submitting to be a tranflator, acts below his genius. In a tranflation, it is hard to require the fame fpirit or accuracy, that is chearfully bestowed on an original work. And to fupport the reputation of this author, I fhall give fome inftances from Virgil and Horace, more faulty by redundancy than any of those above mentioned :

Sæpe etiam immenfum cœlo venit agmen aquarum,
Et foedam glomerant tempeftatem imbribus atris A
Collectæ ex alto nubes: ruit arduus æther,

Et pluvia ingenti fata læta, boumque labores in T
Diluit, vabi
Georg. lib. i. 322.

Poftquam altum tenuere rates, nec jam amplius
Sullæ

Apparent terræ; cœlum undique et undique pon

$15

tus:

drowel sid Tum mihi coeruleus fupra caput aftitit,imber, he's Noctem hyememque ferens: et inhorruit unda te

nebris.
bas

Eneid, lib.i. 191.

Videre feffos vomerem inverfum boveso.

1 Collo trahentes languido. e dos to Horat. Epod, ii. 63.

Here I can luckily apply Horace's rule against himself:

Eft brevitate opus, ut currat fententia, neu fe Impediat verbis laffas onerantibus aures,jarna Serm. lib. 1. fat. 8. 9.

I close this chapter with a curious inquiry. An object, however ugly to the fight, is far from being fo when reprefented by colours or by words. What is the cause of this difference? The caufe with refpect to painting is obvious. A good picture, whatever the fubject be, is agreeable, because of the pleasure we take in imitation: the agreeablenefs of imitation overbalances the disagreeableness of the subject; and the picture upon the whole is agrees able. It requires a greater compass to explain the cause with refpect to the description of an ugly object. To connect individuals in the social state, no one particular contributes more than language, by the power it poffeffes

:

poffeffes of an expeditious communication of thought and a lively representation of tranfactions. But nature hath not been fatisfied to recommend language by its utility merely it is made fufceptible of many beauties that have no relation to utility, which are directly felt without the intervention of any reflection *. And this unfolds the mystery; for the pleasure of language is so great, as in a lively description to overbalance the difagreeableness of the image raised by it. This however is no encouragement to deal in disagreeable fubjects; for the pleasure is out of fight greater where the subject and the defcription are both of them agreeable.

The following defcription is upon the whole agreeable, though the subject defcribed is in itself difmal.

Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquish'd, rowling in the fiery gulf
Confounded though immortal: but his doom

* See chap. 18.

+ See chap. 2. part 4.

VOL. III.

D d

Referv'd

Referv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of loft happiness and lasting pain
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay,
Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfast hatę;
At once as far as angels ken he views
The difmal fituation waste and wild:

A dungeon horrible, on all fides round
As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible

Serv'd only to discover fights of wo,

Regions of forrow, doleful fhades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever burning fulphur unconfum'd;
Such place eternal juftice had prepar'd
For thofe rebellious.

A

Paradife Loft, book 1. 1. 50.

An unmanly depreffion of spirits in time of danger is not an agreeable fight; and yet a fine description or representation of it will be relished :

K. Richard. What muft the King do now? muft he fubmit?

The King fhall do it: muft he be depos'd?

The

The King fhall be contented: must he lose
The name of King? O' God's name, let it go
I'll give my jewels for a fet of beads;
My gorgeous palace, for a hermitage;
My gay apparel, for an almfman's gown;
My figur'd goblets, for a difh of wood;
My fceptre, for a palmer's walking staff;
My fubjects, for a pair of carved faints;
And my large kingdom, for a little
A little, little grave;

grave; an obfcure grave. Or I'll be bury'd in the King's highway; Some way of common tread, where fubjects feet May hourly trample on their fovereign's head : For on my heart they tread now, whilst I live; And, bury'd once, why not upon my head?

Richard II. at 3. Sc. 6.

Objects that strike terror in a fpectator, have in poetry and painting a fine effect. The picture, by raising a flight emotion of terror, agitates the mind; and in that condition every beauty makes a deep impreffion. May not contraft heighten the pleasure, by oppofing our prefent fecurity to the danger we would be in by encountering the object reprefented?