How far this has been effected in the following Sheets, must be left entirely to his Judgment. I am sure my Endeavour has been not to be wanting to both these Ends, and I might with more Ease to myself have wrote a larger Book. To treat of Elegance in an inelegant Manner is a mere Absurdity; and Conciseness is generally an Attendant of Elegance. Nothing I am sure can afford more Pleasure to the Understanding than an accurate Enquiry into the Subjects here treated of: Nothing greater Difficulty to a Writer, who is to act the Critic and Philosopher, rather than the Historian. Even Metaphysics do not more try the Mind than Poetry, when we search into the latent Sources of its Beauties and Allurements. But the Pleasure in the one is much greater than in the other: This has its Thorns; but such as grow on the Rose, tender and yielding, that heighten at once its Sweetness and its Beauty.

One Thing I would desire the Reader to observe; that under each Head of Poetry, I have either wholly omitted every thing that is Historical, or but lightly touch'd upon it: Not became I think by any Means that Part of Learning contemptible; but partly because I find it more suitable to my Nature (such as it is) to search into Things than Facts; and partly because others, whose Erudition I very much reverence, and to whom I always refer my Reader, have already in this Respect, deserv'd well of the Learned. However, in one or two of my Dissertations I could not come at the Nature of the Subject I treated of without enquiring into the History of it: as in those upon the Origin of Poetry in general, upon Epigram, and Satire. But even in them to enter into a long Detail of Circumstances fetch'd from the Writings of the Ancients, wou'd be doing Nothing but what had been done before; which is the Thing I have throughout endeavour'd to avoid. My Aim has been not to be tedious; and for fear I should be so now, I shall add no more; but leave my Book to stand or fall by the Opinion of the Learned.

CONTENTS

The Oration, on entering into the Professorship, or First Lecture.[Page 1]

LECTURE II, III.
Of the Nature and Origin of Poetry in General[ 13]
Poetry defin'd[ibid.]
Vossius's Definition rejected[ibid.]
Prov'd against Vossius, and Mons. Dacier,
  that Poetry does not imitate Actions only[14,15]
That Poetry is an Art, properly so call'd[ 15]
That Poetry consists in Imitation and Illustration[15,16]
A Comparison between Poetry and Painting[16,17]
The Meaning and Original of the Word Ποιητες[18,19]
Prov'd, against Mons. Dacier, that fictitious Narrations,
  written in Prose, are not properly Poems[20,21]
That Fiction is not essential to Poetry[ 21]
That Poetry does not differ from History in the Diction only[ 22]
The Difference between Poesy, Poetry, and a Poem[ibid.]
A Comparison between Poetry and Music[ 23]
That the End of Poetry is twofold, to instruct, and to please[ 24]
That Instruction is the principal End of Poetry[24,25]
What the secret Sources of Pleasure are, which all receive from Poetry[25,26]
That Poetry took its Rise from Love[26,27]
Owes its first Increase and Progress to Religion[ 27]
Who were the first Authors of Verses[ 28]
The Rise of Poetry fetch'd farther back:
  Shewn that the immediate Causes of it are
  founded in that Love of Imitation and
  Harmony which is natural to all; and that
  Vossius has assign'd wrong ones [ 29]
The Reason why Mankind is so much given to Imitation and Harmony[ 30]
That Prose is more ancient than Poetry[ 30,31]
Whether, in Poetry, Nature or Industry is of greater Force[ 31]
The Meaning of that Saying, Poeta nascitur; non fit[ 32]
Of the Inspiration attributed to Poets[ibid.]
Explanation of poetical Fables rejected[ 33]
The Difference between Poetry and Oratory[ 34]

