When our markets rise, +the bounty ceases; and, therefore, produces no evil. They cannot buy our +corn but at a higher rate than it is sold at home. If their necessities, +as now has happened, force them to give a higher price, that event is no +longer to be charged upon the bounty. We may then stop our corn in our +ports, and pour it back upon our own markets. + +It is, in all cases, to be considered, what events are physical and +certain, and what are political and arbitrary. + +The first effect of the bounty is the increase of agriculture, and, by +consequence, the promotion of plenty. This is an effect physically good, +and morally certain. While men are desirous to be rich, where there is +profit there will be diligence. If much corn can be sold, much will be +raised. + +The second effect of the bounty is the diminution by exportation of that +product which it occasioned. But this effect is political and arbitrary; +we have it wholly in our own hands; we can prescribe its limits, and +regulate its quantity. Whenever we feel want, or fear it, we retain our +corn, and feed ourselves upon that which was sown and raised to feed +other nations. + +It is, perhaps, impossible for human wisdom to go further, than to +contrive a law of which the good is certain and uniform, and the evil, +though possible in itself, yet always subject to certain and effectual +restraints. + +This is the true state of the bounty upon corn: it certainly and +necessarily increases our crops, and can never lessen them but by our +own permission. + +That, notwithstanding the bounty, there have been, from time to time, +years of scarcity, cannot be denied. But who can regulate the seasons? +In the dearest years we owe to the bounty that they have not been +dearer. We must always suppose part of our ground sown for our own +consumption, and part in hope of a foreign sale. The time sometimes +comes, when the product of all this land is scarcely sufficient: but if +the whole be too little, how great would have been the deficiency, if we +had sown only that part which was designed for ourselves! + +"But, perhaps, if exportation were less encouraged, the superfluous +stores of plentiful years might be laid up by the farmer against years +of scarcity." + +This may be justly answered by affirming, that, if exportation were +discouraged, we should have no years of plenty. Cheapness is produced by +the possibility of dearness. Our farmers, at present, plough and sow +with the hope that some country will always be in want, and that they +shall grow rich by supplying. Indefinite hopes are always carried by the +frailty of human nature beyond reason. While, therefore, exportation is +encouraged, as much corn will be raised as the farmer can hope to sell, +and, therefore, generally more than can be sold at the price of which he +dreamed, when he ploughed and sowed. + +The greatest part of our corn is well known to be raised by those, who +pay rent for the ground which they employ, and of whom, few can bear to +delay the sale of one year's produce to another. + +It is, therefore, vain to hope that large stocks of grain will ever +remain in private hands: he that has not sold the corn of last year, +will, with diffidence and reluctance, till his field again; the +accumulation of a few years would end in a vacation of agriculture, and +the husbandman would apply himself to some more profitable calling. + +If the exportation of corn were totally prohibited, the quantity, +possible to be consumed among us, would be quickly known, and, being +known, would rarely be exceeded; for why should corn be gathered which +cannot be sold? We should, therefore, have little superfluity in the +most favourable seasons; for the farmer, like the rest of mankind, acts +in hope of success, and the harvest seldom outgoes the expectation of +the spring. But for droughts or blights, we should never be provided: +any intemperature of seasons would reduce us to distress, which we now +only read of in our histories; what is now scarcity would then be +famine. + +What would be caused by prohibiting exportation, will be caused, in a +less degree, by obstructing it, and, in some degree, by every deduction +of encouragement; as we lessen hope, we shall lessen labour; as we +lessen labour, we shall lessen plenty. + +It must always be steadily remembered, that the good of the bounty is +certain, and evil avoidable; that by the hope of exportation corn will +be increased, and that this increase may be kept at home. + +Plenty can only be produced by encouraging agriculture; and agriculture +can be encouraged only by making it gainful. No influence can dispose +the farmer to sow what he cannot sell; and, if he is not to have the +chance of scarcity in his favour, he will take care that there never +shall be plenty. + +The truth of these principles our ancestors discovered by reason, and +the French have now found it by experience. In this regulation we have +the honour of being masters to those, who, in commercial policy, have +been long accounted the masters of the world. Their prejudices, their +emulation, and their vanity, have, at last, submitted to learn of us how +to ensure the bounties of nature; and it forms a strange vicissitude of +opinions, that should incline us to repeal the law which our rivals are +adopting. + +It may be speciously enough proposed, that the bounty should be +discontinued sooner. Of this every man will have his own opinion; which, +as no general principles can reach it, will always seem to him more +reasonable than that of another. This is a question of which the state +is always changing with time and place, and which it is, therefore, very +difficult to state or to discuss. + +It may, however, be considered, that the change of old establishments is +always an evil; and that, therefore, where the good of the change is not +certain and constant, it is better to preserve that reverence and that +confidence, which is produced by consistency of conduct and permanency +of laws: + +That, since the bounty was so fixed, the price of money has been much +diminished; so that the bounty does not operate so far as when it was +first fixed, but the price at which it ceases, though nominally the +same, has, in effect and in reality, gradually diminished. + +It is difficult to discover any reason why that bounty, which has +produced so much good, and has hitherto produced no harm, should be +withdrawn or abated. It is possible, that if it were reduced lower, it +would still be the motive of agriculture, and the cause of plenty; but +why we should desert experience for conjecture, and exchange a known for +a possible good, will not easily be discovered. If, by a balance of +probabilities, in which a grain of dust may turn the scale--or, by a +curious scheme of calculation, in which, if one postulate in a thousand +be erroneous, the deduction which promises plenty may end in famine;-- +if, by a specious mode of uncertain ratiocination, the critical point at +which the bounty should stop, might seem to be discovered, I shall still +continue to believe that it is more safe to trust what we have already +tried; and cannot but think bread a product of too much importance to be +made the sport of subtilty, and the topick of hypothetical disputation. + +The advantage of the bounty is evident and irrefragable. Since the +bounty was given, multitudes eat wheat who did not eat it before, and +yet the price of wheat has abated. What more is to be hoped from any +change of practice? An alteration cannot make our condition better, and +is, therefore, very likely to make it worse[2]. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] These Considerations, for which we are indebted to Mr. Malone, who + published them in 1808, or rather to his liberal publisher, Mr. + Payne, were, in the opinion of Mr. Malone, written in November, + 1766, when the policy of the parliamentary bounty on the exportation + of corn became naturally a subject of discussion. The harvest in + that year had been so deficient, and corn had risen to so high a + price, that in the months of September and October there had been + many insurrections in the midland counties, to which Dr. Johnson + alludes; and which were of so alarming a kind, that it was necessary + to repress them by military force. + +[2] This little essay on the Corn Laws was written by Dr. Johnson, which + is in the very best style of that great master of reason, so early + as the year 1766; and at a period when subjects of this kind were + but imperfectly understood, even by those who had devoted themselves + to their study. It is truly admirable to see with what vigorous + alacrity his powerful mind could apply itself to an investigation so + foreign from his habitual occupations. We do not know that a more + sound, enlightened argument, in favour of the bounty on exportation, + could be collected from all that has since been published on the + subject; and, convinced as we are of the radical insufficiency of + that argument, it is impossible not to be delighted with the + clearness and force of the statement. There are few of his smaller + productions that show the great range of Johnson's capacity in a + more striking light.--Edin. Review, October, 1809. p. 175.--Ed. + + + + +A COMPLETE VINDICATION OF THE +LICENSERS OF THE STAGE, +FROM THE +MALICIOUS AND SCANDALOUS ASPERSIONS +OF +MR. BROOKE, +AUTHOR OF GUSTAVUS VASA; +WITH A PROPOSAL FOR MAKING THE OFFICE OF LICENSER MORE EXTENSIVE AND +EFFECTUAL. + +BY AN IMPARTIAL HAND.[A] + +It is generally agreed by the writers of all parties, that few crimes +are equal, in their degree of guilt, to that of calumniating a good and +gentle, or defending a wicked and oppressive administration. + +It is, therefore, with the utmost satisfaction of mind, that I reflect +how often I have employed my pen in vindication of the present ministry, +and their dependants and adherents; how often I have detected the +specious fallacies of the advocates for independence; how often I have +softened the obstinacy of patriotism; and how often triumphed over the +clamour of opposition. + +I have, indeed, observed but one set of men, upon whom all my arguments +have been thrown away; whom neither flattery can draw to compliance, nor +threats reduce to submission; and who have, notwithstanding all +expedients that either invention or experience could suggest, continued +to exert their abilities in a vigorous and constant opposition of all +our measures. + +The unaccountable behaviour of these men, the enthusiastick resolution +with which, after a hundred successive defeats, they still renewed their +attacks; the spirit with which they continued to repeat their arguments +in the senate, though they found a majority determined to condemn them; +and the inflexibility with which they rejected all offers of places and +preferments, at last excited my curiosity so far, that I applied myself +to inquire, with great diligence, into the real motives of their +conduct, and to discover what principle it was that had force to inspire +such unextinguishable zeal, and to animate such unwearied efforts. + +For this reason I attempted to cultivate a nearer acquaintance with some +of the chiefs of that party, and imagined that it would be necessary, +for some time, to dissemble my sentiments, that I might learn theirs. + +Dissimulation, to a true politician, is not difficult, and, therefore, I +readily assumed the character of a proselyte; but found, that their +principle of action was no other, than that which they make no scruple +of avowing in the most publick manner, notwithstanding the contempt and +ridicule to which it every day exposes them, and the loss of those +honours and profits from which it excludes them. + +This wild passion, or principle, is a kind of fanaticism by which they +distinguish those of their own party, and which they look upon as a +certain indication of a great mind. _We_ have no name for it _at court_; +but, among themselves, they term it by a kind of cant phrase, "a regard +for posterity." + +This passion seems to predominate in all their conduct, to regulate +every action of their lives, and sentiment of their minds: I have heard +L---- and P---- [2], when they have made a vigorous opposition, or +blasted the blossom of some ministerial scheme, cry out, in the height +of their exultations, "This will deserve the thanks of posterity!" And +when their adversaries, as it much more frequently falls out, have +outnumbered and overthrown them, they will say, with an air of revenge +and a kind of gloomy triumph, "Posterity will curse you for this." + +It is common among men, under the influence of any kind of phrensy, to +believe that all the world has the same odd notions that disorder their +own imaginations. Did these unhappy men, these deluded patriots, know +how little we are concerned about posterity, they would never attempt to +fright us with their curses, or tempt us to a neglect of our own +interest by a prospect of their gratitude. + +But so strong is their infatuation, that they seem to have forgotten +even the primary law of self-preservation; for they sacrifice, without +scruple, every flattering hope, every darling enjoyment, and every +satisfaction of life, to this ruling passion, and appear, in every step, +to consult not so much their own advantage, as that of posterity. + +Strange delusion! that can confine all their thoughts to a race of men +whom they neither know, nor can know; from whom nothing is to be feared, +nor any thing expected; who cannot even bribe a special jury, nor have +so much as a single riband to bestow. + +This fondness for posterity is a kind of madness which at Rome was once +almost epidemical, and infected even the women and the children. It +reigned there till the entire destruction of Carthage; after which it +began to be less general, and in a few years afterwards a remedy was +discovered, by which it was almost entirely extinguished. + +In England it never prevailed in any such degree: some few of the +ancient barons seem, indeed, to have been disordered by it; but the +contagion has been, for the, most part, timely checked, and our ladies +have been generally free. + +But there has been, in every age, a set of men, much admired and +reverenced, who have affected to be always talking of posterity, and +have laid out their lives upon the composition of poems, for the sake of +being applauded by this imaginary generation. + +The present poets I reckon amongst the most inexorable enemies of our +most excellent ministry, and much doubt whether any method will effect +the cure of a distemper, which, in this class of men, may be termed, not +an accidental disease, but a defect in their original frame and +constitution. + +Mr. Brooke, a name I mention with all the detestation suitable to my +character, could not forbear discovering this depravity of his mind in +his very prologue, which is filled with sentiments so wild, and so much +unheard of among those who frequent levees and courts, that I much +doubt, whether the zealous licenser proceeded any further in his +examination of his performance. + +He might easily perceive that a man, + + Who bade his moral beam through every age, + +was too much a bigot to exploded notions, to compose a play which he +could license without manifest hazard of his office, a hazard which no +man would incur untainted with the love of posterity. + +We cannot, therefore, wonder that an author, wholly possessed by this +passion, should vent his resentment for the licenser's just refusal, in +virulent advertisements, insolent complaints, and scurrilous assertions +of his rights and privileges, and proceed, in defiance of authority, to +solicit a subscription. + +This temper, which I have been describing, is almost always complicated +with ideas of the high prerogatives of human nature, of a sacred +unalienable birthright, which no man has conferred upon us, and which +neither kings can take, nor senates give away; which we may justly +assert whenever and by whomsoever it is attacked; and which, if ever it +should happen to be lost, we may take the first opportunity to recover. + +The natural consequence of these chimeras is contempt of authority, and +an irreverence for any superiority but what is founded upon merit; and +their notions of merit are very peculiar, for it is among them no great +proof of merit to be wealthy and powerful, to wear a garter or a star, +to command a regiment or a senate, to have the ear of the minister or of +the king, or to possess any of those virtues and excellencies, which, +among us, entitle a man to little less than worship and prostration. + +We may, therefore, easily conceive that Mr. Brooke thought himself +entitled to be importunate for a license, because, in his own opinion, +he deserved one, and to complain thus loudly at the repulse he met with. + +His complaints will have, I hope, but little weight with the publick; +since the opinions of the sect in which he is enlisted are exposed, and +shown to be evidently and demonstrably opposite to that system of +subordination and dependence, to which we are indebted for the present +tranquillity of the nation, and that cheerfulness and readiness with +which the two houses concur in all our designs. + +I shall, however, to silence him entirely, or at least to show those of +our party that he ought to be silent, consider singly every instance of +hardship and oppression which he has dared to publish in the papers, and +to publish in such a manner, that I hope no man will condemn me for want +of candour in becoming an advocate for the ministry, if I can consider +his advertisements as nothing less than AN APPEAL TO HIS COUNTRY. + +Let me be forgiven if I cannot speak with temper of such insolence as +this: is a man without title, pension, or place, to suspect the +impartiality or the judgment of those who are entrusted with the +administration of publick affairs? Is he, when the law is not strictly +observed in regard to him, to think himself aggrieved, to tell his +sentiments in print, assert his claim to better usage, and fly for +redress to another tribunal? + +If such practices are permitted, I will not venture to foretell the +effects of them; the ministry may soon be convinced, that such sufferers +will find compassion, and that it is safer not to bear hard upon them, +than to allow them to complain. + +The power of licensing, in general, being firmly established by an act +of parliament, our poet has not attempted to call in question, but +contents himself with censuring the manner in which it has been +executed; so that I am not now engaged to assert the licenser's +authority, but to defend his conduct. + +The poet seems to think himself aggrieved, because the licenser kept his +tragedy in his hands one-and-twenty days, whereas the law allows him to +detain it only fourteen. Where will the insolence of the malecontents +end? Or how are such unreasonable expectations possibly to be satisfied? +Was it ever known that a man exalted into a high station, dismissed a +suppliant in the time limited by law? Ought not Mr. Brooke to think +himself happy that his play was not detained longer? If he had been kept +a year in suspense, what redress could he have obtained? Let the poets +remember, when they appear before the licenser, or his deputy, that they +stand at the tribunal, from which there is no appeal permitted, and +where nothing will so well become them as reverence and submission. + +Mr. Brooke mentions, in his preface, his knowledge of the laws of his +own country: had he extended his inquiries to the civil law, he could +have found a full justification of the licenser's conduct, "Boni judicis +est ampliare suam auctoritatem." + +If then it be "the business of a good judge to enlarge his authority," +was it not in the licenser the utmost clemency and forbearance, to +extend fourteen days only to twenty-one? + +I suppose this great man's inclination to perform, at least, this duty +of a good judge, is not questioned by any, either of his friends or +enemies. I may, therefore, venture to hope, that he will extend his +power by proper degrees, and that I shall live to see a malecontent +writer earnestly soliciting for the copy of a play, which he had +delivered to the licenser twenty years before. + +"I waited," says he, "often on the licenser, and with the utmost +importunity entreated an answer." Let Mr. Brooke consider, whether that +importunity was not a sufficient reason for the disappointment. Let him +reflect how much more decent it had been to have waited the leisure of a +great man, than to have pressed upon him with repeated petitions, and to +have intruded upon those precious moments which he has dedicated to the +service of his country. + +Mr. Brooke was, doubtless, led into this improper manner of acting, by +an erroneous notion that the grant of a license was not an act of +favour, but of justice; a mistake into which he could not have fallen, +but from a supine inattention to the design of the statute, which was +only to bring poets into subjection and dependence, not to encourage +good writers, but to discourage all. + +There lies no obligation upon the licenser to grant his sanction to a +play, however excellent; nor can Mr. Brooke demand any reparation, +whatever applause his performance may meet with. + +Another grievance is, that the licenser assigned no reason for his +refusal. This is a higher strain of insolence than any of the former. Is +it for a poet to demand a licenser's reason for his proceedings? Is he +not rather to acquiesce in the decision of authority, and conclude, that +there are reasons which he cannot comprehend? + +Unhappy would it be for men in power, were they always obliged to +publish the motives of their conduct. What is power, but the liberty of +acting without being accountable? The advocates for the licensing act +have alleged, that the lord chamberlain has always had authority to +prohibit the representation of a play for just reasons. Why then did we +call in all our force to procure an act of parliament? Was it to enable +him to do what he has always done? to confirm an authority which no man +attempted to impair, or pretended to dispute? + +No, certainly: our intention was to invest him with new privileges, and +to empower him to do that without reason, which with reason he could do +before. + +We have found, by long experience, that to lie under a necessity of +assigning reasons, is very troublesome, and that many an excellent +design has miscarried by the loss of time spent unnecessarily in +examining reasons. + +Always to call for reasons, and always to reject them, shows a strange +degree of perverseness; yet, such is the daily behaviour of our +adversaries, who have never yet been satisfied with any reasons that +have been offered by us. + +They have made it their practice to demand, once a year, the reasons for +which we maintain a standing army. + +One year we told them that it was necessary, because all the nations +round us were involved in war; this had no effect upon them, and, +therefore, resolving to do our utmost for their satisfaction, we told +them, the next year, that it was necessary, because all the nations +round us were at peace. + +This reason finding no better reception than the other, we had recourse +to our apprehensions of an invasion from the Pretender, of an +insurrection in favour of gin, and of a general disaffection among the +people. + +But as they continue still impenetrable, and oblige us still to assign +our annual reasons, we shall spare no endeavour to procure such as may +be more satisfactory than any of the former. + +The reason we once gave for building barracks was, for fear of the +plague; and we intend next year to propose the augmentation of our +troops, for fear of a famine. + +The committee, by which the act for licensing the stage was drawn up, +had too long known the inconvenience of giving reasons, and were too +well acquainted with the characters of great men, to lay the lord +chamberlain, or his deputy, under any such tormenting obligation. + +Yet, lest Mr. Brooke should imagine that a license was refused him +without just reasons, I shall condescend to treat him with more regard +than he can reasonably expect, and point out such sentiments, as not +only justly exposed him to that refusal, but would have provoked any +ministry less merciful than the present, to have inflicted some heavier +penalties upon him. + +His prologue is filled with such insinuations, as no friend of our +excellent government can read without indignation and abhorrence, and +cannot but be owned to be a proper introduction to such scenes, as seem +designed to kindle in the audience a flame of opposition, patriotism, +publick spirit, and independency; that spirit which we have so long +endeavoured to suppress, and which cannot be revived without the entire +subversion of all our schemes. + +The seditious poet, not content with making an open attack upon us, by +declaring, in plain terms, that he looks upon freedom as the only source +of publick happiness, and national security, has endeavoured with +subtilty, equal to his malice, to make us suspicious of our firmest +friends, to infect our consultations with distrust, and to ruin us by +disuniting us. + +This, indeed, will not be easily effected; an union founded upon +interest, and cemented by dependence, is naturally lasting; but +confederacies which owe their rise to virtue, or mere conformity of +sentiments, are quickly dissolved, since no individual has any thing +either to hope or fear for himself, and publick spirit is generally too +weak to combat with private passions. + +The poet has, however, attempted to weaken our combination by an artful +and sly assertion, which, if suffered to remain unconfuted, may operate, +by degrees, upon our minds, in the days of leisure and retirement, which +are now approaching, and, perhaps, fill us with such surmises as may at +least very much embarrass our affairs. + +The law by which the Swedes justified their opposition to the +encroachments of the king of Denmark, he not only calls + + Great Nature's law, the law within the breast, + +but proceeds to tell us, that it is + + --stamp'd by heaven upon th' unletter'd mind. + +By which he evidently intends to insinuate a maxim, which is, I hope, as +false as it is pernicious, that men are naturally fond of liberty till +those unborn ideas and desires are effaced by literature. + +The author, if he be not a man mewed up in his solitary study, and +entirely unacquainted with the conduct of the present ministry, must +know that we have hitherto acted upon different principles. We have +always regarded letters as great obstructions to our scheme of +subordination, and have, therefore, when we have heard of any man +remarkably unlettered, carefully noted him down, as the most proper +person for any employments of trust or honour, and considered him as a +man, in whom we could safely repose our most important secrets. + +From among the uneducated and unlettered, we have chosen not only our +ambassadors and other negotiators, but even our journalists and +pamphleteers; nor have we had any reason to change our measures, or to +repent of the confidence which we have placed in ignorance. + +Are we now, therefore, to be told, that this law is + + --stamp'd upon th' unletter'd mind? + +Are we to suspect our placemen, our pensioners, our generals, our +lawyers, our best friends in both houses, all our adherents among the +atheists and infidels, and our very gazetteers, clerks, and court-pages, +as friends to independency? Doubtless this is the tendency of his +assertion, but we have known them too long to be thus imposed upon: the +unlettered have been our warmest and most constant defenders; nor have +we omitted any thing to deserve their favour, but have always +endeavoured to raise their reputation, extend their influence, and +increase their number. + +In his first act he abounds with sentiments very inconsistent with the +ends for which the power of licensing was granted; to enumerate them all +would be to transcribe a great part of his play, a task which I shall +very willingly leave to others, who, though true friends to the +government, are not inflamed with zeal so fiery and impatient as mine, +and, therefore, do not feel the same emotions of rage and resentment at +the sight of those infamous passages, in which venality and dependence +are represented, as mean in themselves, and productive of remorse and +infelicity. + +One line, which ought, in my opinion, to be erased from every copy, by a +special act of parliament, is mentioned by Anderson, as pronounced by +the hero in his sleep, + + O Sweden! O my country! yet I'll save thee. + +This line I have reason to believe thrown out as a kind of a watchword +for the opposing faction, who, when they meet in their seditious +assemblies, have been observed to lay their hands upon their breasts, +and cry out, with great vehemence of accent, + + O B----[3]! O my country! yet I'll save thee. + +In the second scene he endeavours to fix epithets of contempt upon those +passions and desires, which have been always found most useful to the +ministry, and most opposite to the spirit of independency. + + Base fear, the laziness of lust, gross appetites, + These are the ladders, and the grov'ling footstool + From whence the tyrant rises-- + Secure and scepter'd in the soul's servility, + He has debauched the genius of our country, + And rides triumphant, while her captive sons + Await his nod, the silken slaves of pleasure, + Or fetter'd in their fears.-- + +Thus is that decent submission to our superiours, and that proper awe of +authority which we are taught in courts, termed base fear and the +servility of the soul. Thus are those gaieties and enjoyments, those +elegant amusements and lulling pleasures, which the followers of a court +are blessed with, as the just rewards of their attendance and +submission, degraded to lust, grossness, and debauchery. The author +ought to be told, that courts are not to be mentioned with so little +ceremony, and that though gallantries and amours are admitted there, it +is almost treason to suppose them infected with debauchery or lust. + +It is observable, that, when this hateful writer has conceived any +thought of an uncommon malignity, a thought which tends, in a more +particular manner, to excite the love of liberty, animate the heat of +patriotism, or degrade the majesty of kings, he takes care to put it in +the mouth of his hero, that it may be more forcibly impressed upon his +reader. Thus Gustavus, speaking of his tatters, cries out, + + --Yes, my Arvida, + Beyond the sweeping of the proudest train + That shades a monarch's heel, I prize these weeds; + For they are sacred to my country's freedom. + +Here this abandoned son of liberty makes a full discovery of his +execrable principles, the tatters of Gustavus, the usual dress of the +assertors of these doctrines, are of more divinity, because they are +sacred to freedom, than the sumptuous and magnificent robes of regality +itself. Such sentiments are truly detestable, nor could any thing be an +aggravation of the author's guilt, except his ludicrous manner of +mentioning a monarch. + +The heel of a monarch, or even the print of his heel, is a thing too +venerable and sacred to be treated with such levity, and placed in +contrast with rags and poverty. He, that will speak contemptuously of +the heel of a monarch, will, whenever he can with security, speak +contemptuously of his head. + +These are the most glaring passages which have occurred, in the perusal +of the first pages; my indignation will not suffer me to proceed +farther, and I think much better of the licenser, than to believe he +went so far. + +In the few remarks which I have set down, the reader will easily +observe, that I have strained no expression beyond its natural import, +and have divested myself of all heat, partiality, and prejudice. + +So far, therefore, is Mr. Brooke from having received any hard or +unwarrantable treatment, that the licenser has only acted in pursuance +of that law to which he owes his power; a law, which every admirer of +the administration must own to be very necessary, and to have produced +very salutary effects. + +I am, indeed, surprised that this great office is not drawn out into a +longer series of deputations; since it might afford a gainful and +reputable employment to a great number of the friends of the government; +and, I should think, instead of having immediate recourse to the +deputy-licenser himself, it might be sufficient honour for any poet, +except the laureate, to stand bareheaded in the presence of the deputy +of the deputy's deputy in the nineteenth subordination. + +Such a number cannot but be thought necessary, if we take into +consideration the great work of drawing up an index expurgatorius to all +the old plays; which is, I hope, already undertaken, or, if it has been +hitherto unhappily neglected, I take this opportunity to recommend. + +The productions of our old poets are crowded with passages very unfit +for the ears of an English audience, and which cannot be pronounced +without irritating the minds of the people. + +This censure I do not confine to those lines in which liberty, natural +equality, wicked ministers, deluded kings, mean arts of negotiation, +venal senates, mercenary troops, oppressive officers, servile and +exorbitant taxes, universal corruption, the luxuries of a court, the +miseries of the people, the decline of trade, or the happiness of +independency, are directly mentioned. These are such glaring passages, +as cannot be suffered to pass without the most supine and criminal +negligence. I hope the vigilance of the licensers will extend to all +such speeches and soliloquies as tend to recommend the pleasures of +virtue, the tranquillity of an uncorrupted head, and the satisfactions +of conscious innocence; for though such strokes as these do not appear +to a common eye to threaten any danger to the government, yet it is well +known to more penetrating observers, that they have such consequences as +cannot be too diligently obviated, or too cautiously avoided. + +A man, who becomes once enamoured of the charms of virtue, is apt to be +very little concerned about the acquisition of wealth or titles, and is, +therefore, not easily induced to act in a manner contrary to his real +sentiments, or to vote at the word of command; by contracting his +desires, and regulating his appetites, he wants much less than other +men; and every one versed in the arts of government can tell, that men +are more easily influenced, in proportion as they are more necessitous. + +This is not the only reason why virtue should not receive too much +countenance from a licensed stage; her admirers and followers are not +only naturally independent, but learn such an uniform and consistent +manner of speaking and acting, that they frequently, by the mere force +of artless honesty, surmount all the obstacles which subtilty and +politicks can throw in their way, and obtain their ends, in spite of the +most profound and sagacious ministry. + +Such, then, are the passages to be expunged by the licensers: in many +parts, indeed, the speeches will be imperfect, and the action appear not +regularly conducted, but the poet laureate may easily supply these +vacuities, by inserting some of his own verses in praise of wealth, +luxury, and venality. + +But alas! all those pernicious sentiments which we shall banish from the +stage, will be vented from the press, and more studiously read, because +they are prohibited. + +I cannot but earnestly implore the friends of the government to leave no +art untried, by which we may hope to succeed in our design of extending +the power of the licenser to the press, and of making it criminal to +publish any thing without an IMPRIMATUR. + +How much would this single law lighten the mighty burden of state +affairs! With how much security might our ministers enjoy their honours, +their places, their reputations, and their admirers, could they once +suppress those malicious invectives which are, at present, so +industriously propagated, and so eagerly read; could they hinder any +arguments but their own from coming to the ears of the people, and stop +effectually the voice of cavil and inquiry! + +I cannot but indulge myself a little while, by dwelling on this pleasing +scene, and imagining those halcyon days, in which no politicks shall be +read but those of the Gazetteer, nor any poetry but that of the +laureate; when we shall hear of nothing but the successful negotiations +of our ministers, and the great actions of-- + +How much happier would this state be, than those perpetual jealousies +and contentions which are inseparable from knowledge and liberty, and +which have, for many years, kept this nation in perpetual commotions! + +But these are times, rather to be wished for than expected, for such is +the nature of our unquiet countrymen, that, if they are not admitted to +the knowledge of affairs, they are always suspecting their governours of +designs prejudicial to their interest; they have not the least notion of +the pleasing tranquillity of ignorance, nor can be brought to imagine, +that they are kept in the dark, lest too much light should hurt their +eyes. They have long claimed a right of directing their superiours, and +are exasperated at the least mention of secrets of state. + +This temper makes them very readily encourage any writer or printer, +who, at the hazard of his life or fortune, will give them any +information: and, while this humour prevails, there never will be +wanting some daring adventurer who will write in defence of liberty, and +some zealous or avaricious printer who will disperse his papers. + +It has never yet been found that any power, however vigilant or +despotick, has been able to prevent the publication of seditious +journals, ballads, essays, and dissertations; "Considerations on the +present state of affairs," and "Enquiries into the conduct of the +administration[4]." + +Yet I must confess, that, considering the success, with which the +present ministry has hitherto proceeded in their attempts to drive out +of the world the old prejudices of patriotism and publick spirit, I +cannot but entertain some hopes, that what has been so often attempted +by their predecessors, is reserved to be accomplished by their superiour +abilities. + +If I might presume to advise them upon this great affair, I should +dissuade them from any direct attempt upon the liberty of the press, +which is the darling of the common people, and, therefore, cannot be +attacked without immediate danger. They may proceed by a more sure and +silent way, and attain the desired end without noise, detraction, or +oppression. + +There are scattered over this kingdom several little seminaries, in +which the lower ranks of people, and the youngest sons of our nobility +and gentry are taught, from their earliest infancy, the pernicious arts +of spelling and reading, which they afterwards continue to practise, +very much to the disturbance of their own quiet, and the interruption of +ministerial measures. + +These seminaries may, by an act of parliament, be, at once, suppressed; +and that our posterity be deprived of all means of reviving this corrupt +method of education, it may be made felony to teach to read without a +license from the lord chamberlain. + +This expedient, which I hope will be carefully concealed from the +vulgar, must infallibly answer the great end proposed by it, and set the +power of the court not only above the insults of the poets, but, in a +short time, above the necessity of providing against them. The licenser, +having his authority thus extended, will, in time, enjoy the title and +the salary without the trouble of exercising his power, and the nation +will rest, at length, in ignorance and peace. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This admirable piece of irony was first printed in the year 1739. A + comparison of its sarcastic strokes with the serious arguments of + lord Chesterfield's speech in the house of lords against the bill + for licensing the stage, will be both amusing and instructive.--Ed. + +[2] Lyttelton and Pitt. + +[3] Britain + +[4] Titles of pamphlets published at this juncture. The former by lord + Lyttelton. See his works, vol i. