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  • Aug. 1, 1795
  • Page 63
  • DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS.
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Aug. 1, 1795: Page 63

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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 . )

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1795-08-01, Page 63” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 27 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01081795/page/63/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
LONDON: Article 1
TO OUR READERS, CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 2
PRICES OF BINDING PER VOLUME. Article 2
Untitled Article 3
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, OR GENERAL AND COMPLETE LIBRARY . Article 4
ON THE PRESENT STATE OF FREEMASONRY. Article 7
HISTORY OF MASONRY. Article 10
CHARACTER OF BERNARD GILPIN, Article 14
THE KHALIF AND HIS VISIER, AN ORIENTAL APOLOGUE. Article 18
ANECDOTES OF HENRI DUC DE MONTMORENCI. Article 20
EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCES OF GRATITUDE. Article 24
EXTRACTS FROM A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT, CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD OF HENRY VIII. Article 25
BON MOT. Article 27
THE STAGE. Article 28
CHARACTER OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH. Article 29
A THIEF RESCUED BY AN ELEPHANT. AN AUTHENTIC ANECDOTE. Article 31
ANECDOTES OF THE LIFE OF THEODORE, KING OF CORSICA*. Article 32
ORIGIN OF ST. JAMES'S PALACE. Article 33
THE UNION OF LOVE TO GOD AND LOVE TO MAN, A SERMON, Preached in St. Andrew's Church, New Town, Edinburgh, Article 34
ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY NATURAL GENIUS, Article 42
PHYSIOGNOMICAL SKETCHES. Article 47
CURIOUS METHOD OF PROTECTING CORN. Article 50
ON COMPASSION. Article 50
ON MODESTY, AS A MASCULINE VIRTUE. Article 53
SOME ACCOUNT OF BOTANY BAY, Article 55
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE . Article 56
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE. Article 58
ON POVERTY. Article 60
DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. Article 61
POETRY. Article 64
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, A SKETCH. Article 67
TO INDUSTRY. Article 67
WRITTEN IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER, Article 68
PORTRAIT OF AN HYPOCRITE. Article 68
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 69
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 69
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Page 63

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 . )

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