oufnefs of the way, as of the pleasant lodging you shall have when your journey is ended, as of the many bye-turnings that may divert you from your way; but this is to no man, but to him that will read him, and read him with attentive, ftudious, painfulness; which conftant defire whofoever hath in him, hath already past half the hardness of the way, and therefore is beholden to the Philofopher but for the other half. Nay, truly, learned men have learnedly thought, that where once reafon hath so much over mastered paffion, as that the mind hath a free defire to do well, the inward light each mind hath in itself, is as good as a Philofopher's book: fince in nature we know it is well to do well, and what is well and what is evil, although, not in the words of art which Philofo phers bestow upon us; for out of natural conceit the Philofophers drew it: But to be moved to do that which we know, or to be moved with defire to know, hoc opus, hic labor eft. Now, therein, of all Sciences, (I speak still of human, and, according to the human cor.ceit,) is our Poct the Monarch. For he doth not only fhew the way, but giveth fo sweet a prospect into the way, as will intice any man to enter into it: Nay, he doth, as if your journey fhould lie through a fair vineyard, at the very first, give you a cluster of grapes; that, full of that taste, you may long to pafs farther. He begin neth OF POES Y. 33 neth not with obfcure definitions, which muft blur the margent with interpretations, and load the memory with doubtfulnefs; but he cometh to you with words fet in delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared, for the well inchanting skill of mufick; and with a tale, forfooth, he cometh unto you, with a tale, which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner; and, pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickednefs to virtue even as the child is often brought to take most wholesome things, by hiding them in such other as have a pleasant tafte which, if one fhould begin to tell them the nature of the Aloes or Rhubarbarum they fhould receive, would fooner take their phyfick at their ears than at their mouth; fo is it in men; (most of whom are childish in the best things, 'till they be cradled in their graves) glad they will be to hear the tales of Hercules, Achilles, Cyrus, Æneas; and hearing them, muft needs hear the right defcription of wisdom, valour, and justice; which, if they had been barely (that is to fay, Philofophically) fet out, they would swear they be brought to school again. That imitation whereof Poetry is, hath the most conveniency to nature of all other: infomuch that, as Ariftotle faith, Those things which in themfelves are horrible, as cruel battles, unnatural monsters, are made, in poetical imitation D Th, wass not made cloihtful en por 14 But instructio 34 THE DEFENCE -fugientem hæc terra videbit? Ufque adeone mori miferum eft? Where the Philofophers (as they think) fcorn to delight, fo much they be content little to move, faving wrangling whether Virtus be the chief or the only good; whether the contemplative or the active life do excel: Which Plato and Boetius well knew; and therefore made mistress Philofophy very often borrow the masking raiiment of Porfy. For even those hard-hearted evil men, who think virtue a school-name, and know no other good but indulgere genio, and therefore defpife the auftere admonitions of the Philofopher, and feel not the inward reason they stand upon; yet will be content to be delighted, which is all the good-fellow Poet feems to promife; and fo fteal to fee the form of goodness, which feen, they cannot but love, ere them felves be aware, as if they took a medicine of cherries. Infinite proofs of the strange effects of this poetical invention might be alledged; only twofhall ferve, which are fo often remembered, as, I think, all men know them. The one of Menenius Agrippa, who, when the whole people of Rome had resolutely divided themselves from the Senate, with apparent fhew of utter ruin, though he were, for that time, an excellent orator, came not among them upon trust, either of figurative fpeeches, or cunning infinuations, and much lefs with far-fetched maxims of Philofophy, which, especially if they were Platonick, they must have learned Geometry before they could have conceived: but, forfooth, he behaveth himself like a homely and familiar Poet. He telleth them a tale, That there was a time, when all the parts of the body made a mutinous confpiracy against the belly, which they thought devoured the fruits of each other's labour: they concluded, they would let fo unprofitable a spender starve. In the end, to be short, (for the tale is notorious, and as notorious that it was a tale) with punishing the belly, they plagued themselves. This, applied by him wrought fuch effect in the people, as I neve read that only words brought forth; but then fo fudden, and fo good an alteration, for upo reafon D 2 64 reasonable conditions, a perfect reconcilement enfued. The other is of Nathan the Prophet, who, when the holy David had fo far forfaken God, as to confirm adultery with murther, when he was to do the tendereft office, of a friend, in laying his own fhame before his eyes, being, fent by God to call again fo chofen a fervant, how doth he it? but by telling of a man whofe beloved lamb was ungratefully taken from his bofom. The application most divinely true, but the difcourfe itself feigned; which made David (I speak of the fecond and inftrumental cause) as in a glass see his own filthiness, as that heavenly Pfalm of mercy well teftifieth.. By thefe, therefore, EXAMPLES and REASONS, I think it may be manifeft, that the Poet, with that fame hand of delight, doth draw the mindmore effectually than any other art doth. And fo a conclufion, not unfitly, enfues; THAT AS VIRTUE IS THE MOST EXCELLENT RESTING- HIS END OF, SO POETRY, BEING THE MOST FA- Palest Fruel by fo |