Dennis, A Journey over the Alpes

ジョン・デニス
「アルプス越え」
『散文・韻文集』より

トリノ、1688年10月25日
リヨンからの旅の日誌をここに送る。出発する前のイギリスで君が、ぜひ、と言っていたとおり、アルプスについて詳しく書いている。サヴォワについてはふれなかった。モンメリアンの岩山についても書いていない。君にとって興味ありそうなことだけを扱っている。

10月19日にぼくたちはリヨンから出発し、きれいな平地を通ってヴォルペリエに着いた。平地は農地だったり牧草地だったりして、その向こうには丘が連なっていた。広くはなくともいい眺めだった。
https://is.gd/V5OA96

10月20日
午前のうちに同じ平地－－ところどころ沼地になっていた－－を通り、ラ・トゥール＝デュ＝パンという町まで行った。食事をとった後、さらにくるみと栗の木のなかを進み、フランスとサヴォワの境界にあるル・ポン＝ド＝ボーヴォワザンに着いた。
https://is.gd/DUMwOr
https://is.gd/8H5pxz

10月21日
午前中にサヴォワに入り、エギュベレット山を越えていった。まわりながら登る道で楽だったが、半分くらい登った時、尋常ではない高さまできていて、垂れ下がる岩の下かつ恐ろしく深い崖の上にいること、そしてその下では川が唸りながらとんでもない勢いで流れていることに気づき、一変した光景を前に愕然とした。下の激流の向こう岸、ぼくたちから30ヤードくらい離れたところには、こちらと同じくらいの高さの山があった。岩だらけの崖が霧のなかに見えてぞっとした。が、時々きれいに花咲く谷のように穏やかに見えるところがあるなど、それはあまりにも矛盾した光景だった。まるで自然の女神が男に対して厳格であると同時に甘い、とでもいうように。そんな光景のなか、ぼくたちは文字どおり破滅の縁（へり）を歩いた。一歩踏みはずせば死ぬ、どころか死体まで破壊されるようなところだった。ぼくは矛盾する感覚に突き動かされていた－－恐ろしくて楽しかった－－怖くておもしろかった－－無限に喜びながら、同時に震えていた。
https://is.gd/bAfUWV

そこからぼくたちは山に挟まれたきれいな谷を通って進んだ。連なる山頂は高く緑で、人を拒むと同時に招くかのようだった。さらに3マイルほど平原を歩いてラ・カーヴというところに着く。1670年に亡くなったサヴォワ侯爵が岩山のあいだに道を通したが、それ以前には絶対に通れなかったそうだ。岩は爆破したらしい、地震と落雷が重なった以上の力の火薬で。その道はほんの1/4マイルほどだが、信じられないほど大変な工事だったようで、費用としても400万リーヴルかかったらしい。次のような仰々しい説明が入口のところにあった。



食事はシャンベリーでした。サヴォワの首都だ。そこからモンメリアンへの道では、母なる自然がまたまったく別の顔をしていた。岩だらけの崖は見るも恐ろしく、四方を囲む山はみなとんでもない高さで、連なる峰に雪が積もっているのか、あるいはで雲が日を浴びているのか、意見がわかれるほどだった。次に見えた山の頂上は黒い雲に隠れていて、さらにその雲の上にもっと高い山の白い頂上が見えた。そんな不思議な光景のもてなしを受けつつ旅をして、夜にモンメリアンに着いた。
https://is.gd/O7FUiU
https://is.gd/7fsK6V

22日、朝に出発。山々は昨日よりさらに高くなったように見えた。この日はエーグベルで食事をした。午後の道は平野だったり、とり囲むアルプスの斜面だったり。この日に新しく加わったお楽しみは、時々怒り狂ったような速さで下を流れる川、それから滝、時々全速力で崖から落ちてくる水の音だ。夜はラ・シャンブルで寝た。
https://is.gd/bq9cOG
https://is.gd/5VQRYM

23日、朝、とても寒く、スニ山の嫌な影響を感じた。まだかなり遠いのに。昼前にサン・ミシェルに着く。午後、山の斜面をさらに進む。そこは松林になっていたり、畑だったりした。実際、垂直のちょっと手前というような、まさかというところに畑があった。その夜はモダーヌで寝た。
https://is.gd/MZk4qZ

（つづく）

*****
John Dennis
A Journey over the Alpes
From Miscellanies in Prose and Verse

Turin, Octob. 25. 88.
I Have here sent you a Journal of my
Journey from Lyons hither, in which
you will find that account of the Alpes,
which you so earnestly desired of me,
before I came out of England. I have
taken no notice of the Towns in Savoy;
nor so much as the Rock of Montmelian,
but have confin'd my self to a Subject
which you seem'd to affect so much.

