the Liberty of reading Homer, or any other Heathen Poet, that was us'd then in their Schools, tho Chriftian Fathers fet one Apellinarius (I think his Name was) to write in all the Parts of Poetry for the Ufe of the Chriftians, in Odes,, in Heroic Verfe, nay, even in Tragedy, and Comedy; by which Means they difappointed the Defigns of the Apoftate. So ufeful did the Fathers by this Procedure, judge that Poetry it felf was, without the Defects introduc'd into it by the Wickedness of Men, who have not exempted Religion it felf from their Corruption.

I wonder that you have forgotten a Thing objected by one of the Fathers, against the High-heel'd Shoes then worn in Tragedy. It is Tertullian (if my Memory fail ne not) who fays, that the Devil fets them on their lofty Buskins to give Chrift the Lye, who has told us, that no Body can add one Cubit to his Stature. At this rate of arguing, I am afraid our once high Commodes, and the prefent High-crown'd Hats of the Village Dames, are not free from this diobolical Defign. If the Fathers always talk'd in this wild Manner, I know not how to pay any great Deference to their Difcourfes.

I dare believe, that it will not be expected from me to compare this admirable Art with the others, which are concerned in the Regulation of our Manners, and Paffions; and to fhew which is the most váluable, betaufe as they are generally confin'd to the Learned, they cannot be fo well known to us Women; and for that very Reafon, in my Opinion, are of a lower Degree of Merit and Excellence. They, befides, if I am not mifinform', confift chiefly in Precepts and Definitions, and reach therefore but to a Few; but Poetry spreads to All, and theds its benign Influence upon All; it teaches by Example, which frike all Capacities. I learn from them, if not the Difinitions of Virtue, yet what is of niore Confequence: That to be Happy, we must not depart from it;

That

That to avoid Vice and Guilt, we must refift the first Approaches of Paffions, fince our yielding to thofe first Approaches, gives them the Mastery, and leads us into all our deplorable Miferies.

I am unacquainted with Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, and the other great Poets of Antiquity, only as far as Chapman, Ogilby, Hobbs, and fome more Modern Tranflations inform me; yet by thefe, I find, thofe Pocts teaching by Fable, or what is call'd in the Holy Scriptures, Parable which, as it reaches all Capacities, fo it touches all Tempers and Conftitutions.

But that which determines me entirely for Poetry, is, That God has made ufe of it in the Sacred Scriptures, by his Prophets, Legislators, and most favour'd of Things That the Pfalms, Canticles, Job, Ecclefiaftes, are all Poems, if one may believe the Learned, and all written in Verfe.

So that I must conclude (my dear Eufebia) That Poetry, which is of fuch Ufe in the Correcting, nay, preventing of our Vices, and ring or confirming. our Virtues; That Petry, whofe Force God himself. has thought the beft Vehicle for the strongest Emanations of his Spirit; can never justly be thought unworthy. the Confideration of Men of the greatest Religion and Seife.

Give me leave to add, That if it come fhort of thefe Perfections in our Time, and that its Profef-fors are in mean and unhappy Circumstances; it is theFault of our Governors, our Men of Power, who either · do not know, or will not give themfelves the Pains s to diftinguish between a Poetafter, and a Poet, a meer Trifler in Verfification, and a great Genius: That can give us, if justly encouraged, Things. more worthy. to entertain and inftruct us. Nay, Experience has too fcandaloufly fhewn us, That they always, or generally favour the Poetafter, for the Deference hepays them, rather than the Pect, whoft Soul can not

B 4.

fubmit

fubmit to fuch fervile Offices, as they require for their Smiles. And in this Difcouragement of juft Performers of this Art, I must with Reluctance, tho' with Juftice own, that the Ladies have been as the Men; nay, I fear more fcandaloufly fo, while they have proftitued both their Understanding and Modefty, in filling the Theatres for the Benefit of fuch Scriblers, who for their little Regard to the juft Character of the Sex, deferv'd rather my Lord Rochefter's Correction of Black Will, a Cudgel, than the Reward of a throng'd Honfe for their Benefit; and for their Ignorance in their Art, ought rather to have been confin'd to a Bartholomew Booth, or a Mountebank Stage, than be admitted to difcover their Follies in the Royal Theatres, at the Expence of the Reputation of a whole Nation, fince more polite Foreigners, by furh nice Specimens as thefe, muft carry away a very defpicable Opinion of the English Wit and Poetry.

