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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29547-8.txt b/29547-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..287b16e --- /dev/null +++ b/29547-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1522 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry, by Andre Dacier + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry + +Author: Andre Dacier + +Editor: Samuel Holt Monk + +Release Date: July 30, 2009 [EBook #29547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE--ARISTOTLE'S POETRY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephanie Eason, Joseph Cooper +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + A. DACIER + THE PREFACE TO ARISTOTLE'S + ART OF POETRY + (1705) + + Publication Number 76 + + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + University of California + Los Angeles + 1959 + + + + GENERAL EDITORS + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Lawrence Clark Powell, _Clark Memorial Library_ + + ASSISTANT EDITOR + W. Earl Britton, _University of Michigan_ + + ADVISORY EDITORS + Emmett L. Avery, _State College of Washington_ + Benjamin Boyce, _Duke University_ + Louis Bredvold, _University of Michigan_ + John Butt, _King's College, University of Durham_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Ernest C. Mossner, _University of Texas_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + Edna C. Davis, _Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +André Dacier's _Poëtique d'Aristote Traduite en François avec des +Remarques_ was published in Paris in 1692. His translation of Horace +with critical remarks (1681-1689) had helped to establish his reputation +in both France and England. Dryden, for example, borrowed from it +extensively in his _Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of +Satire_ (1693). No doubt this earlier work assured a ready reception and +a quick response to the commentary on Aristotle: how ready and how quick +is indicated by the fact that within a year of its publication in France +Congreve could count on an audience's recognizing a reference to it. In +the _Double Dealer_ (II, ii) Brisk says to Lady Froth: "I presume your +ladyship has read _Bossu_?" The reply comes with the readiness of a +_cliché_: "O yes, and _Rapine_ and _Dacier_ upon _Aristotle_ and +_Horace_." A quarter of a century later Dacier's reputation was still +great enough to allow Charles Gildon to eke out the second part of his +_Complete Art of Poetry_ (1718) by translating long excerpts from the +Preface to the "admirable" Dacier's Aristotle.[1] Addison ridiculed the +pedantry of Sir Timothy Tittle (a strict Aristotelian critic) who +rebuked his mistress for laughing at a play: "But Madam," says he, "you +ought not to have laughed; and I defie any one to show me a single rule +that you could laugh by.... There are such people in the world as +_Rapin_, _Dacier_, and several others, that ought to have spoiled your +mirth."[2] But the scorn is directed at the pupil, not the master, whom +Addison considered a "true critic."[3] A work so much esteemed was +certain to be translated, and so in 1705 an English version by an +anonymous translator was published. + +It cannot be claimed that Dacier's Aristotle introduced any new critical +theories into England. Actually it provides material for little more +than an extended footnote on the history of criticism in the Augustan +period. Dacier survived as an influence only so long as did a respect +for the rules; and he is remembered today merely as one of the +historically important interpreters--or misinterpreters--of the +_Poetics_.[4] He was, however, the last Aristotelian formalist to affect +English critical theory, for the course of such speculation in the next +century was largely determined by other influences. None the less, his +preface and his commentary are worth knowing because they express +certain typically neo-classical ideas about poetry, especially dramatic +poetry, which were acceptable to many men in England and France at the +end of the seventeenth century. Dacier's immediate and rather special +influence on English criticism may be observed in Thomas Rymer's +proposal to introduce the chorus into English tragedy and in the +admiration which the moralistic critics at the turn of the century felt +for his theories. + +In the very year of its publication Rymer read with obvious approbation +Dacier's _Poëtique d'Aristote_. In the preface to _A Short View of +Tragedy_ (1692) he announced that "we begin to understand the Epick Poem +by means of _Bossu_; and Tragedy by Monsieur _Dacier_."[5] That Rymer +admired Dacier's strict formalism is plain, but he was especially moved +by the French critic's argument that the chorus is _the_ essential part +of true tragedy, since it is necessary both for _vraisemblance_ and for +moral instruction.[6] He therefore boldly proposed that English tragic +poets should henceforth use the chorus in the manner of the ancients, +since it is "the root and original, and ... certainly always the most +necessary part of Tragedy."[7] Moreover he praised (as had Dacier) the +example of Racine, who had introduced the chorus into the plays that he +had written for private performance, by the young ladies of St. +Cyr--_Esther_ (1689) and _Athalie_ (1691). As is well known, he even +went so far as to write the synopsis of what inevitably would have been +an absurd Aeschylean tragedy on the defeat of the Armada.[8] + +Rymer's proposal provoked a public debate, which was begun by John +Dennis, at that time an almost unknown young critic. Though _The +Impartial Critick_ (1693) was directed against Rymer (who had given +grave offence to Dryden and others by his attack on Shakespeare in the +_Short View_), Dennis knew Dacier's ideas intimately, and his discussion +of the chorus in the first and the fourth dialogues, is more directly a +refutation of the French than of the English critic.[9] This lively +treatise established whatever intimacy existed between young Dennis and +the aging Dryden.[10] + +Though Dryden avoided any extended public argument with Rymer, he +obviously knew both the _Short View_ and Dacier's Aristotle. In the +_Parallel of Poetry and Painting_ (1695), he followed Rymer's lead in +equating Dacier, the critic of tragedy ("in his late excellent +Translation of Aristotle and his notes upon him"[11]) with Le Bossu, the +framer of "exact rules for the Epic Poem...." But he disagreed with +Dacier's opinions on the chorus and explained away Racine's use of it on +the sensible grounds that _Esther_ had not been written for public, but +for private performances which gave occasion to the young ladies of St. +Cyr "of entertaining the king with vocal music, and of commending their +voices."[12] He also suggested the practical consideration that plays +with choruses would bankrupt any company of actors because it would be +necessary to provide a number of costumes for the additional players and +to enlarge the stage (and consequently the theater) to make room for the +choral dances. + +Dacier's insistence that the primary function of poetry is to instruct +and that pleasure is merely an aid to that end could easily be distorted +into a crudely moralistic view of the art. Doubtless it was this that +recommended the treatise to minor critics and poets who were creating +the atmosphere out of which came Jeremy Collier's attack on contemporary +dramatists in 1698. + +Blackmore's preface to _Prince Arthur_ (1695) is a long plea for the +reformation of poetry, whose "true and genuine End is, by universal +Confession, the Instruction of our Minds and Regulation of our +Manners...." One is not surprised, when toward the end he names his +authorities, that they turn out to be Rapin, Le Bossu, Dacier (as +commentators on Aristotle and Horace) and "our own _excellent Critick, +Mr. Rymer_."[13] W.J. who translated Le Bossu in 1695, dedicated his +work to Blackmore. In his preface he linked Blackmore and Dacier as +proponents of the thesis that poetry's "true Use and End is to instruct +and profit the world more than to delight and please it."[14] And Jeremy +Collier himself quoted Dacier from time to time, and on one occasion +invoked his commentary on Horace, "_The Theater condemned as +inconsistent with Prudence and Religion_," as one of many answers to the +unrepentant Congreve.[15] + +But besides starting these minor controversies Dacier's preface states +some of the typical themes of neo-Aristotelian criticism: the idea that +proper tragedy is based on a fable that imitates an "Allegorical and +Universal Action" intended "to Form the Manners," a view that closely +relates tragic fable to epic fable as interpreted by Le Bossu;[16] that +modern tragedy, being concerned with individuals and their intrigues, +cannot be universal and is therefore necessarily defective; that love is +an improper subject for tragedy; that the Aristotelian _katharsis_ +proposes as its end not the expulsion of passions from the soul, but the +moderation of excessive passions and the inuring of the audience to the +inevitable calamities of life, and so on. Finally, he is nowhere more +typical of French critics in his time than in his vigorous defense of +the rules, which he declares are valid because of the nature of poetry +which, being an art, must have an end, and there must necessarily be +some way to arrive at it; because of the authority of Aristotle, whose +knowledge of our passions equipped him to give rules for poetry; because +of the illustrious works from which Aristotle deduced his rules; because +of the quality of the poetry that they produce when followed; because, +since they are drawn from "the common Sentiment of Mankind," they must +be reasonable; because nothing can please that is not conformable to the +rules, "for good Sense and right Reason, is of all Countries and +places;" and finally "because they are the Laws of Nature who always +acts uniformly, reviews them incessantly, and gives them a perpetual +Existence." It is his simultaneous appeal to the authority of the +ancients, to the _consensus gentium_, to general nature, and to good +sense that makes Dacier seem to us to represent the final phase of +French neo-classical critical theory. + + Samuel Holt Monk + University of Minnesota + + + +Notes to the Introduction + +[1] Willard H. Durham, ed., _Critical Essays of the Eighteenth Century_, +New Haven, 1915, pp. 62-72. + +[2] _Tatler_ 165. + +[3] _Spectator_ 592. + +[4] For Dacier in England see A.F.B. Clark, _Boileau and the French +Classical Critics in England (1660-1830)_, Paris, 1925, pp. 286-288. As +late as 1895, S.H. Butcher, in _Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine +Art_, mentioned Dacier frequently, if only to disagree with him as often +as he mentioned him. + +[5] Thomas Rymer, _Critical Works_ (ed. C.A. Zimansky), New Haven, 1956, +p. 83. + +[6] This view, announced in the Preface, was elaborately argued by +Dacier in Remarque 27, Ch. XIX. + +[7] Rymer, _op. cit._, p. 84. Zimansky, in his introduction and notes, +discusses the influence of Dacier on Rymer and other English critics. + +[8] _Ibid._ p. 84 and pp. 80-93. + +[9] John Dennis, _Critical Works_ (ed. Edward N. Hooker), Baltimore +(1939-43), I, 30-35. For a succinct account of the English controversy +about the chorus see _ibid._, I, 437-438. Though Dennis did not agree +with Dacier on this point, he admired him. As late as 1726, in the +preface to _The Stage Defended_, he quoted Dacier's preface and spoke of +him as "that most judicious Critick." _Ibid._, II, 309. + +[10] John Dryden, _Letters_ (ed. C.E. Ward), Duke University Press, +1942, pp. 71-72. Hooker has noticed the similarity of two of Dennis's +opinions to views expressed by Dryden in his then unpublished "Heads of +an Answer" to Rymer's _Tragedies of the Last Age_, 1678. + +[11] W.P. Ker, _Essays of John Dryden_, Oxford, 1926, II, 136. + +[12] Ker, II, 144. Cf. Dennis's similar remark in _The Impartial +Critick_, Hooker, I, 31. Racine, in his preface to _Esther_, said +nothing doctrinaire about the use of the chorus. He merely mentioned +that it had occurred to him to introduce the chorus in order to imitate +the ancients and to sing the praises of the true God. + +[13] J.E. Spingarn, _Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century_, +Oxford, 1908-09, III, 227 and 240. + +[14] _Treatise of the Epick Poem_, London, 1695, _sig._ [A 3] _verso_- A +4, _recto_. + +[15] Jeremy Collier, "A Defence of the Short View.... Being a Reply to +Mr. Congreve's Amendments," _A Short View of the Profaneness and +Immorality of the English Stage_, etc., London, 1738, p. 251. + +[16] _Traité du Poëme Epique_, I, ch. vi and vii. + + + + +ARISTOTLE'S + +ART + +OF + +POETRY. + +Translated from the Original _Greek_, according to Mr. _Theodore +Goulston_'s Edition. + +TOGETHER, + +With Mr. _D'ACIER_'s Notes Translated from the _French_. + + + ----_Vero nomine poena + Non Honor est._---- + + Ovid Metam. _lib._ 2. + + +_LONDON_: + +Printed for _Dan. Browne_ at the _Blalk Swan_ without _Temple Bar_, and +_Will. Turner_ at the _Angel_ at _Lincolns-Inn_ Back Gate, 1705. + + + + +THE PREFACE + + +If I was to speak here of _Aristotle's_ Merit only, the excellence of +his Poetick Art, and the reasons I had to publish it, I need do no more +than refer the Reader to that Work, to shew the disorders into which the +Theatre is long since fallen, and to let him see that as the Injustice +of Men, gave occasion to the making of Laws; so the decay of Arts and +the Faults committed in them, oblig'd first to the making Rules, and the +renewing them. But in order to prevent the Objections of some, who scorn +to be bound to any Rules, only that of their own fancy, I think it +necessary, to prove, not only that Poetry is an Art, but that 'tis known +and its Rules so certainly those which _Aristotle_ gives us, that 'tis +impossible to succeed any other way. This being prov'd, I shall examine +the two Consequences which naturally flow from thence: First, that the +Rules, and what pleases, are never contrary to one another, and that you +can never obtain the latter without the former. Secondly, That Poesie +being an Art can never be prejudicial to Mankind, and that 'twas +invented and improv'd for their advantage only. + +To follow this Method, 'tis necessary to trace Poetry from its +Original, to shew that 'twas the Daughter of Religion, that at length +'twas vitiated, and debauch'd, and lastly, brought under the Rules of +Art, which assisted, in Correcting the defaults of Nature. + +God touch'd with Compassion for the Misery of Men, who were obliged to +toil and labour, ordain'd Feasts to give them some rest; the offering of +Sacrifices to himself, by way of Thanksgiving, for those Blessings they +had received by his Bounty. This is a Truth which the _Heathens_ +themselves acknowledged; they not only imitated these Feasts, but spake +of them as a Gift of the Gods, who having granted a time of Repose, +requir'd some tokens of their grateful remembrance. + +The first Feasts of the Ancients were thus, They assembled at certain +times, especially in Autumn, after the gathering in their Fruits, for to +rejoyce, and to offer the choicest of them to God; and this 'tis, which +first gave birth to Poetry: For Men, who are naturally inclined to the +imitation of Musick, employ'd their Talents to sing the praises of the +God they worshipped, and to celebrate his most remarkable Actions. + +If they had always kept to that Primitive Simplicity, all the Poesie we +should have had, would have been, only Thanksgivings, Hymns, and Songs, +as amongst the _Jews_. But 'twas very difficult, or rather impossible, +that Wisdom and Purity, should reign long in the _Heathen_ Assemblies; +they soon mingl'd the Praises of Men, with those of their Gods, and came +at last, to the Licentiousness of filling their Poems with biting +Satyrs, which they sung to one another at their drunken Meetings; Thus +Poetry was entirely Corrupted, and the present scarce retains any Mark +of Religion. + +The Poets which followed, and who were (properly speaking,) the +Philosophers and Divines of those Times, seeing the desire the People +had for those Feasts, and Shows, and impossibility of retrieving the +first Simplicity; took another way to remedy this Disorder, and making +an advantage of the Peoples Inclinations, gave them Instructions, +disguis'd under the Charmes of Pleasure, as Physicians gild and sweeten +the bitter Pills they administer to their Patients. + +I shall not recount all the different Changes, which have happen'd in +Poetry, and by what degrees it has arrived to the Perfection, we now +find it; I have spoken of it already in my _Commentaries_ on _Horace's +Art of Poetry_, and shall say more in explaining, what _Aristotle_ +writes in this Treatise. + +_Homer_ was the first that invented, or finished, an Epick Poem, for he +found out the Unity of the Subject, the Manners, the Characters, and the +Fable. But this Poem could only affect Customes, and was not moving +enough to Correct the Passions, there wanted a Poem, which by imitating +our Actions, might work in our Spirits a more ready and sensible effect. +'Twas this, which gave occasion for _Tragedy_, and banished all Satyrs, +by this means Poetry was entirely purg'd from all the disorders its +Corruption had brought it into. + +This is no proper place to shew, that Men who are quickly weary of +regulated Pleasures, took pains to plunge themselves again into their +former Licentiousness by the invention of _Comedy_. I shall keep my self +to _Tragedy_, which is the most noble Imitation, and principal Subject +of this Treatise, all the Parts of an Epick Poem are comprized in a +_Tragedy_. + +However short this account may be, it suffices to let you see that +Poesie is an Art, for since it has a certain End, there must necessarily +be some way to arrive there: No body doubts of this constant Truth, that +in all concerns where you may be in the right, or the wrong, there is an +Art and sure Rules to lead you to the one, and direct you, how to avoid +the other. + +The question then is, whether the Rules of this Art are known, and +whether they are those which _Aristotle_ gives us here? This question is +no less doubtful, than the former, I must also confess that this cannot +be determined, but by the unlearned; who because they are the greater +number, I shall make my Examination in their favour. To do this with +some sort of Method, there are four Things to be consider'd, who gives +the Rules, the time when he gives them; the manner in which he gives +them, and the effects they have in divers times wrought on different +People: For I believe from these four Circumstances, I can draw such +Conclusions, that the most obstinate shall not be able to gainsay. + +He who gives these Rules, is one of the greatest Philosophers that ever +was, his Genius was large, and of vast extent, the great Discoveries he +made in all Sciences, and particularly in the Knowledge of Man, are +certain Signs, that he had a sufficient insight into our Passions, to +discover the Rules of the Art of Poetry, which is founded on them. But I +shall suspend my Judgment, and pass on to the time in which he gave +these Rules. + +I find that he was born in the Age in which _Tragedy_ first appear'd, +for he lived with the Disciples of _Æschylus_, who brought it out of +Confusion; and he had the same Masters with _Sophocles_, and _Euripides_, +who carried it to its utmost Perfection: Besides he was witness of the +Opinion the most nice and knowing People of the World had of this Poem. +'Tis therefore impossible that _Aristotle_ should be ignorant of the +Origine, Progress, Design and Effects of this Art; and consequently even +before I examine these Rules, I am well assur'd upon his account who +gives them, that they have all the Certainty, and Authority, that Rules +can possibly have. + +But when I come to examine the Manner in which _Aristotle_ delivers +them, I find them so evident and conformable to Nature, that I cannot +but be sensible they are true; for what does _Aristotle_? He gives not +his Rules as _Legisltors_ do their Laws, without any other reason than +their Wills only; he advances nothing but what is accompanied with +Reason, drawn from the common Sentiment of Mankind, insomuch that the +Men themselves become the Rule and Measure of what he prescribes. Thus +without considering that the Rules are of almost equal Date with the Art +they Teach, or any prejudice, in favour of _Aristotle's_ Name, (for 'tis +the Work which ought to make the Name valued, and not the Name the Work) +I am forced to submit to all his Decisions, the Truth of which I am +convinc'd of in my self, and whose Certainty I discover by Reason and +Experience, which never yet deceiv'd any body. + +To this I shall add, the Effects which these Rules have produc'd in all +Ages, on different sort of People, and I see, that as they made the +Beauty of _Homer's Sophocles_, and _Euripides_ Poems in _Greece_, +from which they were drawn; so four or five Hundred Years after, they +adorn'd the Poems of _Virgil_ and other famous Latin Poets, and that now +after Two Thousand Years they make the best _Tragedies_ we have, in +which all that pleases, only does so, as 'tis conformable to these +Rules, (and that too without our being aware of it,) and what is +displeasing, is such, because it is contrary to them, for good Sense, +and right Reason, is of all Countries and Places, the same Subjects +which caus'd so many Tears to be shed in the _Roman_ Theatre, produce +the same Effects in ours, and those Things which gave distaste then, do +the same now, from whence I am convinced, that never any Laws had either +so much Force, Authority, or Might. Humane Laws expire or Change very +often after the Deaths of their Authors, because Circumstances Change, +and the Interests of Men, whom they are made to serve, are different; +but these still take new vigor, because they are the Laws of Nature, who +always acts uniformly, renews them incessantly, and gives them a +perpetual Existence. + +I won't pretend nevertheless that the Rules of this Art, are so firmly +established, that 'tis impossible to add any thing to them, for tho' +_Tragedy_ has all its proper Parts, 'tis probable one of those may yet +arrive to greater Perfection. I am perswaded, that tho' we have been +able to add nothing to the Subject, or Means, yet we have added +something to the Manner, as you'l find in the Remarks, and all the new +Discoveries are so far from destroying this Establishment, that they do +nothing more than confirm it; for Nature is never contrary to herself, +and one may apply to the Art of Poetry, what _Hippocrates_ says of +Physick,[17] _Physick is of long standing, hath sure Principles, and a +certain way by which in the Course of many Ages, an Infinity of Things +have been discovered, of which, Experience confirms the Goodness; All +that is wanting, for the perfection of this Art, will without doubt be +found out, by those Ingenious Men, who will search for it, according to +the Instructions and Rules of the Ancients, and endeavour