Life consider cheat a when 'tis all I Hope with fool'd, deceit men yet with favour LETTER LV. Adieu. DEAR BOY, Tunbridge, August 3. 1740. You have done the verses I sent you very well, excepting the last line, in which you have not placed the words as the sense requires; but even there it appears that you have an ear for poetry, because the line runs as smoothly and as harmoniously, in the order you have put the words, as it does in the true order, which is necessary for the sense. There is likewise one fault in your letter, but such a one as many older persons than you are would have committed. It is where you say, that I may not accuse you with being one of the Tubs of the Danaids; whereas you should have said of, instead of with: of comes always after accuse, and with after reproach. Thus, suppose it were possible for me to suspect that you were ever giddy; I must either say, I accuse you of giddiness, or I reproach you with giddiness. In order to keep your ear in poetic tune, I send you a couple of stanzas of Mr Waller's to a lady, who had sung a song to him of his own making, and who sung it so well, that he fell in love with her. The sense of it in prose is this: When you vouchsafe, Chloris, to sing the song I made, you do it so well, that I am caught, like a spirit in my own spell, (that is, enchantment). My fate is like that of an eagle, who, being shot with an arrow, observes his own feathers upon the arrow that kills him. I give you notice that the rhyme is alternate. So you excel self your Chloris, You when thought breathe my vouchsafe to Spirit with this that spell like a My teaching own caught am of my, I. Mine one are eagle's that fate and Who shaft made die that him on the Of feather own his a espied Us'd he which soar with to high, so Shaft, I should tell you, is a poetical word for an arrow; and soar, signifies to rise high in the air. The poets often speak of Cupid's shafts, meaning his arrows; the fatal shaft, the deadly shaft, are poetical expressions for an arrow that has wounded or killed any body. Sagitta is Latin for an arrow, and arundo is Latin for the iron point of the arrow. You will often find in the Latin poets, lethalis arundo, that is, the deadly or the mortal point; venenata sagitta, that is, a poisoned arrow. Before gunpowder was invented, which is about three hundred years ago, people used to fight chiefly with bows and arrows. Adieu, you are a very good boy. DEAR BOY, LETTER LVI. Tunbridge, August 14. 1740. I am very glad to hear from Mr Maittaire, that you are so ready at scanning both Greek and Latin verses; but I hope you mind the sense of the words, as well as the quantities. The great advantage of knowing many languages, consists in understanding the sense of those nations, and authors, who speak and write those languages; but not in being able to repeat the words like a parrot, without knowing their true force and meaning. The poets require your attention and observation more than the prose authors; poetry being more out of the common way than prose compositions are. Poets have greater liberties allowed them than prose writers, which is called the poetical licence. Horace says, that poets and painters have an equal privilege of attempting any thing. Pictoribus atque poetis, quidlibet audendi, semper fuit æqua potestas. Fiction, that is, invention, is said to be the soul of poetry. For example; the poets give life to several inanimate things; that is, to things that have no life; as, for instance, they represent the passions, as love, fury, envy, &c. under human figures; which figures are allegorical; that is, represent the qualities and effects of those passions. Thus the poets represent Love as a little boy, called Cupid, because love is the passion of young people chiefly. He is represented blind likewise; because love makes no distinction, and takes away the judgment. He has a bow and arrows, with which he is supposed to wound people, because love gives pain; and he has a pair of wings to fly with, because love is changeable, and apt to fly from one object to another. Fury likewise is represented under the figures of three women, called the three Furies, Alecto, Megæra, and Tisiphone. They are described with lighted torches or flambeaux in their hands; because rage and fury is for setting fire to every thing; they are likewise drawn with serpents hissing about their heads; because serpents are poisonous and destructive animals. Envy is described as a woman, melancholy, pale, livid, and pining; because envious people are never pleased, but always repining at other people's happiness: she is supposed to feed upon serpents; because envious people only comfort themselves with the misfortunes of others. Ovid gives the following description of Envy : Videt intus edentem Vipereas carnes, vitiorum alimenta suorum, At illa Utque Deam vidit formâque armisque decoram ; This is a beautiful poetical description of that wretched, mean passion ot envy, which I hope you will have too generous a mind ever to be infected with; but that, on the contrary, you will apply yourself to virtue and learning, in such a manner as to become an object of envy yourself. Adieu. LETTER LVII. DEAR BOY, Monday. Since, by Mr Maittaire's care, you learn your Latin and Greek out of the best authors, I wish you would, at the same time that you construe the words, mind the sense and thoughts of those authors; which will help your invention, when you come to compose yourself, and at the same time form your taste. Taste, in its proper signification, means the taste of the palate in eating or drinking; but it is metaphorically used for the judgment one forms of any art or science. For example, if I say, such a man has a good taste in poetry,. I mean that he judges well of poetry, and distinguishes rightly what is good and what is bad; and finds out equally the beauties and the faults of the composition. Or if I say, that such a man has a good taste in painting, I mean the same thing; which is, that he is a good judge of pictures; and will distinguish not only good ones from bad ones, but very good ones from others not quite so good, but yet good ones. Avoir le goût bon, means the same thing in French: and nothing forms so true a