se servir. Dans les Nombres, ils joignent le singulier et le pluriel ensemble; dans les Genres, ils confondent le masculin avec le féminin; et dans les Tems, ils prennent souvent l'un pour l'autre. Pour éviter toutes ces fautes, il faut lire avec soin; remarquer le tour et les expressions des meilleurs auteurs; et ne jamais passer un seul mot qu'on n'entend pas, ou sur lequel on a la moindre difficulté, sans en demander exactement la signification. Par exemple; quand vous lisez les Métamorphoses d'Ovide, avec Monsieur Martin; il faut lui demander le sens de chaque mot que vous ne savez pas, et même si c'est un mot, dont on peut se servir en prose aussi bien qu'en vers: car, comme je vous ai dit autrefois, le langage poëtique est différent du langage ordinaire, et il y a bien des mots dont on se sert dans la poësie, qu'on feroit fort mal d'employer dans la prose. De même quand vous lisez le François, avec Monsieur Pelnote, demandez-lui le sens de chaque nouveau mot que vous rencontrez chemin faisant; et priez-le de vous donner des exemples de la manière dont il faut s'en servir. Tout ceci ne demande qu'un peu d'attention, et pourtant il n'y a rien de plus utile. Il faut (diton) qu'un homme soit né Poëte; mais il peut se faire Orateur. Nascitur Poeta, fit Orator. C'est-àdire, qu'il faut être né avec une certaine force et vivacité d'esprit pour être Poëte; mais que l'attention, la lecture, et le travail suffisent pour faire un Orateur. Adieu. TRANSLATION. MY DEAR CHILD, Bath, October the 17th, 1739. INDEED, I believe you are the first boy, to whom (under the age of eight years) one has ever ventured to mention the figures of rhetoric, as I did in my last*. But I am of opinion, that we cannot begin *Not to be found. to think too young; and that the art which teaches us how to persuade the mind, and touch the heart, must surely deserve the earliest attention. You cannot but be convinced, that a man who speaks and writes with elegance and grace; who makes choice of good words; and adorns and embellishes the subject, upon which he either speaks or writes, will persuade better, and succeed more easily in obtaining what he wishes, than a man who does not explain himself clearly; speaks his language ill; or makes use of low and vulgar expressions; and who has neither grace nor elegance in any thing that he says. Now it is by Rhetoric, that the art of speaking eloquently is taught: and, though I cannot think of grounding you in it, as yet, I would wish however to give you an idea of it suitable to your age. The first thing you should attend to is, to speak whatever language you do speak, in its greatest purity, and according to the rules of Grammar; for we must never offend against Grammar; nor make use of words, which are not really words. This is not all; for not to speak ill, is not sufficient; we must speak well; and the best method of attaining to that, is to read the best authors with attention; and to observe how people of fashion speak, and those who express themselves best; for shop-keepers, common people, footmen, and maid-servants, all speak ill. They make use of low and vulgar expres sions, which people of rank never use. In Numbers, they join the singular and the plural together; in Genders, they confound masculine with feminine; and in Tenses, they often take the one for the other. In order to avoid all these faults, we must read with care, observe the turn and expressions of the best authors; and not pass a word which we do not understand, or concerning which we have the least doubt, without exactly inquiring the meaning of it. For example; when you read Ovid's Metamorphoses with Mr. Martin, you should ask him the meaning of every word you do not know; and also, whether it is a word that may be made use of in prose, as well as in verse: for as I formerly told you, the language of poetry is different from that which is proper for common discourse; and a man would be to blame, to make use of some words in prose, which are very happily applied in poetry. In the same manner, when you read French with Mr. Pelnote, ask him the meaning of every word you meet with, that is new to you; and desire him to give you examples of the various ways in which it may be used. All this requires only a little attention; and yet there is nothing more useful. It is said, that a man must be born a Poet; but that he can make himself an Orator. Nascitur Poeta, fit Orator. This means, that, to be a Poet, one must be born with a certain degree of strength and vivacity of mind; but that attention, reading, and labour, are sufficient to form an Orator. Adieu. DEAR BOY, LETTER XXXII. Bath, October the 26th, 1739. THOUGH Poetry differs much from Oratory in many things; yet it makes use of the same figures of Rhetoric; nay, it abounds in metaphors, similes, and allegories; and you may learn the purity of the language, and the ornaments of eloquence, as well by reading verse as prose. Poetical diction, that is, poetical language, is more sublime and lofty than prose, and takes liberties which are not allowed in prose, and are called Poetical Licences. This difference between verse and prose you will easily observe, if you read them both with attention. In verse, things are seldom said plainly and simply, as one would say them in prose; but they are described and embellished: as for example; what you hear the watchman say often in three words, a cloudy morning is said thus in verse, in the tragedy of Cato: "The dawn is overcast, the morning lours, And heavily in clouds brings on the day." This is poetical diction; which would be improper in prose, though each word separately may be used prose. in I will give you, here, a very pretty copy of verses of Mr. Waller's, which is extremely poetical, and full of images. It is to a Lady who played upon the lute. The lute, by the way, is an instrument with many strings, which are played upon by the fingers. "Such moving sounds from such a careless touch, So little she concern'd, and we so much. The trembling strings about her fingers crowd, Small force there needs to make them tremble so, Touch'd by that hand, who would not tremble too? Mind all the poetical beauties of these verses. He supposes the sounds of the strings, when she touches them, to be the expression of their joy for kissing her fingers. Then, he compares the trembling of the strings to the trembling of a lover, who is supposed to tremble with joy and awe, when touched by the person he loves. He represents Love (who you know, is described as a little boy, with a bow, arrows, and a quiver) as standing by her, and shooting his arrows at people's hearts, while her music softens and disarms them. Then he concludes with that fine simile of Nero, a very cruel Roman Emperor, who set Rome on fire, and played on the harp all the while it was burning: for, as Love is represented by the Poets as fire and flames; so she, while people were burning for love of her, played, as Nero did while Rome, which he had set on fire, was burning. Pray get these verses by heart against I see you. Adieu. You will observe, that these verses are all long, or heroic verses, that is, of ten syllables, or five feet; for a foot is two syllables. LETTER XXXIII. MON CHER ENFANT, A Bath, ce 29me d'Octobre, 1739. Si l'on peut être trop modeste, vous l'êtes, et vous méritez plus que vous ne demandez. Une canne à pomme d'ambre, et une paire de boucles, sont des récompenses très-modiques pour ce que vous faites, et j'y ajouterai bien quelque autre chose. La mo destie est une très-bonne qualité, qui accompagne ordinairement le vrai mérite. Rien ne gagne et ne prévient plus les esprits que la modestie; comme, au contraire, rien ne choque et ne rebute plus que la présomption et l'effronterie. On n'aime pas un homme, qui veut toujours se faire valoir, qui parle avantageusement de lui-même, et qui est toujours le héros de son propre Roman. Au contraire, un homme qui cache, pour ainsi dire, son propre mérite, qui relève celui des autres, et qui parle peu et |