LECTURE IV, V, VI, VII.
Of the Style of Poetry.
What Style is; and in what its Beauty consists[ 37]
The Style of Poetry so singular, that there
  are many Expressions elegant in the
  Writings of the Poets, which in Prose would be
  contrary to the Rules of Grammar[ibid.]
Examples cited[38,39,40,41]
Other Expressions, which tho' not entirely poetical,
  yet are much more suitable to Verse, than Prose[ 42]
A beautiful Poem may, however, consist of those which
  are common both to Prose and Metre[ 43]
That it is the Property of Poetry to express the
  whole of a Thing sometimes by some one Adjunct[ibid.]
Sometimes by a Kind of Paraphrase, and little Description[ 44]
To use Specials for Generals[ 45]
That Poetry impresses upon the Mind the
  Images of Things stronger than Prose[46,47]
That Descriptions are almost peculiar to Poetry[ 47]
That figurative Expressions are more suitable
  to poetic Writings than Prose; and why[ 51]
Of the Use and Abuse of Metaphors[51,52]
Of Books that teach the Elements of Rhetoric[ 53]
One and the same Thing express'd different Ways,
  sometimes well, sometimes ill[ 54]
A Comparison in this Particular, and some others
  between Virgil and Ovid[ibid.]
Repetition of the same Words, to be avoided
  as much as conveniently may be[ 60]
Great Regard to be had to the Sound and Order of Words[ 61]
A Mistake in those who think Ovid, Claudian,and
  others, excel Virgil in Versification[ 62]
Of Verses that express the Thing they describe by
  their Sound and Numbers[64,65,66]
Of the Verses in the Æneid that break off short[ 67]
An unwarrantable Liberty in modern Writers to imitate
  Virgil, in this Particular[ 68]
Or too boldly to violate the Laws of Quantity[68,69]
Of the true and elegant Use of Epithets[ 69]
Divided into two Sorts[ibid.]
Of those that add to their Substantives new
  and distinct Ideas[69,70]
Of those that come nearer to the general
  Nature of their Substantives, and are us'd
   for Illustration and Explanation,
    tho' they don't convey any new Idea to it[ 71]
The Gradus ad Parnassum, and other Books of that
  Nature, prejudicial to young Tyro's in Poetry[ 73]
Other Kinds of Epithets[ 74]
Of superfluous and redundant Epithets[ 76]
A Mistake of those, on the other Hand, who think
  that very few Epithets should be us'd[ 78]
When a Thing is to be strongly express'd, and with great
  Energy, by all Means to abstain from Epithets[ 80]
All Adjectives and Participles not Epithets[ 81]
An Enumeration of different Sorts of Style[ 82]
Of the Sublime, the Turgid, and the Low Style[82-90]
Of the Sarcastical and Severe[ 91]
Of the Florid Style[ 92]
Other Sorts of Style[ibid.]
The Style to be varied; and not always preserve one even Tenor[ 93]
Style of Comedy not poetical[ 94]
This Question carried on with Respect to Comedies writ in the English Tongue[ 95]
And to those in the French[ibid.]
The Connexion between Beauty of Expression, and Beauty of Thought[ 96]

LECTURE VIII, IX, X, XI.
Of the Beauty of Thought; or of Elegance And Sublimity[101]
The Difficulty of treating of this Subject[ibid.]
Definition of Wit[102]
The Foundation of true Wit[ibid.]
The Difference between a Thought simply consider'd,
  and an ingenious one[102]
The Difference between Falshood and Fiction[103]
Specimens of false or spurious Wit[104]
Thoughts partly true, partly false[105]
The Difference between true and false Wit[106]
Some Verses have gain'd Esteem, not from Reason,
  or true Merit, but merely from popular Fame[107]
The Opinion of the famous Boileau, and a Passage translated from him[108]
That some Thoughts are true, tho' Poetical Fiction be added to them[109]
Care always to be taken, that some Truth be the Basis of the Thought[112]
That fine Thoughts and Words ought not to superabound[113]
In the right Disposal of them much Art required[113]
Beauty of Thought divided into two Kinds, the Elegant and the Sublime[115]
How these differ[ibid.]
Of a happy Genius[ibid,]
Of the Impetus or Poetic Fire[116]
Of moving the Passions[118]
Under this Head the Fourth Book of Virgil's Æneis considered[120]
Of Images[125-129]
Of Antitheta[129]
Of Transitions[132-135]
Of Excursions of another Kind[135]
Of Comparisons[136]
That pretty Thoughts ill agree with the Passions[139]
Of Delicate Thoughts[140,141]
Of Strong Thoughts[142]
That Severity and Gravity not inconsistent with Wit[ibid.]
Of Sentences[ibid.]
Of echoing Turns[143]
Of Thoughts that seem to contradict each other[144,145]
Of Æquivocations and Playing upon Words[145,146]
Of Sublimity[147]
The Substance of that Idea of Sublimity, which Longinus describes[ibid.]
A Mistake of those who think that Sublimity is more especially,
  if not only, suited to Exultation and Triumph[149]
Examples of Sublimity, exciting Terror and Pity[ibid.]
A Stricture upon Poetic Licence[151]

