Wifemen of Greece; and yet fo carly were other Subjects admitted into the Elegy befide Grief, that Mimnermus consisted almoft entirely of Love.

Next to Mimnermus, the following two were the most celebrated for the Excellence of the ELEGY, CALLIMACHUS of Cyrene, and PHILETAS of Coos; the latter flourish'd in the Time of PHILIP of Macedon, ALEXANDER the Great, and fome of his Succeffors; and was Preceptor or Tutor to PTOLEMY Philadelphius; nor was his Genius confin'd to the Elegy, for he compos'd Epigrams, and other forts of Poems; but by Epigrams we muft not fuppofe fuch as now ufurp that Name, and which derive themselves from Martial; for the Beauty of the Greek Epigrams, as well as those of Catullus, depended not upon a Point, or the Turn of Words, but Thoughts.

Nor muft we here forget the famous Tyrtaus, tơ whofe Elegies the Prefervation of the Lacedemonian State has been attributed by the Antients. By Birth an Athenian, and deputed General of the Lacedemonians, and this as early as the 36th Olympiade, fo that he feems to have been Cotemporary with MI MNER

MUS.

་

All that Horace gives us of the Elegy, is, That

ELEGIES were at first defign'd for Grief,
Tho' now we use them to express our Joy;
But to whofe Mufe we owe that fort of Verfe,
Is undecided by the Men of Skill.

[Rofcom. Hor.

Among the Romans the most eminent were OvID, TIBULLUS, and PROPERTI U S.

2

The ELEGY, that loves a mournful Stile,
With Hair unbound weeps at the Funeral Pile:
It paints the Lovers Torments and Delights,
A Mistress flatters, threatens and invites.

But

But well thefe Raptures if you'll make us fee,
You must know Love, as well as Poetry.

I hate thofe Lukewarm Authors, whofe forc'd Fire
In a cold Stile defcribe a bot Defire.

That figh by Rule, and, raging in cold Blood,
Their fluggish Mufe whip to an Amorous Mood;
Their Transports feign'd appear but flat and vain,
They always Sigh, and always bug their Chain.
Adore their Prifon, and their Sufferings blefs,
Make Senfe and Reafon quarrel as they pleafe.
'Twas not of old in this affected Tone,

That smooth TIBULLUS made his Amorous Moan :
Nor Ovid when inftructed from above,

By Natures Rules he taught the Art of Love.

This fort of Poem was firft made use of in Grief, in Funeral Ceremonies and Lamentations; then in the amorous Complaints of Lovers, who afterwards introduced their Joys in their Success with their Miftreffes.

Nor was the ELEGY long confin'd to Grief and Love, but was extended to various other Subjects, as thofe of THEOGNIS to Moral Precepts; the Hair of Berenice by CALLIMACHUS, which was tranflated by Catullus into Latin in the fame kind; and Ovid's Fafti, and other Subjects.

Amidst the various Subjects allowed to the Elegy, we find that BOILEAU mentions only two, viz, Funeral Grief or Lamentations, and Lov E. Love indeed feems to be the Queen of this beautiful Province, and has always appear'd in a Sovereign Preeminence; for neither the Greek nor Latin Poets, who have written this Kind on other Subjects, have attain'd that Praife and general Efteem as in thofe, where they touch only on Love; and therefore Boileau is perfectly in the right, when he requires the Elegiac Poct to know Love as well as Poetry, which indeed the French Poets difcover yery little Skill

in.

in. But let us proceed to what is on this Head delivered by his Grace the Duke of BUCKINGHAM,

Next ELEGY of fweet, but folemn Voice,
And of a Subject grave, exacts the Choice;
The Praife of Beauty, Valour, Wit contains,
And there too oft defpairing Love complains.
In vain alas! for who by Wit is mov'd?
That Phoenix he deferves to be belov❜d.
But noify Nenfenfe, and fuch Fops as vex
Mankind, take moft with that Fantaftic Sex.
This to the Praise of those who better knew ;
The many raise the Value of the Few.

But here, as all our Sex too oft have try'd,
Women have drawn my wand'ring Thoughts afide.
Their greatest Fault, who in this Kind have writ,
Is not defect in Words, or want of Wit.