to arrive at +what is unknown, by what is already plain: For whoever shall boast that +he has obtained this Art by rejecting the ways of the Ancients, and +taking a quite different one, deceives others, and is himself deceived; +because that's absolutely impossible._ This Truth extends it self to all +Arts and Sciences, 'tis no difficult matter to find a proper Example in +our Subject, there is no want of _Tragedies_, where the management is +altogether opposite to that of the Ancients. According to the Rules of +_Aristotle_, a _Tragedy_ is the Imitation of an Allegorical and Universal +Action, which by the means of Terror, and Compassion, moderates and +corrects our Inclinations. But according to these new _Tragedies_ 'tis +an imitation of some particular Action, which affects no body, and is +only invented to amuse the Spectators, by the Plot, and unravelling a +vain Intrigue, which tends only to excite and satisfie their Curiosity, +and stir up their Passions, instead of rend'ring them calm and quiet. +This is not only not the same Art, but can be none at all, since it +tends to no good, and 'tis a pure Lye without any mixture of Truth; what +advantage can be drawn from this Falshood? In a word, 'tis not a Fable, +and by consequence, is in no wise a_ Tragedy_, for a _Tragedy_ cannot +subsist without a Fable,[18] as you will see elsewhere. + +We come now to the first Consequence, which we draw, from what we have +Establish'd, and shall endeavour to prove, that our Laws, and what +pleases, can never be opposite, since the Rules were made only for what +pleases, and tend only to show the way you must walk in, to do so. By +this we shall destroy the false Maxim, That, _all that pleases is good_, +and assert that we ought on the contrary to say, That, _all that is good +pleases, or ought to please_. For the goodness of any Work whatsoever, +does not proceed from this, that it gives us pleasure, but the pleasure +that we have proceeds from its goodness, unless our deluded Eyes and +corrupt Imaginations mislead us, for that which causes our mistakes, is +not, where is, but what is not. + +If the Rules, and what pleased, were things opposite, you would never +arrive at the giving pleasure, but by meer chance, which is absurd: +There must for that reason be a certain way, which leads thither, and +that way is the Rule which we ought to learn; but what is that Rule? +'Tis a Precept, which being drawn from the _Pleasant_ and _Profitable_, +leads us to their source. Now what is the _Pleasant_ and _Profitable_? +'Tis that which pleases naturally, in all Arts 'tis this we consult, +'tis the most sure and perfect Model we can Imitate; in it we find +perfect Unity and Order, for it self is Order, or to speak more +properly, the effect of Order, and the Rule which conducts us thither; +there is but one way to find Order, but a great many to fall into +Confusion. + +There would be nothing bad in the World, if all that pleas'd were good; +for there is nothing so ridiculous, but what will have its Admirers. You +may say indeed, 'tis no truer, that what is good pleases, because we see +ev'ry day Disputes about the Good and Pleasant, that the same Thing +pleases some, and displeases others; nay, it pleases and displeases the +very same Persons at different times: from whence then proceeds this +difference? It comes either from an absolute Ignorance of the Rule, or +that the Passions alter it. Rightly to clear this Truth, I believe I may +lay down this Maxim, that all sensible Objects are of two sorts; some +may be judged of, by Sense independantly from Reason. I can Sense that +Impression which the animal Spirits make on the Soul, others can't be +judged of but by Reason exercised in Science, Things simply agreeable, +or disagreeable, are of the first Sort, all the World may judge alike of +these, for example the most Ignorant in Musick, perceives very well, +when a Player on the Lute strikes one String for another, because he +judges by his Sense, and that Sense is the Rule; in such occasions, we +may therefore very well say, that all that pleases is good, because that +which is Good doth please, or that which is Evil never fails to +displease; for neither the Passions, nor Ignorance dull the Senses, on +the contrary they sharpen them. 'Tis not so in Things which spring from +Reason; Passion and Ignorance act very strongly on it, and oftentimes +choak it, this is the Reason, why we ordinarily judge so ill, and +differently concerning those Things, of which, that is the Rule and the +Cause. Why, what is Bad often pleases, and that which is Good doth not +always so, 'tis not the fault of the Object, 'tis the fault of him who +judges; but what is Good will infallibly please those who can judge, +and that's sufficient. By this we may see, that a Play, that shall bring +those Things which are to be judg'd of by Reason, within the Rules, as +also what is to be judg'd of by the Sense, shall never fail to please, +for it will please both the Learned, and Ignorant: Now this Conformity +of suffrages is the most sure,[19] or according to _Aristotle_ the only +Mark of the Good, and Pleasant, as he proves in the following part of +his Discourse. Now these Suffrages are not obtained, but by the +observation of the Rules, and consequently, these Rules are the only +Cause of the Good, and Pleasant, whether they are follow'd Methodically +and with Design, or by Hazard only; for 'tis certain, there are many +Persons who are entirely Ignorant of these Rules, and yet don't fail to +succeed in several Affairs: This is far from destroying the Rules, and +serves to shew their Beauty, and proves how far they are conformable to +Nature, since those often follow them, who know nothing of 'em. In the +Remarks you shall find many Examples of the vast difference, the +observance or neglect of the Rules make in the same Subject, and by that +be throughly convinc'd that they are the two only Causes of Good, or Bad +Works, and that there can never be any occasion, where the perfect +Harmony which is between the Rules, and what pleases, shou'd be broken. + +'Tis true to come to the last Consequence, that Poetry is an Art, +invented for the Instruction of Mankind, and consequently must be +profitable: 'Tis a general Truth that ev'ry Art is a good Thing, because +there is none whose End is not Good: But, as it is not less true, that +Men ordinarily abuse the best Things, that which was design'd for an +wholsome Remedy, may in time become a very dangerous Poison. I declare +then that I don't speak of corrupted _Tragedy_, for 'tis not in vitious +and depraved Works, that we must look for Reason, and the intent of +Nature, but in those which are sound and perfect; I speak of Ancient +_Tragedy_, that which is conform to _Aristotle's_ Rules, and I dare say, +'tis the most profitable, and necessary of all Diversions. + +If 'twas possible to oblige Men to follow the Precepts of the Gospel, +nothing could be more happy, they would find there true Peace, solid +Pleasure, and a Remedy for all their Infirmities, and would look on +_Tragedy_ as useless and below them. How could they do otherwise than +have this opinion? since those _Pagans_ who apply'd themselves to the +Study of Wisdome, consider'd it with the same Genius. They themselves +own, that could the People be always brought up in the solid Truths of +Philosophy, the Philosophers need have no recourse to Fables, to give +their Instructions: But as so much Corruption was inconsistent with such +Wisdom, they were forc'd to seek for a Remedy to the Disorders of their +Pleasures; they then invented _Tragedy_, and inspir'd them with it, not +as the best Employment Men could take up, but as a means, which was able +to correct the excess, into which they plung'd themselves at their +Feasts, and to render those amusements profitable, which Custom and +their Infirmities had made necessary, and their Corruption very +dangerous. + +Men are the same now, they were then, they have the same Passions, and +run with the same Eagerness after Pleasures. To endeavour to reclaim +them from that State, by the severity of Precepts, is attempting to put +a Bridle on an unruly Horse in the middle of his carrier, in the +mean while, there is no Medium, they run into the most criminal excess, +unless you afford them regular and sober Pleasures. 'Tis a great +Happiness that their remaining Reason inclines them to love Diversions, +where there is Order, and Shows, where Truth is to be found, and I am +perswaded, that Charity obliges us, to take advantage of this, and not +to allow too much time for Debauches, which would extinguish that Spark +of Reason, which yet shines in them. Those People are distemper'd, and +_Tragedy_ is all the Remedy they are capable of receiving any advantage +from; for it is the only Recreation in which they can find the agreeable +and Profitable. + +_Tragedy_ does not only represent the Punishments, which voluntary Crimes +always draw on their Authors, these are too common, and well known +Truths, and leave too much liberty to our Passions; this is the meanest +sort of _Tragedy_: But it sets forth the misfortunes which even in +voluntary Crimes, and those committed by Imprudence, draw on such as we +are, and this is perfect _Tragedy_. It instructs us to stand on our +guard, to refine and moderate our Passions, which alone occasion'd the +loss of those unfortunate ones. Thus the aspiring may learn to give +bounds to his Ambition; the Prophane to fear God; the Malicious to +forget his Wrongs; the Passionate to restrain his Anger; the Tyrant to +forsake his Violence and Injustice, _&c._ Those idle and infirm Men, who +are not able to bear the Yoak of Religion, and have need of a grosser +sort of Instruction, which falls under the Senses, can never have more +profitable amusements; 'twere to be wish'd, that they would renounce all +other Pleasures, and love this only. If any shall now condemn _Tragedy_, +he must also condemn the use of Fables, which the most Holy Men have +employ'd, and God himself has vouchsaf't to make use of: For _Tragedy_ +is only a Fable, and was invented as a Fable, to form the Manners, by +Instructions, disguis'd under the Allegory of an Action. He must also +condemn History; for History is much less Grave and Moral than Fable, +insomuch as 'tis particular, when a Fable is more general, and +universal, and by consequence more profitable. + +We may say too, that the only Aim of true Politicks, is to procure to +the People Virtue, Peace and Pleasure, this Design cannot be contrary to +Religion, because we chuse none of those Pleasures which destroy Virtue, +or Peace. _Tragedy_ is far from it, and endeavours only their +preservation; for 'tis the only Pleasure, which disposes Men to endure +their Passions, to a perfect Mediocrity, which contributes more to the +maintaining of Peace, and acquisition of Virtue, than any thing else; I +also believe that from this Truth, we might draw a sure Rule to judge of +those Pleasures which might be permitted, and those which ought to be +forbidden. + +You may say, _Tragedy_ is dangerous, by reason of the abuses which +creep into it. Every Thing is dangerous, and may be condemn'd at this +rate, for there is nothing so excellent where Abuses may not be +committed, and of which a bad, or good use may not be made. We must +remember this Truth, that all Arts and Sciences, by the Ignorance and +Corruption of Men, ordinarily produce false Arts, and false Sciences; +but these false Arts and false Sciences, are more opposite to what they +Counterfeit than any thing besides; for there is nothing more opposite +to what is good, than what is bad in the same Kind. If that which is +false, engages us to condemn what is true, it has gain'd its point, +that's what it would have, and having thus Triumph'd over Truth, soon +puts its self into its place, than which nothing can be more +Pernicious. + +Since _Tragedy_ has no defect, but what is external, it follows from +thence, that 'tis good in its self, and consequently profitable; this +cannot be contested, and those who condemn it, condemn, not only the +most noble Diversion, but the most capable to raise the Courage, and +form the Genius, and the only one, which can refine the Passions, and +touch the most vicious and obdurate Souls. I could give many examples; +but shall content my self with relating the Story of _Alexander_ of[20] +_Pherea_: This barbarous Man, having order'd the _Hecuba_ of _Euripides_ +to be Acted before him, found himself so affected, that he went out +before the end of the first Act, saying, _That he was asham'd to be seen +to weep, at the Misfortunes of_ Hecuba _and_ Polyxena, _when he daily +imbrud his Hands in the Blood of his Citizens_; he was affraid that his +Heart should be truly mollify'd, that the Spirit of Tyranny would now +leave the possession of his Breast, and that he should come a private +person out of that Theatre into which he enter'd Master. The Actor who +so sensibly touch'd him, difficultly escaped with his Life, but was +secur'd by some remains of that pity, which was the cause of his Crime. + +A very grave Historian, makes reflection much to this purpose, and +which seems to me no indifferent one in Politicks; in speaking of the +People of _Arcadia_, he says, _That their Humanity, sweetness of Temper, +respect for Religion, in a word, the Purity of their Manners, and all +their Virtues proceeded chiefly from the Love they had to Musick, which +by its Melody, corrected those ill Impressions, a thick and unwholesome +Air, joyn'd to a hard, and laborious way of living, made on their Bodies +and Minds._ He says on the contrary, _That the_ Cynethians _fell into +all sorts of Crimes and Impieties, because they despised the wise +Institutions of their Ancestors; and neglected this Art, which was so +much the more necessary for them, as they liv'd in the coldest and worst +place of_ Arcadia: _There was scarcely any City in_ Greece, _where +wickedness was so great and frequent as here_. If _Polybius_ speaks thus +of Musick, and accuses _Ephorus_, for having spoken a thing unworthy of +himself, when he said, _That 'twas invented to deceive Mankind_: what +ought we then to say of _Tragedy_, of which Musick is only a small part; +and which is as much above it, as a Word is above an inarticulate Sound, +which signifies nothing. + +This is what, according to my Opinion, may be truly said of _Tragedy_, +and the Mean we ought to keep. But to the end this may be justly said, +the Parts must conform themselves entirely to the Rules of Ancient +_Tragedy_, that is to say, which endeavours rather to Instruct than +Please, and regard the Agreeable, as a means only to make the Profitable +more taking; they must paint the Disorders of the Passions, and the +inevitable Mischiefs which arise from thence. 'Twas for this the _Greek +Tragedians_ were so much Honour'd in their own Age, and esteemed in +those which follow'd. Their Theatre was a School, where Virtue was +generally better Taught, than in the Schools of their Philosophers, and +at this very Day, the reading their Pieces will Inspire an Hatred to +Vice, and a Love to Virtue. To Imitate them profitably, we should +re-establish the _Chorus_, which establishing the _veri-Similitude_ of +the _Tragedy_, gives an Opportunity to set forth to the People, those +particular Sentiments, you would inspire them with, and to let them +know, what is Vicious or Laudable, in the Characters which are +Introduc'd. _Mr. Racine_ saw the necessity of this, and cannot be +sufficiently praised, for having brought it, into his two last Pieces, +which have happily reconcil'd _Tragedy_ to its greatest Enemies. Those +who have seen the effects of these _Chorus's_, cannot but be sensible of +their Advantage, and by Consequence, must Consent to what I say in my +Remarks. After Examples, and Authorities of this Nature, I have no +Reason to fear my Arguments. But enough of this Matter, tis time to come +to what respects my self, and to give some Account of this Work. + +I have endeavour'd to make the Translation as literal as possible, +being perswaded, that I could not do better, than to stick close to the +Words of a Man, who wrote with wonderful Exactness, and puts in nothing, +but what is to the purpose. I have nevertheless taken the Liberty +sometimes, to enlarge his Thoughts, for what was understood in his time, +by half a Word, would hardly be Intelligible now, unless some Pains was +taken to explain it. + +A simple Translation of _Aristotle_, would be clear enough, and there +would be no need of Commentaries, if we were well Instructed in those +Poets, from whom he takes his Rules, but as almost all the World is +Ignorant of them, and 'tis necessary to explain by Example, what is +Obscure in the Rule. This is what I have endeavour'd to do in my +Remarks, which will seem short, if you consider the many large Volumes +which have been wrote on this little Treatise. + +Of all the _Latin_ Commentators, _Victorius_ seems to me the most Wise, +Knowing, and Exact, but his Assistance is not sufficient, to give us an +Understanding of Poesie. The _Italian Castelvetro_, has a great deal of +Wit, and Knowledge, if we may call that Wit, which is only Fancy, and +bestow on much Reading the name of Knowledge. If we recollect all the +Qualities of a good Interpreter, we shall have an Idea just contrary to +that of _Castelvetro_. He knew neither the Theatre, the Passions, nor the +Characters; he understood neither _Aristotle's_ Reasons, nor his Method, +and strove rather to contradict, than explain him. On the other hand, he +is so Infatuated with the Author's of his own Country, that he forgot +how to Criticise well; he talks without Measure, like _Homer's +Thersites_, and declares War to all that is fine. Indeed he has some +good things, but 'tis not worth while to spend our time in looking after +them. The _French_ Art of Poetry by _Mesnardiere_, may pass for a +Commentary on some Chapters of _Aristotle_, but that Work is of little +value; for besides that Author's being no good Critick, and perpetually +deceiv'd, he did not penetrate into the Meaning of the Philosopher. The +Practice of the Theatre by the Abbot _D'Aubignac_, is infinitely better, +but is rather a Sequel and Supplement, than an Explication of +_Aristotle_; on which, a perfect Instruction in the Ancient Rules, will +enable you to pass a Judgment. The Treatise of Epick Poem by Father +_Bossu_, is above all the Moderns have done in that Kind, and is the best +Commentary Extant, on what _Aristotle_ has wrote concerning that sort of +Poem; none ever penetrated deeper into the bottom of that Art, and set +in a better Light (according to _Aristotle's_ Rules) _Homer's_, and +_Virgil's_ Beauties, or the Solidity, and Beauty of _Aristotle's_ Rules, +by the marvellous Conduct of those two great Poets. If he had Treated +of _Tragedy_, as throughly, as he has done of the _Epopoeia_, he had +left almost nothing for me to have done after him; but unfortunately, he +omitted the most difficult, which he could have Explain'd much better +than my self, had he had spare time. His Work however has done me great +Service. I have profited by the good, which others have Wrote, and must +confess, that their Faults have been useful to me. But after all, the +most excellent Commentators on the Poetick Art, are the Ancient Poems, +and as they gave the hint to make Rules, 'tis by them, that these ought +to be Explain'd. I hope, I have not followed such good Guides in vain. +If I have wander'd, by following them, without a true Understanding, I +should be very well pleased to be put in the right way, by any, who +would advise me of my Faults, or make them publickly known. + +Perhaps some may Reproach me, as Mr. _Corneille_ did all the precedent +Commentators. _They have Explain'd_ Aristotle (says that great Man) +_as Grammarians, or Philosophers, and not as Poets; because they had more +of the Study, and Speculation, than Experience of the Theatre. The +Reading them may make us more Learned, but can give us no further +Insight, how we may succeed._ This Reproach is founded on this general +Maxim, _That every one ought to be believ'd in his own Art._ It seems +then, that those should not pretend to explain the Rules of Poesie, who +never yet made Poems. The Principle is true, but the Consequence is not +so, for before that is drawn, we must see to whom the Art of Poetry, and +what it produc'd, does property belong. 'Tis not Poesie it self which is +produced, for then it would have been, before it was. 'Tis Philosophy +that brought it first into play, and consequently, it belongs to +Philosophy, to give, and explain its Rules. This is so true, that +_Aristotle_ made not these Rules as a Poet, but as a Philosopher: And if +he made them as such, why may they not be explain'd that way too? And as +it was not necessary to make _Dramatick_ Poems, to give Rules to that +Art, so 'tis no more necessary that they should be made, to Explain +those Rules. + +I don't know indeed, whether he who has made Pieces for the Theatre, is +so proper to explain the Rules of this Art, as he that never did, for +'twould be a Miracle if one was not biass'd by self-Love, when the other +is a dis-interested Judge, who has no other Aim, than discovering the +Truth, and making it known. Mr. _Corneille_ himself may be an Example of +this. All that he would Establish in his new Discourse of _Dramatick +Poetry_, is less founded on Nature, than his own proper Interest. It +appears by his own Words, that the design he had of defending what he +had ventured on the Stage, obliged him to forsake _Aristotle's_ Rules, +and to Establish new ones, which should be more favourable to himself; +we shall see in the Remarks, whether they can bear the Test. 'Tis +therefore no ways necessary to have made Poems, to prescribe Rules for +Poesie, and yet much less to explain them. If it was so, I would say +there were none, for of all those which have given any, I knew but one +that was a Poet; _Horace_ himself never made an Epick Poem or a Tragedy, +but to prescribe Rules for Poesie, as also to explain them; it is +sufficient to know the Origine, and Scope of the Art Treated of; to have +examin'd those Poems, which are the Basis and Foundation, to have made +Reflections on what is agreeable, and disagreeable, and rightly to +discover the Causes; this is the only necessary Knowledge I have +endeavour'd to acquire, and Philosophy alone can lead me thither. + +I shall add once more, that if we make a Man more Learned, by +explaining the Rules as a Philosopher, 'tis Impossible, but he must +attain a surer Knowledge, to succeed in this Art. 