Such Remarks as the preceding can be no improper Introduction to whatever may be collected concerning the Life of our Author. It will turn out at best but dark and imperfect, yet opens into two principal Views, which may prove of double ufe to a thoughtful and confiderate Reader. As a Writer of a refined and polished Taste, of a found and penetrating Judgment, it will lead him to fuch methods of thinking as are the innocent and embellishing Amusements of Life; as a Philofopher of enlarged and generous Sentiments, a Friend to Virtue, a teddy Champion and an intrepid Martyr for Liberty, it will teach him that nothing can be great and glorious which is not juft and good, and that the Dignity of what we utter and what we act depends entirely on the Dignity of our Thoughts, and the inward Grandeur and Elevation of the Soul. Searching for the particular Paffages and Incidents of the Life of Longinus, is like travelling nowadays thro' thofe Countries in which it was spent. We meet with nothing but continual Scenes of Devaftation and Ruin. In one place, a beautiful Spot fmiling through the Bounty of Nature, yet over-run with Weeds and Thorns for want of Culture, prefents itfelf to view; in another, a Pile of Stones ly ing in the fame Confufion in which they fell, with here and there a nodding Wall; and fometimes a curious Pillar ftill erect, excites the forrowful Remembrance of what noble Edifices and how fine a City once crown'd the Place. Tyrants and Barbarians are not lefs pernicious to Learning and Improvement than to Cities and Nations. Bare Names are preferved and handed down to us, but little more. Who were the Destroyers of all the reft, we know with Regret, but the Value of what is deftroyed we can only guefs and de#plore. Suidas. A What Countryman Longinus was cannot certainly be difcovered. Some fancy him a Syrian, and that he was born at Emifa, becaufe an Uncle of his, one Fronto a Rhetorician, is called by Suidas an Emifenian. But others, with greater probability, fuppose him an Athenian. That he was a Grecian, is > plain from two * Paffages in the following Treatife; in one of which he ufes this Expreffion, If we Grecians; and in the other he - exprefly calls Demofthenes his Countryman. His Name was Dionyfius Longinus, to which Suidas makes the addition of Caffius; but that of his Father is intirely unknown; a Point * See Sec. XII. Point (it is true) of fmall importance, fince a Son of Excellence and Worth, reflects a Glory upon, instead of receiving any from, his Father. By his Mother Frontonis he was allied, after two or three Removes, to the celebrated Plutarch. We are also at a loss for the Employment of his Parents, their Station in Life, and the beginning of his Education; but a * Remnant of his own Writings informs us that his Youth was spent in travelling with them, which gave him an opportunity to increase his Knowledge, and open his Mind with that generous Enlargement which Men of Senfe and Judgment will unavoidably receive from variety of Objects and diverfity of Converfation. The Improvement of his Mind was always uppermoft in his Thoughts, and his Thirst after Knowledge led him to those Channels by which it is convey'd. Wherever Men of Learning were to be found, he was prefent, and loft no opportunity of forming a Familiarity and Intimacy with them. Ammosenius and Origen, Philofophers of no fmall Reputation in that Age, were two of those whom he vifited and heard with the greatest Attention. As he was not deficient in Vivacity of Parts, Quicknefs of Apprehenfion, and and Strength of Understanding, the Progrefs of his Improvement must needs have been equal to his Industry and Diligence in feeking after it. He was capable of learning whatever he defired, and no doubt he defired to learn whatever was commendable and useful. The Travels of Longinus ended with his Arrival at Athens, where he fix'd his Refidence. This City was then, and had been for fome Ages, the University of the World. It was the conftant Refort of all who were able to teach or willing to improve; the grand and lafting Refervoir of Philofophy and Learning, from whence were drawn every Rivulet and Stream that watered and cultivated the reft of the World. Here our Author purfued" the Studies of Humanity and Philosophy with the greatest Application, and foon became the moft remarkable Perfon in a Place fo remark able as Athens. Here he published his Trea tife on the SUBLIME, which raised his Reputation to fuch a height as no Critic either before or fince durft ever aspire to. He was a perfect Master of the ancient Writings of Greece, and intimately acquainted not only with the Works, but the very Genius and Spirit with which they were written. His Cotemporaries there had fuch an implicit Faith in in his Judgment, and were fo well convinced of the Perfection of his Tafte, that they appointed him Judge of all the ancient Authors, and learned to diftinguish between the genuine and fpurious Productions of Antiquity from his Opinions and Sentiments about them. He was looked upon by them as infallible and unerring, and therefore by his Decrees were fine Writing and fine Sense established, and his Sentence ftamped its intrinfic Value upon every Piece. The entrusting any one Perfon with fo delicate a Commiffion is an extraordinary Instance of Complaifance. It is without a Precedent in every Age before, and unparal lell'd in any of the fucceeding, as it is fit it fhould till another Longinus fhall arise. But in regard to him, it does honour to those who lodged it in his Hands. For no claffic Writer ever fuffered in Character from an erroneous Cenfure of Longinus. He was, as I obferved before, a perfect Mafter of the Stile and peculiar turn of Thoughts of them all, and could difcern every Beauty or Blemish in every Compofition. In vain might inferior Critics exclaim against this Monopoly of Judgment. Whatever Objections they raised against it were mere Air and unreguarded Sounds. And whatever they blamed, or what, ever |