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, + +1738. + +The usual design of addresses of this sort is to implore the candour of +the publick: we have always had the more pleasing province of returning +thanks, and making our acknowledgments for the kind acceptance which our +monthly collections have met with. + +This, it seems, did not sufficiently appear from the numerous sale and +repeated impressions of our books, which have, at once, exceeded our +merit and our expectation; but have been still more plainly attested by +the clamours, rage, and calumnies of our competitors, of whom we have +seldom taken any notice, not only because it is cruelty to insult the +depressed, and folly to engage with desperation, but because we consider +all their outcries, menaces, and boasts, as nothing more than +advertisements in our favour, being evidently drawn up with the +bitterness of baffled malice and disappointed hope; and almost +discovering, in plain terms, that the unhappy authors have seventy +thousand London Magazines mouldering in their warehouses, returned from +all parts of the kingdom, unsold, unread, and disregarded. + +Our obligations for the encouragement we have so long continued to +receive, are so much the greater, as no artifices have been omitted to +supplant us. Our adversaries cannot be denied the praise of industry; +how far they can be celebrated for an honest industry, we leave to the +decision of the publick, and even of their brethren, the booksellers, +not including those whose advertisements they obliterated to paste their +invectives in our book. + +The success of the Gentleman's Magazine has given rise to almost twenty +imitations of it, which are either all dead, or very little regarded by +the world. Before we had published sixteen months, we met with such a +general approbation, that a knot of enterprising geniuses, and sagacious +inventors, assembled from all parts of the town, agreed, with an +unanimity natural to understandings of the same size, to seize upon our +whole plan, without changing even the title. Some weak objections were, +indeed, made by one of them against the design, as having an air of +servility, dishonesty, and piracy; but it was concluded that all these +imputations might be avoided by giving the picture of St. Paul's instead +of St. John's gate; it was, however, thought indispensably necessary to +add, printed in St. John's street, though there was then no +printing-house in that place. + +That these plagiaries should, after having thus stolen their whole +design from us, charge us with robbery, on any occasion, is a degree of +impudence scarcely to be matched, and certainly entitles them to the +first rank among false heroes. We have, therefore, inserted their +names[1], at length, in our February magazine, p. 61; being desirous +that every man should enjoy the reputation he deserves. + +Another attack has been made upon us by the author of Common Sense, an +adversary equally malicious as the former, and equally despicable. What +were his views, or what his provocations, we know not, nor have thought +him considerable enough to inquire. To make him any further answer would +be to descend too low; but, as he is one of those happy writers, who are +best exposed by quoting their own words, we have given his elegant +remarks in our magazine for December, where the reader may entertain +himself, at his leisure, with an agreeable mixture of scurrility and +false grammar. + +For the future, we shall rarely offend him by adopting any of his +performances, being unwilling to prolong the life of such pieces as +deserve no other fate than to be hissed, torn, and forgotten. However, +that the curiosity of our readers may not be disappointed, we shall, +whenever we find him a little excelling himself, perhaps print his +dissertations upon our blue covers, that they may be looked over, and +stripped off, without disgracing our collection, or swelling our +volumes. + +We are sorry that, by inserting some of his essays, we have filled the +head of this petty writer with idle chimeras of applause, laurels and +immortality, nor suspected the bad effect of our regard for him, till we +saw, in the postscript to one of his papers, a wild[2] prediction of the +honours to be paid him by future ages. Should any mention of him be +made, or his writings, by posterity, it will, probably, be in words like +these: "In the Gentleman's Magazine are still preserved some essays, +under the specious and inviting title of Common Sense. How papers of so +little value came to be rescued from the common lot of dulness, we are, +at this distance of time, unable to conceive, but imagine, that personal +friendship prevailed with Urban to admit them in opposition to his +judgment. If this was the reason, he met afterwards with the treatment +which all deserve who patronise stupidity; for the writer, instead of +acknowledging his favours, complains of injustice, robbery, and +mutilation; but complains in a style so barbarous and indecent, as +sufficiently confutes his own calumnies." + +In this manner must this author expect to be mentioned. But of him, and +our other adversaries, we beg the reader's pardon for having said so +much. We hope it will be remembered, in our favour, that it is sometimes +necessary to chastise insolence, and that there is a sort of men who +cannot distinguish between forbearance, and cowardice. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The names are thus inserted--"The _gay_ and _learned_ C. Ackers, of + Swan-alley, printer; the _polite_ and _generous_ T. Cox, under the + Royal Exchange; the _eloquent_ and _courtly_ J. Clark, of Duck-lane; + and the _modest, civil_, and _judicious_ T. Astley, of St. Paul's + Church-yard, booksellers."--All these names appeared in the title of + the London Magazine, begun in 1732. + +[2] Common Sense Journal, printed by Purser of Whitefriars, March 11, + 1738. "I make no doubt but after some grave historian, three or four + hundred years hence, has described the corruption, the baseness, and + the flattery which men run into in these times, he will make the + following observation:--In the year 1737, a certain unknown author + published a writing under the title of Common Sense; this writing + came out weekly, in little detached essays, some of which are + political, some moral, and others humorous. By the best judgment + that can be formed of a work, the style and language of which is + become so obsolete that it is scarce intelligible, it answers the + title well," &c. + + + + +AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLICK. + +From the Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1739. + + Men' moveat cimex Pantilius? aut crucier, quod + Vellicet absentem Demetrius-- HOR. + + Laudat, amat, cantat nostros mea Roma libellos, + Meque sinus omnes, me manus omnis habet. + Ecce rubet quidam, pallet, stupet, oscitat, odit. + Hoc volo, nunc nobis carmina nostra placent. MARTIAL. + +It is plain from the conduct of writers of the first class, that they +have esteemed it no derogation from their characters to defend +themselves against the censures of ignorance, or the calumnies of envy. + +It is not reasonable to suppose, that they always judged their +adversaries worthy of a formal confutation; but they concluded it not +prudent to neglect the feeblest attacks; they knew that such men have +often done hurt, who had not abilities to do good; that the weakest +hand, if not timely disarmed, may stab a hero in his sleep; that a worm, +however small, may destroy a fleet in the acorn; and that citadels, +which have defied armies, have been blown up by rats. + +In imitation of these great examples, we think it not absolutely +needless to vindicate ourselves from the virulent aspersions of the +Craftsman and Common Sense; because their accusations, though entirely +groundless, and without the least proof, are urged with an air of +confidence, which the unwary may mistake for consciousness of truth. + +In order to set the proceedings of these calumniators in a proper light, +it is necessary to inform such of our readers, as are unacquainted with +the artifices of trade, that we originally incurred the displeasure of +the greatest part of the booksellers by keeping this magazine wholly in +our own hands, without admitting any of that fraternity into a share of +the property. For nothing is more criminal, in the opinion of many of +them, than for an author to enjoy more advantage from his own works than +they are disposed to allow him. This is a principle so well established +among them, that we can produce some who threatened printers with their +highest displeasure, for their having dared to print books for those +that wrote them. + + Hinc irae, hinc odia. + +This was the first ground of their animosity, which, for some time, +proceeded no farther than private murmurs and petty discouragements. At +length, determining to be no longer debarred from a share in so +beneficial a project, a knot of them combined to seize our whole plan; +and, without the least attempt to vary or improve it, began, with the +utmost vigour to print and circulate the London Magazine, with such +success, that in a few years, while we were printing the fifth edition +of some of our earliest numbers, they had seventy thousand of their +books returned, unsold, upon their hands. + +It was then time to exert their utmost efforts to stop our progress, and +nothing was to be left unattempted that interest could suggest. It will +be easily imagined, that their influence, among those of their own +trade, was greater than ours, and that their collections were, +therefore, more industriously propagated by their brethren; but this, +being the natural consequence of such a relation, and, therefore, +excusable, is only mentioned to show the disadvantages against which we +are obliged to struggle, and, to convince the reader, that we who depend +so entirely upon his approbation, shall omit nothing to deserve it. + +They then had recourse to advertisements, in which they, sometimes, made +faint attempts to be witty, and, sometimes, were content with being +merely scurrilous; but, finding that their attacks, while we had an +opportunity of returning hostilities, generally procured them such +treatment as very little contributed to their reputation, they came, at +last, to a resolution of excluding us from the newspapers in which they +have any influence: by this means they can, at present, insult us with +impunity, and without the least danger of confutation. + +Their last, and, indeed, their most artful expedient, has been to hire +and incite the weekly journalists against us. The first weak attempt was +made by the Universal Spectator; but this we took not the least notice +of, as we did not imagine it would ever come to the knowledge of the +publick. + +Whether there was then a confederacy between this journal and Common +Sense's, as at present, between Common Sense and the Craftsman; or +whether understandings of the same form receive, at certain times, the +same impressions from the planets, I know not; but about that time war +was, likewise, declared against us by the redoubted author of Common +Sense; an adversary not so much to be dreaded for his abilities, as for +the title of his paper, behind which he has the art of sheltering +himself in perfect security. He defeats all his enemies by calling them +"enemies to common sense," and silences the strongest objections and the +clearest reasonings by assuring his readers that, "they are contrary to +common sense." + +I must confess, to the immortal honour of this great writer, that I can +remember but two instances of a genius able to use a few syllables to +such great and so various purposes. One is, the old man in Shadwell, who +seems, by long time and experience, to have attained to equal perfection +with our author; for, "when a young fellow began to prate and be pert," +says he, "I silenced him with my old word, Tace is Latin for a candle." + +The other, who seems yet more to resemble this writer, was one Goodman, +a horsestealer, who being asked, after having been found guilty by the +jury, what he had to offer to prevent sentence of death from being +passed upon him, did not attempt to extenuate his crime, but entreated +the judge to beware of hanging a _Good man_. + +This writer we thought, however injudiciously, worthy, not indeed of a +reply, but of some correction, and in our magazine for December, 1738, +and the preface to the supplement, treated him in such a manner as he +does not seem inclined to forget. + +From that time, losing all patience, he has exhausted his stores of +scurrility upon us; but our readers will find, upon consulting the +passages above mentioned, that he has received too much provocation to +be admitted as an impartial critick. + +In our magazine of January, p. 24, we made a remark upon the Craftsman, +and in p. 3, dropped some general observations upon the weekly writers, +by which we did not expect to make them more our friends. Nor, indeed, +did we imagine that this would have inflamed Caleb to so high a degree. +His resentment has risen so much above the provocation, that we cannot +but impute it more to what he fears than what he has felt. He has seen +the solecisms of his brother, Common Sense, exposed, and remembers that, + + --tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet. + +He imagines, that he shall soon fall under the same censure, and is +willing that our criticisms shall appear rather the effects of our +resentment than our judgment. + +For this reason, I suppose, (for I can find no other,) he has joined +with Common Sense to charge us with partiality, and to recommend the +London Magazine, as drawn up with less regard to interest or party. A +favour, which the authors of that collection have endeavoured to deserve +from them by the most servile adulation. + +But, as we have a higher opinion of the candour of our readers, than to +believe that they will condemn us without examination, or give up their +right of judging for themselves, we are not unconcerned at this charge, +though the most atrocious and malignant that can be brought against us. +We entreat only to be compared with our rivals, in full confidence, that +not only our innocence, but our superiority will appear[1]. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] These prefaces are written with that warmth of zeal which + characterizes all Johnson's efforts in behalf of his friends. He + ever retained a grateful sense of the kindness shown to him by Cave, + his earliest patron; and, when engaged in his undertakings, he + regarded Cave's enemies or opposers as his own. We can only thus + vindicate his contemptuous references to the UNIVERSAL SPECTATOR, + which, though far inferior to that great work whose name it bears, + is very respectable; nor, on any other consideration, can we account + for his derision of COMMON SENSE, a periodical, enriched by the + contributions of lord Chesterfield and lord Lyttelton; or of the + CRAFTSMAN, which was conducted by Amhurst, the able associate of + Bolingbroke and Pulteney. Neither can we, without thus considering + his relative situation, acquit Johnson of inconsistency in his + strictures, who, in 1756, himself undertook the editorship of the + LITERARY MAGAZINE, a work which might be viewed as the most + formidable rival of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. The full details of + his connexion with this now venerable publication are given in the + preface to the index of that work, published by Mr. Nichols.--Ed. + + + + +LETTER ON FIREWORKS.[1] + +MR. URBAN, + +Among the principal topicks of conversation which now furnish the places +of assembly with amusement, may be justly numbered the fireworks, which +are advancing, by such slow degrees, and with such costly preparation. + +The first reflection, that naturally arises, is upon the inequality of +the effect to the cause. Here are vast sums expended, many hands, and +some heads, employed, from day to day, and from month to month; and the +whole nation is filled with expectations, by delineations and +narratives. And in what is all this to end? in a building, that is to +attract the admiration of ages? in a bridge, which may facilitate the +commerce of future generations? in a work of any kind, which may stand +as the model of beauty, or the pattern of virtue? To show the blessings +of the late change of our state[2] by any monument of these kinds, were +a project worthy not only of wealth, and power, and greatness, but of +learning, wisdom, and virtue. But nothing of this kind is designed; +nothing more is projected, than a crowd, a shout, and a blaze: the +mighty work of artifice and contrivance is to be set on fire for no +other purpose that I can see, than to show how idle pyrotechnical +virtuosos have been busy. Four hours the sun will shine, and then fall +from his orb, and lose his memory and his lustre together; the +spectators will disperse, as their inclinations lead them, and wonder by +what strange infatuation they had been drawn together. In this will +consist the only propriety of this transient show, that it will resemble +the war of which it celebrates the period. The powers of this part of +the world, after long preparations, deep intrigues, and subtle schemes, +have set Europe in a flame, and, after having gazed awhile at their +fireworks, have laid themselves down where they rose, to inquire for +what they have been contending. + +It is remarked, likewise, that this blaze, so transitory and so useless, +will be to be paid for, when it shines no longer: and many cannot +forbear observing, how many lasting advantages might be purchased, how +many acres might be drained, how many ways repaired, how many debtors +might be released, how many widows and orphans, whom the war has ruined, +might be relieved, by the expense which is now about to evaporate in +smoke, and to be scattered in rockets: and there are some who think not +only reason, but humanity offended, by such a trifling profusion, when +so many sailors are starving, and so many churches sinking into ruins. + +It is no improper inquiry, by whom this expense is at last to be borne; +for certainly, nothing can be more unreasonable than to tax the nation +for a blaze, which will be extinguished before many of them know it has +been lighted; nor will it be consistent with the common practice, which +directs, that local advantages shall be procured at the expense of the +district that enjoys them. I never found, in any records, that any town +petitioned the parliament for a may-pole, a bull-ring, or a +skittle-ground; and, therefore, I should think, fireworks, as they are +less durable, and less useful, have, at least, as little claim to the +publick purse. + +The fireworks are, I suppose, prepared, and, therefore, it is too late +to obviate the project; but I hope the generosity of the great is not so +far extinguished, as that they can, for their diversion, drain a nation +already exhausted, and make us pay for pictures in the fire, which none +will have the poor pleasure of beholding but themselves. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1749. + +[2] The peace of Aix la Chapelle, 1748. + + + + +PROPOSALS FOR PRINTING, BY SUBSCRIPTION, ESSAYS IN VERSE AND PROSE. + +BY ANNA WILLIAMS.[1] +[1] From the Gentleman's Magazine, Sept. 1750. + +When a writer of my sex solicits the regard of the publick, some apology +seems always to be expected; and it is, unhappily, too much in my power +to satisfy this demand; since, how little soever I may be qualified, +either by nature or study, for furnishing the world with literary +entertainments, I have such motives for venturing my little performances +into the light, as are sufficient to counterbalance the censure of +arrogance, and to turn off my attention from the threats of criticism. +The world will, perhaps, be something softened, when it shall be known, +that my intention was to have lived by means more suited to my ability, +from which being now cut off by a total privation of sight, I have been +persuaded to suffer such essays, as I had formerly written, to be +collected and fitted, if they can be fitted, by the kindness of my +friends, for the press. The candour of those that have already +encouraged me, will, I hope, pardon the delays incident to a work which +must be performed by other eyes and other hands; and censure may, +surely, be content to spare the compositions of a woman, written for +amusement, and published for necessity. + + + + +A PROJECT +FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF AUTHORS.[1] + +TO THE VISITER. + +SIR, + +I know not what apology to make for the little dissertation which I have +sent, and which I will not deny that I have sent with design that you +should print it. I know that admonition is very seldom grateful, and +that authors are eminently cholerick; yet, I hope, that you, and every +impartial reader, will be convinced, that I intend the benefit of the +publick, and the advancement of knowledge; and that every reader, into +whose hands this shall happen to fall, will rank himself among those who +are to be excepted from general censure. + +I am, Sir, your humble servant. + + Scire velim quare toties mihi, Naevole, tristis + Occurras, fronte obducta, ceu Marsya victus. JUV. + +There is no gift of nature, or effect of art, however beneficial to +mankind, which, either by casual deviations, or foolish perversions, is +not sometimes mischievous. Whatever may be the cause of happiness, may +be made, likewise, the cause of misery. The medicine, which, rightly +applied, has power to cure, has, when rashness or ignorance prescribes +it, the same power to destroy. + +I have computed, at some hours of leisure, the loss and gain of +literature, and set the pain which it produces against the pleasure. +Such calculations are, indeed, at a great distance from mathematical +exactness, as they arise from the induction of a few particulars, and +from observations made rather according to the temper of the computist, +than the nature of things. But such a narrow survey as can be taken, +will easily show that letters cause many blessings, and inflict many +calamities; that there is scarcely an individual who may not consider +them as immediately or mediately influencing his life, as they are chief +instruments of conveying knowledge, and transmitting sentiments; and +almost every man learns, by their means, all that is right or wrong in +his sentiments and conduct. + +If letters were considered only as means of pleasure, it might well be +doubted, in what degree of estimation they should be held; but when they +are referred to necessity, the controversy is at an end; it soon +appears, that though they may sometimes incommode us, yet human life +would scarcely rise, without them, above the common existence of animal +nature; we might, indeed, breathe and eat in universal ignorance, but +must want all that gives pleasure or security, all the embellishments +and delights, and most of the conveniencies, and comforts of our present +condition. + +Literature is a kind of intellectual light, which, like the light of the +sun, may sometimes enable us to see what we do not like; but who would +wish to escape unpleasing objects, by condemning himself to perpetual +darkness? + +Since, therefore, letters are thus indispensably necessary; since we +cannot persuade ourselves to lose their benefits, for the sake of +escaping their mischiefs, it is worth our serious inquiry, how their +benefits may be increased, and their mischiefs lessened; by what means +the harvest of our studies may afford us more corn and less chaff; and +how the roses of the gardens of science may gratify us more with their +fragrance, and prick us less with their thorns. + +I shall not, at present, mention the more formidable evils which the +misapplication of literature produces, nor speak of churches infected +with heresy, states inflamed with sedition, or schools infatuated with +hypothetical fictions. These are evils which mankind have always +lamented, and which, till mankind grow wise and modest, they must, I am +afraid, continue to lament, without hope of remedy. I shall now touch +only on some lighter and less extensive evils, yet such, as are +sufficiently heavy to those that feel them, and are, of late, so widely +diffused, as to deserve, though, perhaps, not the notice of the +legislature, yet the consideration of those whose benevolence inclines +them to a voluntary care of publick happiness. + +It was long ago observed by Virgil, and, I suppose, by many before him, +that "bees do not make honey for their own use;" the sweets which they +collect in their laborious excursions, and store up in their hives with +so much skill, are seized by those who have contributed neither toil nor +art to the collection; and the poor animal is either destroyed by the +invader, or left to shift without a supply. The condition is nearly the +same of the gatherer of honey, and the gatherer of knowledge. The bee +and the author work alike for others, and often lose the profit of their +labour. The case, therefore, of authors, however hitherto neglected, may +claim regard. Every body of men is important, according to the joint +proportion of their usefulness and their number. Individuals, however +they may excel, cannot hope to be considered, singly, as of great weight +in the political balance; and multitudes, though they may, merely by +their bulk, demand some notice, are yet not of much value, unless they +contribute to ease the burden of society, by cooperating to its +prosperity. + +Of the men, whose condition we are now examining, the usefulness never +was disputed; they are known to be the great disseminators of knowledge, +and guardians of the commonwealth; and, of late, their number has been +so much increased, that they are become a very conspicuous part of the +nation. It is not now, as in former times, when men studied long, and +passed through the severities of discipline, and the probation of +publick trials, before they presumed to think themselves qualified for +instructers of their countrymen; there is found a nearer way to fame and +erudition, and the inclosures of literature are thrown open to every man +whom idleness disposes to loiter, or whom pride inclines to set himself +to view. The sailor publishes his journal, the farmer writes the process +of his annual labour; he that succeeds in his trade, thinks his wealth a +proof of his understanding, and boldly tutors the publick; he that +fails, considers his miscarriage as the consequence of a capacity too +great for the business of a shop, and amuses himself in the Fleet with +writing or translating. The last century imagined, that a man, composing +in his chariot, was a new object of curiosity; but how much would the +wonder have been increased by a footman studying behind it[2]! There is +now no class of men without its authors, from the peer to the thrasher; +nor can the sons of literature be confined any longer to Grub street or +Moorfields; they are spread over all the town, and all the country, and +fill every stage of habitation, from the cellar to the garret. + +It is well known, that the price of commodities must always fall, as the +quantity is increased, and that no trade can allow its professors to be +multiplied beyond a certain number. The great misery of writers proceeds +from their multitude. We easily perceive, that in a nation of clothiers, +no man could have any cloth to make but for his own back; that in a +community of bakers every man must use his own bread; and what can be +the case of a nation of authors, but that every man must be content to +read his book to himself? For, surely, it is vain to hope, that of men +labouring at the same occupation, any will prefer the work of his +neighbour to his own; yet this expectation, wild as it is, seems to be +indulged by many of the writing race, and, therefore, it can be no +wonder, that like all other men, who suffer their minds to form +inconsiderate hopes, they are harassed and dejected with frequent +disappointments. + +If I were to form an adage of misery, or fix the lowest point to which +humanity could fall, I should be tempted to name the life of an author. +Many universal comparisons there are by which misery is expressed. We +talk of a man teased like a bear at the stake, tormented like a toad +under a harrow, or hunted like a dog with a stick at his tail; all these +are, indeed, states of uneasiness, but what are they to the life of an +author; of an author worried by criticks, tormented by his bookseller, +and hunted by his creditors! Yet such must be the case of many among the +retailers of knowledge, while they continue thus to swarm over the land; +and, whether it be by propagation or contagion, produce new writers to +heighten the general distress, to increase confusion, and hasten famine. + +Having long studied the varieties of life, I can guess by every man's +walk, or air, to what state of the community he belongs. Every man has +noted the legs of a tailor, and the gait of a seaman; and a little +extension of his physiognomical acquisitions will teach him to +distinguish the countenance of an author. It is my practice, when I am +in want of amusement, to place myself for an hour at Temple-bar, or any +other narrow pass much frequented, and examine, one by one, the looks of +the passengers; and I have commonly found, that, between the hours of +eleven and four, every sixth man is an author. They are seldom to be +seen very early in the morning, or late in the evening, but about dinner +time they are all in motion, and have one uniform eagerness in their +faces, which gives little opportunity of discerning their hopes or +fears, their pleasures or their pains. + +But, in the afternoon, when they have all dined, or composed themselves +to pass the day without a dinner, their passions have full play, and I +can perceive one man wondering at the stupidity of the publick, by which +his new book has been totally neglected; another cursing the French who +fright away literary curiosity by their threats of an invasion; another +swearing at his bookseller, who will advance no money without copy; +another perusing, as he walks, his publisher's bill; another murmuring +at an unanswerable criticism; another determining to write no more to a +generation of barbarians; and another resolving to try, once again, +whether he cannot awaken the drowsy world to a sense of his merit. + +It sometimes happens, that there may be remarked among them a smile of +complacence, or a strut of elevation; but, if these favourites of +fortune are carefully watched for a few days, they seldom fail to show +the transitoriness of human felicity; the crest falls, the gaiety is +ended, and there appear evident tokens of a successful rival, or a +fickle patron. + +But of all authors, those are the most wretched, who exhibit their +productions on the theatre, and who are to propitiate first the manager, +and then the publick. Many an humble visitant have I followed to the +doors of these lords of the drama, seen him touch the knocker with a +shaking hand, and, after long deliberation, adventure to solicit +entrance by a single knock; but I never staid to see them come out from +their audience, because my heart is tender, and being subject to frights +in bed, I would not willingly dream of an author. + +That the number of authors is disproportionate to the maintenance, which +the publick seems willing to assign them; that there is neither praise +nor meat for all who write, is apparent from this; that, like wolves in +long winters, they are forced to prey on one another. The reviewers and +critical reviewers, the remarkers and examiners, can satisfy their +hunger only by devouring their brethren. I am far from imagining that +they are naturally more ravenous or blood-thirsty than those on whom +they fall with so much violence and fury; but they are hungry, and +hunger must be satisfied; and these savages, when their bellies are +full, will fawn on those whom they now bite. + +The result of all these considerations amounts only to this, that the +number of writers must at last be lessened, but by what method this +great, design can be accomplished, is not easily discovered. It was +lately proposed, that every man who kept a dog should pay a certain tax, +which, as the contriver of ways and means very judiciously observed, +would either destroy the dogs, or bring in money. Perhaps, it might be +proper to lay some such tax upon authors, only the payment must be +lessened in proportion as the animal, upon which it is raised, is less +necessary; for many a man that would pay for his dog, will dismiss his +dedicator. Perhaps, if every one who employed or harboured an author, +was assessed a groat a year, it would sufficiently lessen the nuisance +without destroying the species. + +But no great alteration is to be attempted rashly. We must consider how +the authors, which this tax shall exclude from their trade, are to be +employed. The nets used in the herring-fishery can furnish work but for +few, and not many can be employed as labourers at the foundation of the +new bridge. There must, therefore, be some other scheme formed for their +accommodation, which the present state of affairs may easily supply. It +is well known, that great efforts have been lately made to man the +fleet, and augment the army, and loud complaints are made of useful +hands forced away from their families into the service of the crown. +This offensive exertion of power may be easily avoided, by opening a few +houses for the entertainment of discarded authors, who would enter into +the service with great alacrity, as most of them are zealous friends of +every present government; many of them are men of able bodies, and +strong limbs, qualified, at least, as well for the musket as the pen; +they are, perhaps, at present a little emaciated and enfeebled, but +would soon recover their strength and flesh with good quarters and +present pay. + +There are some reasons for which they may seem particularly qualified +for a military life. They are used to suffer want of every kind; they +are accustomed to obey the word of command from their patrons and their +booksellers; they have always passed a life of hazard and adventure, +uncertain what may be their state on the next day; and, what is of yet +more importance, they have long made their minds familiar to danger, by +descriptions of bloody battles, daring undertakings, and wonderful +escapes. They have their memories stored with all the stratagems of war, +and have, over and over, practised, in their closets, the expedients of +distress, the exultation of triumph, and the resignation of heroes +sentenced to destruction. + +Some, indeed, there are, who, by often changing sides in controversy, +may give just suspicion of their fidelity, and whom I should think +likely to desert for the pleasure of desertion, or for a farthing a +month advanced in their pay. Of these men I know not what use can be +made, for they can never be trusted, but with shackles on their legs. +There are others whom long depression, under supercilious patrons, has +so humbled and crushed, that they will never have steadiness to keep +their ranks. But for these men there may be found fifes and drums, and +they will be well enough pleased to inflame others to battle, if they +are not obliged to fight themselves. + +It is more difficult to know what can be done with the ladies of the +pen, of whom this age has produced greater numbers than any former time. +It is, indeed, common for women to follow the camp, but no prudent +general will allow them in such numbers as the breed of authoresses +would furnish. Authoresses are seldom famous for clean linen, therefore, +they cannot make laundresses; they are rarely skilful at their needle, +and cannot mend a soldier's shirt; they will make bad sutlers, being not +much accustomed to eat. I must, therefore, propose, that they shall form +a regiment of themselves, and garrison the town which is supposed to be +in most danger of a French invasion. They will, probably, have no +enemies to encounter; but, if they are once shut up together, they will +soon disencumber the publick by tearing out the eyes of one another. + +The great art of life is to play for much, and to stake little; which +rule I have kept in view through this whole project; for, if our authors +and authoresses defeat our enemies, we shall obtain all the usual +advantages of victory; and, if they should be destroyed in war, we shall +lose only those who had wearied the publick, and whom, whatever be their +fate, nobody will miss. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] From the Universal Visiter, April, 1756. + +[2] Dodsley's Muse in Livery was composed under these circumstances. + Boswell's Life, ii. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE LITERARY MAGAZINE, 1756. + +TO THE PUBLICK. + +There are some practices which custom and prejudice have so unhappily +influenced, that to observe or neglect them is equally censurable. The +promises made by the undertakers of any new design, every man thinks +himself at liberty to deride, and yet every man expects, and expects +with reason, that he who solicits the publick attention, should give +some account of his pretensions. + +We are about to exhibit to our countrymen a new monthly collection, to +which the well-deserved popularity of the first undertaking of this +kind, has now made it almost necessary to prefix the name of Magazine. +There are, already, many such periodical compilations, of which we do +not envy the reception, nor shall dispute the excellence. If the nature +of things would allow us to indulge our wishes, we should desire to +advance our own interest, without lessening that of any other; and to +excite the curiosity of the vacant, rather than withdraw that which +other writers have already engaged. + +Our design is to give the history, political and literary, of every +month; and our pamphlets must consist, like other collections, of many +articles unconnected and independent on each other. + +The chief political object of an Englishman's attention must be the +great council of the nation, and we shall, therefore, register all +publick proceedings with particular care. We shall not attempt to give +any regular series of debates, or to amuse our readers with senatorial +rhetorick. The speeches inserted in other papers have been long-known to +be fictitious, and produced sometimes by men who never heard the debate, +nor had any authentick information. We have no design to impose thus +grossly on our readers, and shall, therefore, give the naked arguments +used in the discussion of every question, and add, when they can be +obtained, the names of the speakers. + +As the proceedings in parliament are unintelligible, without a knowledge +of the facts to which they relate, and of the state of the nations to +which they extend their influence, we shall exhibit monthly a view, +though contracted, yet distinct, of foreign affairs, and lay open the +designs and interests of those nations which are considered by the +English either as friends or enemies. + +Of transactions in our own country, curiosity will demand a more +particular account, and we shall record every remarkable event, +extraordinary casualty, uncommon performance, or striking novelty, and +shall apply our care to the discovery of truth, with very little +reliance on the daily historians. + +The lists of births, marriages, deaths and burials, will be so drawn up +that, we hope, very few omissions or mistakes will be found, though some +must be expected to happen in so great a variety, where there is neither +leisure nor opportunity for minute information. + +It is intended that lists shall be given of all the officers and persons +in publick employment; and that all the alterations shall be noted, as +they happen, by which our list will be a kind of court-register, always +complete. + +The literary history necessarily contains an account of the labours of +the learned, in which, whether we shall show much judgment or sagacity, +must be left to our readers to determine; we can promise only justness +and candour. It is not to be expected, that we can insert extensive +extracts or critical examinations of all the writings, which this age of +writers may offer to our notice. A few only will deserve the distinction +of criticism, and a few only will obtain it. We shall try to select the +best and most important pieces, and are not without hope, that we may +sometimes influence the publick voice, and hasten the popularity of a +valuable work. + +Our regard will not be confined to books; it will extend to all the +productions of science. Any new calculation, a commodious instrument, +the discovery of any property in nature, or any new method of bringing +known properties into use or view, shall be diligently treasured up, +wherever found. + +In a paper designed for general perusal, it will be necessary to dwell +most upon things of general entertainment. The elegant trifles of +literature, the wild strains of fancy, the pleasing amusements of +harmless wit, shall, therefore, be considered as necessary to our +collection. Nor shall we omit researches into antiquity, explanation of +coins or inscriptions, disquisitions on controverted history, +conjectures on doubtful geography, or any other of those petty works +upon which learned ingenuity is sometimes employed. + +To these accounts of temporary transactions and fugitive performances, +we shall add some dissertations on things more permanent and stable; +some inquiries into the history of nature, which has hitherto been +treated, as if mankind were afraid of exhausting it. There are, in our +own country, many things and places worthy of note that are yet little +known, and every day gives opportunities of new observations which are +made and forgotten. We hope to find means of extending and perpetuating +physiological discoveries; and with regard to this article, and all +others, entreat the assistance of curious and candid correspondents. + +We shall labour to attain as much exactness as can be expected in such +variety, and shall give as much variety as can consist with reasonable +exactness; for this purpose, a selection has been made of men qualified +for the different parts of the work, and each has the employment +assigned him, which he is supposed most able to discharge. + + + + +A DISSERTATION UPON THE GREEK COMEDY, +TRANSLATED FROM BRUMOY[1]. + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +I conclude this work, according to my promise, with an account of the +comick theatre, and entreat the reader, whether a favourer or an enemy +of the ancient drama, not to pass his censure upon the authors or upon +me, without a regular perusal of this whole work. For, though it seems +to be composed of pieces of which each may precede or follow without +dependence upon the other, yet all the parts, taken together, form a +system which would be destroyed by their disjunction. Which way shall we +come at the knowledge of the ancients' shows, but by comparing together +all that is left of them? The value and necessity of this comparison +determined me to publish all, or to publish nothing. Besides, the +reflections on each piece, and on the general taste of antiquity, which, +in my opinion, are not without importance, have a kind of obscure +gradation, which I have carefully endeavoured to preserve, and of which +the thread would be lost by him who should slightly glance sometimes +upon one piece, and sometimes upon another. It is a structure which I +have endeavoured to make as near to regularity as I could, and which +must be seen in its full extent, and in proper succession. The reader +who skips here and there over the book, might make a hundred objections +which are either anticipated, or answered in those pieces which he might +have overlooked. I have laid such