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tre? Or is it fomething entirely different; fublimity of fentiment, boldness of figure, grandeur of defcription, or embellishment of imagination? Let us attend to the arguments, which may be offered on behalf of both thefe hypothefes.

"The characteristic nature of poetry, it may be faid, confifts, in elevation of thought, in imagery, in ornament."

"For, have there not been real poems formed, without the fhackle of regular verfe? Poems, which none, but a faftidious critic, would fcruple a moment to honour with that name? Is not Telemachus a noble epic poem? For who would dare to degrade it to a lower character? Who would refuse the afpellation to the Death of Abel, which thofe, who understand the German language, fpeak of with fo much rapture? Or to the Incas of Marmontel, which the French celebrate, with equal enthusiasm of praise!

"Does not elevation of fenti

ment produce modulation of language? The foul, infpired with great ideas, naturally treads with a lofty step. There is a dignity in all her movements. She declaims, with a meafured, folemn, majeftic utterance. Her ftyle is fonorous, and fwelling. Thefe attributes indicate; thefe conftitute the poet. They give strength and feeling to his compofitions. Where thefe are found, who would look for any higher claims, before he would confer the palm of poetic honours? Where these are wanting, what other properties could give even the fhadow of a title? Who would refufe the title of bard, to the great master of Hebrew fong? For what can be more truly fublime, or poetical, than many of the Pfalms of David? And yet, after the inge nious labours of the learned Dr.

Lowth, the metre or rhythm has not been exactly afcertained; and probably will not, because it does not exist. The harmony of numbers, of which every ear muft be fenfible, arifes purely from the native impulfe of a foul, infpired with fentiments which it could not poffibly exprefs in any language but what was fervid and poetical.

It

"By this theory, it may be faid, we account for the common remark, that the original language of mankind was poetical: because, in the infancy of the world, every thing would naturally excite admiration, and vehement paffion. Their rude and imperfect fpeech would bear infcribed upon it, the ftamp of ftrong and animated feeling. would refemble the harangues of Indian orators, at this day, whose fpeeches are accompanied with tones and gestures, which, to a cultivated European, appear extravagantly. pompous. Their lives were full of danger and variety. New fcenes were continually opening upon them. Growing arts and fciences were prefenting new objects of curiolity. Hence, their feelings were And hence, amazingly intenfe. their language was bold, and poeti cally fublime. Longinus, in the fragment of a treatife, which is unhappily loft, has this fentiment. "Meafure belongs properly to poetry, as it perfonates the paffions, and their language; it ufes fiction and fable, which naturally produce numbers and harmony."

"It may be added, in fupport "That our own of this definition, inimitable poet, than whom none feems more to have enjoyed the infpiration of the Mufe, defcribes the poet, as chiefly diftinguished by the fervour of imagination. He does not, indeed, affign him the most honourable company; but he makes ample amends, by a defcription of

language has entirely loft the ufe of the neuter, probably from this circumftance.

"The inflexions of verbs originated from the practice of compounding the radical word with particles and auxiliaries: the pertons were probably distinguished by the addition of a pronoun; and I think this might be demonftrated by a nice examination into the etymology of the pronouns, and due confideration in what manner they might be corrupted, when compounded with verbs.

"The perfonal inflexions might be difpenfed with (as in fome barbarous languages) provided the nominative cafe always ftood immedi ately before the verb; but as this was found to be frequently inconfiftent with convenience, as well as with elegance, the inflexion of the verb became neceffary, to avoid ambiguity, The Greek and Latin languages poffefs greater accuracy in this refpect than any I know, which enabled their authors to ufe greater liberty of tranfpofition, and even on fome occafions wholly to omit the perfonal pronouns.

"The perfonal inflexions ferve to mark distinctly the agent: but there is a more material circumftance to be defined by the inflexion of the verb, and that is, time; as a thing may exist at one moment in a ftate different from that which it will exist in the next. But fince it would be neither neceflary nor convenient always to fpecify the direct point of time, a few general divifions took place, and thefe are more or lefs in number, in proportion as the language was more or lefs formed when it became ftationary in writing.

"The general divifions of time, that we know to be capable of being diftinctly marked by inflexions

of the verb, are, 1. The prefent, I am reading. 2. The perfect past, I have read, or have done reading. 3. The future, I am about to read. 4. The aorist (or indefinite) of the prefent, of ufe in general affertions, as, I read frequently. 5. The aorift of the pait, I read, or did read. 6. The aorist of the future, I shall read. 7. The imperfect, I evas reading. 8. The plufquam-perfect (or the more than perfectly paft) i. e. was pat at a definite point of time, as, I had read Homer, before I Saw Mr. Pope's tranflation. 9. The future-perfect (or the afterfuture) which is to the future what the plufquam-perfect is to the past, as, I fhail have read the book, before you will want it.