But fhou'd this Mufe harmonious Numbers yield,
And ev'ry Couplet be with Fancy fill'd:
If yet a juft Coherence be not made

Between each Thought, and the whole Model laid
So right, that ev'ry Line may higher rise,
Like goodly Mountains, till they reach the Skies:
Such Trifles may of late perhaps have past,
And may be lik'd a while, but never last.
'Tis Epigram, 'tis Point, 'tis what you will,
But not an ELEGY, nor writ with skill,
No PANEGYRIC, nor a CooPERS-HILL.

Thus far my Lord Duke in his admirable ESSAY ON POETRY. But I must think, that his Grace's Criticism on this fort of Poefy has a nearer regard to what in our Tongue may perhaps be plac'd in that kind; and this Surmize is confirm'd by the Faults his Grace finds in the Elegy Writers, and the two which he names as Exainples of Excellence. For firft, the Greek and Latin Writers of Elegy are not guilty of Epigram or Point in their Poems of this Nature, and in Ovid there is such an

exact Coherence as my Lord requires; I know it is not thought that Tibullus follow'd this Method, but writ Line after Line, without propofing any certain Model or Plan of the whole Piece, which fhould direct him.

Another Reason of my Opinion is, that his Grace gives but a fourth Place to Love in her own peculiar Province, which agrees much better with the Moderns, than with the Antients. The Rule which his Grace lays down for forming the Model is of admirable Ufe, not only in this fort of Poetry, but indeed in all forts, as being the only Mother of Order, without which there could be no valuable Beauty. And to praife a Poem for a fine Line, or a happy Turn of Expreffion, is like praising a most horrible and distorted Creature for a Beauty, because the happens to have a handsome Hand, or Foot.

I dare not venture to diffent from his Grace, or I fhould queftion very much whether the Panegyric, or Coopers-Hill, wou'd cafily come into the Notion of Elegy according to the Practice of the Antients. For according to OVID, a great Mafter in this kind, Sublime Subjects, and Heroic Majefty are not agreeable to the Elegy, which ought to be contented with its native Mediocrity. There is no Achilles found in the Verse of Callimachus (lays Ovid) nor Cydippe in thofe of Homer. And therefore defcribing the Perfon of Elegy in his third Book of his Love Verfes, he does not praise her for her Majesty, but her lovely Countenance, foft and thin Garment. And in his Fafti the fame Poet complains that he had been forc'd to apply the Elegiac Numbers to a more Sublime Matter than was ufual to them.

But that I may omit nothing which may contribute to the beautifying of this Poem, I will add fome helps which I gather from the Practice of the Antients. As Antiquities, or antient History or Fables. There is nothing more obvious than this through Ovid and Propertius; Tibullus indeed has not done it.

In

In the Funeral Elegy it has been the Practice to addrefs to the Father, Mother, or other furviving Rela tion, as is evident from that of Pedo Albinovanus on Drufus Germanicus, the Son in Law of Auguftus, and the Brother of Tiberius afterwards Emperor and Succeffour to Auguftus. Thefe Poems ufually likewife began from fome God, according to Circumftances of the deceas'd. Thus, on the Death of a Poet they begun with Apollo, of a Philofopher with Minerva, of a Soldier with Mars, of a Lover with Venus or Cupid, of a Country Man or one of a rural Life with PAN, Faunus or Pales; of a Seaman with Neptune or the Nymphs, efpecially from the River God where he dy'd..

There ought to be in the Elegy a native Elegance and Clearnefs, as well as Softness of Expreffion, which ought to be always equal. Frequent Collifions or the cutting off of Syllables are Faults not to be admitted; in Englifb indeed there ought to be none, but what are fo eafy and ufual that they give it no manner of Roughnefs, which is oppofite to the Beauty and Perfection of this Poem; and it must have a fort of Sweetness which adds a Decorum and Beauty, and fomething entirely Delicate.

There is one vulgar Rule which I will not omit, because in the general it has been the Practice of the best and greatest Masters in this Art; and that is that the Senfe fhould be concluded in two Lines, not but there have been fome Exceptions to this Rule, though very few. I shall conclude this Difcourfe on the Elegy from a late Author.

No glittering Points, nor any nice Conceit,
Muft load the Elegy with foreign Weight.
Paffion and Nature bere avow their Right,
And with difdain throw back the mean Delight.

For we are never to admit any Epigrammatic Points, and Conceits, none of the Fine things as the Ladies and [Vol. I.]

H

half