'Tis true, we can't +give a _Genius_, that's not done by Art, but we can shew the Path a +_Genius_ ought to Tread in, and that is the only Design of all Rules. + +I have not made the Apology of Commentators, to praise my self, for +although I am no Poet, it does not follow that I cannot be a good +Philosopher; I leave it to the Publick, and time, to Judge of my Work, +for I will neither Court, nor slight their Favours. + +I have spoken very freely, in what I have pass'd my Judgment on, and in +so doing, Imitated the ancient Criticks, who spared neither +_Demosthenes_, nor _Thucidides_, nor _Plato_, nor any that was Great, or +Venerable in Antiquity. A flattering Criticism would be a pleasant sort +of one, when we should seek to Applaud, and the Respect due to the Name, +should check the Censure due to the Fault. I am not so scrupulous, and +if any one be offended, I shall Answer him as _Dionysius Halicarnassæus_ +answered _Pompey_ the Great, who wrote to him, to complain, that he had +tax'd _Plato_ with some Faults. _The Veneration you have for_ Plato _is +Just_, (says that excellent Critick,) _but the Blame you lay on me, is +not so. When any one writes on a Subject, to shew what is Good or Bad in +it, he ought to discover, and mark very exactly all its Virtues, and +Vices, for that is a sure way to find out the Truth, which is more +valuable than all things else whatever. If I had written against_ Plato +_with a Design to Decry his Works, I should be as Impious as_[21] +Zoilus, _but on the contrary, I would praise him, and if in doing so I +have Improved any of his Defects, I have done nothing worthy of +Complaint, and which was not necessary for my Design._ Notwithstanding +this, I have put some Bounds to this Liberty, and if I have discovered +some Faults, I have conceal'd some others, that seem'd to me not so +considerable. I had respect in them, to the Approbation of many Persons +of Merit, for I would not run Counter to an almost Universal Consent, +which always is of great Weight, and ought at least to oblige us to be +cautious. But that I might give to those Persons, an Opportunity of +recollecting themselves, I have endeavoured to explain the Rule, in such +a manner, that they may perceive those very Faults, if they will Read +the Remarks with attention. As for the rest, I had no design to offend +any Body; if there are some things which make them uneasie, 'tis +impossible to write any Work of this nature, without disgusting some. +'Tis also the Mark of good Criticism, as well as good Philosophy. From +hence it proceeded, that _Plato_ was blamed for having taught his +Philosophy a long time, without displeasing any one Person; and they +pretended by that, to say that either his Doctrine was not good, or his +Method defective, since none had by Hearing him been made sensible of +that Uneasiness, which People naturally have, when they perceive +themselves to be Vitious. + +It would be unjust to finish this Preface, without saying something of +_Aristotle's_ Life, that those who read his Work, may know something of +him. He was the Son of _Nicomachus_, Physician of[22] _Amyntas_, and +descended from _Esculapius_. His Mother was the Daughter of one of the +Descendants of those, who Transplanted a Colony, from _Chalcis_ to +_Stagira_, in _Macedonia_; that is to say, she was of Noble Extraction, +on both sides. He was born at _Stagira_, about four Hundred Years, +before our Saviour. At Eighteen Years of Age, he went to _Athens_, and +abode with _Plato_, he pass'd twenty Years in his School, and when his +Master was dead, he went to _Hermeas_ the Tyrant of _Atarna_, a City of +_Mysia_; he went from thence to _Mytelene_, from whence he was call'd by +_Philip_, to be his Son _Alexander's_ Tutor; he was eight Years, with +that Young Prince, and after _Philip's_ Death, returned to _Athens_, +where he Taught, in the _Lyceum_ twelve Years, till the Death of +_Alexander_. For _Antipater_ having carried the War into _Greece, +Aristotle_, who fancied, the _Athenians_ suspected him, by reason of the +strict Friendship, which was between him, and the Viceroy of _Macedonia_, +retir'd to _Calchis_, where he died soon after, by a Fit of Sickness in +the sixty third Year of his Age. He left one Son, and one Daughter, both +Young, and made _Antipater_ Executor of his Will, and Administrator of +all his Goods, which were very considerable, if we may judge of them by +_Alexander's_ Liberality, who gave him eight Hundred Talents, for his +History of Animals, that is according to the lesser Talent, one hundred +and forty Thousand Pounds Sterling, or according to the greater, one +Hundred eighty six Thousand, six Hundred, sixty five Pounds, thirteen +Shillings and four Pence. The most precious of his Moveables was his +Library, which was afterwards Sold to _Ptolomy Philadelphus_, and which +he had Enrich'd with four Hundred Volumes, of his own making. In those +of his Writings which now remain, and are happily a considerable Number, +we find a very discerning Spirit, a solid Judgment, a wonderful Method, +prodigious Knowledge, and an Eloquence both strong and sweet. He himself +found out more, than the most Knowing now, learn with a great deal of +Labour and Pains, and as for those things which depended on the Vivacity +of the Spirit, no Man ever carried his Knowledge further, or Establish'd +more sure, or extensive Principles. In Dialecticks, Logick, Rhetorick, +Politicks, and Morality, we have little but what he taught us. + +By making a proper use of his Informations, there have appear'd Works +in some of these Sciences, preferable to his, but his Rhetorick is the +most Preferable we as yet have. His Art of Poetry is more to be admir'd, +for in his Rhetorick, he made use of the Precepts of those, who Wrote +before him. But he is the first that discovered the Grounds, and Secrets +of Poesie, and none since have undertaken to Write, but in Explication +of his Thoughts, which have serv'd, and will always serve as the Rule. +He alone has Reviv'd _Tragedy_ more than once. + +In effect after it was brought to its Perfection, under the Reign of +_Alexander_, the Son of _Amyntas_, under the Reigns of _Perdiccas_, and +_Archelaus_, and degenerated in those which follow'd, but under that of +_Philip_, and _Alexander_, the Poets being Encourag'd by those Glorious +Princes, and guided by _Aristotle's_ Genius, made it flourish as before. + +After the Death of _Alexander_, it began to Languish, and never +recover'd its entire Strength till the Reign of _Augustus_, in which the +Rules of this Philosopher were Reviv'd. + +Since the _Death of Augustus_, it has grown Feeble, for more than +sixteen Hundred Years, till in this last Age 'twas recover'd out of its +long Decay, by Mr. _Corneille_, and Mr. _Racine_, who upheld themselves +by _Aristotle's_ Rules. So true is it, that Time is the Faithful +Guardian, not only of Great Men, as _Pindar_ saith, but also of the +Liberal Arts, which it revives as occasion offers, and always, under the +greatest Princes. For what a good Soil and Air, are to Seeds and Fruits, +such is the Glory, Grandeur, Magnificence, and Liberality of Princes, +to Arts, and Sciences, which do not so much flourish under them, as by +them; and we may very properly apply to this Subject the fallowing Verse +of _Agathon_. + + Art favours Fortune, Fortune favours Art. + + +If _Tragedy_ shall some time hence suffer any sort of Eclipse, 'twill +be by the Laziness, and Haste of those Poets, who Write without being +rightly Instructed. _Plato_ in his _Phedrus_ Introduces a young Poet +seeking _Sophocles_ and _Euripides_, and Accosting them thus. _I can +make Verses tolerably well; and I know how in my Descriptions to extend +a mean Subject, and Contract a great one: I know how to excite Terror, +and Compassion, and to make pitiful things appear Dreadful and Menacing. +I will therefore go, and write_ Tragedies. Sophocles _and_ Euripides +answer'd him, _Don't go so fast_, Tragedy _is not what you take it to +be; 'tis a Body, composed of many different, and well-suited Parts, of +which you will make a Monster, unless you know how to adjust them; you +may know what is to be learn'd, before the Study of the Art of Tragedy; +but you don't yet know that Art._ + +If there are Poets now, which don't know so much as the Young Man, of +whom _Plato_ speaks, these Rules can be of no Advantage to them; but +those who are like him, and in the same Circumstances, need only keep to +these Rules, which will teach them what they are Ignorant of, and the +fourth time restore _Tragedy_ to its first Lustre and Brightness. This +is the most profitable Present, can be made them, if by Meditation and +Practice they will endeavour to make a right use of it; for Precepts +alone are not sufficient to make us Learned, the Advantage, and Profit +of any Rules, depend on our Labour and Pains. If these Rules are not for +them, they will be against them, and their Works shall be Judg'd by +them. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[17] In his Treatise of Ancient Physick. + +[18] Chap. 18. _Rem._ 8. _&c._ + +[19] _Chap._ 13. Rem. 25. + +[20] A Town in _Thessaly_. + +[21] Called Impious, because he writ against _Homer_. + +[22] Grandfather to _Alexander_ the Great. + + + + +Notes on Dacier's Preface + + +_Sig._ [A 3], _recto_, 11. 17-18. "_Horace's Art of Poetry._" Published, +Paris, 1689, in Vol. X of Dacier's _Remarques Critiques sur les Oeuvres +[d'Horace] Avec une Nouvelle Traduction_. + +_Sig._ [A 5], _verso_, 1.2, note. "Chap. 18, Rem. 8." In this remark, +Dacier explicates Aristotle's injunction that the poet should sketch the +general outline of the fable before filling in episodes and naming +characters, thus making it general and universal. + +_Sig._ [A 6], _verso_, 1.7, note. "Chap. 13, Rem. 25." Dacier says in +this remark that a regular tragedy submitted to the judgment of the +learned and the ignorant will always please best, "_car l'un remarque +une chose, l'autre une autre, & tous ensemble ils remarquent tout_." + +_Sig._ [A 8], _recto_, 1.7. "History is much less grave." "Ch. IX, Rem. +5" (Dacier's note) Dacier adds nothing to the traditional discussion of +the superiority of poetry to history and philosophy. + +_Sig._ [A 8], _verso_, 1.18. "Alexander of Pherea." See Plutarch's +oration "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander," II, in _Moralia_ +(tr. F.C. Babbitt, Loeb Classical Library), IV, 424. + +_Sig._ [b 1], _recto_, 1.1. "A Very Grave Historian." Polybius, +_Histories_, IV, 20. + +_Sig._ [b 1], _verso_ 1.20. "Mr. Racine ... his last two pieces..." +_Esther_ (1689) and _Athalie_, 1691. + +_Sig._ [b 2], _recto_, 11. 23-24. "Victorius." Pietro Vettori, +_Commentarii in Primum Librum Aristotelis de Arte Poetarum_, Florentiae, +1560. + +_Ibid._, 1.27. "Castelvetro." Ludovico Castelvetro, _La Poetica +d'Aristotele vulgarizzata et sposta_, 1570. This view of Castelvetro, +who was remarkable for his independence of Aristotle, was fairly common +in France. La Mesnardière, for instance, was extremely hostile to him. + +_Sig._ [b 2], _verso_, 1.13. "Mesnardière." Jules de La Mesnardière, _La +Poëtique_, Paris, 1693. + +_Ibid._, 1.20. "D'Aubignac." Aubignac (abbé Hédelin d'), _La Pratique du +Theatre_, Paris, 1657. English translation, 1684. + +_Ibid._, 1.26. "_Father Bossu._" _Traité du Poëme Epique_, Paris, 1675. + +_Sig._ [b 3], _recto_, 1.22. "Corneille." "Discours de l'Utilité et des +Parties du Poëme Dramatique," _Oeuvres_ (ed. Ch. Marty-Laveaux), Paris, +1862, I, 16. + +_Sig._ [b 4], _verso_, 1. 12. "Dionysius of Halicarnassus." See +"Epistola ad Cn. Pompeio de Platone," Dionysii Halicarnassensis, _Opera +Omnia_, Lipsiae, 1774-1777, VI, 750-752. + +_Sig._ [b 6], _verso_, 1. 27. "Pindar" Fragment 159, _Odes_ (tr. Sir +John Sandys, Loeb Classical Library) p. 600. + +_Sig._ [b 7], _recto_, 1. 5. "verse of Agathon" _Ars atque fortuna +invicem se diligunt_. "Agathones Fragmenta" 6, in _Fragmenta Euripides_ +(ed. F.G. Wagner), Paris, 1843-1846, II, 58. + +_Ibid._, 1.10. "Plato in his Phaedrus." "Phaedrus," 268, _Dialogues_ +(tr. B. Jowett) Third Edition, Oxford, 1892, I, 477. + + + + + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + _General Editors_ + + R.C. BOYS + University of Michigan + + RALPH COHEN + University of California, Los Angeles + + VINTON A. DEARING + University of California, Los Angeles + + LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL + Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library + + _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. EDNA C. DAVIS, Wm. Andrews Clark + Memorial Library + + +The Society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually +facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century +works. 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Introduction + by Samuel Holt Monk. + + William Herbert, Third Earl of Pembroke. _Poems_ (1660). Introduction by + Gaby Onderwyzer. + + Francis Hutcheson, _Reflections on Laughter_ (1729). Introduction by + Scott Elledge. + + _Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Essays on the Theatre._ Selected, with an + introduction, by John Loftis. + + Samuel Johnson, _Notes to Shakespeare, Vol. III, Tragedies._ Edited by + Arthur Sherbo. + + John Joyne, _A Journal_ (1679). Edited by R. E. Hughes. + + Richard Savage, _An Author to be Let_ (1732). Introduction by James + Sutherland. + + _Seventeenth-Century Tales of the Supernatural._ Selected, with an + introduction, by Isabel M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry + +Author: Andre Dacier + +Editor: Samuel Holt Monk + +Release Date: July 30, 2009 [EBook #29547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE--ARISTOTLE'S POETRY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephanie Eason, Joseph Cooper +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Augustan Reprint Society</span></h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2>A. DACIER</h2> +<h2>THE PREFACE TO ARISTOTLE'S</h2> +<h2>ART OF POETRY</h2> +<h2>(1705)</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>Publication Number 76</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h4>William Andrews Clark Memorial Library</h4> +<h4>University of California</h4> +<h4>Los Angeles</h4> +<h4>1959</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="editors"> +<tr><td align="center"> +<strong>GENERAL EDITORS</strong><br /> +Richard C. Boys, <i>University of Michigan</i><br /> +Ralph Cohen, <i>University of California, Los Angeles</i><br /> +Vinton A. Dearing, <i>University of California, Los Angeles</i><br /> +Lawrence Clark Powell, <i>Clark Memorial Library</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<strong>ASSISTANT EDITOR</strong><br /> +W. Earl Britton, <i>University of Michigan</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<strong>ADVISORY EDITORS</strong><br /> +Emmett L. Avery, <i>State College of Washington</i><br /> +Benjamin Boyce, <i>Duke University</i><br /> +Louis Bredvold, <i>University of Michigan</i><br /> +John Butt, <i>King's College, University of Durham</i><br /> +James L. Clifford, <i>Columbia University</i><br /> +Arthur Friedman, <i>University of Chicago</i><br /> +Louis A. Landa, <i>Princeton University</i><br /> +Samuel H. Monk, <i>University of Minnesota</i><br /> +Ernest C. Mossner, <i>University of Texas</i><br /> +James Sutherland, <i>University College, London</i><br /> +H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., <i>University of California, Los Angeles</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<strong>CORRESPONDING SECRETARY</strong><br /> +Edna C. Davis, <i>Clark Memorial Library</i></td></tr></table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>André Dacier's <i>Poëtique d'Aristote Traduite en François avec des +Remarques</i> was published in Paris in 1692. His translation of Horace +with critical remarks (1681-1689) had helped to establish his reputation +in both France and England. Dryden, for example, borrowed from it +extensively in his <i>Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of +Satire</i> (1693). No doubt this earlier work assured a ready reception and +a quick response to the commentary on Aristotle: how ready and how quick +is indicated by the fact that within a year of its publication in France +Congreve could count on an audience's recognizing a reference to it. In +the <i>Double Dealer</i> (II, ii) Brisk says to Lady Froth: "I presume your +ladyship has read <i>Bossu</i>?" The reply comes with the readiness of a +<i>cliché</i>: "O yes, and <i>Rapine</i> and <i>Dacier</i> upon <i>Aristotle</i> and +<i>Horace</i>." A quarter of a century later Dacier's reputation was still +great enough to allow Charles Gildon to eke out the second part of his +<i>Complete Art of Poetry</i> (1718) by translating long excerpts from the +Preface to the "admirable" Dacier's Aristotle.<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small> Addison ridiculed the +pedantry of Sir Timothy Tittle (a strict Aristotelian critic) who +rebuked his mistress for laughing at a play: "But Madam," says he, "you +ought not to have laughed; and I defie any one to show me a single rule +that you could laugh by.... There are such people in the world as +<i>Rapin</i>, <i>Dacier</i>, and several others, that ought to have spoiled your +mirth."<small><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1" href="#f2">[2]</a></small> But the scorn is directed at the pupil, not the master, whom +Addison considered a "true critic."<small><a name="f3.1" id="f3.1" href="#f3">[3]</a></small> A work so much esteemed was +certain to be translated, and so in 1705 an English version by an +anonymous translator was published.</p> + +<p>It cannot be claimed that Dacier's Aristotle introduced any new critical +theories into England. Actually it provides material for little more +than an extended footnote on the history of criticism in the Augustan +period. Dacier survived as an influence only so long as did a respect +for the rules; and he is remembered today merely as one of the +historically important interpreters—or misinterpreters—of the +<i>Poetics</i>.<small><a name="f4.1" id="f4.1" href="#f4">[4]</a></small> He was, however, the last Aristotelian formalist to affect +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span>English critical theory, for the course of such speculation in the next +century was largely determined by other influences. None the less, his +preface and his commentary are worth knowing because they express +certain typically neo-classical ideas about poetry, especially dramatic +poetry, which were acceptable to many men in England and France at the +end of the seventeenth century. Dacier's immediate and rather special +influence on English criticism may be observed in Thomas Rymer's +proposal to introduce the chorus into English tragedy and in the +admiration which the moralistic critics at the turn of the century felt +for his theories.</p> + +<p>In the very year of its publication Rymer read with obvious approbation +Dacier's <i>Poëtique d'Aristote</i>. In the preface to <i>A Short View of +Tragedy</i> (1692) he announced that "we begin to understand the Epick Poem +by means of <i>Bossu</i>; and Tragedy by Monsieur <i>Dacier</i>."<small><a name="f5.1" id="f5.1" href="#f5">[5]</a></small> That Rymer +admired Dacier's strict formalism is plain, but he was especially moved +by the French critic's argument that the chorus is <i>the</i> essential part +of true tragedy, since it is necessary both for <i>vraisemblance</i> and for +moral instruction.<small><a name="f6.1" id="f6.1" href="#f6">[6]</a></small> He therefore boldly proposed that English tragic +poets should henceforth use the chorus in the manner of the ancients, +since it is "the root and original, and ... certainly always the most +necessary part of Tragedy."<small><a name="f7.1" id="f7.1" href="#f7">[7]</a></small> Moreover he praised (as had Dacier) the +example of Racine, who had introduced the chorus into the plays that he +had written for private performance, by the young ladies of St. +Cyr—<i>Esther</i> (1689) and <i>Athalie</i> (1691). As is well known, he even +went so far as to write the synopsis of what inevitably would have been +an absurd Aeschylean tragedy on the defeat of the Armada.<small><a name="f8.1" id="f8.1" href="#f8">[8]</a></small></p> + +<p>Rymer's proposal provoked a public debate, which was begun by John +Dennis, at that time an almost unknown young critic. Though <i>The +Impartial Critick</i> (1693) was directed against Rymer (who had given +grave offence to Dryden and others by his attack on Shakespeare in the +<i>Short View</i>), Dennis knew Dacier's ideas intimately, and his discussion +of the chorus in the first and the fourth dialogues, is more directly a +refutation of the French than of the English critic.<small><a name="f9.1" id="f9.1" href="#f9">[9]</a></small> This lively +treatise established whatever intimacy existed between young Dennis and +the aging Dryden.<small><a name="f10.1" id="f10.1" href="#f10">[10]</a></small></p> + +<p>Though Dryden avoided any extended public argument with Rymer, he +obviously knew both the <i>Short View</i> and Dacier's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span> Aristotle. In the +<i>Parallel of Poetry and Painting</i> (1695), he followed Rymer's lead in +equating Dacier, the critic of tragedy ("in his late excellent +Translation of Aristotle and his notes upon him"<small><a name="f11.1" id="f11.1" href="#f11">[11]</a></small>) with Le Bossu, the +framer of "exact rules for the Epic Poem...." But he disagreed with +Dacier's opinions on the chorus and explained away Racine's use of it on +the sensible grounds that <i>Esther</i> had not been written for public, but +for private performances which gave occasion to the young ladies of St. +Cyr "of entertaining the king with vocal music, and of commending their +voices."<small><a name="f12.1" id="f12.1" href="#f12">[12]</a></small> He also suggested the practical consideration that plays +with choruses would bankrupt any company of actors because it would be +necessary to provide a number of costumes for the additional players and +to enlarge the stage (and consequently the theater) to make room for the +choral dances.</p> + +<p>Dacier's insistence that the primary function of poetry is to instruct +and that pleasure is merely an aid to that end could easily be distorted +into a crudely moralistic view of the art. Doubtless it was this that +recommended the treatise to minor critics and poets who were creating +the atmosphere out of which came Jeremy Collier's attack on contemporary +dramatists in 1698.</p> + +<p>Blackmore's preface to <i>Prince Arthur</i> (1695) is a long plea for the +reformation of poetry, whose "true and genuine End is, by universal +Confession, the Instruction of our Minds and Regulation of our +Manners...." One is not surprised, when toward the end he names his +authorities, that they turn out to be Rapin, Le Bossu, Dacier (as +commentators on Aristotle and Horace) and "our own <i>excellent Critick, +Mr. Rymer</i>."<small><a name="f13.1" id="f13.1" href="#f13">[13]</a></small> W.J. who translated Le Bossu in 1695, dedicated his +work to Blackmore. In his preface he linked Blackmore and Dacier as +proponents of the thesis that poetry's "true Use and End is to instruct +and profit the world more than to delight and please it."<small><a name="f14.1" id="f14.1" href="#f14">[14]</a></small> And Jeremy +Collier himself quoted Dacier from time to time, and on one occasion +invoked his commentary on Horace, "<i>The Theater condemned as +inconsistent with Prudence and Religion</i>," as one of many answers to the +unrepentant Congreve.