ture or Statue, from comparing them with the Original; and, in Poetry, from comparing the Descriptions with the Objects themfelves. Hence it is evident, THAT, when one good Poet imitates another, we have a double Pleasure; the firft proceeding from comparing the Description with its Object; and the fecond, from comparing the one Description with the other from which it was imitated. THAT, in every Simile we have a double Pleasure; the first, in comparing the Image it conveys with its Object; the other, in comparing it with the Subject it was defigned to illuftrate: But, if the Simile be imitated from another Author, we have still one Pleasure more. THAT, when a Poet imitates a Description from another Poet, which very Description had been imitated from a Third, our Pleasure is ftill the greater; therefore, in this Refpect, the Imitations in MILTON are beyond those in VIRGIL; because he has imitated fome Places of VIRGIL which are Imitations of HOMER. WE muft obferve, that, in fcriptions, Paintings, &c. the poetical De greater Like nefs nefs they bear to what we confider as their Original, our Pleasure is the more; and our Distaste in Proportion to their Variation : But here, 'tis different with thofe fecondary Imitations we treat of in this ESSAY: For, frequently, in this Cafe, a confiderable Alteration from the Original has a very a, greeable Effect For we have, in our Nature, a Principle to be delighted with what is NEW, to which, 'tis plain, this latter Kind of Imitations is not very conformable; upon which Account they ought to have, as well as a Likeness, a due Variation, that, at one and the fame Time, they may grati fy our feveral Difpofitions, of being pleased with what is imitated, and with what is new. And from this it appears, that, in these Imitations, there ought generally to be obferved a Medium betwixt a literal Tranflation and a diftant Allufion; as the first destroys the Pleafure we have from what is new, and the latter encroaches on that we receive from Imitations. HOMER had certainly more Invention than VIRGIL, and VIRGIL more Judgment than HOMER; but HOMER had more of VIRGIL'S Talent than VIRGIL had of his; and, and, befides, poffeft his own in a greater Degree than VIRGIL did his own: In fhort, HOMER had more Judgment than VIRGIL had Invention, and more Invention than VIRGIL had Judgment: Yet the ÆNEID does not fall fo fhort of the ILIAD as VIRGIL'S Genius feems to do of HOMER'S; which, no doubt, in a great Part, is owing to his skillful Imitations. THE Paffages a Poet is to imitate ought to be selected with great Care, and fhould ever be the beft Parts of the beft Authors, and always ought to be improved in the Imitation: So that vastly less Invention and Judgment is required to make a good Original than a fine Imitation. Accordingly, we are told by the old Writer of the Life of VIRGIL, it was a Saying of that Poet's, That it would be easier to take the Club from Hercules, than a Line from HOMER. BUT, from MILTON's having refined exceedingly upon fome Paffages of HOMER and VIRGIL, I Would not pretend to infer, that he was a greater Poet than either of them, tho' the Confideration of the whole Poem will justly intitle him to that Rank ; but only, that these Imitations would coft the the Author more Pains, and give the Reader greater Pleasure than an original Compofition. And, indeed, feveral of thofe Paffages he has imitate, were so extremely fine in the Original, that to improve them required a Care and Happiness fuperior to that which produced them. HOMER has used the Simile of a Flight of Fowls twice in his ILIAD, to express the Number and the Motions, the Order and the Clamours of an Army: AS VIRGIL has done the fame Number of Times in his ENEID. We also find the fame Simile in the 4th Georgic, only in more general Terms, to delineate the Multitude of Spirits in the Elyfium; and, again, with fome Alterations, in the 6th Eneid, for the fame Purpofe. Hence, MILTON has taken both a Simile and Description; the first, in Book 6th, to represent the March of MICHAEL's against Satan's Army; and the other in Book 7th; and, notwithstanding they had fo often gone thro' the Hands of HOMER and VIRGIL, yet has given them farther Embellishments. I believe the Reader will be content to see these Paffages all together, that he may compare thefe divine Authors, not only with one another, but with them felves. Τῶν δ ̓, ὡς ὀρνίθων πετεηνῶν ἔθνεα πολλά, Ενθα καὶ ἔνθα ποτῶν]αι ἀγαλλόμεναι πτερεύγεσσι ὄρνιθες ὥς. Ιλιάδ Β.. Ηύτε περ κλαγγή γεράνων πέλει ουρανόθι πρὸς Ιλιάδ Γ. Ceu, quondam nivei liquida inter nubila Cygni, -Quales fub nubibus atris Æneid 7. Strymonia dant figna grues, atque Æthera tranant Æneid rr. Quam multa in fylvis avium fe millia condunt, Vefper ubi, aut Hibernus agit de montibus imber. Geor. 4. ·Aut' ad terram gurgite ab alto ́ Quam multa glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus Trans pontum fugit, & terris immittit apricis. -As when the total Kind Aneid 6. of Birds, in orderly Array, on Wing, Came fummon'd over Eden, to receive Their Names of thee. THIS |