the least maim the Action we ought to conclude that this relation is an irregular Episode or rather a Medley of irregular Episodes which corrupt the Unity of the Action For a just Episode must be a part of the Action but an Episode says Aristotle which can be transpos'd or remov'd without maiming or altering thé Action that is by no means a part of the Action Thus we have endeavour'd to show that the Action of Prince Arthur has Episodes in it which are vicious and irregular and which corrupt its Unity Two things are yet to be prov'd that this Action is not entire and that there are things in the disposition of it which destroy the Moral CHAP. VII Of the Integrity of the Action WE have said already that an Action to be entire must have a Beginning a Middle and an End And that as that was a just beginning of an Action which began it so as that the Reader should require nothing preceeding it to understand what he reads so that was a just end which requir'd nothing to follow it and left the Reader in no expectation or at least no doubt of what was to come We are now to show that Mr. Blackmore's Poem has not this just end For after the Combat between Prince Arthur and Tollo the Poet should have shewn us the former in the quiet possession of his Dominions and restor'd to the Throne of his Father Perhaps Mr. Blackmore may say that Virgil has ended his Action with the single Combat between Aeneas and Turnus 'T is true he did so but Mr. Blackmore may be pleas'd to consider that Turnus had been the main Obstacle to the Trojans Establishment Yet Virgil was not contented with removing him he had before taken care to remove the less as Amata Mezentius Camilla But Octa is all along the main Obstacle to the Restoration of Arthur and therefore he continuing in power and place at the end of the Poem the main Obstruction is yet in the way and the end of the Action cannot be just 'T is true Latinus remain'd in Power after the single Combat but first he had never oppos'd Aeneas quite contrary he had at Aeneas his very first Arrival desir'd him for the Heir of his Empire and for his Son-in-Law Hunc illum poscere fata Et reor siquid veri mens augurat opto And Secondly he had taken a solemn Oath to deliver up his Daughter to Aeneas upon his success Octa it will be urg'd had taken the like Oath But what signifies an Oath to a Man of Octa's perfidious Principles Latinus was just and honourable and was inclin'd to the Trojan Oct'a was base and treacherous and and mortally hated the Briton 'T is true indeed he had made a solemn Covenant but then he had made one before too which yet upon the first advantage he broke What security then can the Reader have that he intended to keep this inviolable And consequently how can we have any Moral assurance from the Action that Arthur upon the success of the single Combat was restor'd to his Father's Kingdom Thus it appears that the main Obstruction continuing the Action cannot be justly ended and Octa lies as a scandal in our way to the Moral Of which we design to say more in the following Chapter CHAP. VIII Of the Moral SInce Mr. Blackmore's Poem wants a just End it manifestly wants a Moral which must always be deduc'd from the very last Event If Prince Arthur has any Moral it must be the same with Virgil's Which is this That those great and good Men who are chosen by Heav'n to be the Instruments of its great Designs are highly favour'd and protected by Heav'n and that all who oppose them are impious in vain and shall be severely punish'd for their Impiety This Moral has Two Parts The first is that the great and good Men whom Heav'n chooses to be the Instruments of its great Designs are under the divine Protection and consequently shall infallibly succeed in their Undertakings We have said once already that the Action is to prove the Moral and if any one shall urge against this that to conclude from Particulars to Generals is not a Logical proceeding To this we answer That the Action at the bottom is Universal and Allegorical even after the Imposition of Names and that the Persons likewise after they are made Singular by the Imposition of Names remain at the bottom Universal and Allegorical To illustrate this by Example Aeneas succeeds in his Undertaking and is establish'd Aeneas at the bottom is an Universal Character and is put for any or every good and great Man that is chosen by Heav'n to be instrumental in the carrying on its great Designs And therefore the showing that Aeneas succeeds shows that every such good and great Man succeeds in such Enterprizes and is establish'd To show which is to demonstrate the Moral but then it must be shown or the Moral remains unprov'd Now I would fain ask how Mr. Blackmore's Poem shews Prince Arthur's Establishment when we neither see it nor have any Moral assurance of it but on the Contrary have very just Reasons to doubt of it But there is yet another Place in the Story which is destructive of this first Part of the pretended Moral King Uter is a very good King at least Mr. Blackmore tells us so tho' the Character which he gives of him does not inform us so but of that we shall speak in its place and yet this very good King who begins a very just War for the recovering Liberty and the securing Religion loses at once his Life