stress upon the connexion of the parts +of this work, that I have declined to exhaust the subject, and have +suppressed many of my notions, that I might leave the judicious reader +to please himself by forming such conclusions as I supposed him like to +discover, as well as myself. I am not here attempting to prejudice the +reader by an apology either for the ancients, or my own manner. I have +not claimed a right of obliging others to determine, by my opinion, the +degrees of esteem which I think due to the authors of the Athenian +stage; nor do I think that their reputation, in the present time, ought +to depend upon my mode of thinking or expressing my thoughts, which I +leave entirely to the judgment of the publick. + + +A DISSERTATION &c. + +1. REASONS WHY ARISTOPHANES MAY BE REVIEWED, WITH-OUT TRANSLATING HIM +ENTIRELY. + +I was in doubt a long time, whether I should meddle at all with the +Greek comedy, both because the pieces which remain are very few, the +licentiousness of Aristophanes, their author, is exorbitant; and it is +very difficult to draw, from the performances of a single poet, a just +idea of Greek comedy. Besides, it seemed that tragedy was sufficient to +employ all my attention, that I might give a complete representation of +that kind of writing, which was most esteemed by the Athenians and the +wiser Greeks[2], particularly by Socrates, who set no value upon comedy +or comick actors. But the very name of that drama, which in polite ages, +and above all others in our own, has been so much advanced, that it has +become equal to tragedy, if not preferable, inclines me to think that I +may be partly reproached with an imperfect work, if, after having gone, +as deep as I could, into the nature of Greek tragedy, I did not at least +sketch a draught of the comedy. + +I then considered, that it was not wholly impossible to surmount, at +least in part, the difficulties which had stopped me, and to go somewhat +farther than the learned writers[3], who have published, in French, some +pieces of Aristophanes; not that I pretend to make large translations. +The same reasons, which have hindered with respect to the more noble +parts of the Greek drama, operate with double force upon my present +subject. Though ridicule, which is the business of comedy, be not less +uniform in all times, than the passions which are moved by tragick +compositions; yet, if diversity of manners may sometimes disguise the +passions themselves, how much greater change will be made in +jocularities! The truth is, that they are so much changed by the course +of time, that pleasantry and ridicule become dull and flat much more +easily than the pathetick becomes ridiculous. + +That which is commonly known by the term jocular and comick, is nothing +but a turn of expression, an airy phantom, that must be caught at a +particular point. As we lose this point, we lose the jocularity, and +find nothing but dulness in its place. A lucky sally, which has filled a +company with laughter, will have no effect in print, because it is shown +single, and separate from the circumstance which gave it force. Many +satirical jests, found in ancient books, have had the same fate; their +spirit has evaporated by time, and have left nothing to us but +insipidity. None but the most biting passages have preserved their +points unblunted. + +But, besides this objection, which extends universally to all +translations of Aristophanes, and many allusions, of which time has +deprived us, there are loose expressions thrown out to the populace, to +raise laughter from corrupt passions, which are unworthy of the +curiosity of decent readers, and which ought to rest eternally in proper +obscurity. Not every thing, in this infancy of comedy, was excellent, at +least, it would not appear excellent at this distance of time, in +comparison of compositions of the same kind which lie before our eyes; +and this is reason enough to save me the trouble of translating, and the +reader that of perusing. As for that small number of writers, who +delight in those delicacies, they give themselves very little trouble +about translations, except it be to find fault with them; and the +majority of people of wit like comedies that may give them pleasure, +without much trouble of attention, and are not much disposed to find +beauties in that which requires long deductions to find it beautiful. If +Helen had not appeared beautiful to the Greeks and Trojans, but by force +of argument, we had never been told of the Trojan war. + +On the other side, Aristophanes is an author more considerable than one +would imagine. The history of Greece could not pass over him, when it +comes to touch upon the people of Athens; this, alone, might procure him +respect, even when he was not considered as a comick poet. But, when his +writings are taken into view, we find him the only author from whom may +be drawn a just idea of the comedy of his age; and, farther, we find, in +his pieces, that he often makes attacks upon the tragick writers, +particularly upon the three chief, whose valuable remains we have had +under examination; and, what is yet worse, fell sometimes upon the +state, and upon the gods themselves. + + 2. THE CHIEF HEADS OF THIS DISCOURSE. + +These considerations have determined me to follow, in my representation +of this writer, the same method which I have taken in several tragick +pieces, which is, that of giving an exact analysis, as far as the matter +would allow, from which I deduce four important systems. First, upon the +nature of the comedy of that age, without omitting that of Menander[4]. +Secondly, upon the vices and government of the Athenians. Thirdly, upon +the notion we ought to entertain of Aristophanes, with respect to +Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Fourthly, upon the jest which he +makes upon the gods. These things will not be treated in order, as a +regular discourse seems to require, but will arise sometimes separately, +sometimes together, from the view of each particular comedy, and from +the reflections which this free manner of writing will allow. I shall +conclude with a short view of the whole, and so finish my design. + +4. HISTORY OF COMEDY. + +I shall not repeat here what Madame Dacier, and so many others before +her, have collected of all that can be known relating to the history of +comedy. Its beginnings are as obscure as those of tragedy, and there is +an appearance that we take these two words in a more extensive meaning: +they had both the same original; that is, they began among the festivals +of the vintage, and were not distinguished from one another, but by a +burlesque or serious chorus, which made all the soul, and all the body. +But, if we give these words a stricter sense, according to the notion +which has since been formed, comedy was produced after tragedy, and was, +in many respects, a sequel and imitation of the works of Eschylus. It +is, in reality, nothing more than an action set before the sight, by the +same artifice of representation. Nothing is different but the object, +which is merely ridicule. This original of true comedy will be easily +admitted, if we take the word of Horace, who must have known, better +than us, the true dates of dramatick works. This poet supports the +system, which I have endeavoured to establish in the second +discourse[5], so strongly, as to amount to demonstrative proof. + +Horace[6] expresses himself thus: "Thespis is said to have been the +first inventor of a species of tragedy, in which he carried about, in +carts, players smeared with the dregs of wine, of whom some sung and +others declaimed." This was the first attempt, both of tragedy and +comedy; for Thespis made use only of one speaker, without the least +appearance of dialogue. "Eschylus, afterwards, exhibited them with more +dignity. He placed them on a stage, somewhat above the ground, covered +their faces with masks, put buskins on their feet, dressed them in +trailing robes, and made them speak in a more lofty style." Horace omits +invention of dialogue, which we learn from Aristotle[7]. But, however, +it may be well enough inferred from the following words of Horace; this +completion is mentioned while he speaks of Eschylus, and, therefore, to +Eschylus it must be ascribed: "Then first appeared the old comedy, with +great success in its beginning." Thus we see that the Greek comedy +arose after tragedy, and, by consequence, tragedy was its parent. It was +formed in imitation of Eschylus, the inventor of the tragick drama; or, +to go yet higher into antiquity, had its original from Homer, who was +the guide of Eschylus. For, if we credit Aristotle[8], comedy had its +birth from the Margites, a satirical poem of Homer, and tragedy from the +Iliad and Odyssey. Thus the design and artifice of comedy were drawn +from Homer and Eschylus. This will appear less surprising, since the +ideas of the human mind are always gradual, and arts are seldom invented +but by imitation. + +The first idea contains the seed of the second; this second, expanding +itself, gives birth to a third; and so on. Such is the progress of the +mind of man; it proceeds in its productions, step by step, in the same +manner as nature multiplies her works by imitating, or repeating her own +act, when she seems most to run into variety. In this manner it was that +comedy had its birth, its increase, its improvement, its perfection, and +its diversity. + +But the question is, who was the happy author of that imitation, and +that show, whether only one, like Eschylus of tragedy, or whether they +were several? for neither Horace, nor any before him, explained this[9]. +This poet only quotes three writers who had reputation in the old +comedy, Eupolis[10], Cratinus[11], and Aristophanes; of whom he says, +"That they, and others, who wrote in the same way, reprehended the +faults of particular persons with excessive liberty." These are, +probably, the poets of the greatest reputation, though they were not the +first, and we know the names of many others[12]. Among these three we +may be sure that Aristophanes had the greatest character, since not only +the king of Persia[13] expressed a high esteem of him to the Grecian +ambassadours, as of a man extremely useful to his country, and Plato[14] +rated him so high, as to say that the Graces resided in his bosom; but, +likewise, because he is the only writer of whom any comedies have made +their way down to us, through the confusion of times. There are not, +indeed, any proofs that he was the inventor of comedy, properly so +called, especially, since he had not only predecessors who wrote in the +same kind, but it is, at least, a sign that he had contributed more than +any other to bring comedy to the perfection in which he left it. We +shall, therefore, not inquire farther, whether regular comedy was the +work of a single mind, which seems yet to be unsettled, or of several +contemporaries, such as these which Horace quotes. We must distinguish +three forms which comedy wore, in consequence of the genius of the +writers, or of the laws of the magistrates, and the change of the +government of many into that of few. + + 5. THE OLD, MIDDLE, AND NEW COMEDY. + +That comedy[15], which Horace calls the ancient, and which, according to +his account, was after Eschylus, retained something of its original +state, and of the licentiousness which it practised, while it was yet +without regularity, and uttered loose jokes and abuse upon the +passers-by from the cart of Thespis. Though it was now properly modelled, +as might have been worthy of a great theatre, and a numerous audience, +and deserved the name of a regular comedy, it was not yet much nearer to +decency. + +It was a representation of real actions, and exhibited the dress, the +motions, and the air, as far as could be done in a mask, of any one who +was thought proper to be sacrificed to publick scorn. In a city so free, +or, to say better, so licentious as Athens was, at that time, nobody was +spared, not even the chief magistrate, nor the very judges, by whose +voice comedies were allowed or prohibited. The insolence of those +performances reached to open impiety, and sport was made equally with +men and gods[16]. These are the features by which the greatest part of +the compositions of Aristophanes will be known. In which, it may be +particularly observed, that not the least appearance of praise will be +found, and, therefore, certainly no trace of flattery or servility. + +This licentiousness of the poets, to which, in some sort, Socrates fell +a sacrifice, at last was restrained by a law. For the government, which +was before shared by all the inhabitants, was now confined to a settled +number of citizens. It was ordered that no man's name should be +mentioned on the stage; but poetical malignity was not long in finding +the secret of defeating the purpose of the law, and of making themselves +ample compensation for the restraint laid upon authors, by the necessity +of inventing false names. They set themselves to work upon known and +real characters, so that they had now the advantage of giving a more +exquisite gratification to the vanity of poets, and the malice of +spectators. One had the refined pleasure of setting others to guess, and +the other that of guessing right by naming the masks. When pictures are +so like, that the name is not wanted, nobody inscribes it. The +consequence of the law, therefore, was nothing more than to make that +done with delicacy, which was done grossly before; and the art, which +was expected would be confined within the limits of duty, was only +partly transgressed with more ingenuity. Of this, Aristophanes, who was +comprehended in this law, gives us good examples in some of his poems. +Such was that which was afterwards called the middle comedy. + +The new comedy, or that which followed, was again an excellent +refinement, prescribed by the magistrates, who, as they had before +forbid the use of real names, forbade afterwards, real subjects, and the +train of choruses[17] too much given to abuse; so that the poets saw +themselves reduced to the necessity of bringing imaginary names and +subjects upon the stage, which, at once, purified and enriched the +theatre; for comedy, from that time, was no longer a fury armed with +torches, but a pleasing and innocent mirror of human life. + + Chacun peint avec art dans ce nouveau miroir + S'y vit avec plaisir, ou crut ne s'y pas voir! + L'avare des premiers rit du tableau fidèle + D'un avare souvent tracé sur son modèle; + Et mille fois un fat finement exprimé + Méconnut le portrait sur lui-même formé.[18] + +The comedy of Menander and Terence is, in propriety of speech, the fine +comedy. I do not repeat all this after so many writers, but just to +recall it to memory, and to add to what they have said, something which +they have omitted, a singular effect of publick edicts appearing in the +successive progress of the art. A naked history of poets and of poetry, +such as has been often given, is a mere body without soul, unless it be +enlivened with an account of the birth, progress, and perfection of the +art, and of the causes by which they were produced. + + 6. THE LATIN COMEDY. + +To omit nothing essential which concerns this part, we shall say a word +of the Latin comedy. When the arts passed from Greece to Rome, comedy +took its turn among the rest; but the Romans applied themselves only to +the new species, without chorus or personal abuse; though, perhaps, they +might have played some translations of the old or the middle comedy; for +Pliny gives an account of one which was represented in his own time. But +the Roman comedy, which was modelled upon the last species of the Greek, +hath, nevertheless, its different ages, according as its authors were +rough or polished. The pieces of Livius Andronicus[19], more ancient, +and less refined than those of the writers who learned the art from him, +may be said to compose the first age, or the old Roman comedy and +tragedy. To him you must join Nevius, his contemporary, and Ennius, who +lived some years after him. The second age comprises Pacuvius, Cecilius, +Accius, and Plautus, unless it shall be thought better to reckon Plautus +with Terence, to make the third and highest age of the Latin comedy, +which may properly be called the new comedy, especially with regard to +Terence, who was the friend of Lelius, and the faithful copier of +Menander. + +But the Romans, without troubling themselves with this order of +succession, distinguished their comedies by the dresses[20] of the +players. The robe, called praetexta, with large borders of purple, being +the formal dress of magistrates in their dignity, and in the exercise of +their office, the actors, who had this dress, gave its name to the +comedy. This is the same with that called trabeata[21], from trabea, the +dress of the consuls in peace, and the generals in triumph. The second +species introduced the senators, not in great offices, but as private +men; this was called togata, from toga. The last species was named +tabernaria, from the tunick, or the common dress of the people, or +rather from the mean houses which were painted on the scene. There is no +need of mentioning the farces, which took their name and original from +Atella, an ancient town of Campania, in Italy, because they differed +from the low comedy only by greater licentiousness; nor of those which +were called palliates, from the Greek, a cloak, in which the Greek +characters were dressed upon the Roman stage, because that habit only +distinguished the nation, not the dignity or character, like those which +have been mentioned before. To say truth, these are but trifling +distinctions; for, as we shall show in the following pages, comedy may +be more usefully and judiciously distinguished by the general nature of +its subjects. As to the Romans, whether they had, or had not, reason for +these names, they have left us so little upon the subject, which is come +down to us, that we need not trouble ourselves with a distinction which +affords us no solid satisfaction. Plautus and Terence, the only authors +of whom we are in possession, give us a fuller notion of the real nature +of their comedy, with respect, at least, to their own times, than can be +received from names and terms, from which we have no real +exemplification. + + 7. THE GREEK COMEDY IS REDUCED ONLY TO ARISTOPHANES. + +Not to go too far out of our way, let us return to Aristophanes, the +only poet, in whom we can now find the Greek comedy. He is the single +writer whom the violence of time has, in some degree, spared, after +having buried in darkness, and almost in forgetfulness, so many great +men, of whom we have nothing but the names and a few fragments, and such +slight memorials, as are scarcely sufficient to defend them against the +enemies of the honour of antiquity; yet these memorials are like the +last glimmer of the setting sun, which scarce affords us a weak and +fading light; yet from this glimmer we must endeavour to collect rays of +sufficient strength to form a picture of the Greek comedy, approaching +as near as possible to the truth. + +Of the personal character of Aristophanes little is known; what account +we can give of it must, therefore, be had from his comedies. It can +scarcely be said, with certainty, of what country he was: the invectives +of his enemies so often called in question his qualification as a +citizen, that they have made it doubtful. Some said, he was of Rhodes, +others of Egina, a little island in the neighbourhood, and all agreed +that he was a stranger. As to himself, he said, that he was the son of +Philip, and born in the Cydathenian quarter; but he confessed, that some +of his fortune was in Egina, which was, probably, the original seat of +his family. He was, however, formally declared a citizen of Athens, upon +evidence, whether good or bad, upon a decisive judgment, and this for +having made his judges merry by an application of a saying of +Telemachus[22], of which this is the sense: "I am, as my mother tells +me, the son of Philip: for my own part, I know little of the matter; for +what child knows his own father?" This piece of merriment did him as +much good, as Archias received from the oration of Cicero[23], who said +that that poet was a Roman citizen. An honour which, if he had not +inherited by birth, he deserved for his genius. + +Aristophanes[24] flourished in the age of the great men of Greece, +particularly of Socrates and Euripides, both of whom he outlived. He +made a great figure during the whole Peloponnesian war, not merely as a +comick poet, by whom the people were diverted, but as the censor of the +government, as a man kept in pay by the state to reform it, and almost +to act the part of the arbitrator of the publick[25]. A particular +account of his comedies will best let us into his personal character as +a poet, and into the nature of his genius, which is what we are most +interested to know. It will, however, not be amiss to prepossess our +readers a little by the judgments that have been passed upon him by the +criticks of our own time, without forgetting one of the ancients that +deserves great respect. + + 8. ARISTOPHANES CENSURED AND PRAISED. + +"Aristophanes," says father Rapin, "is not exact in the contrivance of +his fables; his fictions are not probable; he brings real characters +upon the stage too coarsely, and too openly. Socrates, whom he ridicules +so much in his plays, had a more delicate turn of burlesque than +himself, and had his merriment without his impudence. It is true, that +Aristophanes wrote amidst the confusion and licentiousness of the old +comedy, and he was well acquainted with the humour of the Athenians, to +whom uncommon merit always gave disgust, and, therefore, he made the +eminent men of his time the subject of his merriment. But the too great +desire which he had to delight the people, by exposing worthy characters +upon the stage, made him, at the same time, an unworthy man; and the +turn of his genius, to ridicule was disfigured and corrupted by the +indelicacy and outrageousness of his manners. After all, his pleasantry +consists chiefly in new-coined puffy language. The dish of twenty-six +syllables, which he gives, in his last scene of his Female Orators, +would please few tastes in our days. His language is sometimes obscure, +perplexed and vulgar; and his frequent play with words, his oppositions +of contradictory terms, his mixture of tragick and comick, of serious +and burlesque, are all flat; and his jocularity, if you examine it to +the bottom, is all false. Menander is diverting in a more elegant +manner; his style is pure, clear, elevated, and natural; he persuades +like an orator, and instructs like a philosopher; and, if we may venture +to judge upon the fragments which remain, it appears that his pictures +of civil life are pleasing, that he makes every one speak according to +his character, that every man may apply his pictures of life to himself, +because he always follows nature, and feels for the personages which he +brings upon the stage. To conclude, Plutarch, in his comparison of these +authors, says, that the muse of Aristophanes is an abandoned prostitute, +and that of Menander a modest woman." + +It is evident that this whole character is taken from Plutarch. Let us +now go on with this remark of father Rapin, since we have already spoken +of the Latin comedy, of which he gives us a description. + +"With respect, to the two Latin comick poets, Plautus is ingenious in +his designs, happy in his conceptions, and fruitful of invention. He +has, however, according to Horace, some low jocularities; and those +smart sayings, which made the vulgar laugh, made him be pitied by men of +higher taste. It is true, that some of his jests are extremely good, but +others, likewise, are very bad. To this every man is exposed, who is too +much determined to make sallies of merriment; they endeavour to raise +that laughter by hyperboles, which would not arise by a just +representation of things. Plautus is not quite so regular as Terence in +the scheme of his designs, or in the distribution of his acts, but he is +more simple in his plot; for the fables of Terence are commonly complex, +as may be seen in his Andria, which contains two amours. It was imputed, +as a fault to Terence, that, to bring more action upon the stage, he +made one Latin comedy out of two Greek: but then Terence unravels his +plot more naturally than Plautus, which Plautus did more naturally than +Aristophanes; and though Cæsar calls Terence but one half of Menander, +because, though he had softness and delicacy, there was in him some want +of sprightliness and strength; yet he has written in a manner so natural +and so judicious, that, though he was then only a copy, he is now an +original. No author has ever had a more exact sense of pure nature. Of +Cecilius, since we have only a few fragments, I shall say nothing. All +that we know of him is told us by Varrus, that he was happy in the +choice of subjects." + +Rapin omits many others for the same reason, that we have not enough of +their works to qualify us for judges. While we are upon this subject, it +will, perhaps, not displease the reader to see what that critick's +opinion is of Lopes de Vega and Molière. It will appear, that with +respect to Lopes de Vega, he is rather too profuse of praise: that, in +speaking of Molière, he is too parsimonious. + +This piece will, however, be of use to our design, when we shall examine +to the bottom what it is that ought to make the character of comedy. + +"No man has ever had a greater genius for comedy than Lopes de Vega, the +Spaniard. He had a fertility of wit, joined with great beauty of +conception, and a wonderful readiness of composition; for he has written +more than three hundred comedies. His name, alone, gave reputation to +his pieces; for his reputation was so well established, that a work, +which came from his hands, was sure to claim the approbation of the +publick. He had a mind too extensive to be subjected to rules, or +restrained by limits. For that reason he gave himself up to his own +genius, on which he could always depend with confidence. When he wrote, +he consulted no other laws than the taste of his auditors, and regulated +his manner more by the success of his work than by the rules of reason. +Thus he discarded all scruples of unity, and all the superstitions of +probability." (This is certainly not said with a design to praise him, +and must be connected with that which immediately follows.) "But as, for +the most part, he endeavours at too much jocularity, and carries +ridicule to too much refinement; his conceptions are often rather happy +than just, and rather wild than natural; for, by subtilizing merriment +too far, it becomes too nice to be true, and his beauties lose their +power of striking by being too delicate and acute. + +"Among us, nobody has carried ridicule in comedy farther than Molière. +Our ancient comick writers brought no characters higher than servants to +make sport upon the theatre; but we are diverted upon the theatre of +Molière by marquises and people of quality. Others have exhibited, in +comedy, no species of life above that of a citizen; but Molière shows us +all Paris, and the court. He is the only man amongst us, who has laid +open those features of nature by which he is exactly marked, and may be +accurately known. The beauties of his pictures are so natural, that they +are felt by persons of the least discernment, and his power of +pleasantry received half its force from his power of copying. His +Misanthrope is, in my opinion, the most complete, and, likewise, the +most singular character that has ever appeared upon the stage: but the +disposition of his comedies is always defective some way or another. +This is all which we can observe, in general, upon comedy." + +Such are the thoughts of one of the most refined judges of works of +genius, from which, though they are not all oraculous, some advantages +may be drawn, as they always make some approaches to truth. + +Madame Dacier[26], having her mind full of the merit of Aristophanes, +expresses herself in this manner: "No man had ever more discernment than +him, in finding out the ridiculous, nor a more ingenious manner of +showing it to others. His remarks are natural and easy, and, what very +rarely can be found, with great copiousness, he has great delicacy. To +say all at once, the Attick wit, of which the ancients made such boast, +appears more in Aristophanes than in any other that I know of in +antiquity. But what is most of all to be admired in him is, that he is +always so much master of the subject before him, that, without doing any +violence to himself, he finds a way to introduce, naturally, things +which, at first, appeared most distant from his purpose; and even the +most quick and unexpected of his desultory sallies appear the necessary +consequence of the foregoing incidents. This is that art which sets the +dialogues of Plato above imitation, which we must consider as so many +dramatick pieces, which are equally entertaining by the action, and by +the dialogue. The style of Aristophanes is no less pleasing than his +fancy; for, besides its clearness, its vigour and its sweetness, there +is in it a certain harmony, so delightful to the ear, that there is no +pleasure equal to that of reading it. When he applies himself to vulgar +mediocrity of style, he descends without meanness; when he attempts the +sublime, he is elevated without obscurity; and no man has ever had the +art of blending all the different kinds of writing so equally together. +After having studied all that is left us of Grecian learning, if we have +not read Aristophanes, we cannot yet know all the charms and beauties of +that language." + + 9. PLUTARCH'S SENTIMENTS UPON ARISTOPHANES AND MENANDER. + +This is a pompous eulogium; but let us suspend our opinion, and hear +that of Plutarch, who, being an ancient, well deserves our attention, at +least, after we have heard the moderns before him. This is then the sum +of his judgment concerning Aristophanes and Menander. To Menander he +gives the preference, without allowing much competition. He objects to +Aristophanes, that he carries all his thoughts beyond nature; that he +writes rather to the crowd than to men of character; that he affects a +style obscure and licentious; tragical, pompous, and mean, sometimes +serious, and sometimes ludicrous, even to puerility; that he makes none +of his personages speak according to any distinct character, so that in +his scenes the son cannot be known from the father, the citizen from the +boor, the hero from the shopkeeper, or the divine from the serving-man. +Whereas, the diction of Menander, which is always uniform and pure, is +very justly adapted to different characters, rising, when it is +necessary, to vigorous and sprightly comedy, yet without transgressing +the proper limits, or losing sight of nature, in which Menander, says +Plutarch, has attained a perfection to which no other writer has +arrived. For, what man, besides himself, has ever found the art of +making a diction equally suitable to women and children, to old and +young, to divinities and heroes? Now Menander has found this happy +secret, in the equality and flexibility of his diction, which, though +always the same, is, nevertheless, different upon different occasions; +like a current of clear water, (to keep closely to the thoughts of +Plutarch,) which running through banks differently turned, complies with +all their turns backward and forward, without changing any thing of its +nature or its purity. Plutarch mentions it, as a part of the merit of +Menander, that he began very young, and was stopped only by old age, at +a time when he would have produced the greatest wonders, if death had +not prevented him. This, joined to a reflection, which he makes as he +returns to Aristophanes, shows that Aristophanes continued a long time +to display his powers: for his poetry, says Plutarch, is a strumpet that +affects sometimes the airs of a prude, but whose impudence cannot be +forgiven by the people, and whose affected modesty is despised by men of +decency. Menander, on the contrary, always shows himself a man agreeable +and witty, a companion desirable upon the stage, at table, and in gay +assemblies; an extract of all the treasures of Greece, who deserves +always to be read, and always to please. His irresistible power of +persuasion, and the reputation which he has had, of being the best +master of language of Greece, sufficiently shows the delightfulness of +his style. Upon this article of Menander, Plutarch does not know how to +make an end; he says, that he is the delight of philosophers, fatigued +with study; that they use his works as a meadow enamelled with flowers, +where a purer air gratifies the sense; that, notwithstanding the powers +of the other comick poets of Athens, Menander has always been considered +as possessing a salt peculiar to himself, drawn from the same waters +that gave birth to Venus. That, on the contrary, the salt of +Aristophanes is bitter, keen, coarse, and corrosive; that one cannot +tell whether his dexterity, which has been so much boasted, consists not +more in the characters than in the expression, for he is charged with +playing often upon words, with affecting antithetical allusions; that he +has spoiled the copies which he endeavoured to take after nature; that +artifice in his plays is wickedness, and simplicity brutishness; that +his jocularity ought to raise hisses rather than laughter; that his +amours have more impudence than gaiety; and that he has not so much +written for men of understanding, as for minds blackened with envy, and +corrupted with debauchery. + +10. THE JUSTIFICATION OF ARISTOPHANES. + +After such a character there seems no need of going further; and one +would think, that it would be better to bury, for ever, the memory of so +hateful a writer, that makes us so poor a recompense for the loss of +Menander, who cannot be recalled. But, without showing any mercy to the +indecent or malicious sallies of Aristophanes, any more than to Plautus, +his imitator, or, at least, the inheritor of his genius, may it not be +allowed us to do, with respect to him, what, if I mistake not, +Lucretius[27] did to Ennius, from whose muddy verses he gathered jewels, +"Enni de stercore gemmas?" + +Besides, we must not believe that Plutarch, who lived more than four +ages after Menander, and more than five after Aristophanes, has passed +so exact a judgment upon both, but that it may be fit to reexamine it. +Plato, the contemporary of Aristophanes, thought very differently, at +least, of his genius; for, in his piece called the Entertainment, he +gives that poet a distinguished place, and makes him speak, according to +his character, with Socrates himself, from which, by the way, it is +apparent that this dialogue of Plato was composed before the time that +Aristophanes wrote his Clouds, against Socrates. Plato is, likewise, +said to have sent a copy of Aristophanes to Dionysius the tyrant, with +advice to read it diligently, if he would attain a complete judgment of +the state of the Athenian republick[28]. + +Many other scholars have thought that they might depart somewhat from +the opinion of Plutarch. Frischlinus, for example, one of the +commentators upon Aristophanes, though he justly allows his taste to be +less pure than that of Menander, has yet undertaken his defence against +the outrageous censure of the ancient critick. In the first place, he +condemns, without mercy, his ribaldry and obscenity. But this part, so +worthy of contempt, and written only for the lower people, according to +the remark of Boivin, bad as it is, after all, is not the chief part +which is left of Aristophanes. I will not say, with Frischlinus, that +Plutarch seems in this to contradict himself, and, in reality, commends +the poet when he accuses him of having adapted his language to the +stage; by the stage, in this place, he meant the theatre of farces, on +which low mirth and buffoonery was exhibited. This plea of Frischlinus +is a mere cavil; and though the poet had obtained his end, which was to +divert a corrupted populace, he would not have been less a bad man, nor +less a despicable poet, notwithstanding the excuse of his defender. To +be able, in the highest degree, to divert fools and libertines, will not +make a poet: it is not, therefore, by this defence that we must justify +the character of Aristophanes. The depraved taste of the crowd, who once +drove away Cratinus and his company, because the scenes had not low +buffoonery enough for their taste, will not justify Aristophanes, since +Menander found a way of changing the taste by giving a sort of comedy, +not, indeed, so modest as Plutarch represents it, but less licentious +than before. Nor is Aristophanes better justified, by the reason which +he himself offers, when he says, that he exhibited debauchery upon the +stage, not to corrupt the morals, but to mend them. The sight of gross +faults is rather a poison than a remedy[29]. + +The apologist has forgot one reason, which appears to me to be essential +to a just account. As far as we can judge by appearance, Plutarch had in +his hands all the plays of Aristophanes, which were at least fifty in +number. + +In these he saw more licentiousness than has come to our hands, though, +in the eleven that are still remaining, there is much more than could be +wished. + +Plutarch censures him, in the second place, for playing upon words; and +against this charge Frischlinus defends him with less skill. It is +impossible to exemplify this in French. But, after all, this part is so +little, that it deserved not so severe a reprehension, especially since, +amongst those sayings, there are some so mischievously malignant, that +they became proverbial, at least by the sting of their malice, if not by +the delicacy of their wit. One example will be sufficient: speaking of +the tax-gatherers, or the excisemen of Athens, he crushes them at once, +by observing, non quod essent [Greek: tamiai], sed [Greek: lamiai]. The +word _lamiae_ signified, walking spirits, which, according to the vulgar +notion, devoured men; this makes the spirit of the sarcasm against the +tax-gatherers. This cannot be rendered in our language; but if any thing +as good had been said in France, on the like occasion, it would have +lasted too long, and, like many other sayings amongst us, been too well +received. The best is that Plutarch himself confesses that it was +extremely applauded. + +The third charge is, a mixture of tragick and comick style. This +accusation is certainly true; Aristophanes often gets into the buskin; +but we must examine upon what occasion. He does not take upon him the +character of a tragick writer; but, having remarked that his trick of +parody was always well received, by a people who liked to laugh at that +for which they had been just weeping, he is eternally using the same +craft; and there is scarcely any tragedy or striking passage known by +memory, by the Athenians, which he does not turn into merriment, by +throwing over it a dress of ridicule and burlesque, which is done +sometimes by changing or transposing the words, and sometimes by an +unexpected application of the whole sentence. These are the shreds of +tragedy, in which he arrays the comick muse, to make her still more +comick. Cratinus had before done the same thing; and we know that he +made a comedy called Ulysses, to burlesque Homer and his Odyssey; which +shows, that the wits and poets are, with respect to one another, much +the same at all times, and that it was at Athens as here. I will prove +this system by facts, particularly with respect to the merriment of +Aristophanes, upon our three celebrated tragedians. This being the case, +the mingled style of Aristophanes will, perhaps, not deserve so much +censure as Plutarch has vented. We have no need of the travesty of +Virgil, nor the parodies of our own time, nor of the Lutrin of Boileau, +to show us, that this medly may have its merit upon particular +occasions. + +The same may be said, in general, of his obscurity, his meannesses, and +his high flights, and of all the seeming inequality of style, which puts +Plutarch in a rage. These censures can never be just upon a poet, whose +style has always been allowed to be perfectly attick, and of an atticism +which made him extremely delightful to the lovers of the Athenian taste. +Plutarch, perhaps, rather means to blame the choruses, of which the +language is sometimes elevated, sometimes burlesque, always very +poetical, and, therefore, in appearance, not suitable to comedy. But the +chorus, which had been borrowed from tragedy, was then all the fashion, +particularly for pieces of satire, and Aristophanes admitted them, like +the other poets of the old, and, perhaps, of the middle comedy; whereas +Menander suppressed them, not so much in compliance with his own +judgment, as in obedience to the publick edicts. It is not, therefore, +this mixture of tragick and comick that will place Aristophanes below +Menander. + +The fifth charge is, that he kept no distinction of character; that, for +example, he makes women speak like orators, and orators like slaves: but +it appears, by the characters which he ridicules, that this objection +falls of itself. It is sufficient to say, that a poet who painted not +imaginary characters, but real persons, men well known, citizens whom he +called by their names, and showed in dresses like their own, and masks +resembling their faces, whom he branded in the sight of a whole city +extremely haughty and full of derision; it is sufficient to say, that +such a poet could never be supposed to miss his characters. The applause +which his licentiousness produced, is too good a justification; besides, +if he had not succeeded, he exposed himself to the fate of Eupolis, who, +in a comedy called the Drowned Man, having imprudently pulled to pieces +particular persons, more powerful than himself, was laid hold of, and +drowned more effectually than those he had drowned upon the