LECTURE XII.
Of Epigram, and other lighter Species of Poetry[153]
The History and Origin of Epigram[ibid.]
No need of dividing Epigrams into so many distinct sorts as some do[154]
Epigrams some Satirical[ibid.]
Panegyrical[155]
Upon the Subject of Love[ibid.]
Upon any other Subject[155,156]
Religious Epigrams[156,157]
And sublime[157]
The Nature of true Epigram in general[158]
Some Poems consisting of a few Verses, in Martial
  and others, not Epigrams properly so called[158]
Of the Lent Verses made at Oxford, call'd Carmina Quadragesimalia[159]
Of Elogies, Inscriptions, and Epitaphs[ibid.]
Of Emblems or Symbols[ibid.]
That Epigrams should be short[160]
Of the Metre of Epigram[161]
Of Hendecasyllables[ibid.]
Whether the Ancients or the Moderns have deserv'd
  greater Praise in this little Kind of Poems[ibid.]
They are beautiful, and not without their Difficulty[161,162]

LECTURE XIII.
Of Elegy
Few have treated of this Species of Poetry[163]
The Nature of it, and the Etymology of the Name[164]
Melancholy Subjects first and principally suited to Elegy[ibid.]
Afterwards by Analogy others of a very different Kind[164,165]
Death and Love the chief Subjects of Elegy[165]
Tho' scarce any other sort of Matter repugnant to it[ibid.]
But Circumstances of Joy with less Propriety agreeable to it[ibid.]
Many Epistles are Elegies[166]
Of Ovid's Heroine Epistles;
  and the Difference between them and Elegies commonly so called[ibid.]
What the chief Property of Elegies[167,168]
Very few of our modern Poems, which are styled Elegies,
  deserve our Notice[169]
Of the Elegiac Metre[169]
Among the Ancients we have scarce any Elegiac Poets but Latin[169,170]
Of the Elegiac Writers, Ovid, Tibullus, and Propertius[170]
Catullus not so properly reckon'd in the Number[ibid.]
Of Gallus a Writer of Elegies[170,171]

LECTURE XIV.
Of Pastorals
None of the Ancients have treated of this Species of Poem[172]
The Original of Pastoral[172-174]
The peculiar Nature of it[174]
No Difference between Pastorals and Bucolics but the Name[ibid.]
Virgil undeservedly censured, for mixing Philosophy
  and the Sublime with Pastoral[ibid.]
His Fourth and Sixth Eclogues true Pastorals[175]
As also his Tenth[176]
Eclogue and Idyllium according to their Etymology,
  include nothing of Bucolic or Pastoral in their Meaning[177]
These Poems, the more simple they are, the truer Pastorals[ibid.]
They contain an elegant sort of Simplicity[178]
More of the Nature and Turn of this sort of Poem[179]
Certain vulgar Mistakes concerning this Poem noted[ibid.]
The various Subjects of Pastoral[180]
Whence the Delight arises that is peculiar to this Kind of Poem[181,182]
Of Primitive Simplicity, and a Country Life[ibid.]
A Comparison between the Works of Nature and Art[ibid.]
Between Theocritus and Virgil[183]
Pastoral less suitable to the present Times[186]

LECTURE XV.
Of Didactic or Præceptive Poetry
Very few Writings now remaining upon this Subject[187]
That Poetry is the best adapted to give Rules[ibid.]
Four Kinds of Didactic Poems[189]
Of those which relate to Morality[ibid.]
——to Natural Philosophy[189]
The Harmony between Poetry and Natural Philosophy[189]
Lucretius the Prince of Poets in this Kind of Writing[190]
What Things commendable in him, and what to be blamed[190,191]
A Comparison between him and Virgil[192]
That Poetic Fiction and the Explanation of Nature may be elegantly united[192]
That this Kind of Writing may at this Day receive Improvements
  from the Advantages of Experimental Philosophy[193]
Of Poems which relate to the Business or Pleasures of Life[ibid.]
Of Virgil's Georgics[ibid.]
A Comparison between Hesiod and Virgil[194]
Of the Various Methods of fetching in Ornaments to the Georgics[194-197]
Few Writers in this Way among the Moderns[198]
Two mention'd; Rapin of Gardens, and a Countryman of ours[199]
Of Country Diversions, Hunting, &c. and of Gratius's Cygnegeticon[199]
Of Oppian[ibid.]
Of Rules concerning the Art of Poetry[199]
A Didactic Poem may be writ upon any Subject[200]
Some Subjects recommended for it hitherto untouch'd[200,201]

