O many are the Qualifications, as well natural as acquir'd, that are effentially requifite to the making of a good Poet, that 'tis in vain for any Man to aim at a great Reputa- tion on account of his Poetical Performances, by barely follow- To this End I give in the first place Rules for making English Another Part of this Treatife is, A Dictionary of Rhymes: farther than to acquaint him, that if it be as useful and accept- able to the Publick, as the compofing of it was tedious and pain- What I fhall chiefly speak of here, is the largest Part of this Treatife, which I call, A Collection of the most natural and fublime Thoughts that are in the best English Poets. And to be ingenuous in the Discovery, this was the Part of it that prin- cipally induc'd me to undertake the Whole: The Tafk was indeed labaricus, but pleafing; and the fole Praise I expected from it, was, that I made a judicious Choice and proper Difpofition of the Paffages I extracted. A Mixture of fo many different Subjects, and fuch a Variety of Thoughts upon them, may poffibly not fatisfy the Reader fo well, as a Compofition perfect in its Kind on one entire Subject; but certainly it will divert and amuse him better; for here is no Thread of Story, nor Connexion of one Part with another, to keep his Mind intent, and constrain him to any Length of Reading. I detain him therefore only to acquaint him, why it is made a Part of this Book, and how ferviceable it may be to the main Defign of it. Having drawn up Rules for making Verfes, and a Dictionary of Rhymes, which are the mechanick Tools of a Poet; I came in the next place to confider, what other human Aid could be of fer'd him, a Genius and Judgment not being mine to give. Now I imagin'd that a Man might have both these, and yet fometimes, for the fake of a Syllable or two, more or less, to give a Verfe its true Measure, be at a fland for Epithets and Synonyma's, with which I have feen Books of this Nature in feveral Languages plentifully furnished. Now, tho' I have differ'd from them in Method, yet I am of pinion this Collection may ferve to the fame End, with equal Profit and greater Pleafure to the Reader. For, what are Epithets, but Adjectives that denote and express the Qualities of the Subftantives to which they are join'd? as Purple, Rofy, Smiling, Dewy, Morning: Dim, Gloomy, Silent, Night. What Synonyma's, but Words of a like Signification? as Fear, Dread, Terrour, Confternation, Affright, Difmay, &c. Are they not then naturally to be fought for in the Defcriptions of Perfons and Things? And can we not better judge by a Piece of Painting, how beautifully Colours may be difpos'd; than by feeing the fame feveral Colours Scatter'd without Defign on a Table? When you are at a loss therefore for proper Epithets or Synonyma's, look into this Alphabetical Collection for any Word under which the Subject of your Thought may most probably be rang'd, and you will find what have been employ'd by our beft Writers, and in what manner. It would have been as eafy a Task for me, as it has been to others before me, to have threaded tedious Bead-rolls of Synony ma's and Epithets together, and put them by themselves: But when they ftand alone they appear bald, infipid, uncouth, and offenfive both to the Eye and Ear. In that Difpofition they may indeed help the Memory, but cannot direct the Judgment in the But befides, to confefs a Secret, I am very unwilling it should Neque enim concludere Verfum Dixeris effe fatis: Neque, fi quis fcribat, uti nos, Magna fonaturum, des Nominis hujus Honorem. Horat. I refolved therefore to place thefe, the principal Materials, under But let Men of better Minds be excited to a generous Emula- I have inferted not only Similies, Allufions, Characters, and Defcriptions, but also the most Natural and Sublime Thoughts of our Modern Poets on all Subjects whatever. I fay, of our Modern; for tho' fome of the Ancient, as Chaucer, Spencer, and others, have not been excell'd, perhaps not equall'd, by any that have fucceeded them, either in Juftness of Defcription, or in Propriety and Greatness of Thought; yet their Language is now become fo antiquated and obfolete, that moft Readers of our Age have no Ear for them: And this is the Reason that the good Shakespear himself is not fo frequently cited in this Col- I have endeavour'd to give the Paffages as naked and fiript of Superfiuities and foreign Matter, as poffibly I could: But of- ten found myself oblig'd, for the fake of the Connexion of the Senfe, which elfe would have been interrupted, and confequently obfcure, to infert fome of them under Heads, to which every Part or Line of them may be thought not properly to belong: Nay, I fometimes even found it difficult to chufe under what Head to place feveral of the left Thoughts; but the Reader may be affur'd, that if he find them not where he expects, he will not The Search itself rewards his Pains; And if like Chymifts his great End he mifs, Yet 1 hings well worth his Toil he gains; That the Reader may judge of every Paffage with due De- ference for each Author, he will find their Names at the End of the last Line; and as the late Verfions of the Greek and Roman Poets have not a little contributed to this Collection, Homer, Anacreon, Lucretius, Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Ju- venal, &c. are cited with their Tranflators; and after each Author's Name are quoted their Plays and other Poems, from whence the Paffages are extracted. The Reader will likewife obferve, that I have fometimes a- Scrib'd to feveral Authors the Quotations taken from one and the fame Play. Thus to thofe from the firft and third A&t of Oedipus, I have put Dryden; to thofe from the three other, Lee: Because the firft and third Act of that Play were written by Dryden, the three other by Lee. To thofe from Troilus and Creffida I have fometimes put Shakespear, fometimes Dry- den; because he having alter'd that Play, whatever I found not in the Edition of Shakespear, ought to be afcrib'd to him. And in like manner of feveral other Plays. As no Thought can be jufily faid to be fine, unless it be true, I have all along had a great Regard for Truth; except only in Paffages that are purely fatirical, where fome Allowance muft be given: For Satire may be fine and true Satire, tho' it be not directly and according to the Letter, true: 'Tis enough that it carry with it a Probability or Semblance of Truth. Let it not here be objected, that I have from the Tranflators of the Greek and Roman Poets, taken fome Defcriptions merely fabulous: For the well-invented Fables of the Antients were defign'd only to inculcate the Truth with more Delight, and to make it shine with greater Splendour. Rien n'eft beau que le Vrai. Le Vrai feul eft Aimable; Ne tend qu'à faire aux yeux briller la Verité. Boileau. I have upon every Subject given both pro and con whenever I met with them, or that I judg'd them worth giving: And if both are not always found, let none imagine that I wilfully fupprefs'd either; or that what is here uncontradicted must be unanswerable. If any take offence at the Loofenefs of fome of the Thoughts, as particularly upon Love, where I have given the different Sentiments which Mankind, according to their feveral Temperaments, ever had, and ever will have of it; fuch may observe, that I have ftriatly avoided all manner of Obfcenity throughout the whole Collection: And tho' here and there a Thought may perhaps have a Caft of Wantonness, yet the cleanly Metaphors palliate the Broadness of the Meaning, and the Chafteness of the Words qualifies the Lafciviousness of the Images they represent. And let them farther know, that I have not always chofen what 1 moft approv'd, but what carries with it the beft Strokes for Imitation: For, upon the whole Matter, it was not my Bufines to judge any farther, than of the Vigour and Force of Thought, of the Purity of Language, of the Aptnefs and Propriety of Expreffion; and above all, of the Beauty of Colouring, in which the Poet's Art chiefly confifts. Nor, in fhort, would I take upon me to determine what Things should have been faid; but have fhewn only what are faid, and in what manner. |