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Article DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. ← Page 5 of 6 →
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Dissertations On The Polite Arts.
eloquent in verse is of all arts the most difficult and uncommon . We shall see a thousand geniuses that are able to lay out a work , and to versify it in a middling manner , but to treat it like a true Poet is a talent bestowed hardly on any besides Homer , Virgil , and Pope . Look into Homer or Virgil , and you will almost every where find a musical expression of most objects . Virgil never misses it : we see it stronglin himeven whenwe cannot easily tell in what it con-,
y , , sists . Sometimes it is so sensible as to strike the least attentive ears : Continuo ventis surgentibus , aut freta , ponti Incipiunt agitata tumescere , & aridus altis Montibusaudiri fragor : aut resonantia longs Littora mi . ceri , & Jiemorum increbescere murmur . And in the jEneid , speaking of the feeble dart flung by old Priam :
Sic fatus senior , telumque imbelle sine ictu Conjeeit : rauco quod protinus tere repulsum , Etsummo clypei nequicquam umbone pependit . I cannot omit this example taken from Horace :
Qua pinus ingens , albaque populus Umbram hospitalem consociare amartt Ramis ; & obliquo laborat Lympha fugax trepidare rivo . There are some people to whom nature has refused the pleasure of nice ears : it is not for such that these remarks are made . One miht
g quote to them the authority of those Greeks and Latins , who have entered into the greatest discussions with regard to the harmony of language ; I shall content myself with producing only those of Vida and Pope ; and the rather , because they have at the same time given the precept with the example .
Haud satis est illis ( pc-cth ) utcumque claudere versum , Etres verborum propria vi reddere claras . Omnia sednumeris vocum concordibus aptant ; Atque sono quaecunque canunt imitanfur , & apta . Verborum facie , & quaesito carminisore . Nam diversa opus est veluti dare versibus ora Diversosque habitus : ne qualis primus & alter ,. Talis & hide alter vultuque incediteodem .
Hie meliormotuque pedum & pernieibus alis , Molleviam tacifo lapsu per levia radii . We autem membris ae mole ignavius ingens Incedit tardo molimine 6 usidendo . Eccealiquis subitegregio pulcherrimusore , Cui fetum membris Venus omnibus affl-tf honorem ; Contra alius rudis informes-ostendit & artus , Hirsutumque supercilium , ac caudam sinuosam ,.
Ingratus visu sonitu illsetabilis ipso : Nee vero ha . sine lege . data ., sine mettte figura _ Sed facies sua pro meritis , habitusque sonusque ;• Cunctis cuiquesuus vocum diserimine eerto . 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence , The sound must seem an echo to the sense . Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows , Aild She smet / th ilteeun ra smmlhir numbers flows j
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Dissertations On The Polite Arts.
eloquent in verse is of all arts the most difficult and uncommon . We shall see a thousand geniuses that are able to lay out a work , and to versify it in a middling manner , but to treat it like a true Poet is a talent bestowed hardly on any besides Homer , Virgil , and Pope . Look into Homer or Virgil , and you will almost every where find a musical expression of most objects . Virgil never misses it : we see it stronglin himeven whenwe cannot easily tell in what it con-,
y , , sists . Sometimes it is so sensible as to strike the least attentive ears : Continuo ventis surgentibus , aut freta , ponti Incipiunt agitata tumescere , & aridus altis Montibusaudiri fragor : aut resonantia longs Littora mi . ceri , & Jiemorum increbescere murmur . And in the jEneid , speaking of the feeble dart flung by old Priam :
Sic fatus senior , telumque imbelle sine ictu Conjeeit : rauco quod protinus tere repulsum , Etsummo clypei nequicquam umbone pependit . I cannot omit this example taken from Horace :
Qua pinus ingens , albaque populus Umbram hospitalem consociare amartt Ramis ; & obliquo laborat Lympha fugax trepidare rivo . There are some people to whom nature has refused the pleasure of nice ears : it is not for such that these remarks are made . One miht
g quote to them the authority of those Greeks and Latins , who have entered into the greatest discussions with regard to the harmony of language ; I shall content myself with producing only those of Vida and Pope ; and the rather , because they have at the same time given the precept with the example .
Haud satis est illis ( pc-cth ) utcumque claudere versum , Etres verborum propria vi reddere claras . Omnia sednumeris vocum concordibus aptant ; Atque sono quaecunque canunt imitanfur , & apta . Verborum facie , & quaesito carminisore . Nam diversa opus est veluti dare versibus ora Diversosque habitus : ne qualis primus & alter ,. Talis & hide alter vultuque incediteodem .
Hie meliormotuque pedum & pernieibus alis , Molleviam tacifo lapsu per levia radii . We autem membris ae mole ignavius ingens Incedit tardo molimine 6 usidendo . Eccealiquis subitegregio pulcherrimusore , Cui fetum membris Venus omnibus affl-tf honorem ; Contra alius rudis informes-ostendit & artus , Hirsutumque supercilium , ac caudam sinuosam ,.
Ingratus visu sonitu illsetabilis ipso : Nee vero ha . sine lege . data ., sine mettte figura _ Sed facies sua pro meritis , habitusque sonusque ;• Cunctis cuiquesuus vocum diserimine eerto . 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence , The sound must seem an echo to the sense . Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows , Aild She smet / th ilteeun ra smmlhir numbers flows j