No. 13. Che 'l cadavero pur non refta a i morti. Canto XX. Stanza 46. No. 14. Vestirebbe mai forse i membri fui Di quel diafpro, ond' ei l'alma ha fi dura? SUCH is the lift of all the paffages in the THE reft of his ftyle, to the vast amount of about Sixteen Thousand lines, is fo well fuftained, and rifes frequently to fuch exquifite beauty, as almost to confute the opinion of Longinus, above adduced, with regard to the neceffity of great excellencies being accompa nied with equal blemishes. His compofition taken on the whole is moft-majestically grave; and of itself sufficiently arraigns its accufers of calumny and falfehood. Mere conceits and tinfel may be found in Guarini; but they who look for them in Taffo, must bring them along with them, elfe they will not find them. IT is rifible to obferve Boileau the first to cry out thief! with regard to Taffo, when the only time he ever attempted poetry, (for his fatires fatires and epiftles, his Imitations as he ought to have called them, are only profe lace put in ftarch) I mean in his Ode fur la prise de Namur, he has written fuch pitiful tinfel as any Italian schoolboy would have blushed at being even fufpected of. AT the fame time let the apology of temporary influence, which hath power over the greatest writers, be made for Addison, himself a profe writer of the first rank; for, in his age, French criticism was quite the vogue, as I am affraid it is too much till this day. As we now lead the French fashions in drefs, let us attempt to lead them in literature. To attempt is to fucceed. LETTER XLIX. N the courfe of our correfpondence, I believe more than one occafion hath arifen of placing the critical abilities of Mr. Addison in no high estimation. But as perhaps ftronger proofs may be required in the most innocent attack upon the flighteft talents of a writer fo defervedly eminent, I fhall, if you please, in this Letter produce these stronger proofs. There is another reason which induces me to this difagreeable tafk, and it is, that the most minute failings of fuch an author deferve animadverfion, for the rocks that have injured a veffel of fuch fupreme rate, would doubtless, if not avoided with caution, prove of immediate fatality to critical adventurers of fmall fize. THE only writings of Mr. Addifon, worthy to be confidered as pieces of criticism, occur in the Spectator. This view of his critical errors fhall therefore be restricted to that work, and taken in the order in which they arise. It might be made ten times as long; but I hurry thro it, being fenfible that the task is invidious, and feeling it disagreeable. ; SPECT. No. 5. Addison hath given more proofs than one of his very flight acquaintance with the Italian language. Armida is, in the opera of Rinaldo, called an Amazonian enchantrefs, or more properly an enchanting Amazon, (takingenchanting in rather an uncommon acceptation) not from her being of the nation of the Amazons, as Addison strangely misunderstands it but from her being an enchantress and virago. The remark on the Chriftian Magician is equally abfurd. The Magician doth not deal with the devil, as Addifon mifreprefents it much in the spirit of an old woman, but with angels, the dæmons of Platonism; who were thought the fervants of good men, and none but the good. Before fuch criticisms no work can stand. The critic totally mifreprefents the meaning, and then writes criticisms upon his own misrepresentations. The noted attack on Taffo, which follows thefe odd blunders, is difmiffed in pity and filent contempt. Taffo is innocent of the charge, and must be honour ably Ee 3 ably acquitted. The English of Mr. Addison's violent hatred of the opera is, that he wrote for the English theatre, and was mortified to fee it neglected for the Italian. No. 18. Phædra and Hippolitus is fo woful a tragedy, that I know no Italian opera that would not prove a far higher entertainment. No. 39. A perfect tragedy, the nobleft production of human nature! Where is epic poetry? but Addison was writing Cato; and his rules of criticism are always for his own advantage. His praife of Lee on this occafion, and of Blackmore on another, proves fufficiently the depth of his critical abilities. No. 40. The tragicomedy is the most natural, and, of confequence, the most proper, style of the drama. Very little learning is required to know that it is not the product of the English ftage, but of every ftage, ancient and modern; except the French, which is facred to Sleep. No. 44. Oreftes's plea for not killing the Ufurper inftantly I believe ftrikes every reader as futile, and a mere ancient stage-trick. No. 62. |