if the former fuppofe his work a compleat epic poem, and the latter take the contrary for granted. A poet has an undoubted right to indulge his genius in any known species of writing; or, if he think proper, to invent a new one: but, by the fame rule that he is allowed the privilege of inventing a new fpecies, he ought not to endeavour to corrupt and deftroy the old. The world, in general, has been long agreed, as to the effentials of a genuine epic poem; and a work that is not diftinguished by them, whatever poetical beauties it may otherwife poffefs, can lay no claim to the confummate merit of the Epopæia. To cenfure, or justify Ariosto on this head is therefore, in our opinion, as abfurd, as to rank him in the number of genuine epic poets; as we should, for our own part, almoft as foon rank Spenfer's Fairy Queen among the epic poems, as the celebrated allegorical performance of Ariofto.

Our readers muft hot hence, however, imagine us fo hypercritical as to expect, that Offian fhould have compofed with as much poetical propriety as Homer or Virgil. On the contrary, we are fenfible of the moral impoffibility of its being fo. There are fo many requifites to the perfection, and even to the conftitution of an epic poem, that the greatest powers of genius are not alone equal to the task. A happy collifion of the times and circumftances in which the poet lived, has had a great fhare in contributing to the perfection of fuch compofitions. In the very early infancy of languages and states, when the manners of men were fimple, and their intercourfe confined, they muft evidently want the means of acquiring an extenfive knowlege of mankind, and thereby of a very intimate acquaintance with the various faculties and operations of the human mind. Hence the poet must be neceffarily, in a great degree, deficient in the powers of diverfifying his perfonages, diftinguifhing them by mental characteriltics, and making them exprefs themselves with a propriety of speech and fentiment, juftly adapted to their characters on every occafion. Had Offian therefore poffeffed even a fuperior genius to Homer, we conceive he could not, in the age wherein he is faid to have lived, have produced an epic poem of equal merit with that of the Iliad. On the other hand, that exceffive refinement of manners, that extenfive knowlege and accuracy of reafoning, which prevail in a very polite age, are equal obstacles to the fuccefs of the epic poet. In the former times, the imagination of the poet will be more luxuriant, his fentiments more animated and striking, and his ftyle bold

and

and metaphorical, even to abfurdity. His ideas being few, and their combination lefs diffuse and complex, external objects will have all their effect on his fenfes, and make a vigorous and lafting impreffion on his unburthened memory. Hence, in a variegated foil and climate, he may produce an infinite variety of beautiful descriptions. In reading his productions, we shall admire the loose, though nervous outlines of his figures, the fublimity of his expreffions, and the daring boldness of his fimilies. We fhall be captivated with the feductive glare of his ftyle, while the caft of obscurity that envelopes the whole, will excite in us a kind of veneration, which precife ideas, correct imagery, and perfect fimilitude of allufion could never infpire. He will be found also to excel chiefly in ftill life. In defcribing the paffions, and their effects, he will naturally express them as they appear in such an age of barbarous fimplicity, undiverfified by those various accidents, and numerous arts of diffimulation, which form or modify the factitious characters of more polifhed times. In thefe again, the perfection of epic poetry is counteracted by contrary means. As knowlege increafes, precifion and propriety, thofe enemies to the fublime, are a conftant check on the powers of genius, and cool the warmth of imagination. When manners become greatly refined, the play of the paffions alfo is concealed under the curtain of civility, the heart is difguifed, and a certain fameness of converfation and action infenfibly creeps in, to the utter deftruction of fentiment and character. The age of Offian was not that of critical propriety, nor is the prefent that of poetical rhapsody. Homer lived in an age characterised by a happy mixture of both, and the Iliad was the perfect work of a great genius, fortunately circumftanced for its production. Virgil, it is true, wrote in politer times; but with all his original merit, he was ftill an imitator; and had not Homer gone before him, the Auguftan age had, in all probability, never produced an heroic poem worth tranfmitting to pofterity.

For these reasons, it is with reluctance we should enter into a strict examination of the work before us, as an epic poem; in which light, however, we conceive ourselves, in fome meafure, obliged to confider it, as many of its admirers have allowed it confummate merit as fuch, and have rifked its reputation, perhaps a little unadvisedly, on a comparifon with the more perfect works of the kind among the ancients. Ariftotle diftinguishes the effential parts, which enter into the compofition of an epic poem, by the appella

tions of poles, on, diavola, and λgis.-Mulos, or the fable, includes the compofition and contexture of the whole work. This ought to depend on one general fubject, and be uniform and confiftent throughout; fubject, however, to the admiffion of epifodes, formed on circumftances naturally arifing from, and depending on, the main bufinefs of the poem. The conftruction of the fable is, according to the Stagyrite, the most arduous task of an heroic poet. My5ov δε τετήν εσιν η των πραγματων ευςασις. And though he has not affigned his particular reasons for this opinion, it is confirmed, by the experience of all ages, that power of imagination, which can happily combine the circumftances of any great tranfaction into one confiftent plan, creating at the fame time, and blending therewith, fuch incidents, and delineating fuch characters, as may make the whole great, interesting, and various ;-this power being, undoubtedly, that faculty of the foul, which is most rarely to be found in the human mind. And thus, in order to produce that happy contexture of fable, which perfectly correfponds with the characteristics of the Epopeia, the poet is freed from the fervile method of relating things as they really happened; otherwise he would be precluded from the means of compofition for which reafon, he has a right to create all fuch probable incidents as are neceffary to the perfection of his plan. In proportion therefore as an epic poem is defective in its fable, its merit declines; and, without affording instances of invention, however happy the poet may prove in his verfification, or in embellishing his ftyle with the flowers of rhetoric, his performance muft ftill continue to be deemed an hiftory in verfe. For, as the Stagyrite obferves, fhould any one verfify the works of Herodotus, they would, neverthelefs, compose an history in that ftate, as well as they do in profe; a Poet being diftinguished from an Hiftorian, in that the former felects thofe incidents and circumftances which ought to compofe the Epopeia, and the latter relates things as they really exifted. Εἴη γὰρ ἂν τὰ Ἡροδότα εἰς меъда θεναι, καὶ ἐδὲν ἦτον ἂν εἴη ίςορια τις μετὰ μετρα, ἢ ἄνευ μέτρων αλλα τετῳ διαφερι, τω τον μεν τα γενόμενα λέγειν, τον δε οἷα ἂν γένοιτο,

