Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Betiveen The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
and Milton , in opposition to those of Homer and Virgil , is certainly no very easy task , nor is it by any means requisite to my purpose . To form a general opinion , is sufficient to enable us to draw a general conclusion . It has been owing to various causes that the meiitof the ' Jerusalem delivered , ' lay concealed for so long a period from the eye of the woi'ld ; and indeed it is to the exertions of Voltaire
that we are indebted for the restoration of its repute from obscurity , and for the elucidation of those numerous beauties ivhich are so conspicuous on the perusal of that too much neglected work . The machinery made use of by Tasso has been objected to , as a considerable blemish ; but if we consider the superstition and darkness of the age in which he lived , and that enchantment and sorcery were generally believed to operate as very powerful agents in the conduct cf human
affairs , we shall perceive it to be no more absurd than the equally ridiculous system of mythology among the ancients . Certain it is that we are indebted to the introduction of these supernatural agents for some of the most beautiful scenes which the luxuriant imagination of this delightful poet has described . In many of his characters he has closely pursued the footsteps of the father of poets , " - as is particularly the case with those of Rinaldo and Godfreyivhose similarity
, to Achilles , Agamemnon , and Helen , strikes us at first sight ; but at the same time there is a high degree of ori ginality throughout , which undoubtedly entitles him to a very considerable rank amongst epic poets . In fact be stood unrivalled since the christian zera , till the appearance of Milton , the united efforts of whose superior genius and learning have given birth to one of the most sublimeoriinal
, g , and complete works of the kind that the world ever witnessed , or that the mind of man is capable of producing . The subject he has chosen did not admit of the same variety of incident , character , and circumstance , as those of Homer , Virgil , or Tasso ; but it afforded a greater scope for the inventive faculty , which he has certainly excited in a most wonderful manner . In his Paradise Lost he has united
the respective excellencies of the Iliad , the vEneid , and the Jerusalem , and as it were concentrated their scattered beauties into one focus . Though his merit was unknown and his writings were . neglected while he lived , yet the extension of his fame has since become universal ; which will , no doubt , be of equal duration with the good taste and sense of mankind . Take him all in all , and perhaps it will be difficult to shew that he is not the greatest ornament that ever
adorned the sphere of epic poetry . From these general observations , it seems sufficiently apparent that the moderns do not yield the palm to the ancients " in this respect . Dramatic compositions , whether tragic or comic , have ever claimed the attemion of all civilized nations . For the purity of their style and
the excellence of their . sentiments , we cannot but admire the dramatic writers of antiquity . But that the drama , considered as a representation of human life , has received considerable improvements from the mo ; . derns , and that they have more closely followed nature in their . exhibitions of the errors , follies , and misfortunes of mankind , upon the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Betiveen The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
and Milton , in opposition to those of Homer and Virgil , is certainly no very easy task , nor is it by any means requisite to my purpose . To form a general opinion , is sufficient to enable us to draw a general conclusion . It has been owing to various causes that the meiitof the ' Jerusalem delivered , ' lay concealed for so long a period from the eye of the woi'ld ; and indeed it is to the exertions of Voltaire
that we are indebted for the restoration of its repute from obscurity , and for the elucidation of those numerous beauties ivhich are so conspicuous on the perusal of that too much neglected work . The machinery made use of by Tasso has been objected to , as a considerable blemish ; but if we consider the superstition and darkness of the age in which he lived , and that enchantment and sorcery were generally believed to operate as very powerful agents in the conduct cf human
affairs , we shall perceive it to be no more absurd than the equally ridiculous system of mythology among the ancients . Certain it is that we are indebted to the introduction of these supernatural agents for some of the most beautiful scenes which the luxuriant imagination of this delightful poet has described . In many of his characters he has closely pursued the footsteps of the father of poets , " - as is particularly the case with those of Rinaldo and Godfreyivhose similarity
, to Achilles , Agamemnon , and Helen , strikes us at first sight ; but at the same time there is a high degree of ori ginality throughout , which undoubtedly entitles him to a very considerable rank amongst epic poets . In fact be stood unrivalled since the christian zera , till the appearance of Milton , the united efforts of whose superior genius and learning have given birth to one of the most sublimeoriinal
, g , and complete works of the kind that the world ever witnessed , or that the mind of man is capable of producing . The subject he has chosen did not admit of the same variety of incident , character , and circumstance , as those of Homer , Virgil , or Tasso ; but it afforded a greater scope for the inventive faculty , which he has certainly excited in a most wonderful manner . In his Paradise Lost he has united
the respective excellencies of the Iliad , the vEneid , and the Jerusalem , and as it were concentrated their scattered beauties into one focus . Though his merit was unknown and his writings were . neglected while he lived , yet the extension of his fame has since become universal ; which will , no doubt , be of equal duration with the good taste and sense of mankind . Take him all in all , and perhaps it will be difficult to shew that he is not the greatest ornament that ever
adorned the sphere of epic poetry . From these general observations , it seems sufficiently apparent that the moderns do not yield the palm to the ancients " in this respect . Dramatic compositions , whether tragic or comic , have ever claimed the attemion of all civilized nations . For the purity of their style and
the excellence of their . sentiments , we cannot but admire the dramatic writers of antiquity . But that the drama , considered as a representation of human life , has received considerable improvements from the mo ; . derns , and that they have more closely followed nature in their . exhibitions of the errors , follies , and misfortunes of mankind , upon the