taste, as the reading the ancient authors with attention. Description is a beautiful part of poetry, and much used by the best poets: it is likewise called painting, because it represents things in so lively and strong a manner, that we think we see them as in a picture. Thus Övid describes the palace of the Sun, or Apollo: Regia Solis erat sublimibus alta columnis, Clara micante auro, flammasque imitante pyropo. Cujus ebur nitidum fastigia summa tenebat ; Argenti bifores radiabant lumine valvæ, Materiem superabat opus: nam Mulciber illic Æquora cælarat medias cingentia terras, Terrarumque orbem, cœlumque quod imminet orbi. Afterwards he describes Phœbus himself sitting upon his throne: - Purpureâ velatus veste sedebat In Solio Phoebus, claris lucente smaragdis. Observe the invention in this description. As the sun is the great rule by which we measure time; and as it marks out the years, the months, the days and the seasons; so Ovid has represented Phoebus upon his throne, as the principal figure, attended by the Years, Days, Months, and Seasons, which he likewise represents as so many persons. This is properly invention, and invention is the soul of poetry. Poets have their name upon that account, from the Greek word now, which signifies, to make or invent. Adieu. Translate these Latin verses, at your leisure, into English, and send your translation, in a letter, to my house in town. I mean English prose; for I do not expect verse from you yet. LETTER LVIII. DEAR BOY, Friday. I mentioned, in my last, description, or painting, as one of the shining marks or characteristics of Poetry. The likeness must be strong and lively; and make us almost think that we see the thing before our eyes. Thus, the following description of Hunger, or Famine, in Ovid, is so striking, that one thinks one sees some poor famished wretch. -Famem lapidoso vidit in agro, Unguibus et raras vellentem dentibus herbas. Ventris erat pro ventre locus: pendere putares Observe the propriety and significancy of the epithets. Lapidoso is the epithet to agro; because a stony ground produces very little grass. Raras is the epithet to herbas, to mark how few and how scarce the herbs were, that Famine was tearing with her teeth and nails. You will easily find out the other epithets. I will now give you an excellent piece of painting, or description, in English verse; it is in the Tragedy of Phædra and Hippolytus. Phædra was the second wife of the famous Theseus, one of the first kings of Athens: and Hippolytus was his son by his former wife. Look for the further particulars of their story in your dictionary, under the articles Phedre and Hippolite. So when bright Venus yielded up her charms, I have marked the epithets, that you may the better observe them. Venus is called bright, upon account of her beauty; Adonis is called blest, because Venus was in love with him; his horn is said to be idle, because he then laid it by, and made no use of it; the myrtles are called fragrant, because the myrtle is a sweet-smelling tree; moreover, the myrtle is the particular tree sacred to Venus: scattered arrows, because laid by here and there, carelessly. The bow unstrung; it was the custom to unstring the bow when they did not use it, and it was the stronger for it afterwards. Dreaming hounds: hounds that are used to hunt, often dream they are hunting; as appears by their making the same noise, only not so loud, when they sleep, as they do when they are hunting some wild beast; therefore the sounds are called feeble. Savage fields; so called from the roughness of field sports, in comparison to the tenderness and softness of love. Adonis was extremely handsome, and a great sportsman; he used to employ his whole time in hunting boars, and other wild beasts. Venus fell in love with him, and used frequently to come down to him; he was at last killed by a wild boar, to the great grief of Venus. Look for Adonis in your dictionary; for, though you have read his story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, I believe that excellent memory of yours wants refreshing. From hence, when a man is extremely handsome, he is called, by metaphor, an Adonis. Adieu. LETTER LIX. DEAR BOY, Saturday. Your last translations were very well done; and I believe you begin to apply yourself more. This you may depend upon, that the more you apply, the easier you will find your learning, and the sooner you will have done with it. But, as I have often told you before, it is not the words only that you should mind, but the sense and beauties of the authors you read; which will furnish you with matter, and teach you to think justly upon subjects. For example, if you were to say, in poetry, that it was morning, you would not barely say it was morning; that would not be poetical; but you would represent the morning under some image, or by description, as thus: Lo from the rosy East, her purple doors The Morn unfolds, adorn'd with blushing flowers. Brings up, and quits his station in the rear. Observe, that the day always rises in the east; and therefore it is said from the rosy east; rosy is the epithet to east; because the break of day, or the aurora, is of a reddish rosy colour. Observe, too, that Lucifer is the name of that star that disappears the last in the morning; for the astronomers have given names to most of the stars. The three last lines, which have the same rhymes, are called a triplet, which is always marked as I have marked it. The original Latin is thus in Ovid: Ecce vigil rutilo patefecit ab ortu Atria. Diffugiunt stellæ, quarum agmina cogit Here is another way of saying that it is morning, as Virgil expresses it: Et jam prima novo spargebat lumine terras Thus in English verse: And now, Aurora, harbinger of day, Rose from the saffron bed where Tithon lay, Look in your dictionary for the articles Aurore and Tithon, where you will find their story. Tithon was the husband of Aurora. Aurora, in poetical language, means the break of day, or the first part of the morning. Harbinger (by the way) means forerunner, or a person who is sent beforehand, by another, upon a journey, to prepare things for him. The king has several harbingers, that go before him upon the road, to prepare his lodging, |