and his Kingdom by the Villainy of a treacherous Pagan But now let us come to the second Part of the Moral which is That all who oppose these great and these good Men are impious in vain and shall be severely punish'd for their Impiety Now Octá first opposes King Uter and that by a base and a treacherous Way and not in an open and honourable Manner as Mezentius and Turnus resisted Aeneas yet Treachery prevails and Right and Innocence fall But that is not all The same Octa opposes the Restoration of Arthur makes a League upon his ill Success and then perfidiously breaks it yet at last is left in Power and Place and we find to our Sorrow that the very worst thing that can happen to him is that he is like to Marry his Daughter to the Hero whose Father he Murder'd Thus we have shown that there are two things in Mr. Blackmore's Poem which destroy his Moral which being destroy'd the Fable falls of course For says Bossu the most essential Part of a Fable and that which indispensably ought to be the Foundation of it is the Truth that is signified by it Now the Fable being faln the Action is gone For the Fable says Aristotle Chap. 6. is the Imitation of an Action that is it is an Universal and Allegorical Action And thus we see that there is
Sententious Harangue which we cited above he both delays and discontinues his Action to give a tedious Account of the very Moral of that Action if it can pretend to a Moral But perhaps Mr. Blackmore may say that to instruct by Fable is not so Christian as to instruct by Precept To this I answer First That if he was of that Opinion he ought not to have begun to write an Epick Poem And secondly That the Author and Founder of our Religion as appears by his Parables is of another Mind Now as it is plain that Epick Poetry properly instructs by Action so it is manifest that the true Philosophy and the true Religion can be only shown by Action If a Poet has a mind to make his Hero perfectly vertuous he has free Liberty to do so Let him make him as much a Philosopher and as much a Christian as he pleases But let his Philosophy and let his Religion both appear by his Action It is the King's Example that influences the People and not the Words which he speaks Let him take care to make his People prosper out of a sense of his Duty and that in a Monarch's Religion Aeneas never is discover'd Preaching but he is always found to be the same Always good-natur'd always pious always carefull and anxious for his People Now let us examine Mr. Blackmore's Speculative Hero and see how constant he is to himself We find Prince Arthur appearing at first with three very commendable Qualities which were Piety Valour and a Care and Concern for his People So that the Poet is now oblig'd to maintain these Qualities in his Hero and to make him behave himself throughout the whole Poem like a Man that has Piety and undaunted Courage and the tender'st Concern for his People What will any one say now to see this very Hero who in the first Book of the Poem is so concern'd for the Souls of his Subjects that tho' they were but just escap'd from a Storm in which they had been terribly Tempest-beaten and were wet and cold and weary and hungry and spiritless yet does not suffer them so much as to refresh themselves before he instructs them What will any one say to see this Prince neglect this People after the strangest manner What will any one say to see this Valiant and this Pious King become as fearfull as the meanest and as impious as the most profligate of all his Subjects In the Sixth Book while the Plague was raging in the British Army Arthur by Devotion brings down the Angel Raphael who tells him the Cause of his Affliction in the following Verses Th' Angelick Guards return'd to Heav'n complain'd That your flagitious Troops you ne'er restrain'd Your Captains boldly Whoredoms Riots Rapes Commit and yet each Criminal escapes Thus you avow the Ills by others done And their unpunish'd Guilt becomes your own And thus if we will believe the Poet 's own Angel the Hero is neglectfull of his People and impious But this is at the latter end of the Sixth Book Let us now return to the First Upon the return of the Message which the Embassadours of Arthur brought back from Hoel Mr. Blackmore says That when Arthur heard the Message first His wavering Mind with fears and wise distrust And rising Tides of sudden Joy was tost Uncertain which strong Passion prest him most But when he saw the Presents Hoel sent His Doubts suppress'd he grew more confident And his calm Mind eas'd of his anxious Cares T' embrace his new and generous Friend prepares Here for six lines together the Author takes care to set before us the extraordinary Fear of Arthur Indeed he seems to repent at last that he call'd it by its proper Name And so that which was plain Fear in the second Verse is call'd Doubt in the sixth and Care in the seventh Which puts me in mind of a Custom of the Modern Italians They are very sensible how scandalous a Passion Fear is and therefore when they have a mind to encourage any one whom they respect they never cry Don't be afraid Sir but Quae Vossignoria non si dubiti de mente Don't let your Worship doubt Thus we have seen Prince Arthur fearfull neglectfull and impious The Manners then of the Hero are