Dissona, et humanæ multum discordia linguæ. Silvarumque sonum, fractæque tonitrua nubis; Such a collection of unaccording images is scarcely less absurd than the following description of the nightingale, by Marini : Una voce pennuta un suon' volante E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato, Even less obvious inconsistencies are sufficient to diminish the effect of poetical description, when they do not perfectly coincide with the general emotion. There is a circumstance introduced in the following passage from Horace, which is liable to this censure: Solvitur acris Hyems, grata vice veris et Favoni, Ac neque jam stabulis gaudet pecus, aut arator igni, Nec prata canis albicant pruinis. Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente Luna, Alterno terram quatiunt pede. The image contained in the second line is obviously improper. It suggests ideas of labour, and difficulty, and art, and has no correspondence with that emotion of gladness with which we behold the return of the spring, and which is so successfully maintained by the gay and pleasing imagery in the rest of the passage. In a description of the morning, in the charming po em of the Minstrel, there is a circumstance to which the severity of criticism might object upon the same principle: The cottage curs at early pilgrim bark, The image in the last line, though undoubtedly a striking one in itself, and very beautifully described, is yet improper, as it is inconsistent both with the period of society, and the scenery of the country to which the Minstrel refers. There is a similar error in the following fine description from Shakspeare: The current, that with gentle murmur glides, Thou knowest, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage; He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge He overtaketh in his pilgrimage: And so by many winding nooks he strays The pleasing personification which we attribute to a brook, is founded upon the faint belief of voluntary motion, and is immediately checked, when the poet descends to any minute or particular resemblance. Even in that inimitable description which Virgil has given of a storm, in the first book of the Georgics, a very accurate taste may perhaps discover some slight deficiencies: Sæpe etiam immensum cœlo venit agmen aquarum, If there was any passage to which I would object in these wonderful lines, it would be to those that are marked in Italics. I acknowledge, indeed, that the "pluvia ingenti satą, læta boumque labores diluit," is defensible from the connexion of the imagery with the subject of the poem ; but the "implentur fossa" is both an unnecessary and a degrading circumstance, when compared with the magnificent effects that are described in the rest of the passage. I shall conclude these illustrations, with two passages, descriptive of the same scene, from different poets, in which the effects of imperfect and of harmonious composition are strikingly exemplified. In the "Argonautica" of Apollonius Rhodius, when Medea is described in a state of deep agitation between her unwillingness to betray her father, and her desire to save her lover Jason, the anxiety of her mind is expressed by the following contrast, of which I give a literal translation: "The night now covered the earth with her shade; ❝and in the open sea the pilots, upon their decks, ob"served the star of Orion. The travellers and the watch men slumbered. Even the grief of mothers who had "lost their children, was suspended by sleep. In the "cities there was neither heard the cry of dogs, nor the "noise nor murmur of men. Silence reigned in the "midst of darkness. Medea alone knew not the charms "of this peaceful night, so deeply was her soul impres"sed with fears for Jason." Virgil describes a similar situation as follows: Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem Rura tenent, somno positæ sub nocte silenti "On voit ici (says M. Marmontel, with his usual "taste and discernment), non seulement la superiorité “du talent, la vie, et l'ame repandues dans une pöesie "harmonieuse, et du coloris le plus pur, mais singulière"ment encore la superiorité du goût. Dans la peinture "du poëte Grec, il y a des details inutiles, il y en a des "contraires à l'effet du tableau. Les observations des pilotes, dans de silence de la nuit, portent eux-mêmes "le caractère de la vigilance et de l'inquietude, et ne " contrastent point avec le trouble de Medée. "d'une mere qui a perdu ses enfants est faite "traire de celle d'une amante; elle en affoiblit l'interét, "et le poëte en la lui opposant, est allé contre son des"sein; au lieu que, dans le tableau de Virgile, tout est "réduit à l'unité. C'est la nature entière, dans le cal 66 L'image pour dis me et dans le sommeil, tandis que la malheureuse Didon veille seule, et se livré en proie à tous les tour"ments de l'amour. Enfin, dans le poëte Grec, le cri "des chiens, le sommeil des portiers, sont des details "minutieux et indignes de l'epopée, au lieu que dans "Virgile tout est noble et peint à grands traits: huit "vers embrassent la nature."-Encyclopedie, voc. IMI TATION. In these illustrations of the necessity of unity of expression, for the production of the emotions of sublimity and beauty, I have chiefly confined myself to such instances in poetry, as are descriptive of natural scenery, because they are most within the observation of that class of readers, to whom any illustrations of this point are necessary. The same principle extends, with equal force, to every other branch of poetical imitation, to the description of the characters, the sentiments, and the passions of men; and one great source of the superiority which such imitations have over the originals from which they are copied, consists in these cases, as well as the former, in the power which the artist enjoys of giving an unity of character to his descriptions, which is not to be found in real nature. The illustration of this point, however, as well as of the general fact, that all such descriptions are defective, in which this unity is not preserved, I must leave to the reader's own observation. In the same view, I leave the consideration of the effect of contrast; a principle which may at first seem adverse to these conclusions, but which, in fact, is one of the strongest confirmations of them. The reader who is accustomed to such speculations, need not be reminded, that the real end of contrast is to strengthen the effect of the general emotion; that its propriety is determined by the nature of that emotion; that it is justly applied only in those cases where the emotion is violent and demands relief, or faint and requires support, or long-continued and needs repose; and that in all cases where it exceeds these limits, or where it does not serve to invigorate the character of the composition, it serves only to obstruct or to diminish its effect; and the reader to whom these principles are new, may find amusement in verifying them. IV. i The unity of character which is thus demanded in poetical description, for the production of the emotions of taste, is demanded also in every species of poetical composition, whatever may be its extent. In describing the events of life, it is the business of the historian to represent them as they really happened; to investigate their causes, however minute; and to re |