open stage. + +The condemnation of the poignancy of Aristophanes, as having too much +acrimony, is better founded. Such was the turn of a species of comedy, +in which all licentiousness was allowed; in a nation which made every +thing a subject of laughter, in its jealousy of immoderate liberty, and +its enmity, to all appearance, of rule and superiority; for the genius +of independency, naturally produces a kind of satire, more keen than +delicate, as may be easily observed in most of the inhabitants of +islands. If we do not say, with Longinus, that a popular government +kindles eloquence, and that a lawful monarchy stifles it; at least it is +easy to discover, by the event, that eloquence in different governments +takes a different appearance. In republicks it is more sprightly and +violent, and in monarchies more insinuating and soft. The same thing may +be said of ridicule; it follows the cast of genius, as genius follows +that of government. Thus the republican raillery, particularly of the +age which we are now considering, must have been rougher than that of +the age which followed it, for the same reason that Horace is more +delicate, and Lucilius more pointed. A dish of satire was always a +delicious treat to human malignity; but that dish was differently +seasoned, as the manners were polished more or less. By polished manners +I mean that good-breeding, that art of reserve and self-restraint, which +is the consequence of dependance. If one was to determine the preference +due to one of those kinds of pleasantry, of which both have their value, +there would not need a moment's hesitation: every voice would join in +favour of the softer, yet without contempt of that which is rough. +Menander will, therefore, be preferred, but Aristophanes will not be +despised, especially since he was the first who quitted that wild +practice of satirizing at liberty right or wrong, and by a comedy of +another cast, made way for the manner of Menander, more agreeable yet, +and less dangerous. There is, yet, another distinction to be made +between the acrimony of the one, and the softness of the other; the +works of the one are acrimonious, and of the other soft, because, the +one exhibited personal, and the other, general characters; which leaves +us still at liberty to examine, if these different designs might not be +executed with equal delicacy. + +We shall know this by a view of the particulars; in this place we say +only that the reigning taste, or the love of striking likenesses, might +justify Aristophanes for having turned, as Plutarch says, art into +malignity, simplicity into brutality, merriment into farce, and amour +into impudence; if, in any age, a poet could be excused for painting +publick folly and vice, in their true colours. + +There is a motive of interest, at the bottom, which disposed Elian, +Plutarch, and many others, to condemn this poet without appeal. +Socrates, who is said to have been destroyed by a poetical attack, at +the instigation of two wretches[30], has too many friends among good +men, to have pardon granted to so horrid a crime. This has filled them +with an implacable hatred against Aristophanes, which is mingled with +the spirit of philosophy; a spirit, wherever it comes, more dangerous +than any other. A common enemy will confess some good qualities in his +adversary; but a philosopher, made partial by philosophy, is never at +rest till he has totally destroyed him who has hurt the most tender part +of his heart; that is, has disturbed him in his adherence to some +character, which, like that of Socrates, takes possession of the mind. +The mind is the freest part of man, and the most tender of its +liberties; possessions, life, and reputation may be in another's power, +but opinion is always independent. If any man can obtain that gentle +influence, by which he ingratiates himself with the understanding, and +makes a sect in a commonwealth, his followers will sacrifice themselves +for him, and nobody will be pardoned that dares to attack him, justly or +unjustly, because that truth, real or imaginary, which he maintained, is +now become an idol. Time will do nothing for the extinction of this +hatred; it will be propagated from age to age; and there is no hope that +Aristophanes will ever be treated with tenderness by the disciples of +Plato, who made Socrates his hero. Every body else may, perhaps, +confess, that Aristophanes, though in one instance a bad man, may, +nevertheless, be a good poet; but distinctions, like these, will not be +admitted by prejudice and passion, and one or other dictates all +characters, whether good or bad. + +As I add my own reasons, such as they are, for or against Aristophanes, +to those of Frischlinus, his defender, I must not omit one thing which +he has forgot, and which, perhaps, without taking in the rest, put +Plutarch out of humour, which is that perpetual farce which goes through +all the comedies of Aristophanes, like the character of harlequin on the +Italian theatre. What kind of personages are clouds, frogs, wasps, and +birds? Plutarch, used to a comick stage of a very different appearance, +must have thought them strange things; and, yet stranger must they +appear to us, who have a newer kind of comedy, with which the Greeks +were unacquainted. This is what our poet may be charged with, and what +may be proved beyond refutation. This charge comprises all the rest, and +against this I shall not pretend to justify him. It would be of no use +to say, that Aristophanes wrote for an age that required shows which +filled the eye, and grotesque paintings in satirical performances; that +the crowds of spectators, which sometimes neglected Cratinus to throng +Aristophanes, obliged him, more and more, to comply with the ruling +taste, lest he should lose the publick favour by pictures more delicate +and less striking; that, in a state, where it was considered as policy +to lay open every thing that had the appearance of ambition, +singularity, or knavery, comedy was become a haranguer, a reformer, and +a publick counsellor, from whom the people learned to take care of their +most valuable interests; and that this comedy, in the attempt to lead, +and to please the people, claimed a right to the strongest touches of +eloquence, and had, likewise, the power of personal painting, peculiar +to herself. All these reasons, and many others, would disappear +immediately, and my mouth would be stopped with a single word, with +which every body would agree: my antagonist would tell me that such an +age was to be pitied, and, passing on from age to age, till he came to +our own, he would conclude flatly, that we are the only possessours of +common sense; a determination with which the French are too much +reproached, and which overthrows all the prejudice in favour of +antiquity. At the sight of so many happy touches, which one cannot help +admiring in Aristophanes, a man might, perhaps, be inclined to lament +that such a genius was thrown into an age of fools; but what age has +been without them? And have not we ourselves reason to fear, lest +posterity should judge of Molière and his age, as we judge of +Aristophanes? Menander altered the taste, and was applauded in Athens, +but it was after Athens was changed. Terence imitated him at Rome, and +obtained the preference over Plautus, though Cæsar called him but a +demi-Menander, because he appears to want that spirit and vivacity which +he calls the vis comica. We are now weary of the manner of Menander and +Terence, and leave them for Molière, who appears like a new star in a +new course. Who can answer, that in such an interval of time as has +passed between these four writers, there will not arise another author, +or another taste, that may bring Molière, in his turn, into neglect? +Without going further, our neighbours, the English, think he wants force +and fire. Whether they are right, or no, is another question; all that I +mean to advance is, that we are to fix it as a conclusion, that comick +authors must grow obsolete with the modes of life, if we admit any one +age, or any one climate, for the sovereign rule of taste. But let us +talk with more exactness, and endeavour, by an exact analysis, to find +out what there is in comedy, whether of Aristophanes and Plautus, of +Menander and Terence, of Molière and his rivals, which is never +obsolete, and must please all ages and all nations. + + 11. REMARKABLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE STATE OF COMEDY, AND OTHER WORKS +OF GENIUS, WITH REGARD TO THEIR DURATION. + +I now speak particularly of comedy; for we must observe that between +that and other works of literature, especially tragedy, there is an +essential difference, which the enemies of antiquity will not +understand, and which I shall endeavour palpably to show. + +All works show the age in which they are produced; they carry its stamp +upon them; the manners of the times are impressed by indelible marks. If +it be allowed, that the best of past times were rude in comparison with +ours, the cause of the ancients is decided against them; and the want of +politeness, with which their works are charged, in our days, must be +generally confessed. History alone seems to claim exemption from this +accusation. Nobody will dare to say of Herodotus or Thucydides, of +Livius or Tacitus, that which has been said, without scruple, of Homer +and the ancient poets. The reason is, that history takes the nearest way +to its purpose, and gives the characters and practices of nations, be +they what they will; it has no dependance upon its subject, and offers +nothing to examination, but the art of the narrative. An history of +China, well written, would please a Frenchman, as well as one of France. +It is otherwise with mere works of genius, they depend upon their +subjects, and, consequently, upon the characters and practices of the +times in which they were written; this, at least, is the light in which +they are beheld. This rule of judgment is not equitable; for, as I have +said, over and over, all the orators and the poets are painters, and +merely painters. They exhibit nature, as it is before them, influenced +by the accidents of education, which, without changing it entirely, yet +give it, in different ages and climates, a different appearance; but we +make their success depend, in a great degree, upon their subject, that +is, upon circumstances which we measure by the circumstances of our own +days. According to this prejudice, oratory depends more upon its subject +than history, and poetry yet more than oratory. Our times, therefore, +show more regard to Herodotus and Suetonius, than to Demosthenes and +Cicero, and more to all these than to Homer or Virgil. Of this +prejudice, there are regular gradations; and to come back to the point +which we have left, we show, for the same imperceptible reason, less +regard to tragick poets than to others. The reason is, that the subjects +of their paintings are more examined than the art. Thus comparing the +Achilles and Hippolytus of Euripides, with those of Racine, we drive +them off the stage, without considering that Racine's heroes will be +driven off, in a future age, if the same rule of judgment be followed, +and one time be measured by another. + +Yet tragedy, having the passions for its object, is not wholly exposed +to the caprice of our taste, which would make our own manners the rule +of human kind; for the passions of Grecian heroes are often dressed in +external modes of appearance that disgust us, yet they break through the +veil when they are strongly marked, as we cannot deny them to be in +Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The essence then gets the better of +the circumstance. The passions of Greece and France do not so much +differ by the particular characters of particular ages, as they agree by +the participation of that which belongs to the same passion in all ages. +Our three tragick poets will, therefore, get clear by suffering only a +little ridicule, which falls directly upon their times; but these times +and themselves will be well recompensed, by the admiration which their +art will irresistibly enforce. + +Comedy is in a more lamentable situation; for, not only its object is +the ridiculous, which, though in reality always the same, is so +dependant on custom, as to change its appearance with time, and with +place; but the art of a comick writer is, to lay hold of that species of +the ridiculous which will catch the spectators of the present hour, +without regard to futurity. But, though comedy has attained its end, and +diverted the pit, for which it was written; if it goes down to +posterity, it is a new world, where it is no longer known; it becomes +there quite a foreigner, because there are no longer the same originals, +nor the same species of the ridiculous, nor the same spectators, but a +set of merciless readers, who complain that they are tired with it, +though it once filled Athens, Rome, or Paris, with merriment. This +position is general, and comprises all poets and all ages. To say all, +at once, comedy is the slave of its subject, and of the reigning taste; +tragedy is not subject to the same degree of slavery, because the ends +of the two species of poetry are different. For this reason, if we +suppose that in all ages there are criticks, who measure every thing by +the same rule, it will follow, that if the comedy of Aristophanes be +become obsolete, that of Menander, likewise, after having delighted +Athens, and revived again at Rome, at last suffered by the force of +time. The muse of Molière has almost made both of them forgotten, and +would still be walking the stage, if the desire of novelty did not in +time make us weary of that which we have too frequently admired. + +Those, who have endeavoured to render their judgment independent upon +manners and customs, and of such men there have been always some, have +not judged so severely either of times, or of writers; they have +discovered that a certain resemblance runs through all polished ages, +which are alike in essential things, and differ only in external +manners, which, if we except religion, are things of indifference; that, +wherever there is genius, politeness, liberty, or plenty, there prevails +an exact and delicate taste, which, however hard to be expressed, is +felt by those that were born to feel it; that Athens, the inventress of +all the arts, the mother first of the Roman, and then of general taste, +did not consist of stupid savages; that the Athenian and Augustan ages +having always been considered as times that enjoyed a particular +privilege of excellence, though we may distinguish the good authors from +the bad, as in our own days, yet we ought to suspend the vehemence of +criticism, and proceed with caution and timidity, before we pass +sentence upon times and writers, whose good taste has been universally +applauded. This obvious consideration has disposed them to pause; they +have endeavoured to discover the original of taste, and have found that +there is not only a stable and immutable beauty, as there is a common +understanding in all times and places, which is never obsolete; but +there is another kind of beauty, such as we are now treating, which +depends upon times and places, and is, therefore, changeable. Such is +the imperfection of every thing below, that one mode of beauty is never +found without a mixture of the other, and from these two, blended +together, results what is called the taste of an age. I am now speaking +of an age sprightly and polite, an age which leaves works for a long +time behind it, an age which is imitated or criticised, when revolutions +have thrown it out of sight. + +Upon this incontestable principle, which supposes a beauty, universal +and absolute, and a beauty, likewise, relative and particular, which are +mingled through one work in very different proportions, it is easy to +give an account of the contrary judgments passed on Aristophanes. If we +consider him only with respect to the beauties, which, though they do +not please us, delighted the Athenians, we shall condemn him at once, +though even this sort of beauty may, sometimes, have its original in +universal beauty carried to extravagance. Instead of commending him for +being able to give merriment to the most refined nation of those days, +we shall proceed to place that people, with all their atticism, in the +rank of savages, whom we take upon us to degrade, because they have no +other qualifications but innocence, and plain understanding. But have +not we, likewise, amidst our more polished manners, beauties merely +fashionable, which make part of our writings as of the writings of +former times; beauties of which our self-love now makes us fond, but +which, perhaps, will disgust our grandsons? Let us be more equitable; +let us leave this relative beauty to its real value, more or less, in +every age: or, if we must pass judgment upon it, let us say that these +touches in Aristophanes, Menander, and Molière, were well struck off in +their own time; but that, comparing them with true beauty, that part of +Aristophanes was a colouring too strong, that of Menander was too weak, +and that of Molière was a peculiar varnish, formed of one and the other, +which, without being an imitation, is itself inimitable, yet depending +upon time, which will efface it, by degrees, as our notions, which are +every day changing, shall receive a sensible alteration. Much of this +has already happened since the time of Molière, who, if he was now to +come again, must take a new road. + +With respect to unalterable beauties, of which comedy admits much fewer +than tragedy, when they are the subject of our consideration, we must +not, too easily, set Aristophanes and Plautus below Menander and +Terence. We may properly hesitate with Boileau, whether we shall prefer +the French comedy to the Greek and Latin. Let us only give, like him, +the great rule for pleasing in all ages, and the key by which all the +difficulties in passing judgment may be opened. This rule and this key +are nothing else but the ultimate design of the comedy. + + Etudiez la cour, et connoissez la ville: + L'une et l'autre est toujours en modèles fertile. + C'est par-là que Molière illustrant ses écrits + Peut-être de son art eût remporté le prix, + Si, moins ami du peuple en ses doctes peintures, + Il n'eut point fait souvent grimacer ses figures, + Quitté pour le bouffon l'agréable et le fin, + Et sans honte à Térence allié Tabarin[31]. + +In truth, Aristophanes and Plautus united buffoonery and delicacy, in a +greater degree than Molière; and for this they may be blamed. That which +then pleased at Athens, and at Rome, was a transitory beauty, which had +not sufficient foundation in truth, and, therefore, the taste changed. +But, if we condemn those ages for this, what age shall we spare? Let us +refer every thing to permanent and universal taste, and we shall find in +Aristophanes at least as much to commend as censure. + + +12. TRAGEDY MORE UNIFORM THAN COMEDY. + +But before we go on to his works, it may be allowed to make some +reflections upon tragedy and comedy. Tragedy, though different, +according to the difference of times and writers, is uniform in its +nature, being founded upon the passions, which never change. With comedy +it is otherwise. Whatever difference there is between Eschylus, +Sophocles, and Euripides; between Corneille and Racine; between the +French and the Greeks; it will not be found sufficient to constitute +more than one species of tragedy. + +The works of those great masters are, in some respects, like the +seanymphs, of whom Ovid says, "That their faces were not the same, yet +so much alike, that they might be known to be sisters;" + + --facies non omnibus una, + Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum. + +The reason is, that the same passions give action and animation to them +all. With respect to the comedies of Aristophanes and Plautus, Menander +and Terence, Molière and his imitators, if we compare them one with +another, we shall find something of a family likeness, but much less +strongly marked, on account of the different appearance which ridicule +and pleasantry take from the different manners of every age. They will +not pass for sisters, but for very distant relations. The Muse of +Aristophanes and Plautus, to speak of her with justice, is a bacchanal +at least, whose malignant tongue is dipped in gall, or in poison +dangerous as that of the aspick or viper; but whose bursts of malice, +and sallies of wit, often give a blow where it is not expected. The Muse +of Terence, and, consequently, of Menander, is an artless and unpainted +beauty, of easy gaiety, whose features are rather delicate than +striking, rather soft than strong, rather plain and modest than great +and haughty, but always perfectly natural: + + Ce n'est pas un portrait, une image semblable: + C'est un fils, un amant, un père véritable. + +The Muse of Molière is not always plainly dressed, but takes airs of +quality, and rises above her original condition, so as to attire herself +gracefully in magnificent apparel. In her manners she mingles elegance +with foolery, force with delicacy and grandeur, or even haughtiness with +plainness and modesty. If, sometimes, to please the people, she gives a +loose to farce, it is only the gay folly of a moment, from which she +immediately returns, and which lasts no longer than a slight +intoxication. The first might be painted encircled with little satyrs, +some grossly foolish, the others delicate, but all extremely licentious +and malignant; monkeys always ready to laugh in your face, and to point +out to indiscriminate ridicule, the good and the bad. The second may be +shown encircled with geniuses full of softness and of candour, taught to +please by nature alone, and whose honeyed dialect is so much the more +insinuating, as there is no temptation to distrust it. The last must be +accompanied with the delicate laughter of the court, and that of the +city somewhat more coarse, and neither the one nor the other can be +separated from her. The Muse of Aristophanes and of Plautus can never be +denied the honour of sprightliness, animation, and invention; nor that +of Menander and Terence the praise of nature and of delicacy; to that of +Molière must be allowed the happy secret of uniting all the piquancy of +the former, with a peculiar art which they did not know. Of these three +sorts of merit, let us show to each the justice that is due, let us, in +each, separate the pure and the true, from the false gold, without +approving or condemning either the one or the other, in the gross. If we +must pronounce, in general, upon the taste of their writings, we must +indisputably allow that Menander, Terence and Molière, will give most +pleasure to a decent audience, and, consequently, that they approach +nearer to the true beauty, and have less mixture of beauties purely +relative, than Plautus and Aristophanes. + +If we distinguish comedy by its subjects, we shall find three sorts +among the Greeks, and as many among the Latins, all differently dressed; +if we distinguish it by ages and authors, we shall again find three +sorts; and we shall find three sorts, a third time, if we regard more +closely the subject. As the ultimate and general rules of all these +sorts of comedy are the same, it will, perhaps, be agreeable to our +purpose to sketch them out, before we give a full display of the last +class. I can do nothing better, on this occasion, than transcribe the +twenty-fifth reflection of Rapin upon poetry in particular. + +13. GENERAL RULES OF COMEDY. + +"Comedy," says he[32], "is a representation of common life: its end is +to show the faults of particular characters on the stage, to correct the +disorder of the people by the fear of ridicule. Thus ridicule is the +essential part of a comedy. Ridicule may be in words, or in things; it +may be decent, or grotesque. To find what is ridiculous in every thing, +is the gift merely of nature; for all the actions of life have their +bright, and their dark sides; something serious, and something merry. +But Aristotle, who has given rules for drawing tears, has given none for +raising laughter; for this is merely the work of nature, and must +proceed from genius, with very little help from art or matter. The +Spaniards have a turn to find the ridicule in things, much more than we; +and the Italians, who are natural comedians, have a better turn for +expressing it; their language is more proper for it than ours, by an air +of drollery which it can put on, and of which ours may become capable, +when it shall be brought nearer to perfection. In short, that agreeable +turn, that gaiety, which yet maintains the delicacy of its character, +without falling into dulness or into buffoonery; that elegant raillery, +which is the flower of fine wit, is the qualification which comedy +requires. We must, however, remember that the true artificial ridicule, +which is required on the theatre, must be only a transcript of the +ridicule which nature affords. Comedy is naturally written, when, being +on the theatre, a man can fancy himself in a private family, or a +particular part of the town, and meets with nothing but what he really +meets with in the world; for it is no real comedy in which a man does +not see his own picture, and find his own manners, and those of the +people among whom he lives. Menander succeeded only by this art among +the Greeks: and the Romans, when they sat at Terence's comedies, +imagined themselves in a private party; for they found nothing there +which they had not been used to find in common company. The great art of +comedy is to adhere to nature, without deviation; to have general +sentiments and expressions, which all the world can understand; for the +writer must keep it always in his mind, that the coarsest touches after +nature will please more, than the most delicate, with which nature is +inconsistent. However, low and mean words should never be allowed upon +the stage, if they are not supported with some kind of wit. Proverbs and +vulgar smartnesses can never be suffered, unless they have something in +them of nature and pleasantry. This is the universal principle of +comedy; whatever is represented, in this manner must please, and nothing +can ever please without it. It is by application to the study of nature +alone, that we arrive at probability, which is the only infallible guide +to theatrical success: without this probability, every thing is +defective, and that which has it, is beautiful; he that follows this, +can never go wrong; and the most common faults of comedy proceed from +the neglect of propriety, and the precipitation of incidents. Care must, +likewise, be taken, that the hints, made use of to introduce the +incidents, are not too strong, that the spectator may enjoy the pleasure +of finding out their meaning; but commonly the weak place in our comedy +is the untying of the plot, in which we almost always fail, on account +of the difficulty which there is in disentangling of what has been +perplexed. To perplex an intrigue is easy; the imagination does it by +itself; but it must be disentangled merely by the judgment, and is, +therefore, seldom done happily; and he that reflects a very little, will +find, that most comedies are faulty by an unnatural catastrophe. It +remains to be examined, whether comedy will allow pictures larger than +the life, that this strength of the strokes may make a deeper impression +upon the mind of the spectators; that is, if a poet may make a covetous +man more covetous, and a peevish man more impertinent, and more +troublesome than he really is. To which I answer, that this was the +practice of Plautus, whose aim was to please the people, but that +Terence, who wrote for gentlemen, confined himself within the compass of +nature, and represented vice without addition or aggravation. However, +these extravagant characters, such as the Citizen turned gentleman, and +the Hypochrondriac patient of Molière, have lately succeeded at court, +where delicacy is carried so far; but every thing, even to provincial +interludes, is well received, if it has but merriment, for we had rather +laugh than admire. These are the most important rules of comedy. + + 14. THREE SORTS OF COMEDY. + +These rules, indeed, are common to the three kinds which I have in my +mind; but it is necessary to distinguish each from the rest, which may +be done by diversity of matter, which always makes some diversity of +management. The old and middle comedy simply represented real +adventures: in the same way some passages of history and of fable might +form a class of comedies, which should resemble it without having its +faults; such is the Amphitryon. How many moral tales, how many +adventures, ancient and modern; how many little fables of Aesop, of +Phaedrus, of Fontaine, or some other ancient poet, would make pretty +exhibitions, if they were all made use of as materials by skilful hands? +And have we not seen some like Timon the man hater, that have been +successful in this way? This sort chiefly regards the Italians. The +ancient exhibition, called a satire, because the satyrs played their +part in it, of which we have no other instance than the Cyclops of +Euripides, has, without doubt, given occasion to the pastoral comedies, +for which we are chiefly indebted to Italy, and which are there more +cultivated than in France. It is, however, a kind of exhibition that +would have its charms, if it was touched with elegance and without +meanness: it is the pastoral put into action. To conclude, the new +comedy, invented by Menander, has produced the comedy, properly so +called in our times. This is that which has for its subject general +pictures of common life, and feigned names and adventures, whether of +the court or of the city. This third kind is incontestably the most +noble, and has received the strongest sanction from custom. It is, +likewise, the most difficult to perform, because it is merely the work +of invention, in which the poet has no help from real passages or +persons, which the tragick poet always makes use of. Who knows but, by +deep thinking, another kind of comedy may be invented, wholly different +from the three which I have mentioned? such is the fruitfulness of +comedy. But its course is already too wide for the discovery of new +fields to be wished; and on ground where we are already so apt to +stumble, nothing is so dangerous as novelty imperfectly understood. This +is the rock on which men have often split, in every kind of pursuit; to +go no further, in that of grammar and language, it is better to +endeavour after novelty, in the manner of expressing common things, than +to hunt for ideas out of the way, in which many a man loses himself. The +ill success of that odd composition, tragick comedy, a monster wholly +unknown to antiquity,[33] sufficiently shows the danger of novelty in +attempts like these. + + 15. WHETHER TRAGEDY OR COMEDY BE THE HARDER TO WRITE[34]. + +To finish the parallel of the two dramas, a question may be revived +equally common and important, which has been oftener proposed than well +decided: it is, whether comedy or tragedy be most easy or difficult to +be well executed. I shall not have the temerity to determine, +positively, a question which so many great geniuses have been afraid to +decide; but, if it be allowed to every literary man to give his reason +for and against a mere work of genius, considered without respect to its +good or bad tendency, I shall, in a few words, give my opinion, drawn +from the nature of the two works, and the qualifications they demand. +Horace[35] proposes a question nearly of the same kind: "It has been +inquired, whether a good poem be the work of art or nature? for my part, +I do not see much to be done by art without genius, nor by genius +without knowledge. The one is necessary to the other, and the success +depends upon their cooperation." If we should endeavour to accommodate +matters in imitation of this decision of Horace, it were easy to say, at +once, that supposing two geniuses equal, one tragick and the other +comick, supposing the art, likewise, equal in each, one would be as easy +or difficult as the other; but this, though satisfactory in the simple +question put by Horace, will not be sufficient here. Nobody can doubt +but genius and industry contribute their part to every thing valuable, +and particularly to good poetry. But if genius and study were to be +weighed one against the other, in order to discover which must +contribute most to a good work, the question would become more curious, +and, perhaps, very difficult of solution. Indeed, though nature must +have a great part of the expanse of poetry, yet no poetry lasts long +that is not very correct: the balance, therefore, seems to incline in +favour of correction. For is it not known that Virgil, with less genius +than Ovid, is yet valued more by men of exquisite judgment; or, without +going so far, Boileau, the Horace of our time, who composed with so much +labour, and asked Molière where he found his rhyme so easily, has said; +"If I write four words, I shall blot out three:" has not Boileau, by his +polished lines, retouched and retouched a thousand times, gained the +preference above the works of the same Molière, which are so natural, +and produced, by so fruitful a genius! Horace was of that opinion, for +when he is teaching the writers of his age the art of poetry, he tells +them, in plain terms, that Rome would excel in writing as in arms, if +the poets were not afraid of the labour, patience, and time required to +polish their pieces. He thought every poem was bad that had not been +brought ten times back to the anvil, and required that a work should be +kept nine years, as a child is nine months in the womb of its mother, to +restrain that natural impatience which combines with sloth and self-love +to disguise faults: so certain is it that correction is the touchstone +of writing. + +The question proposed comes back to the comparison which I have been +making between genius and correction, since we are now engaged in +inquiring, whether there is more or less difficulty in writing tragedy +or comedy: for, as we must compare nature and study one with another, +since they must both concur, more or less, to make a poet; so if we will +compare the labours of two different minds in different kinds of +writing, we must, with regard to the authors, compare the force of +genius, and, with respect to the composition, the difficulties of the +task. + +The genius of the tragick and comick writer will be easily allowed to be +remote from each other. Every performance, be what it will, requires a +turn of mind which a man cannot confer upon himself; it is purely the +gift of nature, which determines those who have it to pursue, almost in +spite of themselves, the taste which predominates in their minds. Pascal +found in his childhood, that he was a mathematician; and Vandyke, that +he was born a painter. Sometimes this internal direction of the mind +does not make such evident discoveries of itself; but it is rare to find +Corneilles, who have lived long without knowing that they were poets. +Corneille, having once got some notion of his powers, tried a long time, +on all sides, to know what particular direction he should take. He had +first made an attempt in comedy, in an age when it was yet so gross in +France, that it could give no pleasure to polite persons. Melite was so +well received, when he dressed her out, that she gave rise to a new +species of comedy and comedians. + +This success, which encouraged Corneille to pursue that sort of comedy, +of which he was the first inventor, left him no reason to imagine, that +he was one day to produce those masterpieces of tragedy, which his muse +displayed afterwards with so much splendour; and yet less did he +imagine, that his comick pieces, which, for want of any that were +preferable, were then very much in fashion, would be eclipsed by another +genius[36] formed upon the Greeks and Romans, and who would add to their +excellencies improvements of his own, and that this modish comedy, to +which Corneille, as to his idol, dedicated his labours, would quickly be +forgot. He wrote first Medea, and afterwards the Cid; and, by that +prodigious flight of his genius, he discovered, though late, that nature +had formed him to run in no other course but that of Sophocles. Happy +genius! that, without rule or imitation, could at once take so high a +flight: having once, as I may say, made himself an eagle, he never +afterwards quitted the path which he had worked out for himself, over +the heads of the writers of his time; yet he retained some traces of the +false taste which infected the whole nation; but even in this, he +deserves our admiration, since, in time, he changed it completely by the +reflections he made, and those he occasioned. In short, Corneille was +born for tragedy, as Molière for comedy. Molière, indeed, knew his own +genius sooner, and was not less happy in procuring applause, though it +often happened to him as to Corneille, + + "L'ignorance et l'erreur à ses naissantes pièces, + En habit de marquis, en robes de comtesses, + Vinssent pour diffamer son chef-d'oeuvre nouveau, + Et secouer la têle à l'endroit le plus beau." + +But, without taking any farther notice of the time at which either came +to the knowledge of his own genius, let us suppose that the powers of +tragedy and comedy were as equally shared between Molière and Corneille, +as they are different in their own nature, and then nothing more will +remain, than to compare the several difficulties of each composition, +and to rate those difficulties together which are common to both. + +It appears, first, that the tragick poet has, in his subject, an +advantage over the comick, for he takes it from history; and his rival, +at least in the more elevated and splendid comedy, is obliged to form it +by his own invention. Now, it is not so easy, as it might seem, to find +comick subjects capable of a new and pleasing form; but history is a +source, if not inexhaustible, yet certainly so copious as never to leave +the genius aground. It is true, that invention seems to have a wider +field than history: real facts are limited in their number, but the +facts which may be feigned have no end; but though, in this respect, +invention may be allowed to have the advantage, is the difficulty of +inventing to be accounted as nothing? To make a tragedy, is to get +materials together, and to make use of them like a skilful architect; +but to make a comedy, is to build like Aesop in the air. It is in vain +to boast that the compass of invention is as wide as the extent of +desire; every thing is limited, and the mind of man like every thing +else. Besides, invention must be in conformity to nature; but distinct +and remarkable characters are very rare in nature herself. Molière has +got hold on the principal touches of ridicule. If any man should bring +characters less strong, he will be in danger of dulness. Where comedy is +to be kept up by subordinate personages, it is in great danger. All the +force of a picture must arise from the principal persons, and not from +the multitude clustered up together. In the same manner, a comedy, to be +good, must be supported by a single striking character, and not by +under-parts. + +But, on the contrary, tragick characters are without number, though of +them the general outlines are limited; but dissimulation, jealousy, +policy, ambition, desire of dominion, and other interests and passions, +are various without end, and take a thousand different forms in +different situations of history; so that, as long as there is tragedy, +there may be always novelty. Thus the jealous and dissembling +Mithridates, so happily painted by Racine, will not stand in the way of +a poet, who shall attempt a jealous and dissembling Tiberius. The stormy +violence of an Achilles will always leave room for the stormy violence +of Alexander. + +But the case is very different with avarice, trifling vanity, hypocrisy, +and other vices, considered as ridiculous. It would be safer to double +and treble all the tragedies of our greatest poets, and use all their +subjects over and over, as has been done with Oedipus and Sophonisba, +than to bring again upon the stage, in five acts, a Miser, a Citizen +turned gentleman, a Tartuffe, and other subjects sufficiently known. Not +that these popular vices are less capable of diversification, or are +less varied by different circumstances, than the vices and passions of +heroes; but that if they were to be brought over again in comedies, they +would be less distinct, less exact, less forcible, and, consequently, +less applauded. Pleasantry and ridicule must be more strongly marked +than heroism and pathos, which support themselves by their own force. +Besides, though these two things, of so different natures, could support +themselves equally in equal variety, which is very far from being the +case, yet comedy, as it now stands, consists not in incidents, but in +characters. Now it is by incidents only that characters are diversified, +as well upon the stage of comedy, as upon the stage of life. Comedy, as +Molière has left it, resembles the pictures of manners drawn by the +celebrated La Bruyère. Would any man, after him, venture to draw them +over again, he would expose himself to the fate of those who have +ventured to continue them. For instance, what could we add to his +character of the absent man? Shall we put him in other circumstances? +The principal strokes of absence of mind will always be the same; and +there are only those striking touches which are fit for a comedy, of +which, the end is painting after nature, but with strength and +sprightliness, like the designs of Callot. If comedy were among us what +it is in Spain, a kind of romance, consisting of many circumstances and +intrigues, perplexed and disentangled, so as to surprise; if it was +nearly the same with that which Corneille practised in his time; if, +like that of Terence, it went no farther than to draw the common +portraits