LECTURE XVI.
Of Lyric Poetry
The Original and Antiquity of Odes[203]
The Peculiar Nature of them[ibid.]
Of Digressions and Transitions in Lyric Poetry[204,205]
Notwithstanding this Liberty, it is the most difficult,
  as it is the most elegant Kind of Writing[206]
Two Kinds of Digressions[207]
This more suitable to Music than other Poetry[209]
Of the Music of the Antients[210]
Of the various Subjects of Odes[211]
Sublimity and Poetic Rage more suited to them than any other Poems[212]
Treat of serious and moral Subjects[213]
Whence the Pleasure arises that attends Lyric Poetry[214,215]
Of Pindar[215]
Of Anacreon[ibid.]
Of Horace[ibid.]
The Ancients excell the Moderns in this Kind of Poetry[ibid.]
Of Casimire[215]
Of Hannes[216]
Of modern Pindarics[216,217]
Of Songs[ibid.]

LECTURE XVII, XVIII.
Of Satire
How the Word is spelt: Of the History and Origin of Satire[218]
Difference between the Satyric Poetry of the Greeks and the Roman Satire[219]
The Etymology of the Word[ibid.]
Ennius a Writer of Satires[222]
Pacuvius[ibid.]
Lucilius[ibid.]
Varro[223]
That Satires not only expose Vices, but give Encomiums of Virtue[223]
Prov'd against Mons. Dacier, that the Difference
  between the Satyric Poetry of the Greeks,
   and the Roman Satire, is not so great as he makes it.[225]
Two Sorts of Satire: The Humourous, like that of Horace; and the Serious, like Juvenal's[227]
This last the more excellent of the two[ibid.]
Vossius judges wrong of the Nature and Difference of Satire[228]
Horace's rightly entitled Discourses rather than Satires[232]
All Juvenal's are properly Satires, except the last[ibid.]
Horace is not too acrimonious in his Satires[233]
Some Satires are Dialogues; some Epistles[ibid.]
Some of Horace's Satires are Epistles, and some of his Epistles are Satires[ibid.]
The different Nature of Juvenal's[ibid.]
Persius more a Philosopher, than a Satirist[235-6]
The Moderns not much inferior to the Ancients in this Kind of Writing[236]

