An Essay on Criticism

by Mr. Oldmixon

Discord, dire Sister of the slaughtering Pow'r,
Small at her Birth, but rising ev'ry Hour;
While scarce the Skies her horrid Head can bound,
She stalks on Earth, and shapes the World around:
The Nations bleed, where e'er her Steps she turns,
The Groan still deepens, and the Combat burns.

I refer to the Judgement of the Reader, whether the following Image of Discord taken from a modern burlesque Poem, has not more of the Epick in it:

Non tulit invisæ speciem Discordia Pacis,
Ilicet horrentes ad fibila concitat hydros,
Ulcisci jubet Ira nefas. Spumantia felle
Ora tument, micat ex oculis ardentibus Ignis.

Discord enrag'd at the Approach of Peace
Made her Snakes hiss, and urg'd to dire Revenge.
Her foaming Mouth of horrid Poison full,
From her red Eyes she darted Flakes of Fire.

The new invented Words made use of by the Translator of Homer are well enough chosen, and well warranted by the Practice of the greatest Poets, such as Moveless, Instarr'd, Inurn'd, Conglobe, Deathful, Fountful, Lengthful:

But if you write of Things abstruse and new,
Words of your own inventing may be us'd.
Roscom.

I have mention'd some of the Helps which were prepared for the Translator of the Ilias. But Dr. Felton informs us, Dr. Busby would not allow of Notes; a very curious Remark That. It is not impossible, but Dr. Busby himself might have read and taught Homer 50 Years as a Grammarian, without understanding him as a Poet. A Portion of that Genius which inspir'd the Author is requisite for the Reader to see all the Beauties that are in a Poem. I believe the Lord Roscommon's Judgement will be preferred to that of both those Doctors:

Search every Comment that your Care can find,
Some here, some there, may hit the Poet's Mind.

If the Translator of Homer search'd every Comment, his Labour was more than Herculean. I own my self extreamly edify'd by what he says of Antiquaries; applying a Saying of my Lord Bacon's to them: In General they write for Ostentation not for Instruction, and their Works are perpetual Repetitions. The Reason is plain, they have no Fund of their own, they must therefore borrow from those that have. It is necessary there should be such Men, but the Dryness and Barrenness of their Studies are inconsistent with a lively Fancy and a good Taste; and I know not which of the Antiquaries deserve most to be rever'd by us, those that would restore lost Words, Letters, and Points, or those that would recover lost Fable or History. To know exactly where Brute built his Palace Royal, where Bladud set up his Laboratory would be something; as also to prove, that Cassibelan liv'd where my Lord Essex now does at Cashiobury; or that Constantine the Great was a Yorkshire Man; which Things have been attempted, would be as much to the Glory of the Students in Antiquity, as to find out a lost Comma, or restore a Letter to a Word that was robb'd of it 1500 Years ago. But as for our Monkish Antiquaries, and the Monastick Learning, it seems to be reserv'd for the Improvement of those, whose Minds, like barren Soils, will never bear without dunging. They are always turning up the Ruins of old Convents, and hope like the Cock to find a Jewel in the Dunghill. They dig for holy Water-Pots and Crucifixes, as greedily as the modern Romans dig for Medals, Images, and Urns. To know whether such an Abbey was founded in the Papacy of Pope Joan or Pope Boniface, in what Dormitory such a Monk slept, and in what Penitentiary such a Nun was disciplined, must needs be very edifying. But most of all the Deciding of historical Debates by old Charters, which, with a little curious Examination, will be found to be forged ones. Many of this Kind are printed by Dugdale, as I shall have Occasion to remark elsewhere. If these Antiquaries could fix the same Authority on Monkish Writings, as we are told of Homer's, that the Claims of two Cities to certain Limits, were determined by what he said of them in his Ilias, it would be worth every one's while to read the Monks instead of the Classicks; And I doubt not Dr. Felton would have succeeded better if he had given us Instruction in the Monkish Learning, than he has done in the Classical. But since their Writings prove nothing but their Ignorance and Superstition, I believe Men of Taste and Genius will be so generous as to leave such hidden Treasures to enrich those, whose Invention and Judgement lie under the Calamity of the most extream Poverty. There is nothing but Labour and Patience requisite to acquire a Mastery in these Studies, whether the Matter collected be good or bad, 'tis the same Thing if it be Old, if it be Teutonick or Runick, Danish or Saxon, that's sufficient. A Man who has any Warmth in his Imagination, and any Delicacy in his Taste, cannot be always raking in the Rubbish of barbarous Ages, and groping in Gothick Darkness. A good Proof of the small Talent necessary for this Work is, that there hardly ever was an Author among these Monkish Antiquaries, but his Language was as barbarous as his Subject. Such Sort of Scholarship is, I own, very serviceable to those that know how to make a good Use of others Labours; but the Merit of the Scholar consists rather in the Goodness of his Eyes, and the Strength of his Head, than in the Fineness of his Genius, or the Regularity of his Judgement. I am apt to think the Translator of Homer had not the Admirers of these Antiquities in his Thoughts, but refer'd to the Criticks and Commentators on the Greek and Roman Authors: For he says, in another Place, To talk of the Genius of an Ancient, as Macrobius did, is at once the cheapest Way of shewing our own Taste, and the shortest Way of criticising the Wit of others. This must be only meant of those whom Mr. Dryden calls Dutch Commentators, of those that do by the Classicks, as Correctors of the Press do by their Copies, and instead of applying themselves to the Sense stick close to the Letters, and look out for Dele's and Addenda's. This they call correcting and restoring the Text; and it is much to be fear'd, that by this restoring and correcting of the Commentators, and the Mistakes, Blunders and Negligences of the Copiers, we have few or no Books of the Antients in their original Purity and Perfection. However, there is Perfection enough left in the Classical Writings to prove, That what the Translator of Homer says, does not relate to the Classicks themselves, but to those that make an ill Use of them, and under their Name and Authority insult the Moderns. The Lord Bacon says somewhere, that what we call the Antiquity was the Youth of the World, and that we are properly the Antients as the Inhabitants of an older World, and having made infinite Improvements in all the most useful Parts of Learning.

I dare not say, there is a Quibble in the Expression of so illustrious a Writer, but I must always take the Authors that wrote 1500 or 2000 Years ago to be the Antients; and one may very well Question, whether there was not as much useful Learning lost in twelve or thirteen Centuries of Barbarism and Ignorance, as has been discover'd, or rather recovered in two or three of the last Ages.