of simple nature, and show us fathers, sons, and rivals; +notwithstanding the uniformity, which would always prevail, as in the +plays of Terence, and, probably, in those of Menander, whom he imitated +in his four first pieces, there would always be a resource found, either +in variety of incidents, like those of the Spaniards, or in the +repetition of the same characters, in the way of Terence; but the case +is now very different, the publick calls for new characters, and nothing +else. Multiplicity of accidents, and the laborious contrivance of an +intrigue, are not now allowed to shelter a weak genius, that would find +great conveniencies in that way of writing. Nor does it suit the taste +of comedy, which requires an air less constrained, and such freedom and +ease of manners as admits nothing of the romantick. She leaves all the +pomp of sudden events to the novels, or little romances, which were the +diversion of the last age. She allows nothing but a succession of +characters resembling nature, and falling in, without any apparent +contrivance. Racine has, likewise, taught us to give to tragedy the same +simplicity of air and action; he has endeavoured to disentangle it from +that great number of incidents, which made it rather a study than +diversion to the audience, and which show the poet not so much to abound +in invention, as to be deficient in taste. But, notwithstanding all that +he has done, or that we can do, to make it simple, it will always have +the advantage over comedy in the number of its subjects, because it +admits more variety of situations and events, which give variety and +novelty to the characters. A miser, copied after nature, will always be +the miser of Plautus or Molière; but a Nero, or a prince like Nero, will +not always be the hero of Racine. Comedy admits of so little intrigue, +that the miser cannot be shown in any such position as will make his +picture new; but the great events of tragedy may put Nero in such +circumstances, as to make him wholly another character. + +But, in the second place, over and above the subjects, may we not say +something concerning the final purpose of comedy and tragedy? The +purpose of the one is to divert, and the other to move; and, of these +two, which is the easier? To go to the bottom of those purposes; to move +is to strike those strings of the heart which are most natural, terrour +and pity; to divert is to make one laugh, a thing which, indeed, is +natural enough, but more delicate. The gentleman and the rustick have +both sensibility and tenderness of heart, perhaps, in greater or less +degree; but as they are men alike, the heart is moved by the same +touches. They both love, likewise, to send their thoughts abroad, and to +expand themselves in merriment; but the springs which must be touched +for this purpose are not the same in the gentleman as in the rustick. +The passions depend on nature, and merriment upon education. The clown +will laugh at a waggery, and the gentleman only at a stroke of delicate +conceit. The spectators of a tragedy, if they have but a little +knowledge, are almost all on a level; but with respect to comedy we have +three classes, if not more, the people, the learned, and the court. If +there are certain cases in which all may be comprehended in the term +people, this is not one of those cases. Whatever father Rapin may say +about it, we are more willing even to admire than to laugh. Every man, +that has any power of distinction, laughs as rarely as the philosopher +admires; for we are not to reckon those fits of laughter which are not +incited by nature, and which are given merely to complaisance, to +respect, flattery, and good-humour; such as break out at sayings which +pretend to smartness in assemblies. The laughter of the theatre is of +another stamp. Every reader and spectator judges of wit by his own +standard, and measures it by his capacity, or by his condition: the +different capacities and conditions of men make them diverted on very +different occasions. If, therefore, we consider the end of the tragick +and comick poet, the comedian must be involved in much more +difficulties, without taking in the obstructions to be encountered +equally by both, in an art which consists in raising the passions, or +the mirth of a great multitude. The tragedian has little to do but to +reflect upon his own thought, and draw from his heart those sentiments +which will certainly make their way to the hearts of others, if he found +them in his own. The other must take many forms, and change himself +almost into as many persons, as he undertakes to satisfy and divert. + +It may be said, that, if genius be supposed equal, and success supposed +to depend upon genius, the business will be equally easy and difficult +to one author and to the other. This objection is of no weight; for the +same question still recurs, which is, whether of these two kinds of +genius is more valuable, or more rare? If we proceed by example, and not +by reasoning, we shall decide, I think, in favour of comedy. + +It may be said, that, if merely art be considered, it will require +deeper thoughts to form a plan just and simple; to produce happy +surprises, without apparent contrivance; to carry a passion skilfully +through its gradations to its height; to arrive happily to the end by +always moving from it, as Ithaca seemed to fly Ulysses; to unite the +acts and scenes; and to raise, by insensible degrees, a striking +edifice, of which the least merit shall be exactness of proportion. It +may be added, that in comedy this art is infinitely less, for there the +characters come upon the stage with very little artifice or plot; the +whole scheme is so connected that we see it at once, and the plan and +disposition of the parts make a small part of its excellence, in +comparison of a gloss of pleasantry diffused over each scene, which is +more the happy effect of a lucky moment, than of long consideration. + +These objections, and many others, which so fruitful a subject might +easily suggest, it is not difficult to refute; and, if we were to judge +by the impression made on the mind by tragedies and comedies of equal +excellence, perhaps, when we examine those impressions, it will be found +that a sally of pleasantry, which diverts all the world, required more +thought than a passage which gave the highest pleasure in tragedy; and, +to this determination we shall be more inclined, when a closer +examination shall show us, that a happy vein of tragedy is opened and +effused at less expense, than a well-placed witticism in comedy has +required, merely to assign its place. + +It would be too much to dwell long upon such a digression; and, as I +have no business to decide the question, I leave both that and my +arguments to the taste of each particular reader, who will find what is +to be said for or against it. My purpose was only to say of comedy, +considered as a work of genius, all that a man of letters can be +supposed to deliver without departing from his character, and, without +palliating, in any degree, the corrupt use which has been almost always +made of an exhibition, which, in its nature, might be innocent; but has +been vicious from the time that it has been infected with the wickedness +of men. It is not for publick exhibitions that I am now writing, but for +literary inquiries. The stage is too much frequented, and books too much +neglected: yet it is to the literature of Greece and Rome that we are +indebted for that valuable taste, which will be insensibly lost, by the +affected negligence, which now prevails, of having recourse to +originals. If reason has been a considerable gainer, it must be +confessed that taste has been somewhat a loser. + +To return to Aristophanes. So many great men of antiquity, through a +long succession of ages, down to our times, have set a value upon his +works, that we cannot, naturally, suppose them contemptible, +notwithstanding the essential faults with which he may be justly +reproached. It is sufficient to say, that he was esteemed by Plato and +Cicero; and, to conclude, by that which does him most honour, but, +still, falls short of justification, the strong and sprightly eloquence +of St. Chrysostom drew its support from the masculine and vigorous +atticism of this sarcastick comedian, to whom the father paid the same +regard as Alexander to Homer, that of putting his works under his +pillow, that he might read them, at night, before he slept, and, in the +morning, as soon as he awaked. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Published by Mrs. Lennox in 4to. 1759. To the third volume of this + work the following advertisement is prefixed: "In this volume, the + Discourse on the Greek Comedy, and the General Conclusion, are + translated by the celebrated author of the Rambler. The Comedy of + the Birds, and that of Peace, by a young Gentleman. The Comedy of + the Frogs, by the learned and ingenious Dr. Gregory Sharpe. The + Discourse upon the Cyclops, by John Bourrya, esq. The Cyclops, by + Dr. Grainger, author of the translation of Tibullus." + +[2] There was a law which forbade any judge of the Areopagus to write + comedy. + +[3] Madame Dacier, M. Boivin. + +[4] Menander, an Athenian, son of Diopethes and Hegestrates, was, + apparently, the most eminent of the writers of the new comedy. He + had been a scholar of Theophrastus: his passion for the women + brought infamy upon him: he was squinteyed, and very lively. Of the + one hundred and eighty comedies, or, according to Suidas, the eighty + which he composed, and which are all said to be translated by + Terence, we have now only a few fragments remaining. He flourished + about the 115th Olympiad, 318 years before the Christian æra. He was + drowned as he was bathing in the port of Piræus. I have told, in + another place, what is said of one Philemon, his antagonist, not so + good a poet as himself, but one who often gained the prize. This + Philemon was older than him, and was much in fashion in the time of + Alexander the great. He expressed all his wishes in two lines: "To + have health, and fortune, and pleasure, and never to be in debt, is + all I desire." He was very covetous, and was pictured with his + fingers hooked, so that he set his comedies at a high price. He + lived about a hundred years, some say a hundred and one. Many tales + are told of his death. Valerius Maximus says, that he died with + laughing at a little incident: seeing an ass eating his figs, he + ordered his servant to drive her away; the man made no great haste, + and the ass eat them all: "Well done," says Philemon, "now give her + some wine."--Apuleius and Quintilian placed this writer much below + Menander, but give him the second place. + +[5] Greek Theatre, part i. vol. i. + +[6] Hor. Ar. Poet. v. 275. + +[7] Poet. ch. 4. + +[8] Ibid. + +[9] "The alterations, which have been made in tragedy, were perceptible, + and the authors of them known; but comedy has lain in obscurity, + being not cultivated, like tragedy, from the time of its original; + for it was long before the magistrates began to give comick + choruses. It was first exhibited by actors, who played voluntarily, + without orders of the magistrates. From the time that it began to + take some settled form, we know its authors, but are not informed + who first used masks, added prologues, increased the numbers of the + actors, and joined all the other things which now belong to it. The + first that thought of forming comick fables were Epicharmus and + Phormys, and, consequently, this manner came from Sicily. Crates was + the first Athenian that adopted it, and forsook the practice of + gross raillery that prevailed before." Aristot. ch. 5. Crates + flourished in the 82nd Olympiad, 450 years before our aera, twelve + or thirteen years before Aristophanes. + +[10] Eupolis was an Athenian; his death, which we shall mention + presently, is represented differently by authors, who almost all + agree that he was drowned. Elian adds an incident which deserves to + be mentioned: he says (book x. Of Animals,) that one Augeas of + Eleusis, made Eupolis a present of a fine mastiff, who was so + faithful to his master as to worry to death a slave, who was + carrying away some of his comedies. He adds, that, when the poet + died at Egina, his dog staid by his tomb till he perished by grief + and hunger. + +[11] Cratinus of Athens, who was son of Callimedes, died at the age of + ninety-seven. He composed twenty comedies, of which nine had the + prize: he was a daring writer, but a cowardly warriour. + +[12] Hertelius has collected the sentences of fifty Greek poets of the + different ages of comedy. + +[13] Interlude of the second act of the comedy entitled the Acharnians. + +[14] Epigram attributed to Plato. + +[15] This history of the three ages of comedy, and their different + characters, is taken in part from the valuable fragments of + Platonius. + +[16] It will be shown, how, and in what sense, this was allowed. + +[17] Perhaps the chorus was forbid in the middle age of the comedy. + Platonius seems to say so. + +[18] Despréaux Art Poét. chant. 8. + +[19] The year of Rome 514, the first year of the 135th Olympiad. + +[20] Praetextae, Togatae, Tabernariae. + +[21] Suet. de Claris Grammat. says, that C. Melissus, librarian to + Augustus, was the author of it. + +[22] Homer, Odyssey. + +[23] Orat. pro Archia Poeta. + +[24] In the year of the 85th Olympiad; 437 before our aera, and 317 of + the foundation of Rome. + +[25] The Greek comedies have been regarded, by many, in the light of + political journals, the Athenian newspapers of the day, where, + amidst the distortions of caricature, the lineaments of the times + were strongly drawn. See Madame de Staël de la Litérature, c. iii. + --Ed. + +[26] Preface to Plautus. Paris, 1684. + +[27] Brumoy has mistaken Lucretius for Virgil. + +[28] "Morum hujus temporis picturam, velut in speculo, suis in comoediis + repraesentavit Aristophanes." Valckenaer, Oratio de publicis + Atheniensium moribus.--Ed. + +[29] + Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, + As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; + Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, + We first endure, then pity, then embrace. + Pope's Essay on Man, ii. 217. + +[30] It is not certain, that Aristophanes did procure the death of + Socrates; but, however, he is certainly criminal for having, in the + Clouds, accused him, publickly, of impiety. B.--Many ingenious + arguments have been advanced, since the time of Brumoy and Johnson, + in vindication of Aristophanes, with regard to Socrates. It has + been urged, that a man, of the established character of Socrates, + could not be injured by the dramatic imputation of faults and + follies, from which every individual in the theatre believed him to + be exempt; while the vices of the sophists and rhetors, whom + Aristophanes was really attacking, were placed in a more ludicrous, + or more odious light, by a mental juxta-position with the pure and + stern virtue of the master of Plato. This is very plausible; but it + may still be doubted, whether the greater part of an Athenian + audience, with all their native acuteness and practical criticism, + would, at the moment, detect this subtile irony. If, indeed, it was + irony, for still, with deference to great names be it spoken, it + remains to be disproved, that the Clouds was the introductory step + to a state-impeachment. Irony is, at best, a dangerous weapon, and + has, too frequently, been wielded by vulgar hands, to purposes + widely different from those which its authors designed. The + Tartuffe exposed to the indignation of France, a character, which + every good man detests. But, was the cause of religious sincerity + benefited, by Molière's representation of a sullen, sly, and + sensual hypocrite? Did the French populace discriminate between + such, and the sincere professor of christianity? The facts of the + revolution give an awful answer to the question. Cervantes + ridiculed the fooleries and affectation ingrafted upon knight + errantry. Did he intend to banish honour, humanity and virtue, + loyalty, courtesy and gentlemanly feeling from Spain? The people + understood not irony, and Don Quixote combined with other causes, + to degrade to its present abasement, a land, so long renowned for + her high and honourable chivalry, for "ladye-love, and feats of + knightly worth." See likewise note on Adventurer, 84, and the + references there made; and preface to the Idler.--Ed. + +[31] Boileau, Art. Poèt. chant, 3. + +[32] Réflexions sur la poét. p. 154. Paris, 1684. + [Transcriber's note: Although opening quotes are present (..."is a + representation...) closing quotes appear to be missing. It is + therefore unclear where this quotation ends.] + +[33] [Transcriber's note: "See note to preface to Shakespeare in this + volume, page 103" in original. Page 103 is the first page of the + chapter; the only note on this page reads, "Dr. Johnson's Preface + first appeared in 1765. Malone's Shakespeare, i. 108. and Boswell's + Life of Johnson, i."] + +[34] See this subject treated with reference to Shakespeare in preface + to Shakespeare, and notes. + +[35] Ar. Poet. v. 407. + +[36] Molière. + + + + +GENERAL CONCLUSION +TO BRUMOY'S GREEK THEATRE. + +1. SUMMARY OF THE FOUR ARTICLES TREATED OF IN THIS DISCOURSE. + +Thus I have given a faithful extract of the remains of Aristophanes. +That I have not shown them in their true form, I am not afraid that any +body will complain. I have given an account of every thing, as far as it +was consistent with moral decency. No pen, however cynical or +heathenish, would venture to produce, in open day, the horrid passages +which I have put out of sight; and, instead of regretting any part that +I have suppressed, the very suppression will easily show to what degree +the Athenians were infected with licentiousness of imagination, and +corruption of principles. If the taste of antiquity allows us to +preserve what time and barbarity have hitherto spared, religion and +virtue at least oblige us not to spread it before the eyes of mankind. +To end this work in an useful manner, let us examine, in a few words, +the four particulars which are most striking in the eleven pieces of +Aristophanes. + +2. CHARACTER OF ANCIENT COMEDY. + +The first is the character of the ancient comedy, which has no likeness +to any thing in nature. Its genius is so wild and strange, that it +scarce admits a definition. In what class of comedy must we place it? It +appears, to me, to be a species of writing by itself. If we had +Phrynicus, Plato, Eupolis, Cratinus, Ameipsias, and so many other +celebrated rivals of Aristophanes, of whom all that we can find are a +few fragments scattered in Plutarch, Athenaeus, and Suidas, we might +compare them with our poet, settle the general scheme, observe the +minuter differences, and form a complete notion of their comick stage. +But, for want of all this, we can fix only on Aristophanes; and it is +true that he may be, in some measure, sufficient to furnish a tolerable +judgment of the old comedy; for, if we believe him, and who can be +better credited? he was the most daring of all his brethren, the poets, +who practised the same kind of writing. Upon this supposition we may +conclude, that the comedy of those days consisted in an allegory drawn +out and continued; an allegory never very regular, but often ingenious, +and almost always carried beyond strict propriety; of satire keen and +biting, but diversified, sprightly, and unexpected; so that the wound +was given before it was perceived. Their points of satire were +thunderbolts, and their wild figures, with their variety and quickness, +had the effect of lightning. Their imitation was carried even to +resemblance of persons, and their common entertainments were a parody of +rival poets joined, if I may so express it, with a parody of manners and +habits. + +But it would be tedious to draw out to the reader that which he will +already have perceived better than myself. I have no design to +anticipate his reflections; and, therefore, shall only sketch the +picture, which he must finish by himself: he will pursue the subject +farther, and form to himself a view of the common and domestick life of +the Athenians, of which this kind of comedy was a picture, with some +aggravation of the features: he will bring within his view all the +customs, manners, and vices, and the whole character of the people of +Athens. By bringing all these together he will fix in his mind an +indelible idea of a people, in whom so many contrarieties were united, +and who, in a manner that can scarce be expressed, connected nobility +with the cast of Athens, wisdom with madness, rage for novelty with a +bigotry for antiquity, the politeness of a monarchy with the roughness +of a republick, refinement with coarseness, independence with slavery, +haughtiness with servile compliance, severity of manners with +debauchery, a kind of irreligion with piety. We shall do this in +reading; as, in travelling through different nations, we make ourselves +masters of their characters by combining their different appearances, +and reflecting upon what we see. + +3. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ATHENIANS. + +The government of Athens makes a fine part of the ancient comedy. In +most states the mystery of government is confined within the walls of +the cabinets; even in commonwealths it does not pass but through five or +six heads, who rule those that think themselves the rulers. Oratory +dares not touch it, and comedy still less. Cicero himself did not speak +freely upon so nice a subject as the Roman commonwealth; but the +Athenian eloquence was informed of the whole secret, and searches the +recesses of the human mind, to fetch it out and expose it to the people. +Demosthenes, and his contemporaries, speak with a freedom at which we +are astonished, notwithstanding the notion we have of a popular +government; yet, at what time but this did comedy adventure to claim the +same rights with civil eloquence? The Italian comedy of the last age, +all daring as it was, could, for its boldness, come into no competition +with the ancient. It was limited to general satire, which was sometimes +carried so far, that the malignity was overlooked in an attention to the +wild exaggeration, the unexpected strokes, the pungent wit, and the +malignity concealed under such wild flights as became the character of +harlequin. But though it so far resembled Aristophanes, our age is yet +at a great distance from his, and the Italian comedy from his scenes. +But with respect to the liberty of censuring the government, there can +be no comparison made of one age or comedy with another. Aristophanes is +the only writer of his kind, and is, for that reason, of the highest +value. A powerful state, set at the head of Greece, is the subject of +his merriment, and that merriment is allowed by the state itself. This +appears to us an inconsistency; but it is true that it was the interest +of the state to allow it, though not always without inconveniency. It +was a restraint upon the ambition and tyranny of single men, a matter of +great importance to a people so very jealous of their liberty. Cleon, +Alcibiades, Lamachus, and many other generals and magistrates were kept +under by fear of the comick strokes of a poet so little cautious as +Aristophanes. He was once, indeed, in danger of paying dear for his wit. +He professed, as he tells us himself, to be of great use by his writings +to the state; and rated his merit so high as to complain that he was not +rewarded. But, under pretence of this publick spirit, he spared no part +of the publick conduct; neither was government, councils, revenues, +popular assemblies, secret proceedings in judicature, choice of +ministers, the government of the nobles, or that of the people, spared. + +The Acharnians, the Peace, and the Birds, are eternal monuments of the +boldness of the poet, who was not afraid of censuring the government for +the obstinate continuance of a ruinous war, for undertaking new ones, +and feeding itself with wild imaginations, and running to destruction, +as it did, for an idle point of honour. + +Nothing can be more reproachful to the Athenians than his play of the +Knights, where he represents, under an allegory, that may be easily seen +through, the nation of the Athenians, as an old doting fellow tricked by +a new man, such as Cleon and his companions, who were of the same stamp. + +A single glance upon Lysistrata, and the Female Orators, must raise +astonishment, when the Athenian policy is set below the schemes of +women, whom the author makes ridiculous, for no other reason than, to +bring contempt upon their husbands, who held the helm of government. + +The Wasps is written to expose the madness of the people for lawsuits +and litigations; and a multitude of iniquities are laid open. + +It may easily be gathered, that, notwithstanding the wise laws of Solon, +which they still professed to follow, the government was falling into +decay, for we are not to understand the jest of Aristophanes in the +literal sense. It is plain that the corruption, though we should suppose +it but half as much as we are told, was very great, for it ended in the +destruction of Athens, which could scarce raise its head again, after it +had been taken by Lysander. Though we consider Aristophanes, as a comick +writer who deals in exaggeration, and bring down his stories to their +true standard, we still find that the fundamentals of their government +fail in almost all the essential points. That the people were inveigled +by men of ambition; that all councils and decrees had their original in +factious combinations; that avarice and private interest animated all +their policy to the hurt of the publick; that their revenues were ill +managed, their allies improperly treated; that their good citizens were +sacrificed, and the bad put in places; that a mad eagerness for judicial +litigation took up all their attention within, and that war was made +without, not so much with wisdom and precaution, as with temerity and +good-luck; that the love of novelty and fashion, in the manner of +managing the publick affairs, was a madness universally prevalent; and +that, as Melanthius says in Plutarch, the republick of Athens was +continued only by the perpetual discord of those that managed its +affairs. This remedied the dishonour by preserving the equilibrium, and +was kept always in action by eloquence and comedy. + +This is what, in general, may be drawn from the reading Aristophanes. +The sagacity of the readers will go farther; they will compare the +different forms of government, by which that tumultuous people +endeavoured to regulate or increase the democracy, which forms were all +fatal to the state, because they were not built upon lasting +foundations, and had all in them the principles of destruction. A +strange contrivance it was to perpetuate a state, by changing the just +proportion which Solon had wisely settled between the nobles and the +people, and by opening a gate to the skilful ambition of those who had +art or courage enough to force themselves into the government by means +of the people, whom they flattered with protections, that they might +more certainly crush them. + +4. THE TRAGICK POETS RALLIED. + +Another part of the works of Aristophanes, are his pleasant reflections +upon the most celebrated poets. The shafts which he lets fly at the +three heroes of tragedy, and particularly at Euripides, might incline +the reader to believe that he had little esteem for those great men, and +that, probably, the spectators that applauded him were of his opinion. +This conclusion would not be just, as I have already shown by arguments, +which, if I had not offered them, the reader might have discovered +better than I. But, that I may leave no room for objections, and prevent +any shadow of captiousness, I shall venture to observe, that posterity +will not consider Racine as less a master of the French stage, because +his plays were ridiculed by parodies. Parody always fixes upon the best +pieces, and was more to the taste of the Greeks than to ours. At +present, the high theatres give it up to stages of inferiour rank; but +in Athens the comick theatre considered parody as its principal +ornament, for a reason which is worth examining. The ancient comedy was +not, like ours, a remote and delicate imitation; it was the art of gross +mimickry, and would have been supposed to have missed its aim, had it +not copied the mien, the walk, the dress, the motions of the face of +those whom it exhibited. Now parody is an imitation of this kind; it is +a change of serious to burlesque, by a slight variation of words, +inflection of voice, or an imperceptible art of mimickry. Parody is to +poetry, as a masque to a face. As the tragedies of Eschylus, of +Sophocles, and of Euripides were much in fashion, and were known by +memory to the people, the parodies upon them would naturally strike and +please, when they were accompanied by the grimaces of a good comedian, +who mimicked with archness a serious character. Such is the malignity of +human nature; we love to laugh at those whom we esteem most, and by this +make ourselves some recompense for the unwilling homage which we pay to +merit. The parodies upon these poets, made by Aristophanes, ought to be +considered rather as encomiums than satires. They give us occasion to +examine whether the criticisms are just or not in themselves; but, what +is more important, they afford no proof that Euripides, or his +predecessors, wanted the esteem of Aristophanes or his age. The statues +raised to their honour, the respect paid by the Athenians to their +writings, and the careful preservation of those writings themselves, are +immortal testimonies in their favour, and make it unnecessary for me to +stop any longer upon so plausible a solution of so frivolous an +objection. + +5. FREQUENT RIDICULE OF THE GODS. + +The most troublesome difficulty, and that which, so far as I know, has +not yet been cleared to satisfaction, is the contemptuous manner in +which Aristophanes treats the gods. Though I am persuaded, in my own +mind, that I have found the true solution of this question, I am not +sure that it will make more impression than that of M. Boivin, who +contents himself with saying, that every thing was allowed to the comick +poets; and that even atheism was permitted to the licentiousness of the +stage; that the Athenians applauded all that made them laugh; and +believed that Jupiter himself laughed with them at the smart sayings of +a poet. Mr. Collier[1], an Englishman, in his remarks upon their stage, +attempts to prove that Aristophanes was an open atheist. For my part, I +am not satisfied with the account either of one or the other, and think +it better to venture a new system, of which I have already dropped some +hints in this work. The truth is, that the Athenians professed to be +great laughers, always ready for merriment on whatever subject. But it +cannot be conceived that Aristophanes should, without punishment, +publish himself an atheist, unless we suppose that atheism was the +opinion, likewise, of the spectators, and of the judges commissioned to +examine the plays; and yet this cannot be suspected of those who boasted +themselves the most religious nation, and, naturally, the most +superstitious of all Greece. How can we suppose those to be atheists who +passed sentence upon Diagoras, Socrates, and Alcibiades for impiety! +These are glaring inconsistencies. To say, like M. Boivin, for sake of +getting clear of the difficulty, that Alcibiades, Socrates, and Diagoras +attacked religion seriously, and were, therefore, not allowed, but that +Aristophanes did it in jest, or was authorized by custom, would be to +trifle with the difficulty, and not to clear it. Though the Athenians +loved merriment, it is not likely that, if Aristophanes had professed +atheism, they would have spared him more than Socrates, who had as much +life and pleasantry in his discourses, as the poet in his comedies. The +pungent raillery of Aristophanes, and the fondness of the Athenians for +it, are, therefore, not the true reason why the poet was spared, when +Socrates was condemned. I shall now solve the question with great +brevity. + +The true answer to this question is given by Plutarch in his treatise of +reading of the poets. Plutarch attempts to prove, that youth is not to +be prohibited the reading of the poets, but to be cautioned against such +parts as may have bad effects. They are first to be prepossessed with +this leading principle, that poetry is false and fabulous. He then +enumerates, at length, the fables which Homer and other poets have +invented about their deities, and concludes thus: "When, therefore, +there is found in poetical compositions any thing strange and shocking, +with respect to gods or demi-gods, or concerning the virtue of any +excellent and renowned characters, he that should receive these fictions +as truth, would be corrupted by an erroneous opinion; but he that always +keeps in his mind the fables and allusions, which it is the business of +poetry to contrive, will not be injured by these stories, nor receive +any ill impressions upon his thoughts, but will be ready to censure +himself, if, at any time, he happens to be afraid, lest Neptune, in his +rage, should split the earth, and lay open the infernal regions." Some +pages afterwards, he tells us, "that religion is a thing difficult of +comprehension, and above the understanding of poets; which it is," says +he, "necessary to have in mind when we read their fables." + +The pagans, therefore, had their fables, which they distinguished from +their religion; for no one can be persuaded that Ovid intended his +Metamorphoses, as a true representation of the religion of the Romans. +The poets were allowed their imaginations about their gods, as things +which have no regard to the publick worship. Upon this principle, I say, +as I said before, there was, amongst the pagans, two sorts of religion; +one a poetical, and the other a real religion; one practical, the other +theatrical; a mythology for the poets, a theology for use. They had +fables, and a worship, which, though founded upon fable, was yet very +different. + +Diagoras, Socrates, Plato, and the philosophers of Athens, with Cicero, +their admirer, and the other pretended wise men of Rome are men by +themselves. These were the atheists with respect to the ancients. We +must not, therefore, look into Plato, or into Cicero, for the real +religion of the pagans, as distinct from the fabulous. These two authors +involve themselves in the clouds, that their opinions may not be +discovered. They durst not openly attack the real religion; but +destroyed it by attacking fable. To distinguish here, with exactness, +the agreement or difference between fable and religion, is not, at +present, my intention. It is not easy[2] to show, with exactness, what +was the Athenian notion of the nature of the gods whom they worshipped. +Plutarch himself tells us, that this was a thing very difficult for the +philosophers. It is sufficient for me that the mythology and theology of +the ancients were different at the bottom; that the names of the gods +continued the same; and that long custom gave up one to the caprices of +the poets, without supposing the other affected by them. This being once +settled upon the authority of the ancients themselves, I am no longer +surprised to see Jupiter, Minerva, Neptune, Bacchus, appear upon the +stage in the comedy of Aristophanes, and, at the same time, receiving +incense in the temples of Athens. This is, in my opinion, the most +reasonable account of a thing so obscure; and I am ready to give up my +system to any other, by which the Athenians shall be made more +consistent with themselves; those Athenians who sat laughing at the gods +of Aristophanes, while they condemned Socrates for having appeared to +despise the gods of his country. + +6. THE MIMI AND PANTOMIMES. + +A word is now to be spoken of the _mimi_, which had some relation to +comedy. This appellation was, by the Greeks and Romans, given to certain +dramatick performances, and to the actors that played them. The +denomination sufficiently shows, that their art consisted in imitation +and buffoonery. Of their works, nothing, or very little, is remaining; +so that they can only be considered, by the help of some passages in +authors, from which little is to be learned that deserves consideration. +I shall extract the substance, as I did with respect to the chorus, +without losing time, by defining all the different species, or producing +all the quotations, which would give the reader more trouble than +instruction. He that desires fuller instructions may read Vossius, +Valois, Saumaises, and Gataker, of whose compilations, however learned, +I should think it shame to be the author. + +The mimi had their original from comedy, of which, at its first +appearance, they made a part; for their mimick actors always played and +exhibited grotesque dances in the comedies. The jealousy of rivalship +afterwards broke them off from the comick actors, and made them a +company by themselves. But to secure their reception, they borrowed from +comedy all its drollery, wildness, grossness, and licentiousness. This +amusement they added to their dances, and they produced what are now +called farces, or burlettas. These farces had not the regularity or +delicacy of comedies; they were only a succession of single scenes, +contrived to raise laughter, formed or unravelled without order, and +without connexion. They had no other end but to make the people laugh. +Now and then there might be good sentences, like the sentences of P. +Syrus, that are yet left us, but the groundwork was low comedy, and any +thing of greater dignity drops in by chance. We must, however, imagine, +that this odd species of the drama rose, at length, to somewhat a higher +character, since we are told that Plato, the philosopher, laid the mimi +of Sophron under his pillow, and they were found there after his death. +But in general we may say, with truth, that it always discovered the +meanness of its original, like a false pretension to nobility, in which +the cheat is always discovered, through the concealment of fictitious +splendour. + +These mimi were of two sorts, of which the length was different, but the +purposes the same. The mimi of one species were short; those of the +other long, and not quite so grotesque. These two kinds were subdivided +into many species, distinguished by the dresses and characters, such as +show drunkards, physicians, men, and women. + +Thus far of the Greeks. The Romans, having borrowed of them the more +noble shows of tragedy and comedy, were not content till they had their +rhapsodies. They had their _planipedes_, who played with flat soles, +that they might have the more agility; and their _sannions_, whose head +was shaved, that they might box the better. There is no need of naming +here all who had a name for these diversions among the Greeks and +Romans. I have said enough, and, perhaps, too much of this abortion of +comedy, which drew upon itself the contempt of good men, the censures of +the magistrates, and the indignation of the fathers of the church[3]. + +Another set of players were called pantomimes: these were, at least, so +far preferable to the former, that they gave no offence to the ears. +They spoke only to the eyes; but with such art of expression, that, +without the utterance of a single word, they represented, as we are +told, a complete tragedy or comedy, in the same manner as dumb harlequin +is exhibited on our theatres. These pantomimes, among the Greeks, first +mingled singing with their dances; afterwards, about the time of Livius +Andronicus, the songs were performed by one part, and the dances by +another. Afterwards, in the time of Augustus, when they were sent for to +Rome, for the diversions of the people, whom he had enslaved, they +played comedies without songs or vocal utterance, but by the +sprightliness, activity, and efficacy of their gestures; or, as Sidonius +Apollinaris expresses it, "clausis faucibus, et loquente gestu." They +not only exhibited things and passions, but even the most delicate +distinctions of passions, and the slightest circumstances of facts. We +must not, however, imagine, at least, in my opinion, that the pantomimes +did literally represent regular tragedies or comedies by the mere +motions of their bodies. We may justly determine, notwithstanding all +their agility, their representations would, at last, be very incomplete: +yet we may suppose, with good reason, that their action was very lively, +and that the art of imitation went great lengths, since it raised the +admiration of the wisest men, and made the people mad with eagerness. +Yet, when we read that one Hylas, the pupil of one Pylades, in the time +of Augustus, divided the applauses of the people with his master, when +they represented Oedipus; or when Juvenal tells us, that Bathillus +played Leda, and other things of the same kind, it is not easy to +believe that a single man, without speaking a word, could exhibit +tragedies or comedies, and make starts and bounds supply the place of +vocal articulation. Notwithstanding the obscurity of this whole matter, +one may know what to admit as certain, or how far a representation could +be carried by dance, posture and grimace. Among these artificial dances, +of which we know nothing but the names, there was, as early as the time +of Aristophanes, some extremely indecent. These were continued in Italy +from the time of Augustus, long after the emperours. It was a publick +mischief, which contributed, in some measure, to the decay and ruin of +the Roman empire. To have a due detestation of those licentious +entertainments, there is no need of any recourse to the fathers; the +wiser pagans tell us, very plainly, what they thought of them. I have +made this mention of the mimi and pantomimes, only to show how the most +noble of publick spectacles were corrupted and abused, and to