Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗

Ancient Tragedy Was Deficient: For Example, In the

Narrowness Of Its Plots, And Fewness Of Persons; And Try Whether That

Be Not A Fault In the Greek Poets; And Whether Their Excellency Was So

Great, When The Variety Was Visibly So Little; Or Whether What They Did

Was Not Very Easy To Do.

 

 

 

"Then Make A Judgment On What The English Have Added to Their Beauties:

As, For Example, Not Only More Plot, But Also New Passions; As, Namely,

That Of Love, Scarcely Touched on By The Ancients, Except In this One

Example Of Phaedra, Cited by Mr. Rymer; And In that How Short They Were

Of Fletcher!

 

 

 

"Prove Also That Love, Being an Heroick Passion, Is Fit For Tragedy,

Which Cannot Be Denied, Because Of The Example Alleged of Phaedra; And

How Far Shakespeare Has Outdone Them In friendship, &C.

 

 

 

"To Return To The Beginning of This Inquiry; Consider If Pity And Terrour

Be Enough For Tragedy To Move: And I Believe, Upon A True Definition Of

Tragedy, It Will Be Found That Its Work Extends Farther, And That It Is

To Reform Manners, By A Delightful Representation Of Human Life In great

Persons, By Way Of Dialogue. If This Be True, Then Not Only Pity And

Terrour Are To Be Moved, As The Only Means To Bring us To Virtue, But

Generally Love To Virtue, And Hatred to Vice; By Showing the Rewards Of

One, And Punishments Of The Other; At Least, By Rendering virtue Always

Amiable, Though It Be Shown Unfortunate; And Vice Detestable, Though It

Be Shown Triumphant.

 

 

 

"If, Then, The Encouragement Of Virtue And Discouragement Of Vice Be The

Proper Ends Of Poetry In tragedy, Pity And Terrour, Though Good Means,

Are Not The Only. For All The Passions, In their Turns, Are To Be Set

In A Ferment: As Joy, Anger, Love, Fear, Are To Be Used as The Poet'S

Commonplaces; And A General Concernment For The Principal Actors Is To Be

Raised, By Making them Appear Such In their Characters, Their Words, And

Actions, As Will Interest The Audience In their Fortunes.

 

 

 

"And If, After All, In a Larger Sense, Pity Comprehends This Concernment

For The Good, And Terrour Includes Detestation For The Bad, Then Let Us

Consider Whether The English Have Not Answered this End Of Tragedy As

Well As The Ancients, Or Perhaps Better.

 

 

 

"And Here Mr. Rymer'S Objections Against These Plays Are To Be

Impartially Weighed, That We May See Whether They Are Of Weight Enough To

Turn The Balance Against Our Countrymen.

 

 

 

"'Tis Evident Those Plays, Which He Arraigns, Have Moved both Those

Passions In a High Degree Upon The Stage.

 

 

 

"To Give The Glory Of This Away From The Poet, And To Place It Upon The

Actors, Seems Unjust.

 

 

 

"One Reason Is, Because Whatever Actors They Have Found, The Event Has

Been The Same; That Is, The Same Passions Have Been Always Moved:

Which Shows, That There Is Something of Force And Merit In the Plays

Themselves, Conducing to The Design Of Raising these Two Passions: And

Suppose Them Ever To Have Been Excellently Acted, Yet Action Only Adds

Grace, Vigour, And More Life, Upon The Stage; But Cannot Give It Wholly

Where It Is Not First. But, Secondly, I Dare Appeal To Those Who Have

Never Seen Them Acted, If They Have Not Found These Two Passions Moved

Within Them: And If The General Voice Will Carry It, Mr. Rymer'S

Prejudice Will Take Off His Single Testimony.

 

 

 

"This, Being matter Of Fact, Is Reasonably To Be Established by This

Appeal; As, If One Man Says It Is Night, When The Rest Of The World

Conclude It To Be Day, There Needs No Farther Argument Against Him, That

It Is So.

 

 

 

"If He Urge, That The General Taste Is Depraved, His Arguments To Prove

This Can, At Best, But Evince That Our Poets Took Not The Best Way To

Raise Those Passions; But Experience Proves Against Him, That Those

Means, Which They Have Used, Have Been Successful, And Have Produced

Them.

 

 

 

"And One Reason Of That Success Is, In my Opinion, This: That Shakespeare

And Fletcher Have Written To The Genius Of The Age And Nation In which

They Lived; For Though Nature, As He Objects, Is The Same In all Places,

And Reason Too The Same; Yet The Climate, The Age, The Disposition Of The

People, To Whom A Poet Writes, May Be So Different, That What Pleased the

Greeks Would Not Satisfy An English Audience.

