will be doubly ruinous; and the hufband's selfishness, being accompanied with more power, may be ftill more dangerous.

SHOULD these reasons against voluntary divorces be efteemed infufficient, I hope no body will pretend to refufe the teftimony of experience. At the time when divorces were most frequent among the ROMANS, marriages were most rare; and AUGUSTUS was obliged, by penal laws, to force the men of fafhion into the married ftate: A circumftance which is fcarce to be found in any other age or nation. The more ancient laws of ROME which prohibited divorces, are extremely praised by DIONYSIUS HALY CARNASSEUS Wonderful was the harmony, fays the hiftorian, which this infeparable union of interefts produced between married perfons; while each of them confidered the inevitable neceffity by which they were linked together, and abandoned all prospect of any other choice or establishment.

THE exclufion of polygamy and divorces fufficiently recommends our present EUROPEAN practice with regard to marriage.

ESS SAY

XXIII.

OF SIMPLICITY AND REFINEMENT IN WRITING.

INE writing, according to Mr. ADDISON, confifts of fentiments, which are natural, without being obvious. There cannot be a jufter, and more concise definition of fine writing.

SENTIMENTS, which are merely natural, affect not the mind with any pleasure, and feem not worthy of our attention. The pleafantries of a waterman, the obfervations of a peasant, the ribaldry of a porter or hackney coachman; all these are natural, and disagreeable. What an infipid comedy fhould we make of the chitchat of the tea-table, copied faithfully and at full length? Nothing can please perfons of tafte, but nature drawn with all her graces and ornaments, la belle nature; or if we copy low life, the ftrokes must be ftrong and remarkable, and muft convey a lively image to the mind. The abfurd naivety of Sancho Pancho is reprefented in fuch inimitable colors by CERVANTES, that it entertains as much as the picture of the moft magnanimous hero or softeft lover.

THE cafe is the fame with orators, philofophers, critics, or any author who fpeaks in his own perfon, without introducing other speakers or actors. If his language be not elegant, his obfervations uncommon, his fenfe ftrong and masculine, he will in vain boaft his nature and fimplicity. He may be correct; but he never will be agreeable. 'Tis the unhappiness of fuch authors, that they are never blamed nor cenfured. The good fortune of a book, and that of a man, are not the fame. The fecret deceiving path of life, which HORACE talks of, fallentis femita vita, may be the happieft lot of the one; but is the greatest misfortune, which the other poffibly can fall into.

* Lib. 2.

ON

As

On the other hand, productions, which are merely furprifing, without being natural, can never give any lafting entertainment to the mind. To draw chimeras is not, properly fpeaking, to copy or imitate. The juftnefs of the representation is loft, and the mind is difpleafed to find a picture, which bears no refemblance to any original. Nor are fuch exceffive refinements more agreeable in the epiftolary or philofophic ftile than in the epic or tragic. Too much ornament is a fault in every kind of production. Uncommon expreffions, ftrong flashes of wit, pointed fimilies, and epigrammatic turns, especially when they occur too frequently, are a disfigurement rather than any embellishment of difcourfe. the eye, in furveying a GOTHIC building, is distracted by the multiplicity of ornaments, and lofes the whole by its minute attention to the parts; fo the mind, in perusing a work overstocked with wit, is fatigued and difgufted with the conftant endeavor to fhine and furprize. This is the cafe where a writer over-abounds. in wit, even tho that wit, in itself, fhould be just and agreeable. But it commonly happens to fuch writers, that they seek for their favorite ornaments, even where the fubject affords them not; and by that means, have twenty infipid conceits for one thought which is really beautiful.

THERE is no fubject in critical learning more copious than this of the juft mixture of fimplicity and refinement in writing; and therefore, not to wander in too large a field, I fhall confine myfelf to a few general obfervations on that head.

First, I obferve, That tho' exceffes of both kinds are to be avoided, and tho' a proper medium ought to be studied in all productions; yet this med um lies not in a point, but admits of a very confiderable latitude. Confider the wide distance, in this refpect, betwixt Mr. POPE and LUCRETIUS. These feem to lie in the two greatest extremes of refutement and fimplicity, in which a poet can indulge himself, without being guilty of any blameable excefs. All this interval may be filled with poets, who may differ from each other, but may be equally admirable, each in his peculiar ftile and manner. CORNEILLE and CONGREVE, who carry their wit and refinement fomewhat farther than Mr. POPE (if poets of fo different a kind can be compared together) and SOPHOCLES and TERENCE, who are more fimple than LUCRETIUS, feem to have gone out of that medium, in which the most perfect productions are found, and to be guilty of fome excefs in thefe oppofite characters. Of all the great poets, VIRGIL and RACINE, in my opinion, lye nearest the center, and are the fartheft removed from both the extremities.