ill express'd because they are not maintain'd And they are unequal which is self-evident And they are inconvenient For neither is Fear becoming of a Captain nor Impiety of one who takes up Arms to re-establish Religion nor is Neglect of his Subjects becoming of a good King But the Impiety of the Hero is not shown only in the Sixth Book It is apparent from his very Fear in the First For before he left England the Arch-Angel Gabriel had assur'd him that he should Triumph over Octa at ten Years end These are his Words in the Fourth Book and the 115th Page Now Albion sinks beneath the Saxon Weight So Heav'n decrees 't is so ordain'd by Fate But after ten times the revolving Sun His crooked Race has through the Zodiack run The Clouds dispell'd propitious Heav'n shall smile On Uter's House and this reviving Isle Octa shall feel just Heav'ns avenging Stroke And Albion's Youth shall break the Saxon Yoke This we find in the Relation which Lucius made to Hoel Now the ten Years that the Angel mention'd were elaps'd before Arthur set Sail from Normandy as Lucius assures us in the same Relation and the 122d Page of the same Book Ten times the Sun had pass'd his Oblique way By turns contracting and increasing way Darting to either Pole a warmer Ray And now the British Lords c. Thus was Arthur assur'd by Gabriel in England And he was afterwards re-assur'd by Raphael on the Coasts of Britany Who says to him Pag. 16. Book the First No Force or Arts shall your Design prevent Propitious Heav'n decrees your wish'd Event You on these Coasts for happy Ends are thrown And after this expect the British Crown And immediately afterwards he bids him particularly not be afraid of Hoel But fear not Hoel's Pow'r tho' now your Foe By Hell incens'd he will not long be so This I must confess is strange Language for an Angel However we are to suppose that Prince Arthur understood it And yet by and by as we have observ'd above he appears exceedingly afraid of this very Hoel Now that person methinks must show an extraordinary inclination to Fear whom an Angel from Heav'n nay whom two Angels cannot ensure Besides that he must appear to be impious and unbelieving But Hoel is not the only Person of whom Prince Arthur appears afraid For afterwards in the Seventh Book when upon the Ravage that the Plague had made amongst the Britons Octa prepar'd to Attack them Mr. Blackmore tells us That The Tidings soon through all the Army ran VVhen in their Minds tormenting Fears began First the Army was afraid and afterwards the Hero as appears by the Prayer which he makes immediately upon it
that compose the Character of Aeneas that by thus opposing the Conduct of Virgil to Mr. Blackmore's management the judgment of the one and the unskilfulness of the other may the more plainly appear As it was necessary that Aeneas should be Valiant because he was to be the Founder of the Roman State so it was requisite that he should be Pious because he was to establish Religion as well as Empire And the Poet was oblig'd to make the Hero show his Religion by Action and not by Words as Mr. Blackmore has done because as we hinted above Epick Poetry properly instructs by Action and Religion can only appear by Action and lastly because it is the Prince's Example by which his Subjects are fram'd And Virgil was oblig'd to make the Acts by which Aeneas discover'd his Piety parts of the Action of his Poem and not to do as Mr. Blackmore has done to crowd the greatest part of his Religion together and make it constitute a Medley of irregular Episodes which would have discontinued his Action and would have corrupted its Unity Besides as one and the same Design of the Hero comprehended the establishing the Trojan Religion and Empire in Italy it was but just that they should go hand in hand in the Poem and as the establishing the Trojan Power was to be a means for the setting up their Religion so it was but just that the Religious Acts of the Hero should contribute to the Foundation of Empire Let us now examine the particular Acts by which Aeneas discovers his Piety which are First the actual Obedience which he pays to the Command of the Gods Secondly The making those very Gods the Guardians of his Navy and the Companions of his Voyage Thirdly His Religious Duties which are Prayer and Sacrifices And Fourthly the Proofs which he gives of his filial Affection and those are principally two First the Funeral Games celebrated in the Honour of Anchises his Memory And Secondly the Descent of Aeneas to Hell In the next place let us consider how these Religious Acts apparently influence the Action of the Poem and evidently advance the Design of the Hero The First is the actual Obedience that he pays to the Commands of the Gods From which it is manifest that the Action had its beginning Vix prima inceperat aestas Et Pater Anchises dare fatis vela jubebat Lib. 3. Another Act by which Aeneas discover'd his Piety is Sacrifice Upon his Arrival in Thrace and his laying the Foundation of the City which he design'd to build there he Sacrifices to his Mother and to the King of the Gods and wanting Boughs to adorn the Altar that want conducts him to Polydorus his Tomb whose Spirit inform'd him of his unfortunate Tragedy and assur'd him that Thrace was by no means the Country