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ADVERTISEMENT.1

THIS volume contains a complete collection of the Poems of the late Dr. Akenside, either reprinted from the original editions, or faithfully published from copies which had been prepared by himself for publication.

That the principal Poem should appear in so disadvantageous a state may require some explanation. The first publication of it was at a very early part of the author's life. That it wanted revision and correction, he was sufficiently sensible; but so quick was the demand for several successive republications, that, in any of the intervals, to have completed the whole of his corrections, was utterly impossible; and yet to have gone on from time to time making farther improvements in every new edition would (he thought) have had the appearance at least of abusing the favour of the public. He chose, therefore, to continue for some time reprinting it without alteration, and to forbear publishing any corrections or improvements until he should be able at once to give them to the public complete. And, with this view, he went on for several years to review and correct the poem at his leisure; till at length he found the task grow so much upon his hands, that, despairing of ever being able to execute it sufficiently to his own satisfaction, he abandoned the purpose of correcting, and resolved to write the em over anew, upon a somewhat different and an enlarged plan. And, in the execution of this design, he had made a considerable progress. What reason there may be to regret that he did not live to execute the whole of it will best appear from the perusal of the plan itself, as stated in the General Argument, and of the parts which he had executed, and which are here published. For the person to whom he intrusted the disposal of his papers would have thought himself wanting, as well to the service of the public as to the fame of his friend, if he had not produced as much of the work as appeared to have been prepared for publication. In this light he considered the

1 To Mr. Dyson's edition of Akenside's Poems, 1772.

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entire First and Second Books, of which a few copies had been printed for the use only of the author and certain friends: also a very considerable part of the Third Book, which had been transcribed in order to its being printed in the same manner; and to these is added the Introduction to a subsequent Book, which, in the manuscript, is called the Fourth, and which appears to have been composed at the time when the author intended to comprise the whole in Four Books; but which, as he had afterwards determined to distribute the Poem into more books, might perhaps more properly be called the Last Book. And this is all that is executed of the new work, which, although it appeared to the editor too valuable, even in its imperfect state, to be withholden from the public, yet (he conceives) takes in by much too small a part of the original Poem to supply its place, and to supersede the republication of it. For which reason both the Poems are inserted in this collection.

Of Odes the author had designed to make up Two Books, consisting of twenty Odes each, including the several Odes which he had before published at different times.

The Hymn to the Naiads is reprinted from the sixth volume of Dodsley's Miscellanies, with a few corrections, and the addition of some notes. To the Inscriptions taken from the same volume, three new Inscriptions are added, the last of which is the only instance wherein a liberty has been taken of inserting any thing in this Collection, which did not appear to have been intended by the author for publication; among whose papers no copy of this was found, but it is printed from a copy which he had many years since given to the editor.

The author of these Poems was born at Newcastle-uponTyne, on the 9th day of November, 1721. He was educated at the Grammar School at Newcastle, and at the Universities of Edinburgh and Leyden, at the latter of which he took his degree of Doctor in Physic. He was afterwards admitted by mandamus to the degree of Doctor in Physic in the University of Cambridge; elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and one of the Physicians of St. Thomas's Hospital; and, upon the establishment of the Queen's Household, appointed one of the Physicians to Her Majesty. He died of a putrid fever, on the 23d day of June, 1770, and is buried in the parish church of St. James, Westminster.

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THE

PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION.

A POEM, IN THREE BOOKS.

Ασεβοῦς μέν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου τὰς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτας ἀτι
Ev.-EPICT. apud Arrian. II. 23.

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THE DESIGN.

THERE are certain powers in human nature which seem to hold a middle place between the organs of bodily sense and the faculties of moral perception: they have been called by a very general name, the Powers of Imagination. Like the external senses, they relate to matter and motion; and, at the same time, give the mind ideas analogous to those of moral approbation and dislike. As they are the inlets of some of the most exquisite pleasures with which we are acquainted, it has naturally happened that men of warm and sensible tempers have sought means to recall the delightful perceptions which they afford, independent of the objects which originally produced them. This gave rise to the imitative or designing arts; some of which, as painting and sculpture, directly copy the external appearances which were admired in nature; others, as music and poetry, bring them back to remembrance by signs universally established and understood.

But these arts, as they grew more correct and deliberate, were of course led to extend their imitation beyond the peculiar objects of the imaginative powers; especially poetry, which, making use of language as the instrument by which it imitates,

is consequently become an unlimited representative of every species and mode of being. Yet, as their intention was only to express the objects of imagination, and as they still abound chiefly in ideas of that class, they of course retain their original character; and all the different pleasures which they excite are termed, in general, Pleasures of Imagination.

The design of the following poem is to give a view of these, in the largest acceptation of the term; so that whatever our imagination feels from the agreeable appearances of nature, and all the various entertainment we meet with either in poetry, painting, music, or any of the elegant arts, might be deducible from one or other of those principles in the constitusion of the human mind which are here established and explained.

In executing this general plan, it was necessary, first of all, to distinguish the imagination from our other faculties; and, in the next place, to characterize those original forms or pro perties of being about which it is conversant, and which are by nature adapted to it, as light is to the eyes, or truth to the understanding. These properties Mr. Addison had reduced to the three general classes of greatness, novelty, and beauty; and into these we may analyze every object, however complex, which, properly speaking, is delightful to the imagination. But such an object may also include many other sources of pleasure; and its beauty or novelty or grandeur will make a stronger impression by reason of this concurrence. Besides which, the imitative arts, especially poetry, owe much of their effect to a similar exhibition of properties quite foreign to the imagination, insomuch that, in every line of the most applauded poems, we meet with either ideas drawn from the external senses, or truths discovered to the understanding, or illustrations of contrivance and final causes, or, above all the rest, with circumstances proper to awaken and engage the pas sions. It was therefore necessary to enumerate and exemplify these different species of pleasure, especially that from the passions, which, as it is supreme in the noblest work of human genius, so being in some particulars not a little surprising, gave an opportunity to enliven the didactic turn of the poem, by introducing an allegory to account for the appearance.

After these parts of the subject, which hold chiefly of admiration, or naturally warm and interest the mind, a pleasure of a very different nature, that which arises from ridicule, came next to be considered. As this is the foundation of the comic manner in all the arts, and has been but very imperfectly treated by moral writers, it was thought proper to give it a particular illustration, and to distinguish the general sources from which the ridicule of characters is derived. Here, too, a change of style became necessary; such a one as might yet be consistent, if possible, with the general taste of composition in the serious parts of the subject; nor is it an easy task to give any tolerable force to images of this kind, without running either into the gigantic expressions of the mock heroic, or the familiar and poetical raillery of professed satire, neither of which would have been proper here.

The materials of all imitation being thus laid open, nothing now remained but to illustrate some particular pleasures, which arise either from the relations of different objects one to another, or from the nature of imitation itself. Of the first kind is that various and complicated resemblance existing between several parts of the material and immaterial worlds, which is the foundation of metaphor and wit. As it seems in a great measure to depend on the early association of our ideas, and as this habit of associating is the source of many pleasures and pains in life, and on that account bears a great share in the influence of poetry and the other arts, it is therefore mentioned here, and its effects described. Then follows a general account of the production of these elegant arts, and of the secondary pleasure, as it is called, arising from the resemblance of their imitations to the original appearances of nature. After which, the work concludes with some reflections on the general conduct of the powers of imagination, and on their natural and moral usefulness in life.

Concerning the manner or turn of composition which prevails in this piece, little can be said with propriety by the author. He had two models: that ancient and simple one of the first Grecian poets, as it is refined by Virgil in the Georgics; and the familiar, epistolary way of Horace. This latter has several advantages. It admits of a greater variety of style;

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