’Tis very dangerous, I confess, to make free with the Characters of particular Persons; for there are some Men in the World, who, tho’ they are not asham’d of the Impropriety of their own Manners, yet are they easily offended at the public Notice which is taken of ’em. But tho’ Mr. de la Bruyere might have very good prudential Reasons for not making his Characters too particular, yet those Reasons cannot be urg’d, as a just Plea for his transgressing the Bounds of Characteristic-Justice, by making his Images unnatural.
In every Kind of Writing there is something of an establish’d Nature which is essential to it. To deviate from this, is to deviate from Nature it self. Mr. de la Bruyere is not the only French Man who is guilty in this Point. Others of his Country-Men have committed much the same Fault in Pastoral and Comedy. Out of a vain Affectation of saying something very extraordinary and remarkable, they have departed from the nature of Things: They have given to the Simplicity of the Country, the Airs of the Town and Court, introduced upon the Stage Buffoonry and Farce instead of Humour; and by misrepresenting the real Manners of Men, they have turn’d Nature into Grimace.
The main Beauty of Characteristic-Writings consists in a certain Life and Spirit, which the Writer ought to endeavour to keep up, by all the Arts which he is Master of. Nothing will contribute to this more, than the Observance of a strict Unity in the very Conception of a Character: For Characters are Descriptions of Persons and Things, as they are such: And, as [O]Mr. Budgell has very judiciously observ’d, “If the Reader is diverted in the midst of a Character, and his Attention call’d off to any thing foreign to it, the lively Impression it shou’d have made is quite broken, and it loses more than half its Force.” But if this Doctrine be applied to the Practice of Mr. de la Bruyere, it will find him Guilty. He sometimes runs his Characters to so great a Length, and mixes in ’em so many Particulars and unnecessary Circumstances, that they justly deserve the Name, rather of Histories than Characters.—Such is the [P]Article concerning Emira. ’Tis an artful Description of a Woman’s Vanity, in pretending to be insensible to the Power of Love, merely because she has never been exposed to the Charms of a lovely Person; and there is nothing in this Character, but what is agreeable to Nature, and carried on with a great deal of Humour. But the many Particulars which Mr. de la Bruyere has drawn into the Composition of it, and which, in Truth, are not essential to the main Design, have quite chang’d the Nature of the Character, and converted it into a History, or rather a little Romance.—’Tis true, Histories are Pictures as well as Characters; but yet there will ever be as wide a Difference between ’em, as there is between a Picture at full Length, and one in Miniature.
The [Q]Characters of Giton and Phebon are humorous enough. And they are allow’d to be kept within the just Bounds of Probability. But Mr. de la Bruyere has heap’d up so many Particulars and unnecessary Circumstances, which do not convey any new Ideas, that the Characters grow languid and tedious.—Giton is respected; every thing that he says or does is approved of. Phebon is despis’d; no Notice is taken of what he says or does. The Reason of this Difference is not so mysterious, but that it may be told in less than two or three Pages. Giton is rich, and Phebon is poor.
Sometimes there is such a Confusion in Mr. de la Bruyere’s Designs, that one cannot easily discover whether he intended to draw the Character of a particular Person, or to make a Picture of some prevailing Vice, or only a moral Reflexion.—Such is the [R]Article of Zenobia. Was it design’d for the Character of Zenobia? But ’tis rather a Description of the Magnificence, and beautiful Situation of the Palace, which she was then building. Or was it design’d to censure and lash the Publicans of the Age, for the Extortions which they practis’d, and the immense Riches which they amass’d by Fraud and Oppression? But this Satir comes in only by the by, and in a very jejune Manner. Or lastly, was it intended only for a moral Reflexion on the sudden Revolutions and Vicissitudes of Fortune? But the Length of this Article is inconsistent with the nature of a Reflexion; and if any thing like this was intended, it must come in as the ἐπιμύθιον, the Moral of the Fable; which will make the Contents of this Article, still more different from the nature of a Character, than any thing that has yet been mentioned.
