and stigmatized, before they have the sanction of antiquity conferred upon them, and become precedents of indisputable authority. It has, indeed, been advanced by Addison, as one of the characteristicks of a true critick, that he points out beauties rather than faults. But it is rather natural to a man of learning and genius to apply himself chiefly to the study of writers who have more beauties than faults to be displayed: for the duty of criticism is neither to depreciate, nor dignify by partial representations, but to hold out the light of reason, whatever it may discover; and to promulgate the determinations of truth, whatever she shall dictate. NUMB. 94. SATURDAY, February 9, 1751. Bonus atque fidus Judex-per obstantes catervas Explicuit sua victor arma. Perpetual magistrate is he Who keeps strict justice full in sight; HOR. FRANCIS. THE resemblance of poetick numbers, to the subject which they mention or describe, may be considered as general or particular; as consisting in the flow and structure of a whole passage taken together, or as comprised in the sound of some emphatical and descriptive words, or in the cadence and harmony of single verses. The general resemblance of the sound to the sense is to be found in every language which admits of poetry, in every author whose force of fancy enables him to impress images strongly on his own mind, and whose choice and variety of language readily supply him with just representations. To such a writer it is natural to change his measure with his subject, even without any effort of the understanding, or intervention of the judgment. To revolve jollity and mirth necessarily tunes the voice of a poet to gay and sprightly notes, as it fires his eye with vivacity; and reflection on gloomy situations and disastrous events, will sadden his numbers, as it will cloud his counteBut in such passages there is only the similitude of pleasure to pleasure, and of grief to grief, without any immediate application to particular images. The same flow of joyous versification will celebrate the jollity of marriage, and the exultation of triumph; and the same languor of melody will suit the complaints of an absent lover, as of a conquered king. nance. It is scarcely to be doubted, that on many occasions we make the musick which we imagine ourselves to hear, that we modulate the poem by our own disposition, and ascribe to the numbers the effects of the sense. We may observe in life, that it is not easy to deliver a pleasing message in an unpleasing manner, and that we readily associate beauty and deformity with those whom for any reason we love or hate. Yet it would be too daring to declare that all the celebrated adaptations of harmony are chimerical; that Homer had no extraordinary attention to the melody of his verse when he described a nuptial festivity; Νύμφας δ' ἐκ θαλάμων, δαίδων ὑπολαμπομενάων, Here sacred pomp, and genial feast delight, The youthful dancers in a circle bound To the soft flute, and cittern's silver sound. РОРЕ. that Vida was merely fanciful, when he supposed Virgil endeavouring to represent by uncommon sweetness of numbers the adventitious beauty of Æneas; Os, humerosque Deo similis: namque ipse decoram His mother goddess, with her hands divine, Had form'd his curling locks, and made his temples shine; And giv'n his rolling eyes a sparkling grace, And breath'd a youthful vigour on his face. DRYDEN. or that Milton did not intend to exemplify the harmony which he mentions: Fountains and ye that warble as ye flow, Melodious murmurs! warbling tune his praise. That Milton understood the force of sounds well adjusted, and knew the compass and variety of the ancient measures, cannot be doubted; since he was And now a stripling cherub he appears, In curls on either cheek play'd: wings he wore Some of the lines of this description are remarkably defective in harmony, and therefore by no means correspondent with that symmetrical elegance and easy grace which they are intended to exhibit. The failure, however, is fully compensated by the representation of Raphael, which equally delights the ear and imagination: A seraph wing'd: six wings he wore to shade Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round Skirted his loins and thighs, with downy gold, And colours dipp'd in heav'n; the third his feet The adumbration of particular and distinct images by an exact and perceptible resemblance of sound, is sometimes studied, and sometimes casual. Every language has many words formed in imitation of the noises which they signify. Such are Stridor, Balo, and Beatus, in Latin; and in English to growl, to buzz, to hiss, and to jarr. Words of this kind give to a verse the proper similitude of sound, without much labour of the writer, and such happiness is therefore to be attributed rather to fortune than skill; yet they are sometimes combined with great propriety, and undeniably contribute to enforce the impression of the idea. We hear the passing arrow in this line of Virgil; Et fugit horrendum stridens elapsa sagitta ; POPE. and the creaking of hell-gates, in the description by Milton; Open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound Th' infernal doors: and on their hinges grate But many beauties of this kind, which the moderns, and perhaps the ancients, have observed, seem to be the product of blind reverence acting |