That which giveth a poem the true and natural colour, consisteth in two things; which are, _to know well_, that is, to have images of nature in the memory distinct and clear; and _to know much_. A sign of the first is perspicuity, propriety, and decency; which delight all sorts of men, either by instructing the ignorant, or soothing the learned in their knowledge. A sign of the latter is novelty of expression, and pleaseth by excitation of the mind; for novelty causeth admiration, and admiration curiosity, which is a delightful appetite of knowledge.
There be so many words in use at this day in the English tongue, that, though of magnific sound, yet like the windy blisters of troubled waters, have no sense at all, and so many others that lose their meaning by being ill coupled; that it is a hard matter to avoid them. For having been obtruded upon youth in the schools, by such as make it, I think, their business there, as it is expressed by the best poet “With terms to charm the weak and pose the wise,” GONDIBERT, Book ii. Canto 5, verse 44.
they grow up with them, and gaining reputation with the ignorant, are not easily shaken off.
To this palpable darkness, I may also add the ambitious obscurity of expressing more than is perfectly conceived; or perfect conception in fewer words than it requires. Which expressions, though they have had the honour to be called strong lines, are indeed no better than riddles, and not only to the reader, but also after a little time to the writer himself, dark and troublesome.
To the propriety of expression I refer that clearness of memory, by which a poet when he hath once introduced any person whatsoever, speaking in his poem, maintaineth in him to the end the same character he gave him in the beginning. The variation whereof, is a change of pace, that argues the poet tired.
Of the indecencies of an heroic poem, the most remarkable are those that show disproportion either between the persons and their actions, or between the manners of the poet and the poem. Of the first kind, is the uncomeliness of representing in great persons the inhuman vice of cruelty, or the sordid vices of lust and drunkenness. To such parts, as those the ancient approved poets thought it fit to suborn, not the persons of men, but of monsters and beastly giants, such as Polyphemus, Cacus, and the Centaurs. For it is supposed a Muse, when she is invoked to sing a song of that nature, should maidenly advise the poet to set such persons to sing their own vices upon the stage; for it is not so unseemly in a _tragedy_. Of the same kind it is to represent scurrility, or any action or language that moveth much laughter. The delight of an _epic_ poem consisteth not in mirth, but admiration. Mirth and laughter are proper to _comedy_ and _satire_. Great persons, that have their minds employed on great designs, have not leisure enough to laugh, and are pleased with the contemplation of their own power and virtues, so as they need not the infirmities and vices of other men to recommend themselves to their own favour by comparison, as all men do when they laugh. Of the second kind, where the disproportion is between the poet and the persons of his poem, one is in the dialect of the inferior sort of people, which is always different from the language of the court. Another is, to derive the illustration of any thing from such metaphors or comparisons as cannot come into men’s thoughts, but by mean conversation, and experience of humble or evil arts, which the person of an epic poem cannot be thought acquainted with.
From _knowing much_, proceedeth the admirable variety and novelty of metaphors and similitudes, which are not possible to be lighted on in the compass of a narrow knowledge. And the want whereof compelleth a writer to expressions that are either defaced by time, or sullied with vulgar or long use. For the phrases of poesy, as the airs of music, with often hearing become insipid; the reader having no more sense of their force, than our flesh is sensible of the bones that sustain it. As the sense we have of bodies, consisteth in change of variety of impression, so also does the sense of language in the variety and changeable use of words. I mean not in the affectation of words newly brought home from travel, but in new, and withal significant, translation to our purposes, of those that be already received; and in far-fetched, but withal, apt, instructive, and comely similitudes.
Having thus, I hope, avoided the first exception, against the incompetency of my judgment, I am but little moved with the second, which is of being bribed by the honour you have done me, by attributing in your preface somewhat to my judgment. For I have used your judgment no less in many things of mine, which coming to light will thereby appear the better. And so you have your bribe again.
Having thus made way for the admission of my testimony, I give it briefly thus. I never yet saw poem, that had so much shape of art, health of morality, and vigour and beauty of expression, as this of yours. And but for the clamour of the multitude, that hide their envy of the present under a reverence of antiquity, I should say further, that it would last as long as either the _Æneid_, or _Iliad_, but for one disadvantage; and the disadvantage is this; the languages of the Greeks and Romans, by their colonies and conquests, have put off flesh and blood, and are become immutable, which none of the modern tongues are like to be. I honour antiquity; but that which is commonly called _old time_, is _young time_. The glory of antiquity is due, not to the dead, but to the aged.