 

 

 

"And If They Proceeded upon A Foundation Of Truer Reason To Please The

Athenians, Than Shakespeare And Fletcher To Please The English, It Only

Shows That The Athenians Were A More Judicious People; But The Poet'S

Business Is Certainly To Please The Audience.

 

 

 

"Whether Our English Audience Have Been Pleased, Hitherto, With Acorns,

As He Calls It, Or With Bread, Is The Next Question; That Is, Whether The

Means Which Shakespeare And Fletcher Have Used, In their Plays, To Raise

Those Passions Before Named, Be Better Applied to The Ends By The Greek

Poets Than By Them. And, Perhaps, We Shall Not Grant Him This Wholly: Let

It Be Granted, That A Writer Is Not To Run Down With The Stream, Or To

Please The People By Their Usual Methods, But Rather To Reform Their

Judgments, It Still Remains To Prove That Our Theatre Needs This Total

Reformation.

 

 

 

"The Faults, Which He Has Found In their Designs, Are Rather Wittily

Aggravated in many Places Than Reasonably Urged; And As Much May Be

Returned on The Greeks, By One Who Were As Witty As Himself.

 

 

 

"They Destroy Not, If They Are Granted, The Foundation Of The Fabrick:

Only Take Away From The Beauty Of The Symmetry: For Example, The Faults

In The Character Of The King, In king and No King, Are Not, As He Makes

Them, Such As Render Him Detestable, But Only Imperfections Which

Accompany Human Nature, And Are, For The Most Part, Excused by The

Violence Of His Love; So That They Destroy Not Our Pity Or Concernment

For Him: This Answer May Be Applied to Most Of His Objections Of That

Kind.

 

 

 

"And Rollo Committing many Murders, When He Is Answerable But For One,

Is Too Severely Arraigned by Him; For, It Adds To Our Horrour And

Detestation Of The Criminal; And Poetick Justice Is Not Neglected

Neither; For We Stab Him In our Minds For Every Offence Which He Commits;

And The Point, Which The Poet Is To Gain On The Audience, Is Not So Much

In The Death Of An Offender As The Raising an Horrour Of His Crimes.

 

 

 

"That The Criminal Should Neither Be Wholly Guilty, Nor Wholly Innocent,

But So Participating of Both As To Move Both Pity And Terrour, Is

Certainly A Good Rule, But Not Perpetually To Be Observed; For That Were

To Make All Tragedies Too Much Alike; Which Objection He Foresaw, But Has

Not Fully Answered.

 

 

 

"To Conclude, Therefore; If The Plays Of The Ancients Are More Correctly

Plotted, Ours Are More Beautifully Written. And, If We Can Raise Passions

As High On Worse Foundations, It Shows Our Genius In tragedy Is Greater;

For In all Other Parts Of It The English Have Manifestly Excelled them."

 

 

 

The Original Of The Following letter Is Preserved in the Library At

Lambeth, And Was Kindly Imparted to The Publick By The Reverend Dr. Vyse.

 

 

 

  Copy Of An Original Letter From John Dryden, Esq. To

  His Sons In italy, From A Ms. In the Lambeth Library,

  Marked n Deg.. 933, P. 56.

 

 

 

  (_Superscribed_)

 

 

 

  "All' Illustrissimo Sig'Re

  Carlo Dryden, Camariere

  D'Honore A S.S.

 

 

 

  "In Roma.

 

 

 

  "Franca Per Mantoua.

 

 

 

  "Dear Sons,

 

 

 

  "Sept. The 3D, Our Style.

 

 

 

  "Being now At Sir William Bowyer'S In the Country, I

  Cannot Write At Large, Because I Find Myself Somewhat Indisposed

  With A Cold, And Am Thick Of Hearing, Rather Worse

  Than I Was In town. I Am Glad To Find, By Your Letter Of

  July 26Th, Your Style, That You Are Both In health; But

  Wonder You Should Think Me So Negligent As To Forget To

  Give You An Account Of The Ship In which Your Parcel Is To

  Come. I Have Written To You Two Or Three Letters Concerning

  It, Which I Have Sent By Safe Hands, As I Told You, And

  Doubt Not But You Have Them Before This Can Arrive To You.

  Being out Of Town, I Have Forgotten The Ship'S Name, Which

  Your Mother Will Inquire, And Put It Into Her Letter, Which

  Is Joined with Mine. But The Master'S Name I Remember:

  He Is Called mr. Ralph Thorp; The Ship Is Bound To Leghorn,

  Consigned to Mr. Peter And Mr. Thomas Ball, Merchants.

