746 
POETRY. 
portant and grand fubjeft: no lefs than the triumph of 
Chridianity ; the fafety, as it then appeared, of the whole 
world from the Muffulman yoke. The high and Intel- 
lefhial motives that prompted the mod diftant to tempt 
all the dangers of the ocean; the prowefs of a conquer¬ 
ing foe; the hofts of fupernatural beings, they feared 
were conjured againd them, gave an elevation to the 
fubjeft, which no narrative poem can podefs. 
Then, the fubjeft of the fird of epics, the Paradife Lolt, 
is not that, indeed, a fublime one? The fall of man; 
the ruin of the wicked ; the triumph of God, and the 
confequent rule of virtue—fplendid theme—beyond even 
Milton’s reach. 
We conclude, then, that an epic poem requires for its 
production an epic balls. But, of courfe, in hidory many 
events occur, fecondary indeed to the grand ones we 
have treated of, but dill important; fuch form the fub- 
jeft of epic poems, though of necedity they can fcarcely 
rife to the high charaCfer which greater topics excite. 
They do not give fcope for that requidte elevation of 
thought. Still, however, they have fome fublimity, and 
thus approach epic poetry. Narration is an elfential con- 
dituent of an epic poem, becaufe, from the natural love of 
ourfelves, and the pleafure we have in identifying our- 
felves with high characters, we love to trace great eyents 
to fome human motives or actions. Thus Achilles 
forms the grand character of the Iliad; by a picture of 
courage and might fuperior to all others. On him 
the mind reds; we like to fee how his mere quietude 
gives victory to the Trojans; and thus a battering dif- 
play of the power of the individual is delicately brought 
before us. An epic poem which defcribed an event alone 
could not intered us, becaufe we feel no interell in the 
immediate aCtors, who are great fources of our pleafure. 
From the importance of the event, and the fublimity 
of the characters, in an epic poem, digredions which do 
mot tend to develope character difgudus, unlefs there is 
fuch a paufe in the dory that the attention, being fatigued, 
requires a little change. Hence we deduce the rule, that 
the aCtion of an epic poem ftiould be continually had in 
•view ; for who, that had his eye fixed on the might of 
Achilles, the virtue of HeCtor, and the dreadful confiiCt 
between them which mud decide the fate of Troy and 
Greece, is not mortified to have his curiofity redrained by 
the defcription of a fliield. Yet Virgil does not make 
this defcription unpleafant to us, becaufe he brings it 
in at a natural paufe in his narration. Even in a mere 
narration, it is difagreeable tofind the courfe of the event 
interrupted ; but dill it is frequently admidible, and it is 
pleafant to be informed of all the circumdances connected 
with the hero of a tale, whether they immediately con¬ 
cern the ultimate event or not. Thus adventure follows 
adventure, and chara&er charaCler, often with much 
felicity. But no fuch trivial matters mud be fpoken of in 
the epic, becaufe they have nothing to do with the mere 
event which engrodes the mind. For the fame reafon, 
the epic mufe fiiould not condefcend to fpeak in any other 
than polifhed and magnificent language, and in lofty fen- 
timenf. Still thefeare general rules, which Homer never 
probablyknew,and which were never obferved clofely either 
by him or his followers. They arofe fpontaneoudy out 
of his fubjeCl ; and, if any deviation from them in an epic 
be found to pleafe, it will be proper to ufe it. 
The characters of the epic it is unnecedary to invedigate 
here, fince they are more properly to be fpoken of under 
Tragedy. The epic character excludes, however, the 
dialogue, fo beautiful and expredive in a play ; but it has 
the advantage of filling up fhofe deficiencies a want of it 
might create, by the narrations of the author himfelf. 