And now, whilst I think of it, give me leave with a short discord to sweeten the harmony of the approaching close. I have nothing to object against your poem; but dissent only from something in your preface, sounding to the prejudice of age. It is commonly said, that old age is a return to childhood. Which methinks you insist on so long, as if you desired it should be believed. That is the note I mean to shake a little. That saying, meant only of the weakness of body, was wrested to the weakness of mind, by froward children, weary of the controlment of their parents, masters, and other admonitors. Secondly, the dotage and childishness they ascribe to age, is never the effect of time, but sometimes of the excesses of youth, and not a returning to, but a continual stay, with childhood. For they that wanting the curiosity of furnishing their memories with the rarities of nature in their youth, pass their time in making provision only for their ease and sensual delight, are children still at what years soever; as they that coming into a populous city, never going out of their inn, are strangers still, how long soever they have been there. Thirdly, there is no reason for any man to think himself wiser to-day than yesterday, which does not equally convince he shall be wiser to-morrow than to-day. Fourthly, you will be forced to change your opinion hereafter when you are old; and in the mean time you discredit all I have said before in your commendation, because I am old already. But no more of this.
I believe, Sir, you have seen a curious kind of perspective, where he that looks through a short hollow pipe upon a picture containing divers figures, sees none of those that are there painted, but some one person made up of their parts, conveyed to the eye by the artificial cutting of a glass. I find in my imagination an effect not unlike it, from your poem. The virtues you distribute there amongst so many noble persons, represent, in the reading, the image but of one man’s virtue to my fancy, which is your own; and that so deeply imprinted, as to stay for ever there, and govern all the rest of my thoughts and affections in the way of honouring and serving you to the utmost of my power, that am, Sir, Your most humble and obedient servant, THOMAS HOBBES.
------- LETTER TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDW. HOWARD.[B] TO THE RIGHT HON. MR. EDWARD HOWARD.
SIR, My judgment in poetry hath, you know, been once already censured by very good wits, for commending _Gondibert_; but yet they have not, I think, disabled my testimony. For what authority is there in wit? A jester may have it; a man in drink may have it; be fluent over night, and wise and dry in the morning. What is it? Or who can tell whether it be better to have it or be without it, especially if it be a pointed wit? I will take my liberty to praise what I like, as well as they do to reprehend what they do not like. Your poem, Sir, contains a well and judiciously contrived story, full of admirable and heroic actions, set forth in noble and perspicuous language, such as becomes the dignity of the persons you introduce: which two things of themselves are the heighth of poetry. I know that variety of story, true or feigned, is the thing wherewith the reader is entertained most delightfully. And this also to the smallness of the volume is not wanting. Yours is but one small piece; whereas the poets that are with us so much admired, have taken larger subjects. But let an English reader, in Homer or Virgil in English, by whomsoever translated, read one piece by itself, no greater than yours; I may make a question whether he will be less pleased with yours than his. I know you do not equal your poem to either of theirs: the bulk of the work does not distinguish the art of the workman. [The Battle of Mice and Frogs may be owned without disparagement by Homer himself. Yet if Homer had written nothing else, he never had had the reputation of so admirable a poet as he was.][C] Ajax was a man of very great stature, and Teucer a very little person: yet he was brother to Ajax, both in blood and chivalry. I commend your poem for judgment, not for bulk; and am assured it will be welcome to the world with its own confidence; though if it come forth armed with verses and epistles, I cannot tell what to think of it. For the great wits will think themselves threatened, and rebel. Unusual fortifications upon the borders, carry with them a suspicion of hostility. And poets will think such letters of commendation a kind of confederacy and league, tending to usurp upon their liberty. [I have told you my judgment, and you may make use of it as you please. But I remember a line or two in your poem, that touched upon divinity, wherein we differed in opinion. But since you say the book is licensed, I shall think no more upon it, but only reserve my liberty of dissenting, which I know you will allow me.][D] I rest, Sir, Your most humble and obedient servant, THOMAS HOBBES.
Footnote B: This letter is here printed from the autograph of Mr. Hobbes, now in the possession of Rowland Eyles Egerton Warburton, Esq. of Arley Hall, Cheshire. The same letter, with the variations hereafter noticed, was prefixed to Mr. Howard’s poem, “_The British Princes_,” published in 1669: it is there addressed “_To the Honourable Edward Howard, Esq. on his intended impression of his poem of the 'British Princes,'_” and is subscribed, “_I need say no more, but rest, Your Honour’s most humble and obedient servant_, THOMAS HOBBS. _Chatsworth, Nov. the 6th, 1668._” Footnote C: The passage between brackets is omitted in the letter prefixed to the _British Princes_, and the following is substituted for it: “_Besides 'tis a virtue in a poet to advance the honour of his remotest ancestors, especially when it has not been done before. What, though you out-go the limits of certain history? Do painters, when they paint the face of the earth, leave a blank beyond what they know? Do not they fill up the space with strange rocks, monsters, and other gallantry, to fix their work in the memory of men by the delight of fancy? So will your readers from this poem think honourably of their original, which is a kind of piety._” Footnote D: This passage is omitted in the “_British Princes_.”
