thofe, which have ftill a currency, and are not quite laid afide, fuch as are moft forcible and expreffive. For fo I underftand a paffage in Cicero, who urges this double use of old words, as an argument, to his orator, for the diligent His words ftudy of the old Latin writers. are thefe: Loquendi elegantia, quamquam expolitur fcientia literarum, tamen augetur legendis oratoribus [veteribus] et poetis funt enim illi veteres, qui ornare nondum poterant ea, quae dicebant, omnes prope præclare locuti-Neque tamen erit utendum verbis iis, quibus jam confuetudo noftra non utitur, nifi quando ornandi caufâ, parcè, quod oftendam; fed ufitatis ita poterit uti, lectissimis ut utatur is, qui in veteribus erit fcriptis ftudiosè et multum volutatus. [De Orat. 1. iii. c. 10. Thefe choice words amongst fuch as are ftill in ufe, I take to be those which are employed by the old writers in fome peculiarly strong and energetic fenfe, yet fo as with advantage to be copied by the mo derns, without appearing barbarous or affected, [See HoR. lib. II. ep. ii. 115.] And thereafon, by the way, of our finding fuch words in the old writers of every language, may be this. When ideas are new to us, they strike us moft forcibly; and we endeavour to exprefs, not our fense only, but our fenfations, in the terms we use to explain them. The paffion of wonder, which philofophy would cure us of, is of fingular ufe

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in raifing the conception, and ftrengthening the expreffion of poets. And fuch is always the condition of old writers, when the arts are reviving, or but beginning to refine. The other ufe of old terms, i. e. when become obsolete, he fays, must be made parcè, more fparingly. The contrary would, in oratory, be insufferable affectation. The rule holds in poetry, but with greater latitude; for, as he obferves in another place, and the reafon of the thing fpeaks, hæc funt poetarum licentia liberiora. [De. Or. iii. 38.] But the elegance of the style, we are told, is increased both ways. The reason is, according to Quinctilian (who was perfectly of Cicero's mind in this matter. See 1. x. c. 1.) Verba à vetuftate repetita afferunt orationi majeftatem aliquam non fine delectatione; nam et auctoritatem antiquitatis habent; et, quia intermissa sunt, gratiam novitati fimilem parant. [Lib. i. c. 6. fub fin.] But this is not all: The riches of a language are actually increased by retaining its old words; and befides, they have often a greater real weight and dignity, than thofe of a more fashionable caft, which fucceed to them. This needs no proof to such as are verfed in the earlier writings in any language. A very capable judge hath observed it in regard of the most admired modern one: Nous avons tellement laissé ce qui étoit au viel François, que nous avons laiffè quant et quant

la plus part de ce qu'il avoit de bon. [Trait. préparatif à l'Apol. pour Herod. 1. i. c. 28.] Or, if the reader requires a more decifive teftimony, let him take it in the words of that curious fpeaker, Fenelon. Nêtre langue manque d'un grand nombre de mots et de phrafes. Il me femble même qu'on la genée et appauvrie depuis environ cent ans en voulant la purifier. Il est vrai qu'elle étoit encore un peu informe et trop verbeufe. Mais le vieux language fe fait regretter, quand nous le retrouvons dans MAROT, dans AMIOT, dans le Cardinal d'OSSAT, dans les ouvrages les plus enjoues, et dans les plus ferieux. Il y avoit je ne fcai quoi de court, de näif, de vif, et de paffioné. [Reflex. fur la Rhetorique, Amft. 1733, P. 4.] From thefe teftimonies we learn the extreme value, which thefe mafters of compofition fet upon their old writers; and as the reafon of the thing juftifies their opinions, we may further fee the important use of fome late attempts to restore at better knowledge of our own. Which I obferve

with pleasure, as the growing prevalency of a very different humour, firft catched, as it should feem, from our commerce with the French models, and countenanced by the too fcrupulous delicacy of fome good writers amongst ourselves, had gone for towards unnerving the nobleft modern language, and effeminating the public tafte. This was not a little forwarded, by what

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generally makes its appearance at the fame time, a kind of feminine curiofity in the choice of words; cautioufly avoiding and reprobating all fuch (which were not seldom the most expreffive) as had been prophaned by a too vulgar use, or had fuffered the touch of fome other accidental taint. This ran us into periphrafes and general expreffion; the peculiar bane of every polished language. Whereas the rhetorician's judgment here again fhould direct us: Omnia verba (exceptis paucis parum verecundis) funt alicubi optima; nam et humilibus interim et vulgaribus eft opus, et quæ cultiore in parte videntur fordida, ubi res pofcit, propriè dicuntur. Which feems borrowed from Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus [wep. σuvdeo. § xii.] ἐδὲν ἔτω ταπεινὸν, ἢ ρυπαρόν, ἢ μικρὸν, ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ δυσχέρειαν ἔχον ἔσεσθαί φημι λόγε μόριον, σημαίνεταί τι σῶμα ἢ πρᾶγμα, ὃ μηδεμίαν ἕξει χῶραν ἐπιληδείαν ἐν λόγοις. However, thole two causes, "The rejection of old words, as bar"barous, and of many modern ones, as unpo66 lite," had fo exhaufted the strength and ftores of our language, that, as I obferved, it was high time for fome mafter-hand to interpofe, and fend us for supplies to our old poets; which, there is the higheft authority for faying, no one ever despised, but for a reason, not very confiftent with his credit to avow: rudem enim esse omnino F 3

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in noftris poëtis aut inertiffima fegnitia eft aut faftidii delicatiffima. [Cic. de Fin. 1. i. c. 2.]

72. SI VOLET USUS, &c.] Confuetudo certiffima loquendi magistra; utendumque planè fermone, ut nummo, qui publica forma eft. [Quinctil. 1. i. c. 6.] imitated from Horace. In Lucian too, we find it one of the charges brought against the pedant, Lexiphanes, that he clipped the standard COIN of the Greek language—σπεδην ποιέμενος ὡς δή τι μέγα ὂν, εἴτι ξενίζοι καὶ τὸ καθεςηκός ΝΟΜΙΣΜΑ τῆς φωνῆς παρακόποι. (C. 20.)

73. RES GESTAE, &c.] The purport of these lines [from 1. 73 to 86] and their connexion with what follows, hath not been fully feen. They would exprefs this general propofition, "That the feveral kinds of poetry effentially "differ from each other, as may be gathered, not "folely from their different subjects, but their "different meafures; which good fenfe, and an "attention to the peculiar natures of each, in"structed the great inventors and masters of "them to employ." The ufe made of this propofition is to infer," that therefore the like "attention fhould be had to the different fpecies "of the fame kind of poetry [1. 89, &c.] as in "the cafe of tragedy and comedy (to which the

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