On the nineteenth of October, we set
out from Lyons, and came that night to
Vorpellier, thro a fair Plain, which was
sometimes Arable, and sometimes Pasture,
and bounded with Rows of Hills
at that just distance, as gave tho['] not a
large, an agreeable Prospect.

Octob. 20. We came by Noon thro
the same Plain, which grew to be sometimes
a Marsh[,] to a Bourg, call'd Tour
Du Pin. From thence, after Dinner,
we continued our way, thro whole
Groves of Walnut and Chestnut Trees
to Pont Beanvoisin, being the Bridge
that separates France and Savoy.

Octob. 21. We entred into Savoy in
the Morning, and past over Mount Aiguebellette.
The ascent was the more easie,
because it wound about the Mountain.
But as soon as we had conquer'd one
half of it, the unusual heighth in which
we found our selves, the impending
Rock that hung over us, the dreadful
Depth of the Precipice, and the Torrent
that roar'd at the bottom, gave us
such a view as was altogether new and
amazing. On the other side of that
Torrent, was a Mountain that equall'd
ours, about the distance of thirty Yards
from us. Its craggy Clifts, which we
half discern'd, thro the misty gloom of the
Clouds that surrounded them, sometimes
gave us a horrid Prospect. And sometimes
its face appear'd Smooth and Beautiful
as the most even and fruitful Vallies. So
different from themselves were the different
parts of it: In the very same place
Nature was seen Severe and Wanton. In
the mean time we walk'd upon the very
brink, in a litteral sense, of Destruction; one
Stumble, and both Life and Carcass had
been at once destroy'd. The sense of all this
produc'd different motions in me, viz. a
delightful Horrour, a terrible Joy, and at
the same time, that I was infinitely pleas'd, I
trembled.

From thence we went thro a pleasant
Valley bounded with Mountains, whose
high but yet verdant Tops seem'd at once
to forbid and invite Men. After we had
ma[rched] for a League thro the Plain, we arriv'd
at the place which they call La Cave;
where the late Duke of Savoy in the Year
Seven[ty], struck out a Passage thro a rocky
Mountain that had always before been impassible:
Performing that by the force of
Gun-powder, which Thunder-bolts [at]
Earthquakes could scarce have effected.
This Passage is a quarter of an English Mile,
made with incredible labour, and the expence
of four Millions of Livers. At the
Entrance into it is the following pompous
Inscription.

At Chambery we din'd, the Capital Town
of Savoy. In our way from thence to Montmelian,
Nature seem'd quite to have chang[']d
her Face. There craggy Rocks look'd horrid
to the Eye, and Hills appear'd on every
side of so stupendous an heighth, that the
Company was divided at a distance, whether
they should believe them to be sunny
clouds, or the Snowy tops of Mountains.
Here appear'd a Hill with its top quite hid
in black Clouds, and beyond that Hill, & above
those Clouds some higher Mountain
show'd its hoary Head. With this strange
entertainment by the way, we came that
Night to Montmelian.

On the 22. we set forward in the morning.
The Mountains appear'd to grow still
more Lofty. We din'd that day at Aiguebelle.
In the Afternoon we proceeded on our
way, sometimes thro the Plain, and sometimes
on the side of the Alps; with which we
were hemm'd in on all sides. We then began
that day to have the additional diversion,
of a Torrent that ran sometimes with fury
beneath us, and of the noise of the Cascades,
or the down fall of Waters, which
sometimes came tumbling a main from the
Precipices. We lay that night at La
Chambre.

On the 23. The morning was very cold,
which made us have dismal apprehensions of
Mount Cenis, since we felt its influence so
severely at so great a distance. We arriv'd
by Noon at St. Michel. In the Afternoon
we continued our Journey mostly upon the
sides of the Mountains, which were sometimes
all cover'd with Pines; and sometimes
cultivated, ev'n in places where one would
swear the thing were impossible, for they
were only not perpendicular. We lay that
Night at Modane.

－－ここまで－－

Oct. 24. Modane is within a dozen Miles
of Mount Cenis, and therefore the next
morning we felt the Cold more severely.
We went to Dinner at Laneburgh, situate
at the foot of Mount Cenis.

