THE On the different fpecies of Pho- bia, in a Letter to the Editor to be written by Dr Franklin, 83 * F A STATE of the BAROMETER in inches and decimals, and of Farenheit's THERMOMETER in the open air, taken between 12 and 3 o'clock, afternoon; and the quantity of rain-water fallen, in inches and decimals, from the 31st of July 1787, to the 30th of Auguft 1787, near the foot of Arthur's Seat. 9. 74 greatest height at noon. 77. 46. leaft ditto, morning. BAROMETER. Days. 30. 30.22 greatest elevation. 17. 29.275 leaft ditto. VIEWS IN SCOTLAND. LOCHMABEN CASTLE. [Some Account of this Caftle will be given in the next Number.] To the EDITOR. SIR, VENTURE to offer you fome remarks on an opinion delivered by Dr Johnfon in the 121ft Rambler. "The imitation of Spenfer," fays that mighty man, "by the influence of fome men of learning and genius, feems likely to gain upon the age, and therefore deferves to be attentively confidered. To imitate the fictions and fentiments of Spenfer can incur no reproach; for allegory is perhaps one of the moft pleafing vehicles of inftruction. But I am very far from extending the fame refpect to his diction or his ftanza. His ftyle was, in his own time, al lowed to be vicious; fo darkened with old words and peculiarities of phrase, and so remote from com mon ufe, that Jolinfon boldly pronounces him to have written no language. His ftanza is at once diffi cult and unpleafing; tirefome to the ear by its uniformity, and to the attention by its length. It was at firft formed in imitation of the Italian poets, without due regard to the genius of our language. The Italians have little variety of ter: mination, and were forced to contrive fuch a stanza as might admit the greatest number of fimilar rhymes; but our words end with fo much diverfity, that it is feldom convenient for us to bring more than two of the fame found together."-After offering fome more diffuafives, drawn from the topic of difficulty, he concludes, "Perhaps, however, the ftyle of Spenfer might, by long labour, be juftly copied; but life is furely given us for higher purposes, than to gather what our ancestors have wifely thrown away, and to learn what is of no value, but because it has been forgotten." It is my fortune (whether good or bad, I yet know not) to dislike every fingle particular of this arbi trary decifion. Arbitrary it certainly is, having no fupport from evidence of any fort. Every thing is affirmed, but nothing is proved. In offering opinions directly contrary, I fhall reft each of them on fuch proofs as I have been able to collect from the writings of the poet criticised. Life is furely given us for higher purposes, than to detail vague and dictatorial criticism; to cry out, This is fine! very fine! and that is vile-abominable! without a why or wherefore. And as both the Poet and Critic in question have finished their mortal courfe, we may fpeak of them freely as they are, or as their works declare them to have been. To compofe allegories in imitation of Spenfer the Doctor thinks a laudable bufinefs; or, at least, that it can incur no reproach: "For," faith he, "allegory is perhaps one. of the moft pleafing vehicles of in * F 2 ftruction," called the Bridge of Affes. The defiance is accepted; and thofe champlons arrive at oppofite ends of the fatal bridge, with their attendants, fquires, ftandard-bearers, and all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war. At formal found of the trumpet, they couch their lances, fpur their foaming courfers, and rush together, with fuch equal fury, force, and fkill, that they are both transfixed right in the centre of the umbilical region. But behold at that inftant arifes from the dreary flood below the fage enchanter Parafaragaramus, his dufky mantle fmeared with foot and fulphur, and his dun wig dropping with infernal dew. Juft as the champions are about to expire, feebly nodding their noddles at each other, Parafaragaramus strikes them with his potent wand, and transforms them into black marble. And this he did not without caufe; for he had been employed by Proferpine to procure a statue for a niche in her drawing-room. Then as he went to take the dimen, fions of the petrified knights, being a cunning man, he discovered with agreeable furprise, that the oppofite angles, formed by their fpears and the breafts of their corfelets, were precifely equal, as well below as above their navels. Charmed at this difcovery, he changed his intention, and refolved to leave them there, for the amusement and inftruction of pofterity; and to make the fact more obvious, he croffed their fwords below, and joined their plumes above, marking their armour befides with lines and talifmanic characters. But in fucceeding ages, many perfons travelling this road, have been fo terrified at the frightful figure, that they have turned back at the end of the bridge, chufing rather to abandon their enterprize, than to encounter a form fo horrible. ftruction," and perhaps it is not. An allegory, if fhort and fimple, may doubtless be very useful in impreffing a moral truth, or political maxim, on the minds of a rude people. At the