full of force and nervous, but that they eafily yielded to all
the capricious airs of mufic. The fatyrifts of his time lafhed
him on this account: they reprefented his poetry, as with-
out nerves; and faid of his verfes, as fome cenfors did of
Horace's, that a thousand fuch might be made in a day. Mr.
Boileau is frequently fevere on our author, not for the fee-
bleness of his poetry, but for its foftnefs, its effeminacy, its
tendency to encrvate the mind and corrupt the morals:
la morale lubrique

Que Lully rechauffa des fons de fa mufique.

Satire X.

Boileau had occafion to speak of Quinaut more explicitly, and it may not be amifs to tranfcribe the paffage; which is to be found in his critical reflections upon some paffages in Longinus, and runs thus: "I do not mean here to caft the Reflection "leaft flur upon the memory of Mr. Quinaut, who, not"withstanding all our poetic fracas, died in friendship with "me. He had, I own, a great deal of genius, and a very " fingular talent in writing verfes fit for mufic. But then "these verfes had no great force in them, nothing elevated: " and it was their very feeblenefs, which made them fitter "for the musician, to whom they owe their principal glory. "In short, his operas are the only part of his works that "are enquired after, and principally for the fake of the mu"fic that accompanies them: his other dramatic pieces have "long fince ceafed to be acted, fo long that scarcely any one "remembers it. As to Mr. Quinaut himself, he was a very "honeft man, and withal so modeft, that I am perfuaded, "if he were alive, he would not be lefs offended with the "extravagant praises given him by Mr. Perrault, than with "the ftrokes in my fatires," Quinault has found another advocate in the celebrated Mr. Voltaire, who commends him for his lyric poetry, and for the mildness with which "he opposed the unjust fatires of Boileau.-Quinaut, fays "he, in a manner of writing altogether new, and the more "difficult for its feeming eafinefs, deferves likewise a place among these illuftrious contemporaries. It is well known, "with how little juftice Boileau endeavored to depreciate "this poet: nor ought we to diffemble, that Boileau, tho' "admirable in other refpects, had never learned to facrifice F 3

66

He had juft been fpeakneille, Racine, Mo

ing of Cor

liere, Fon "to taine, &c.

Siecle de Louis XIV. tom. II. ch.

der the word

QUI-
NAUT.

to the graces. It was in vain, that he fought all his life *to humble a man, whofe acquaintance with them was his "diftinguishing excellence. The trueft elogium of a poet

is, when his verfes are thought worthy the regard of pofແ terity. This has happened to whole fcenes of Quinaut : an advantage, which no Italian opera ever yet attained. "The French mufic has continued in a state of fimplicity, "which is not to the tafte of any nation: but the artless and " inimitable ftrokes of nature, which frequently appear with "fo many charms in Quinaut, ftill pleafe, in all parts of "Europe, those who understand our language, and are pof"feffed of a refined tafte. Did antiquity furnish fuch a põem as Armida, with what veneration would it be received? But Quinaut is a modern."

This poet died in 1688, after having enjoyed a handfome 29. and un- penfion from Lewis XIV. many years. We are told, that he was an extreme penitent in his laft illness for all his compofitions, which tended to inspire love and pleasure. We fhould not forget to obferve, that he was chofen a member of the French academy in 1670, and of the academy of infcriptions in 1674. His life is prefixed to the edition of his works in 1715.

Dodwelli
Annales
Quintilia-

nei, Lond.
1698. 8vo.

QUINTILIANUS (MARCUS FABIUS) an illuftrious rhetorician and critic of antiquity, and a most excellent author, was born in the beginning of the reign of Claudius Cæfar, about the year of Chrift 42. Aufonius, calls him Hifpanum and Calagurritanum; from whence it has ufually been fuppofed, that he was a native of Calagurris, or Calahorra, in Spain. It may be fo; it is however certain, that he was fent to Rome, even in his childhood, where he spent his youth, and compleated his education; having applied himself moft particularly to the cultivation of the ars oratoria. In the year 61, Galba was fent by the emperor Nero into Spain, as governor of one of the provinces there: and Quintilian, being then nineteen years old, is fupposed to have attended him, and to have taught rhetoric in the city of Calagurris, all the while Galba continued in Spain. And hence it is, that according to fome he was called Calagurritanus, and not from his being born in that city. These are

perfuaded,

perfuaded, in fhort, that he was actually born in Rome, all
his kindred and connections belonging to that city, and his
whole life from his infancy being spent there, except the seven
years of Galba's government in Spain. In the year 68, up-
on the death of Nero, Galba returned to Rome, and took
Quintilian with him: who there taught rhetoric at the ex-
pence of the government, being allowed a falary out of the
public treasury. He taught it with the highest reputation,
and formed many excellent orators, who did him great ho-
nor; among whom was the younger Pliny, who continued in
his fchool, to the year 78. He continued to teach it for
twenty years; and then, obtaining leave of Domitian to re-
tire, he applied himself to compofe his admirable book, called
Inftitutiones Oratorice. This is the most compleat work of
its kind, which antiquity has left us; and the design of it is
to form a perfect orator, who is accordingly conducted there-
in, and furnished with proper inftructions, from his birth
even to his death. It abounds with excellent precepts of all
kinds, relating to manners as well as criticism; and cannot
be read by perfons of any age, but with the greatest profit
and advantage. It would have been vaftly prejudicial to
"the literary world, fays Mr. Bayle, had Quintilian's works Diet.
"been loft, he being an excellent author: and it were to
"be wifhed, that all perfons, who mean to be authors,
"would, before they take up the pen for that purpose, read
"him very attentively. I am extremely forry, that I did not
"know the importance of this advice, till it was too late."
The first intire copy of the Inftitutiones Oratoricæ, for the
Quintilian then in Italy was horridly mutilated and imper-
fect, was discovered by Poggius in the monaftery of St. Gall,
at the time of holding the council of Conftance: a great
number of editions have fince been given of it by critics of
different nations: but the best is that of Leyden 1920, in
two volumes 4to. by the learned Peter Burman.