conduct +the reader to the end through every road, and through all the by-paths +of human wit, from Homer and Eschylus to our own time. + +7. WANDERINGS OF THE HUMAN MIND IN THE BIRTH, AND PROGRESS OF THEATRICAL +REPRESENTATIONS. + +That we may conclude this work by applying the principles laid down at +the beginning, and extended through the whole, I desire the reader to +recur to that point, where I have represented the human mind as +beginning the course of the drama. The chorus was first a hymn to +Bacchus, produced by accident; art brought it to perfection, and delight +made it a publick diversion. Thespis made a single actor play before the +people; this was the beginning of theatrical shows. Eschylus, taking the +idea of the Iliad and Odyssey, animates, if I may so express it, the +epick poem, and gives a dialogue in place of simple recitation; puts the +whole into action, and sets it before the eyes, as if it was a present +and real transaction; he gives the chorus[4] an interest in the scenes; +contrives habits of dignity and theatrical decorations: in a word, he +gives both to Tragedy; or, more properly, draws it from the bosom of the +epick poem. She made her appearance, sparkling with graces, and +displayed such majesty, as gained every heart at the first view. +Sophocles considers her more nearly, with the eyes of a critick, and +finds that she has something still about her rough and swelling; he +divests her of her false ornaments; teaches her a more regular walk, and +more familiar dignity. Euripides was of opinion, that she ought to +receive still more softness and tenderness; he teaches her the new art +of pleasing by simplicity, and gives her the charms of graceful +negligence; so that he makes her stand in suspense, whether she appears +most to advantage in the dress of Sophocles, sparkling with gems, or in +that of Euripides, which is more simple and modest. Both, indeed, are +elegant; but the elegance is of different kinds, between which no +judgment, as yet, has decided the prize of superiority. + +We can now trace it no farther; its progress amongst the Greeks is out +of sight. We must pass at once to the time of Augustus, when Apollo and +the Muses quitted their ancient residence in Greece, to fix their abode +in Italy. But it is vain to ask questions of Melpomene; she is +obstinately silent, and we only know, from strangers, her power amongst +the Romans. Seneca endeavours to make her speak; but the gaudy show, +with which he rather loads than adorns her, makes us think, that he took +some phantom of Melpomene for the Muse herself. + +Another flight, equally rapid with that to Rome, must carry us through +thousands of years, from Rome to France. There, in the time of Lewis the +fourteenth, we see the mind of man giving birth to tragedy a second +time, as if the Greek tragedy had been utterly forgot. In the place of +Eschylus, we have our Rotrou; in Corneille, we have another Sophocles; +and in Racine, a second Euripides. Thus is Tragedy raised from her +ashes, carried to the utmost point of greatness, and so dazzling, that +she prefers herself to herself. Surprised to see herself produced again +in France, in so short a time, and nearly in the same manner as before +in Greece, she is disposed to believe that her fate is to make a short +transition from her birth to her perfection, like the goddess that +issued from the brain of Jupiter. + +If we look back on the other side, to the rise of Comedy, we shall see +her hatched from the Margites, or from the Odyssey of Homer, the +imitation of her eldest sister; but we see her, under the conduct of +Aristophanes, become licentious and petulant, taking airs to herself, +which the magistrates were obliged to crush. Menander reduced her to +bounds, taught her, at once, gaiety and politeness, and enabled her to +correct vice, without shocking the offenders. Plautus, among the Romans, +to whom we must now pass, united the earlier and the later comedy, and +joined buffoonery with delicacy. Terence, who was better instructed, +received comedy from Menander, and surpassed his original, as he +endeavoured to copy it. And lastly, Molière produced a new species of +comedy, which must be placed in a class by itself, in opposition to that +of Aristophanes, whose manner is, likewise, peculiar to himself. + +But such is the weakness of the human mind, that, when we review the +successions of the drama a third time, we find genius falling from its +height, forgetting itself, and led astray by the love of novelty, and +the desire of striking out new paths. Tragedy degenerated, in Greece, +from the time of Aristotle, and, in Rome, after Augustus. At Rome and +Athens, comedy produced mimi, pantomimes, burlettas, tricks, and farces, +for the sake of variety; such is the character, and such the madness of +the mind of man. It is satisfied with having made great conquests, and +gives them up to attempt others which are far from answering its +expectation, and only enable it to discover its own folly, weakness and +deviations. But, why should we be tired with standing still at the true +point of perfection, when it is attained? If eloquence be wearied, and +forgets herself awhile, yet she soon returns to her former point: so +will it happen to our theatres, if the French Muses will keep the Greek +models in their view, and not look, with disdain, upon a stage, whose +mother is nature, whose soul is passion, and whose art is simplicity: a +stage, which, to speak the truth, does not, perhaps, equal ours in +splendour and elevation, but which excels it in simplicity and +propriety, and equals it, at least, in the conduct and direction of +those passions, which may properly affect an honest man and a christian. + +For my part, I shall think myself well recompensed for my labour, and +shall attain the end which I had in view, if I shall, in some little +measure, revive in the minds of those, who purpose to run the round of +polite literature, not an immoderate and blind reverence, but a true +taste of antiquity: such a taste, as both feeds and polishes the mind, +and enriches it, by enabling it to appropriate the wealth of foreigners, +and to exert its natural fertility in exquisite productions; such a +taste as gave the Racines, the Molières, the Boileaus, the Fontaines, +the Patrus, the Pelissons, and many other great geniuses of the last +age, all that they were, and all that they will always be; such a taste, +as puts the seal of immortality to those works in which it is +discovered; a taste, so necessary, that, without it, we may be certain, +that the greatest powers of nature will long continue in a state below +themselves; for no man ought to allow himself to be flattered or +seduced, by the example of some men of genius, who have rather appeared +to despise this taste, than to despise it in reality. It is true, that +excellent originals have given occasion, without any fault of their own, +to very bad copies. No man ought severely to ape either the ancients or +the moderns; but, if it was necessary, to run into an extreme of one +side or the other, which is never done by a judicious and well-directed +mind, it would be better for a wit, as for a painter, to enrich himself +by what he can take from the ancients, than to grow poor by taking all +from his own stock; or openly to affect an imitation of those moderns, +whose more fertile genius has produced beauties, peculiar to themselves, +and which themselves only can display with grace: beauties of that +peculiar kind, that they are not fit to be imitated by others; though, +in those who first invented them, they may be justly esteemed, and in +them only[5]. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] View of the immorality and profaneness of the English stage, by + Jeremy Collier. 1698.--Ed. + +[2] See St. Paul, upon the subject of the Ignoto Deo. + +[3] It is the licentiousness of the mimi and pantomimes, against which + the censure of the holy fathers particularly breaks out, as against + a thing irregular and indecent, without supposing it much connected + with the cause of religion. + +[4] Eschylus, in my opinion, as well as the other poets, his + contemporaries, retained the chorus, not merely because it was the + fashion, but because, examining tragedy to the bottom, they found it + not rational to conceive, that an action, great and splendid, like + the revolution of a state, could pass without witnesses. + +[5] Much light has been thrown on the Greek drama since the labours of + Dr. Johnson, and the père Brumoy. The papers on the subject, in + Cumberland's Observer, Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Literature, + Mr. Mitchell's Dissertations, in his translation of Aristophanes, + and the essays on the Greek Orators and Dramatists, in the Quarterly + Review, may be mentioned as among the most popular attempts to + illustrate this pleasing department of the Belles-Lettres.--Ed. + + + + +DEDICATIONS. + + +Dr. James's Medicinal Dictionary, 3 vols. folio. 1743. + +To Dr. Mead. + +SIR, + +That the Medicinal Dictionary is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only +to your reputation for superiour skill in those sciences, which I have +endeavoured to explain and facilitate; and you are, therefore, to +consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards +of merit; and, if otherwise, as one of the inconveniencies of eminence. + +However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed; because +this publick appeal to your judgment will show, that I do not found my +hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear +his censure least, whose knowledge is most extensive. + +I am, Sir, +Your most obedient, humble servant, +R. JAMES. + + +The Female Quixote. By Mrs. Lennox. 1752. + +To the right hon. the earl of Middlesex. + +MY LORD, + +Such is the power of interest over almost every mind, that no one is +long without arguments to prove any position which is ardently wished to +be true, or to justify any measures which are dictated by inclination. + +By this subtile sophistry of desire, I have been persuaded to hope that +this book may, without impropriety, be inscribed to your lordship; but +am not certain, that my reasons will have the same force upon other +understandings. + +The dread which a writer feels of the publick censure; the still greater +dread of neglect; and the eager wish for support and protection, which +is impressed by the consciousness of imbecility, are unknown to those +who have never adventured into the world; and, I am afraid, my lord, +equally unknown to those who have always found the world ready to +applaud them. + +It is, therefore, not unlikely that the design of this address may be +mistaken, and the effects of my fear imputed to my vanity. They, who see +your lordship's name prefixed to my performance, will rather condemn my +presumption than compassionate my anxiety. + +But, whatever be supposed my motive, the praise of judgment cannot be +denied me; for, to whom can timidity so properly fly for shelter, as to +him who has been so long distinguished for candour and humanity? How can +vanity be so completely gratified, as by the allowed patronage of him, +whose judgment has so long given a standard to the national taste! Or by +what other means could I so powerfully suppress all opposition, but that +of envy, as by declaring myself, + +My lord, + +Your lordship's obliged and +most obedient servant, + +THE AUTHOR. + + +Shakespeare Illustrated; or, the Novels and Histories on which the plays +of Shakespeare are founded; collected and translated from the original +authors. With Critical Remarks. By the author of the Female Quixote. +1753. + +To the right hon. John, earl of Orrery. + +MY LORD, + +I have no other pretence to the honour of a patronage so illustrious as +that of your lordship, than the merit of attempting what has, by some +unaccountable neglect, been hitherto omitted, though absolutely +necessary to a perfect knowledge of the abilities of Shakespeare. + +Among the powers that most conduce to constitute a poet, the first and +most valuable is invention; the highest seems to be that which is able +to produce a series of events. It is easy, when the thread of a story is +once drawn, to diversify it with variety of colours; and when a train of +action is presented to the mind, a little acquaintance with life will +supply circumstances and reflections, and a little knowledge of books +furnish parallels and illustrations. To tell over again a story that has +been told already, and to tell it better than the first author, is no +rare qualification: but to strike out the first hints of a new fable; +hence, to introduce a set of characters so diversified in their several +passions and interests, that from the clashing of this variety may +result many necessary incidents; to make these incidents surprising, and +yet natural, so as to delight the imagination, without shocking the +judgment of a reader; and, finally, to wind up the whole in a pleasing +catastrophe, produced by those very means which seem most likely to +oppose and prevent it, is the utmost effort of the human mind. + +To discover how few of those writers, who profess to recount imaginary +adventures, have been able to produce any thing by their own +imagination, would require too much of that time which your lordship +employs in nobler studies. Of all the novels and romances that wit or +idleness, vanity or indigence, have pushed into the world, there are +very few of which the end cannot be conjectured from the beginning; or +where the authors have done more than to transpose the incidents of +other tales, or strip the circumstances from one event for the +decoration of another. + +In the examination of a poet's character, it is, therefore, first to be +inquired, what degree of invention has been exerted by him. With this +view, I have very diligently read the works of Shakespeare, and now +presume to lay the result of my researches before your lordship, before +that judge whom Pliny himself would have wished for his assessor to hear +a literary cause. + +How much the translation of the following novels will add to the +reputation of Shakespeare, or take away from it, you my lord, and men +learned and candid like you, if any such can be found, must now +determine. Some danger, I am informed, there is, lest his admirers +should think him injured by this attempt, and clamour, as at the +diminution of the honour of that nation, which boasts itself the parent +of so great a poet. + +That no such enemies may arise against me, though I am unwilling to +believe it, I am far from being too confident, for who can fix bounds to +bigotry and folly? My sex, my age, have not given me many opportunities +of mingling in the world. There may be in it many a species of absurdity +which I have never seen, and, among them, such vanity as pleases itself +with false praise bestowed on another, and such superstition as worships +idols, without supposing them to be gods. + +But the truth is, that a very small part of the reputation of this +mighty genius depends upon the naked plot or story of his plays. He +lived in an age, when the books of chivalry were yet popular, and when, +therefore, the minds of his auditors were not accustomed to balance +probabilities, or to examine nicely the proportion between causes and +effects. It was sufficient to recommend a story, that it was far removed +from common life, that its changes were frequent, and its close +pathetick. + +This disposition of the age concurred so happily with the imagination of +Shakespeare, that he had no desire to reform it; and, indeed, to this he +was indebted for the licentious variety, by which he made his plays more +entertaining than those of any other author. + +He had looked, with great attention, on the scenes of nature; but his +chief skill was in human actions, passions, and habits; he was, +therefore, delighted with such tales as afforded numerous incidents, and +exhibited many characters in many changes of situation. These characters +are so copiously diversified, and some of them so justly pursued, that +his works may be considered, as a map of life, a faithful miniature of +human transactions; and he that has read Shakespeare, with attention, +will, perhaps, find little new in the crowded world. + +Among his other excellencies, it ought to be remarked, because it has +hitherto been unnoticed, that his heroes are men; that the love and +hatred, the hopes and fears of his chief personages, are such as are +common to other human beings, and not, like those which later times have +exhibited, peculiar to phantoms that strut upon the stage[1]. + +It is not, perhaps, very necessary to inquire whether the vehicle of so +much delight and instruction, be a story probable or unlikely, native or +foreign. Shakespeare's excellence is not the fiction of a tale, but the +representation of life; and his reputation is, therefore, safe, till +human nature shall be changed. Nor can he, who has so many just claims +to praise, suffer by losing that which ignorant admiration has +unreasonably given him. To calumniate the dead is baseness, and to +flatter them is surely folly. + +From flattery, my lord, either of the dead or the living, I wish to be +clear, and have, therefore, solicited the countenance of a patron, whom, +if I knew how to praise him, I could praise with truth, and have the +world on my side; whose candour and humanity are universally +acknowledged, and whose judgment, perhaps, was then first to be doubted, +when he condescended to admit this address from, + +My lord, +Your lordship's most obliged, +and most obedient, humble servant, + +THE AUTHOR. +[1] See preface to Shakespeare. + + +Payne's Introduction to the Game of Draughts. 1756. + +To the right hon. William Henry, earl of Rochford, &c. + +MY LORD, + +WHEN I take the liberty of addressing to your lordship a treatise on the +game of draughts, I easily foresee, that I shall be in danger of +suffering ridicule on one part, while I am gaining honour on the other; +and that many, who may envy me the distinction of approaching you, will +deride the present I presume to offer. + +Had I considered this little volume, as having no purpose beyond that of +teaching a game, I should, indeed, have left it to take its fate without +a patron. Triflers may find or make any thing a trifle; but, since it is +the great characteristick of a wise man to see events in their causes, +to obviate consequences, and ascertain contingencies, your lordship will +think nothing a trifle, by which the mind is inured to caution, +foresight, and circumspection. The same skill, and often the same degree +of skill, is exerted in great and little things; and your lordship may, +sometimes, exercise, on a harmless game[1], those abilities which have +been so happily employed in the service of your country. + +I am, my lord, +Your lordship's most obliged, most obedient, +and most humble servant, + +WILLIAM PAYNE. + +[1] The game of draughts, we know, is peculiarly calculated to fix the + attention, without straining it. There is a composure and gravity in + draughts, which insensibly tranquillises the mind; and, accordingly, + the Dutch are fond of it, as they are of smoking, of the sedative + influence of which, though he himself (Dr. Johnson) never smoked, he + had a high opinion.--Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. 3rd edit. p. + 48. + + +The Evangelical History of Jesus Christ harmonized, explained and +illustrated[1]. 2 vols. 8vo. 1758. + +To the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in parliament +assembled. + +That we are fallen upon an age in which corruption is barely not +universal, is universally confessed. Venality sculks no longer in the +dark, but snatches the bribe in publick; and prostitution issues forth +without shame, glittering with the ornaments of successful wickedness. +Rapine preys on the publick without opposition, and perjury betrays it +without inquiry. Irreligion is not only avowed, but boasted; and the +pestilence that used to walk in darkness, is now destroying at noonday. + +Shall this be the state of the English nation; and shall her lawgivers +behold it without regard? Must the torrent continue to roll on, till it +shall sweep us into the gulf of perdition? Surely there will come a +time, when the careless shall be frighted, and the sluggish shall be +roused; when every passion shall be put upon the guard by the dread of +general depravity; when he who laughs at wickedness in his companion, +shall start from it in his child; when the man who fears not for his +soul, shall tremble for his possessions; when it shall be discovered +that religion only can secure the rich from robbery, and the poor from +oppression; can defend the state from treachery, and the throne from +assassination. + +If this time be ever to come, let it come quickly: a few years longer, +and, perhaps, all endeavours will be vain: we may be swallowed by an +earthquake; we may be delivered to our enemies, or abandoned to that +discord, which must inevitably prevail among men that have lost all +sense of divine superintendence, and have no higher motive of action or +forbearance, than present opinion of present interest. + +It is the duty of private men to supplicate and propose; it is yours to +hear and to do right. Let religion be once more restored, and the nation +shall once more be great and happy. This consequence is not far distant: +that nation must always be powerful, where every man performs his duty; +and every man will perform his duty, that considers himself, as a being +whose condition is to be settled to all eternity by the laws of Christ. + +The only doctrine by which man can be made "wise unto salvation," is the +will of God, revealed in the books of the Old and the New Testament. + +To study the scriptures, therefore, according to his abilities and +attainments, is every man's duty; and to facilitate that study, to those +whom nature hath made weak, or education has left ignorant, or +indispensable cares detain from regular processes of inquiry, is the +business of those who have been blessed with abilities and learning, and +are appointed the instructers of the lower classes of men, by that +common Father, who distributes to all created beings their +qualifications and employments; who has allotted some to the labour of +the hand, and some to the exercise of the mind; has commanded some to +teach, and others to learn; has prescribed to some the patience of +instruction, and to others the meekness of obedience. + +By what methods the unenlightened and ignorant may be made proper +readers of the word of God, has been long and diligently considered. +Commentaries of all kinds have, indeed, been copiously produced; but +there still remain multitudes to whom the labours of the learned are of +little use, for whom expositions require an expositor. To those, indeed, +who read the divine books, without vain curiosity, or a desire to be +wise beyond their powers, it will always be easy to discern the straight +path, to find the words of everlasting life. But such is the condition +of our nature, that we are always attempting what is difficult to +perform: he who reads the scripture to gain goodness, is desirous, +likewise, to gain knowledge, and by his impatience of ignorance, falls +into errour. + +This danger has appeared to the doctors of the Romish church, so much to +be feared, and so difficult to be escaped, that they have snatched the +bible out of the hands of the people, and confined the liberty of +perusing it to those whom literature has previously qualified. By this +expedient they have formed a kind of uniformity, I am afraid, too much +like that of colours in the dark; but they have, certainly, usurped a +power which God has never given them, and precluded great numbers from +the highest spiritual consolation. + +I know not whether this prohibition has not brought upon them an evil +which they themselves have not discovered. It is granted, I believe, by +the Romanists themselves, that the best commentaries on the bible have +been the works of protestants. I know not, indeed, whether, since the +celebrated paraphrase of Erasmus, any scholar has appeared amongst them, +whose works are much valued, even in his own communion. Why have those +who excel in every other kind of knowledge, to whom the world owes much +of the increase of light, which has shone upon these latter ages, +failed, and failed only, when they have attempted to explain the +scriptures of God? Why, but, because they are in the church less read, +and less examined; because they have another rule of deciding +controversies and instituting laws. + +Of the bible, some of the books are prophetical; some doctrinal and +historical, as the gospels, of which we have, in the subsequent pages, +attempted an illustration. The books of the evangelists contain an +account of the life of our blessed Saviour, more particularly of the +years of his ministry, interspersed with his precepts, doctrines, and +predictions. Each of these histories contains facts, and dictates +related, likewise, in the rest, that the truth might be established by +concurrence of testimony; and each has, likewise, facts and dictates +which the rest omit, to prove that they were wrote without +communication. + +These writers, not affecting the exactness of chronologers, and, +relating various events of the same life, or the same events with +various circumstances, have some difficulties to him, who, without the +help of many books, desires to collect a series of the acts and precepts +of Jesus Christ; fully to know his life, whose example was given for our +imitation; fully to understand his precepts, which it is sure +destruction to disobey. + +In this work, therefore, an attempt has been made, by the help of +harmonists and expositors, to reduce the four gospels into one series of +narration; to form a complete history out of the different narratives of +the evangelists, by inserting every event in the order of time, and +connecting every precept of life and doctrine, with the occasion on +which it was delivered; showing, as far as history or the knowledge of +ancient customs can inform us, the reason and propriety of every action; +and explaining, or endeavouring to explain, every precept and +declaration in its true meaning. + +Let it not be hastily concluded, that we intend to substitute this book +for the gospels, or to obtrude our own expositions as the oracles of +God. We recommend to the unlearned reader to consult us, when he finds +any difficulty, as men who have laboured not to deceive ourselves, and +who are without any temptation to deceive him; but as men, however, +that, while they mean best, may be mistaken. Let him be careful, +therefore, to distinguish what we cite from the gospels, from what we +offer as our own: he will find many difficulties removed; and, if some +yet remain, let him remember that, "God is in heaven and we upon earth," +that, "our thoughts are not God's thoughts," and that the great cure of +doubt is an humble mind[2]. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The dedication to this work has been so confidently attributed to + Dr. Johnson, and so constantly inserted among his productions, that + it is given in the present edition. But Mr. Boswell was of opinion, + that it was not Johnson's composition. "He was no _croaker_," + observes his friendly biographer, "no declaimer against the _times_. + He would not have written, 'That we are fallen upon an age, in which + corruption is not barely universal, is universally confessed.' Nor, + 'rapine preys on the publick without opposition, and perjury betrays + it without injury.' Nor would he, to excite a speedy reformation, + have conjured up such phantoms as these: 'A few years longer, and, + perhaps, all endeavours will be in vain. We may be swallowed by an + earthquake, we may be delivered to our enemies.'" "This is not + Johnsonian," is Mr. Boswell's inference, iv. p. 423. note.--Ed. + +[2] "My doctrine is not mine," said the Divine Founder of our religion, + "but his that sent me. If any man will _do_ his will, he shall + _know_ of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of + myself." St. John, vii. 16, 17. --Ed. + + +Angell's Stenography, or Shorthand improved. 1758. + +To the most noble Charles duke of Richmond, Lennox, Aubigny, &c. + +May it please Your Grace, + +The improvement of arts and sciences has always been esteemed laudable: +and, in proportion to their utility and advantage to mankind, they have +generally gained the patronage of persons the most distinguished for +birth, learning, and reputation in the world. This is an art, +undoubtedly, of publick utility, and which has been cultivated by +persons of distinguished abilities, as will appear from its history. +But, as most of their systems have been defective, clogged with a +multiplicity of rules, and perplexed by arbitrary, intricate, and +impracticable schemes, I have endeavoured to rectify their defects, to +adapt it to all capacities, and render it of general, lasting, and +extensive benefit. How this is effected the following plates will +sufficiently explain, to which I have prefixed a suitable introduction, +and a concise and impartial history of the origin and progressive +improvements of this art. And, as I have submitted the whole to the +inspection of accurate judges, whose approbation I am honoured with, I +most humbly crave leave to publish it to the world, under your grace's +patronage: not merely on account of your great dignity and high rank in +life, though these receive a lustre from your grace's humanity; but also +from a knowledge of your grace's disposition to encourage every useful +art, and favour all true promoters of science. That your grace may long +live the friend of learning, the guardian of liberty, and the patron of +virtue, and then transmit your name, with the highest honour and esteem, +to latest posterity, is the ardent wish of + +Your grace's most humble, &c.[1] +[1] This is the dedication mentioned by Dr. Johnson himself in + Boswell's Life, vol. ii. 226. I should not else have suspected what + has so little of his manner. + + +Baretti's Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages. 2 vols. 4to. +1760. + +To his excellency Don Felix, marquis of Abreu and Bertodano, ambassadour +extraordinary and plenipotentiary from his Catholick Majesty to the king +of Great Britain. + +My Lord, + +That acuteness of penetration into characters and designs, and that nice +discernment of human passions and practices, which have raised you to +your present height of station and dignity of employment, have long +shown you that dedicatory addresses are written for the sake of the +author more frequently than of the patron; and, though they profess only +reverence and zeal, are commonly dictated by interest or vanity. I +shall, therefore, not endeavour to conceal my motives, but confess, that +the Italian Dictionary is dedicated to your excellency, that I might +gratify my vanity, by making it known, that, in a country where I am a +stranger, I have been able, without any external recommendation, to +obtain the notice and countenance of a nobleman so eminent for knowledge +and ability, that, in his twenty-third year, he was sent as +plenipotentiary to superintend, at Aix la Chapelle, the interests of a +nation remarkable, above all others, for gravity and prudence; and who, +at an age when very few are admitted to publick trust, transacts the +most important affairs between two of the greatest monarchs of the +world. + +If I could attribute to my own merits the favours which your excellency +every day confers upon me, I know not how much my pride might be +inflamed; but, when I observe the extensive benevolence and boundless +liberality, by which all who have the honour to approach you are +dismissed more happy than they come, I am afraid of raising my own +value, since I dare not ascribe it so much to my power of pleasing as +your willingness to be pleased. + +Yet, as every man is inclined to flatter himself, I am desirous to hope, +that I am not admitted to greater intimacy than others, without some +qualifications for so advantageous a distinction, and shall think it my +duty to justify, by constant respect and sincerity, the favours which +you have been pleased to show me. + +I am, my lord, +Your excellency's most humble +and most obedient servant, + +J. BARETTI. + +London, Jan. 12, 1760. + + +A complete System of Astronomical Chronology, unfolding the Scriptures. +By John Kennedy, rector of Bradley, in Derbyshire. 4to. 1762. + +To the King. + +Sir, + +Having by long labour, and diligent inquiry, endeavoured to illustrate +and establish the chronology of the bible, I hope to be pardoned the +ambition of inscribing my work to your majesty. + +An age of war is not often an age of learning; the tumult and anxiety of +military preparations seldom leave attention vacant to the silent +progress of study, and the placid conquests of investigation; yet, +surely, a vindication of the inspired writers can never be unseasonably +offered to the defender of the faith; nor can it ever be improper to +promote that religion, without which all other blessings are snares of +destruction; without which armies cannot make us safe, nor victories +make us happy. + +I am far from imagining that my testimony can add any thing to the +honours of your majesty, to the splendour of a reign crowned with +triumphs, to the beauty of a life dignified by virtue. I can only wish, +that your reign may long continue such as it has begun, and that the +effulgence of your example may spread its light through distant ages, +till it shall be the highest praise of any future monarch, that he +exhibits some resemblance of GEORGE THE THIRD. + +I am, Sir, +Your majesty's, &c. + +JOHN KENNEDY. + + +Hoole's translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. 1763. + +To the Queen. + +Madam, + +To approach the high and the illustrious has been, in all ages, the +privilege of poets; and though translations cannot justly claim the same +honour, yet they naturally follow their authors as attendants; and I +hope that, in return for having enabled Tasso to diffuse his fame +through the British dominions, I may be introduced by him to the +presence of your majesty. + +Tasso has a peculiar claim to your majesty's favour, as follower and +panegyrist of the house of Este, which has one common ancestor with the +house of Hanover; and, in reviewing his life, it is not easy to forbear +a wish, that he had lived in a happier time, when he might, among the +descendants of that illustrious family, have found a more liberal and +potent patronage. + +I cannot but observe, Madam, how unequally reward is proportioned to +merit, when I reflect that the happiness which was withheld from Tasso, +is reserved for me; and that the poem which once hardly procured to its +author the countenance of the princes of Ferrara, has attracted to its +translator the favourable notice of a British queen. + +Had this been the fate of Tasso, he would have been able to have +celebrated the condescension of your majesty in nobler language, but +could not have felt it with more ardent gratitude, than, + +Madam, + +Your majesty's most faithful +and devoted servant. + + +London and Westminster Improved. Illustrated by Plans. +4to. 1766. + +To the King. + +Sir, + +The patronage of works which have a tendency towards advancing the +happiness of mankind, naturally belongs to great princes; and publick +good, in which publick elegance is comprised, has ever been the object +of your majesty's regard. + +In the following pages your majesty, I flatter myself, will find, that I +have endeavoured at extensive and general usefulness. Knowing, +therefore, your majesty's early attention to the polite arts, and more +particular affection for the study of architecture, I was encouraged to +hope, that the work which I now presume to lay before your majesty, +might be thought not unworthy your royal favour; and that the protection +which your majesty always affords to those who mean well, may be +extended to, + +Sir, + +Your majesty's most dutiful subject, +and most obedient and most humble servant, + +JOHN GWYNN. + + +The English Works of Roger Ascham, edited by James Bennet. 4to. 1767. + +To the right hon. Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, baron +Ashley, lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum of Dorsetshire, F.R.S. + +My Lord, + +Having endeavoured, by an elegant and useful edition, to recover the +esteem of the publick to an author undeservedly neglected, the only care +which I now owe to his memory, is that of inscribing his works to a +patron, whose acknowledged eminence of character may awaken attention, +and attract regard. + +I have not suffered the zeal of an editor so far to take possession of +my mind, as that I should obtrude upon your lordship any productions +unsuitable to the dignity of your rank or of your sentiments. Ascham was +not only the chief ornament of a celebrated college, but visited foreign +countries, frequented courts, and lived in familiarity with statesmen +and princes; not only instructed scholars in literature, but formed +Elizabeth to empire. + +To propagate the works of such a writer will not be unworthy of your +lordship's patriotism; for I know not, what greater benefits you can +confer on your country, than that of preserving worthy names from +oblivion, by joining them with your own. + +I am, my lord, +Your lordship's most obliged, +most obedient, and most humble servant, + +JAMES BENNET. + + +Adams's Treatise on the Globes. 1767. + +To the King. + +Sir, + +It is the privilege of real greatness not to be afraid of diminution by +condescending to the notice of little things; and I, therefore, can +boldly solicit the patronage of your majesty to the humble labours by +which I have endeavoured to improve the instruments of science, and make +the globes, on which the earth and sky are delineated, less defective in +their construction, and less difficult in their use. + +Geography is, in a peculiar manner, the science of princes. When a +private student revolves the terraqueous globe, he beholds a succession +of countries, in which he has no more interest, than in the imaginary +regions of Jupiter and Saturn: but your majesty must contemplate the +scientifick picture with other sentiments; and consider, as oceans and +continents are rolling before you, how large a part of mankind is now +waiting on your determinations, and may receive benefits, or suffer +evils, as your influence is extended or withdrawn. + +The provinces, which your majesty's arms have added to your dominions, +make no inconsiderable part of the orb allotted to human beings. Your +power is acknowledged by nations, whose names we know not yet how to +write, and whose boundaries we cannot yet describe. But your majesty's +lenity and beneficence give us reason to expect the time, when science +shall be advanced by the diffusion of happiness; when the deserts of +America shall become pervious and safe; when those who are now +restrained by fear shall be attracted by reverence; and multitudes, who +now range the woods for prey, and live at the mercy of winds and +seasons, shall, by the paternal care of your majesty, enjoy the plenty +of cultivated lands, the pleasures of society, the security of law, and +the light of revelation. + +I am, Sir, + +Your majesty's most humble, most obedient, +and most dutiful subject and servant, + +GEORGE ADAMS. + + +Bishop Zachary Pearce's Posthumous Works, 2 vols. 4to. Published by the +Rev. Mr. Derby. 