END OF VOL. IV.
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------- _To be completed in 12 Vols. 8vo. each 12s. cloth lettered_, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS HOBBES OF MALMESBURY, NOW FIRST COLLECTED AND EDITED BY SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, BART. M.P.
------- Although the close reasoning of HOBBES, expressed in beautiful language, has created a host of admirers, yet, owing to the excessive rarity of his detached writings, many of which have never been reprinted, no complete set of his works is to be found in any one of our public or private libraries. To remedy this evil, and to present an edition worthy of the Author, the Editor has collected together the various pieces, and at his own cost has determined to reprint them uniformly, in the best style of modern typography. Five volumes (I. II. of the Latin, and I. III. and IV. of the English works) are already published, and the remainder will follow as speedily as a due regard to correctness will allow.
As the impression is limited, and the price of each volume (between 500 and 600 pages, with Engravings) is unusually low, the Publisher has every reason to expect that within a short period the whole of the copies will be subscribed for, and therefore would earnestly recommend an early application, to prevent disappointment.
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“Hobbes’ language is so lucid and concise that it would almost be as improper to put an algebraical process in different terms as some of his metaphysical paragraphs.”—HALLAM.
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“Here let us do justice to that great man’s memory, at a time his writings seem to be entirely neglected, who, with all his errors, we must allow to be one of the first men of his age, for a bright wit, a deep penetration, and a cultivated understanding.”—BP. WARBURTON.
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=A New Edition, with Notes,= BY THE REV. JOHN S. BREWER. M.A. OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
------- As Dr. Field’s Book of the Church has become excessively rare, and, though much in request, is not attainable at any price, the Publisher, at the suggestion of several eminent clergymen, has undertaken a new edition of this very valuable work. In order to render it worthy of attention, and far superior to all preceding ones, the Rev. J. S. Brewer (a Gentleman whose well-known diligence and accuracy guarantee its being executed in the best manner) has kindly offered his services to collate the various editions, to verify all the References, and to supply additional Notes where necessary. He has likewise determined, on account of the extreme rarity of many of the Authors cited by Dr. Field, to give his quotations at full length at the bottom of each page; and at the end of every chapter a brief list of writers, especially of English Divines, who have treated on the same subject: thus rendering the work a TEXT BOOK OF THEOLOGY.
As the rarity of this masterpiece of one of our most eminent Divines has prevented its being so universally known as it deserves to be, the Publisher may be pardoned for citing a few among the numerous commendations in its favour.
Coleridge, the Poet, in a letter to his son, the Rev. Derwent Coleridge, emphatically writes:—“THIS ONE VOLUME, THOROUGHLY UNDERSTOOD AND APPROPRIATED, WILL PLACE YOU IN THE HIGHEST RANK OF DOCTRINAL CHURCH-OF-ENGLAND DIVINES, AND OF NO MEAN RANK AS A TRUE DOCTRINAL CHURCH HISTORIAN.”
King James I. delighted to discourse with Field on points of Divinity, and, when he first preached before him, said: “Is his name Field? This is the FIELD for God to dwell in.” On hearing of his death, the King expressed regret, and added, “I should have done more for that man!”
Fuller, in the same punning age, calls him, “That learned Divine, whose memory smelleth like a FIELD which the Lord hath blessed.”
Anthony a Wood tells us he was esteemed “the best disputant in the schools.”
“Field was well skilled in School Divinity, and a frequent preacher while he lived in Oxfordshire, and is said to have been very instrumental in preventing the increase of nonconformity in the University.”—GOUGH.
“When he first set about writing his book 'OF THE CHURCH,' his old acquaintance, Dr. Kettle, dissuaded him, telling him that when once he was engaged in controversy he would never live quietly, but be continually troubled with answers and replies. To this Field answered, 'I will so write that they shall have no great mind to answer me;' which proved to be nearly the case, as his main arguments were never refuted.”—CHALMERS.
Heylin, in his “Life of Laud,” calls him, “the reverend right learned Dr. Field, whose excellent works will keep his name alive to succeeding ages.”
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