Part 9 (2/2)
_Thus one Fool lolls his Tongue out at another, And shakes his empty Noddle at his Brother._
It was not so when Judgement and Wit were something more than Pretence only, when they were in the Heighth of Excellence, under the Patronage of _Augustus_. My Lord _Roscommon_, in his Preface to _Horace_'s Art of Poetry writes thus: _I am below the Envy of the Criticks, but if I durst, I would beg them to remember, that_ Horace _ow'd his Favour and his Fortune to the Character given of him by_ Virgil _and_ Varius; _that_ Fundanius _and_ Pollio _are still valued by what_ Horace _say of them, and that in that Golden Age there was a good Understanding among the Ingenious; and those who were the most esteem'd were the best natur'd._ _Dryden_ has made the same Observation: _Certainly, the Poets of_ Ovid_'s Age enjoy'd much Happiness in the Conversation and Friends.h.i.+p of one another._ _The antient Criticks_, says the _Spectator_, _are full of the Praises of their Contemporaries. They discover Beauties which escap'd the Observation of the Vulgar, and very often find out Reasons for palliating and excusing such Slips and Oversights, as were committed in the Writings of eminent Authors._ Mr.
_Addison_ has imitated them in his Remarks upon _Milton_'s _Paradice Lost_; but it must be allowed that the Task was made very easy, and the Beauties s.h.i.+ne so brightly, that there's no taking one's Eye off of them. It has also been wish'd, that the two or three Slips in Expression which he quotes out of _Milton_ had been excused, as they might have been by observing, that if there's a Pun in the _Paradice Lost_, 'tis the Devil that makes it.
One of the surest Signs, that the Wits of the past and present Age, _English_ and _French_, are not of the Size of those of the Age of _Augustus_, is their Jealousies and Broils. The _Spectator_ has this Remark, N 409; _I cannot think, that_ Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau, La Fontaine, Bruyere, Bossu, _or the_ Dacier_'s, would have written so well as they did, had they not been Friends and Contemporaries._ 'Tis said very much in Favour of good Nature, and therefore is very agreeable: But I Question, whether Emulation, and sometimes even Resentment, may not produce very good Effects in the Works of the Ingenious. _Facit Indignatio versus._ _G.o.deau_, _Vaugelas_, _Malherbe_, were Men of great Merit; and so were also, _Maynard_, _La Mothe Le Vayer_, and _Costar_; yet they wrote against one another with some Acrimony.
'Tis Envy and Spleen, that produce a Set of Writers in _England_, call'd _Answerers_, whose Modesty may be conceived by some of their t.i.tles, _The best Answer that ever was._ Part 1st. _The best Answer that ever was._ Part the 2d. _A better Answer_ than the _best Answer_. The _Unanswerable Answer_, by _Lesley_ and others. You can't publish a _Pamphlet_ or _Essay_, but it is immediately snapt at to be answer'd: Nay, Dr. _Halley_'s Calculation of the Eclipse in a Half-sheet had two or three _political_ Answers.
The Itch of Answering is so great, that some Authors have taken it in Dudgeon, not to have been thought worthy of an Answer; and to prevent such Disgrace a second Time, have written on Purpose that they might answer themselves. I have heard, that the learned and ingenious _Robinson Crusoe_ is in the Number of these.
How can it be expected, that Men of Pa.s.sions, worldly Minds, and Lay-men should escape this Infection, when the Fathers themselves in the first Ages of the _Church_, could not help writing against one another, with as much Sharpness as any modern Writers. St. _Jerom_, in Particular, is charg'd with this Weakness, in his Writings against _Lactantius_, St.
_Ambrose_, St. _Hilary_, _Didymus_. 'Tis said, that _he spar'd neither Antients nor Moderns_; no not the inspir'd Elders that translated the Septuagint: Himself having translated the Bible into _Latin_, and he seem'd to be as fond of his Works as are other Translators.
Our Neighbours, the _French_, have not been altogether free from this Humour of _Answering_, or rather writing against one another; as will appear by the following List of a dozen Authors of a Side; most of them of the _French_ Academy; and I might name as many more of equal Rank:
_Balzac_, } {_Pere Goulu_, _Theophile_.
_G.o.deau_, } {_Maynard_, _Vava.s.seur_.
_Vaugelas_, } {_La Mothe Le Vayer_.
_Chapelain_, } {_Boileau_, _Ligniere_.
_Ablancourt_,} {_Marole_.
_Menage_, } Written against {_Pere Bouhours_.
