ever, is too rough for refined manners: Cicero discovers in Plautus a happy talent for ridicule, and peculiar delicacy of wit; but Horace, who figured in the court of Augustus, eminent for delicacy of taste, declares against the low roughness of that author's raillery*. The same Cicero, in a letter to Papirius Pœtus, complains, that by the influx of foreigners, the true Roman humour was lost. It was not the influx of foreigners, but the gradual progress of manners from the rough to the polished. The high burlesque style prevails commonly in the period between barbarity and politeness, in which a taste somewhat improved discovers the ridicule of former manners. Rabelais in France, and Butler in England, are illustrious examples. Dr Swift is our latest burlesque writer, and probably is the last.

Emulation among a multitude of small states in Greece, was inflamed by their public games: by that means taste ripened, and the fine arts were promoted. Taste refines gradually, and is advanced towards perfection by a diligent study of beautiful productions. Rome was indebted to Greece for that delicacy of taste which figured during the reign of Augustus, especially in literary compositions. But taste could not long flourish in a despotic government: so low had the Roman taste fallen in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, that nothing would

* Elements of Criticism, chap. ii. part 2.

would please him but to suppress Homer, and in his place to install a silly Greek poet, named Antimachus.

The northern barbarians who desolated the Roman Empire, and revived in some measure the savage state, occasioned a woful decay of taste. Pope Gregory the Great, struck with the beauty of some Saxon youths exposed to sale in Rome, asked to what country they belonged. Being told they were Angles, he said that they ought more properly to be denominated angels; and that it was a pity so beautiful a countenance should cover a mind devoid of grace. Hearing that the name of their province was Deïri, a division of Northumberland, "Deïri!" replied he, "excellent: they are called "to the mercy of God from his anger [de ira]." Being also told, that Alla was the king of that province, "Alleluia," cried he, "we must endeavour "that the praises of God be sung in their coun66 try." Puns and conundrums passed in ignorant times for sterling wit. Pope Gregory VII. anno 1080, presented to the Emperor Rodolph a crown of gold, with the following inscription, Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodolpho. Miserably low must taste have been in that period when a childish play of words was relished as a proper decoration for a serious solemnity.

Pope Innocent III. anno 1207, made a present of jewels to John King of England, accompanied with the following letter, praised by Père Orleans

as

as full of spirit and beauty.

"Consider this pre

"sent with respect to form, number, matter, and "colour. The circular figure of the ring denotes

eternity, which has neither beginning nor end. "And by that figure your mind will be elevated "from things terrestrial to things celestial. The "number of four, making a square, denotes the "firmness of a heart, proof against both adversity "and prosperity, especially when supported by "the four cardinal virtues, justice, strength, pru"dence, and temperance. By the gold, which is "the metal of the ring, is denoted wisdom, which "excels among the gifts of Heaven, as gold does among metals. Thus, it is said of the Messiah, "that the spirit of wisdom shall rest upon him: "nor is there any thing more necessary to a king, "which made Solomon request it from God pre

66

66

ferably to all other goods. As to the colour of "the stones, the green of the emerald denotes "faith; the purity of the sapphire, hope; the red "of the granite, charity; the clearness of the to

paz, good works. You have therefore in the "emerald what will increase your faith; in the

sapphire, what will encourage you to hope; in "the granite, what will prompt you to love; in "the topaz, what will excite you to act; till, having mounted by degrees to the perfection of all

66

66

the virtues, you come at last to see the God of gods in the celestial Sion."

The

A

The famous golden bull of Germany, digested anno 1356, by Bartolus, a celebrated lawyer, and intended for a master-piece of composition, is replete with wild conceptions, without the least regard to truth, propriety or connection. It begins with an apostrophé to Pride, to Satan, to Choler, and to Luxury: it asserts, that there must be seven electors, for opposing the seven mortal sins: the fall of the angels, terrestrial paradise, Pompey and Cæsar, are introduced; and it is said, that Germany is founded on the Trinity, and on the three theological virtues. What can be more puerile! A sermon preached by the Bishop of Bitonto, at the opening of the council of Trent, excels in that mode of composition. He proves that a council is necessary; because several councils have extirpated heresy, and deposed kings and emperors; because the poets assemble councils of the gods; because Moses writes, that at the creation of man, and at confounding the language of the giants, God acted in the manner of a council; because religion has three heads, doctrine, sacraments, and charity, and that these three are termed a council. He exhorts the members of the council to strict unity, like the heroes in the Trojan horse. He asserts, that the gates of paradise and of the council are the same; that the holy fathers should sprinkle their dry hearts with the living water that flowed from it; and that otherwise the Holy Ghost would open VOL. I. L

their

their mouths like those of Balaam and Caiaphas *. James I. of Britain dedicates his declaration against Vorstius to our Saviour, in the following words: "To the honour of our Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ, the eternal son of the eternal Fa

ther, the only Theanthropos, mediator, and re"conciler of mankind; in sign of thankfulness, his "most humble and obliged servant, James, by the

grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, "and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, doth dedi"cate and consecrate this his Declaration." Funeral orations were some time ago in fashion. Regnard, who was in Stockholm about the year 1680, heard a funeral oration at the burial of a servantmaid. The priest, after mentioning her parents and the place of her birth, praised her as an excellent cook, and enlarged upon every ragout that she had made in perfection. She had but one fault, he said, which was the salting her dishes too much; but that she showed thereby her prudence, of which salt is the symbol; a stroke of wit that probably was admired by the audience. Funeral orations are out of fashion: the futility of a trite panegyric purchased with money, and indecent flattery in circumstances that require sincerity and truth, could not long stand against improved taste. The yearly feast of the ass that carried the mother of God into Egypt, was a most ridiculous farce, high

ly

*Father Paul's History of Trent, lib. i.