’Tis not enough that a Character be drawn conformable to that Existence which it really has, or probably may have in Nature: It must further be cloath’d in proper Sentiments, and express’d in a simple and natural Style. But Mr. de la Bruyere, consider’d as a Writer of Characters, is too affected in his way of Thinking, and too artificial in the Turn of his Expressions.
The previous Apology which he made for himself in this Point, is so far from the Purpose, that nothing is more so.
Recollecting, [S]says he, that amongst the Writings ascrib’d to Theophrastus by Diogenes Laertius, there is one which bears the Title of Proverbs, i.e. of loose unconnected Observations, and that the most considerable Book of Morality, that ever was made, bears that Name in the sacred Writings; we have been excited by such great Examples to imitate, according to our Capacity, a like Way of Writing concerning Manners.
—’Tis true, that in the Catalogue of Theophrastus his Works, preserv’d by [T]Diogenes Laertius, there is one Book under the Title περὶ παροιμιῶν concerning Proverbs: But that, probably, was nothing but a Collection of some of those short, remarkable, useful, pithy Sayings, which are of common Use in the World, and which every Nation has peculiar to it self. However, tho’ we cannot exactly tell, what the Nature of that Performance was, because the Book is now lost, yet we are certain, on the other Hand, that the Design of Solomon was not to write Characters, but to deliver some Maxims of Morality by way of Advice and Instruction. So that for a profess’d Writer of Characters, to take a Book of Proverbs for a Model, is as inconsistent, as if any one, who intended to compose an Oration, shou’d form his Diction upon a Poem. Proverbs consist of short Sentences, which contain in themselves a full and compleat Sense; and therefore they do not essentially require a strict Relation and Correspondence; but Characteristic-Writings do require such a strict Relation and Correspondence. And Mr. de la Bruyere is so faulty in this Point, that almost every where he has no visible Connexion.—Characteristic-Writings ought, I own, to have a lively Turn, and a Laconic Air: but there is a wide Difference between using a concise Manner, and writing as many Aphorisms as Sentences.
How far Mr. de la Bruyere is defective as to Propriety of Style and Justness of Expression, I chuse to set down in the Words of one of his [V]Countrymen, a very judicious Writer, and a better Judge in this Matter than I pretend to be. “Mr. de la Bruyere, qui n’a point de Style formé, ecrivant au hazard, employe des Expressions outrées en des Choses tres communes; & quand il en veut dire de plus relevées, il les affoiblit par des Expressions basses, & fait ramper le fort avec le foible. Il tend sans relache a un sublime qu’il ne connoit pas, & qu’il met tantot dans les choses, tantot dans les Paroles, sans jamais attraper le Point d’Unité, qui concilie les Paroles avec les choses, en quoi consiste tout le Secret, & la Finesse de cette Art merveilleux.”—This is the Censure which an ingenious Author, under the feign’d Name of Vigneul Marville, has pass’d upon Mr. de la Bruyere’s Style. However, I think my self oblig’d in Justice to inform the Reader, that Mr. Coste, in his Defence of Mr. de la Bruyere, has endeavour’d to prove that this Censure is ill grounded. But I will not pretend to decide in a Case of this Nature. Matters relating to Style are the nicest Points in Learning: The greatest Men have grosly err’d on this Subject. I only declare my own Opinion on the Matter, that Mr. de la Bruyere’s Style appears to me forc’d, affected, and improper for Characteristic Writings. Several ingenious French Gentlemen, who have themselves writ with Applause in this Language, entertain the same Sentiments, and have ingenuously confess’d to me, that they could never read ten Pages together of Mr. de la Bruyere, without feeling such an Uneasiness and Pain, as arises from a continued Affectation and a perpetual Constraint. But the Reader is still left free. To form a right Judgment on Correctness is an easy Matter by the ordinary Rules of Grammar, but to do the same concerning the Turn and Air, and peculiar Beauties of Style, depends on a particular Taste: They are not capable of being prov’d to those who have not this Taste, but to those who have it, they are immediately made sensible by a bare pointing out.