Henry the Fifth, too famous to live fong 57890 England ne'er loft a king of so much worth. iwa nt visorscy bak 16910 diw The paffage with which Strada begins his hiftory, is too poetical for a fubject of that kind; and at any rate too high for the beginning of a grave performance. A third reafon ought to have not lefs influence than either of the former: A man who, upon his firft appearance, endeavours to exhibit all his talents, is never relifhed; the first periods of a work ought therefore to be short, natural, and fimple. Cicero, in his oration pro Archia poeta, errs against this rule: his reader is out of breath at the very first period, which feems never to end. Burnet begins the hiftory of his own times with a period long and intricate. A third rule or obfervationis, That where the fubject is intended for entertainment folely, not for inftruction, a thing ought to be defcribed as it appears, not as it is in reality. In running, for example, the impulse upon the ground is accurately proportioned to the celerity of motion: in apning A pearance pearance its is otherwise; for a person in swift motion feems to and scarcely to touch it. kim the ground, Virgil, with great tafte, defcribes quick running according to its appearance; and thereby raises an image far more lively, than it could have been by adhering fcrupulously to truth:aring 2. Hos fuper advenit Volfca de gente Camilla, Vel mare Æneid vii. 803. Les Brutiens font legeres à la courfe comme les cerfs, et comme les daims. On croiroit que l'herbe même la plus tendre n'eft point foulée fous leurs pieds; à peine laiffent ils dans le fable quelques traces de leurs pas. Again, Déja il avoit abattu Eufilas fi léger à la courfe, qu'à peine il imprimoit la trace de fes pas dans le fable, et qui devançoit dans fon pays les plus rapides flots de l'Eurotas et de l' Alphée. 1910 Liv. 20. . of soply fun at gunda riqmiks loeval Fourthly, In narration as well as in des fcription, facts and objects ought to be painted so accurately as to form in the mind of the reader diftinct and lively images. Every useless circumftance ought indeed to be fuppreffed, because every fuch circumstance loads the narration; but if a circum ftance be neceffary, however flight, it can+ not be described too minutely. The force of language confifts in raifing complete images*; which cannot be done till the reader, forgetting himself, be transported as by magic into the very place and time of the important action, and be converted, as it were, into a real fpectator, beholding every thing that paffes. In this view, the narrative in an epic poem ought to rival a picture Part. fect. 6. in the liveliness and accuracy of its repre fentations: no circumstance must be omitted that tends to make a complete image; because an imperfect image, as well as any other imperfect conception, is cold and uninterrefting. I shall illuftrate this rule by feveral examples, giving the first place to a beautiful paffage from Virgil. Qualis populea moerens Philomela fub umbrâ Georg. lib. 4. 7. 511. The poplar, plowman, and unfledged, though not effential in the defcription, are circumftances that tend to make a complete image, and upon that account are an embellishment. Again, Hic viridem Æneas frondenti ex ilice metam Eneid. v. 129. Horace, Horace, addreffing to Fortune Anehquak Te pauper ambit follicita preces donn Carm. lib. x. ode 35. Illum ex mœnibus hofticis Matrona bellantis tyranni Profpiciens, et adulta virgo, Sufpiret: Eheu, ne rudis agminum Sponfus laceffat regius afperum Tactu leonem, quem cruenta Per medias rapit ira cædes. Carm. lib. 3. ode 2. Shakespear fays*, "You may as well goi "about to turn the fun to ice by fanning "in his face with a peacock's father.” The peacock's feather, not to mention the beauty of the object, completes the image. Ant accurate image cannot be formed of this fanciful operation, without conceiving a particular feather; and the mind is at fome lofs, when this is not specified in the de 6 Henry V. act 4. sc. 4. scription. |