about that very poet for whom I have the greatest veneration. Mad. Dacier* might have considered a little, that whatever were the motives of M. de la Motte to so bold a proceeding, it could not darken that fame which I am sure she thinks shines securely even after the vain attempts of Plato himself against it caused only perhaps by a like reason with that of Mad. Dacier's anger against M. de la Motte, namely, the finding that in prose, his genius (great as it was) could not be capable of the sublime heights of poetry, which therefore he banished out of his commonwealth. Nor were these objections to Homer any more lessening of her merit in translating him as well as that way is capable of, viz. fully, plainly, and elegantly, than the most admirable verses can be any disparagement to as excellent prose. The best excuse for all this violence is, its being in a cause which gives a kind of reputation even to suffering, notwithstanding ever so ill a management of it. * Menage wrote this Greek Distich on her celebrated translation: Ιλιὰς ἥδ ̓ Αννης Δακηρίδος, ἢ μάλα δήτοι Νῦν Πηληϊάδεω μῆνιν ἄειαε θεά. But the Abbé Cartaud, in his Essay on Taste, has given a ridiculous representation of this learned lady, in the act of reciting the parting scene of Hector and Andromache: and adds, that it were to be wished that she had confined her occupations to such as employed the mind and hands of the amiable wife of Hector. Warton. The worst of defending even Homer in such a passionate manner, is its being more a proof of her weakness, than of his being liable to none. For what is it can excuse Homer any more than Hector, for flying at the first sight of Achilles? whose terrible aspect sure needed not such an inexcusable fright to set it off; and methinks all that account of Minerva's restoring his dart to Achilles, comes a little too late, for excusing Hector's so terrible apprehension at the very first. LETTER VII. TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. September 1, 1718. I A AM much honoured by your Grace's compliance with my request, in giving me your opinion of the French dispute concerning Homer. And I shall keep my word, in fairly telling wherein I disagree from you. It is but in two or three very small points, not so much of the dispute, as of the parties concerned in it. I cannot think quite so highly of the lady's learring, though I respect it very much. It is great, complaisance in that polite nation, to allow her to be a critic of equal rank with her husband. To instance no further, his remarks on Horace show more good sense, penetration, and a better taste of his author, and those upon Aristotle's Art of Poetry more skill and science, than any of hers on any author whatever.* In truth, they are much more slight, dwell more in generals, and are, besides, for the most part, less her own; of which her Remarks upon Homer are an example, where Eustathius is transcribed ten times for once that he is quoted. Nor is there at all more depth of learning in those upon Terence, Plautus, or (where they were most wanted) upon Aristophanes, only the Greek scholia upon the latter are some of the best extant. Your Grace will believe me, that I did not search to find defects in a lady; my employment upon the Iliad forced me to see them; yet I have had so much of the French complaisance as to conceal her thefts; for wherever I have found her notes to be wholly another's (which is the case in some hundreds) I have barely quoted the true proprietor without observing upon it. it. If Madame Dacier has ever seen my observations, she will be sensible of this conduct, but what effect it may have upon a lady, I will not answer for. In the next place, as to M. de la Motte, I think your Grace hardly does him right, in supposing he could have no idea of the beauties of Homer's epic poetry, but what he learned from Madame Dacier's prose translation. There had been a very elegant prose translation before, that of Monsieur de la * This is a just character of that excellent critic's writings; who seems not to have justice done him, either at home or abroad. Warburton. Valterie; so elegant that the style of it was evidently the original and model of the famous Telemaque.† Your Grace very justly animadverts against the too great disposition of finding faults, in the one, and of confessing none in the other: but doubtless, as to violence, the lady has infinitely the better of the gentleman. Nothing can be more polite, dispassionate, or sensible, than M. de la Motte's manner of managing the dispute: and so much as I see your Grace admires the beauty of his verse, (in which you have the suffrage too of the Archbishop of Cambray,) I will venture to * To which translation Pope himself was not a little obliged. Warton. + That vain and haughty despot, Louis XIV. would never forgive Fenelon for the many sarcasms scattered up and down in his Telemachus, on pride, profusion, luxury, and arbitrary power. For these, much more than for the "Maxims of the Saints," was this virtuous and exemplary prelate banished from the court to his diocese. And Cardinal Fleury would not suffer Louis XV. to read Telemachus. As to La Motte, in addition to what has been said of his Odes being more philosophical than poetical, it may also be observed, that so were his Fables. In the latter also were introduced too many new and improper personifications; and Dom Jugement, Dame Memoire, and Demoiselle Imagination, Talent, and Reputation, seem to be strange actors in a fable. See Fable XIII. His Discourses on Fable, on Lyric Poetry, and on Homer, (though so vehemently proscribed by Mad. Dacier,) contain many acute and original remarks. The cheerfulness and equanimity with which he endured the calamity of blindness, for many years, does him more real honour than could be acquired by the best compositions of prose or verse. To the same good temper may be ascribed his cordial reconciliation with Mad. Dacier, after their severe combat, to whom he addressed an Ode full of delicate compliments. Warton. say, his prose is full as good. I think therefore when you say, no disputants even in Divinity could be more outrageous and uncharitable than these two authors, you are a little too hard upon M. de la Motte. Not but that (with your Grace) 1 doubt as little of the zeal of commentators as of the zeal of divines, and am as ready to believe of the passions and pride of mankind in general, that (did but the same interests go along with them) they would carry the learned world to as violent extremes, animosities, and even persecutions, about variety of opinions in criticism, as ever they did about religion and that, in defect of Scripture to quarrel upon, we should have the French, Italian, and Dutch commentators ready to burn one another about Homer, Virgil, Terence, and Horace, I do not wonder your Grace is shocked at the flight of Hector upon the first appearance of Achilles in the twenty-second Iliad. However (to shew myself a true commentator, if not a true critic,) I will endeavour to excuse, if not to defend it, in my notes on that book. And to save myself what trouble I can, instead of doing it in this letter, I will draw up the substance of what I have to say for it in a separate paper, which I will shew your Grace when next we meet. I will only desire you to allow me, that Hector was in an absolute certainty of death, and depressed over and above with the conscience of being in an ill cause. If your heart be so great, as not to grant the first of these will sink the spirit of a hero, you will at |