e._ elegant: Tho the common
Interpreters of these words are not of the same mind: But if by
_Facetious Horace_ had meant _jesting_, and such as is design'd to
make men laugh, and apply'd that to _Virgil_, nothing {43} could have
been more ridiculous; 'tis the design of _Comedy_ to raise laughter,
but _Eclogue_ should only delight, and charm by its takeing
_prettiness_: All ravishing _Delicacies_ of Thought, all sweetness of
Expression, all that Salt from which _Venus_, as the Poets Fable,
rose; are so essential to this kind of _Poetry_, that it cannot endure
any thing that is scurillous, malitiously biteing, or ridiculous:
There must be nothing in it but _Hony, Milk, Roses, Violets_, and the
like sweetness, so that when you read you might think that you are in
_Adonis's_ Gardens, as the _Greeks_ speak, _i.e._ in the most pleasant
place imaginable: For since the subject of _Eclogue_ must be mean and
unsurprizing, unless it maintains purity and neatness of Expression,
it cannot please.
Therefore it must do as _Tully_ says his friend _Atticus_ did, who
entertaining his acquaintance with Leeks and Onions, pleas'd them all
very well, because he had them serv'd up in wicker Chargers, and clean
Baskets; So let an _Eclogue_ serve up its fruits and flowers with
some, tho no costly imbellishment, such as may answer to the wicker
Chargers, and Baskets; which may be provided at a cheap rate, and are
agreeable to the Country: yet, (and this rule if you aim at exact
simplicity, can never be too nicely observ'd,) you must most carefully
avoid all paint and gawdiness of Expression, and, (which of all sorts
of Elegancies is the most difficult to be avoided) {44} you must take
the greatest care that no scrupulous trimness, or artificial finessess
appear: For, as _Quintilian_ teaches, _in some cases diligence and
care most most troublesomly perverse_; and when things are most sweet
they are next to loathsome and many times degenerate: Therefore as in
Weomen a careless dress becomes some extreamly.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50