  I Am Of Your Opinion, That By Tonson'S Means

  Almost All Our Letters Have Miscarried for This Last Year.

  But, However, He Has Missed of His Design In the Dedication,

  Though He Had Prepared the Book For It; For In every

  Figure Of Aeneas He Has Caused him To Be Drawn Like King

  William, With A Hooked nose. After My Return To Town,

  I Intend To Alter A Play Of Sir Robert Howard'S, Written

  Long Since, And Lately Put By Him Into My Hands; 'Tis Called

  The Conquest Of China By The Tartars. It Will Cost Me

  Six Weeks' Study, With The Probable Benefit Of A Hundred

  Pounds. In the Mean Time, I Am Writing a Song For St.

  Cecilia'S Feast, Who, You Know, Is The Patroness Of Musick.

  This Is Troublesome, And No Way Beneficial; But I Could

  Not Deny The Stewards Of The Feast, Who Came In a Body To

  Me To Desire That Kindness, One Of Them Being mr. Bridgman,

  Whose Parents Are Your Mother'S Friends.  I Hope To

  Send You Thirty Guineas Between Michaelmas And Christmas,

  Of Which I Will Give You An Account When I Come To

  Town. I Remember The Counsel You Give Me In your Letter;

  But Dissembling, Though Lawful In some Cases, Is Not My

  Talent; Yet, For Your Sake, I Will Struggle With The Plain

  Openness Of My Nature, And Keep In my Just Resentments

  Against That Degenerate Order. In the Mean Time I Flatter

  Not Myself With Any Manner Of Hopes, But Do My Duty, And

  Suffer For God'S Sake; Being assured, Beforehand, Never

  To Be Rewarded, Though The Times Should Alter. Towards

  The Latter End Of This Month, September, Charles Will Begin

  To Recover His Perfect Health, According to His Nativity,

  Which, Casting it Myself, I Am Sure Is True, And All Things

  Hitherto Have Happened accordingly To The Very Time That

  I Predicted them: I Hope, At The Same Time, To Recover

  More Health, According to My Age. Remember Me To Poor

  Harry, Whose Prayers I Earnestly Desire. My Virgil Succeeds

  In the World Beyond Its Desert Or My Expectation.

  You Know The Profits Might Have Been More; But Neither

  My Conscience Nor My Honour Would Suffer Me To Take

  Them: But I Never Can Repent Of My Constancy, Since I

  Am Thoroughly Persuaded of The Justice Of The Cause For

  Which I Suffer. It Has Pleased god To Raise Up Many

  Friends To Me Amongst My Enemies, Though They Who

  Ought To Have Been My Friends Are Negligent Of Me. I Am

  Called to Dinner, And Cannot Go On With This Letter, Which

  I Desire You To Excuse; And Am

 

 

 

  "Your Most Affectionate Father,

 

 

 

  "John Dryden."

 

 

 

[Footnote 92: The Life Of Dryden Is Written With More Than Johnson'S

Usual Copiousness Of Biography, And With Peculiar Vigour And Justness Of

Criticism. "None, Perhaps, Of The Lives Of The Poets," Says The Edinburgh

Review, For October, 1808, "Is Entitled to So High A Rank. No Prejudice

Interfered with His Judgment; He Approved his Politics; He Could Feel No

Envy Of Such Established fame; He Had A Mind Precisely Formed to Relish

The Excellencies Of Dryden--More Vigorous Than Refined; More Reasoning

Than Impassioned." Edinburgh Review, Xxv. P. 117. Many Dates, However,

And Little Facts Have Been Rectified by Mr. Malone, In his Most Minute

Account Of The Life And Writings Of John Dryden; And Sir Walter Scott, In

The Life Prefixed to His Edition Of Dryden'S Works, Has Been Still More

Industrious In the Collection Of Incidents And Contemporary Writings,

That Can Only Interest The Antiquary. Those To Whom Johnson'S Life Seems

Not Sufficiently Ample, We Refer To The Above Works. For An Eulogy

On Dryden'S Powers, As A Satirist, See The Notes On The Pursuits Of

Literature. Ed.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 93: Mr. Malone Has Lately Proved, That There Is No Satisfactory

Evidence For This Date. The Inscription On Dryden'S Monument Says Only

"Natus 1632." See Malone'S Life Of Dryden, Prefixed to His Critical And

Miscellaneous Prose Works, P. 5. Note. C.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 94: Of Cumberland. Ibid. P. 10. C.]

 

 

 

[Footnote 95: