the Iliad, or let the Hero wander all the World over, as in the Odiffey; let there be one fingle Hero, or a great many; happy, or unfortunate; furi-. ous as Achilles, or pious as Æneas; let them be Kings, or Generals, or neither of them; let the Scene lie upon the Indian Ocean, as in the Lufiada of Camouens ; in the Weft-Ladies, as in the Araucana of Alonzo of Eveilla; in Hell, in Heaven, out of the Limits of our Nature, as in Milton; the Poem will equally deferve the Name of Epick, unless you have a mind to honour it with another Title proportionable to its Merit.

In fo boundless a Career, the Point of the Queftion, and of the Difficulty, is to know what all polite Nations agree upon, and in what they differ.

An Epick Poem ought to be grounded upon Judgment, and embellish'd by Imagination; what belongs to good Senfe, belongs to all the Nations of the World. The Greeks, the Romans, the Italians, French, English and Spaniards, tell us in all their Works, that they chiefly like Unity of Action, because the Underftanding is better fatisfy'd when it repofes upon a fingle Object, adequate to our View, and which we may take in eafily, than when it is loft in the Hurry of Confufion.

They

;

They tell us, that fuch an Unity ought to be attended with Variety, as a Body is made up of Members, all different, and all conducive to the fame End That the Action fhould be great, to ftrike us with Awe; interefting, because we delight in being moved; entire, that our Minds may be wholly fatisfy'd.

These, and the like, are a kind of eternal Laws, fubmitted to by all Nations, because enacted by Nature. But the Machinery, the Episodes, the Stile itfelf, and all that depends upon that Inftinct call'd Tafte, and upon the Tyranny of Cuftom, that is the Point in which there are too many Opinions and no

Rules.

It is true, there are Beauties which the Tafte of every Nation equally relish. Since all Europe hath fet up the Greek and Roman Authors for Models of Writing, Homer and Demofthenes, Virgil and Tully, have in fome measure united under their Laws our European Nations, and made of fo many and different Countries, a fingle Commonwealth of Letters. But ftill our particular Customs have introduc'd among them all, a new Sort of Tafte, peculiar to each Nation.

The best modern Writers have mix'd the Tafte of their Country, with that of the Ancients. Their Flowers, and their

Fruits,

Fruits, warm'd and matur'd by the fame Sun, yet draw from the Soil they grow upon, their different Colours, their Flavours and their Size. It is as eafy to diftinguish a Spanish, an Italian, or an Englifh Author, by their Stile, as to know by their Gait, their Speech, and their Features, in what Country they were born.

The Italian Softnefs, their Witticifm, fo often degenerating into Conceit, the pompous and metaphorical Stile of the Spaniard, the Exactnefs and Perfpicuity of the French, the Strength peculiar to the English, their Fondnefs of Allegor ries, their running into Similes, are fo many diftinguishable Marks, which do not escape the Obfervation of proper Judges.

From their different Characters flows that diflike which every Nation fhows for the Tafte of its Neighbour. Hence it is: that the Battle of the Angels in Milton, would not fucceed among the French. Hence it is, that the long, but noble Speeches of Cinna, and Auguftus in Corneille, could not be tolerated upon the English Stage.

Thefe

Thefe following Lines of Talo, are admired in Italy, learnt by Heart, and in every body's mouth.

Colei Sophronia, Olindo egli s'apella,
D'una cittade entrambi, e d'una fede.
Ei che modefto é fi com' effa e bella,
Brama afai, poco Spera, e nulla chiede,
Ne fa Scoprirfi, o non ardifce; e ella,
Olo Sprezza, o no'l vede, o non s'avede;
Cofi fin hora il mifero ha fervito,
O non vifto, o mal noto, o mal gradito.

There is nothing in these Lines, that offends againft good Senfe; but fuch a jingling of Words, that over-nice Symmetry of Expreffion, that curl'd Thought revolving on itself, won't methinks be applauded by a French, or an English Reader, who require a more ferious and more majeftick Simplicity in Heroic Poetry.

Among many Paffages of Milton, which every French Reader would startle at, I beg leave to quote one, which has here more Partizans than Criticks; 'tis in the firft Canto.

"At once as far as Angels Ken he views The difmal Situation, wafte and wild,

A Dungeon horrible, on all fides round,"
As one great Furnace flam'd; yet from those
[Flames
No Light, but rather a Darkness vifible,
Serv'd only to difcover Sights of Woe.

Antonio de Solis, in his excellent Hifto ry of Mexico, hath ventur'd on the fame Thought, when speaking of the Place wherein Montezuma was wont to confult his Deities; ""Twas a large dark fubterraneous Vault, fays he, where fome difmal Tapers afforded juft Light enough to fee the Obfcurity.'

"

Such daring Thoughts would be look'd upon as Nonfenfe, by a French Critick, whofe Exactnefs is often call'd in England Timidity. And fince the greatest Poet among the English, and the best Writer among the Spaniards, have not fcrupled to indulge now and then fuch Flights bordering on Bombaft, that proves at leaft, that in their Countries, the Authors have a more free Scope than in France.

I need no more Examples to demonftrate, that there is fuch a Thing Thing as a National Tafte.

This once granted, if we have a Mind to get a true Knowledge of Epick Poetry, it would be worth our while to take a Survey of all the different Poems of that Kind,