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Article DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. No. II. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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Dissertations On The Polite Arts. No. Ii.
The quality of the object makes no difference . Let it be a Hydra or a miser , an hypocrite or a Nero , if they are well drawn , and represented with all the fine touches that belong to them , we still say , that beautiful nature is there painted . It matters not whether it be the Furies or the Graces . This does not , however , prevent truth and reality being made
use of by the Polite Arts . It is thus that the Muses express themselves in" Plesiod : Iopsv - » l /; UyE » TToXXa Ktytiv ITOJJLIHJIV OIJ . OIO : , T > \ . >' ' >> CL .- -. 0 ' 0 / 1 - io / xEV d EUT , s-v / EAOJ ^ -Ey ah : Wia jj . u ^ vTa . trlo ' . t . " 'Tis ours to speak the truth in language plain , " Or give the face of truth to what we feign . "
If an historical fact were found so well worked up as to be fit to serve for a plan to a poem or a piece of painting , poetry ancl painting too would immediately employ it as such , and would on the other hand make use of their privileges , in inventing circumstances , contrasts , situations , & c . When Le ' Brim painted the battles of Alexander , he found in history the facts , the actors , and the scene
of action ; but , notwithstanding this , what noble invention ! What a glow of poetry in his work . ' The dispositions , attitudes , expressions of passions , all these remained for his own genius to create ; there art built upon the basis of truth , ancl this truth ought to be so elegantly mixt with the feigned , as to form one whole of the same nature . Atque : ta mentitursic vcrisfalsa rcmiscct
, , Prima ne medium , medio ne discrepct imum . The most fruitful minds , however , do not always feel .. the presence of the Muses . Shakspeare , who was born a poet , fell into the most shameful meannesses . Milton sometimes cools , he does not always Soar Above the Aonian ' mount .
And not to speak of Statitis , Claudian , and many more who have experienced the returns of languor and feebleness , does not Horace say , that Homer himself sometimes slumbers , even in the midst of his gods and heroes ? There are then certain happy moments for genii , when the soul , as if filled With fire divine , takes in all nature , and spreads upon all objects that heavenly life which animates them , those engaging strokes which warm and ravish us .
This situation of the soul is called enthusiasm , a word which all the world understands , and which hardly any one has defined . The ideas which most authors give of it , seem rather to come from an enraptured imagination , filled with enthusiasm itself , than from a head that thinks and reflects coolly . At one time it is a celestial vision , a divine influencea prophetic spirit ; at another it is an intoxication
, , an extasy , a joy mixt with trouble ,-and admiration in the presence of the divinity . Was it their design to elevate the polite arts b y this emphatica ! way of speaking , and to hide from the profane the mysteries of the Muses ?
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Dissertations On The Polite Arts. No. Ii.
The quality of the object makes no difference . Let it be a Hydra or a miser , an hypocrite or a Nero , if they are well drawn , and represented with all the fine touches that belong to them , we still say , that beautiful nature is there painted . It matters not whether it be the Furies or the Graces . This does not , however , prevent truth and reality being made
use of by the Polite Arts . It is thus that the Muses express themselves in" Plesiod : Iopsv - » l /; UyE » TToXXa Ktytiv ITOJJLIHJIV OIJ . OIO : , T > \ . >' ' >> CL .- -. 0 ' 0 / 1 - io / xEV d EUT , s-v / EAOJ ^ -Ey ah : Wia jj . u ^ vTa . trlo ' . t . " 'Tis ours to speak the truth in language plain , " Or give the face of truth to what we feign . "
If an historical fact were found so well worked up as to be fit to serve for a plan to a poem or a piece of painting , poetry ancl painting too would immediately employ it as such , and would on the other hand make use of their privileges , in inventing circumstances , contrasts , situations , & c . When Le ' Brim painted the battles of Alexander , he found in history the facts , the actors , and the scene
of action ; but , notwithstanding this , what noble invention ! What a glow of poetry in his work . ' The dispositions , attitudes , expressions of passions , all these remained for his own genius to create ; there art built upon the basis of truth , ancl this truth ought to be so elegantly mixt with the feigned , as to form one whole of the same nature . Atque : ta mentitursic vcrisfalsa rcmiscct
, , Prima ne medium , medio ne discrepct imum . The most fruitful minds , however , do not always feel .. the presence of the Muses . Shakspeare , who was born a poet , fell into the most shameful meannesses . Milton sometimes cools , he does not always Soar Above the Aonian ' mount .
And not to speak of Statitis , Claudian , and many more who have experienced the returns of languor and feebleness , does not Horace say , that Homer himself sometimes slumbers , even in the midst of his gods and heroes ? There are then certain happy moments for genii , when the soul , as if filled With fire divine , takes in all nature , and spreads upon all objects that heavenly life which animates them , those engaging strokes which warm and ravish us .
This situation of the soul is called enthusiasm , a word which all the world understands , and which hardly any one has defined . The ideas which most authors give of it , seem rather to come from an enraptured imagination , filled with enthusiasm itself , than from a head that thinks and reflects coolly . At one time it is a celestial vision , a divine influencea prophetic spirit ; at another it is an intoxication
, , an extasy , a joy mixt with trouble ,-and admiration in the presence of the divinity . Was it their design to elevate the polite arts b y this emphatica ! way of speaking , and to hide from the profane the mysteries of the Muses ?