and grief, infpired by dangers and misfortunes, are better fuited to humble profe than to elevated verse. I add, that however natural poetical diction may be when one is animated with any vivid paffion, it is not fuppofable that the ancients never wrote nor spoke but when excited by paffion. Their hiftory, their laws, their covenants, were certainly not compofed in that tone of mind. An important article in the progrefs of the fine arts, which writers have not fufficiently attended to, will, if I mistake not, explain this mystery. The article is the profeffion of a bard, which fprung up in early times before writing was known, and died away gradually as writing turned more and more common. The curiofity of man is great with refpect to the tranfactions of his own fpecies; and when fuch tranfactions are defcribed in verse accompanied with mufic, the performance is enchanting. An ear, a voice, skill in instrumental mufic, and above all a poetical genius, are requifite to excel in that complicated art. As fuch talents are rare, the few that poffeffed them were highly esteemed; and hence the profeffion of a bard, which, befide natural talents, required more culture and exercise than any other known art. Bards were capital perfons at every festival and at every folemnity. Their fongs, which, by recording the atchievements of kings and heroes, animated every hearer, must have been the entertainment of every warlike nation. warlike nation. We have Hefiod's authority, that in his time bards were as common as potters or joiners, and as liable to envy. Demodocus is mentioned by Homer as a celebrated bard (a); and Phemius, another bard, is introduced by him deprecating the wrath of Ulyffes, in the following words. "O king! to mercy be thy foul inclin'd, "A deed like this thy future fame would wrong, "To gods alone, and godlike worth, we pay. ""Tis thine to merit, mine is to record." Cicero reports, that at Roman festivals anciently, the virtues and exploits of their great men were fung (a). The fame cuftom prevailed in Peru and Mexico, as we learn from Garcilaffo and other authors. Strabo (b) gives a very particular account of the Gallic bards. The following quotation is from Ammianus Marcellinus (c). "Bardi quidem fortia virorum illuftrium facta, he"roicis compofita verfibus, cum dulcibus lyræ modulis, cantitarunt." We have for our authority Father Gobien, that even the inhabitants of the Marian islands have bards, who are greatly admired, becaufe in their fongs are celebrated the feats of their ancestors. There are traces of the fame kind among the Apalachites in North America *. And we shall see afterward (d), that in (a) Tufculan Queftions, lib. 4. N° 3. & 4. (b) Lib. 4. (c) Lib. 15. cap. 9. (d) Sketch 7. Progrefs of Manners. * The firft feal that a young Greenlander catches is made a feaft for the family and neighbours. The young champion, during the repast, descants upon his addrefs in catching the animal: the guests admire his dexterity, and extol the flavour of in no other part of the world were bards more honoured than in Britain and Scandinavia. Bards were the only hiftorians before writing was introduced. Tacitus (a) fays, that the fongs of the German bards were their only annals. And Joannes Magnus Archbishop of Upfal acknowledges, that in compiling his history of the ancient Goths, he had no other records but the fongs of the bards. As thefe fongs made an illustrious figure at every feftival, they were convey'd in every family by parents to their children; and in that manner were kept alive before writing was known. The invention of writing made a confiderable change in the bard-profeffion. It is now an agreed point, that no poetry is fit to be accompanied with music, but what is fimple: a complicated thought or description requires the utmost attention, and leaves none for the mufic; or if it divide the attention, it makes but a faint impreffion (b). The fimple operas of Quinault bear away the palm from every thing of the kind compofed by Boileau or Racine. But when a language, in its progrefs to maturity, is en of the meat. Their only mufic is a fort of drum, which accompanies a fong in praise of feal-catching, in praise of their ancestors, or in welcoming the fun's return to them. Here are the rudiments of the bard-profeffion. The fong is made for a chorus, as many of our ancient fongs are. Take the following example. "The welcome fun returns again, "Amna ajah, ajah, ah-hu! "And brings us weather fine and fair. "Amna ajah, ajah, ah-hu! The bard fings the firft and third lines, accompanying it with his drum and with a fort of dance. The other lines, termed the burden of the song, are fung by the guests. (a) De moribus Germanorum, câp. 2. (b) See Elements of Criticifm, vol. 2. Appendix. VOL. I. e riched riched with variety of phrafes fit to exprefs the most elevated thoughts, men of genius afpired to the higher ftrains of poetry, leaving mufic and fong to the bards: which diftinguifhed the profeffion of a poet from that of a bard. Homer, in a lax fense, may be termed a bard; for in that character he ftrolled from feast to feast. But he was not a bard in the original sense: he indeed recited his poems to crowded audiences; but his poems are too complex for mufic, and he probably did not fing them, nor accompany them with the lyre. The Trovadores of Provence were bards in the original fenfe; and made a capital figure in days of ignorance, when few could read, and fewer write. In later times the fongs of the bards were taken down in writing, which gave every one access to them without a bard; and the profession sunk by degrees into oblivion. Among the highlanders of Scotland, reading and writing in their own tongue is not common even at prefent; and that circumstance fupported long the bard-profeffion among them, after being forgot among neighbouring nations. Offian was the most celebrated bard in Caledonia, as Homer was in Greece *. After the foregoing historical deduction, the reader will perceive without my affistance why the firft writings were in verfe. The fongs of the bards, being univerfal favourites, were certainly the first compofitions that writing was employ'd upon: they would be carefully collected by the most skilful writers, in order to preserve * The multitude are struck with what is new and fplendid, but seldom continue long in a wrong taste. Voltaire holds it to be a strong teftimony for the Gierufaleme Liberata, that even the gondoliers in Venice have it moftly by heart; and that one no fooner pronounces a stanza than another carries it on. The works of Offian have the fame teftimony for them: there are not many highlanders, even of the lowest rank, but can repeat long paffages out of them. them them in perpetual remembrance. The following part of the progrefs is equally obvious. Feople acquainted with no written compofitions but what were in verfe, compofed in verfe their laws, their religious ceremonies, and every memorable tranfaction that was intended to be preserved in memory by writing. But when fubjects of writing multiplied and became more and more involved, when people began to reason, to teach, and to harangue, they were obliged to defcend to humble profe: for to confine a writer or speaker to verfe in handling fubjects of that nature, would be a burden unfupportable. The profe compofitions of early hiftorians are all of them dramatic. A writer deftitute of art is naturally prompted to relate facts as he faw them performed: he introduces his perfonages as fpeaking and conferring; and he himfelf relates what was acted and not spoke. The historical books of the Old Teftament are compofed in that mode; and fo addicted to the dramatic are the authors of those books, that they frequently introduce God himfelf into the dialogue. At the fame time, the fimplicity of that mode is happily fuited to the poverty of every language in its early periods. The dramatic mode has a delicious effect in expreffing fentiments, and every thing that is simple and tender (a). Take the following instance of a low incident becoming by that means not a little interesting. Naomi having loft her husband and her two fons in foreign parts, and purpofing to return to the land of her forefathers, faid to her two daughters in law, “Go, return "each to her mother's houfe: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The LORD grant you that you may find reft, each of you in the houfe of her huf"band. Then fhe kiffed them: and they lift up their voice and |