LECTURE XV.
Of Didactic or Preceptive Poetry.
Human Nature, at the same Time it is desirous of Knowledge, is cautious of confessing its Want of it. The Precepts, therefore, design'd for its Information, must not be obtruded with Moroseness, but insinuated with Mildness; and even its Vanity soothed, to remove its Ignorance. Instructions are the better receiv'd, and sink the deeper upon the Mind, in proportion to the Address with which they are convey'd. There's Sort of Obsequiousness due from the Teacher to the Scholar, and even in this Sense that Maxim of Juvenal holds true:
[258] Maxima debetur puero reverentia.
Hence it is, that Precepts deliver'd in Verse, are imbib'd with so much Pleasure; and are held in so great Esteem, that they constitute one distinct Species of Poetry. Many Rules we have already given, concerning the other Branches of it, and are now come to teach even the Art of Teaching. Upon this Subject I am under little Temptation of rifling the Stores of the Learned: I don't know one that has treated of it, except the ingenious Author of the Essay on Virgil's Georgics, prefix'd to Mr. Dryden's Translation of them. And he, indeed, has so exhausted the Subject, that it is as hard to come after him, as it is after the great Dryden, or his greater Original.
From what has been said, it appears, that Poetry is in its Nature adapted to deliver Precepts of any Kind, which are sure to be learnt with more Ease, and retain'd the more faithfully by the Help of it. Laws, and religious Maxims, were anciently promulged in Verse; and Priests and Poets were the same: And even to this Day it is a prudent Custom to have religious Lessons drawn up in Verse for the Sake of Youth: In this Respect it may more truly be said
[259] —pueris dant crustula blandi Doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima.
Thus Teachers bribe their Boys with Figs and Cake, To mind their Books. Creech.
For by Poetry the very Elements that are taught are soften'd into Allurements. The common Grammar, we see, is Verse; and tho' the Language of it, indeed, is Prose, whatever the Measure be, yet it is a sufficient Proof, that, in the Opinion of the past and present Age, Precepts and Poetry are no ways inconsistent: And it were to be wish'd, that not only Rules of Rhetoric and Logic, but of Philosophy, and all other Sciences, were drawn up in a more entertaining Manner. Not that technical Words, or Terms of Art, as they are call'd, should be excluded; for it is impossible any Science should be without them: But they might be so dress'd up, as to invite, not deter the Pains of the Learner. But these are Observations less material to our Purpose, and I only make them by the Way. I now proceed to observe, that there are four Kinds of Didactic Poems, viz. those that relate to moral Duties; or philosophical Speculations; or the Business or Pleasures of Life; or, lastly, to Poetry itself.