<small><a name="f15.1" id="f15.1" href="#f15">[15]</a></small></p> + +<p>But besides starting these minor controversies Dacier's preface states +some of the typical themes of neo-Aristotelian criticism: the idea that +proper tragedy is based on a fable that imitates an "Allegorical and +Universal Action" intended "to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> Form the Manners," a view that closely +relates tragic fable to epic fable as interpreted by Le Bossu;<small><a name="f16.1" id="f16.1" href="#f16">[16]</a></small> that +modern tragedy, being concerned with individuals and their intrigues, +cannot be universal and is therefore necessarily defective; that love is +an improper subject for tragedy; that the Aristotelian <i>katharsis</i> +proposes as its end not the expulsion of passions from the soul, but the +moderation of excessive passions and the inuring of the audience to the +inevitable calamities of life, and so on. Finally, he is nowhere more +typical of French critics in his time than in his vigorous defense of +the rules, which he declares are valid because of the nature of poetry +which, being an art, must have an end, and there must necessarily be +some way to arrive at it; because of the authority of Aristotle, whose +knowledge of our passions equipped him to give rules for poetry; because +of the illustrious works from which Aristotle deduced his rules; because +of the quality of the poetry that they produce when followed; because, +since they are drawn from "the common Sentiment of Mankind," they must +be reasonable; because nothing can please that is not conformable to the +rules, "for good Sense and right Reason, is of all Countries and +places;" and finally "because they are the Laws of Nature who always +acts uniformly, reviews them incessantly, and gives them a perpetual +Existence." It is his simultaneous appeal to the authority of the +ancients, to the <i>consensus gentium</i>, to general nature, and to good +sense that makes Dacier seem to us to represent the final phase of +French neo-classical critical theory.</p> + +<div class="right"> +Samuel Holt Monk<br /> +University of Minnesota</div> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h3>Notes to the Introduction</h3> + +<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> Willard H. Durham, ed., <i>Critical Essays of the Eighteenth Century</i>, +New Haven, 1915, pp. 62-72.</p> + +<p><a name="f2" id="f2" href="#f2.1">[2]</a> <i>Tatler</i> 165.</p> + +<p><a name="f3" id="f3" href="#f3.1">[3]</a> <i>Spectator</i> 592.</p> + +<p><a name="f4" id="f4" href="#f4.1">[4]</a> For Dacier in England see A.F.B. Clark, <i>Boileau and the French +Classical Critics in England (1660-1830)</i> , Paris, 1925, pp. 286-288. As +late as 1895, S. H. Butcher, in <i>Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine +Art</i>, mentioned Dacier frequently, if only to disagree with him as often +as he mentioned him.</p> + +<p><a name="f5" id="f5" href="#f5.1">[5]</a> Thomas Rymer, <i>Critical Works</i> (ed. C.A. Zimansky), New Haven, 1956, +p. 83.</p> + +<p><a name="f6" id="f6" href="#f6.1">[6]</a> This view, announced in the Preface, was elaborately argued by +Dacier in Remarque 27, Ch. XIX.</p> + +<p><a name="f7" id="f7" href="#f7.1">[7]</a> Rymer, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 84. Zimansky, in his introduction and notes, +discusses the influence of Dacier on Rymer and other English critics.</p> + +<p><a name="f8" id="f8" href="#f8.1">[8]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 84 and pp. 80-93.</p> + +<p><a name="f9" id="f9" href="#f9.1">[9]</a> John Dennis, <i>Critical Works</i> (ed. Edward N. Hooker), Baltimore +(1939-43), I, 30-35. For a succinct account of the English controversy +about the chorus see <i>ibid.</i>, I, 437-438. Though Dennis did not agree +with Dacier on this point, he admired him. As late as 1726, in the +preface to <i>The Stage Defended</i>, he quoted Dacier's preface and spoke of +him as "that most judicious Critick." <i>Ibid.</i>, II, 309.</p> + +<p><a name="f10" id="f10" href="#f10.1">[10]</a> John Dryden, <i>Letters</i> (ed. C.E. Ward), Duke University Press, +1942, pp. 71-72. Hooker has noticed the similarity of two of Dennis's +opinions to views expressed by Dryden in his then unpublished "Heads of +an Answer" to Rymer's <i>Tragedies of the Last Age</i>, 1678.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> + +<p><a name="f11" id="f11" href="#f11.1">[11]</a> W.P. Ker, <i>Essays of John Dryden</i>, Oxford, 1926, II, 136.</p> + +<p><a name="f12" id="f12" href="#f12.1">[12]</a> Ker, II, 144. Cf. Dennis's similar remark in <i>The Impartial +Critick</i>, Hooker, I, 31. Racine, in his preface to <i>Esther</i>, said +nothing doctrinaire about the use of the chorus. He merely mentioned +that it had occurred to him to introduce the chorus in order to imitate +the ancients and to sing the praises of the true God.</p> + +<p><a name="f13" id="f13" href="#f13.1">[13]</a> J.E. Spingarn, <i>Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century</i>, +Oxford, 1908-09, III, 227 and 240.</p> + +<p><a name="f14" id="f14" href="#f14.1">[14]</a> <i>Treatise of the Epick Poem</i>, London, 1695, <i>sig.</i> [A 3] <i>verso</i>- A +4, <i>recto</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="f15" id="f15" href="#f15.1">[15]</a> Jeremy Collier, "A Defence of the Short View.... Being a Reply to +Mr. Congreve's Amendments," <i>A Short View of the Profaneness and +Immorality of the English Stage</i>, etc., London, 1738, p. 251.</p> + +<p><a name="f16" id="f16" href="#f16.1">[16]</a> <i>Traité du Poëme Epique</i>, I, ch. vi and vii.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/title.png" alt="The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry" /></div> + +<p> </p><p> </p> + +<h2>THE PREFACE</h2> + + +<p><i>If I was to speak here of</i> Aristotle<i>'s Merit only, the excellence of his +Poetick Art, and the reasons I had to publish it, I need do no more than +refer the Reader to that Work, to shew the disorders into which the +Theatre is long since fallen, and to let him see that as the Injustice +of Men, gave occasion to the making of Laws; so the decay of Arts and +the Faults committed in them, oblig'd first to the making Rules, and the +renewing them. But in order to prevent the Objections of some, who scorn +to be bound to any Rules, only that of their own fancy, I think it +necessary, to prove, not only that Poetry is an Art, but that 'tis known +and its Rules so certainly those which</i> Aristotle <i>gives us, that 'tis +impossible to succeed any other way. This being prov'd, I shall examine +the two Consequences which naturally flow from thence: First, that the +Rules, and what pleases, are never contrary to one another, and that you +can never obtain the latter without the former. Secondly, That Poesie +being an Art can never be prejudicial to Mankind, and that 'twas +invented and improv'd for their advantage only.</i></p> + +<p><i>To follow this Method, 'tis necessary to trace Poetry from its +Original, to shew that 'twas the Daughter of Religion, that at length +'twas vitiated, and debauch'd, and lastly, brought under the Rules of +Art, which assisted, in Correcting the defaults of Nature.</i></p> + +<p><i>God touch'd with Compassion for the Misery of Men, who were obliged to +toil and labour, ordain'd Feasts to give them some rest; the offering of +Sacrifices to himself, by way of Thanksgiving, for those Blessings they +had received by his Bounty. This is a Truth which the</i> Heathens +<i>themselves acknowledged; they not only imitated these Feasts, but spake +of them as a Gift of the Gods, who having granted a time of Repose, +requir'd some tokens of their grateful remembrance.</i></p> + +<p><i>The first Feasts of the Ancients were thus, They assembled at certain +times, especially in Autumn, after the gathering in their Fruits, for to +rejoyce, and to offer the choicest of them to God; and this 'tis, which +first gave birth to Poetry: For Men, who are naturally inclined to the +imitation of Musick, employ'd their Talents to sing the praises of the +God they worshipped, and to celebrate his most remarkable Actions.</i></p> + +<p><i>If they had always kept to that Primitive Simplicity, all the Poesie we +should have had, would have been, only Thanksgivings, Hymns, and Songs, +as amongst the</i> Jews. <i>But 'twas very difficult, or rather impossible, +that Wisdom and Purity, should reign long in the</i> Heathen <i>Assemblies; +they soon mingl'd the Praises of Men, with those of their Gods, and came +at last, to the Licentiousness of filling their Poems with biting +Satyrs, which they sung to one another at their drunken Meetings; +Thus Poetry was entirely Corrupted, and the present scarce retains any +Mark of Religion.</i></p> + +<p><i>The Poets which followed, and who were (properly speaking,) the +Philosophers and Divines of those Times, seeing the desire the People +had for those Feasts, and Shows, and impossibility of retrieving the +first Simplicity; took another way to remedy this Disorder, and making +an advantage of the Peoples Inclinations, gave them Instructions, +disguis'd under the Charmes of Pleasure, as Physicians gild and sweeten +the bitter Pills they administer to their Patients.</i></p> + +<p><i>I shall not recount all the different Changes, which have happen'd in +Poetry, and by what degrees it has arrived to the Perfection, we now +find it; I have spoken of it already in my</i> Commentaries <i>on</i> Horace<i>'s</i> +Art of Poetry, <i>and shall say more in explaining, what</i> Aristotle <i>writes +in this Treatise.</i></p> + +<p>Homer <i>was the first that invented, or finished, an Epick Poem, for he +found out the Unity of the Subject, the Manners, the Characters, and the +Fable. But this Poem could only affect Customes, and was not moving +enough to Correct the Passions, there wanted a Poem, which by imitating +our Actions, might work in our Spirits a more ready and sensible effect. +'Twas this, which gave occasion for</i> Tragedy, <i>and banished all Satyrs, by +this means Poetry was entirely purg'd from all the disorders its +Corruption had brought it into.</i></p> + +<p><i>This is no proper place to shew, that Men who are quickly weary of +regulated Pleasures, took pains to plunge themselves again into their +former Licentiousness by the invention of</i> Comedy. <i>I shall keep my self +to</i> Tragedy, <i>which is the most noble Imitation, and principal Subject +of this Treatise, all the Parts of an Epick Poem are comprized in a</i> +Tragedy.</p> + +<p><i>However short this account may be, it suffices to let you see that +Poesie is an Art, for since it has a certain End, there must necessarily +be some way to arrive there: No body doubts of this constant Truth, that +in all concerns where you may be in the right, or the wrong, there is an +Art and sure Rules to lead you to the one, and direct you, how to avoid +the other.</i></p> + +<p><i>The question then is, whether the Rules of this Art are known, and +whether they are those which</i> Aristotle <i>gives us here? This question is +no less doubtful, than the former, I must also confess that this cannot +be determined, but by the unlearned; who because they are the greater +number, I shall make my Examination in their favour. To do this with +some sort of Method, there are four Things to be consider'd, who gives +the Rules, the time when he gives them; the manner in which he gives +them, and the effects they have in divers times wrought on different +People: For I believe from these four Circumstances, I can draw such +Conclusions, that the most obstinate shall not be able to gainsay.</i></p> + +<p><i>He who gives these Rules, is one of the greatest Philosophers that ever +was, his Genius was large, and of vast extent, the great Discoveries he +made in all Sciences, and particularly in the Knowledge of Man, are +certain Signs, that he had a sufficient insight into our Passions, to +discover the Rules of the Art of Poetry, which is founded on them. But I +shall suspend my Judgment, and pass on to the time in which he gave +these Rules.</i></p> + +<p><i>I find that he was born in the Age in which</i> Tragedy <i>first appear'd, for +he lived with the Disciples of</i> Æschylus, <i>who brought it out of +Confusion; and he had the same Masters with</i> Sophocles, <i>and</i> Euripides, +<i>who carried it to its utmost Perfection: Besides he was witness of the +Opinion the most nice and knowing People of the World had of this Poem. +'Tis therefore impossible that</i> Aristotle <i>should be ignorant of the +Origine, Progress, Design and Effects of this Art; and consequently even +before I examine these Rules, I am well assur'd upon his account who +gives them, that they have all the Certainty, and Authority, that Rules +can possibly have.</i></p> + +<p><i>But when I come to examine the Manner in which</i> Aristotle <i>delivers them, +I find them so evident and conformable to Nature, that I cannot but be +sensible they are true; for what does</i> Aristotle? <i>He gives not his Rules +as</i> Legisltors <i>do their Laws, without any other reason than their Wills +only; he advances nothing but what is accompanied with Reason, drawn +from the common Sentiment of Mankind, insomuch that the Men themselves +become the Rule and Measure of what he prescribes. Thus without +considering that the Rules are of almost equal Date with the Art they +Teach, or any prejudice, in favour of</i> Aristotle<i>'s Name, (for 'tis the +Work which ought to make the Name valued, and not the Name the Work) I +am forced to submit to all his Decisions, the Truth of which I am +convinc'd of in my self, and whose Certainty I discover by Reason and +Experience, which never yet deceiv'd any body.</i></p> + +<p><i>To this I shall add, the Effects which these Rules have produc'd in all +Ages, on different sort of People, and I see, that as they made the +Beauty of</i> Homer<i>'s</i> Sophocles, <i>and</i> Euripides <i>Poems in</i> Greece, <i>from +which they were drawn; so four or five Hundred Years after, they adorn'd +the Poems of</i> Virgil <i>and other famous Latin Poets, and that now after Two +Thousand Years they make the best</i> Tragedies <i>we have, in which all that +pleases, only does so, as 'tis conformable to these Rules, (and that too +without our being aware of it,) and what is displeasing, is such, +because it is contrary to them, for good Sense, and right Reason, is of +all Countries and Places, the same Subjects which caus'd so many Tears +to be shed in the</i> Roman <i>Theatre, produce the same Effects in ours, and +those Things which gave distaste then, do the same now, from whence I am +convinced, that never any Laws had either so much Force, Authority, or +Might. Humane Laws expire or Change very often after the Deaths of their +Authors, because Circumstances Change, and the Interests of Men, whom +they are made to serve, are different; but these still take new vigor, +because they are the Laws of Nature, who always acts uniformly, renews +them incessantly, and gives them a perpetual Existence.</i></p> + +<p><i>I won't pretend nevertheless that the Rules of this Art, are so firmly +established, that 'tis impossible to add any thing to them, for tho'</i> +Tragedy <i>has all its proper Parts, 'tis probable one of those may yet +arrive to greater Perfection. I am perswaded, that tho' we have been +able to add nothing to the Subject, or Means, yet we have added +something to the Manner, as you'l find in the Remarks, and all the new +Discoveries are so far from destroying this Establishment, that they do +nothing more than confirm it; for Nature is never contrary to herself, +and one may apply to the Art of Poetry, what</i> Hippocrates <i>says of +Physick,</i><small><a name="f17.1" id="f17.1" href="#f17">[17]</a></small> Physick is of long standing, hath sure Principles, and a +certain way by which in the Course of many Ages, an Infinity of Things +have been discovered, of which, Experience confirms the Goodness; All +that is wanting, for the perfection of this Art, will without doubt be +found out, by those Ingenious Men, who will search for it, according to +the Instructions and Rules of the Ancients, and endeavour to arrive at +what is unknown, by what is already plain: For whoever shall boast that +he has obtained this Art by rejecting the ways of the Ancients, and +taking a quite different one, deceives others, and is himself deceived; +because that's absolutely impossible. <i>This Truth extends it self to all +Arts and Sciences, 'tis no difficult matter to find a proper Example in +our Subject, there is no want of</i> Tragedies, <i>where the management is +altogether opposite to that of the Ancients. According to the Rules of</i> +Aristotle, <i>a</i> Tragedy <i>is the Imitation of an Allegorical and Universal +Action, which by the means of Terror, and Compassion, moderates and +corrects our Inclinations. But according to these new</i> Tragedies <i>'tis an +imitation of some particular Action, which affects no body, and is only +invented to amuse the Spectators, by the Plot, and unravelling a vain +Intrigue, which tends only to excite and satisfie their Curiosity, and +stir up their Passions, instead of rend'ring them calm and quiet. This +is not only not the same Art, but can be none at all, since it tends to +no good, and 'tis a pure Lye without any mixture of Truth; what +advantage can be drawn from this Falshood? In a word, 'tis not a Fable, +and by consequence, is in no wise a</i> Tragedy, <i>for a</i> Tragedy <i>cannot +subsist without a Fable,</i><small><a name="f18.1" id="f18.1" href="#f18">[18]</a></small> <i>as you will see elsewhere.</i></p> + +<p><i>We come now to the first Consequence, which we draw, from what we have +Establish'd, and shall endeavour to prove, that our Laws, and what +pleases, can never be opposite, since the Rules were made only for what +pleases, and tend only to show the way you must walk in, to do so. By +this we shall destroy the false Maxim, That,</i> all that pleases is good, +<i>and assert that we ought on the contrary to say, That,</i> all that is good +pleases, or ought to please. <i>For the goodness of any Work whatsoever, +does not proceed from this, that it gives us pleasure, but the pleasure +that we have proceeds from its goodness, unless our deluded Eyes and +corrupt Imaginations mislead us, for that which causes our mistakes, is +not, where is, but what is not.</i></p> + +<p><i>If the Rules, and what pleased, were things opposite, you would never +arrive at the giving pleasure, but by meer chance, which is absurd: +There must for that reason be a certain way, which leads thither, and +that way is the Rule which we ought to learn; but what is that Rule? +'Tis a Precept, which being drawn from the</i> Pleasant <i>and</i> Profitable, +<i>leads us to their source. Now what is the</i> Pleasant <i>and</i> Profitable? +<i>'Tis that which pleases naturally, in all Arts 'tis this we consult, +'tis the most sure and perfect Model we can Imitate; in it we find +perfect Unity and Order, for it self is Order, or to speak more +properly, the effect of Order, and the Rule which conducts us thither; +there is but one way to find Order, but a great many to fall into +Confusion.</i></p> + +<p><i>There would be nothing bad in the World, if all that pleas'd were good; +for there is nothing so ridiculous, but what will have its Admirers. You +may say indeed, 'tis no truer, that what is good pleases, because we see +ev'ry day Disputes about the Good and Pleasant, that the same Thing +pleases some, and displeases others; nay, it pleases and displeases the +very same Persons at different times: from whence then proceeds this +difference? It comes either from an absolute Ignorance of the Rule, or +that the Passions alter it. Rightly to clear this Truth, I believe I may +lay down this Maxim, that all sensible Objects are of two sorts; some +may be judged of, by Sense independantly from Reason. I can Sense that +Impression which the animal Spirits make on the Soul, others can't be +judged of but by Reason exercised in Science, Things simply agreeable, +or disagreeable, are of the first Sort, all the World may judge alike of +these, for example the most Ignorant in Musick, perceives very well, +when a Player on the Lute strikes one String for another, because he +judges by his Sense, and that Sense is the Rule; in such occasions, we +may therefore very well say, that all that pleases is good, because that +which is Good doth please, or that which is Evil never fails to +displease; for neither the Passions, nor Ignorance dull the Senses, on +the contrary they sharpen them. 'Tis not so in Things which spring from +Reason; Passion and Ignorance act very strongly on it, and oftentimes +choak it, this is the Reason, why we ordinarily judge so ill, and +differently concerning those Things, of which, that is the Rule and the +Cause. Why, what is Bad often pleases, and that which is Good doth not +always so, 'tis not the fault of the Object, 'tis the fault of him who +judges; but what is Good will infallibly please those who can judge, +and that's sufficient. By this we may see, that a Play, that shall bring +those Things which are to be judg'd of by Reason, within the Rules, as +also what is to be judg'd of by the Sense, shall never fail to please, +for it will please both the Learned, and Ignorant: Now this Conformity +of suffrages is the most sure,</i><small><a name="f19.1" id="f19.1" href="#f19">[19]</a></small> <i>or according to</i> Aristotle <i>the only +Mark of the Good, and Pleasant, as he proves in the following part of +his Discourse. Now these Suffrages are not obtained, but by the +observation of the Rules, and consequently, these Rules are the only +Cause of the Good, and Pleasant, whether they are follow'd Methodically +and with Design, or by Hazard only; for 'tis certain, there are many +Persons who are entirely Ignorant of these Rules, and yet don't fail to +succeed in several Affairs: This is far from destroying the Rules, and +serves to shew their Beauty, and proves how far they are conformable to +Nature, since those often follow them, who know nothing of 'em. In the +Remarks you shall find many Examples of the vast difference, the +observance or neglect of the Rules make in the same Subject, and by that +be throughly convinc'd that they are the two only Causes of Good, or Bad +Works, and that there can never be any occasion, where the perfect +Harmony which is between the Rules, and what pleases, shou'd be broken.</i></p> + +<p><i>'Tis true to come to the last Consequence, that Poetry is an Art, +invented for the Instruction of Mankind, and consequently must be +profitable: 'Tis a general Truth that ev'ry Art is a good Thing, because +there is none whose End is not Good: But, as it is not less true, that +Men ordinarily abuse the best Things, that which was design'd for an +wholsome Remedy, may in time become a very dangerous Poison. I declare +then that I don't speak of corrupted</i> Tragedy, <i>for 'tis not in vitious +and depraved Works, that we must look for Reason, and the intent of +Nature, but in those which are sound and perfect; I speak of Ancient</i> +Tragedy, <i>that which is conform to</i> Aristotle<i>'s Rules, and I dare say, +'tis the most profitable, and necessary of all Diversions.