that the Gods and Fate had design'd for him Upon which they remov'd from that unfortunate Climate and set Sail for Delos There Aeneas prays to Apollo to instruct him where he shall settle Apollo directs them to their Original Mother Upon which by a mistake of Anchises they set Sail for Crete from which Country Teucer deriv'd his Descent But nevertheless by that very mistake they were considerably advanc'd in their Way to Italy As soon as they began to settle in Crete they found by the Plague that rag'd amongst them that Crete was not the Place that was destin'd for their Establishment and took a Resolution to go back to the Oracle at Delos when Apollo sav'd them the Trouble and deliver'd his Mind to Aeneas in the Night by the Mouths of the Houshold-Gods who had been the Companions of his Voyage Thus it is plain that Aeneas his Obedience to the Commands of the Gods his Sacrifice his Prayer and his carrying his Gods along with him influenc'd his Action and advanc'd his Design Let us next consider his filial Affection of which he gave two signal Proofs The first was the Institution of the Funeral Games and the second his Descent to Hell whether he descended in Obedience to the Command that he receiv'd from his Father's Spirit Gens dura atque aspera cultu Debellanda tibi â—…atio est Ditis tamen ante Infernas accede domos Averna per alta Congressus peti Nate meos Lib. 5. And Aeneas says afterwards to the Sybil in the Sixth Book Unum oro quando hic inserni janua Regis Dicitur tenebrosa Palas Acheronie refusa Ire ad conspectum chari genitoris ora Contingat doceas iter sacra ostia pandas Illum ego per flammas mille sequentia tela Eripui his humeris medioque ex hoste recepi Ille meum comitatus iter Maria omnia mecum Atque omnes Pelagique minas coelique ferebat Invalidus vires ultra sortemque Senect ae Quin ut te supplex peterem tua lumina adirem Idem orans mandata dabat Natique patrisque Alma precor miserere Now the Celebration of the Funeral Games by drawing all the Men together was the occasion of the Women's burning part of the Fleet and consequently of the Trojans sailing for Italy without their Wives which left them free to mix with the Blood of the Italians and so prâ—…pared their Establishment And the Descent of Aeneas to Hell upon his Arrival in Italy animated and exalted the Hero by the view of a glorious Posterity And thus we have shown as succinctly as we could that the Piety of Aeneas discovers it self by Action and that it advances the Hero's design I should be too tedious if I should show that this Piety of the Hero is apparent throughout the whole Course of the Poem and that it every where influences the Action not only by the insensible Operation of the Powers whom the Greatness of his Piety engages to favour him but very often by manifest visible Consequence It would be an easie matter to prove this and to demonstrate further That as the Religious Acts of Aeneas are efficient of something which follows them so they are necessary or probable Consequences of something which went before them and that therefore they are just and regular Parts of the Action Let us now come to the third Quality which goes to the Composition of Aeneas his Character And that is the transcendent Goodness of his Nature which the Poet gave him as the very Ground and Original of his Religion For an excellent Goodness of Nature was very reasonably believ'd by the Heathens to be the Principle and Foundation of Piety And therefore Mezentius a Man of an ill and of a cruel Nature is represented as a Contemner of the Gods at the same time that he is a Destroyer of Men. I think it would be superfluous to show that this surpassing Goodness of Nature is a predominant Quality of Aeneas his Character since the sweetness and tenderness of his Nature has been objected as a fault to him and as lessening of his Merit and destructive of his Courage by those
appears brave and religious at another time impious and fearfull so that the Reader knows not what to make of him For they are not particular Acts but confirm'd Habits and permanent Qualities which denominate Men good or bad Since then the Reader cannot be assur'd of any resemblance between this Hero and himself he cannot appear concern'd for him and consequently sees him between Normandy and England with a great deal the less delight Nor are the Adventures which happen to Arthur compar'd to those which Aeneas meets with either delightfull or wonderfull The two most considerable are his meeting with Hoel and his conversing with Uter in a Dream Now I am pretty confident that there is no Man so fond of Prince Arthur as to make the least Comparison between those and what happen'd to Aeneas in the Court of Dido and in his descent to Hell Nor are the Travels of Artuhr to be compar'd in the least to those of the Virgilian Hero To sail from Normandy to Wales is a very Trifle in comparison of the immense Voyages of Ulysses and of Aeneas Thrace and the fabulous Aegaean Isles the most delicious Countries on Earth and famous for the Births of their Gods and Heroes and renowned for so many wonders that were done before and since in them Crete Epirus Calabria Sicily where there was Aetna Polyphemus Scilla Charibdis all amazing Wonders of Nature are quite other Countries to give