Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/28

 The P R E F A C k XY

fay Jupier did b, and fo ; Juno perfected the Trojans; Minerva inftruded Telemachm, &c which feems to

IN effed, the whole Phyfics of the Antients, was no other than a Theology ■ as at] ;,,fl- pi, r ,

to be I may even add, that the making a Deference between the two Science?," and er^Lng\mto P^ f ces independent of, and oppofite to each other, has proved moil pernicious to both ; and been the gr at Sou ce both of Irrehgion and Ignorance, which will never be dry'd up, till the two be reftored to each other and laid together again To run any length in either of 'em, without having recourfe to the other ; as the gene rainy of Authors aifed to do, is downright inconfiftency. Some of our Syftems of Theology, one wou Id take for pure Inflation thro out ; as if the Authors fuppofed they could know any thing of God, otheTw fe han by means of Senfe, and Phenomena : or as if Enthufiafm it felf did not pre-fuppofe Senfe or could a rife

WW U "7 ', ? n, the °- he - r h ?l d rJ° me Treadfcs 0f PhUofophy fee,/ to have refined God out of he World, by whom all things m * fubfift , and which, in Seneca's Philofophy, was no other than God him! felf • They have made us an Umverfe fo fine, that it may ftand of it felf withoutany God, i. e. without any Caufe, at all : Occafion is the higheft Caufation they require. This is to abftrad w4 a witnef ; odf inguilh the Knowledge of the Caufe from that of the Effed, and vice versa : whereas there is no knowing any thing of either, other than by their Relations to each other a Y

I MA Y add, that the further either of thefe Sciences is carried, on this footing, the more idle and extrava- gant it will become; and that the one tends to downright Madnefs, and the other to downright Atheifm On the one hand, to make a Syftem without a God, is nothing lefs than to be a God one's felf: The Audio"

pTrtfTnd M m mb ^ u* F&a? * ??', by "**"** thc Mafs > and S ! ™S Connexion to the fevera 2£fE? 4~ ' "V b 7 eftabllfhl c n S a the Ration of Caufe and Effed, which i! Tthe very thing that denomi-

na ion inVhe Cou^of T, 1 ™^' 11 ^ Syfem *F' T 1°' ^ mth ° M God ' affin S b 7 l,is Laws U P°" the *«*#■ Sh! f r S V f ° aS, t0 Pr ° duce ^h Effed: And thus what tends moft directly to exclude

that is to ,k TUI„ fe- £ h T'^ And \ ° n thC ° ther hmd ' t0 make a God withoui * Syfcm;

a God nof to „? 8 '.r ^T ° f ^ without. Phyfiology, or that of the World, is diredly to make

I A M rrfSd ^ r i u an ^antecedent to its Caufe : Tis to do, I am atham'd to fay what !

I AM afraid I may feem to have been too long abfent from my Subjed ; but it has 'been all alon- in my bye, and la little Recapitulation will convince the Reader, that we have not wander'd far out of the

way We have fhewn whence all our Knowledge originally rifes : that Senfation is its only Source ; that

what comes this way, comes by the Agency of the Divine Being : that it is further modified in the Memory or Imagination, where new Affemblages are frequently made,' which is called Invention ; that it is continually altering, by the Admiffion of new Ideas from without; but ftill remains fubjed to the Laws impofed by the

Creator, fo that nothing happens therein, but in confequence of fuch Laws. Thus far the Mind appears

merely paffive : And thus >t ftands with refped to the Matter of all Knowledge and Art. It remains, now, to

SftdSdfleDLet^Site^r 1 ^ ^ **> " ^ fubf ™ » h ^ P ^ F n H J,ri™ SrSf" ' 1^ S f tate ° f, the Mind, Agency, and a new Faculty thereof, Reafon, come in play : the Foundaion and Office whereof, will be afcertain'd, by inquiring, What there- is in the Art.ft's, e./Zner's, ^"1,^1 TTJ r^^!"*'™ 110 " ° r, InVenn0 "' t0 * e P ™ d « ai0 » °f his Poem? This'wilf be found