_Costar_, } by {_Girac_.
_Malherbe_, } {_Costar_.
_Voiture_, } {_Richelet_.
_Bossu_, } {_Perrault_.
_Corneille_, } {_Dacier_.
_Richelet_, } {_Furetiere_.
As the most delicate Praise is that which has the _Face_ of Satyr, so the most delicate Satyr is that which has the Face of Praise. Of the latter Kind are the Verses to the honourable _Edward Howard_ on his _incomparable_ and _incomprehensible_ Play. Those Verses were written by the Duke of _Buckingham_, the Lord _Dorset_, Mr. _Waller_, and others.
Of the former Kind are several of _Voiture_'s Letters to the Prince of _Conde_, and _Boileau_'s to the Duke _de Vivonne_ in Imitation of them.
Indeed we must allow, that the _French_ do understand the _Belle Raillerie_ better than we do, at least for the Generality, there being some Authors in _English_, that have succeeded in fine Raillery as well as the _French_. Thus did Archbishop _Tillotson_ treat _Sergeant_ the _Popish_ Priest: Thus Bishop _Sprat_ handled _Sorbiere_; and Dr.
_Burnet_ of the Charter-house treated one _Warren_ who had attack'd his _Theory_. If our Answerers could write as they did, they would both divert and instruct us. But we have already explained what they mean by Raillery. They know not how to parry like good Fencers, and therefore knock down like Cudgel Players.
The last Word puts me in Mind of a lower Order of Criticks, which are rarely heard of within the Sound of _Bow-Bell_; and these are your _Etymologists_ and your _Orthographists_, who turn to _Rider_ or _Holy Oak_ for the Derivation of Words, and have the learned _Garretson_ and other Helps for Spelling: But I know not whether this Essay may travel far enough into the Country to be of any Use; and besides, I have not converst enough with those Criticks that deal in Words and Letters only, to be Master of the Subject, which is generally learn'd by such as make a Penny of it in Conversation by laying Wagers, the Power and Test of all rural Argument.
I must own the _Etymologists_ are by much the greater Men of the Two than the _Orthographists_. I do affirm this, not only because it is necessary to know the Roots of Languages, but because it is a greater Mark of Scholars.h.i.+p, and has the Sanction of the most learned Universities. The profoundest of our own Antiquaries have, in Favour of the University of _Oxford_, found out an Etymology, that may match with the famous One of _Diaper Napkin_: From whence comes King _Pepin_.
Bishop _Stillingfleet_ informs us, that the Champions for the Antiquity of _Oxford_ say, that the old Name is _British_, and it is read somewhere _Iren_ which should be read _Icen_, and that again _Ychen_, and that _Rydychen_, and _Rydychen_ in the _British_ Tongue is _Vadum Boum_ in _Latin_, and that in _English_, _Oxenford_, _Oxford_, and _Oxon._ Such wonderful Discoveries are made by the venerable Antiquaries. _Iren_ runs the Gauntlet through three Languages _Irish_, _Welsh_, and _Latin_, before it drops into _English_, but considering there is more _Greek_ in the _Welsh_ Tongue than there is _Latin_, it may make Work for great Scholars, to shew their Scholars.h.i.+p in settling the Matter as it should be with a Salvo for the Rights of the University of _Cambridge_.
The Learned in _France_ have an Etymology almost as good as that of _Oxford_ from _Iren_, which is the Word _Cemetiere_ a Church-yard; They derive it from the _Latin_ Word _c.u.m_ with, and _mittere_ to put, as much as to say the dead Bodies are put together in one burying Place.
Thus the Boxes at the _Opera_ are a _Cemetiere_ or Church-yard, because the Ladies and Gentlemen are put with one another there, and thus by Virtue of the same Etymology, the Place where People are born and where they are bury'd are all one, from _c.u.m_ with, and _Mittere_ to put, as I have heard, that the same Word serves for Life and Death in one of the oriental Languages.
As to _Orthography_, the only Pa.s.sage I have read in a polite Author concerning it is that of _Boileau_, who taxes _Perrault_ with false Spelling, by putting an _s_ in one Word, and leaving out an _s_ in another. By putting an _s_ into the Word _Contemples_, it lost the Imperative Mood which is _Contemple_; and by leaving out an _s_ in the Word _Casuiste_, written _Casuite_, it became no Word at all. When Moods and Tenses, Numbers and Cases, Substantives and Adjectives, suffer by _Orthography_, the curious Country-man has reason to cry out, otherwise the Printer may be answerable for the Spelling.
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