When I first engag'd in this new Province, I thought to have treated largely, and in a set Dissertation, on poetic Licence. But I now think that Design superfluous, having spoke so largely of it, when I treated of the Diction and Thought of Poetry, and of the Elegance and Sublimity of each. I then observ'd, that tho' Poets have a Method of Writing peculiar to themselves, and are allow'd many Liberties in it, from which other Writers are debarr'd; yet that they are indulg'd in nothing but what is built upon the Foundation of Truth, and solid Reason: Agreeably to that of Horace,
[214] ——Pictoribus, atque Poetis, Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas. Scimus, & hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim: Sed non ut placidis cocant immitia, non ut Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni.
Painters and Poets have been still allow'd Their Pencils and their Fancies unconfin'd. This Privilege we freely give and take: But Nature, and the common Laws of Sense, Forbid to reconcile Antipathies, Or make a Snake engender with a Dove, And hungry Tygers court the tender Lambs. Roscom.
Nothing now remains, but to entreat you Gentlemen, that make up my Audience, candidly to accept these mean Attempts of mine upon so difficult a Subject.
LECTURE XII.
Of Epigram, and other lighter Species of Poetry.
Designing to treat of the several Species of Poetry, I thought proper to begin with the lowest, and so gradually proceed to others of a higher Kind, till at last I come to the Epic or Heroic Poem.
Epigram shall be the chief Subject of this Discourse. But as there are other small Poems, which will scarce deserve a distinct one, I shall here make such Observations upon them as may be necessary.
The Account we have of Epigram, both of the Name and Thing, is this: It was usual, it seems, among the Ancients, to cut short Inscriptions under the Statues of their Gods, which they call'd επιγραφαι, and επιγραμματα. These Inscriptions serv'd as Lemmata, or Subjects for little poetical Conceits, which were afterwards themselves term'd Epigrams. That upon the Statue of Venus made by Praxiteles, is well known.