"I know no language that diftinguishes all these divifions of time by the inflexions of the verb. The Greek approaches nearest to perfection in this point; but it has no prefent aorift, and is very incorrect in the ufe of the second aorist and fecond future, which, notwithstanding the apologies of fome ingenious writers, I am ftill inclined to think redundant: most probably they may be the antiquated tenfes. The Latin wants an aorift of the prefent, a definite future, and a paulo-poft-futurum, or future-perfect. The reader will fee by the above statement of the tenses, that we have only two inflexions to denote the times, viz. those of the prefent and the paft; the reft is performed by auxiliaries; and after all, it is with difficulty that we avoid confounding the present with the aorift of the prefent; e. g. A merry heart maketh a chearful counte◄ nance.

"To trace the formation of the Greek tenfes would be very diffi cult: the Latin is a lefs complex language, and in it we can trace

them with more certainty. In the auxiliary verb fum, it appears that the three principal tenfes have been originally different verbs; fum, fui, ero (whence I fuppofe eram). The tenfes of the regular verbs are evidently formed by compounding thefe with the radical verb; as, amabam, in all probability it was formerly ama-ram; ama-vi, at first it was probably ama-fui, which would eafily foften into amavi; amaveram, or amavi-eram; amabo, or ama-ro, corrupted like the imperfect. This fpecies of compofition is ftill more plainly exemplified in what we call the irregular verb poffum. Poffum, that is, potens-fum; pot-ui, or potens fui; potero, or potens-ero: the formation of the other tenfes is evident. The two tenfes of our auxiliary, an and vas, appear alfo to have been originally different verbs. Perhaps the Greek augment is derived from the past tense of a,, or; the only difference is, that it is prefixed, instead of being poftfixed as with the Latins.

"Besides the circumftance of time, there are two other circumftances of which verbs ought to inform us, and thofe are, actuality and contingency: whether a thing really exists, or there is only a poffibility of its existence; whether an action be really done, or is only commanded or wifhed to be done. Hence thofe inflexions, which are called moods (mode or manner of existence), of which all that we have feen are, the indicative, the fubjunctive (or contingent), the imperative, and the optative.

"The indicative denotes the thing or action as it really is; and is the verb in its primitive ftate, only fubject to the temporal inflexions.

"I can give no better account

of the contingent mood, than fuppofing it formed by the addition of fome particle, and a confequent contraction. The fubjunctive of the Latins was probably made by adding to the indicative em, from the Greek particle say, (fi, or if), as amo-em, amem, &c. Where there are two forms of conjugation, perhaps the antiquated form is adopted to fignify contingencies only. This is evidently the cafe in our own language; as, Indic. I am; Subj. I be, or if I be. I am inclined to think the Greek subjunctive came into ufe in the fame manner.

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"I have little doubt that what is called the imperative mood is no other than a coruption of the indicative or fubjunctive, by an iteration of the pronoun, as amas-te, which by ufe came to amate or a mato, and afterwards by ellipfis to ama.

know but one language that has an optative mood. In Greek the verb oua (oimai) anciently fignified to avib, and it is compounded with all the tenfes of the optative mood, as Tulos (tuptoimi), &c.

"The infinitive mood is to verbs what the abstract noun is to adjectives. It conveys a particular idea of the action, which may be generally applied. Thus the idea which the word avbitenefs conveys is, that of fome particular white body; the idea which the word to eat conveys is, that of fome ani mal in the action of eating.

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the verb to their regimen. Thus the verb in the infinitive fometimes represents a nominative cafe, as, Seire tuum nihil eft, &c. When the verb food in the place of the object, they frequently conformed it to the rule of the accufative, as, Eo amatum. Amandi correfponds to the genitive cafe of the noun, amando to the ablative.

"The participles are adjectives formed from the verb, and are probably a late invention. It is unne

ceffary to enlarge on them in this place; fince I am not writing a grammar, but a sketch of the hiftory of language.

"The paffive voice is evidently a late invention, and the middle voice a refinement till farther removed from common practice, almoft peculiar indeed to the Greeks. The paffive in Greek is plainly formed by the addition of to the participle."

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WH

OF HOME R, AND HIS

WORK S.

