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PRE FAC E.

For them I publish this extract, perfuaded that fome new ideas on this celebrated poet must meet with their gracious reception.

In perufing the work from which I have taken this extract, I found fome fuch ftriking proofs of the taste and impartiality of the author, that I think myself obliged to present them to the public. These two talents are in a critic most effential: they alone give weight and authority to his decifions. The paffages which I fhall quote will have the double advantage of interesting the reader, and of acquainting him with the right which Mr. Sherlock may have to his confidence.

Mr. Sherlock fays to his young Italian poet; "Dantè is a great genius, Ariofto is a delightful "and enchanting poet; but neither the one nor "the other can ferve to form your tafte." As a recompence, he does not fail to recommend to him the study of the Greek, Latin, and French poets. Homer, Virgil, and Racine, are the models which he propofes to him; Horace, Longinus, and Boileau, are the mafters from whom he would have him take leffons.

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"At the moment," fays he, " of a war be"tween England and France, my young reader will, perhaps, be furprized at my making an elogium on French literature. He is little acquainted with the principles of my nation. An Englishman dares always do justice to merit. "When his country requires his talents, he is

66.

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4

"ready

"ready to dedicate them to her without referve. "Does the require his blood, he is ready to shed "it in her fervice, to the last drop. But, at the "fame time, he is incapable of doing injustice to

"an

an enemy. We are not at war with the French "literature. The men of letters of all nations "should be fellow-citizens. They should live in an "eternal peace, and do justice to the merits both "of the living and the dead, of London, Paris, "Rome, and Athens."

With this profeffion of impartiality Mr. Sherlock introduces his encomiums on Boileau and Racine. He thus fpeaks of the latter.

"Racine, a difciple of Boileau and of the "Greeks, does honour to Paris, and would have "been honoured at Athens. A good tafte, good

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fense, truth, a knowledge of the human heart, "the pathetic carried to the utmost height; these "are the merits which entitle him to a place be"tween Sophocles and Euripides. The magic pencil of Correggio, his ftrength and his graces, "the tenderness and majefty of Guido, the difpofition and design of Raphaël, are united in "this perfect model *. Perfection, if I may fay, is his characteristic. And when, apprized "of the difficulty of making good French verses,

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fo

To perceive the whole force of this elogium, it is neceffary to read, in Mr. Sherlock's fixth letter on Dryden, the comparison which he makes between Raphael and Correggio.

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PREFACE.

"of bending a stubborn language to fweetnefs "and harmony, we think that Racine joins to fo many folid talents the charm of the fineft "verfes that could poffibly be written, we cannot 66 fufficiently admire or praise him."

Hear him speak of Longinus.

pre

"This matchlefs writer at once gives the cept and example *. He read with enthusiasm, "he wrote with enthufiafm, and he conveys en"thusiasm into the foul of his reader. Other cri

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"tics will make you fee the beauties of a poet : "he makes you feel them; he does not demon"ftrate, he does not perfuade, he entrances, he "elevates, and, like the fublime which he paints, "he fubdues the foul, and tranfports it whither he pleases. Woe to the reader, who, while he reads "Longinus, can stop to judge him! But after"wards, when in cool blood he analyfes his "ideas, he there discovers the refined and exqui"fite touch of Horace, the fure and folid judg❝ment of Boileau, the vigour and fenfibility of "the citizen of Geneva. Such are his leading "features. Some one has well entitled his book, "The book of Gold. It is the most valuable of all "the treatises that are in being. It has only one fault, that of being too fhort. Learn him there"fore by heart, all ye Mæcenafes and poets.

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His own example strengthens all his laws,

And is himself the great fublime he draws. POPE.

7

.. Hic

"Hic murus abeneus efto! Learn him alfo, ye who "endeavour to read with fentiment and feeling, "and, if I may fo fay, with judgement. Ye ad"mirers of Dantè and Ariofto, read him not. "Longinus, the Homer of critics, is all good "fenfe; he will break your idols. A lover of “truth, and of bold but judicious fallies, he suf"fers not the ftarts of a difordered imagination. "But this great man, who would have condemn"ed to the flames that

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Monftrum horrendum, informe, ingens,

"the Divina Comedia, would have read fome of "its verses with transport. On perusing the "canto of Count Ugolino *, the fentimental foul "of Longinus would have exclaimed, Homer "has nothing fo fublime;' and his infallible "judgement would afterwards have confirmed the "decree. When I ftyled Longinus a great man, "it was with reafon. To fuperior talents he ad"ded an elevated heart. He was a man of learn

ing, and at once poffeffed (what are very fel"dom united) genius and taste. As a statesman, “he maintained with a noble spirit the glory of

his queen. To the enlightened understanding "of a philofopher he added the conftancy of a “hero; and, if he had not composed his divine "treatise, his death alone would have immorta

*This flocking but picturefque fubject now speaks to all nations in the univerfal language of Sir Joshua Reynolds. English Translator. "lized

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PREFACE.

"lized him; a death as glorious to him as "it was infamous to Zenobia and Aurelian.

The following paffage is a farther striking proof of the taste and impartiality of Mr. Sherlock:

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"If I have not named the great Corneille, it is

not that I by any means deny his claim to that "title. I did not propose to discuss the French "literature, but only to point out the models of "good tafte; and Corneille does not belong to "this clafs. The taste must be formed before he "is read: but here you afk me, 'muft Shakspeare therefore be studied as a model of good "tafte?' The question is fevere, and I will not "answer it-But, O Truth, thou art my only "idol. I facrifice on thy altar my darling poet, "and I answer, No."

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The style of this little work will please some, and will displease others. Such as it is, it is the author's, and not mine. I have not only confidered it as my duty to translate his thoughts with the utmost exactness; but I have carried my fcruples fo far as to preserve, as far as the difference of languages would allow it, the arrangement of his words, the turn of his phrase, and, if I may fo express it, the phyfiognomy of his style *. Thus, whatever opinion may be formed of it, I ought to have no fhare either in the praises or in the cenfures. If the object reflected by a faith

The English tranflator may strictly fay the fame.

ful