</i></p> + +<p><i>If 'twas possible to oblige Men to follow the Precepts of the Gospel, +nothing could be more happy, they would find there true Peace, solid +Pleasure, and a Remedy for all their Infirmities, and would look on</i> +Tragedy <i>as useless and below them. How could they do otherwise than have +this opinion? since those</i> Pagans <i>who apply'd themselves to the Study of +Wisdome, consider'd it with the same Genius. They themselves own, that +could the People be always brought up in the solid Truths of Philosophy, +the Philosophers need have no recourse to Fables, to give their +Instructions: But as so much Corruption was inconsistent with such +Wisdom, they were forc'd to seek for a Remedy to the Disorders of their +Pleasures; they then invented</i> Tragedy, <i>and inspir'd them with it, not as +the best Employment Men could take up, but as a means, which was able to +correct the excess, into which they plung'd themselves at their Feasts, +and to render those amusements profitable, which Custom and their +Infirmities had made necessary, and their Corruption very dangerous.</i></p> + +<p><i>Men are the same now, they were then, they have the same Passions, and +run with the same Eagerness after Pleasures. To endeavour to reclaim +them from that State, by the severity of Precepts, is attempting to put +a Bridle on an unruly Horse in the middle of his carrier, in the +mean while, there is no Medium, they run into the most criminal excess, +unless you afford them regular and sober Pleasures. 'Tis a great +Happiness that their remaining Reason inclines them to love Diversions, +where there is Order, and Shows, where Truth is to be found, and I am +perswaded, that Charity obliges us, to take advantage of this, and not +to allow too much time for Debauches, which would extinguish that Spark +of Reason, which yet shines in them. Those People are distemper'd, and</i> +Tragedy <i>is all the Remedy they are capable of receiving any advantage +from; for it is the only Recreation in which they can find the agreeable +and Profitable.</i></p> + +<p>Tragedy <i>does not only represent the Punishments, which voluntary Crimes +always draw on their Authors, these are too common, and well known +Truths, and leave too much liberty to our Passions; this is the meanest +sort of</i> Tragedy: <i>But it sets forth the misfortunes which even in +voluntary Crimes, and those committed by Imprudence, draw on such as we +are, and this is perfect</i> Tragedy. <i>It instructs us to stand on our guard, +to refine and moderate our Passions, which alone occasion'd the loss of +those unfortunate ones. Thus the aspiring may learn to give bounds to +his Ambition; the Prophane to fear God; the Malicious to forget his +Wrongs; the Passionate to restrain his Anger; the Tyrant to forsake his +Violence and Injustice,</i> &c. <i>Those idle and infirm Men, who are not able +to bear the Yoak of Religion, and have need of a grosser sort of +Instruction, which falls under the Senses, can never have more +profitable amusements; 'twere to be wish'd, that they would renounce all +other Pleasures, and love this only. If any shall now condemn</i> Tragedy, +<i>he must also condemn the use of Fables, which the most Holy Men have +employ'd, and God himself has vouchsaf't to make use of: For</i> Tragedy <i>is +only a Fable, and was invented as a Fable, to form the Manners, by +Instructions, disguis'd under the Allegory of an Action. He must also +condemn History; for History is much less Grave and Moral than Fable, +insomuch as 'tis particular, when a Fable is more general, and +universal, and by consequence more profitable.</i></p> + +<p><i>We may say too, that the only Aim of true Politicks, is to procure to +the People Virtue, Peace and Pleasure, this Design cannot be contrary to +Religion, because we chuse none of those Pleasures which destroy Virtue, +or Peace.</i> Tragedy <i>is far from it, and endeavours only their +preservation; for 'tis the only Pleasure, which disposes Men to endure +their Passions, to a perfect Mediocrity, which contributes more to the +maintaining of Peace, and acquisition of Virtue, than any thing else; I +also believe that from this Truth, we might draw a sure Rule to judge of +those Pleasures which might be permitted, and those which ought to be +forbidden.</i></p> + +<p><i>You may say,</i> Tragedy <i>is dangerous, by reason of the abuses which creep +into it. Every Thing is dangerous, and may be condemn'd at this rate, +for there is nothing so excellent where Abuses may not be committed, and +of which a bad, or good use may not be made. We must remember this +Truth, that all Arts and Sciences, by the Ignorance and Corruption of +Men, ordinarily produce false Arts, and false Sciences; but these false +Arts and false Sciences, are more opposite to what they Counterfeit than +any thing besides; for there is nothing more opposite to what is +good, than what is bad in the same Kind. If that which is false, engages +us to condemn what is true, it has gain'd its point, that's what it +would have, and having thus Triumph'd over Truth, soon puts its self +into its place, than which nothing can be more Pernicious.</i></p> + +<p><i>Since</i> Tragedy <i>has no defect, but what is external, it follows from +thence, that 'tis good in its self, and consequently profitable; this +cannot be contested, and those who condemn it, condemn, not only the +most noble Diversion, but the most capable to raise the Courage, and +form the Genius, and the only one, which can refine the Passions, and +touch the most vicious and obdurate Souls. I could give many examples; +but shall content my self with relating the Story of</i> Alexander <i>of</i><small><a name="f20.1" id="f20.1" href="#f20">[20]</a></small> +Pherea: <i>This barbarous Man, having order'd the</i> Hecuba <i>of</i> Euripides +<i>to be Acted before him, found himself so affected, that he went out +before the end of the first Act, saying,</i> That he was asham'd to be seen +to weep, at the Misfortunes of <i>Hecuba</i> and <i>Polyxena,</i> when he daily +imbrud his Hands in the Blood of his Citizens; <i>he was affraid that his +Heart should be truly mollify'd, that the Spirit of Tyranny would now +leave the possession of his Breast, and that he should come a private +person out of that Theatre into which he enter'd Master. The Actor who +so sensibly touch'd him, difficultly escaped with his Life, but was +secur'd by some remains of that pity, which was the cause of his Crime.</i></p> + +<p><i>A very grave Historian, makes reflection much to this purpose, and +which seems to me no indifferent one in Politicks; in speaking of the +People of</i> Arcadia, <i>he says,</i> That their Humanity, sweetness of Temper, +respect for Religion, in a word, the Purity of their Manners, and all +their Virtues proceeded chiefly from the Love they had to Musick, which +by its Melody, corrected those ill Impressions, a thick and unwholesome +Air, joyn'd to a hard, and laborious way of living, made on their Bodies +and Minds. <i>He says on the contrary,</i> That the <i>Cynethians</i> fell into all +sorts of Crimes and Impieties, because they despised the wise +Institutions of their Ancestors; and neglected this Art, which was so +much the more necessary for them, as they liv'd in the coldest and worst +place of <i>Arcadia:</i> There was scarcely any City in <i>Greece,</i> where +wickedness was so great and frequent as here. <i>If</i> Polybius <i>speaks thus of +Musick, and accuses</i> Ephorus, <i>for having spoken a thing unworthy of +himself, when he said,</i> That 'twas invented to deceive Mankind: <i>what +ought we then to say of</i> Tragedy, <i>of which Musick is only a small part; +and which is as much above it, as a Word is above an inarticulate Sound, +which signifies nothing.</i></p> + +<p><i>This is what, according to my Opinion, may be truly said of</i> Tragedy, +<i>and the Mean we ought to keep. But to the end this may be justly said, +the Parts must conform themselves entirely to the Rules of Ancient</i> +Tragedy, <i>that is to say, which endeavours rather to Instruct than +Please, and regard the Agreeable, as a means only to make the Profitable +more taking; they must paint the Disorders of the Passions, and the +inevitable Mischiefs which arise from thence. 'Twas for this the</i> Greek +Tragedians <i>were so much Honour'd in their own Age, and esteemed in those +which follow'd. Their Theatre was a School, where Virtue was generally +better Taught, than in the Schools of their Philosophers, and at this +very Day, the reading their Pieces will Inspire an Hatred to Vice, and a +Love to Virtue. To Imitate them profitably, we should re-establish the</i> +Chorus, <i>which establishing the</i> veri-Similitude <i>of the</i> Tragedy, <i>gives an +Opportunity to set forth to the People, those particular Sentiments, you +would inspire them with, and to let them know, what is Vicious or +Laudable, in the Characters which are Introduc'd.</i> Mr. Racine <i>saw the +necessity of this, and cannot be sufficiently praised, for having +brought it, into his two last Pieces, which have happily reconcil'd</i> +Tragedy <i>to its greatest Enemies. Those who have seen the effects of +these</i> Chorus<i>'s, cannot but be sensible of their Advantage, and by +Consequence, must Consent to what I say in my Remarks. After Examples, +and Authorities of this Nature, I have no Reason to fear my Arguments. +But enough of this Matter, tis time to come to what respects my self, +and to give some Account of this Work.</i></p> + +<p><i>I have endeavour'd to make the Translation as literal as possible, +being perswaded, that I could not do better, than to stick close to the +Words of a Man, who wrote with wonderful Exactness, and puts in nothing, +but what is to the purpose. I have nevertheless taken the Liberty +sometimes, to enlarge his Thoughts, for what was understood in his time, +by half a Word, would hardly be Intelligible now, unless some Pains was +taken to explain it.</i></p> + +<p><i>A simple Translation of</i> Aristotle, <i>would be clear enough, and there +would be no need of Commentaries, if we were well Instructed in those</i> +P<i>oets, from whom he takes his Rules, but as almost all the World is +Ignorant of them, and 'tis necessary to explain by Example, what is +Obscure in the Rule. This is what I have endeavour'd to do in my +Remarks, which will seem short, if you consider the many large Volumes +which have been wrote on this little Treatise.</i></p> + +<p><i>Of all the</i> Latin <i>Commentators,</i> Victorius <i>seems to me the most Wise, +Knowing, and Exact, but his Assistance is not sufficient, to give us an +Understanding of Poesie. The</i> Italian Castelvetro, <i>has a great deal of +Wit, and Knowledge, if we may call that Wit, which is only Fancy, and +bestow on much Reading the name of Knowledge. If we recollect all the +Qualities of a good Interpreter, we shall have an Idea just contrary to +that of</i> Castelvetro. <i>He knew neither the Theatre, the Passions, nor the +Characters; he understood neither</i> Aristotle<i>'s Reasons, nor his Method, +and strove rather to contradict, than explain him. On the other hand, he +is so Infatuated with the Author's of his own Country, that he forgot +how to Criticise well; he talks without Measure, like</i> Homer<i>'s</i> Thersites, +<i>and declares War to all that is fine. Indeed he has some good things, +but 'tis not worth while to spend our time in looking after them. The</i> +French <i>Art of Poetry by</i> Mesnardiere, <i>may pass for a Commentary on some +Chapters of</i> Aristotle, <i>but that Work is of little value; for besides +that Author's being no good Critick, and perpetually deceiv'd, he did +not penetrate into the Meaning of the Philosopher. The Practice of the +Theatre by the Abbot</i> D'Aubignac, <i>is infinitely better, but is rather a +Sequel and Supplement, than an Explication of</i> Aristotle; <i>on which, a +perfect Instruction in the Ancient Rules, will enable you to pass a +Judgment. The Treatise of Epick Poem by Father</i> Bossu, <i>is above all the +Moderns have done in that Kind, and is the best Commentary Extant, on +what</i> Aristotle <i>has wrote concerning that sort of Poem; none ever +penetrated deeper into the bottom of that Art, and set in a better Light</i> +(<i>according to</i> Aristotle<i>'s Rules</i>) Homer<i>'s, and</i> Virgil<i>'s Beauties, or the +Solidity, and Beauty of</i> Aristotle<i>'s Rules, by the marvellous Conduct of +those two great Poets. If he had Treated of</i> Tragedy, <i>as throughly, as +he has done of the</i> Epopœia, <i>he had left almost nothing for me to have +done after him; but unfortunately, he omitted the most difficult, which +he could have Explain'd much better than my self, had he had spare time. +His Work however has done me great Service. I have profited by the good, +which others have Wrote, and must confess, that their Faults have been +useful to me. But after all, the most excellent Commentators on the +Poetick Art, are the Ancient Poems, and as they gave the hint to make +Rules, 'tis by them, that these ought to be Explain'd. I hope, I have +not followed such good Guides in vain. If I have wander'd, by following +them, without a true Understanding, I should be very well pleased to be +put in the right way, by any, who would advise me of my Faults, or make +them publickly known.</i></p> + +<p><i>Perhaps some may Reproach me, as Mr.</i> Corneille <i>did all the precedent +Commentators.</i> They have Explain'd <i>Aristotle</i> (<i>says that great Man</i>) as +Grammarians, or Philosophers, and not as Poets; because they had more of +the Study, and Speculation, than Experience of the Theatre. The Reading +them may make us more Learned, but can give us no further Insight, how +we may succeed. <i>This Reproach is founded on this general Maxim,</i> That +every one ought to be believ'd in his own Art. <i>It seems then, that those +should not pretend to explain the Rules of Poesie, who never yet made +Poems. The Principle is true, but the Consequence is not so, for before +that is drawn, we must see to whom the Art of Poetry, and what it +produc'd, does property belong. 'Tis not Poesie it self which is +produced, for then it would have been, before it was. 'Tis Philosophy +that brought it first into play, and consequently, it belongs to +Philosophy, to give, and explain its Rules. This is so true, that</i> +Aristotle <i>made not these Rules as a Poet, but as a Philosopher: And if +he made them as such, why may they not be explain'd that way too? And as +it was not necessary to make</i> Dramatick P<i>oems, to give Rules to that Art, +so 'tis no more necessary that they should be made, to Explain those +Rules.</i></p> + +<p><i>I don't know indeed, whether he who has made Pieces for the Theatre, is +so proper to explain the Rules of this Art, as he that never did, for +'twould be a Miracle if one was not biass'd by self-Love, when the other +is a dis-interested Judge, who has no other Aim, than discovering the +Truth, and making it known. Mr.</i> Corneille <i>himself may be an Example of +this. All that he would Establish in his new Discourse of</i> Dramatick +Poetry, <i>is less founded on Nature, than his own proper Interest. It +appears by his own Words, that the design he had of defending what he +had ventured on the Stage, obliged him to forsake</i> Aristotle<i>'s Rules, and +to Establish new ones, which should be more favourable to himself; we +shall see in the Remarks, whether they can bear the Test. 'Tis therefore +no ways necessary to have made Poems, to prescribe Rules for Poesie, and +yet much less to explain them. If it was so, I would say there were +none, for of all those which have given any, I knew but one that was a +Poet;</i> Horace <i>himself never made an Epick Poem or a Tragedy, but to +prescribe Rules for Poesie, as also to explain them; it is sufficient to +know the Origine, and Scope of the Art Treated of; to have examin'd +those Poems, which are the Basis and Foundation, to have made +Reflections on what is agreeable, and disagreeable, and rightly to +discover the Causes; this is the only necessary Knowledge I have +endeavour'd to acquire, and Philosophy alone can lead me thither.</i></p> + +<p><i>I shall add once more, that if we make a Man more Learned, by +explaining the Rules as a Philosopher, 'tis Impossible, but he must +attain a surer Knowledge, to succeed in this Art. 'Tis true, we can't +give a</i> Genius, <i>that's not done by Art, but we can shew the Path a</i> Genius +<i>ought to Tread in, and that is the only Design of all Rules.</i></p> + +<p><i>I have not made the Apology of Commentators, to praise my self, for +although I am no Poet, it does not follow that I cannot be a good +Philosopher; I leave it to the Publick, and time, to Judge of my Work, +for I will neither Court, nor slight their Favours.</i></p> + +<p><i>I have spoken very freely, in what I have pass'd my Judgment on, and in +so doing, Imitated the ancient Criticks, who spared neither</i> Demosthenes, +<i>nor</i> Thucidides, <i>nor</i> Plato, <i>nor any that was Great, or Venerable in +Antiquity. A flattering Criticism would be a pleasant sort of one, when +we should seek to Applaud, and the Respect due to the Name, should check +the Censure due to the Fault. I am not so scrupulous, and if any one be +offended, I shall Answer him as</i> Dionysius Halicarnassæus <i>answered</i> Pompey +<i>the Great, who wrote to him, to complain, that he had tax'd</i> Plato <i>with +some Faults.</i> The Veneration you have for <i>Plato</i> is Just, (<i>says that +excellent Critick,</i>) but the Blame you lay on me, is not so. When any one +writes on a Subject, to shew what is Good or Bad in it, he ought to +discover, and mark very exactly all its Virtues, and Vices, for that is +a sure way to find out the Truth, which is more valuable than all things +else whatever. If I had written against <i>Plato</i> with a Design to Decry +his Works, I should be as Impious as<small><a name="f21.1" id="f21.1" href="#f21">[21]</a></small> <i>Zoilus</i>, but on the contrary, I +would praise him, and if in doing so I have Improved any of his Defects, +I have done nothing worthy of Complaint, and which was not necessary for my Design. +<i>Notwithstanding this, I have put some Bounds +to this Liberty, and if I have discovered some Faults, I have conceal'd +some others, that seem'd to me not so considerable. I had respect in +them, to the Approbation of many Persons of Merit, for I would not run +Counter to an almost Universal Consent, which always is of great Weight, +and ought at least to oblige us to be cautious. But that I might give to +those Persons, an Opportunity of recollecting themselves, I have +endeavoured to explain the Rule, in such a manner, that they may +perceive those very Faults, if they will Read the Remarks with +attention. As for the rest, I had no design to offend any Body; if there +are some things which make them uneasie, 'tis impossible to write any +Work of this nature, without disgusting some. 'Tis also the Mark of good +Criticism, as well as good Philosophy. From hence it proceeded, that</i> +Plato <i>was blamed for having taught his Philosophy a long time, without +displeasing any one Person; and they pretended by that, to say that +either his Doctrine was not good, or his Method defective, since none +had by Hearing him been made sensible of that Uneasiness, which People +naturally have, when they perceive themselves to be Vitious.</i></p> + +<p><i>It would be unjust to finish this Preface, without saying something of</i> +Aristotle<i>'s Life, that those who read his Work, may know something of +him. He was the Son of</i> Nicomachus, <i>Physician of</i><small><a name="f22.1" id="f22.1" href="#f22">[22]</a></small> Amyntas, <i>and +descended from</i> Esculapius. <i>His Mother was the Daughter of one of the +Descendants of those, who Transplanted a Colony, from</i> Chalcis <i>to</i> +Stagira, <i>in</i> Macedonia; <i>that is to say, she was of Noble Extraction, on +both sides. He was born at</i> Stagira, <i>about four Hundred Years, before our +Saviour. At Eighteen Years of Age, he went to</i> Athens, <i>and abode with</i> +Plato, <i>he pass'd twenty Years in his School, and when his Master was +dead, he went to</i> Hermeas <i>the Tyrant of</i> Atarna, <i>a City of</i> Mysia; <i>he went +from thence to</i> Mytelene, <i>from whence he was call'd by</i> Philip, <i>to be his +Son</i> Alexander<i>'s Tutor; he was eight Years, with that Young Prince, and +after</i> Philip<i>'s Death, returned to</i> Athens, <i>where he Taught, in the</i> Lyceum +<i>twelve Years, till the Death of</i> Alexander. <i>For</i> Antipater <i>having carried +the War into</i> Greece, Aristotle, <i>who fancied, the</i> Athenians <i>suspected +him, by reason of the strict Friendship, which was between him, and the +Viceroy of</i> Macedonia, <i>retir'd to</i> Calchis, <i>where he died soon after, by a +Fit of Sickness in the sixty third Year of his Age. He left one Son, and +one Daughter, both Young, and made</i> Antipater <i>Executor of his Will, and +Administrator of all his Goods, which were very considerable, if we may judge of them +by</i> Alexander<i>'s Liberality, who gave him eight Hundred Talents, for his +History of Animals, that is according to the lesser Talent, one hundred +and forty Thousand Pounds Sterling, or according to the greater, one +Hundred eighty six Thousand, six Hundred, sixty five Pounds, thirteen +Shillings and four Pence. The most precious of his Moveables was his +Library, which was afterwards Sold to</i> Ptolomy Philadelphus, <i>and which he +had Enrich'd with four Hundred Volumes, of his own making. In those of +his Writings which now remain, and are happily a considerable Number, we +find a very discerning Spirit, a solid Judgment, a wonderful Method, +prodigious Knowledge, and an Eloquence both strong and sweet. He himself +found out more, than the most Knowing now, learn with a great deal of +Labour and Pains, and as for those things which depended on the Vivacity +of the Spirit, no Man ever carried his Knowledge further, or Establish'd +more sure, or extensive Principles. In Dialecticks, Logick, Rhetorick, +Politicks, and Morality, we have little but what he taught us.</i></p> + +<p><i>By making a proper use of his Informations, there have appear'd Works +in some of these Sciences, preferable to his, but his Rhetorick is the +most Preferable we as yet have. His Art of Poetry is more to be admir'd, +for in his Rhetorick, he made use of the Precepts of those, who Wrote +before him. But he is the first that discovered the Grounds, and Secrets +of Poesie, and none since have undertaken to Write, but in Explication +of his Thoughts, which have serv'd, and will always serve as the Rule. +He alone has Reviv'd</i> Tragedy <i>more than once.</i></p> + +<p><i>In effect after it was brought to its Perfection, under the Reign of</i> +Alexander, <i>the Son of</i> Amyntas, <i>under the Reigns of</i> Perdiccas, <i>and</i> +Archelaus, <i>and degenerated in those which follow'd, but under that of</i> +Philip, <i>and</i> Alexander, <i>the Poets being Encourag'd by those Glorious +Princes, and guided by</i> Aristotle<i>'s Genius, made it flourish as before.