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the wax, or the fignet that fealed it, as to the prince it reprefenteth; fo difordered speech is not fo much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the difproportion, and incoherence of things in themfelves, fo negligently expreffed. Neither can his mind be thought to be in tune, whose words do jar; nor his reafon in frame, whofe fentence is prepofterous; nor his elocution clear and perfect, whofe utterance breaks itfelf into fragments and uncertainties: Were it not a dishonour to a mighty prince, to have the majefty of his embaffage fpoiled by a careless. ambaffador? and is it not as great an indignity, that an excellent conceit and capacity, by the indiligence of an idle tongue should be dif graced? Negligent fpeech doth not only difcredit the perfon of the fpeaker, but it difcrediteth the opinion of his reafon and judgment; it dif crediteth the force and uniformity of the matter and fubftance.

We have fpoken fufficiently of oratory; let us now make a diverfion to Poetry. Poetry in the primogeniture had many peccant humours, and is made to have more now, through the levity and inconftancy of mens judgments. Whereas indeed, it is the moft prevailing eloquence, and of the most exalted character. Now the difcredits and difgraces are many it hath received, through mens ftudy of depriva-, tion or calumny; their practice being to give it diminution of credit, by leffening the profeffors eftimation

eftimation, and making the age afraid of their liberty and the age is grown fo tender of her fame, as the calls all writings Afperfions.

That is the ftate word, the phrase of court, (Placentia College) which fome call Parefites Place, the inn of Ignorance.

!

Whilft I name no perfons, but deride follies; why should any man confefs, or betray himself? why doth not that of S. Hierome come into their mind; Ubi generalis eft de vitiis difputatio, ibi nullius effe perfonæ injuriam? It is fuch an inexpiable crime in Poets, to tax vices generally; and no offence in them, who, by their excep• tion, confefs they have committed them particularly. Are we fallen into thofe times that we must not

Auriculas tener as mordaci rodere vero?

Remedii votum fmper verius erat, quàm fpes. If men may by no means write freely, or speak truth, but when it offends not; why do Phyfi cians cure with fharp medicines, or corrofives? is not the fame equally lawful in the cure of the mind, that is in the cure of the body? Some vices (you will fay) are fo foul, that it is better they should be done than fpoken. But they that take offence where no name, character, or fignature doth blazon them, feem to me like affected as women; who, if they hear any thing

ill

Il fpoken of the ill of their fex, are prefently moved, as if the contumely refpected their particular and, on the contrary, when they hear good of good women, conclude, that it belongs to them all. If I fee any thing that toucheth me, fhall I come forth a betrayer of myself prefently No; if I be wife, I will diffemble it; if honeft, I will avoid it; left I publish that on my own forehead, which I faw there noted without a title. A man that is on the mending hand, will either ingenuously confefs, or wifely diffemble his disease. And the wise and virtuous will never think any thing belongs to themselves that is written, but rejoice that the good are warned not to be fuch; and the ill to leave to be fuch. The perfon offended hath no reafon to be offended with the writer, but with himself; and fo to declare that properly to belong to him, which was fo fpoken of all men, as it could be no man's feveral, but his that would wilfully and defperately claim it. It fufficeth, I know, what kind of persons I displeafe, men bred in the declining and decay of virtue, betrothed to their own vices; that have abandoned, or prostituted their good names: hungry and ambitious of infamy, invefted in all deformity, enthralled to ignorance and malice, of a hidden and concealed malignity, and that hold a comcomitancy with all evil.

What

What is a Poet?

A Poet is that which by the Greeks is called HAT' ¿CoxŴv, & IIOMτns, a maker, or a feigner: his art, an art of imitation or feigning; expreffing the life of man in fit measure, numbers and harmony, according to Ariftotle: from the word wolf, which fignifies to make, or feign. Hence he is called a Poet, not he which writeth in measure only, but that feigneth and formeth a fable, and writes things like the truth. For the fable and fiction is (as it were) the form and foul of any poetical work, or Poem.

What mean you by a Poem?

A Poem is not alone any work, or compofition of the poets in many, or few verses; but even one alone verse fometimes makes a perfect Poem, As when Eneas hangs up, and confecrates the arms of Abas with this infcription;

Eneas hæc de Danais victoribus arma.

And calls it a Poem, or Carmen, Such are those in Martial:

Omnia, Cafter, emis: Sic fiet, ut omnia vendas, And,

Pauper videri Cinna vult, & eft pauper.

Sa

So were Horace's Odes called, Carmina; his Lyrick, Songs, And Lucretius defigns a whole book, in his fixth:

Quod in primo quoque carmine claret.

And anciently, all the oracles were called Carmina; or, whatever fentence was expreffed, were it much, or little, it was called, an Epick, Dramatick, Lyrick, Elegiack, or Epigrammatick Poem.

But, how differs a Poem from what we call Porfy?

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A Poem, as I have told you, is the work of the poet; the end and fruit of his labour and ftudy. Poefy is his fkil, or craft of making: The very fiction itself, the reason, or form of the work. And thefe three voices differ, as the thing done, the doing, and the doer; the thing feigned, the feigning, and the feigner; fo the Poem, the Poefy, and the Poet. Now the Poefy is the habit, or the art: nay, rather the queen of arts which had her original from Heaven, received thence from the Hebrews, and had in prime eftimation with the Greeks, tranfmitted to the Latins, and all nations that profeffed civility. The study of it (if we will trust Ariftotle) offers to mankind a certain rule and pattern of living well and happily; difpofing us to all civil offices of fociety. If we will believe Tully, it nou

rifheth

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