1777. + +To the King. + +Sir, + +I presume to lay before your majesty, the last labours of a learned +bishop, who died in the toils and duties of his calling. He is now +beyond the reach of all earthly honours and rewards; and only the hope +of inciting others to imitate him, makes it now fit to be remembered, +that he enjoyed in his life the favour of your majesty. + +The tumultuary life of princes seldom permits them to survey the wide +extent of national interest without losing sight of private merit; to +exhibit qualities which may be imitated by the highest and the humblest +of mankind; and to be at once amiable and great. + +Such characters, if now and then they appear in history, are +contemplated with admiration. May it be the ambition of all your +subjects to make haste with their tribute of reverence: and, as +posterity may learn from your majesty how kings should live, may they +learn, likewise, from your people, how they should be honoured. + +I am, may it please your majesty, +with the most profound respect, + +Your majesty's most dutiful and devoted +subject and servant. + + + + +PREFACE TO NEW TABLES OF INTEREST: + +Designed to answer, in the most correct and expeditious manner, the +common purposes of business, particularly the business of the publick +funds. + + +BY JOHN PAYNE, OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND. 1758. + +Among the writers of fiction, whose business is to furnish that +entertainment which fancy perpetually demands, it is a standing plea, +that the beauties of nature are now exhausted; that imitation has +exerted all its power; and that nothing more can be done for the service +of their mistress, than to exhibit a perpetual transposition of known +objects, and draw new pictures, not by introducing new images, but by +giving new lights and shades, a new arrangement and colouring to the +old. This plea has been cheerfully admitted; and fancy, led by the hand +of a skilful guide, treads over again the flowery path she has often +trod before, as much enamoured with every new diversification of the +same prospect, as with the first appearance of it. + +In the regions of science, however, there is not the same indulgence: +the understanding and the judgment travel there in the pursuit of Truth, +whom they always expect to find in one simple form, free from the +disguises of dress and ornament: and, as they travel with laborious step +and a fixed eye, they are content to stop, when the shades of night +darken the prospect, and patiently wait the radiance of a new morning, +to lead them forward in the path they have chosen, which, however +thorny, or however steep, is severely preferred to the most pleasing +excursions that bring them no nearer to the object of their search. The +plea, therefore, that nature is exhausted, and that nothing is left to +gratify the mind, but different combinations of the same ideas, when +urged as a reason for multiplying unnecessary labours, among the sons of +science, is not so readily admitted: the understanding, when in +possession of truth, is satisfied with the simple acquisition; and not, +like fancy, inclined to wander after new pleasures, in the +diversification of objects already known, which, perhaps, may lead to +errour. + +But, notwithstanding this general disinclination to accumulate labours, +for the sake of that pleasure which arises merely from different modes +of investigating truth, yet, as the mines of science have been +diligently opened, and their treasures widely diffused, there may be +parts chosen, which, by a proper combination and arrangement, may +contribute not only to entertainment but use; like the rays of the sun, +collected in a concave mirror, to serve particular purposes of light and +heat. + +The power of arithmetical numbers has been tried to a vast extent, and +variously applied to the improvement both of business and science. In +particular, so many calculations have been made, with respect to the +value and use of money, that some serve only for speculation and +amusement; and there is great opportunity for selecting a few that are +peculiarly adapted to common business, and the daily interchanges of +property among men. Those which happen in the publick funds are, at this +time, the most frequent and numerous; and to answer the purposes of that +business, in some degree, more perfectly than has hitherto been done, +the following tables are published. What that degree of perfection above +other tables of the same kind may be, is a matter, not of opinion and +taste, in which many might vary, but of accuracy and usefulness, with +respect to which most will agree. The approbation they meet with will, +therefore, depend upon the experience of those for whom they were +principally designed, the proprietors of the publick funds, and the +brokers who transact the business of the funds, to whose patronage they +are cheerfully committed. + +Among the brokers of stocks are men of great honour and probity, who are +candid and open in all their transactions, and incapable of mean and +selfish purposes; and it is to be lamented, that a market of such +importance, as the present state of this nation has made theirs, should +be brought into any discredit by the intrusion of bad men, who, instead +of serving their country, and procuring an honest subsistence in the +army or the fleet, endeavour to maintain luxurious tables, and splendid +equipages, by sporting with the publick credit. + +It is not long, since the evil of stockjobbing was risen to such an +enormous height, as to threaten great injury to every actual proprietor, +particularly, to many widows and orphans, who, being bound to depend +upon the funds for their whole subsistence, could not possibly retreat +from the approaching danger. But this evil, after many unsuccessful +attempts of the legislature to conquer it, was, like many others, at +length subdued by its own violence; and the reputable stockbrokers seem +now to have it in their power effectually to prevent its return, by not +suffering the most distant approaches of it to take footing in their own +practice, and by opposing every effort made for its recovery by the +desperate sons of fortune, who, not having the courage of highwaymen +take 'Change-alley rather than the road, because, though more injurious +than highwaymen, they are less in danger of punishment by the loss +either of liberty or life. + +With respect to the other patrons, to whose encouragement these tables +have been recommended, the proprietors of the publick funds, who are +busy in the improvement of their fortunes, it is sufficient to say--that +no motive can sanctify the accumulation of wealth, but an ardent desire +to make the most honourable and virtuous use of it, by contributing to +the support of good government, the increase of arts and industry, the +rewards of genius and virtue, and the relief of wretchedness and want. + + What good, what true, what fit we justly call, + Let this be all our care--for this is all; + To lay this treasure up, and hoard with haste + What ev'ry day will want, and most the last. + This done, the poorest can no wants endure; + And this not done, the richest must be poor. POPE. + + + + +THOUGHTS ON THE CORONATION +OF HIS PRESENT MAJESTY, +KING GEORGE THE THIRD; + +Or, reasons offered against confining the procession to the usual track, +and pointing out others more commodious and proper. To which are +prefixed, a plan of the different paths recommended, with the parts +adjacent, and a sketch of the procession.--Most humbly submitted to +consideration[1]. + +All pomp is instituted for the sake of the publick. A show without +spectators can no longer be a show. Magnificence in obscurity is equally +vain with a sundial in the grave. + +As the wisdom of our ancestors has appointed a very splendid and +ceremonious inauguration of our kings, their intention was, that they +should receive their crown with such awful rites, as might for ever +impress upon them a due sense of the duties which they were to take, +when the happiness of nations is put into their hands; and that the +people, as many as can possibly be witnesses to any single act, should +openly acknowledge their sovereign by universal homage. + +By the late method of conducting the coronation, all these purposes have +been defeated. Our kings, with their train, have crept to the temple +through obscure passages; and the crown has been worn out of sight of +the people. + +Of the multitudes, whom loyalty or curiosity brought together, the +greater part has returned without a single glimpse of their prince's +grandeur, and the day that opened with festivity ended in discontent. + +This evil has proceeded from the narrowness and shortness of the way, +through which the procession has lately passed. As it is narrow, it +admits of very few spectators; as it is short, it is soon passed. The +first part of the train reaches the Abbey, before the whole has left the +palace; and the nobility of England, in their robes of state, display +their riches only to themselves. + +All this inconvenience may be easily avoided by choosing a wider and +longer course, which may be again enlarged and varied by going one way, +and returning another. This is not without a precedent; for, not to +inquire into the practice of remoter princes, the procession of Charles +the second's coronation issued from the Tower, and passed through the +whole length of the city to Whitehall[2]. + +The path in the late coronations has been only from Westminster hall, +along New Palace yard, into Union street, through the extreme end of +King street, and to the Abbey door, by the way of St. Margaret's church +yard. + +The paths which I propose the procession to pass through, are, + +1. From St. James's palace, along Pall Mall and Charing Cross, by +Whitehall, through Parliament street, down Bridge street, into King +street, round St. Margaret's church-yard, and from thence into the +Abbey. + +2. From St. James's palace across the canal, into the Birdcage walk, +from thence into Great George street, then turning down Long ditch, (the +Gate house previously to be taken down,) proceed to the Abbey. Or, + +3. Continuing the course along George street, into King street, and by +the way of St. Margaret's church yard, to pass into the west door of the +Abbey. + +4. From St. James's palace, the usual way his majesty passes to the +House of Lords, as far as to the parade, when, leaving the horse guards +on the left, proceed along the Park, up to Great George street, and pass +to the Abbey in either of the tracks last mentioned. + +5. From Westminster hall into Parliament street, down Bridge street, +along Great George street, through Long ditch, (the Gate house, as +before observed, to be taken down,) and so on to the west door of the +Abbey. + +6. From Whitehall up Parliament street, down Bridge street, into King +street, round St. Margaret's church yard, proceed into the Abbey. + +7. From the House of Lords along St. Margaret's street, across New +Palace yard, into Parliament street, and from thence to the Abbey by the +way last mentioned. + +But if, on no account, the path must be extended to any of the lengths +here recommended, I could wish, rather than see the procession confined +to the old way, that it should pass, + +8. From Westminster hall along Palace yard, into Parliament street, and +continued in the last mentioned path, viz. through Bridge street, King +street, and round the church yard, to the west door of the cathedral. + +9. The return from the Abbey, in either case, to be as usual, viz. round +St. Margaret's church yard, into King street, through Union street, +along New Palace yard, and so into Westminster hall. + +It is almost indifferent which of the six first ways, now proposed, be +taken; but there is a stronger reason than mere convenience for changing +the common course. Some of the streets in the old track are so ruinous, +that there is danger lest the houses, loaded as they will be with +people, all pressing forward in the same direction, should fall down +upon the procession. The least evil that can be expected is, that in so +close a crowd, some will be trampled upon, and others smothered; and, +surely, a pomp that costs a single life is too dearly bought. The new +streets, as they are more extensive, will afford place to greater +numbers, with less danger. + +In this proposal, I do not foresee any objection that can reasonably be +made. That a longer march will require more time, is not to be +mentioned, as implying any defect in a scheme, of which the whole +purpose is to lengthen the march, and protract the time. The longest +course, which I have proposed, is not equal to an hour's walk in the +Park. The labour is not such, as that the king should refuse it to his +people, or the nobility grudge it to the king. Queen Anne went from the +palace through the Park to the Hall, on the day of her coronation; and, +when old and infirm, used to pass, on solemn thanksgivings, from the +palace to St. Paul's church[3]. + +Part of my scheme supposes the demolition of the Gate house, a building; +so offensive, that, without any occasional reason, it ought to be pulled +down, for it disgraces the present magnificence of the capital, and is a +continual nuisance to neighbours and passengers. + +A longer course of scaffolding is, doubtless, more expensive than a +shorter; but, it is hoped, that the time is now passed, when any design +was received or rejected, according to the money that it would cost. +Magnificence cannot be cheap, for what is cheap cannot be magnificent. +The money that is so spent, is spent at home, and the king will receive +again what he lays out on the pleasure of his people. Nor is it to be +omitted, that, if the cost be considered as expended by the publick, +much more will be saved than lost; for the excessive prices, at which +windows and tops of houses are now let, will be abated; not only greater +numbers will be admitted to the show, but each will come at a cheaper +rate. + +Some regulations are necessary, whatever track be chosen. The scaffold +ought to be raised at least four feet, with rails high enough to support +the standers, and yet so low as not to hinder the view. + +It would add much to the gratification of the people, if the horse +guards, by which all our processions have been of late encumbered, and +rendered dangerous to the multitude, were to be left behind at the +coronation; and if, contrary to the desires of the people, the +procession must pass in the old track, that the number of foot soldiers +be diminished; since it cannot but offend every Englishman to see troops +of soldiers placed between him and his sovereign, as if they were the +most honourable of the people, or the king required guards to secure his +person from his subjects. As their station makes them think themselves +important, their insolence is always such as may be expected from +servile authority; and the impatience of the people, under such +immediate oppression, always produces quarrels, tumults, and mischief. + +FOOTNOTES: +[1] First printed in the year 1761. + +[2] The king went early in the morning to the Tower of London in his + coach, most of the lords being there before. And about ten of the + clock they set forward towards Whitehall, ranged in that order as + the heralds had appointed; those of the long robe, the king's + council at law, the masters of the chancery and judges, going first, + and so the lords in their order, very splendidly habited, on rich + footcloths; the number of their footmen being limited, to the dukes + ten, to the lords eight, and to the viscounts six, and to the barons + four, all richly clad, as their other servants were. The whole show + was the most glorious, in the order and expense, that had been ever + seen in England: they who rode first being in Fleet street when the + king issued out of the Tower, as was known by the discharge of the + ordnance: and it was near three of the clock in the afternoon, when + the king alighted at Whitehall. The next morning the king rode in + the same state in his robes, and with his crown on his head, and all + the lords in their robes to Westminster hall; where all the ensigns + for the coronation were delivered to those who were appointed to + carry them, the earl of Northumberland being made high constable, + and the earl of Suffolk, earl marshal, for the day. And then all the + lords in their order, and the king himself, walked on foot, upon + blue cloth, from Westminster hall to the Abbey church, where, after + a sermon preached by Dr. Morley, (then bishop of Worcester,) in + Henry the seventh's chapel, the king was sworn, crowned, and + anointed, by Dr. Juxon, archbishop of Canterbury, with all the + solemnity that in those cases had been used. All which being done, + the king returned in the same manner on foot to Westminster hall, + which was adorned with rich hangings and statues; and there the king + dined, and the lords on either side, at tables provided for them: + and all other ceremonies were performed with great order and + magnificence.--Life of lord Clarendon, p. 187. + +[3] In order to convey to the reader some idea, how highly parade and + magnificence were estimated by our ancestors, on these solemn + occasions, I shall take notice of the manner of conducting lady Anne + Boleyn from Greenwich, previous to her coronation, as it is recited + by Stow. + + King Henry the eighth (says that historian) having divorced queen + Catherine, and married Anne Boleyn, or Boloine, who was descended + from Godfrey Boloine, mayor of the city of London, and intending her + coronation, sent to order the lord mayor, not only to make all the + preparations necessary for conducting his royal consort from + Greenwich, by water, to the Tower of London but to adorn the city + after the most magnificent manner, for her passage through it to + Westminster. + + In obedience to the royal precept, the mayor and common council not + only ordered the company of haberdashers, of which the lord mayor + was a member, to prepare a magnificent state barge; but enjoined all + the city corporations to provide themselves with barges, and to + adorn them in the most superb manner, and especially to have them + supplied with good bands of music. + + On the 29th of May, the time prefixed for this pompous procession by + water the mayor, aldermen, and commons, assembled at St. Mary hill; + the mayor and aldermen in scarlet, with gold chains, and those who + were knights, with the collars of SS. At one they went on board the + city barge at Billingsgate, which was most magnificently decorated, + and attended by fifty noble barges, belonging to the several + companies of the city, with each its own corporation on board; and, + for the better regulation of this procession, it was ordered, that + each barge should keep twice their lengths asunder. + + Thus regulated, the city barge was preceded by another mounted with + ordnance, and the figures of dragons, and other monsters, + incessantly emitting fire and smoke, with much noise. Then the city + barge, attended on the right by the haberdashers' state barge, + called the bachelors', which was covered with gold brocade, and + adorned with sails of silk, with two rich standards of the king's + and queen's arms at her head and stern, besides a variety of flags + and streamers, containing the arms of that company, and those of the + merchant adventurers; besides which, the shrouds and ratlines were + hung with a number of small bells: on the left was a barge that + contained a very beautiful mount, on which stood a white falcon + crowned, perched upon a golden stump, enriched with roses, being the + queen's emblem; and round the mount sat several beautiful virgins, + singing, and playing upon instruments. The other barges followed, in + regular order, till they came below Greenwich. On their return the + procession began with that barge which was before the last, in which + were the mayor's and sheriff's officers, and this was followed by + those of the inferior companies, ascending to the lord mayor's, + which immediately preceded that of the queen, who was attended by + the bachelors' or state barge, with the magnificence of which her + majesty was much delighted; and being arrived at the Tower, she + returned the lord mayor and aldermen thanks, for the pomp with which + she had been conducted thither. + + Two days after, the lord mayor, in a gown of crimson velvet, and a + rich collar of SS, attended by the sheriffs, and two domestics in + red and white damask, went to receive the queen at the Tower of + London, whence the sheriffs returned to see that every thing was in + order. The streets were just before new gravelled, from the Tower to + Temple-bar, and railed in on each side, to the intent that the + horses should not slide on the pavement, nor the people be hurt by + the horses; within the rails near Gracechurch, stood a body of + Anseatic merchants, and next to them the several corporations of the + city, in their formalities, reaching to the alderman's station at + the upper end of Cheapside. On the opposite side were placed the + city constables, dressed in silk and velvet, with staffs in their + hands, to prevent the breaking in of the mob, or any other + disturbance. On this occasion, Gracechurch street and Corn hill were + hung with crimson and scarlet cloth, and the sides of the houses of + a place then called Goldsmiths' row, in Cheapside, were adorned with + gold brocades, velvet, and rich tapestry. + + The procession began from the Tower, with twelve of the French + ambassador's domestics in blue velvet, the trappings of their horses + being blue sarsnet, interspersed with white crosses; after whom + marched those of the equestrian order, two and two, followed by + judges in their robes, two and two; then came the knights of the + bath in violet gowns, purfled with menever. Next came the abbots, + barons, bishops, earls, and marquises, in their robes, two and two. + + Then the lord chancellor, followed by the Venetian ambassador and + the archbishop of York; next the French ambassador and the + archbishop of Canterbury, followed by two gentlemen representing the + dukes of Normandy and Aquitain; after whom rode the lord mayor of + London with his mace, and garter in his coat of arms; then the duke + of Suffolk, lord high steward, followed by the deputy marshal of + England, and all the other officers of state in their robes, + carrying the symbols of their several offices: then others of the + nobility in crimson velvet, and all the queen's officers in scarlet, + followed by her chancellor uncovered, who immediately preceded his + mistress. + + The queen was dressed in silver brocade, with a mantle of the same + furred with ermine; her hair was dishevelled, and she wore a chaplet + upon her head set with jewels of inestimable value. She sat in a + litter covered with silver tissue, and carried by two beautiful pads + cloathed in white damask, and led by her footmen. Over the litter + was carried a canopy of cloth of gold, with a silver bell at each + corner, supported by sixteen knights alternately, by four at a time. + + After her majesty came her chamberlain, followed by her master of + horse, leading a beautiful pad, with a side-saddle, and trappings of + silver tissue. Next came seven ladies in crimson velvet, faced with + gold brocade, mounted on beautiful horses with gold trappings. Then + followed two chariots covered with cloth of gold, in the first of + which were the duchess of Norfolk and the marchioness of Dorset, and + in the second four ladies in crimson velvet; then followed seven + ladies dressed in the same manner, on horseback, with magnificent + trappings, followed by another chariot all in white, with six ladies + in crimson velvet; this was followed by another all in red, with + eight ladies in the same dress with the former; next came thirty + gentlewomen, attendants to the ladies of honour; they were on + horseback, dressed in silks and velvet; and the cavalcade was closed + by the horse guards. + + This pompous procession being arrived in Fenchurch street, the queen + stopped at a beautiful pageant, crowded with children in mercantile + habits, who congratulated her majesty upon the joyful occasion of + her happy arrival in the city. + + Thence she proceeded to Gracechurch corner, where was erected a very + magnificent pageant, at the expense of the company of Anseatic + merchants, in which was represented mount Parnassus, with the + fountain of Helicon, of white marble, out of which arose four + springs, about four feet high, centering at the top in a small + globe, from whence issued plenty of Rhenish wine till night. On the + mount sat Apollo, at his feet was Calliope, and beneath were the + rest of the Muses, surrounding the mount, and playing upon a variety + of musical instruments, at whose feet were inscribed several + epigrams suited to the occasion, in letters of gold. + + Her majesty then proceeded to Leadenhall, where stood a pageant, + representing a hill encompassed with red and white roses; and above + it was a golden stump, upon which a white falcon, descending from + above, perched, and was quickly followed by an angel, who put a + crown of gold upon his head. A little lower on the hillock sat St. + Anne, surrounded by her progeny, one of whom made an oration, in + which was a wish that her majesty might prove extremely prolific. + + The procession then advanced to the conduit in Corn hill, where the + Graces sat enthroned, with a fountain before them, incessantly + discharging wine; and underneath, a poet, who described the + qualities peculiar to each of these amiable deities, and presented + the queen with their several gifts. + + The cavalcade thence proceeded to a great conduit that stood + opposite to Mercers' hall in Cheapside, and, upon that occasion, was + painted with a variety of emblems, and during the solemnity and + remaining part of the day, ran with different sorts of wine, for the + entertainment of the populace. + + At the end of Wood street, the standard there was finely embellished + with royal portraitures and a number of flags, on which were painted + coats of arms and trophies, and above was a concert of vocal and + instrumental music. + + At the upper end of Cheapside was the aldermen's station, where the + recorder addressed the queen in a very elegant oration, and, in the + name of the citizens, presented her with a thousand marks, in a + purse of gold tissue, which her majesty very gracefully received. + + At a small distance, by Cheapside conduit, was a pageant, in which + were seated Minerva, Juno, and Venus; before whom stood the god + Mercury, who, in their names, presented the queen a golden apple. + + At St. Paul's gate was a fine pageant, in which sat three ladies + richly dressed, with each a chaplet on her head, and a tablet in her + hand, containing Latin inscriptions. + + At the east end of St. Paul's cathedral, the queen was entertained + by some of the scholars belonging to St. Paul's school, with verses + in praise of the king and her majesty, with which she seemed highly + delighted. + + Thence proceeding to Ludgate, which was finely decorated, her + majesty was entertained with several songs adapted to the occasion, + sung in concert by men and boys upon the leads over the gate. + + At the end of Shoe lane, in Fleet street, a handsome tower with four + turrets, was erected upon the conduit, in each of which stood one of + the cardinal virtues, with their several symbols; who, addressing + themselves to the queen, promised they would never leave her, but be + always her constant attendants. Within the tower was an excellent + concert of music, and the conduit all the while ran with various + sorts of wine. + + At Temple-bar she was again entertained with songs, sung in concert + by a choir of men and boys; and having from thence proceeded to + Westminster, she returned the lord mayor thanks for his good + offices, and those of the citizens, that day. The day after, the + lord mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs, assisted at the coronation, + which was performed with great splendour.--Stow's Annals. + + _Note_. The same historian informs us, that queen Elizabeth passed + in the like manner, through the city, to her coronation. + + The admirers of the descriptions of pageants may be amply gratified + in Henry's History of England. The field of the cloth of gold shines + "luna inter minora sidera."--Ed. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE ARTISTS' CATALOGUE, FOR 1762. + +The publick may justly require to be informed of the nature and extent +of every design, for which the favour of the publick is openly +solicited. The artists, who were themselves the first projectors of an +exhibition in this nation, and who have now contributed to the following +catalogue, think it, therefore, necessary to explain their purpose, and +justify their conduct. An exhibition of the works of art, being a +spectacle new in this kingdom, has raised various opinions and +conjectures, among those who are unacquainted with the practice in +foreign nations. Those who set out their performances to general view, +have been too often considered as the rivals of each other, as men +actuated, if not by avarice, at least by vanity, and contending for +superiority of fame, though not for a pecuniary prize: it cannot be +denied or doubted, that all who offer themselves to criticism are +desirous of praise; this desire is not only innocent, but virtuous, +while it is undebased by artifice, and unpolluted by envy, and of envy +or artifice these men can never be accused, who, already enjoying all +the honours and profits of their profession, are content to stand +candidates for publick notice, with genius yet unexperienced, and +diligence yet unrewarded; who, without any hope of increasing their own +reputation or interest, expose their names and their works, only that +they may furnish an opportunity of appearance to the young, the +diffident, and the neglected. The purpose of this exhibition is not to +enrich the artists, but to advance the art; the eminent are not +flattered with preference, nor the obscure insulted with contempt; +whoever hopes to deserve publick favour, is here invited to display his +merit. + +Of the price put upon this exhibition, some account may be demanded. +Whoever sets his work to be shown, naturally desires a multitude of +spectators; but his desire defeats its own end, when spectators assemble +in such numbers as to obstruct one another. Though we are far from +wishing to diminish the pleasures, or depreciate the sentiments of any +class of the community, we know, however, what every one knows, that all +cannot be judges or purchasers of works of art; yet we have already +found, by experience, that all are desirous to see an exhibition. When +the terms of admission were low, our room was thronged with such +multitudes as made access dangerous, and frightened away those whose +approbation was most desired. + +Yet, because it is seldom believed that money is got but for the love of +money, we shall tell the use which we intend to make of our expected +profits. + +Many artists of great abilities are unable to sell their works for their +due price; to remove this inconvenience, an annual sale will be +appointed, to which every man may send his works, and send them, if he +will, without his name. These works will be reviewed by the committee +that conduct the exhibition. A price will be secretly set on every +piece, and registered by the secretary. If the piece exposed is sold for +more, the whole price shall be the artist's; but if the purchaser's +value is at less than the committee, the artist shall be paid the +deficiency from the profits of the exhibition. + + + + +OPINIONS ON QUESTIONS OF LAW. + +The following opinions on cases of law may be regarded as among the +strongest proofs of Johnson's enlarged powers of mind, and of his +ability to grapple with subjects, on general principles, with whose +technicalities he could not be familiar. Of law, as a science, he ever +expressed the deepest admiration, and an author who combines an accurate +knowledge of the practical details of jurisprudence with the most +philosophical views of legal principles, has quoted Dr. Johnson, as +pronouncing the study of law "the last effort of human intelligence +acting upon human experience." We allude to the eloquent and excellent +Sir James Mackintosh's Discourse on the Study of the Law of Nature and +Nations, p. 58. Lord Bacon, in his two books on the Advancement of +Learning, has affirmed, that professed lawyers are not the best law +authors; and the comprehensive and lucid opinions which Dr. Johnson has +here given, and which, in many instances, have been subsequently +sanctioned by legislative authority, seem to establish the remark. + +The first Case in the present edition, involves an ingenious defence of +the right of abridgment, founded on considerations on Dr. Trapp's +celebrated sermons "on the nature, folly, sin, and danger of being +righteous over-much." These discourses, about the year 1739, when +methodism was a novelty, attracted much attention. Mr. Cave, always +anxious to gratify his readers, abridged and extracted parts from them, +and promised a continuation. This never appeared; stopped, perhaps, by +threats of prosecution on the part of the original publishers of the +sermons. It was, in all probability, on this occasion, that Dr. Johnson +wrote the following paper.--Gent. Mag. July, 1787. It is a subject with +whose bearings he might be presumed to be practically conversant; and, +accordingly, we find, in his memoirs, many recorded arguments of his, on +literary property. They uniformly exhibit the most enlarged and liberal +views--a readiness to sacrifice private considerations to publick and +general good. He wished the author to be adequately remunerated for his +labour, and tenderly protected from spoliation, but, by no means, +encouraged in monopoly. See Boswell's Life, i. ii. iv. + + + +CONSIDERATIONS ON THE +CASE OF DR. T[RAPP]'S SERMONS. + +ABRIDGED BY MR. CAVE, 1739. + +1. That the copy of a book is the property of the author, and that he +may, by sale, or otherwise, transfer that property to another, who has a +right to be protected in the possession of that property, so +transferred, is not to be denied. + +2. That the complainants may be lawfully invested with the property of +this copy, is likewise granted. + +3. But the complainants have mistaken the nature of this property; and, +in consequence of their mistake, have supposed it to be invaded by an +act, in itself legal, and justifiable by an uninterrupted series of +precedents, from the first establishment of printing, among us, down to +the present time. + +4. He that purchases the copy of a book, purchases the sole right of +printing it, and of vending the books printed according to it; but has +no right to add to it, or take from it, without the author's consent, +who still preserves such a right in it, as follows from the right every +man has to preserve his own reputation. + +5. Every single book, so sold by the proprietor, becomes the property of +the buyer, who purchases, with the book, the right of making such use of +it as he shall think most convenient, either for his own improvement or +amusement, or the benefit or entertainment of mankind. + +6. This right the reader of a book may use, many ways, to the +disadvantage both of the author and the proprietor, which yet they have +not any right to complain of, because the author when he wrote, and the +proprietor when he purchased the copy, knew, or ought to have known, +that the one wrote, and the other purchased, under the hazard of such +treatment from the buyer and reader, and without any security from the +bad consequences of that treatment, except the excellence of the book. + +7. Reputation and property are of different kinds; one kind of each is +more necessary to be secured by the law than another, and the law has +provided more effectually for its defence. My character as a man, a +subject, or a trader, is under the protection of the law; but my +reputation, as an author, is at the mercy of the reader, who lies under +no other obligations to do me justice than those of religion and +morality. If a man calls me rebel or bankrupt, I may prosecute and +punish him; but, if a man calls me ideot or plagiary, I have no remedy; +since, by selling him the book, I admit his privilege of judging, and +declaring his judgment, and can appeal only to other readers, if I think +myself injured. + +8. In different characters we are more or less protected; to hiss a +pleader at the bar would, perhaps, be deemed illegal and punishable, but +to hiss a dramatick writer is justifiable by custom. + +9. What is here said of the writer, extends itself naturally to the +purchaser of a copy, since the one seldom suffers without the other. + +10. By these liberties it is obvious, that authors and proprietors may +often suffer, and sometimes unjustly: but as these liberties are +encouraged and allowed for the same reason with writing itself, for the +discovery and propagation of truth, though, like other human goods, they +have their alloys and ill consequences; yet, as their advantages +abundantly preponderate, they have never yet been abolished or +restrained. + +11. Thus every book, when it falls into the hands of the reader, is +liable to be examined, confuted, censured, translated, and abridged; any +of which may destroy the credit of the author, or hinder the sale of the +book. + +12. That all these liberties are allowed, and cannot be prohibited +without manifest disadvantage to the publick, may be easily proved; but +we shall confine ourselves to the liberty of making epitomes, which +gives occasion to our present inquiry. + +13. That an uninterrupted prescription confers a right, will be easily +granted, especially if it appears that the prescription, pleaded in +defence of that right, might at any time have been interrupted, had it +not been always thought agreeable to reason and to justice. + +14. The numberless abridgments that are to be found of all kinds of +writings, afford sufficient evidence that they were always thought +legal, for they are printed with the names of the abbreviators and +publishers, and without the least appearance of a clandestine +transaction. Many of the books, so abridged, were the properties of men +who wanted neither wealth, nor interest, nor spirit, to sue for justice, +if they had thought themselves injured. Many of these abridgments must +have been made by men whom we can least suspect of illegal practices, +for there are few books of late that are not abridged. + +15. When bishop Burnet heard that his History of the Reformation was +about to be abridged, he did not think of appealing to the court of +chancery; but, to avoid any misrepresentation of his history, epitomised +it himself, as he tells us in his preface. + +16. But, lest it should be imagined that an author might do this rather +by choice than necessity, we shall produce two more instances of the +like practice, where it would certainly not have been borne, if it had +been suspected of illegality. The one, in Clarendon's History, which was +abridged, in 2 vols. 8vo.; and the other in bishop Burnet's History of +his Own Time, abridged in the same manner. The first of these books was +the property of the university of Oxford, a body tenacious enough of +their rights; the other, of bishop Burnet's heirs, whose circumstances +were such as made them very sensible of any diminution of their +inheritance. + +17. It is observable, that both these abridgments last mentioned, with +many others that might be produced, were made when the act of parliament +for securing the property of copies was in force, and which, if that +property was injured, afforded an easy redress: what then can be +inferred from the silence and forbearance of the proprietors, but that +they thought an epitome of a book no violation of the right of the +proprietor? + +18. That their opinion, so contrary to their own interest, was founded +in reason, will appear from the nature and end of an abridgment. + +19. The design of an abridgment is, to benefit mankind by facilitating +the attainment of knowledge; and by contracting arguments, relations, or +descriptions, into a narrow compass, to convey instruction in the +easiest method, without fatiguing the attention, burdening the memory, +or impairing the health of the student. + +20. By this method the original author becomes, perhaps, of less value, +and the proprietor's profits are diminished; but these inconveniencies +give way to the advantage received by mankind, from the easier +propagation of knowledge; for as an incorrect book is lawfully +criticised, and false assertions justly confuted, because it is more the +interest of mankind, that errour should be detected, and truth +discovered, than that the proprietors of a particular book should enjoy +their profits undiminished; so a tedious volume may, no less lawfully, +be abridged, because it is better that the proprietors should suffer +some damage, than that the acquisition of knowledge should be obstructed +with unnecessary difficulties, and the valuable hours of thousands +thrown away. + +21. Therefore, as he that buys the copy of a book, buys it under this +condition, that it is liable to be confuted, if it is false, however his +property may be affected by such a confutation; so he buys it, likewise, +liable to be abridged, if it be tedious, however his property may suffer +by the abridgment. + +22. To abridge a book, therefore, is no violation of the right of the +proprietor, because to be subject to the hazard of an abridgment was an +original condition of the property. + +23. Thus we see the right of abridging authors established both by +reason and the customs of trade. But, perhaps, the necessity of this +practice may appear more evident, from a consideration of the +consequences that must probably follow from the prohibition of it. + +24. If abridgments be condemned, as injurious to the proprietor of the +copy, where will this argument end? Must not confutations be, likewise, +prohibited for the same reason? Or, in writings of entertainment, will +not criticisms, at least, be entirely suppressed, as equally hurtful to +the proprietor, and certainly not more necessary to the publick? + +25. Will not authors, who write for pay, and who are rewarded, commonly, +according to the bulk of their work, be tempted to fill their works with +superfluities and digressions, when the dread of an abridgment is taken +away, as doubtless more negligences would be committed, and more +falsehoods published, if men were not restrained by the fear of censure +and confutation? + +26. How many useful works will the busy, the indolent, and the less +wealthy part of mankind be deprived of! How few will read or purchase +forty-four large volumes of the transactions of the royal society, +which, in abridgment, are generally read, to the great improvement of +philosophy! + +27. How must general systems of sciences be written, which are nothing +more than epitomes of those authors who have written on particular +branches, and those works are made less necessary by such collections! +Can he that destroys the profit of many copies be less criminal than he +that lessens the sale of one? + +28. Even to confute an erroneous book will become more difficult, since +it has always been a custom to abridge the author whose assertions are +examined, and, sometimes, to transcribe all the essential parts of his +book. Must an inquirer after truth be debarred from the benefit of such +confutations, unless he purchases the book, however useless, that gave +occasion to the answer? + +29. Having thus endeavoured to prove the legality of abridgments from +custom from reason, it remains only that we show, that we have not +printed the complainant's copy, but abridged it[1]. + +30. This will need no proof, since it will appear, upon comparing the +two books, that we have reduced thirty-seven pages to thirteen of the +same print. + +31. Our design is, to give our readers a short view of the present +controversy; and we require, that one of these two positions be proved, +either that we have no right to exhibit such a view, or that we can +exhibit it, without epitomising the writers of each party. + +[1] A fair and bona fide abridgment of any book is considered a new +work; and however it may injure the sale of the original, yet it is not +deemed, in law, to be a piracy, or violation of the author's copyright. +1 Bro. 451. 2. Atk. 141. and Mr. Christian's note on the Commentaries, +ii. 407.