</i></p> + +<p><i>After the Death of</i> Alexander, <i>it began to Languish, and never recover'd +its entire Strength till the Reign of</i> Augustus, <i>in which the Rules of +this Philosopher were Reviv'd.</i></p> + +<p><i>Since the</i> Death of Augustus, <i>it has grown Feeble, for more than sixteen +Hundred Years, till in this last Age 'twas recover'd out of its long +Decay, by Mr.</i> Corneille, <i>and Mr.</i> Racine, <i>who upheld themselves by</i> +Aristotle<i>'s Rules. So true is it, that Time is the Faithful Guardian, +not only of Great Men, as</i> Pindar <i>saith, but also of the Liberal Arts, +which it revives as occasion offers, and always, under the greatest +Princes. For what a good Soil and Air, are to Seeds and Fruits, such is +the Glory, Grandeur, Magnificence, and Liberality of Princes, to +Arts, and Sciences, which do not so much flourish under them, as by +them; and we may very properly apply to this Subject the fallowing Verse +of</i> Agathon.</p> + +<div class="poem">Art favours Fortune, Fortune favours Art.</div> + +<p> </p> +<p><i>If</i> Tragedy <i>shall some time hence suffer any sort of Eclipse, 'twill be +by the Laziness, and Haste of those Poets, who Write without being +rightly Instructed.</i> Plato <i>in his</i> Phedrus <i>Introduces a young Poet seeking</i> +Sophocles <i>and</i> Euripides, <i>and Accosting them thus.</i> I can make Verses +tolerably well; and I know how in my Descriptions to extend a mean +Subject, and Contract a great one: I know how to excite Terror, and +Compassion, and to make pitiful things appear Dreadful and Menacing. I +will therefore go, and write <i>Tragedies</i>. <i>Sophocles</i> and <i>Euripides +answer'd him</i>, Don't go so fast, <i>Tragedy</i> is not what you take it to +be; 'tis a Body, composed of many different, and well-suited Parts, of +which you will make a Monster, unless you know how to adjust them; you +may know what is to be learn'd, before the Study of the Art of Tragedy; +but you don't yet know that Art.</p> + +<p><i>If there are Poets now, which don't know so much as the Young Man, of +whom</i> Plato <i>speaks, these Rules can be of no Advantage to them; but those +who are like him, and in the same Circumstances, need only keep to these +Rules, which will teach them what they are Ignorant of, and the +fourth time restore</i> Tragedy <i>to its first Lustre and Brightness. This is +the most profitable Present, can be made them, if by Meditation and +Practice they will endeavour to make a right use of it; for Precepts +alone are not sufficient to make us Learned, the Advantage, and Profit +of any Rules, depend on our Labour and Pains. If these Rules are not for +them, they will be against them, and their Works shall be Judg'd by +them.</i></p> + +<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> + +<p><strong>Footnotes:</strong></p> + +<p><a name="f17" id="f17" href="#f17.1">[17]</a> In his Treatise of Ancient Physick.</p> + +<p><a name="f18" id="f18" href="#f18.1">[18]</a> Chap. 18. <i>Rem.</i> 8. <i>&c.</i></p> + +<p><a name="f19" id="f19" href="#f19.1">[19]</a> <i>Chap.</i> 13. Rem. 25.</p> + +<p><a name="f20" id="f20" href="#f20.1">[20]</a> A Town in <i>Thessaly</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="f21" id="f21" href="#f21.1">[21]</a> Called Impious, because he writ against <i>Homer</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="f22" id="f22" href="#f22.1">[22]</a> Grandfather to <i>Alexander</i> the Great.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Notes_on_Daciers_Preface" id="Notes_on_Daciers_Preface"></a>Notes on Dacier's Preface</h2> + + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [A 3], <i>recto</i>, 11. 17-18. "<i>Horace's Art of Poetry.</i>" Published, +Paris, 1689, in Vol. X of Dacier's <i>Remarques Critiques sur les Oeuvres</i> +[<i>d'Horace</i>] <i>Avec une Nouvelle Traduction</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [A 5], <i>verso</i>, 1.2, note. "Chap. 18, Rem. 8." In this remark, +Dacier explicates Aristotle's injunction that the poet should sketch the +general outline of the fable before filling in episodes and naming +characters, thus making it general and universal.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [A 6], <i>verso</i>, 1.7, note. "Chap. 13, Rem. 25." Dacier says in +this remark that a regular tragedy submitted to the judgment of the +learned and the ignorant will always please best, "<i>car l'un remarque +une chose, l'autre une autre, & tous ensemble ils remarquent tout</i>."</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [A 8], <i>recto</i>, 1.7. "History is much less grave." "Ch. IX, Rem. +5" (Dacier's note) Dacier adds nothing to the traditional discussion of +the superiority of poetry to history and philosophy.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [A 8], <i>verso</i>, 1.18. "Alexander of Pherea." See Plutarch's +oration "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander," II, in <i>Moralia</i> +(tr. F.C. Babbitt, Loeb Classical Library), IV, 424.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 1], <i>recto</i>, 1.1. "A Very Grave Historian." Polybius, +<i>Histories</i>, IV, 20.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 1], <i>verso</i> 1.20. "Mr. Racine ... his last two pieces..." +<i>Esther</i> (1689) and <i>Athalie</i>, 1691.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 2], <i>recto</i>, 11. 23-24. "Victorius." Pietro Vettori, +<i>Commentarii in Primum Librum Aristotelis de Arte Poetarum</i>, Florentiae, +1560.</p> + +<p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1.27. "Castelvetro." Ludovico Castelvetro, <i>La Poetica +d'Aristotele vulgarizzata et sposta</i>, 1570. This view of Castelvetro, +who was remarkable for his independence of Aristotle, was fairly common +in France. La Mesnardière, for instance, was extremely hostile to him.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 2], <i>verso</i>, 1.13. "Mesnardière." Jules de La Mesnardière, <i>La +Poëtique</i>, Paris, 1693.</p> + +<p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1.20. "D'Aubignac." Aubignac (abbé Hédelin d'), <i>La Pratique du +Theatre</i>, Paris, 1657. English translation, 1684.</p> + +<p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1.26. "<i>Father Bossu.</i>" <i>Traité du Poëme Epique</i>, Paris, 1675.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 3], <i>recto</i>, 1.22. "Corneille." "Discours de l'Utilité et des +Parties du Poëme Dramatique," <i>Oeuvres</i> (ed. Ch. Marty-Laveaux), Paris, +1862, I, 16.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 4], <i>verso</i>, 1. 12. "Dionysius of Halicarnassus." See +"Epistola ad Cn. Pompeio de Platone," Dionysii Halicarnassensis, <i>Opera +Omnia</i>, Lipsiae, 1774-1777, VI, 750-752.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 6], <i>verso</i>, 1. 27. "Pindar" Fragment 159, <i>Odes</i> (tr. Sir +John Sandys, Loeb Classical Library) p. 600.</p> + +<p><i>Sig.</i> [b 7], <i>recto</i>, 1. 5. "verse of Agathon" <i>Ars atque fortuna +invicem se diligunt</i>. "Agathones Fragmenta" 6, in <i>Fragmenta Euripides</i> +(ed. F.G. Wagner), Paris, 1843-1846, II, 58.</p> + +<p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1.10. "Plato in his Phaedrus." "Phaedrus," 268, <i>Dialogues</i> +(tr. B. Jowett) Third Edition, Oxford, 1892, I, 477.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h4>William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California</h4> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Augustan Reprint Society</span></h3> +<p> </p> +<table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Editors"> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>General Editors</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">R. C. Boys</span><br /><span style="margin-left: 1em;">University of Michigan</span></td><td> </td><td><span class="smcap">Ralph Cohen</span><br /><span style="margin-left: 1em;">University of California, Los Angeles</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Vinton A. Dearing</span><br /><span style="margin-left: 1em;">University of California, Los Angeles</span></td><td> </td><td><span class="smcap">Lawrence Clark Powell</span><br /><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wm. 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Introduction by Scott Elledge.</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Essays on the Theatre.</i> Selected, with an introduction, by John Loftis.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Samuel Johnson, <i>Notes to Shakespeare, Vol. III, Tragedies.</i> Edited by Arthur Sherbo.</td></tr> +<tr><td>John Joyne, <i>A Journal</i> (1679). Edited by R. E. Hughes.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Richard Savage, <i>An Author to be Let</i> (1732). Introduction by James Sutherland.</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Seventeenth-Century Tales of the Supernatural.</i> Selected, with an introduction, by Isabel M. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/29547-h/images/title.png b/29547-h/images/title.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0bab4c --- /dev/null +++ b/29547-h/images/title.png diff --git a/29547.txt b/29547.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..60135bc --- /dev/null +++ b/29547.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1522 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry, by Andre Dacier + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry + +Author: Andre Dacier + +Editor: Samuel Holt Monk + +Release Date: July 30, 2009 [EBook #29547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE--ARISTOTLE'S POETRY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Stephanie Eason, Joseph Cooper +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + A. DACIER + THE PREFACE TO ARISTOTLE'S + ART OF POETRY + (1705) + + Publication Number 76 + + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + University of California + Los Angeles + 1959 + + + + GENERAL EDITORS + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Lawrence Clark Powell, _Clark Memorial Library_ + + ASSISTANT EDITOR + W. Earl Britton, _University of Michigan_ + + ADVISORY EDITORS + Emmett L. Avery, _State College of Washington_ + Benjamin Boyce, _Duke University_ + Louis Bredvold, _University of Michigan_ + John Butt, _King's College, University of Durham_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Ernest C. Mossner, _University of Texas_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + Edna C. Davis, _Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Andre Dacier's _Poetique d'Aristote Traduite en Francois avec des +Remarques_ was published in Paris in 1692. His translation of Horace +with critical remarks (1681-1689) had helped to establish his reputation +in both France and England. Dryden, for example, borrowed from it +extensively in his _Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of +Satire_ (1693). No doubt this earlier work assured a ready reception and +a quick response to the commentary on Aristotle: how ready and how quick +is indicated by the fact that within a year of its publication in France +Congreve could count on an audience's recognizing a reference to it. In +the _Double Dealer_ (II, ii) Brisk says to Lady Froth: "I presume your +ladyship has read _Bossu_?" The reply comes with the readiness of a +_cliche_: "O yes, and _Rapine_ and _Dacier_ upon _Aristotle_ and +_Horace_." A quarter of a century later Dacier's reputation was still +great enough to allow Charles Gildon to eke out the second part of his +_Complete Art of Poetry_ (1718) by translating long excerpts from the +Preface to the "admirable" Dacier's Aristotle.[1] Addison ridiculed the +pedantry of Sir Timothy Tittle (a strict Aristotelian critic) who +rebuked his mistress for laughing at a play: "But Madam," says he, "you +ought not to have laughed; and I defie any one to show me a single rule +that you could laugh by.... There are such people in the world as +_Rapin_, _Dacier_, and several others, that ought to have spoiled your +mirth."[2] But the scorn is directed at the pupil, not the master, whom +Addison considered a "true critic."[3] A work so much esteemed was +certain to be translated, and so in 1705 an English version by an +anonymous translator was published. + +It cannot be claimed that Dacier's Aristotle introduced any new critical +theories into England. Actually it provides material for little more +than an extended footnote on the history of criticism in the Augustan +period. Dacier survived as an influence only so long as did a respect +for the rules; and he is remembered today merely as one of the +historically important interpreters--or misinterpreters--of the +_Poetics_.[4] He was, however, the last Aristotelian formalist to affect +English critical theory, for the course of such speculation in the next +century was largely determined by other influences. None the less, his +preface and his commentary are worth knowing because they express +certain typically neo-classical ideas about poetry, especially dramatic +poetry, which were acceptable to many men in England and France at the +end of the seventeenth century. Dacier's immediate and rather special +influence on English criticism may be observed in Thomas Rymer's +proposal to introduce the chorus into English tragedy and in the +admiration which the moralistic critics at the turn of the century felt +for his theories. + +In the very year of its publication Rymer read with obvious approbation +Dacier's _Poetique d'Aristote_. In the preface to _A Short View of +Tragedy_ (1692) he announced that "we begin to understand the Epick Poem +by means of _Bossu_; and Tragedy by Monsieur _Dacier_."[5] That Rymer +admired Dacier's strict formalism is plain, but he was especially moved +by the French critic's argument that the chorus is _the_ essential part +of true tragedy, since it is necessary both for _vraisemblance_ and for +moral instruction.[6] He therefore boldly proposed that English tragic +poets should henceforth use the chorus in the manner of the ancients, +since it is "the root and original, and ... certainly always the most +necessary part of Tragedy."[7] Moreover he praised (as had Dacier) the +example of Racine, who had introduced the chorus into the plays that he +had written for private performance, by the young ladies of St. +Cyr--_Esther_ (1689) and _Athalie_ (1691). As is well known, he even +went so far as to write the synopsis of what inevitably would have been +an absurd Aeschylean tragedy on the defeat of the Armada.[8] + +Rymer's proposal provoked a public debate, which was begun by John +Dennis, at that time an almost unknown young critic. Though _The +Impartial Critick_ (1693) was directed against Rymer (who had given +grave offence to Dryden and others by his attack on Shakespeare in the +_Short View_), Dennis knew Dacier's ideas intimately, and his discussion +of the chorus in the first and the fourth dialogues, is more directly a +refutation of the French than of the English critic.[9] This lively +treatise established whatever intimacy existed between young Dennis and +the aging Dryden.[10] + +Though Dryden avoided any extended public argument with Rymer, he +obviously knew both the _Short View_ and Dacier's Aristotle. In the +_Parallel of Poetry and Painting_ (1695), he followed Rymer's lead in +equating Dacier, the critic of tragedy ("in his late excellent +Translation of Aristotle and his notes upon him"[11]) with Le Bossu, the +framer of "exact rules for the Epic Poem...." But he disagreed with +Dacier's opinions on the chorus and explained away Racine's use of it on +the sensible grounds that _Esther_ had not been written for public, but +for private performances which gave occasion to the young ladies of St. +Cyr "of entertaining the king with vocal music, and of commending their +voices."[12] He also suggested the practical consideration that plays +with choruses would bankrupt any company of actors because it would be +necessary to provide a number of costumes for the additional players and +to enlarge the stage (and consequently the theater) to make room for the +choral dances. + +Dacier's insistence that the primary function of poetry is to instruct +and that pleasure is merely an aid to that end could easily be distorted +into a crudely moralistic view of the art. Doubtless it was this that +recommended the treatise to minor critics and poets who were creating +the atmosphere out of which came Jeremy Collier's attack on contemporary +dramatists in 1698. + +Blackmore's preface to _Prince Arthur_ (1695) is a long plea for the +reformation of poetry, whose "true and genuine End is, by universal +Confession, the Instruction of our Minds and Regulation of our +Manners...." One is not surprised, when toward the end he names his +authorities, that they turn out to be Rapin, Le Bossu, Dacier (as +commentators on Aristotle and Horace) and "our own _excellent Critick, +Mr. Rymer_."[13] W.J. who translated Le Bossu in 1695, dedicated his +work to Blackmore. In his preface he linked Blackmore and Dacier as +proponents of the thesis that poetry's "true Use and End is to instruct +and profit the world more than to delight and please it."[14] And Jeremy +Collier himself quoted Dacier from time to time, and on one occasion +invoked his commentary on Horace, "_The Theater condemned as +inconsistent with Prudence and Religion_," as one of many answers to the +unrepentant Congreve.[15] + +But besides starting these minor controversies Dacier's preface states +some of the typical themes of neo-Aristotelian criticism: the idea that +proper tragedy is based on a fable that imitates an "Allegorical and +Universal Action" intended "to Form the Manners," a view that closely +relates tragic fable to epic fable as interpreted by Le Bossu;[16] that +modern tragedy, being concerned with individuals and their intrigues, +cannot be universal and is therefore necessarily defective; that love is +an improper subject for tragedy; that the Aristotelian _katharsis_ +proposes as its end not the expulsion of passions from the soul, but the +moderation of excessive passions and the inuring of the audience to the +inevitable calamities of life, and so on. Finally, he is nowhere more +typical of French critics in his time than in his vigorous defense of +the rules, which he declares are valid because of the nature of poetry +which, being an art, must have an end, and there must necessarily be +some way to arrive at it; because of the authority of Aristotle, whose +knowledge of our passions equipped him to give rules for poetry; because +of the illustrious works from which Aristotle deduced his rules; because +of the quality of the poetry that they produce when followed; because, +since they are drawn from "the common Sentiment of Mankind," they must +be reasonable; because nothing can please that is not conformable to the +rules, "for good Sense and right Reason, is of all Countries and +places;" and finally "because they are the Laws of Nature who always +acts uniformly, reviews them incessantly, and gives them a perpetual +Existence." It is his simultaneous appeal to the authority of the +ancients, to the _consensus gentium_, to general nature, and to good +sense that makes Dacier seem to us to represent the final phase of +French neo-classical critical theory. + + Samuel Holt Monk + University of Minnesota + + + +Notes to the Introduction + +[1] Willard H. Durham, ed., _Critical Essays of the Eighteenth Century_, +New Haven, 1915, pp. 62-72. + +[2] _Tatler_ 165. + +[3] _Spectator_ 592. + +[4] For Dacier in England see A.F.B. Clark, _Boileau and the French +Classical Critics in England (1660-1830)_, Paris, 1925, pp. 286-288. As +late as 1895, S.H. Butcher, in _Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine +Art_, mentioned Dacier frequently, if only to disagree with him as often +as he mentioned him. + +[5] Thomas Rymer, _Critical Works_ (ed. C.A. Zimansky), New Haven, 1956, +p. 83. + +[6] This view, announced in the Preface, was elaborately argued by +Dacier in Remarque 27, Ch. XIX. + +[7] Rymer, _op. cit._, p. 84. Zimansky, in his introduction and notes, +discusses the influence of Dacier on Rymer and other English critics. + +[8] _Ibid._ p. 84 and pp. 80-93. + +[9] John Dennis, _Critical Works_ (ed. Edward N. Hooker), Baltimore +(1939-43), I, 30-35. For a succinct account of the English controversy +about the chorus see _ibid._, I, 437-438. Though Dennis did not agree +with Dacier on this point, he admired him. As late as 1726, in the +preface to _The Stage Defended_, he quoted Dacier's preface and spoke of +him as "that most judicious Critick." _Ibid._, II, 309. + +[10] John Dryden, _Letters_ (ed. C.E. Ward), Duke University Press, +1942, pp. 71-72. Hooker has noticed the similarity of two of Dennis's +opinions to views expressed by Dryden in his then unpublished "Heads of +an Answer" to Rymer's _Tragedies of the Last Age_, 1678. + +[11] W.P. Ker, _Essays of John Dryden_, Oxford, 1926, II, 136. + +[12] Ker, II, 144. Cf. Dennis's similar remark in _The Impartial +Critick_, Hooker, I, 31. Racine, in his preface to _Esther_, said +nothing doctrinaire about the use of the chorus. He merely mentioned +that it had occurred to him to introduce the chorus in order to imitate +the ancients and to sing the praises of the true God. + +[13] J.E. Spingarn, _Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century_, +Oxford, 1908-09, III, 227 and 240. + +[14] _Treatise of the Epick Poem_, London, 1695, _sig._ [A 3] _verso_- A +4, _recto_. + +[15] Jeremy Collier, "A Defence of the Short View.... Being a Reply to +Mr. Congreve's Amendments," _A Short View of the Profaneness and +Immorality of the English Stage_, etc., London, 1738, p. 251. + +[16] _Traite du Poeme Epique_, I, ch. vi and vii. + + + + +ARISTOTLE'S + +ART + +OF + +POETRY. + +Translated from the Original _Greek_, according to Mr. _Theodore +Goulston_'s Edition. + +TOGETHER, + +With Mr. _D'ACIER_'s Notes Translated from the _French_. + + + ----_Vero nomine poena + Non Honor est._---- + + Ovid Metam. _lib._ 2. + + +_LONDON_: + +Printed for _Dan. Browne_ at the _Blalk Swan_ without _Temple Bar_, and +_Will. Turner_ at the _Angel_ at _Lincolns-Inn_ Back Gate, 1705. + + + + +THE PREFACE + + +If I was to speak here of _Aristotle's_ Merit only, the excellence of +his Poetick Art, and the reasons I had to publish it, I need do no more +than refer the Reader to that Work, to shew the disorders into which the +Theatre is long since fallen, and to let him see that as the Injustice +of Men, gave occasion to the making of Laws; so the decay of Arts and +the Faults committed in them, oblig'd first to the making Rules, and the +renewing them. But in order to prevent the Objections of some, who scorn +to be bound to any Rules, only that of their own fancy, I think it +necessary, to prove, not only that Poetry is an Art, but that 'tis known +and its Rules so certainly those which _Aristotle_ gives us, that 'tis +impossible to succeed any other way. This being prov'd, I shall examine +the two Consequences which naturally flow from thence: First, that the +Rules, and what pleases, are never contrary to one another, and that you +can never obtain the latter without the former. Secondly, That Poesie +being an Art can never be prejudicial to Mankind, and that 'twas +invented and improv'd for their advantage only. + +To follow this Method, 'tis necessary to trace Poetry from its +Original, to shew that 'twas the Daughter of Religion, that at length +'twas vitiated, and debauch'd, and lastly, brought under the Rules of +Art, which assisted, in Correcting the defaults of Nature. + +God touch'd with Compassion for the Misery of Men, who were obliged to +toil and labour, ordain'd Feasts to give them some rest; the offering of +Sacrifices to himself, by way of Thanksgiving, for those Blessings they +had received by his Bounty. This is a Truth which the _Heathens_ +themselves acknowledged; they not only imitated these Feasts, but spake +of them as a Gift of the Gods, who having granted a time of Repose, +requir'd some tokens of their grateful remembrance. + +The first Feasts of the Ancients were thus, They assembled at certain +times, especially in Autumn, after the gathering in their Fruits, for to +rejoyce, and to offer the choicest of them to God; and this 'tis, which +first gave birth to Poetry: For Men, who are naturally inclined to the +imitation of Musick, employ'd their Talents to sing the praises of the +God they worshipped, and to celebrate his most remarkable Actions. + +If they had always kept to that Primitive Simplicity, all the Poesie we +should have had, would have been, only Thanksgivings, Hymns, and Songs, +as amongst the _Jews_. But 'twas very difficult, or rather impossible, +that Wisdom and Purity, should reign long in the _Heathen_ Assemblies; +they soon mingl'd the Praises of Men, with those of their Gods, and came +at last, to the Licentiousness of filling their Poems with biting +Satyrs, which they sung to one another at their drunken Meetings; Thus +Poetry was entirely Corrupted, and the present scarce retains any Mark +of Religion. + +The Poets which followed, and who were (properly speaking,) the +Philosophers and Divines of those Times, seeing the desire the People +had for those Feasts, and Shows, and impossibility of retrieving the +first Simplicity; took another way to remedy this Disorder, and making +an advantage of the Peoples Inclinations, gave them Instructions, +disguis'd under the Charmes of Pleasure, as Physicians gild and sweeten +the bitter Pills they administer to their Patients. + +I shall not recount all the different Changes, which have happen'd in +Poetry, and by what degrees it has arrived to the Perfection, we now +find it; I have spoken of it already in my _Commentaries_ on _Horace's +Art of Poetry_, and shall say more in explaining, what _Aristotle_ +writes in this Treatise. + +_Homer_ was the first that invented, or finished, an Epick Poem, for he +found out the Unity of the Subject, the Manners, the Characters, and the +Fable. But this Poem could only affect Customes, and was not moving +enough to Correct the Passions, there wanted a Poem, which by imitating +our Actions, might work in our Spirits a more ready and sensible effect. +'Twas this, which gave occasion for _Tragedy_, and banished all Satyrs, +by this means Poetry was entirely purg'd from all the disorders its +Corruption had brought it into. + +This is no proper place to shew, that Men who are quickly weary of +regulated Pleasures, took pains to plunge themselves again into their +former Licentiousness by the invention of _Comedy_. I shall keep my self +to _Tragedy_, which is the most noble Imitation, and principal Subject +of this Treatise, all the Parts of an Epick Poem are comprized in a +_Tragedy_. + +However short this account may be, it suffices to let you see that +Poesie is an Art, for since it has a certain End, there must necessarily +be some way to arrive there: No body doubts of this constant Truth, that +in all concerns where you may be in the right, or the wrong, there is an +Art and sure Rules to lead you to the one, and direct you, how to avoid +the other. + +The question then is, whether the Rules of this Art are known, and +whether they are those which _Aristotle_ gives us here? This question is +no less doubtful, than the former, I must also confess that this cannot +be determined, but by the unlearned; who because they are the greater +number, I shall make my Examination in their favour. To do this with +some sort of Method, there are four Things to be consider'd, who gives +the Rules, the time when he gives them; the manner in which he gives +them, and the effects they have in divers times wrought on different +People: For I believe from these four Circumstances, I can draw such +Conclusions, that the most obstinate shall not be able to gainsay. + +He who gives these Rules, is one of the greatest Philosophers that ever +was, his Genius was large, and of vast extent, the great Discoveries he +made in all Sciences, and particularly in the Knowledge of Man, are +certain Signs, that he had a sufficient insight into our Passions, to +discover the Rules of the Art of Poetry, which is founded on them. But I +shall suspend my Judgment, and pass on to the time in which he gave +these Rules. + +I find that he was born in the Age in which _Tragedy_ first appear'd, +for he lived with the Disciples of _AEschylus_, who brought it out of +Confusion; and he had the same Masters with _Sophocles_, and _Euripides_, +who carried it to its utmost Perfection: Besides he was witness of the +Opinion the most nice and knowing People of the World had of this Poem. +'Tis therefore impossible that _Aristotle_ should be ignorant of the +Origine, Progress, Design and Effects of this Art; and consequently even +before I examine these Rules, I am well assur'd upon his account who +gives them, that they have all the Certainty, and Authority, that Rules +can possibly have. + +But when I come to examine the Manner in which _Aristotle_ delivers +them, I find them so evident and conformable to Nature, that I cannot +but be sensible they are true; for what does _Aristotle_? He gives not +his Rules as _Legisltors_ do their Laws, without any other reason than +their Wills only; he advances nothing but what is accompanied with +Reason, drawn from the common Sentiment of Mankind, insomuch that the +Men themselves become the Rule and Measure of what he prescribes. Thus +without considering that the Rules are of almost equal Date with the Art +they Teach, or any prejudice, in favour of _Aristotle's_ Name, (for 'tis +the Work which ought to make the Name valued, and not the Name the Work) +I am forced to submit to all his Decisions, the Truth of which I am +convinc'd of in my self, and whose Certainty I discover by Reason and +Experience, which never yet deceiv'd any body. + +To this I shall add, the Effects which these Rules have produc'd in all +Ages, on different sort of People, and I see, that as they made the +Beauty of _Homer's Sophocles_, and _Euripides_ Poems in _Greece_, +from which they were drawn; so four or five Hundred Years after, they +adorn'd the Poems of _Virgil_ and other famous Latin Poets, and that now +after Two Thousand Years they make the best _Tragedies_ we have, in +which all that pleases, only does so, as 'tis conformable to these +Rules, (and that too without our being aware of it,) and what is +displeasing, is such, because it is contrary to them, for good Sense, +and right Reason, is of all Countries and Places, the same Subjects +which caus'd so many Tears to be shed in the _Roman_ Theatre, produce +the same Effects in ours, and those Things which gave distaste then, do +the same now, from whence I am convinced, that never any Laws had either +so much Force, Authority, or Might. Humane Laws expire or Change very +often after the Deaths of their Authors, because Circumstances Change, +and the Interests of Men, whom they are made to serve, are different; +but these still take new vigor, because they are the Laws of Nature, who +always acts uniformly, renews them incessantly, and gives them a +perpetual Existence. + +I won't pretend nevertheless that the Rules of this Art, are so firmly +established, that 'tis impossible to add any thing to them, for tho' +_Tragedy_ has all its proper Parts, 'tis probable one of those may yet +arrive to greater Perfection. I am perswaded, that tho' we have been +able to add nothing to the Subject, or Means, yet we have added +something to the Manner, as you'l find in the Remarks, and all the new +Discoveries are so far from destroying this Establishment, that they do +nothing more than confirm it; for Nature is never contrary to herself, +and one may apply to the Art of Poetry, what _Hippocrates_ says of +Physick,[17] _Physick is of long standing, hath sure Principles, and a +certain way by which in the Course of many Ages, an Infinity of Things +have been discovered, of which, Experience confirms the Goodness; All +that is wanting, for the perfection of this Art, will without doubt be +found out, by those Ingenious Men, who will search for it, according to +the Instructions and Rules of the Ancients, and endeavour to arrive at +what is unknown, by what is already plain: For whoever shall boast that +he has obtained this Art by rejecting the ways of the Ancients, and +taking a quite different one, deceives others, and is himself deceived; +because that's absolutely impossible._ This Truth extends it self to all +Arts and Sciences, 'tis no difficult matter to find a proper Example in +our Subject, there is no want of _Tragedies_, where the management is +altogether opposite to that of the Ancients. According to the Rules of +_Aristotle_, a _Tragedy_ is the Imitation of an Allegorical and Universal +Action, which by the means of Terror, and Compassion, moderates and +corrects our Inclinations. But according to these new _Tragedies_ 'tis +an imitation of some particular Action, which affects no body, and is +only invented to amuse the Spectators, by the Plot, and unravelling a +vain Intrigue, which tends only to excite and satisfie their Curiosity, +and stir up their Passions, instead of rend'ring them calm and quiet. +This is not only not the same Art, but can be none at all, since it +tends to no good, and 'tis a pure Lye without any mixture of Truth; what +advantage can be drawn from this Falshood? In a word, 'tis not a Fable, +and by consequence, is in no wise a_ Tragedy_, for a _Tragedy_ cannot +subsist without a Fable,[18] as you will see elsewhere. + +We come now to the first Consequence, which we draw, from what we have +Establish'd, and shall endeavour to prove, that our Laws, and what +pleases, can never be opposite, since the Rules were made only for what +pleases, and tend only to show the way you must walk in, to do so. By +this we shall destroy the false Maxim, That, _all that pleases is good_, +and assert that we ought on the contrary to say, That, _all that is good +pleases, or ought to please_. For the goodness of any Work whatsoever, +does not proceed from this, that it gives us pleasure, but the pleasure +that we have proceeds from its goodness, unless our deluded Eyes and +corrupt Imaginations mislead us, for that which causes our mistakes, is +not, where is, but what is not. + +If the Rules, and what pleased, were things opposite, you would never +arrive at the giving pleasure, but by meer chance, which is absurd: +There must for that reason be a certain way, which leads thither, and +that way is the Rule which we ought to learn; but what is that Rule? +'Tis a Precept, which being drawn from the _Pleasant_ and _Profitable_, +leads us to their source. Now what is the _Pleasant_ and _Profitable_? +'Tis that which pleases naturally, in all Arts 'tis this we consult, +'tis the most sure and perfect Model we can Imitate; in it we find +perfect Unity and Order, for it self is Order, or to speak more +properly, the effect of Order, and the Rule which conducts us thither; +there is but one way to find Order, but a great many to fall into +Confusion. + +There would be nothing bad in the World, if all that pleas'd were good; +for there is nothing so ridiculous, but what will have its Admirers. You +may say indeed, 'tis no truer, that what is good pleases, because we see +ev'ry day Disputes about the Good and Pleasant, that the same Thing +pleases some, and displeases others; nay, it pleases and displeases the +very same Persons at different times: from whence then proceeds this +difference? It comes either from an absolute Ignorance of the Rule, or +that the Passions alter it. Rightly to clear this Truth, I believe I may +lay down this Maxim, that all sensible Objects are of two sorts; some +may be judged of, by Sense independantly from Reason. I can Sense that +Impression which the animal Spirits make on the Soul, others can't be +judged of but by Reason exercised in Science, Things simply agreeable, +or disagreeable, are of the first Sort, all the World may judge alike of +these, for example the most Ignorant in Musick, perceives very well, +when a Player on the Lute strikes one String for another, because he +judges by his Sense, and that Sense is the Rule; in such occasions, we +may therefore very well say, that all that pleases is good, because that +which is Good doth please, or that which is Evil never fails to +displease; for neither the Passions, nor Ignorance dull the Senses, on +the contrary they sharpen them. 'Tis not so in Things which spring from +Reason; Passion and Ignorance act very strongly on it, and oftentimes +choak it, this is the Reason, why we ordinarily judge so ill, and +differently concerning those Things, of which, that is the Rule and the +Cause. Why, what is Bad often pleases, and that which is Good doth not +always so, 'tis not the fault of the Object, 'tis the fault of him who +judges; but what is Good will infallibly please those who can judge, +and that's sufficient. By this we may see, that a Play, that shall bring +those Things which are to be judg'd of by Reason, within the Rules, as +also what is to be judg'd of by the Sense, shall never fail to please, +for it will please both the Learned, and Ignorant: Now this Conformity +of suffrages is the most sure,[19] or according to _Aristotle_ the only +Mark of the Good, and Pleasant, as he proves in the following part of +his Discourse. Now these Suffrages are not obtained, but by the +observation of the Rules, and consequently, these Rules are the only +Cause of the Good, and Pleasant, whether they are follow'd Methodically +and with Design, or by Hazard only; for 'tis certain, there are many +Persons who are entirely Ignorant of these Rules, and yet don't fail to +succeed in several Affairs: This is far from destroying the Rules, and +serves to shew their Beauty, and proves how far they are conformable to +Nature, since those often follow them, who know nothing of 'em. In the +Remarks you shall find many Examples of the vast difference, the +observance or neglect of the Rules make in the same Subject, and by that +be throughly convinc'd that they are the two only Causes of Good, or Bad +Works, and that there can never be any occasion, where the perfect +Harmony which is between the Rules, and what pleases, shou'd be broken. + +'Tis true to come to the last Consequence, that Poetry is an Art, +invented for the Instruction of Mankind, and consequently must be +profitable: 'Tis a general Truth that ev'ry Art is a good Thing, because +there is none whose End is not Good: But, as it is not less true, that +Men ordinarily abuse the best Things, that which was design'd for an +wholsome Remedy, may in time become a very dangerous Poison. I declare +then that I don't speak of corrupted _Tragedy_, for 'tis not in vitious +and depraved Works, that we must look for Reason, and the intent of +Nature, but in those which are sound and perfect; I speak of Ancient +_Tragedy_, that which is conform to _Aristotle's_ Rules, and I dare say, +'tis the most profitable, and necessary of all Diversions. + +If 'twas possible to oblige Men to follow the Precepts of the Gospel, +nothing could be more happy, they would find there true Peace, solid +Pleasure, and a Remedy for all their Infirmities, and would look on +_Tragedy_ as useless and below them. How could they do otherwise than +have this opinion? since those _Pagans_ who apply'd themselves to the +Study of Wisdome, consider'd it with the same Genius. They themselves +own, that could the People be always brought up in the solid Truths of +Philosophy, the Philosophers need have no recourse to Fables, to give +their Instructions: But as so much Corruption was inconsistent with such +Wisdom, they were forc'd to seek for a Remedy to the Disorders of their +Pleasures; they then invented _Tragedy_, and inspir'd them with it, not +as the best Employment Men could take up, but as a means, which was able +to correct the excess, into which they plung'd themselves at their +Feasts, and to render those amusements profitable, which Custom and +their Infirmities had made necessary, and their Corruption very +dangerous. + +Men are the same now, they were then, they have the same Passions, and +run with the same Eagerness after Pleasures. To endeavour to reclaim +them from that State, by the severity of Precepts, is attempting to put +a Bridle on an unruly Horse in the middle of his carrier, in the +mean while, there is no Medium, they run into the most criminal excess, +unless you afford them regular and sober Pleasures. 'Tis a great +Happiness that their remaining Reason inclines them to love Diversions, +where there is Order, and Shows, where Truth is to be found, and I am +perswaded, that Charity obliges us, to take advantage of this, and not +to allow too much time for Debauches, which would extinguish that Spark +of Reason, which yet shines in them. Those People are distemper'd, and +_Tragedy_ is all the Remedy they are capable of receiving any advantage +from; for it is the only Recreation in which they can find the agreeable +and Profitable. + +_Tragedy_ does not only represent the Punishments, which voluntary Crimes +always draw on their Authors, these are too common, and well known +Truths, and leave too much liberty to our Passions; this is the meanest +sort of _Tragedy_: But it sets forth the misfortunes which even in +voluntary Crimes, and those committed by Imprudence, draw on such as we +are, and this is perfect _Tragedy_. It instructs us to stand on our +guard, to refine and moderate our Passions, which alone occasion'd the +loss of those unfortunate ones. Thus the aspiring may learn to give +bounds to his Ambition; the Prophane to fear God; the Malicious to +forget his Wrongs; the Passionate to restrain his Anger; the Tyrant to +forsake his Violence and Injustice, _&c._ Those idle and infirm Men, who +are not able to bear the Yoak of Religion, and have need of a grosser +sort of Instruction, which falls under the Senses, can never have more +profitable amusements; 'twere to be wish'd, that they would renounce all +other Pleasures, and love this only. If any shall now condemn _Tragedy_, +he must also condemn the use of Fables, which the most Holy Men have +employ'd, and God himself has vouchsaf't to make use of: For _Tragedy_ +is only a Fable, and was invented as a Fable, to form the Manners, by +Instructions, disguis'd under the Allegory of an Action. He must also +condemn History; for History is much less Grave and Moral than Fable, +insomuch as 'tis particular, when a Fable is more general, and +universal, and by consequence more profitable. + +We may say too, that the only Aim of true Politicks, is to procure to +the People Virtue, Peace and Pleasure, this Design cannot be contrary to +Religion, because we chuse none of those Pleasures which destroy Virtue, +or Peace. _Tragedy_ is far from it, and endeavours only their +preservation; for 'tis the only Pleasure, which disposes Men to endure +their Passions, to a perfect Mediocrity, which contributes more to the +maintaining of Peace, and acquisition of Virtue, than any thing else; I +also believe that from this Truth, we might draw a sure Rule to judge of +those Pleasures which might be permitted, and those which ought to be +forbidden. + +You may say, _Tragedy_ is dangerous, by reason of the abuses which +creep into it. Every Thing is dangerous, and may be condemn'd at this +rate, for there is nothing so excellent where Abuses may not be +committed, and of which a bad, or good use may not be made. We must +remember this Truth, that all Arts and Sciences, by the Ignorance and +Corruption of Men, ordinarily produce false Arts, and false Sciences; +but these false Arts and false Sciences, are more opposite to what they +Counterfeit than any thing besides; for there is nothing more opposite +to what is good, than what is bad in the same Kind. If that which is +false, engages us to condemn what is true, it has gain'd its point, +that's what it would have, and having thus Triumph'd over Truth, soon +puts its self into its place, than which nothing can be more +Pernicious. + +Since _Tragedy_ has no defect, but what is external, it follows from +thence, that 'tis good in its self, and consequently profitable; this +cannot be contested, and those who condemn it, condemn, not only the +most noble Diversion, but the most capable to raise the Courage, and +form the Genius, and the only one, which can refine the Passions, and +touch the most vicious and obdurate Souls. I could give many examples; +but shall content my self with relating the Story of _Alexander_ of[20] +_Pherea_: This barbarous Man, having order'd the _Hecuba_ of _Euripides_ +to be Acted before him, found himself so affected, that he went out +before the end of the first Act, saying, _That he was asham'd to be seen +to weep, at the Misfortunes of_ Hecuba _and_ Polyxena, _when he daily +imbrud his Hands in the Blood of his Citizens_; he was affraid that his +Heart should be truly mollify'd, that the Spirit of Tyranny would now +leave the possession of his Breast, and that he should come a private +person out of that Theatre into which he enter'd Master. The Actor who +so sensibly touch'd him, difficultly escaped with his Life, but was +secur'd by some remains of that pity, which was the cause of his Crime. + +A very grave Historian, makes reflection much to this purpose, and +which seems to me no indifferent one in Politicks; in speaking of the +People of _Arcadia_, he says, _That their Humanity, sweetness of Temper, +respect for Religion, in a word, the Purity of their Manners, and all +their Virtues proceeded chiefly from the Love they had to Musick, which +by its Melody, corrected those ill Impressions, a thick and unwholesome +Air, joyn'd to a hard, and laborious way of living, made on their Bodies +and Minds._ He says on the contrary, _That the_ Cynethians _fell into +all sorts of Crimes and Impieties, because they despised the wise +Institutions of their Ancestors; and neglected this Art, which was so +much the more necessary for them, as they liv'd in the coldest and worst +place of_ Arcadia: _There was scarcely any City in_ Greece, _where +wickedness was so great and frequent as here_. If _Polybius_ speaks thus +of Musick, and accuses _Ephorus_, for having spoken a thing unworthy of +himself, when he said, _That 'twas invented to deceive Mankind_: what +ought we then to say of _Tragedy_, of which Musick is only a small part; +and which is as much above it, as a Word is above an inarticulate Sound, +which signifies nothing. + +This is what, according to my Opinion, may be truly said of _Tragedy_, +and the Mean we ought to keep. But to the end this may be justly said, +the Parts must conform themselves entirely to the Rules of Ancient +_Tragedy_, that is to say, which endeavours rather to Instruct than +Please, and regard the Agreeable, as a means only to make the Profitable +more taking; they must paint the Disorders of the Passions, and the +inevitable Mischiefs which arise from thence. 