Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

The Subject continued.

CHAPTER III.

OUR language ought to be confidered not only with a view to its grammatical propriety, but as a fubject of tafte. In order to avoid the errors of those who have been led aftray by affectation and falfe refinement, and to form a proper opinion of its genuine idiom, it is neceffary to perufe the works of the best and moft approved writers.

In the various departments of religion, hiftory, poetry, and general literature, we will endeavour to point out fome writers of the pureft Englishbut without any wifh to detract from the excellence. of those, whom the limited nature of our work, and not ignorance of their merits, or prejudice againft them, may incline us to omit.

Let the reader commence his ftudies with thofe who were moft diftinguifhed in the reign of Elizabeth, when the language began to be refined from its original roughnefs, affumed a fuller form, and was marked by more diftinct features; and let him purfue his progref's down to the prefent times. Nor ought he to be deterred from this defign by an apprehenfion, that he will find our old authors clothed in the garb of rude and uncouth antiquity;

for

for he will make the pleafing difcovery, that shaded as the language of his forefathers may be by fome obfcurities, yet it does not materially differ from his own, in point of structure and formation, or the meaning of the generality of words.

The fubftance of a language remains for ages unaltered, however the influx of new customs, and the inventions or the improvements of arts, may occafion, fome addition to its terms, and fome change in its orthography and pronunciation. Shakespeare will of courfe attract his early attention; and he will find in his incomparable dramas fuch an accommodation of ftyle to the grave and the gay, the rough and the polished, the heroic and the vulgar characters of his plays, as fhews that our language was fufficiently ftrong and copious to be a proper vehicle for all the wonderful conceptions of his genius. The Chronicle of Speed, the Hiftory of the World by Sir Walter Ralegh, the History of the grand Rebellion by Lord Clarendon, and the Works of Sir William Temple, are deferving perufal for vigour and compass of diction, as well as the display of talents and knowledge. The common tranflation of the Bible, made in the reign of James I., exclufive of the important nature of its contents, deferves great attention. The nature and compass of its phrafeology are fuch, as prove no lefs the powers of the language than the correct judgment of the tranflators. The words are, for the moft part, elegant and expreffive, and convey the fublime ideas of the

6

original,

original, without coarfenefs or vulgarity on the one hand, or pedantry and affectation on the other, The manly and dignified profe, and the rich and fublime poetry of Milton, far from being degraded or fettered, are exalted and adorned by their style; and it was his peculiar glory, to apply with confummate tafte and fkill the flowing periods of blank verfe, to the majesty of an epic poem. The increafing tribute of praife, in every age except his own, has been paid to the flights of his tranfcendent genius, and the stores of his vaft erudition.

- Dr. Ifaac Barrow flourished in the reign of Charles II. His Sermons are matchlefs: his periods are fo full and exuberant, as to give no inadequate reprefentation of the eloquence of Cicero. He exhaufts every subject which he undertakes to difcufs, leaving nothing but admiration of the fertility of his mind, to the writers who follow him upon the fame topics. They difplay to the greatest advantage the energy of his intellectual powers, employed upon the most important fubjects.

The great Locke, in a plain and severe style, well adapted to the philofophical precision of his refearches, unravelled the intricacies of the most interefting branch of philofophy by tracing ideas to their fource, and developing the faculties of the mind. In the illuftrious reign of Anne, when Britain reached an eminent degree of glory in literature as well as in war, Swift valued himself on ufing no words but fuch as were of native English growth:

in clear and familiar diction he expreffed the full freedom of an active mind, and never wrote with fo much pleasure as when he indulged his talent for irony. So averfe was he to the flowers of eloquence, that it has been faid that metaphors are thinly fcattered over his writings. Yet who will prefume to cenfure the author of Gulliver's Travels for want of imagination? Addifon, the accomplished fcholar, the refined critic, and the enlightened moralift, like another Socrates brought moral philofophy from the fchools, arrayed her in the most engaging drefs, and called the attention of his countrymen to taste and to virtue, in his elegant and entertaining effays - The prefaces of Dryden are marked by the eafe and the vivacity of genius; and there is a facility in his rhymes, and a peculiar vigour in his poetry, which render him juftly the boaft of our country. Pope compofed his prefaces and letters with peculiar grace and beauty of ftyle; and his... poems prefent the fineft fpecimens of exquifite judgment, adorned with the most polifhed verfification.

The works of Melmoth, particularly his letters

f As I have been from early life an enthufiaftic admirer of Addison, confidered as a moral writer, I cannot characterise. his merits in a manner more correfpondent with my original feelings of respect, than by applying to him the fentiments which Erafmus has expreffed of Cicero. "Certe nunquam mihi magis placuit Cicero tum, quum adamarem illa ftudia, quam nunc placet feni: non tantum ob divinam quandam orationis felicitatem, verum etiam ob pectoris eruditi fanctimoniam, profecto meum afflavit animum, meque mihi reddidit meliorem.'

and tranflations of Cicero and Pliny, are remarkable for fmoothnefs and elegance of composition. The Lectures of Sir Joshua Reynolds illuftrate the principles of his delightful art, in a manner no lefs creditable to him as a fine writer, than as an eminent painter and connoiffeur. The facred difcourfes of the amiable Bishop Horne recommend the duties of that holy religion, of which he was fo bright an ornament, in a fweet and lively ftyle. The manly vigour of Bishop Wat fon diffufes its animation through all his works, whether philofophical, controverfial, or religious. And where can we find compofitions, which unite the politenefs of the gentleman with the attainments of the fcholar, blended in jufter proportions, than in the Polymetis of Spence, the Athenian Letters, the Dialogues of Lord Littelton and Bishop Hurd, and the papers of the Adventurer, and the Obferver?

Johnfon's Lives of the Poets, if fome allowance be made for his prejudices against Milton and Gray, merit great attention, and contain as many. excellent principles of morality as of tafte. They will give ufeful hints to a young man as to the conduct of life; and fhew him that frequently the powers of genius, and the rage of diffipation have been united in the favourites of the mufes. Whence he may infer that a found judgment is more defirable than a fine imagination, and that abilities without prudence may gain the laurels of Parnaffus,

VOL. I.

K

but

« ElőzőTovább »