Volume Iii Part 1 (1/2)
THE SPECTATOR.
VOL. III.
No. 417. Sat.u.r.day, June 28, 1712. Addison.
'Quem tu Melpomene semel Nascentem placido lumine videris, Non illum labor Isthmius Clarabit pugilem, non equus impiger, &c.
Sed quae Tibur aquae fertile perfluunt, Et Sp.i.s.sae nemorum comae Fingent aeolio carmine n.o.bilem.'
Hor.
We may observe, that any single Circ.u.mstance of what we have formerly seen often raises up a whole Scene of Imagery, and awakens [numberless [1]] Ideas that before slept in the Imagination; such a particular Smell or Colour is able to fill the Mind, on a sudden, with the Picture of the Fields or Gardens, where we first met with it, and to bring up into View all the Variety of Images that once attended it. Our Imagination takes the Hint, and leads us unexpectedly into Cities or Theatres, Plains or Meadows. We may further observe, when the Fancy thus reflects on the Scenes that have past in it formerly, those which were at first pleasant to behold, appear more so upon Reflection, and that the Memory heightens the Delightfulness of the Original. A _Cartesian_ would account for both these Instances in the following Manner.
The Sett of Ideas, which we received from such a Prospect or Garden, having entered the Mind at the same time, have a Sett of Traces belonging to them in the Brain, bordering very near upon one another; when, therefore, any one of these Ideas arises in the Imagination, and consequently dispatches a flow of Animal Spirits to its proper Trace, these Spirits, in the Violence of their Motion, run not only into the Trace, to which they were more particularly directed, but into several of those that lie about it: By this means they awaken other Ideas of the same Sett, which immediately determine a new Dispatch of Spirits, that in the same manner open other Neighbouring Traces, till at last the whole Sett of them is blown up, and the whole Prospect or Garden flourishes in the Imagination. But because the Pleasure we received from these Places far surmounted, and overcame the little Disagreeableness we found in them; for this Reason there was at first a wider Pa.s.sage worn in the Pleasure Traces, and, on the contrary, so narrow a one in those which belonged to the disagreeable Ideas, that they were quickly stopt up, and rendered incapable of receiving any Animal Spirits, and consequently of exciting any unpleasant Ideas in the Memory.
It would be in vain to enquire, whether the Power of Imagining Things strongly proceeds from any greater Perfection in the Soul, or from any nicer Texture in the Brain of one Man than of another. But this is certain, that a n.o.ble Writer should be born with this Faculty in its full Strength and Vigour, so as to be able to receive lively Ideas from outward Objects, to retain them long, and to range them together, upon Occasion, in such Figures and Representations as are most likely to hit the Fancy of the Reader. A Poet should take as much Pains in forming his Imagination, as a Philosopher in cultivating his Understanding. He must gain a due Relish of the Works of Nature, and be thoroughly conversant in the various Scenary of a Country Life.
When he is stored with Country Images, if he would go beyond Pastoral, and the lower kinds of Poetry, he ought to acquaint himself with the Pomp and Magnificence of Courts. He should be very well versed in every thing that is n.o.ble and stately in the Productions of Art, whether it appear in Painting or Statuary, in the great Works of Architecture which are in their present Glory, or in the Ruins of those [which [2]]
flourished in former Ages.
Such Advantages as these help to open a Man's Thoughts, and to enlarge his Imagination, and will therefore have their Influence on all kinds of Writing, if the Author knows how to make right use of them. And among those of the learned Languages who excel in this Talent, the most perfect in their several kinds, are perhaps _Homer_, _Virgil_, and _Ovid_. The first strikes the Imagination wonderfully with what is Great, the second with what is Beautiful, and the last with what is Strange. Reading the _Iliad_ is like travelling through a Country uninhabited, where the Fancy is entertained with a thousand Savage Prospects of vast Desarts, wide uncultivated Marshes, huge Forests, mis-shapen Rocks and Precipices. On the contrary, the _aeneid_ is like a well ordered Garden, where it is impossible to find out any Part unadorned, or to cast our Eyes upon a single Spot, that does not produce some beautiful Plant or Flower. But when we are in the _Metamorphoses_, we are walking on enchanted Ground, and see nothing but Scenes of Magick lying round us.
_Homer_ is in his Province, when he is describing a Battel or a Mult.i.tude, a Heroe or a G.o.d. _Virgil_ is never better pleased, than when he is in his _Elysium_, or copying out an entertaining Picture.
_Homer's_ Epithets generally mark out what is Great, _Virgil's_ what is Agreeable. Nothing can be more Magnificent than the Figure _Jupiter_ makes in the first _Iliad_, no more Charming than that of Venus in the first _aeneid_.
[Greek: Ae, ka kyaneaesin ep' ophrysi neuse Kronion, Ambrosiai d' ara chaitai eperrhosanto anaktos Krats ap' athanatoio megan d' elelixen olympos.]
Dixit et avertens rosea cervice refulsit: Ambrosiaeque comae; divinum vertice odorem Spiravere: Pedes vestis defluxit ad imos: Et vera incessu patuit Dea--
_Homer's_ Persons are most of them G.o.d-like and Terrible; _Virgil_ has scarce admitted any into his Poem, who are not Beautiful, and has taken particular Care to make his Heroe so.
--lumenque juventae Purpureum, et laetos oculis afflavit honores.