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PREFACE.
minute criticks, and [1]Mr. Hume amongst the rest, have, with much gravity, and discussion, found out, that the finest passages of the most celebrated poets, have nothing in them striking, when divested of their animated expression, and harmony of numbers. This is only discovering to us, that poetry, when turned into prose, ceases to be poetry, and that man consists of a body as well as a soul.
- ↑ We may observe that those compositions which we read the oftenest, and which every man of taste has got by heart, have the recommendation of simplicity, and have nothing surprising in the thought, when divested of that elegance of expression, and harmony of numbers, with which it is cloathed. If the merit of the composition lies in a point of wit, it may strike at first; but the mind anticipates the thought in the second perusal, and is no longer affected by it. When I read an epigram of Martial, the first 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 it's merit, and I am never tired with the perusal of him, 'Tis sufficient to run over Cowley once; but Parnel, after the fiftieth reading, is as fresh as at the first. Essay on Simplicity and Refinement.I will not pretend to cope with Mr. Hume in learning, politicks, or sophistry. But surely after this quotation, so full of absurdity, and his placing of good Dr. Parnel on the summit of Parnassus, one may venture to assert, that he is destitute of taste in poetry, and incapable of feeling those ardent sentiments which it is it's nature to inspire.
We