[From the Obferver. ]

WHEN the human genius was more matured and better qualified by judgment and experience, and the thoughts, inftead of being hurried along by the furious impulfe of a heated fancy, began to take into fober contemplation the worldly actions of men, and the revolutions and changes of human events, operating upon fociety, the poet began to prepare himself by forethought and arrangement of ideas for the future purposes of compofition. It became his first business to contrive a plan and groundwork for the structure of his poem: he faw that it must have uniformity, fimplicity, and order, a beginning, a middle, and an end; that the main object must be interefting and important, that the incidents and acceffary parts must hinge upon that object, and not wander from the central idea, on which the whole ought to reft; that a subject correfponding thereto, when elevated by language, fuperior to the phrafe and dialogue of the vulgar, would conftitute a work more orderly and better conftructed, than what arose

from the fudden and abrupt effufions of unpremeditated verse.

"In this manner Homer, the great poet of antiquity, and the fa ther and founder, as I must think, of epic poetry, revolving in his capacious mind the magnificent events of the Grecian affociation for the deftruction of Troy, then fresh in the tradition, if not in the memories, of his contemporaries, planned the great defign of his immortal Iliad. With this plan arranged and fettled in his thoughts beforehand, he began to give a loose to the force and powers of his imagination in ftrains and rhapsodies, which by frequent recitation fixed upon his memory, and, as he warmed with the advancing compofition, he fallied forth in fearch of hearers, chaunting his verfes in the affemblies and cities that received him; his fancy working out thofe wonderful examples of the fublime, as he took his folitary migrations from place to place. When he made his paffages by fea, and committed him felf to the terrors of the ocean, the grandeft fcenes in nature came un

der

der his view, and his plaftic fancy, feizing every object that accorded to its purposes, melted and compounded it into the mafs and matter of the work, on which his brain was labouring: thus with nature in his eye, infpiration at his heart, and contempaltion ever active, fecured by folitude against external interruption, and undisturbed by worldly cares and concerns from within, the wandering bard performed what time has never equalled, and what to all pofterity will remain the standard of perfectionHunc nemo in magnis fublimitate, in parvis proprietate, fuperaverit: idem latus ac preffus, jucundus et gravis, tum copia tum brevitate mirabilis; nec poetica modo fed oratoria virtute eminentiffimus-Quintil. lib. x. "Him no one ever excelled in fublimity on great topics, in propriety on fmall ones; whether diffufed or compreffed, gay or grave, whether for his abundance, or his brevity, he is equally to be admired; nor is he fuperemi nent for poetical talents only, but for oratorical alfo."

which might be found in the Ilias Minor. It is evident by the context, that he does not think either of thefe poems were compofed by Homer, and no less evident that he does not know to whom they are to be afcribed; their high antiquity therefore is the only point which this celebrated critic has put out of doubt.

"The Ilias Minor appears to have been a poem, which includes the taking of Troy, and the return of the Greeks. The incidents of the Æneid, as far as they refer to the Trojan ftory, feem to have been taken from this poem, and in particular the epifode of Sinon, which is amongst the dramatic fubjects mentioned by Ariftotle: the controversy between Ajax and Ulyffes for the armour of Achilles was copied by Ovid from the fame poem. If this work is not to be given to Homer, we must believe it was written fince the Iliad, from the evidence of its title; but if the author's name was loft in Ariftotle's tine, his antiquity is probably little fhort of Homer's fome fcholiafts have given this poem to Lefches; but when Lefches lived, and of what country he was, I find no account.

"There is no doubt but Homer compofed other poems befides his Iliad and Ody ffey. Ariftotle, in his Poetics, decidedly afcribes the Mar-"The Cypriacs are fuppofed to gites to Homer; but as to the Ilias contain the love-adventures of the Minor and the Cypriacs, though it Trojan ladies during the fiege, and is evident thofe poems were in his probably was a poem of fiction. hands, yet he feeins ignorant of their Herodotus has an obfervation in author; the paflage I allude to will his fecond book upon a paffage in be found in the twenty-third chap- this poem, in which Paris is faid to ter of his Poetics: he is comparing have brought Helen from Sparta to thofe two poems with the Iliad and Troy in the space of three days; Odyffey, as furnishing fubjects for whereas Homer fays they were long the drama, and obferves that the driven about on their voyage from flage could not properly draw above place to place. From this want of one or at most two plots for tragedy correfpondence in a fact of fuch from the Iliad and Ody ffey refpec- confequence, Herodotus concludes tively; whereas many might be upon fair grounds of criticifm, that taken from the Cypriacs; and he Homer was not author of the Cyenumerates to the amount of ten, priacs, though Pindar afcribes it to

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