There is no greater Vice in Historians, than poor and common Reflections. The Poverty of the Archdeacon's appears in the After Wit, which makes a good Part of them; and the Vulgarisms, which will be further explain'd as Occasions often.
Indeed we do not enough acquaint ourselves in England, with what Father Bouhours calls the Manner of Right Thinking, in his Treatise before mentioned; which Fontenelle recommends as one of the most agreeable and useful Books in the French Tongue: We have nothing like it in English, or in any other Language antient or modern, Wit and Humour, Wit and good Sense, Wit and Wisdom, Wit and Reason, Wit and Craft; nay, Wit and Philosophy, are with us almost the same things. How often have I heard it said, there is a great Deal of Wit in Homer, a great Deal of Humour in Virgil. We take all Thoughts in the Gross; the Sublime, the Grand, the Noble, the Pretty, the Agreeable, the Fine, the Delicate, are all alike witty with us; and the Vulgar are ignorant of all other Distinction, but that of a Jest and a Bull. Sir Samuel Garth, who was extreamly fond of Father Bouhours's Treatise, did often wish that it was translated, and the Examples the French Critick takes from Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and French Authors, not to be turned into English, but English Examples to be put instead of them. I am satisfied nothing would be of more Advantage towards the Refinement of our Manner, both of Thinking and Writing. I know the Undertaking would be very difficult, and the greatest Part of the Difficulty be to preserve the Spirit and Turn of Thought in the English Examples, to make it answer Father Bouhours's Remarks. Who is there, that does not take a sublime Thought, a noble Thought, a grand Thought, to be synonymous Terms, though they differ from one another, almost as much as from the Agreeable and the Delicate. I am my self afraid to attempt any Thing like Examples of Kinds, and probably my Conceptions of them may be wrong; what they are I shall offer them to the Reader, with the Caution and Submission which becomes me in a Matter so intricate and nice.
The first Example of the Sublime is so well known, that if there was any other so good in any other Author, I should not have made use of it. It is in the 7th Chapter of Longinus. We will not borrow it from Boileau, because we are forbidden by the Spectator to make Use of a Quotation which has been made Use of before. Dr. Gregory, in the Preface to his Works, printed about sixty Years ago, at what Time Boileau had not thought of translating Longinus, writes thus: Dionysius Longinus, one that knew what belonged to Expression; having first of all cast a Scorn upon his Homer. The Translator does not dwell much upon this, says Τῶν Ιουδαιων θεσμοθέτης that the Law-givers of the Jews, Ὀυχ ὁ τυχὼν ἀνὴρ, no ordinary Man, was in the Right when he brought in his God, saying, Γενέσθω φῶς, καὶ ἐγενετο
Let there be Light,
And there was Light.
But least it may be said, the Spectator has entered a Caveat against my using any Quotation, which he or any one else had used, I shall add another Instance of the Sublime taken out of the same divine Book the Bible, that has not been blown upon:
He spake,
And it was:
He commanded,
And it stood firm.
The whole Psalm xxxiiid is full of the Sublime:
By the Word of the Lord were the Mountains made,
And all the Host of them by the Breath of his Mouth.
What in all profane Learning comes up to the Sublime in the xxxviiith Chapter of Job, where the Almighty is introduced speaking to him out of the Whirlwind:
Gird up thy Loins like a Man, for I will demand of thee.
Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth?
Declare, If thou hast Understanding.
Who laid the Measures thereof?
Who hath stretched the Line upon it?
Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastened? or,
Who laid the Corner Stone?
When the Morning Stars sang, and the Sons of God shouted for Joy!