delight than the Valleys of England or than the Mountains of Wales For that which is wonderfull is at the same time delightfull says Aristotle which experience confirms for we are very intent upon any thing at which we wonder tho' it does not concern us which we could never be if it did not delight us For which reason in speaking of the delightfull we shall likewise speak of the admirable before we come to treat peculiarly of the latter The Wars in Prince Arthur are to be consider'd next by us which are not in themselves delightfull because I am not acquainted with any one person engag'd in them For no Man has any Character as we shall prove anon and consequently I am concern'd for no-body Besides they are very little important in comparison of Virgil's upon the event of which the Empire of the World depended and from which the Poet 's immediate Readers deriv'd their greatness and deduc'd their Glory But I cannot see how we who derive our selves from the Normans and Saxons can be concern'd in Prince Arthur's Success unless it be on the account of Religion and we are the less concern'd upon that account because Ethelina being a Christian would in all likelihood upon the Death of her Father have propagated her own Religion tho' Arthur had remain'd contented in Normandy But Thirdly The Councils in Prince Arthur are not in their Nature delightfull because they are heavy and phlegmatick Whereas every thing in Poetry ought to be animated Now nothing can be more spiritless than the debate in the sixth Book between Passentius and Cissa Indeed Mr. Blackmore tells us that Crida in the Council of the ninth is very angry But if it be so he is politicâ—…ly angry For by what he says he by no means appears to be angry Whereas all the Concils in Virgil are warm and pathetick That in the ninth is animated by the enterprize of the two Friends that of the tenth by the Anger of Juno and that of the eleventh by the violence of Turnus Besides that the very Persons in these Councils Ascanius Nisus Eurialus the King and Queen of the Gods and the Queen of Love and Turnus are quite other sort of Persons to to give delight than five dull dogmatizing Politicians Fourthly The Machines in Prince Arthur are not delightfull By Machines I mean the divine and infernal Persons for we have treated of the humane above I have often indeed wonder'd why I could never be pleas'd with the Machines in a Christian Poem At length I believe I have found out the reason Poetry pleases by an imitation of Nature Now the Christian Machines are quite out of Nature and consequently cannot delight The Heathen Machines are enough out of Nature to be admirable and enough in Nature to delight That which brings them nearer to Nature than the Christian Machines is the distinction of Sexes human Passions and human Inclinations But however they are so far out of Nature that Virgil has seldom ventur'd to describe any of his Machines and when he has done it it has been in order to move Terror and not to move Delight For he knew very well that a thing may the rather move Terror for being out of the ordinary course of Nature but that any Imitation which excites Joy must be an Imitation of something in Nature For Imitation says Aristotle is therefore pleasing because we are instructed by it without Pain Now to be instructed by Imitation I must be a Judge of that Imitation which I can never be if I have not a clear and distinct Idea of its Object now Virgil knowing very well that he had no clear and distinct Idea of his Gods and Goddesses saw very well that for that reason he must not venture to paint them And therefore in the first Book of the Aeneis neither Juno nor Eolus nor the Winds nor Neptune nor Jupiter nor Cupid nor Venus are any of them personally describ'd Indeed the Queen of Love seems to come by her Office nearer to Nature than the rest of the Divinities and therefore Virgil in the first Book has said something of her But he has describ'd her chiefly by Action and the Effect of Action For when he describes her Habit he describes her in the disguise of a Mortal and so far he is safe within the Compass of Nature But when he speaks of her as confessing the Goddess he only says that she discover'd her self at the taking leave of her Son by her Celestial Hue by the Ambrosial Fragrancy that was diffus'd from her Hair and by the Divinity of her Mien Dixit avertens Rosea cervice refulsit Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem Spiravere Where I desire the Reader 's leave to observe tho' it be not directly to my purpose that Virgil when he speaks of her Person mentions only her Hair and the hinder part of her Neck A Poet without Judgment would certainly have describ'd her Face But Virgil had discernment enough to see that what he had said of her Hair and of her Neck and her Mien would set her Face before the Reader in a more ravishing Form than all the most beautifull Colours in Poetry and the most delicate exquisite Strokes of the greatest of Masters could paint it But to return from whence we digress'd Virgil has seldom describ'd any of his Machines and in those which he has describ'd he has been very short and even in those short Descriptions he has describ'd Actions and not Persons For which he is to be commended upon three