The conduct of an epic poem, therefore, fhould be fuch as may exhibit the various operations of the human mind, by a diverfity of objects and circumftances, fo as to affect the readers with the fenfations of pain and pleafure, according to the nature of the subject and design of the poet; and this is

to be effected by the introduction of a number of capital perfonages, each diftinctly marked by different characteristics, and who, by the artful management of the writer, are made to exemplify, by action and expreffion, the good and ill effects of virtue or vice, agreeable to their refpective fituations and characters. For this reafon, none of thofe perfonages fhould appear, on any occafion, to deviate from thofe ruling principles that conftitute their feveral characters; every action fhould be confentaneous to the general defign, and afford in itself a rational motive for its being introduced; the whole fable being, at the fame time, fo conftructed, that no part of it could be left out, without manifeft injury to the remainder.

Subject to these reftrictions, the narrative, or story, of an epic poem may proceed, without any variety of striking incidents or revolution of events, directly to that conclufion of good or ill fortune intended by the poet. But, notwithtanding this fimplicity of fable is not contrary to the rules of the Epopeia, the merit of an epic poem is rendered incomparably greater, when it includes thofe parts of the fable, which are denominated by Ariftotle περιπέτεια and αναγνώρισις; by the former being meant thofe incidents which, though unforeseen, arise naturally from the circumstances of the story, retard the progrefs of affairs, and create those unexpected perplexities and revolutions, which fill the foul with pleasing fufpenfe or furprize, and ftrongly impress the fenfations of pleasure and pain, averfion or pity, on the mind of the reader. By the addition of this part of the fable, the poet has a more extenfive field, on which to display his knowlege of the human heart and mind, and captivate the paffions of his readers. By the avayvágios is meant that fudden change produced in the foul, as from enmity to friendship, from pity to revenge, &c. occafioned by the recollection of the perfon with whom another is engaged, either by remembering his features, feeing fome known mark in veftment or armour, or otherwife; which, reviving the ideas of a former acquaintance, renews his friendship, or inflames his resentment. The avayvágious is moft fuccefsfully introduced, and its end moft happily effected, when it is immediately followed by the TEPITETE. The happy effects of thefe parts of compoπεριπέτεια. fition are every day seen in tragedy; and it is needlefs to explain how effential they are to the perfection of the Epopoeia, how much the fuperior genius of the poet is manifefted by their proper application, and how imperfect the piece muft neceffarily be wherein fuch embellishments are wanting.

There

There is yet another part of the fable, which is diftinguifhed by the word malos, and confifts in the reprefentarion of fome vifible injurious act, fuch as the inflicting death, wounds, &c. which vigorously affects the reader, and induces him to fympathize with the fuffering object. Next to the ulos, or conftruction of the fable, 0n, or the manners, become the great object of the Poet's confideration. Thefe, which fhould be juftly deduced from the times in which the transactions of the Poem are fuppofed to have happened, fhould alfo, like the medium through which we behold vifible objects, impart one general colour to every character and circumftance; throwing an additional caft over those peculiar lights and fhades, whereby each is particularly diftinguithed. In confequence of this rule, nothing animate or inanimate is to be admitted incongruous to fuch æra and people. The national religion and mythology, their influence and tenets, are to be aptly applied. Their architecture, drefs, armour, way of living, &c. are all to be confiftent with, and confentaneous to, the refpective times and nations: the whole refembling a finished picture from the mafterly hand of the painter, where, in one grand compofition, every figure expreffes its peculiar character, and in what manner it is affected by the fame object, agreeable to their various difpofitions; at the fame time, the inanimate parts of the piece, or what the Italians call the Costume, afcertaining the country and æra of the artist's fubject.

The next in degree of excellence in the effential parts of the Epopoeia, is the Advora, or the effect of that pervading faculty of the mind, which can penetrate into the inmoft receffes of nature, and felect thofe parts alone which are best adapted to illuftrate and fuftain the whole, as it ought to exist in the reason of things, and nature of the compofition.

To the preceding fucceeds As, or the power of diction. It is the bufinefs of this to exprefs with energy and propriety those ideas, which are beft adapted to the fituation and circumstances in which every perfon is placed by the difpofition of the fable, varying itself, by turns, agreeable to the language of joy or grief, tenderness or ferocity, complacency or horror, the fimple or the fublime, according to the defign of the Poet; whofe ftyle may, and ought to be, occafionally decorated with metaphor and fimile, and diverfified by the tropes and figures of rhetoric.

Such are the rules by which, as Critics, we fhould judge of the merits of an Epic Poem; rules that have received, in