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Article DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. ← Page 3 of 3
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Dissertations On The Polite Arts.
from them : in the same manner eloquence and architecture would deserve the greatest reproach if the design of pleasing appeared strongly in them . It is in these that art blushes if it is discovered . Every thing that is only ornamental is vicious . There are occasions , however , where eloquence and architecture may soar a little . Heroes are to be celebrated , and temples to be built ; and as it is the duly of these two arts to imitate the grandeur
of the object , and to excite the admiration of men , they are permitted to rise some degrees , and to expose all their riches ; but still without wandering from their original end , which is use . We expect beauty upon these occasions , but a beauty at the same time that is strongly connected with utility . What would be thought of a sumptuous edifice which could be of
no use ? The expence compared with the uselessness , would occasion a disagreeable disproportion to those who saw it , and the utmost ridicule to him who built it . If the edifice requires grandeur , majesty , and elegance , it is always in consideration of the master who is to inhabit it . If there is proportion , variety , unity in it , it is to render it more compactmore solidmore commodious : every beauty , to be
, , perfect , ought to have some use ; as , on the contrary , in sculpture , things of use ought to become pleasing and delightful . Eloquence is submitted to the same law . In its greatest liberties it is ahvays fixed to usefulness and truth ; and if sometimes the likely or the agreeable become its object , it never goes far , and onl y
makes use of these liberties because truth has never more credit than when it is pleasant . Tbe orator and historian have nothing to create ; their genius serves them only to discover the real appearance of their object : they have nothing to add , nothing to retrench ; they scarcely dare to transpose ; whilst the poet makes models for himself , without troubling himself -with reality : insomuch that if we were to define poetry by opposing
it to prose or to eloquence , which I here take for the same thing , we should say that poetry is an Imitation of beautiful nature expressed by discourse in measure ; and prose , or eloquence , is nature itself expressed by free discourse . The orator ought to tell the truth in a manner which may make it be believed , with that force and simplicity that persuadeThe poet ought to tell the probable in a manner that
. renders it agreeable , with all the grace and energy that charm and astonish . Nevertheless , as p leasure prepares the heart to persuasion , and as profit flatters mankind , who are not apt to forget their own interest , it follows , that the agreeable and useful ought to unite in poetry and in prose . There are poetical fictions that appear in the simple habit of prose ;
such are romances , & c . We also see subjects that have truth for their objects , drest and adorned with all the charms of poetic harmony : such are the didactic or instructive kinds of poetry . But these instances of poetry and prose are pure in neither kind : they are a mixture of both , to which our definitions have no regard , they are caprices made on purpose to be out of rule . ( To be continued . )
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Dissertations On The Polite Arts.
from them : in the same manner eloquence and architecture would deserve the greatest reproach if the design of pleasing appeared strongly in them . It is in these that art blushes if it is discovered . Every thing that is only ornamental is vicious . There are occasions , however , where eloquence and architecture may soar a little . Heroes are to be celebrated , and temples to be built ; and as it is the duly of these two arts to imitate the grandeur
of the object , and to excite the admiration of men , they are permitted to rise some degrees , and to expose all their riches ; but still without wandering from their original end , which is use . We expect beauty upon these occasions , but a beauty at the same time that is strongly connected with utility . What would be thought of a sumptuous edifice which could be of
no use ? The expence compared with the uselessness , would occasion a disagreeable disproportion to those who saw it , and the utmost ridicule to him who built it . If the edifice requires grandeur , majesty , and elegance , it is always in consideration of the master who is to inhabit it . If there is proportion , variety , unity in it , it is to render it more compactmore solidmore commodious : every beauty , to be
, , perfect , ought to have some use ; as , on the contrary , in sculpture , things of use ought to become pleasing and delightful . Eloquence is submitted to the same law . In its greatest liberties it is ahvays fixed to usefulness and truth ; and if sometimes the likely or the agreeable become its object , it never goes far , and onl y
makes use of these liberties because truth has never more credit than when it is pleasant . Tbe orator and historian have nothing to create ; their genius serves them only to discover the real appearance of their object : they have nothing to add , nothing to retrench ; they scarcely dare to transpose ; whilst the poet makes models for himself , without troubling himself -with reality : insomuch that if we were to define poetry by opposing
it to prose or to eloquence , which I here take for the same thing , we should say that poetry is an Imitation of beautiful nature expressed by discourse in measure ; and prose , or eloquence , is nature itself expressed by free discourse . The orator ought to tell the truth in a manner which may make it be believed , with that force and simplicity that persuadeThe poet ought to tell the probable in a manner that
. renders it agreeable , with all the grace and energy that charm and astonish . Nevertheless , as p leasure prepares the heart to persuasion , and as profit flatters mankind , who are not apt to forget their own interest , it follows , that the agreeable and useful ought to unite in poetry and in prose . There are poetical fictions that appear in the simple habit of prose ;
such are romances , & c . We also see subjects that have truth for their objects , drest and adorned with all the charms of poetic harmony : such are the didactic or instructive kinds of poetry . But these instances of poetry and prose are pure in neither kind : they are a mixture of both , to which our definitions have no regard , they are caprices made on purpose to be out of rule . ( To be continued . )