There exilts in each of the epic poems what is called 
■machinery; that is, the events do not arife altogether as 
confequences of human aCtion, but are the work of 
gods or other fupernatural agents. We may fpeak fear- 
lefsly, that Homer, Virgil, and Milton, have all failed in 
this introduction of heavenly beings. Reafon of courfe 
demondrates the exidence’of God, as plainly as fenfe does 
that of matter. Reafon alfo leads us to the knowledge 
that he is eternal and all-powerful. We have good 
grounds alfo for inferring, that thofe good faculties we 
podefs, fuch as mercy and judice, are part of him : but, 
when we come to fpeak of him, or of any fpiritual agent, 
in our language, we are frequently found to talk of him 
as a material thing, and, in the weaknefs of our nature, 
to afcribe to him motives that are unworthy. To per- 
fonify all the padions, to people all nature with feparate 
deities, to perpetuate under forms of worfiiip the memory 
of their departed heroes, was the beautiful fydem of tho 
ancients. To view thefe creations of the mind as links 
which led to the great Jupiter, hominum dcorumquejator, 
the Fird Caufe, was an excellent mode (in the abfence of 
revelation, and of natural philofophy,) of keeping the 
mind intent on the fpiritual nature, and certainly pro¬ 
duced no contemptible fruits. The ancient mythology 
was to the philofopher a feries of iiludrations of religion, 
to the vulgar a multitude of engaging and palpable, forms 
for worfhip. We might forgive Homer the introduction 
of Mars, a picture of the fighting propenfities of man, of 
Venus (his lud), of Minerva (his wifdom). We might 
even pardon a poet’s warmth, if heallowed thefepadions to 
go beyond merely dirring up men to aCtion, and let them 
fight and day, and be wounded, themfelves. But lvow 
are we difguded when the God of Gods is lulled into 
inaCtion by the girdle of Venus, and fud'ers his own crea¬ 
tions to go altray, his chofen heroes to be difcomfited ! 
How mult this have overturned the purity of worfiiip! 
Viewed merely as a matter of gratification, it is very dis¬ 
appointing to a refined imagination to find every incident 
in a poem accoinplilhed by fupernal means. How 
extremely abfurd is Virgil to caule Diana to kill Accius 
with her own dart, the death of this coward being, one 
would fuppofe, the eafied matter in the world to accom- 
plifh; one of Camilla’s amazonian nymphs could not 
have been better employed. 
We pafs over any particular analyfis of the machinery 
of Virgil’s poem, becaufe, as he clofely copied Homer, 
his faults are of courfe thofe of his mader. But what 
fhall we fay to Milton, who has mixed the pure truths 
of the Chridian faith with the outrageous inventions of 
the early fcripture commentators ? When he tells of tlie 
mind of Satan, he is great indeed ; when the angel darts 
into chaos; when he meets with Sin and Death, all the 
allegory is beautiful; but, when he fights with the 
angels, and makes ufe of gunpowder, he is no longer the 
mere embodying of a fpiritual ill, but the aCtual devil 
with a cloven foot and a great pitchfork. Abfurd concep¬ 
tion ! The hot paving of hell is equally nonfenfical. 
Not fo the miferable occupation of the doubting fiends, 
who argue falfe metaphyfics. If he had followed out 
this notion, which of courfe prefumes that the fall from 
heaven had circumlcribed their knowledge, the poet 
might have made a much more dreadful date of perdition. 
We mud not blame Milton, however; metaphyfics had 
not made much progrefs in his time, and he borrowed 
too liberally the ideas of the Catholic poets of Italy. We 
mud forgive, in the fublime thoughts of virtue and God 
that he fparkles with, occafional meannelTes. We mud 
forget that, in one place, the devils, too big to dand in 
their halls, turn into pigmies; and, in another, are 
clothed in armour, and run through with a fword- We 
mud allow, that, though the angel of God rides on a fun- 
beam, he may, by taking a corporeal form to bevifibleto 
Adam, (though Milton (hould have exprefled this,) like 
eating and drinking. But one thing we mud guard 
againd : it is allowing the young to read this poem with 
feelings different to thofe they perufe Homer or Virgil 
with. The whole machinery of Paradife Loll is the inven¬ 
tion of man, neither fupported by revelation nor reafon. 
Hence it is ail amufing vagary, but noexpofition of our 
fublime faith : to allow the young and enthufiadic to 
deteriorate their Chridianity by mixing it with Milton’s 
c feeble 