'Twas for this the _Greek +Tragedians_ were so much Honour'd in their own Age, and esteemed in +those which follow'd. Their Theatre was a School, where Virtue was +generally better Taught, than in the Schools of their Philosophers, and +at this very Day, the reading their Pieces will Inspire an Hatred to +Vice, and a Love to Virtue. To Imitate them profitably, we should +re-establish the _Chorus_, which establishing the _veri-Similitude_ of +the _Tragedy_, gives an Opportunity to set forth to the People, those +particular Sentiments, you would inspire them with, and to let them +know, what is Vicious or Laudable, in the Characters which are +Introduc'd. _Mr. Racine_ saw the necessity of this, and cannot be +sufficiently praised, for having brought it, into his two last Pieces, +which have happily reconcil'd _Tragedy_ to its greatest Enemies. Those +who have seen the effects of these _Chorus's_, cannot but be sensible of +their Advantage, and by Consequence, must Consent to what I say in my +Remarks. After Examples, and Authorities of this Nature, I have no +Reason to fear my Arguments. But enough of this Matter, tis time to come +to what respects my self, and to give some Account of this Work. + +I have endeavour'd to make the Translation as literal as possible, +being perswaded, that I could not do better, than to stick close to the +Words of a Man, who wrote with wonderful Exactness, and puts in nothing, +but what is to the purpose. I have nevertheless taken the Liberty +sometimes, to enlarge his Thoughts, for what was understood in his time, +by half a Word, would hardly be Intelligible now, unless some Pains was +taken to explain it. + +A simple Translation of _Aristotle_, would be clear enough, and there +would be no need of Commentaries, if we were well Instructed in those +Poets, from whom he takes his Rules, but as almost all the World is +Ignorant of them, and 'tis necessary to explain by Example, what is +Obscure in the Rule. This is what I have endeavour'd to do in my +Remarks, which will seem short, if you consider the many large Volumes +which have been wrote on this little Treatise. + +Of all the _Latin_ Commentators, _Victorius_ seems to me the most Wise, +Knowing, and Exact, but his Assistance is not sufficient, to give us an +Understanding of Poesie. The _Italian Castelvetro_, has a great deal of +Wit, and Knowledge, if we may call that Wit, which is only Fancy, and +bestow on much Reading the name of Knowledge. If we recollect all the +Qualities of a good Interpreter, we shall have an Idea just contrary to +that of _Castelvetro_. He knew neither the Theatre, the Passions, nor the +Characters; he understood neither _Aristotle's_ Reasons, nor his Method, +and strove rather to contradict, than explain him. On the other hand, he +is so Infatuated with the Author's of his own Country, that he forgot +how to Criticise well; he talks without Measure, like _Homer's +Thersites_, and declares War to all that is fine. Indeed he has some +good things, but 'tis not worth while to spend our time in looking after +them. The _French_ Art of Poetry by _Mesnardiere_, may pass for a +Commentary on some Chapters of _Aristotle_, but that Work is of little +value; for besides that Author's being no good Critick, and perpetually +deceiv'd, he did not penetrate into the Meaning of the Philosopher. The +Practice of the Theatre by the Abbot _D'Aubignac_, is infinitely better, +but is rather a Sequel and Supplement, than an Explication of +_Aristotle_; on which, a perfect Instruction in the Ancient Rules, will +enable you to pass a Judgment. The Treatise of Epick Poem by Father +_Bossu_, is above all the Moderns have done in that Kind, and is the best +Commentary Extant, on what _Aristotle_ has wrote concerning that sort of +Poem; none ever penetrated deeper into the bottom of that Art, and set +in a better Light (according to _Aristotle's_ Rules) _Homer's_, and +_Virgil's_ Beauties, or the Solidity, and Beauty of _Aristotle's_ Rules, +by the marvellous Conduct of those two great Poets. If he had Treated +of _Tragedy_, as throughly, as he has done of the _Epopoeia_, he had +left almost nothing for me to have done after him; but unfortunately, he +omitted the most difficult, which he could have Explain'd much better +than my self, had he had spare time. His Work however has done me great +Service. I have profited by the good, which others have Wrote, and must +confess, that their Faults have been useful to me. But after all, the +most excellent Commentators on the Poetick Art, are the Ancient Poems, +and as they gave the hint to make Rules, 'tis by them, that these ought +to be Explain'd. I hope, I have not followed such good Guides in vain. +If I have wander'd, by following them, without a true Understanding, I +should be very well pleased to be put in the right way, by any, who +would advise me of my Faults, or make them publickly known. + +Perhaps some may Reproach me, as Mr. _Corneille_ did all the precedent +Commentators. _They have Explain'd_ Aristotle (says that great Man) +_as Grammarians, or Philosophers, and not as Poets; because they had more +of the Study, and Speculation, than Experience of the Theatre. The +Reading them may make us more Learned, but can give us no further +Insight, how we may succeed._ This Reproach is founded on this general +Maxim, _That every one ought to be believ'd in his own Art._ It seems +then, that those should not pretend to explain the Rules of Poesie, who +never yet made Poems. The Principle is true, but the Consequence is not +so, for before that is drawn, we must see to whom the Art of Poetry, and +what it produc'd, does property belong. 'Tis not Poesie it self which is +produced, for then it would have been, before it was. 'Tis Philosophy +that brought it first into play, and consequently, it belongs to +Philosophy, to give, and explain its Rules. This is so true, that +_Aristotle_ made not these Rules as a Poet, but as a Philosopher: And if +he made them as such, why may they not be explain'd that way too? And as +it was not necessary to make _Dramatick_ Poems, to give Rules to that +Art, so 'tis no more necessary that they should be made, to Explain +those Rules. + +I don't know indeed, whether he who has made Pieces for the Theatre, is +so proper to explain the Rules of this Art, as he that never did, for +'twould be a Miracle if one was not biass'd by self-Love, when the other +is a dis-interested Judge, who has no other Aim, than discovering the +Truth, and making it known. Mr. _Corneille_ himself may be an Example of +this. All that he would Establish in his new Discourse of _Dramatick +Poetry_, is less founded on Nature, than his own proper Interest. It +appears by his own Words, that the design he had of defending what he +had ventured on the Stage, obliged him to forsake _Aristotle's_ Rules, +and to Establish new ones, which should be more favourable to himself; +we shall see in the Remarks, whether they can bear the Test. 'Tis +therefore no ways necessary to have made Poems, to prescribe Rules for +Poesie, and yet much less to explain them. If it was so, I would say +there were none, for of all those which have given any, I knew but one +that was a Poet; _Horace_ himself never made an Epick Poem or a Tragedy, +but to prescribe Rules for Poesie, as also to explain them; it is +sufficient to know the Origine, and Scope of the Art Treated of; to have +examin'd those Poems, which are the Basis and Foundation, to have made +Reflections on what is agreeable, and disagreeable, and rightly to +discover the Causes; this is the only necessary Knowledge I have +endeavour'd to acquire, and Philosophy alone can lead me thither. + +I shall add once more, that if we make a Man more Learned, by +explaining the Rules as a Philosopher, 'tis Impossible, but he must +attain a surer Knowledge, to succeed in this Art. 'Tis true, we can't +give a _Genius_, that's not done by Art, but we can shew the Path a +_Genius_ ought to Tread in, and that is the only Design of all Rules. + +I have not made the Apology of Commentators, to praise my self, for +although I am no Poet, it does not follow that I cannot be a good +Philosopher; I leave it to the Publick, and time, to Judge of my Work, +for I will neither Court, nor slight their Favours. + +I have spoken very freely, in what I have pass'd my Judgment on, and in +so doing, Imitated the ancient Criticks, who spared neither +_Demosthenes_, nor _Thucidides_, nor _Plato_, nor any that was Great, or +Venerable in Antiquity. A flattering Criticism would be a pleasant sort +of one, when we should seek to Applaud, and the Respect due to the Name, +should check the Censure due to the Fault. I am not so scrupulous, and +if any one be offended, I shall Answer him as _Dionysius Halicarnassaeus_ +answered _Pompey_ the Great, who wrote to him, to complain, that he had +tax'd _Plato_ with some Faults. _The Veneration you have for_ Plato _is +Just_, (says that excellent Critick,) _but the Blame you lay on me, is +not so. When any one writes on a Subject, to shew what is Good or Bad in +it, he ought to discover, and mark very exactly all its Virtues, and +Vices, for that is a sure way to find out the Truth, which is more +valuable than all things else whatever. If I had written against_ Plato +_with a Design to Decry his Works, I should be as Impious as_[21] +Zoilus, _but on the contrary, I would praise him, and if in doing so I +have Improved any of his Defects, I have done nothing worthy of +Complaint, and which was not necessary for my Design._ Notwithstanding +this, I have put some Bounds to this Liberty, and if I have discovered +some Faults, I have conceal'd some others, that seem'd to me not so +considerable. I had respect in them, to the Approbation of many Persons +of Merit, for I would not run Counter to an almost Universal Consent, +which always is of great Weight, and ought at least to oblige us to be +cautious. But that I might give to those Persons, an Opportunity of +recollecting themselves, I have endeavoured to explain the Rule, in such +a manner, that they may perceive those very Faults, if they will Read +the Remarks with attention. As for the rest, I had no design to offend +any Body; if there are some things which make them uneasie, 'tis +impossible to write any Work of this nature, without disgusting some. +'Tis also the Mark of good Criticism, as well as good Philosophy. From +hence it proceeded, that _Plato_ was blamed for having taught his +Philosophy a long time, without displeasing any one Person; and they +pretended by that, to say that either his Doctrine was not good, or his +Method defective, since none had by Hearing him been made sensible of +that Uneasiness, which People naturally have, when they perceive +themselves to be Vitious. + +It would be unjust to finish this Preface, without saying something of +_Aristotle's_ Life, that those who read his Work, may know something of +him. He was the Son of _Nicomachus_, Physician of[22] _Amyntas_, and +descended from _Esculapius_. His Mother was the Daughter of one of the +Descendants of those, who Transplanted a Colony, from _Chalcis_ to +_Stagira_, in _Macedonia_; that is to say, she was of Noble Extraction, +on both sides. He was born at _Stagira_, about four Hundred Years, +before our Saviour. At Eighteen Years of Age, he went to _Athens_, and +abode with _Plato_, he pass'd twenty Years in his School, and when his +Master was dead, he went to _Hermeas_ the Tyrant of _Atarna_, a City of +_Mysia_; he went from thence to _Mytelene_, from whence he was call'd by +_Philip_, to be his Son _Alexander's_ Tutor; he was eight Years, with +that Young Prince, and after _Philip's_ Death, returned to _Athens_, +where he Taught, in the _Lyceum_ twelve Years, till the Death of +_Alexander_. For _Antipater_ having carried the War into _Greece, +Aristotle_, who fancied, the _Athenians_ suspected him, by reason of the +strict Friendship, which was between him, and the Viceroy of _Macedonia_, +retir'd to _Calchis_, where he died soon after, by a Fit of Sickness in +the sixty third Year of his Age. He left one Son, and one Daughter, both +Young, and made _Antipater_ Executor of his Will, and Administrator of +all his Goods, which were very considerable, if we may judge of them by +_Alexander's_ Liberality, who gave him eight Hundred Talents, for his +History of Animals, that is according to the lesser Talent, one hundred +and forty Thousand Pounds Sterling, or according to the greater, one +Hundred eighty six Thousand, six Hundred, sixty five Pounds, thirteen +Shillings and four Pence. The most precious of his Moveables was his +Library, which was afterwards Sold to _Ptolomy Philadelphus_, and which +he had Enrich'd with four Hundred Volumes, of his own making. In those +of his Writings which now remain, and are happily a considerable Number, +we find a very discerning Spirit, a solid Judgment, a wonderful Method, +prodigious Knowledge, and an Eloquence both strong and sweet. He himself +found out more, than the most Knowing now, learn with a great deal of +Labour and Pains, and as for those things which depended on the Vivacity +of the Spirit, no Man ever carried his Knowledge further, or Establish'd +more sure, or extensive Principles. In Dialecticks, Logick, Rhetorick, +Politicks, and Morality, we have little but what he taught us. + +By making a proper use of his Informations, there have appear'd Works +in some of these Sciences, preferable to his, but his Rhetorick is the +most Preferable we as yet have. His Art of Poetry is more to be admir'd, +for in his Rhetorick, he made use of the Precepts of those, who Wrote +before him. But he is the first that discovered the Grounds, and Secrets +of Poesie, and none since have undertaken to Write, but in Explication +of his Thoughts, which have serv'd, and will always serve as the Rule. +He alone has Reviv'd _Tragedy_ more than once. + +In effect after it was brought to its Perfection, under the Reign of +_Alexander_, the Son of _Amyntas_, under the Reigns of _Perdiccas_, and +_Archelaus_, and degenerated in those which follow'd, but under that of +_Philip_, and _Alexander_, the Poets being Encourag'd by those Glorious +Princes, and guided by _Aristotle's_ Genius, made it flourish as before. + +After the Death of _Alexander_, it began to Languish, and never +recover'd its entire Strength till the Reign of _Augustus_, in which the +Rules of this Philosopher were Reviv'd. + +Since the _Death of Augustus_, it has grown Feeble, for more than +sixteen Hundred Years, till in this last Age 'twas recover'd out of its +long Decay, by Mr. _Corneille_, and Mr. _Racine_, who upheld themselves +by _Aristotle's_ Rules. So true is it, that Time is the Faithful +Guardian, not only of Great Men, as _Pindar_ saith, but also of the +Liberal Arts, which it revives as occasion offers, and always, under the +greatest Princes. For what a good Soil and Air, are to Seeds and Fruits, +such is the Glory, Grandeur, Magnificence, and Liberality of Princes, +to Arts, and Sciences, which do not so much flourish under them, as by +them; and we may very properly apply to this Subject the fallowing Verse +of _Agathon_. + + Art favours Fortune, Fortune favours Art. + + +If _Tragedy_ shall some time hence suffer any sort of Eclipse, 'twill +be by the Laziness, and Haste of those Poets, who Write without being +rightly Instructed. _Plato_ in his _Phedrus_ Introduces a young Poet +seeking _Sophocles_ and _Euripides_, and Accosting them thus. _I can +make Verses tolerably well; and I know how in my Descriptions to extend +a mean Subject, and Contract a great one: I know how to excite Terror, +and Compassion, and to make pitiful things appear Dreadful and Menacing. +I will therefore go, and write_ Tragedies. Sophocles _and_ Euripides +answer'd him, _Don't go so fast_, Tragedy _is not what you take it to +be; 'tis a Body, composed of many different, and well-suited Parts, of +which you will make a Monster, unless you know how to adjust them; you +may know what is to be learn'd, before the Study of the Art of Tragedy; +but you don't yet know that Art._ + +If there are Poets now, which don't know so much as the Young Man, of +whom _Plato_ speaks, these Rules can be of no Advantage to them; but +those who are like him, and in the same Circumstances, need only keep to +these Rules, which will teach them what they are Ignorant of, and the +fourth time restore _Tragedy_ to its first Lustre and Brightness. This +is the most profitable Present, can be made them, if by Meditation and +Practice they will endeavour to make a right use of it; for Precepts +alone are not sufficient to make us Learned, the Advantage, and Profit +of any Rules, depend on our Labour and Pains. If these Rules are not for +them, they will be against them, and their Works shall be Judg'd by +them. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[17] In his Treatise of Ancient Physick. + +[18] Chap. 18. _Rem._ 8. _&c._ + +[19] _Chap._ 13. Rem. 25. + +[20] A Town in _Thessaly_. + +[21] Called Impious, because he writ against _Homer_. + +[22] Grandfather to _Alexander_ the Great. + + + + +Notes on Dacier's Preface + + +_Sig._ [A 3], _recto_, 11. 17-18. "_Horace's Art of Poetry._" Published, +Paris, 1689, in Vol. X of Dacier's _Remarques Critiques sur les Oeuvres +[d'Horace] Avec une Nouvelle Traduction_. + +_Sig._ [A 5], _verso_, 1.2, note. "Chap. 18, Rem. 8." In this remark, +Dacier explicates Aristotle's injunction that the poet should sketch the +general outline of the fable before filling in episodes and naming +characters, thus making it general and universal. + +_Sig._ [A 6], _verso_, 1.7, note. "Chap. 13, Rem. 25." Dacier says in +this remark that a regular tragedy submitted to the judgment of the +learned and the ignorant will always please best, "_car l'un remarque +une chose, l'autre une autre, & tous ensemble ils remarquent tout_." + +_Sig._ [A 8], _recto_, 1.7. "History is much less grave." "Ch. IX, Rem. +5" (Dacier's note) Dacier adds nothing to the traditional discussion of +the superiority of poetry to history and philosophy. + +_Sig._ [A 8], _verso_, 1.18. "Alexander of Pherea." See Plutarch's +oration "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander," II, in _Moralia_ +(tr. F.C. Babbitt, Loeb Classical Library), IV, 424. + +_Sig._ [b 1], _recto_, 1.1. "A Very Grave Historian." Polybius, +_Histories_, IV, 20. + +_Sig._ [b 1], _verso_ 1.20. "Mr. Racine ... his last two pieces..." +_Esther_ (1689) and _Athalie_, 1691. + +_Sig._ [b 2], _recto_, 11. 23-24. "Victorius." Pietro Vettori, +_Commentarii in Primum Librum Aristotelis de Arte Poetarum_, Florentiae, +1560. + +_Ibid._, 1.27. "Castelvetro." Ludovico Castelvetro, _La Poetica +d'Aristotele vulgarizzata et sposta_, 1570. This view of Castelvetro, +who was remarkable for his independence of Aristotle, was fairly common +in France. La Mesnardiere, for instance, was extremely hostile to him. + +_Sig._ [b 2], _verso_, 1.13. "Mesnardiere." Jules de La Mesnardiere, _La +Poetique_, Paris, 1693. + +_Ibid._, 1.20. "D'Aubignac." Aubignac (abbe Hedelin d'), _La Pratique du +Theatre_, Paris, 1657. English translation, 1684. + +_Ibid._, 1.26. "_Father Bossu._" _Traite du Poeme Epique_, Paris, 1675. + +_Sig._ [b 3], _recto_, 1.22. "Corneille." "Discours de l'Utilite et des +Parties du Poeme Dramatique," _Oeuvres_ (ed. Ch. Marty-Laveaux), Paris, +1862, I, 16. + +_Sig._ [b 4], _verso_, 1. 12. "Dionysius of Halicarnassus." See +"Epistola ad Cn. Pompeio de Platone," Dionysii Halicarnassensis, _Opera +Omnia_, Lipsiae, 1774-1777, VI, 750-752. + +_Sig._ [b 6], _verso_, 1. 27. "Pindar" Fragment 159, _Odes_ (tr. Sir +John Sandys, Loeb Classical Library) p. 600. + +_Sig._ [b 7], _recto_, 1. 5. "verse of Agathon" _Ars atque fortuna +invicem se diligunt_. "Agathones Fragmenta" 6, in _Fragmenta Euripides_ +(ed. F.G. Wagner), Paris, 1843-1846, II, 58. + +_Ibid._, 1.10. "Plato in his Phaedrus." "Phaedrus," 268, _Dialogues_ +(tr. B. Jowett) Third Edition, Oxford, 1892, I, 477. + + + + + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + _General Editors_ + + R.C. BOYS + University of Michigan + + RALPH COHEN + University of California, Los Angeles + + VINTON A. DEARING + University of California, Los Angeles + + LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL + Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library + + _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. EDNA C. DAVIS, Wm. Andrews Clark + Memorial Library + + +The Society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually +facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century +works. The editorial policy of the Society remains unchanged. As in the +past, the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications. All +income of the Society is devoted to defraying cost of publication and +mailing. + +All correspondence concerning subscriptions in the United States and +Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial +Library, 2205 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles 18, California. +Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to any of +the general editors. The membership fee is $3.00 a year for subscribers +in the United States and Canada and 15/- for subscribers in Great +Britain and Europe. British and European subscribers should address B. +H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. + + +Publications for the thirteenth year [1958-1959] + +(At least six items, most of them from the following list, will be +reprinted.) + + Andre Dacier, _Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry_ (1705). Introduction + by Samuel Holt Monk. + + William Herbert, Third Earl of Pembroke. _Poems_ (1660). Introduction by + Gaby Onderwyzer. + + Francis Hutcheson, _Reflections on Laughter_ (1729). Introduction by + Scott Elledge. + + _Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Essays on the Theatre._ Selected, with an + introduction, by John Loftis. + + Samuel Johnson, _Notes to Shakespeare, Vol. III, Tragedies._ Edited by + Arthur Sherbo. + + John Joyne, _A Journal_ (1679). Edited by R. E. Hughes. + + Richard Savage, _An Author to be Let_ (1732). Introduction by James + Sutherland. + + _Seventeenth-Century Tales of the Supernatural._ Selected, with an + introduction, by Isabel M. 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