[134] ——Sapere aude, Incipe.
Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise. Cowley.
And Virgil:
[135] Ostendent terris hunc tantum Fata, neque ultra Esse sinent.
Him the Fates shall shew To Earth, and only shew him; nor shall there Permit his longer Stay.
In which, and many other Places, the Words are without Ornament, but the Thought sublime. Thus Beauty sometimes appears the most amiable in its native Charms, and unaffected Neatness: Thus Majesty has been seen to beam forth the strongest when all the Ensigns of it have been laid aside, and it stood supported by its own Strength. Words, then, are to the Thought, what Cloaths are to the Body; what I have to say farther upon this Head, shall be illustrated by this Comparison.
On the other Hand, there are many sublime and beautiful Thoughts that require Words of the same Nature; they appear pitiful without them, and fall short of their proper Dignity. Witness those Instances we have produced from Ovid of the creeping Style, and many more might be produced. Thus frequently, I may say generally, rich Attire, and costly Ornaments, add to the Beauty even of the most beautiful; and Kings who appear by Nature formed for Majesty, display it usually to most Advantage, when deck'd with the Imperial Purple.
But tho' the Thoughts may be beautiful or sublime, while the Words that express them are plain and simple; yet the Rule will not hold inverted: Words can have neither Beauty, nor Sublimity, unless the Thoughts have both. I mean true Beauty, and true Sublimity; because if these are wanting in the Thought, that Sparkling which appears in the Diction, is only a false Light; as fine Cloaths are no longer fine when bestowed upon some dishonest Form; they are far from being an elegant Dress, when they ill become the Wearer. And if the Thought, in this Case, is not sublime, all the Magnificence of Diction is ridiculous Affectation, and mere Bombast. Only one Kind of Poem ought to be excepted; which tho' it has no Latin Name, is well enough known in all the modern Languages of Europe: The Doggrel Kind I mean; which abounds much in an ingenious Liberty of Jesting, and dressing up little Things in pompous Words. But in all serious Writing, this Rule holds universally.
But tho' beautiful Expressions cannot make the Thought beautiful, yet they strongly recommend its Beauty, and even improve it; as Dress and Ornament cannot create a Face, yet they may assist its Charms, and add to those that Nature has bestow'd upon it. In Proof of this, I might produce innumerable Examples that are to be met with every where in the Writings of the best Poets. When Virgil had excellently described the broken and shattered Condition of Sergestus's Ship, which we mention'd above, it was undoubtedly a beautiful Thought to compare it working along with one Bank of Oars, to the labour'd Motion of a wounded Serpent. But how does the Poet heighten the Beauty of the Comparison in the following Manner of describing it?
[136] Qualis sæpe viæ deprensus in aggere serpens, Ærea quem obliquum rota transiit, aut gravis ictu Seminecem liquit, saxo lacerumque, viator: Nequicquam longos fugiens dat corpore tortus; Parte ferox, ardensque oculis, & sibila colla Arduus attollens; pars vulnere clauda retentat Nexantem nodos, seque in sua membra plicantem.