Morifina had no fooner done, but Morat, the Black, coming into the Room with fome Burgundy, the feeming to give him fome Directions, left the Compa ny, as if about fome domestick Affairs; yet certainly it was the Effect of her natural Diffidence and Modefty, that he might not be forc'd to blush to hear her own Praife, or find what he had faid lefs acceptable than the defir'd.

Laudon could not conceal the Satisfaction he found in her agreeable Difcourfe; and every Body exprefs'd the Pleasure they had found all the Time she was fpeaking. Even Eufebia her felf, out of a Candour not common to the Sex, was not filent in her Praife; tho' Women are not the most eafy People in the World under the Support of Conviction.

When the Heat of the Praife of Morifina was a little now over, I addrefs'd my self to Eufebia, in this

Manner.

Tho, Madam, I think, that the Lady of the House has fufficiently anfwer'd all your Objections against

Poe

Poetry: For whereas you made it wicked, irreligious and trifling, he has fhewn it to be religious, pious, of Ufe; nay, of the greatest Importance to the promoting of Virtue, and employ'd by God himself to his Omnipotent Ends, in the illuminating and reclaiming of Mankind: That it has a triple innate Force, that is, The Power of Eloquence, Mufick, amel Painting, nay,that these three Arts deriv'd those Powers which the World owns, and Experience proves, from Poetry; and that therefore it can be no trifling Study, or vain Amusement, but worthy of the Application of · Men of Senfe. Virtue, and Religion.

Tho, I fay, fhe has prov'd all this, in a most easy, obvious, and pleafant Manner; yer give me Leave to add fome more particular Aufwers to your Obje&ions, in a more explicite Manner.

Firft, Madam, I must obferve, That much of the Accufations of Plato, as well as of the Fathers, is founded on the Abfurdities of the Heathen Syftem of Religion in general, of which Flomer, and the Boers (at least, as far as we can difcover) were not the Founders, but made ufe of it as they found it, in Order to make their moral Doctrines take with a People, whofe corrupt Idea of the Deity, the Product of more dark and ignorant Times, had already poffefs'd with Notions which must be admitted as Fundamentals with their Inftructors, if they would pretend to haveany Effect upon them.

I know very well, that Mr. Rapin in his Reflections on Ariftotle's Poefie, is pleas'd to fay, by Way of a very awkward Praife of Homer, That he was in a manner the Author of Paganifm, the Religion of which he establish'd by his Poems; fa one may say,. That never Prophet bad fo many Followers as lie.. Yet, as this is a vely foundalous Praife of an excellent Perfon, fo is it fails in the very Fact: For if he had confirm'd Pagonison Greece, an its Colonies, its certain, that the rear of the World, which had no Communication

with that Country, could not be influenc'd by any Writer of it: and we know, that the Plurality of Gods was fpread thro' Afia, Africa, and Europe, among Nations who never heard of Homer, or of his Country.

But to come to your particular Objections, from the Fathers, and from Plato, we find, that whatever the Ancient Chriftians might think, the modern Divines all hold, That God may, to good Ends, make ufe of evil Means and Inftruments: And thus was Pandarus: employ'd by Jove and Pallas, to break the Peace, as well as the Lying Dream that was fent to Agamemnon. We are acquainted with the Story of Achab too well, and the Lying Spirit mentioned in the Hiftory of that King of Ifrael. If we find Fault with Homer on that Account, the fame may be faid of the two Barrels or Veffels in Jupiter's Cellar; for we now know the Original of all the Greek Fables.

Not to have reprefented their Gods with Face and Fingers, &c. with Actions, Paffions, and other Modifications, after the manner of Man, had been to fay nothing at all. St. Paul, who foar'd as high as any Body, and had the Gift of Tongues, declar'd the things above, to be ineffable. Homer knew this, and therefore would not banter the World with hard Words, and unintelligible Jargon, as Plato and others have fince done; but did accommodate his Speech to the Senfes of Humankind, by Metaphors, Similitudes, and Parables, after the manner of Mafes, and the old Prophers before him. He entertains, and fills us to the utmost of our Organs and Capacities. He finds fomething for all our Senfes, bringing it to our Eyes, our Ears, and our Feeling. Neckar he provides for our Tafte, and there always exhales Ambrofial Odours in the Divine Prefence. What Plato, or an Angel could fay farther, paffes all Underftanding, and could not enter our Organs, could have no Relish or Proportion: to affect us, more than the Mufick of the Spheres.

The