Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary

ESSAY XX

Essay_151-200.indd 191 12/27/11 7:53 PM ESSAY XX OF SIMPLICITY AND REFINEMENT IN WRITING FINE writing, according to Mr. ADDISON, consists of sentiments , which are natural, without being obvious. There cannot be a juster, and more concise definition of fine . . I wnttng. Sentiments, which are merely natural, affect not the mind with any pleasure, and seem not worthy of our attention. The pleasantries of a waterman,0 the observations of a peasant, the ribaldry of a porter or hackney coachman, all of these are natural, and disagreeable. What an insipid comedy should we make of the chit-chat of the tea-table, copied faithfully and at '[Joseph Addison, The Spectator, no. 345 (5 April 1712). In Donald F. Bond, ed., The Spectator (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 3:284.] Essay_151-200.indd 192 12/27/11 7:53 PM 192 ESSAY XX full length? Nothing can please persons of taste, but nature drawn with all her graces and ornaments, Ia belle nature; oor if we copy low life, the strokes must be strong and remarkable, and must convey a lively image to the mind. The absurd naivety• of Sancho Pancho is represented in such inimitable colours by CERVANTES, that it entertains as much as the picture of the most magnanimous hero or softest lover. 2 The case is the same with orators, philosophers, critics, or any author who speaks in his own person, without introducing other speakers or actors. If his language be not elegant, his observations uncommon, his sense strong and masculine, he will in vain boast his nature and simplicity. He may be correct; but he never will be agreeable. It is the unhappiness of such authors, that they are never blamed or censured. The good fortune of a book, and that of a man, are not the same. The secret deceiving path of life, which HORACE talks of, fallentis semita vitce, 3 may be the happiest lot of the one; but is the greatest misfortune, which the other can possibly fall into. On the other hand, productions, which are merely surprising , without being natural, can never give any lasting entertainment to the mind. To draw chimeras is not, properly speaking, to copy or imitate. The justness of the representation is lost, and the mind is displeased to find a picture, which bears no resemblance to any original. Nor are such excessive refinements more agreeable in the epistolar/ or philosophic style, than in the epic or tragic. Too much ornament is a fault in every kind of production. Uncommon expressions, strong flashes of wit, pointed similies, and epigrammatic turns, especially when they recur too frequently, are a disfigurement, rather than any embellishment of discourse . As the eye, in surveying a GOTHIC building, is dis2 [See Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 -1616), El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de Ia Mancha (The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of Ia Mancha ), pt. 1, 1605; pt. 2, 1615. Sancho Panza is the ignorant but loyal peasant whom Don Quixote chooses as his squire.] 3[Horace, Epistles 1.18.103: " ... the pathway of a life unnoticed" (Loeb translation by H. Rushton Fairclough).] Essay_151-200.indd 193 12/27/11 7:53 PM 193 OF SIMPLICITY AND REFINEMENT tracted by the multiplicity of ornaments, and loses the whole by its minute attention to the parts; so the mind, in perusing a work overstocked with wit, is fatigued and disgusted with the constant endeavour to shine and surprize. This is the case where a writer overabounds in wit, even though that wit, in itself, should be just and agreeable. But it commonly happens to such writers, that they seek for their favourite ornaments, even where the subject does not afford them; and by that means, have twenty insipid conceits for one thought which is really beautiful. There is no subject in critical learning more copious,o than this of the just mixture of simplicity and refinement in writing; and therefore, not to wander in too large a field, I shall confine myself to a few general observations on that head. First, I observe, That though excesses ofboth kinds are to be avoided, and though a proper medium ought to be studied in all productions; yet this medium lies not in a point, but admits of a considerable latitude. Consider the wide distance, in this respect , between Mr. POPE and L UCRETIUS. These seem to lie in the two greatest extremes of...