--Ed. + + + +ON SCHOOL CHASTISEMENT. + +[The following argument, on school chastisement, was dictated to Mr. +Boswell, who was counsel in the case. It originated in 1772, when a +schoolmaster at Campbelltown was deprived, by a court of inferior +jurisdiction, of his office, for alleged cruelty to his scholars. The +court of session restored him. The parents or friends, whose weak +indulgence had listened to their children's complaints in the first +stage, now appealed to the house of lords, who reversed the decree of +the court of session, and the schoolmaster was, accordingly, deprived of +his situation, April 14, 1772.--Boswell, ii.] + +The charge is, that this schoolmaster has used immoderate and cruel +correction. Correction, in itself, is not cruel; children, being not +reasonable, can be governed only by fear. To impress this fear is, +therefore, one of the first duties of those who have the care of +children. It is the duty of a parent; and has never been thought +inconsistent with parental tenderness. It is the duty of a master, who +is in his highest exaltation, when he is "loco parentis[1]." Yet, as +good things become evil by excess, correction, by being immoderate, may +become cruel. But, when is correction immoderate? When it is more +frequent or more severe than is required, "ad monendum et docendum," for +reformation and instruction. No severity is cruel which obstinacy makes +necessary; for the greatest cruelty would be to desist, and leave the +scholar too careless for instruction, and too much hardened for reproof. +Locke, in his Treatise of Education, mentions a mother, with applause, +who whipped an infant eight times before she had subdued it; for, had +she stopped at the seventh act of correction, her daughter, says he, +would have been ruined. The degrees of obstinacy in young minds are very +different; as different must be the degrees of persevering severity. A +stubborn scholar must be corrected, till he is subdued. The discipline +of a school is military. There must be either unbounded license, or +absolute authority. The master, who punishes, not only consults the +future happiness of him who is the immediate subject of correction, but +he propagates obedience through the whole school; and establishes +regularity by exemplary justice. The victorious obstinacy of a single +boy, would make his future endeavours of reformation or instruction +totally ineffectual. Obstinacy, therefore, must never be victorious. +Yet, it is well known that there, sometimes, occurs a sullen and hardy +resolution, that laughs at all common punishment, and bids defiance to +all common degrees of pain. Correction must be proportionate to +occasions. The flexible will be reformed by gentle discipline, and the +refractory must be subdued by harsher methods. The degrees of +scholastick, as of military punishment, no stated rules can ascertain. +It must be enforced till it overpowers temptation; till stubbornness +become flexible, and perverseness regular. Custom and reason have, +indeed, set some bounds to scholastick penalties. The schoolmaster +inflicts no capital punishments; nor enforces his edicts by either death +or mutilation. The civil law has wisely determined, that a master who +strikes at a scholar's eye shall be considered as criminal. But +punishments, however severe, that produce no lasting evil, may be just +and reasonable, because they may be necessary. Such have been the +punishments used by the respondent. No scholar has gone from him either +blind or lame, or with any of his limbs or powers injured or impaired. +They were irregular, and he punished them; they were obstinate, and he +enforced his punishment. But, however provoked, he never exceeded the +limits of moderation, for he inflicted nothing beyond present pain; and +how much of that was required, no man is so little able to determine as +those who have determined against him--the parents of the offenders. It +has been said, that he used unprecedented and improper instruments of +correction. Of this accusation the meaning is not very easy to be found. +No instrument of correction is more proper than another, but as it is +better adapted to produce present pain, without lasting mischief. +Whatever were his instruments, no lasting mischief has ensued; and, +therefore, however unusual, in hands so cautious, they were proper. It +has been objected, that the respondent admits the charge of cruelty, by +producing no evidence to confute it. Let it be considered, that his +scholars are either dispersed at large in the world, or continue to +inhabit the place in which they were bred. Those who are dispersed +cannot be found; those who remain are the sons of his prosecutors, and +are not likely to support a man to whom their fathers are enemies. If it +be supposed that the enmity of their fathers proves the justness of the +charge, it must be considered how often experience shows us, that men +who are angry on one ground will accuse on another; with how little +kindness, in a town of low trade, a man who lives by learning is +regarded; and how implicitly, where the inhabitants are not very rich, a +rich man is hearkened to and followed. In a place like Campbelltown, it +is easy for one of the principal inhabitants to make a party. It is easy +for that party to heat themselves with imaginary grievances. It is easy +for them to oppress a man poorer than themselves; and natural to assert +the dignity of riches, by persisting in oppression. The argument which +attempts to prove the impropriety of restoring him to the school, by +alleging that he has lost the confidence of the people, is not the +subject of juridical consideration; for he is to suffer, if he must +suffer, not for their judgment, but for his own actions. It may be +convenient for them to have another master; but it is a convenience of +their own making. It would be, likewise, convenient for him to find +another school; but this convenience he cannot obtain. The question is +not, what is now convenient, but what is generally right. If the people +of Campbelltown be distressed by the restoration of the respondent, they +are distressed only by their own fault; by turbulent passions and +unreasonable desires; by tyranny, which law has defeated, and by malice, +which virtue has surmounted. + +[1] See Blackstone's Comment, i. 453. + + + +VITIOUS INTROMISSION. + +[This argument cannot be better prefaced than by Mr. Boswell's own +exposition of the law of vitious intromission. He was himself an +advocate at the Scotch bar, and of counsel in this case. "It was held of +old, and continued for a long period, to be an established principle in +Scotch law, that whoever intermeddled with the effects of a person +deceased, without the interposition of legal authority to guard against +embezzlement, should be subjected to pay all the debts of the deceased, +as having been guilty of what was technically called _vitious +intromission_. The court of session had, gradually, relaxed the +strictness of this principle, where an interference proved had been +inconsiderable. In the case of Wilson against Smith and Armour, in the +year 1772, I had laboured to persuade the judge to return to the ancient +law. It was my own sincere opinion, that they ought to adhere to it; but +I had exhausted all my powers of reasoning in vain. Johnson thought as I +did; and in order to assist me in my application to the court, for a +revision and alteration of the judgment, he dictated to me the following +argument."--Boswell, ii. 200.] + +This, we are told, is a law which has its force only from the long +practice of the court; and may, therefore, be suspended or modified as +the court shall think proper. + +Concerning the power of the court, to make or to suspend a law, we have +no intention to inquire. It is sufficient, for our purpose, that every +just law is dictated by reason, and that the practice of every legal +court is regulated by equity. It is the quality of reason, to be +invariable and constant; and of equity, to give to one man what, in the +same case, is given to another. The advantage which humanity derives +from law is this: that the law gives every man a rule of action, and +prescribes a mode of conduct which shall entitle him to the support and +protection of society. That the law may be a rule of action, it is +necessary that it be known; it is necessary that it be permanent and +stable. The law is the measure of civil right; but, if the measure be +changeable, the extent of the thing measured never can be settled. + +To permit a law to be modified at discretion, is to leave the community +without law. It is to withdraw the direction of that publick wisdom, by +which the deficiencies of private understanding are to be supplied. It +is to suffer the rash and ignorant to act at discretion, and then to +depend for the legality of that action on the sentence of the judge. He +that is thus governed lives not by law, but by opinion; not by a certain +rule, to which he can apply his intention before he acts, but by an +uncertain and variable opinion, which he can-never know but after he has +committed the act, on which that opinion shall be passed. He lives by a +law, if a law it be, which he can never know her fore he has offended +it. To this case may be justly applied that important principle, "misera +est servitus ubi jus est aut incognitum aut vagum." If intromission be +not criminal, till it exceeds a certain point, and that point be +unsettled, and, consequently, different in different minds, the right of +intromission, and the right of the creditor arising from it, are all +_jura vaga_, and, by consequence, are _jura incognita_; and the result +can be no other than a _misera servitus_, an uncertainty concerning the +event of action, a servile dependance on private opinion. + +It may be urged, and with great plausibility, that there may be +intromission without fraud; which, however true, will by no means +justify an occasional and arbitrary relaxation of the law. The end of +law is protection, as well as vengeance. Indeed, vengeance is never used +but to strengthen protection. That society only is well governed, where +life is freed from danger and from suspicion; where possession is so +sheltered by salutary prohibitions, that violation is prevented more +frequently than punished. Such a prohibition was this, while it operated +with its original force. The creditor of the deceased was not only +without loss, but without fear. He was not to seek a remedy for an +injury suffered; for injury was warded off. + +As the law has been sometimes administered, it lays us open to wounds, +because it is imagined to have the power of healing. To punish fraud, +when it is detected, is the proper art of vindictive justice; but to +prevent frauds, and make punishment unnecessary, is the great employment +of legislative wisdom. To permit intromission, and to punish fraud, is +to make law no better than a pitfall. To tread upon the brink is safe; +but to come a step further is destruction. But, surely, it is better to +enclose the gulf, and hinder all access, than by encouraging us to +advance a little, to entice us afterwards a little further, and let us +perceive our folly only by our destruction. + +As law supplies the weak with adventitious strength, it likewise +enlightens the ignorant with extrinsick understanding. Law teaches us to +know when we commit injury and when we suffer it. It fixes certain marks +upon actions, by which we are admonished to do or to forbear them. "Qui +sibi bene temperat in licitis," says one of the fathers, "nunquam cadet +in illicita:" he who never intromits at all, will never intromit with +fraudulent intentions. + +The relaxation of the law against vitious intromission has been very +favourably represented by a great master of jurisprudence[1], whose +words have been exhibited with unnecessary pomp, and seem to be +considered as irresistibly decisive. The great moment of his authority +makes it necessary to examine his position: 'Some ages ago,' says he, +'before the ferocity of the inhabitants of this part of the island was +subdued, the utmost severity of the civil law was necessary, to restrain +individuals from plundering each other. Thus, the man who intermeddled +irregularly with the moveables of a person deceased, was subjected to +all the debts of the deceased, without limitation. This makes a branch +of the law of Scotland, known by the name of vitious intromission: and +so rigidly was this regulation applied in our courts of law, that the +most trifling moveable abstracted mala fide, subjected the intermeddler +to the foregoing consequences, which proved, in many instances, a most +rigorous punishment. But this severity was necessary, in order to subdue +the undisciplined nature of our people. It is extremely remarkable, +that, in proportion to our improvement in manners, this regulation has +been gradually softened, and applied by our sovereign court with a +sparing hand.' + +I find myself under the necessity of observing, that this learned and +judicious writer has not accurately distinguished the deficiencies and +demands of the different conditions of human life, which, from a degree +of savageness and independence, in which all laws are vain, passes, or +may pass, by innumerable gradations, to a state of reciprocal benignity, +in which laws shall be no longer necessary. Men are first wild and +unsocial, living each man to himself, taking from the weak, and losing +to the strong. In their first coalitions of society, much of this +original savageness is retained. Of general happiness, the product of +general confidence, there is yet no thought. Men continue to prosecute +their own advantages by the nearest way; and the utmost severity of the +civil law is necessary to restrain individuals from plundering each +other. The restraints then necessary, are restraints from plunder, from +acts of publick violence, and undisguised oppression. The ferocity of +our ancestors, as of all other nations, produced not fraud, but rapine. +They had not yet learned to cheat, and attempted only to rob. As manners +grow more polished, with the knowledge of good, men attain, likewise, +dexterity in evil. Open rapine becomes less frequent, and violence gives +way to cunning. Those who before invaded pastures and stormed houses, +now begin to enrich themselves by unequal contracts and fraudulent +intromissions. + +It is not against the violence of ferocity, but the circumventions of +deceit, that this law was framed; and, I am afraid, the increase of +commerce, and the incessant struggle for riches, which commerce excites, +give us no prospect of an end speedily to be expected of artifice and +fraud. It, therefore, seems to be no very conclusive reasoning, which +connects those two propositions:--'the nation is become less ferocious, +and, therefore, the laws against fraud and covin shall be relaxed.' + +Whatever reason may have influenced the judges to a relaxation of the +law, it was not that the nation was grown less fierce; and, I am afraid, +it cannot be affirmed, that it is grown less fraudulent. + +Since this law has been represented as rigorously and unreasonably +penal, it seems not improper to consider, what are the conditions and +qualities that make the justice or propriety of a penal law. + +To make a penal law reasonable and just, two conditions are necessary, +and two proper. It is necessary that the law should be adequate to its +end; that, if it be observed, it shall prevent the evil against which it +is directed. It is, secondly, necessary that the end of the law be of +such importance as to deserve the security of a penal sanction. The +other conditions of a penal law, which, though not absolutely necessary, +are, to a very high degree, fit, are, that to the moral violation of the +law there are many temptations, and, that of the physical observance +there is great facility. + +All these conditions apparently concur to justify the law which we are +now considering. Its end is the security of property, and property very +often of great value. The method by which it effects the security is +efficacious, because it admits, in its original rigour, no gradations of +injury; but keeps guilt and innocence apart, by a distinct and definite +limitation. He that intromits, is criminal; he that intromits not, is +innocent. Of the two secondary considerations it cannot be denied that +both are in our favour. The temptation to intromit is frequent and +strong; so strong, and so frequent, as to require the utmost activity of +justice, and vigilance of caution, to withstand its prevalence: and the +method by which a man may entitle himself to legal intromission, is so +open and so facile, that to neglect it is a proof of fraudulent +intention; for why should a man omit to do (but for reasons which he +will not confess) that which he can do so easily, and that which he +knows to be required by the law? If temptation were rare, a penal law +might be deemed unnecessary. If the duty, enjoined by the law, were of +difficult performance, omission, though it could not be justified, might +be pitied. But in the present case, neither equity nor compassion +operate against it. An useful, a necessary law is broken, not only +without a reasonable motive, but with all the inducements to obedience +that can be derived from safety and facility. + +I, therefore, return to my original position, that a law, to have its +effects, must be permanent and stable. It may be said, in the language +of the schools, "lex non recipit majus et minus;" we may have a law, or +we may have no law, but we cannot have half a law. We must either have a +rule of action, or be permitted to act by discretion and by chance. +Deviations from the law must be uniformly punished, or no man can be +certain when he shall be safe. + +That from the rigour of the original institution this court has +sometimes departed, cannot be denied. But as it is evident that such +deviations as they, make law uncertain, make life unsafe, I hope, that +of departing from it there will now be an end; that the wisdom of our +ancestors will be treated with due reverence; and that consistent and +steady decisions will furnish the people with a rule of action, and +leave fraud and fraudulent intromissions no future hope of impunity or +escape[2]. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Lord Kames, in his Historical Law Tracts. + +[2] "This masterly argument on vitious intromission, after being + prefaced and concluded with some sentences of my own," says Mr. + Boswell, "and garnished with the usual formularies, was actually + printed, and laid before the lords of session, but without + success."--Boswell, ii. 207. + + + +ON LAY PATRONAGE IN THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. + +[Dr. Johnson has treated this delicate and difficult subject with +unusual acuteness. As Mr. Boswell has recorded the argument, we will +make use, once more, of his words to introduce it; observing, by the +way, that it did not convince Mr. Boswell's own mind, who was himself a +lay patron. "I introduced a question which has been much agitated in the +church of Scotland, whether the claim of lay patrons to present +ministers to parishes be well founded; and, supposing it to be well +founded, whether it ought to be exercised without the concurrence of the +people? That church is composed of a series of judicatures; a +presbytery, a synod, and, finally, a general assembly; before all of +which this matter may be contended; and, in some cases, the presbytery +having refused to induct or _settle_, as they call it, the person +presented by the patron, it has been found necessary to appeal to the +general assembly. Johnson said, I might see the subject well treated in +the Defence of Pluralities; and although he thought that a patron should +exercise his right with tenderness to the inclinations of the people of +a parish, he was very clear as to his right. Then supposing the question +to be pleaded before the general assembly, he dictated to me what +follows."--Boswell, ii. 248.] + +Against the right of patrons is commonly opposed, by the inferiour +judicatures, the plea of conscience. Their conscience tells them, that +the people ought to choose their pastor; their conscience tells them, +that they ought not to impose upon a congregation a minister ungrateful +and unacceptable to his auditors. Conscience is nothing more than a +conviction, felt by ourselves, of something to be done, or something to +be avoided; and in questions of simple unperplexed morality, conscience +is very often a guide that may be trusted. But before conscience can +determine, the state of the question is supposed to be completely known. +In questions of law, or of fact, conscience is very often confounded +with opinion. No man's conscience can tell him the rights of another +man; they must be known by rational investigation, or historical +inquiry. Opinion, which he that holds it may call his conscience, may +teach some men that religion would be promoted, and quiet preserved, by +granting to the people universally the choice of their ministers. But it +is a conscience very ill informed that violates the rights of one man, +for the convenience of another. Religion cannot be promoted by +injustice: and it was never yet found that a popular election was very +quietly transacted. + +That justice would be violated by transferring to the people the right +of patronage, is apparent to all who know whence that right had its +original. The right of patronage was not at first a privilege torn by +power from unresisting poverty. It is not an authority, at first usurped +in times of ignorance, and established only by succession and by +precedents. It is not a grant capriciously made from a higher tyrant to +a lower. It is a right dearly purchased by the first possessours, and +justly inherited by those that succeed them. When Christianity was +established in this island, a regular mode of worship was prescribed. +Publick worship requires a publick place; and the proprietors of lands, +as they were converted, built churches for their families and their +vassals. For the maintenance of ministers they settled a certain portion +of their lands; and a district, through which each minister was required +to extend his care, was, by that circumscription, constituted a parish. +This is a position so generally received in England, that the extent of +a manor and of a parish are regularly received for each other. The +churches which the proprietors of lands had thus built and thus endowed, +they justly thought themselves entitled to provide with ministers; and, +where the episcopal government prevails, the bishop has no power to +reject a man nominated by the patron, but for some crime that might +exclude him from the priesthood. For, the endowment of the church being +the gift of the landlord, he was, consequently, at liberty to give it, +according to his choice, to any man capable of performing the holy +offices. The people did not choose him, because the people did not pay +him. + +We hear it sometimes urged, that this original right is passed out of +memory, and is obliterated and obscured by many translations of property +and changes of government; that scarce any church is now in the hands of +the heirs of the builders; and that the present persons have entered +subsequently upon the pretended rights by a thousand accidental and +unknown causes. Much of this, perhaps, is true. But how is the right of +patronage extinguished? If the right followed the lands, it is +possessed, by the same equity by which the lands are possessed. It is, +in effect, part of the manor, and protected by the same laws with every +other privilege. Let us suppose an estate forfeited by treason, and +granted by the crown to a new family. With the lands were forfeited all +the rights appendant to those lands; by the same power that grants the +lands, the rights also are granted. The right, lost to the patron, falls +not to the people, but is either retained by the crown, or, what to the +people is the same thing, is by the crown given away. Let it change +hands ever so often, it is possessed by him that receives it, with the +same right as it was conveyed. It may, indeed, like all our possessions, +be forcibly seized or fraudulently obtained. But no injury is still done +to the people; for what they never had, they have never lost. Caius may +usurp the right of Titius, but neither Caius nor Titius injure the +people; and no man's conscience, however tender or however active, can +prompt him to restore what may be proved to have been never taken away. +Supposing, what I think cannot be proved, that a popular election of +ministers were to be desired, our desires are not the measure of equity. +It were to be desired, that power should be only in the hands of the +merciful, and riches in the possession of the generous; but the law must +leave both riches and power where it finds them; and must often leave +riches with the covetous, and power with the cruel. Convenience may be a +rule in little things, where no other rule has been established. But, as +the great end of government is to give every man his own, no +inconvenience is greater than that of making right uncertain. Nor is any +man more an enemy to publick peace, than he who fills weak heads with +imaginary claims, and breaks the series of civil subordination, by +inciting the lower classes of mankind to encroach upon the higher. + +Having thus shown that the right of patronage, being originally +purchased, may be legally transferred, and that it is now in the hands +of lawful possessours, at least as certainly as any other right, we have +left the advocates of the people no other plea than that of convenience. +Let us, therefore, now consider what the people would really gain by a +general abolition of the right of patronage. What is most to be desired +by such a change is, that the country should be supplied with better +ministers. But why should we suppose that the parish will make a wiser +choice than the patron? If we suppose mankind actuated by interest, the +patron is more likely to choose with caution, because he will suffer +more by choosing wrong. By the deficiencies of his minister, or by his +vices, he is equally offended with the rest of the congregation; but he +will have this reason more to lament them, that they will be imputed to +his absurdity or corruption. The qualifications of a minister are well +known to be learning and piety. Of his learning the patron is probably +the only judge in the parish; and of his piety not less a judge than +others; and is more likely to inquire minutely and diligently before he +gives a presentation, than one of the parochial rabble, who can give +nothing but a vote. It may be urged, that though the parish might not +choose better ministers, they would, at least, choose ministers whom +they like better, and who would, therefore, officiate with greater +efficacy. That ignorance and perverseness should always obtain what they +like, was never considered as the end of government; of which it is the +great and standing benefit, that the wise see for the simple, and the +regular act for the capricious. But that this argument supposes the +people capable of judging, and resolute to act according to their best +judgments, though this be sufficiently absurd, it is not all its +absurdity. It supposes not only wisdom, but unanimity in those, who upon +no other occasions are unanimous or wise. If by some strange concurrence +all the voices of a parish should unite in the choice of any single man, +though I could not charge the patron with injustice for presenting a +minister, I should censure him as unkind and injudicious. But it is +evident, that, as in all other popular elections, there will be +contrariety of judgment and acrimony of passion; a parish upon every +vacancy would break into factions, and the contest for the choice of a +minister would set neighbours at variance, and bring discord into +families. The minister would be taught all the arts of a candidate, +would flatter some, and bribe others; and the electors, as in all other +cases, would call for holy-days and ale, and break the heads of each +other during the jollity of the canvass. The time must, however, come at +last, when one of the factions must prevail, and one of the ministers +get possession of the church. On what terms does he enter upon his +ministry, but those of enmity with half his parish? By what prudence or +what diligence can he hope to conciliate the affections of that party, +by whose defeat he has obtained his living? Every man who voted against +him will enter the church with hanging head and downcast eyes, afraid to +encounter that neighbour by whose vote and influence he has been +overpowered. He will hate his neighbour for opposing him, and his +minister for having prospered by the opposition; and, as he will never +see him but with pain, he will never see him but with hatred. Of a +minister presented by the patron, the parish has seldom any thing worse +to say, than that they do not know him. Of a minister chosen by a +popular contest, all those who do not favour him, have nursed up in +their bosoms principles of hatred and reasons of rejection. Anger is +excited principally by pride. The pride of a common man is very little +exasperated by the supposed usurpation of an acknowledged superiour. He +bears only his little share of a general evil, and suffers in common +with the whole parish; but when the contest is between equals, the +defeat has many aggravations, and he that is defeated by his next +neighbour, is seldom satisfied without some revenge: and it is hard to +say, what bitterness of malignity would prevail in a parish, where these +elections should happen to be frequent, and the enmity of opposition +should be rekindled before it had cooled. + + + +ON PULPIT CENSURE. + +[This case shall be introduced by Mr. Boswell himself. "In the course of +a contested election for the borough of Dumfermline, which I attended as +one of my friend Sir Archibald Campbell's counsel, one of his political +agents, who was charged with having been unfaithful to his employer, and +having deserted to the opposite party for a pecuniary reward, attacked, +very rudely, in the newspapers, the reverend James Thompson, one of the +ministers of that place, on account of a supposed allusion to him in one +of his sermons. Upon this, the minister, on a subsequent Sunday, +arraigned him by name, from the pulpit, with some severity; and the +agent, after the sermon was over, rose up and asked the minister aloud, +'What bribe he had received for telling so many lies from the chair of +verity.' I was present at this very extraordinary scene. The person +arraigned, and his father and brother, who also had a share both of the +reproof from the pulpit, and in the retaliation, brought an action +against Mr. Thompson, in the court of session, for defamation and +damages, and I was one of the counsel for the reverend defendant. The +liberty of the pulpit was our great ground of defence; but we argued +also on the provocation of the previous attack, and on the instant +retaliation. The court of session, however, the fifteen judges, who are +at the same time the jury, decided against the minister, contrary to my +humble opinion; and several of them expressed themselves with +indignation against him. He was an aged gentleman, formerly a military +chaplain, and a man of high spirit and honour. He wished to bring the +cause by appeal before the house of lords, but was dissuaded by the +advice of the noble person, who lately presided so ably in that most +honourable house, and who was then attorney-general. Johnson was +satisfied that the judgment was wrong, and dictated to me the following +argument in confutation of it." As our readers will, no doubt, be +pleased to read the opinion of so eminent a man as lord Thurlow, in +immediate comparison with one on the same subject by Johnson, we refer +them to Boswell's Life, vol. iii. p. 59. edit. 1802; from whence the +above extract is taken.] + +Of the censure pronounced from the pulpit, our determination must be +formed, as in other cases, by a consideration of the act itself, and the +particular circumstances with which it is invested. + +The right of censure and rebuke seems necessarily appendant to the +pastoral office. He, to whom the care of a congregation is entrusted, is +considered as the shepherd of a flock, as the teacher of a school, as +the father of a family. As a shepherd, tending not his own sheep but +those of his master, he is answerable for those that stray, and that +lose themselves by straying. But no man can be answerable for losses +which he has not power to prevent, or for vagrancy which he has not +authority to restrain. + +As a teacher giving instruction for wages, and liable to reproach, if +those whom he undertakes to inform make no proficiency, he must have the +power of enforcing attendance, of awakening negligence, and repressing +contradiction. + +As a father, he possesses the paternal authority of admonition, rebuke +and punishment. He cannot, without reducing his office to an empty name, +be hindered from the exercise of any practice necessary to stimulate the +idle, to reform the vicious, to check the petulant, and correct the +stubborn. + +If we inquire into the practice of the primitive church, we shall, I +believe, find the ministers of the word exercising the whole authority +of this complicated character. We shall find them not only encouraging +the good by exhortation, but terrifying the wicked by reproof and +denunciation. In the earliest ages of the church, while religion was yet +pure from secular advantages, the punishment of sinners was publick +censure, and open penance; penalties inflicted merely by ecclesiastical +authority, at a time when the church had yet no help from the civil +power; while the hand of the magistrate lifted only the rod of +persecution; and when governours were ready to afford a refuge to all +those who fled from clerical authority. + +That the church, therefore, had once a power of publick censure is +evident, because that power was frequently exercised. That it borrowed +not its power from the civil authority is, likewise, certain, because +civil authority was at that time its enemy. + +The hour came, at length, when, after three hundred years of struggle +and distress, truth took possession of imperial power, and the civil +laws lent their aid to the ecclesiastical constitutions. The magistrate, +from that time, cooperated with the priest, and clerical sentences were +made efficacious by secular force. But the state, when it came to the +assistance of the church, had no intention to diminish its authority. +Those rebukes and those censures, which were lawful before, were lawful +still. But they had hitherto operated only upon voluntary submission. +The refractory and contemptuous were at first in no danger of temporal +severities, except what they might suffer from the reproaches of +conscience, or the detestation of their fellow christians. When religion +obtained the support of law, if admonitions and censures had no effect, +they were seconded by the magistrates with coercion and punishment. + +It, therefore, appears, from ecclesiastical history, that the right of +inflicting shame by publick censure has been always considered as +inherent in the church; and that this right was not conferred by the +civil power; for it was exercised when the civil power operated against +it. By the civil power it was never taken away; for the Christian +magistrate interposed his office, not to rescue sinners from censure, +but to supply more powerful means of reformation; to add pain where +shame was insufficient; and when men were proclaimed unworthy of the +society of the faithful, to restrain them by imprisonment, from +spreading abroad the contagion of wickedness. + +It is not improbable, that from this acknowledged power of publick +censure, grew, in time, the practice of auricular confession. Those who +dreaded the blast of publick reprehension, were willing to submit +themselves to the priest, by a private accusation of themselves; and to +obtain a reconciliation with the church by a kind of clandestine +absolution and invisible penance; conditions with which the priest +would, in times of ignorance and corruption, easily comply, as they +increased his influence, by adding the knowledge of secret sins to that +of notorious offences, and enlarged his authority, by making him the +sole arbiter of the terms of reconcilement. + +From this bondage the Reformation set us free. The minister has no +longer power to press into the retirements of conscience, or torture us +by interrogatories, or put himself in possession of our secrets and our +lives. But though we have thus controlled his usurpations, his just and +original power remains unimpaired. He may still see, though he may not +pry; he may yet hear, though he may not question. And that knowledge +which his eyes and ears force upon him, it is still his duty to use, for +the benefit of his flock. A father, who lives near a wicked neighbour, +may forbid a son to frequent his company. A minister, who has in his +congregation a man of open and scandalous wickedness, may warn his +parishioners to shun his conversation. To warn them is not only lawful, +but not to warn them would be criminal. He may warn them, one by one, in +friendly converse, or by a parochial visitation. But if he may warn each +man singly, what shall forbid him to warn them altogether? Of that which +is to be made known to all, how is there any difference, whether it be +communicated to each singly, or to all together? What is known to all, +must necessarily be publick, whether it shall be publick at once, or +publick by degrees, is the only question. And of a sudden and Solemn +publication the impression is deeper, and the warning more effectual. + +It may easily be urged, if a minister be thus left at liberty to delate +sinners from the pulpit, and to publish, at will, the crimes of a +parishioner, he may often blast the innocent and distress the timorous. +He may be suspicious, and condemn without evidence; he may be rash, and +judge without examination; he may be severe, and treat slight offences +with too much harshness; he may be malignant and partial, and gratify +his private interest or resentment under the shelter of his pastoral +character. + +Of all this there is possibility, and of all this there is danger. But +if possibility of evil be to exclude good, no good ever can be done. If +nothing is to be attempted in which there is danger, we must all sink +into hopeless inactivity. The evils that may be feared from this +practice arise not from any defect in the institution, but from the +infirmities of human nature. Power, in whatever hands it is placed, will +be sometimes improperly exerted; yet courts of law must judge, though +they will sometimes judge amiss. A father must instruct his children, +though he himself may often want instruction. A minister must censure +sinners, though his censure may be sometimes erroneous by want of +judgment, and sometimes unjust by want of honesty. + +If we examine the circumstances of the present case, we shall find the +sentence neither erroneous nor unjust; we shall find no breach of +private confidence, no intrusion into secret transactions. The fact was +notorious and indubitable; so easy to be proved, that no proof was +desired. The act was base and treacherous, the perpetration insolent and +open, and the example naturally mischievous. The minister, however, +being retired and recluse, had not yet heard what was publickly known +throughout the parish; and, on occasion of a publick election, warned +his people, according to his duty, against the crimes which publick +elections frequently produce. His warning was felt by one of his +parishioners, as pointed particularly at himself. But instead of +producing, as might be wished, private compunction and immediate +reformation, it kindled only rage and resentment. He charged his +minister, in a publick paper, with scandal, defamation, and falsehood. +The minister, thus reproached, had his own character to vindicate, upon +which his pastoral authority must necessarily depend. To be charged with +a defamatory lie is an injury which no man patiently endures in common +life. To be charged with polluting the pastoral office with scandal and +falsehood, was a violation of character still more atrocious, as it +affected not only his personal but his clerical veracity. His +indignation naturally rose in proportion to his honesty, and, with all +the fortitude of injured honesty, he dared this calumniator in the +church, and at once exonerated himself from censure, and rescued his +flock from deception and from danger. The man, whom he accuses, pretends +not to be innocent; or, at least, only pretends, for he declines a +trial. The crime of which he is accused has frequent opportunities, and +strong temptations. It has already spread far, with much depravation of +private morals, and much injury to publick happiness. + +To warn the people, therefore, against it, was not wanton and officious, +but necessary and pastoral. + +What then is the fault with which this worthy minister is charged? He +has usurped no dominion over conscience. He has exerted no authority in +support of doubtful and controverted opinions. He has not dragged into +light a bashful and corrigible sinner. His censure was directed against +a breach of morality, against an act which no man justifies. The man who +appropriated this censure to himself, is evidently and notoriously +guilty. His consciousness of his own wickedness incited him to attack +his faithful reprover with open insolence and printed accusations. Such +an attack made defence necessary; and we hope it will be, at last, +decided, that the means of defence were just and lawful[1]. + +[1] This nervous argument was honoured by the particular approbation of + Mr. Burke.--Boswell, iii. 62. + + + + +END OF VOL. V. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine +Volumes, by Samuel Johnson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11768 *** |