My fecond obfervation on this head is, That it is very difficult, if not impoffible to explain by words, where the just medium between the exceffes of fimplicity and refinement lyes, or to give any rule, by which we can know precifely the bounds between the fault and the beauty. A critic may not only difcourfe very judiciously on this head, without inftructing his readers, but even without understanding the matter perfectly himself. There is not a finer piece of criticism than the differtation on pastorals by FONTENELLE; where, by a number of reflections and philofophical reafonings, he endeavors to fix the juft medium, which is fuitable to that fpecies of writing. But let any one read the paftorals of that author, and he will be convinced, that this judicious critic, notwithstanding his fine reasonings, had a false taste, and fixed the point of perfection much nearer the extreme of refinement, than pastoral poetry will admit of. The fentiments of his fhepherds are better fuited to the

toilettes

t

oilettes of PARIS, than to the forefts of ARCADIA. But this it is impoffible to difcover from his critical reafonings. He blames all exceffive painting and ornament as much as VIRGIL could have done, had he wrote a differtation on that fpecies of poetry. However different the taftes of men may be, their general discourfes on thefe fubjects are commonly the fame. No criticifm can be very inftructive, which defcends not to particulars, and is not full of examples and illuftrations. 'Tis allowed on all hands, that beauty, as well as virtue, lies always in a medium; but where this medium is placed, is the great queftion, and can never be fufficiently explained by general reafonings.

I SHALL deliver it as a third obfervation on this fubject, that we ought to be more en our guard against the excess of refinement than that of fimplicity; and that because the former excefs is both less beautiful, and more dangerous than the latter.

'Tis a certain rule, that wit and paffion are intirely inconfiftent. When the affections are moved, there is no place for the imagination. The mind of man being naturally limited, 'tis impoffible, that all its faculties can operate at once: And the more any one predominates, the lefs room is there for the others to exert their vigor. For this reafon, a greater degree of fimplicity is required in all compofitions, where men, and actions, and paffions are painted, than in fuch as confift of reflections and obfervations. And as the former fpecies of writing is the more engaging and beautiful, one may fafely, upon this account, give the preference to the extreme of fimplicity above that of refinement.

WE may also observe, that thofe compofitions, which we read the oftenest, and which every man of tafte has got by heart, have the recommendation of fimplicity, and have nothing furprizing in the thought, when divefted of that elegance of expreffion, and harmony of numbers, with which it is cloathed. If the merit of the compofition lies in a point of wit; it may strike at firft; but the mind anticipates the thought in the fecond perufal, and is no longer affected by it. When I read an epigram of MARTIAL, the firft line recalls the whole; and I have no pleasure in repeating to myself what I know already. But each line, each word in CATULLUS has its merit; and I am never tired with the perufal of him. 'Tis fufficient to run over CowLEY once: But PARNEL, after the fiftieth reading, is as fresh as at the first. Befides, 'tis with books, as with women, where a certain plainnefs of manner and of drefs is more engaging than that glare of paint and airs and apparel, which may dazzle the eye, but reaches not the affections. TERENCE is a modeft and bathful beauty, to whom we grant every thing, because he affumes nothing, and whose purity and nature make a durable, tho' not a violent, impreffion on us.

7

BUT refinement, as it is the lefs beautiful, fo is it the more dangerous extreme, and what we are the apteft to fall into. Simplicity paffes for dulnefs, when it is not accompanied with great elegance and propriety. On the contrary, there is fomething furprizing in a blaze of wit and conceit. Ordinary readers are mightily ftruck with it, and falfely imagine it to be the moft difficult, as well as most excellent way of writing. SENECA abounds with agreeable faults, fays QUINTILIAN," abundat dulcibus vitiis; and for that reafon is the more dangerous, and the more apt to pervert the tafte of the young and inconfiderate.

I SHALL add, that the excess of refinement is now more to be guarded against than ever; because 'tis the extreme, which men are the most apt to fall into, af

ter

ter learning has made great progress, and after eminent writers have appeared in every species of compofition. The endeavor to please by novelty leads men wide of fimplicity and nature, and fills their writings with affectation and conceit. It was thus the ASIATIC eloquence degenerated fo much from the ATTIC. It was thus the age of CLAUDIUS and NERO became fo much inferior to that of AUGUSTUS in taste and genius: And perhaps there are, at prefent, fome fymptoms of a like degeneracy of tafte, in FRANCE as well as in ENGLAND.

ESS A

Y

XXIV.

TH

OF NATIONAL CHARACTERS.

HE vulgar are very apt to carry all national characters to extremes; and having once established it as a principle, that any people are knavish, or cowardly, or ignorant, they will admit of no exception, but comprehend every individual under the fame character. Men of fenfe condemn these undiftinguishing. judgments: tho' at the fame time, they allow, that each nation has a peculiar fet of manners, and that some particular qualities are more frequently to be met with among one people than among their neighbors. The common people in SWISSERLAND have furely more probity than those of the fame rank in IRELAND; and every prudent man will, from that circumftance alone, make a difference in the truft which he repofes in each. We have reason to expect greater wit and gaiety: in a FRENCHMAN than in a SPANIARD; tho' CERVANTES was born in SPAIN. An ENGLISHMAN will naturally be fupposed to have more knowlege than a DANE; tho' TYCHO BRAHE was a native of DENMARK.