LECTURE XIX. &c.
Of the Drama in General
What Poetry is in the most proper Sense of the Word[237]
Applicable to the Drama and Epic, beyond all other sorts
  of Writing; but more especially to the Drama[237-8]
The Difference between an Epic and Dramatic Poem[238]
In what Respects this is preferable to that; and so vice versa[ibid.]
Aristotle and Horace just touch upon other Species
  of Poetry, and dwell only upon the Drama[ibid.]
Many of the latter Times have treated fully of it[238]
What proposed to be treated of in this Discourse[239]
Two Species of the Drama; Comedy and Tragedy[ibid.]
Tragic-Comedy rejected; and for what Reasons[239]
Of a new Species of the Drama, called Opera's
  The Ridiculousness of them[240]
A Short History of the ancient Drama,
  taken from Vossius's Institutiones Poeticæ[243]
The Apparatus of the ancient Drama pass'd by[244]
The Absurdity of the Mask among the Ancients[245]
A Slight Stricture of the Soccus and Buskin[246]
The Theatrical Music of the Ancients pass'd by likewise[ibid.]
A Definition of the Drama in general[246]
That the Action ought to be one[247]
But that it may rightly sometimes seem to be two Actions, &c.[ibid.]
That Kind of Drama the best however, where the Action is entirely one[ibid.]
The Difference between the Fable, the Action, and Machinery of the Drama[248]
The Manners, different Natures, Characters, Passions, and Diction in the Drama[248]
The Subject Matter of the Drama called the Fable, tho' it is founded on true History[250]
Some Poems are rather Dramatical Histories than Drama's[ibid.]
Our Countryman Shakespear commended[ibid.]
Various Foundations of a Drama.
1 - True History.
2 - Some private Action.
3 - A noted common Story.
4 - A fable, or Fiction less known.
5 - The mere Invention of the Poet's Brain[250,251]
The last of these the best, and why[252]
Three Unities in the Drama; viz. of Place, Time, and Action[253]
Of Action before spoke of[ibid.]
Of Time[ibid.]
Of Place[254]
The Necessity of observing these and other Rules[256]
To these Unities a Fourth may be added, that of Characters[256]
Of things partly related, and partly acted on the Stage; and the
  great Difference between the Ancients and the Moderns in this Respect[257-259]
Of Persons adventitious or superfluous, and brought only once upon the Stage[259]
The Reason ought to appear why each Person comes in or goes out[260]
Of the Division of the Drama into Acts; of Acts into Scenes[261]
Of broken and disjointed Scenes[261]
Of Soliloquies[262]
Some Rules of the coming in, and going out
  of the Number of the Actors, superfluous[262]
Of the Number of the Actors[263]
Vossius lays down wrong Rules of the Parts of Action to be divided to each Act[265]
Of the Protasis, Epitasis and Catastrophe[ibid.]
Vossius gives to these an improper Division in the Drama[266]
The Catastrophe ill defined by Scaliger or Evanthius[268]
The Unfolding of the Plot ought to be surprising and yet easy[268]
The preposterous Artifice of some, who in the very
  Title of their Play, discover the Catastrophe of it[268,269]
To these three Parts a fourth (viz. the Catastasis) improperly added[269]
Of Incidents[ibid.]
Intire Scenes not to be added for Ornament sake only[269,270]
Love the usual, but not the best Subject for a Drama[270]
The Chorus of the Antients[271]
Another Place reserv'd for a Comparison between the ancient and modern Dramatic Writers[ibid.]
The last Clause of the Definition consider'd, containing the End of Drama[272]

LECTURE XXIII, &c.
Of Comedy
The Etymology of the Word Comedy[273]
Not very clear, whence this Kind of Poem arose[273,274]
Three Species of Comedy; the Old, the Middle, and the New[275]
Of the Old Comedy[ibid.]
Of the Middle, and the New[277,278]
A Definition of Comedy, such as it ought to be[279]
Division of Comedy into the Moral and Ridiculous[ibid.]
Scaliger's Definition of Comedy[280]
Mirth essential to Comedy[ibid.]
And Happiness in the Conclusion of it[281]
Upon these Heads Scaliger and Vossius inconsistent with themselves[ibid.]
Vossius's Definition of Comedy[ibid.]
Persons and Things of a private Character, suitable to Comedy;
  neither of them ought to be great, or concerned in the State[282]
Nor yet only such as are of low Life[ibid.]
Two sorts of Comedy; the Sublime, and the Low[ibid.]
The Virtues, Vices, and Follies of Mankind,
  the Subject of Comedy; but more especially the Follies[283]
Proved against Mons. Dacier that the Γελοιος, or What is Ridiculous,
  is not the only Subject of Comedy, tho' it is the principal; and that
   Crimes of a more heinous Nature are not to be exposed in it[284]
That not only Joy, but all the Passions are concerned in Comedy[288]
But in a quite different Manner from what they are represented in Tragedy[289]
The Difficulty of writing true Ridicule[290]
Whether Comic Writers may be allow'd to draw the Characters beyond Truth[291]
Of the Prologue and Epilogue[292]
The Chorus, Mimus, and Cantica of the Ancients[ibid.]
That to write Comedy is a difficult Task, notwithstanding it imitates common Life[293]
Of the Diction of Comedy[294]
Of Aristophanes and Menander; Plautus and Terence[ibid.]
A Comparison between the Ancients and the Moderns[296]
Between the French and our own Writers[298]
Whether the English Comedies writ in Prose are properly Poems[298]
Of the French Comedies writ in Rhyme and Heroic Verse[298]
Whence the Pleasure that arises from Comedy[299]
Why more are delighted with Comedy than Tragedy[300]

