Page:A Dissertation on Reading the Classics and Forming a Just Style.djvu/174

130, in the most natural Signiﬁcation of the Words, is generally the best; and the same Punctualness, which debaseth other Writings, preserveth the Spirit and Majesty of the Sacred Text: lt can further no Improvement from human Wit, and we may observe, that those who have presumed to heighten the Expressions, by a poetical Translation or Paraphrase, have sunk in the Attempt, and all the Decorations of their Verse, whether Greek or Latin, have not been able to reach the Dignity, the Majesty, and Solemnity of our Prose: So that the Prose of Scripture cannot he improved by Verse, and even Rh