In the mean time, Quintilian did not only lay down rules for just speaking, but exhibited also his eloquence at the bar. He pleaded, as he himself tells us, for queen Berenice in her prefence; and was judged to be fo able a lawyer, that his pleadings were writ down in order to be fold to the booksellers. This practice however, which by the help of short

1. 12V

QUINTI

LIAN.

Juft. Orat.

lib. IV. in

Pref.

Ibid. lib.

VII. C. II.

Fitzol

J

hand prevailed in Rome, as it has fince done in other countries, fometimes did vaft injury to authors, by occafioning their works to appear under their names very imperfect. Quintilian fuffered on this account; as the following paffage in him plainly fhews: "the only quare in the cause of "Nævius Aprunianus was, whether he threw his wife head"long, or whether the voluntarily caft herself down. This "is the only pleading, fays he, I have yet published, to "which I will own I was induced by a youthful thirst after "glory. For as to the reft, which go under my name, as "they were corrupted by the negligence of the writer, whose "only view was gain, they contain but very little of what "I can call my own." This declaration of Quintilian, when he was growing old, and had retired from business, may teach us what judgment to form of the Declamationes, which still go under his name, and have frequently been printed with the Inftitutiones Oratoricæ. Burman tells us in his preface, that he fubjoined them to his edition, not because they were worthy of any man's time and pains, but that nothing might feem wanting to the curious. He will not allow them to be Quintilian's, but subscribes to the judgment of those critics, who suppose them to be the productions of different rhetoricians in different ages; fince, though none of them can be thought excellent, fome are rather more elegant than others.

borne's Letters, LXXIV.

The anonymous dialogue de Oratoribus, five de caufis corruptæ eloquentiæ, has fometimes been printed with Quintilian's works; yet the critics do not fuppofe it to be his. Many afcribe it to Tacitus, as it is commonly printed with the works of that hiftorian; and a polite fcholar, now living, feems inclined to give it to the younger Pliny; “ bẹ"cause, fays he, it exactly coincides with his age, is addref" fed to one of his particular friends and correfpondents, and is marked with fome fimilar expreffions and fentiments. "But as arguments of this kind are always more impofing "than folid," he wifely leaves it as "a piece, concerning "the author of which nothing satisfactory can be collected,” only "that it is evidently a composition of that period, in " which he flourished." What gave occafion to its being afcribed to Quintilian, was, that he actually wrote a book

- upan

upon this very fubject, and with this very title, as he himself declares: yet the critics are convinced by arguments, which Juft. Orat. lib. vi. in we cannot infert here, that the dialogue, or rather fragment of the dialogue, now extant, is not that of which Quintilian fpeaks, but the production of fome other writer.

proem.

Actione.

Quintilian spent the latter part of his life with great dignity and honor. Some imagine, that he was conful: but the words of Aufonius, on which they ground their supposition, fhew, that he did not poffefs the confulfhip, but only the confular ornaments; honeftamenta nominis potius, quam infignia poteftatis and we may add, that no mention is Aufon. in made of his name in the Fafti Confulares. It is certain, Gratiar. that he was preceptor to the grandfons of the emperor Domitian's fifter. Though Quintilian's outward condition and circumftances were profperous and flourishing, yet he labored under many domeftic afflictions, which tired out his patience, and forced him to complain of the cruelty of his fate. In his 41ft year, he married a wife, who was but twelve years old; and loft her, when she was nineteen. He beftows the higheft applaufes on her, and was inconfolable for her loss. She left him two fons, one of them died at five years old, and the other at ten, who was the oldeft, and poffeffed extraordinary talents. He bewails these loffes moft pathetically: he would have left off writing, and thrown into the fire all his compofitions: he was afraid he should be charged with being hard-hearted, if he fhould employ his tongue henceforward in any thing, but in inveighing againft Heaven: and he did not omit faying, that there is a malicious and jealous being, who does not fuffer very promifing children to be long-lived. Whoever will turn to the proemium of the fixth book of his Inftitutiones Oratoricæ, may fee, how indecently the wifeft of the heathens indulged upon certain occafions their impatience and murmuring.

Quintilian foon got the better of all this grief. Inftead of burning his Inftitutiones Oratoricæ, which was not then above half done, he continued and perfected it. He took a fecond wife in a year or two after, by whom he had a daughter, whom he lived to fee married; and who, at the time of her marriage, received a handsome dowry from his old scholar the

younger