LECTURE XVI, &c.
Of Tragedy
The Etymology of the Word[301]
Aristotle's Definition proposed and examined[302]
And Vossius's[303]
A third offered made up of both[304]
The several Parts of the Definition[ibid.]
Every thing in Tragedy ought to be great and sublime[ibid.]
Of the Subject of Tragedy[ibid.]
Of the Morals, the Thought and Diction of it[ibid.]
The higher Species of Satire of Affinity with Tragedy[307,308]
The part of Tragedy to teach Virtue, even the most Heroic, no less than to expose Vice[308]
Tragedy form'd for Sublimity[ibid.]
How reconcileable to Nature that Things so elevated and composed with
  so much Art, should be represented to make Part of Common Conversation[308]
What has been said of the Magnificence of this Part of the Drama not
  equally applicable to all Tragedies; since there are two Species
   of it, the one sublime, the other more humble[309]
Another Distinction between Tragedies; and that it is not
  essential to them to end fortunately[310]
Those, whose Catastrophe is unfortunate the more Tragical:
  But such as have a fortunate Conclusion require more Art,
   and afford more Improvement[314]
Which Characters best adapted to move Pity, which Terror, and which both[315]
What species of Tragedy are of all others the most Tragical[316]
Of Dramatic Justice[ibid.]
The End of Tragedy[317]
How Tragedy purges the Passions; and even by putting them in Motion[319,320]
What the Source of Delight which Tragedy
  affords, or of that Pleasure which flows from Melancholy[323-326]
A Comparison between the Ancients and Moderns
  Between the French and our Countrymen[326]

LECTURE XXIX, &c.
Of the Epic or Heroic Poem
The Dignity and Excellence of this Kind of Poem[328]
Little remains now to be said of it; several Circumstances relating to it
  having fallen in with the other Matter I have already discoursed of[329]
What Bossu has done upon this Subject[329]
Definition of an Epic or Heroic Poem[330]
The Parts of this Definition[ibid.]
The Method laid down of this Dissertation[331]
In what Respects Tragedy and Epic differ and agree[331,332]
Of the Action, Place, and Time of the Epic Poem[332,333]
What the Action of the Poem in the strictest
  or most proper Sense, and from whence it commences[333]
The Duration of the Action of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Æneis[ibid.]
Proved against Bossu and Mons. Dacier,
  that an Epic Poem ought not to imitate every Action,
   but only the great Actions of great Personages[334]
Of the Forming a Heroe[336]
The Meaning of Aristotle, who asserts that the Fable in Epic ought to be Dramatical[ibid.]
The Event in an Epic Poem ought always to end fortunately; and for what Reasons[336]
Of the Marvelous[338]
The Mistake of some, who confound the Marvelous with the Improbable[338-340]
Essential to be founded upon History partly true[340]
Of the Machines[341]
Of the Versification of Heroic Poems[ibid.]
A Translation of one Chapter of Bossu explaining the
  Nature and Origin of the Epic Poem[ibid.]
The Difference between the Eloquence of the Ancients and the Moderns[ibid.]
What the first Use of Fables[342]
Why Poetry, in Aristotle's Judgment, is more
  grave and Philosophical than History[343-346]
Epic more suited to the Manners and Habits than the Passions[346]
Yet Epic not without Passion[347]
Especially Joy and Admiration[ibid.]
Of the Ancients and Moderns[348]
Of Homer and Virgil[ibid.]
Of Historical Poems[ibid.]
Of Lucan[349]
Of Silius Italicus[ibid.]
Of Statius[350]
Of Tasso[351]
Of Spencer[ibid.]
Of Milton[ibid.]
Of too servile an Imitation of Homer and Virgil[ibid.]
Some New Subject must be attempted[352]

The Conclusion.
[354]

N. B. The several Passages cited from Virgil are printed in English from Dr. Trapp's Version. The other Poetical Translations without a Name, the Editor is to be accountable for, tho' he wishes he had as good a Title to the Excellence of two or three of them as he has to the Imperfections of the rest.

The Notes added to this English Edition are distinguish'd thus * or thus †; whereas those that were before in the Latin are referr'd to by Letters a, b, c, etc.

ERRATA.

Pag. 3. L. 31.for our World r. their Orbits.
4. L. 3.for this House r. that House.
19. L. antep. for consistent only with r. confined only to.
216. L. 16.dele Countryman.
248. L. 30.for adsunt r. adflent. And L. 32. for ipse r. ipsi.
317. L. 16.dele the