DIFFERENT reafons are affigned for these national characters; while fome account for them from moral and others from phyfical causes. By moral causes, F mean all circumftances, which are fitted to work on the mind as motives or reafons, and which render a peculiar fet of manners habitual to us. Of this kind are, the nature of the government, the revolutions of public affairs, the plenty or penury in which the people live, the fituation of the nation with regard to its neighbors, and fuch like circumftances. By phyfical caufes, I mean those qualities of the air and climate, which are fuppofed to work infenfibly on the temper, by altering the tone and habit of the body, and giving a particular complexion, which tho' reflection and reafon may fometimes overcome, yet will it prevail among the generality of mankind, and have an influence on their manners.

THAT the character of a nation will very much depend on moral caufes muft be evident to the most fuperficial obferver; fince a nation is nothing but a collection of individuals, and the manners of individuals are frequently determined by thefe causes. As poverty and hard labor debase the minds of the common people, and render them unfit for any fcience and ingenious profeffion; fo where any government becomes very oppreffive to all its fubjects, it must have a proportional effect on their temper and genius, and muft banish all the liberal arts from among them. Inftances of this nature are very frequent in the world. THE

THE fame principle of moral caufes fixes the character of different profeffions, and alters even that difpofition, which the particular members receive from the hand of nature. A foldier and a priest are different characters, in all nations, and all ages; and this difference is founded on circumstances, whofe operation is eternal and unalterable.

THE uncertainty of their life makes foldiers lavish and generous as well as brave: Their idleness, as well as the large focieties, which they form in camps or garrifons, inclines them to pleasure and gallantry: By their frequent change of company, they acquire good breeding and an opennefs of behavior: Being employed only against a public and an open enemy, they become candid, honeft, and undefigning And as they ufe more the labor of the body than that of the mind, they are commonly thoughtlefs and ignorant *.

'Tis a trite, but not altogether a falfe maxim, that priests of all religions are the fame; and tho' the character of the profeffion will not, in every inftance, prevail over the perfonal character, yet is it fure always to predominate with the greater number. For as chymifts obferve, that fpirits, when raifed to a certain height, are all the fame, from whatever materials they be extracted; fo thefe men, being elevated above humanity, acquire a uniform character, which is entirely their own, and which, in my opinion, is, generally speaking, not the most amiable, that is to be met with in human fociety. It is, in most points, oppofite to that of a foldier; as is the way of life, from which it is derived t.

"Tis a faying of MENANDER, Kous rearins, ἐδ ̓ ἂν εἴ πλάττει θεὸς Οὐθεῖς γένοιτ' ἄν· MEN. apud STOBÆUM. 'Tis not in the power even of God to make a polite foldier. The contrary obfervation with regard to the manners of foldiers takes place in our days. This feems to me a prefumption, that the ancients owed all their refinement and civility to books and ftudy; for which, indeed, a foldier's life is not fo well calculated. Company and the world is their sphere. And if there be any politeness to be learned from company, they will certainly have a confiderable share of it.

†Tho' all mankind have a ftrong propenfity to religion at certain times and in certain difpofitions; yet are there few or none, who have it to that degree, and with that conftancy, which is requifite to fupport the character of this profeffion. It muft, therefore, happen, that clergymen, being drawn from the common mafs of mankind, as people are to other employments, by the views of profit, the greatest part, tho' no atheifts or free-thinkers, will find it neceffary, on particular occafions, to feign more devotion than they are, at that time, poffeffed of, and to maintain the appearance of fervor and ferioufnefs, even when jaded with the exercifes of their religion, or when they have their minds engaged in the common occupations of life. They muft not, like the reft of the world, give fcope to their natural movements and fentiments: They muft fet a guard over their looks and words and actions: And in order to

As

fupport the veneration paid them by the ignorant vulgar, they must not only keep a remarkable referve, but muft promote the ipuit of fuperftition, by a continued grimace and hypocrity. This dif fimulation often destroys the candor and ingenuity of their temper, and makes an irreparable breach in their character

If by chance any of them be poffeffed of a temper more fufceptible of devotion than ufu... fo that he has but little occafion for hypocrify to fupport the character of his profeffion; 'tis fo natural for him to over-rate this advantage, and to think. that it atones for every violation of morality, that frequently he is not more virtuous than the hypocrite. And tho' few dare openly avow thofe exploded opinions, that every thing is lawful to the Jaints, and that they alone have property in their goods; yet may we obferve, that these principles lurk in every bofom, and reprefent a zeal for religious obfervances as fo great a merit, that it may compenfate for many vices and enormities. This obfervation is fo common, that all prudent men are on their guard, when they meet with any extraordinary appearance of religion; tho' at the fame time, they confefs, that there are many exceptions to this general rule, and that probity and fuperftition are not altogether incompatible,

Moft men are ambitious; but the ambition of other men may commonly be fatisned, by excelling in their particular profeffion, and thereby pro moting the interefts of fociety. The ambition of

the