VOLTAIRE. 43 



doubt true, that this is, of all his poetical works, the 

 most perfect, showing most wit, most spirit, most of 

 the resources of a great poet, though of course the 

 nature of the subject forbids all attempts at either the 

 pathetic or the sublime ; but in brilliant imagery in 

 picturesque description in point and epigram in 

 boundless fertility of fancy in variety of striking and 

 vigorous satire all clothed in verse as natural as 

 Swift's, and far more varied as well as harmonious 

 no prejudice, however naturally raised by the moral 

 faults of the work, can prevent us from regarding it as 

 the great masterpiece of his poetical genius. Here of 

 course the panegyric must close, and it must give way 

 to indignation at such a perversion of such divine 

 talents. The indecency, often amounting to absolute 

 obscenity, which pervades nearly the whole compo- 

 sition, cannot be excused on the plea that it is only a 

 witty licentiousness, instead of one which excites the 

 passions ; still less can it be palliated by citing bad pre- 

 cedents, least of all by referring to such writers as 

 Ariosto, who more rarely violates the laws of decorum ;* 



* In some of the author's correspondence he is fond of referring 

 to indelicate passages of other writers in his justification ; nay, even 

 to the plain language used in some parts of the Old Testament. This 

 flimsy reason is at once put to flight by Sir Joshua Reynolds's illustra- 

 tion of the nakedness of the Indian and the prostitute. But it is worth 

 while to observe how carefully the first and greatest of poets avoids 

 all cause of blame in the passages where he is brought towards the 

 verge of indecency. The Song of the Bard, in the 8th Odyssey, 

 where Vulcan's discovery of Mars and Venus is related, is the most 

 remarkable of these ; and the jocose talk of Apollo and Mars on the 

 subject savours somewhat of ribaldry. But see the short and simple 

 expressions used, and mark that nothing is liquorishly dwelt on : 



'&Q TO. 9rpwra fiiyrjffav tv 'H0a(0r<HO $ojj.OLffir>. (viii. 269.) 



And 



