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perfection, not a fingle fet of objects only, LECT. but almoft the whole of thofe which give Pleafure to Taste and Imagination; whether that Pleasure arise from Sublimity, from Beauty in its different forms, from Defign and Art, from Moral Sentiment, from Novelty, from Harmony, from Wit, Humour, and Ridicule. To whichfoever of these the peculiar bent of a perfon's Tafte lies, from fome writer or other, he has it always in his power to receive the gratification of it.

Now this high power which eloquence and poetry poffefs, of fupplying Tafte and Imagination with fuch a wide circle of pleasures, they derive altogether from their having a greater capacity of Imitation and Defcription than is poffeffed by any other art. Of all the means which human ingenuity has contrived for recalling the images of real objects, and awakening, by reprefentation, fimilar emotions to thofe which are raised by the original, none is fo full and extenfive as that which is executed by words and writing. Through the assistance of this happy invention, there is nothing, either in the natural or moral world, but what can be reprefented and fet before the mind, in colours very ftrong and lively. Hence it is ufual among critical writers, to speak of Difcourfe as the chief of all the imitative or mimetic arts; they compare it with painting

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LECT painting and with fculpture, and in many respects prefer it juftly before them.

THIS ftyle was firft introduced by Aristotle in his Poetics; and fince his time, has acquired a general currency among modern authors. But, as it is of confequence to introduce as much precifion as poffible into critical language, I muft obferve, that this manner of speaking is not accurate. Neither difcourfe in general, nor poetry in particular, can be called altogether imitative arts. We must diftinguish betwixt Imitation and Description, which are ideas that fhould not be confounded. Imitation is performed by means of fomewhat that has a natural likeness and resemblance to the thing imitated, and of confequence is understood by all; fuch are statues and pictures. Defcription, again, is the raifing in the mind the conception of an object by means of fome arbitrary or intituted fymbols, understood only by those who agree in the inftitution of them; fuch are words and writing. Words have no natural resemblance to the ideas or objects which they are employed to fignify; but a ftatue or a picture has a natural likeness to the original. And therefore Imitation and Description differ confiderably in their nature from each other.

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As far, indeed, as a poet introduces into his LECT. work perfons actually fpeaking; and, by the words which he puts into their mouths, reprefents the difcourfe which they might be fuppofed to hold; fo far his art may more accurately be called Imitative: and this is the case in all dramatic compofition. But in Narrative or Descriptive works, it can with no propriety be called fo. Who, for inftance, would call Virgil's Description of a tempeft, in the first Æneid, an Imitation of a storm? If we heard of the Imitation of a battle, we might naturally think of some mock fight, or representation of a battle on the ftage, but would never apprehend, that it meant one of Homer's Descriptions in the Iliad. I admit, at the fame time, that Imitation and Defcription agree in their principal effect, of recalling, by external signs, the ideas of things which we do not fee. But though in this they coincide, yet it should not be forgotten, that the terms. themselves are not fynonymous; that they import different means of effecting the fame end; and of courfe make different impreffions on the mind *

WHETHER

*Though, in the execution of particular parts, Poetry is certainly Descriptive rather than Imitative, yet there is a qualified fenfe in which Poetry, in the general, may be termed an Imitative art. The subject of the poet (as Dr. Gerard has shown in the Appendix to his Effay on Taste) is intended to be an Imitation, not of things really exifting,

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WHETHER WE confider Poetry in particular, and Discourse in general, as Imitative or Descriptive; it is evident, that their whole power in recalling the impreffions of real objects, is derived from the fignificancy of words. As

but of the courfe of nature; that is, a feigned reprefentation of such events, or fuch scenes, as though they never had a being, yet might have exifted; and which, therefore, by their probability, bear a resemblance to nature. It was probably, in this fenfe, that Ariftotle termed Poetry a mimetic art. How far either the Imitation or the Defcription which Poetry employs, is fuperior to the imitative powers of Painting and Mufic, is well fhown by Mr. Harris, in his Treatife on Mufic, Painting, and Poetry. The chief advantage which Poetry, or Difcourfe in general, enjoys, is, that whereas, by the nature of his art, the Painter is confined to the reprefentation of a fingle moment, Writing and Difcourfe can trace a tranfaction through its whole progress. That moment, indeed, which the Painter pitches upon for the fubject of his picture, he may be faid to exhibit with more advantage than the Poet or the Orator; inasmuch as he fets before us, in one view, all the minute concurrent circumstances of the event which happen in one individual point of time, as they appear in nature; while Difcourse is obliged to exhibit them in fucceffion, and by means of a detail, which is in danger of becoming tedious, in order to be clear; or if not tedious, is in danger of being obfcure. But to that point of time which he has chofen, the Painter being entirely confined, he cannot exhibit various ftages of the fame action or event; and he is fubject to this farther defect, that he can only exhibit objects as they appear to the eye, and can very imperfectly delineate characters and fentiments, which are the nobleft fubjects of Imitation or Defcription. The power of reprefenting thefe with full advantage, gives a high superiority to Discourse and Writing above all other imitative arts.

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their excellency flows altogether from this LECT. source, we must, in order to make way for further enquiries, begin at this fountain head. I fhall, therefore, in the next Lecture, enter upon the confideration of Language: of the origin, the progrefs, and conftruction of which, I purpose to treat at some length.

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