Essais Author:James Beattie Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: moft inftruclive books in the world are writ-' ten in plain profe. Let this therefore be eftablifhed as a truth in criticifrn, That the end of poetry is, To P... more »lease. Verfes, if pleafing, may be poe-r tical, though they convey little or no inftruc- tioa; but verfes, whofe fole merit is, that they convey inftru£lion, are not poetical. Inftrudlion, however, efpecially in poems of length, is necelFary to their perfection, becaufb they would not be perfeftly agreeable without ib v CHAP. II, Of the Standard of Poetical Invention. Homer's beautiful defcription of the heavens and earth, as they appear in a calm evening by the light of the moon and liars, concludes with this circumftance, And the heart of the fhepherd is glad ." Madame Dacier, from the turn me gives to the paflage in her verfion, feems to think, and Pope, in order perhaps to make put his couplet, infinuates, that the gladnefs of thefhepherd is owing to his fenfe of the utility of thofe luminaries. And this may in part be the cafe : hut this is not in Homer ; nor is it a neceflary confideration. It is true, that, in contemplating the material uni- verfe, they who difcern the caufes and effects of things mull be more rapturoufly entertained, than thofe wh perceive nothing but fhape and iize, colour and motion. Yet, in the mere outfide of Nature's works, (if I may fo exprefs myfelf), there is a fplendour and a magnificence to which even untutored minds cannot attend, without great delight. Not that all peafants, or all philofophers, are equally fufceptible of thefe charming impremons. It is ftrange to obferve the cal- loufnefs of fome men, before whom all the glories of heaven and earth pafs in daily fuc- ceffion, without touching their hearts, elevating their fancy, or leaving any durable remembrance. Even of th...« less