moment of delivery, it will be more ftriking than a piece of dry doctrine; it will alfo be more eafily retained, or condenfed into a proverb to be called up occafionally. To tell an ignorant man, that things abfolutely out of his power ought to be abfolutely out of his care, or that what is unattainable ought not to be the object of defire-will do no good. His understanding will not at all, or with great difficulty, comprehend your meaning; his memory affuredly will not retain it. But if you give him a pretty little tale, of a fox making ineffectual leaps at a tempting cluster of grapes, he is at once enlightened; and these two words "four grapes," will thenceforth become a maxim of his life. It is only in cafes like this that alle gory can be inftructive. Those who have imagined that truths of a more complex and refined nature might be delivered with equal advantage in the fame manner, have certainly been mistaken; for after the allegory is with much labour conftructed, there is no instruction to be reaped from it, till you can expound the mystical meaning; and this is furely not the nearest road to know ledge. Let us fuppofe (what is ve ry improbable) that fome great poet were alfoa great mathemati cian, and that he undertook the hardy adventure of putting forth the elements of Euclid in a series of allegories: what delectable ftories would he give us! Book I. canto 5. for example, a worthy and puiffant knight, whofe name was Puzzlepate, fent a challenge to a falfe Pagan named Break-brains, defying him to fingle combat, on a most ancient and very dangerous bridge, Would not a poet juftly incur fome reproach, concerning the Imitation of Spencer. 49 reproach, who fhould debafe his cook, Concoction; the kitchen-clerk, powers in the embellishment of fuch a legend as this; and which,confidered as a vehicle of inftruction, could affuredly convey no profit; and confidered as an allegory, could give no pleasure?-For though it were dreffed out even by the hands of Spencer, with all his magic imagery and colouring, it could not afford the smallest delight, unless the contending knights were viewed as real perfons; not as the oppofite fides and bafe of an ifofceles triangle, with lines fuperadded for the demonstration of a theorem in mathematics. So, in reading the Fairy Queen, to receive all the pleasures which that poem can give, one muft induftriously avoid thinking on the allegoric meaning, ftill regarding Şir Guyon, Artigal, Calidore, and the reft, as true men engaged in true adventures; and not as abstract representations of temperance, juf tice, courtesy, and the other vir tues. If the mythologic meaning is kept in view, thofe characters can really create no more intereft than the lion in the Mid-fummer Night'sDream; after faying in his prologue, "Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am "No lion fell, nor elfe no lion's dam." A declaration defigned for the fecurity of the ladies, and which would certainly prevent any fuch effects as happened at the Furies of Æfchylus. For the fame reafon it is, that Spencer's work is dulleft where the allegory is moft correct; and, on the contrary, moft delightful where little or no allegory can be found. An example of the former we have in the defcription of the houfe of Temperance, where the whole progrefs of feeding, digeftion, and its confequences, is moft accurately depicted, by the mafter Digeftion, with their affiftant fcullions, boiling and stewing good stuff in a jolly cauldron, and not forgetting to convey what was nought to the back-gate; "that cleped was Port Efquiline." Of the latter, a moft charming inftance is in book 6. canto 10. where Calidore finds the Graces dancing to the melodious pipe of Colin, in a scene the most enchanting that ever poet fancied; and which, indeed, Milton feems to have remembered in defcribing the Mount of Paradise. I would conclude, therefore, on this head, that the particular in Spencer leaft deferving imitation is his allegory; for the best poffible allegory muft ever be inferior as a vehicle of inftruction, and far more as a vehicle of pleasure, to a defcription of real manners and real events. The powers of poefy are given to their poffeffors for higher purposes, than the fabricating of parables, and the decoration of riddles. But I am very far from extending the fame cenfure to his diction or his ftanza. That his ftyle was efteemed vicious in his own time, is incredible; for notwithstanding all the fluctuation of language, it is at this day, not only intelligible, but delightful; poffeffing a tender fweetnefs and fimplicity, which can never fail to charm. If it be Ben Johnfon, whom the Rambler mentions as affirming that Spencer wrote no language, he is truly a worthy witnefs; for he was fo good a man, that he never felt envy; fo good a critic, that he abufed Shakespeare; and fo good a poet, that in all his works there are not to be found together fix easy unaffected lines. None but a congenial fpirit would have thought of retailing his furly, malevolent, and falfe remark. Had Ben Johnfon, nor Samuel Johnfon never read fuch ftanzas as thofe following? BEHOLD, |