— . --- ■■--- «-- - T. » ^,uh™, lo me jrroauction ot his Foem ? This will be found

to refolve into firft an Inclination or Defire to produce fome Piece, in the way of a Fable, that (hall ftron" y reprefent the Mifchiefs of Difcord among Confederates ; and, fecondly, a Knowledge of the Means neceffarV B ~™ ! l,? r an Acquaintance with certain Rules and Meafures which tend to produce fuch Effed

ill 72. * a i r t f^c™ ^ W) Wh ' ch haS alread 3 r been laid down as t he Spring or Principle of

all human Aftion, and which is founded on the Apprehenfion of Good or Advantage to anfe from fuch Poem

, .k„t- r:„A „ a • • T ° • — —-"——■» »~, r ...».j, ^ luiuwicugt ui ine ivreans necellary

TurTc'r,- an Acquaintance with certain Rules and Meafures which tend to produce fuch Erf eft

lllm n Affl B a A r i f 5 " '°" M f ve > L *¥* h" al ^ady been laid down as the Spring or Principle of Jl human Action, and which is founded on the Apprehenfion of Good or Advantage to arife from fuch Poem oours'd'of VK ' Kn0wled S e of dle Meam > ftands on tlle c °mmon Footing of the Knowledge hitherto dif

tn T ^ E A ^ and Meafures of an Art, make a kind of preliminary Doctrine, neceffary or conducive there- to, called the Theory < of the Art; which, alfo, in one Senfe, may be conf.der'd as another Art, diftinct from

t l f fZ^J f 6 f' r?, COm u atlt A S the Bufmei ' S ° f another ArL If ' for inftance ' a certain Pofition, or

Set of Motions of the Body, be conftituted by Nature the Occafion of a poetick Infpiration; and fuch and fuch Images and Ideas anfing herefrom, be conftituted the Occafions of fuch and fuch Paffions in the Mind of a Reader, and fuch and fuch Views confident thereon, viz. an Averfion to Enmity, and Contention : To form an Arc productive of thefe Effects, we mult firft fee and obferve fuch or the like Effects, to arife from fuch or the like Caufes ; and argue or infer that 'tis probable thefe Motions, or thefe Images, are the Occafions thereof: and conf.der and colled the Order, Manner, and Circumftances thereof, to form the Art or m7- Z°l ™ ° thMwe ha ; ellCTe ' a r s before, i" Matter, viz. Phsenomena, firft furnifhed by Senfition, and preferv'd in die Memory; 2 Form, anfing from the Moral View, which led us to frame an Art, and in order thereto to conhder and dwell on the Phenomena, compare 'em together, and infer fomething from 'em -It appears' therefore, that we have two Arts of Poetry, very different from each other ; coming from different Caufes' tending to different Purpofes and rarely found, in any degree, in the fame Perfon. The firft Art Homer has in peiTeccion, the lecond, Arijtotlc.

BUT for all their difference the two are really of the fame general Nature, and Kind; and only differ in point of Degree, and Subordination ; as they are nearer to, or further from, the Principle of all Knowledge and Art Senfation.— -Homer we have fhewn, was infpired : He derived his Art only from Nature actine on him in the ordinary Courfe of Things, and firft prefenting Objects to his Senfe, then to his Imagination ■ And others are infpired from him, i.e. derive the Infpiradon from Nature thro' his means: among whom is Ari- Jtolle. Nature, as fhe appears to the Senfes, is Homer's Subjed : as fhe mews her felf in Homtr, is Arijlotle's ; by which time the Inipiranon is grown a degree cooler, and lefs forcible, and the Ideas thus excited at fecond fiT-TTr?, t- I V C can attend more fteadily to 'em, and perceive their Relations better. In the

nut it talis like Lightning, immediately from Heaven ; the fecond may be compared to the Reflexion of the lame in a Mirror, rhe reading of Homer, i. e. the exciting and calling up his Ideas and Images, does, as it were, impregnate Anftotle s Imagination ; and tranfplant the Poet's whole Nurfery into the Philofopher's Garden, to be tintner cultivated. Accordingly, Ariftotle applying his Apprehenfion and Reafon to 'em, and examining 'em Zl ' 1 T w ,' Pc rcelves dlvcrs Relations and Analogies between 'em, which Homer was not aware of; and wmch the Warmth of his Imagination, and the quick Succeffion of new Ideas, would not give him room to AM™' A f p ° S ' eS ht calls Ruks ' or Law ; the Affemblage or Syftem whereof, make what we call

Totum hoc quo coiuinemar & u«um tft & Deus ; & fori, ejus fiim«s 8c membra. Epift. 9 2.

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