As soon as we had din'd, we sent our
Horses about, and getting up upon Mules
began to ascend the Mountain. I could
not forbear looking back now and then to
contemplate the Town and the Vale beneath
me. When I was arriv'd within a
hundred Yards of the Top, I could still
discern Laneburgh at the Bottom, distant
Three tedious Miles from me. What an
amazing distance? Think what an impression
a place must make upon you, which you
should see as far under you as 'tis from
your House to Hampstead. And here I
wish I had force to do right to this renown'd
Passage of the Alpes. 'Tis an easie
thing to describe Rome or Naples to you,
because you have seen something your self
that holds at least some resemblance with
them; but impossible to set a Mountain
before your eyes, that is inaccessible almost
to the sight, and wearies the very
Eye to Climb it. For when I tell you that
we were arriv'd within a hundred yards
of the Top: I mean only the Plain, thro
which we afterwards pass'd, but there is
another vast Mountain still upon that.
If these Hills were first made with the
World, as has been a long time thought,
and Nature design'd them only as a Mound
to inclose her Garden Italy: Then we
may well say of her what some affirm of
great Wits, that her, careless irregular
and boldest Strokes are most admirable.
For the Alpes are works which she seems
to have design'd, and executed too in Fury.
Yet she moves us less, where she studies
to please us more. I am delighted, 'tis true
at the prospect of Hills and Valleys, of
flowry Meads, and murmuring Streams,
yet it is a delight that is consistent with
Reason, a delight that creates or improves
Meditation. But transporting
Pleasures follow'd the sight of the Alpes,
and what unusual transports think you were
those, that were mingled with horrours,
and sometimes almost with despair? But
if these Mountains were not a Creation,
but form'd by universal Destruction, when
the Arch with a mighty flaw dissolv'd and
fell into the vast Abyss (which surely is the
best opinion) then are these Ruines of
the old World the greatest wonders of the
New. For they are not only vast, but
horrid, hideous, ghastly Ruins. After we
had gallop'd a League over the Plain, and
came at last to descend, to descend
thro the very Bowels as it were of the
Mountain, for we seem'd to be enclos'd
on all sides: What an astonishing Prospect
was there? Ruins upon Ruins in monstrous
Heaps, and Heaven and Earth confounded.
The uncouth Rocks that were
above us, Rocks that were void of all
form, but what they had receiv'd from
Ruine; the frightful view of the Precipices,
and the foaming Waters that threw
themselves headlong down them, made all
such a Consort up for the Eye, as that
sort of Musick does for the Ear, in
which Horrour can be joyn'd with Harmony.
I am afraid you will think that I have
said too much. Yet if you had but seen
what I have done, you would surely think
that I have said too little. However
Hyperboles might easily here be forgiven.
The Alpes appear to be Nature's extravagancies,
and who should blush to be
guilty of Extravagancies, in words that
make mention of her's. But 'tis time to
proceed. We descended in Chairs, the
descent was four English Miles. We past
thro Novalese, situate at the Foot of
Mount Cenis on the side of Italy, and lay
that Night at Suse. We din'd the next
day at Villane, and thro a pleasant Valley
came that Night to this place.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A35672.0001.001
- Dennis, Miscellanies (1693, Wing D1304) および
Familiar Letters (1718) ECCO T64796を見ながら修正
- 改行位置は実際のページどおり
（行をまたぐハイフンは削除、前行に語全体を記載）

*****
散文。「恐ろしいと同時に心奪われる」という
「崇高」（sublime）の概念の発端とされる文章。

これ系の崇高とロンギノス系の崇高の融合・混淆・混乱が
18世紀からいわゆる「ロマン派」までのイギリス詩の重要な特徴。

*****
学生の方など、自分の研究／発表のために上記を
参照する際には、このサイトの作者、タイトル、URL,
閲覧日など必要な事項を必ず記し、剽窃行為のないように
してください。

ウェブ上での引用などでしたら、リンクなどのみで
かまいません。

商用、盗用、悪用などないようお願いします。

Dennis, The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry

ジョン・デニス
『現代詩の発展と改革：批評論文』より

ノルマンディ侯、マルグレイヴ伯、そしてガーター勲爵士である
高貴なジョン・シェフィールド様に

創作物の批評の目的は、少なくともそれが正しく良質なものである場合、高貴かつ有用な創作という技術を発展させることでなければなりません。以下の文章は、現代人を偉大なる古代の人々と対等のレベルに押し上げることを意図しています。そのため、閣下にお許しいただけるなら、古代の作家たちが優れている点は何か、また、なぜ私がギリシア悲劇－－例えばソポクレスの『オイディプス王』－－を、人気あるイングランド悲劇－－例えばシェイクスピアの『ユリウス・カエサル』－－より好むのかを考えたいと思います。これは、私にとってギリシア悲劇のほうが楽しく、またそこから学ぶことがより多いからです。まさにそれゆえギリシア悲劇の感動のほうが大きいのです。経験から言って、悲劇の楽しみや教訓は、それがかきたてる感情の大きさに比例します。しかし、なぜイングランドのものよりギリシア悲劇のほうが大きな感情を惹きおこすのか、その理由を知るためには、まずそれらの主たる違いを考える必要があるでしょう。性質上の違いがあれば、感動にも差があって当然ですから。閣下、『オイディプス』と『カエサル』のあいだには、明確な違いが2点あります。まず、『オイディプス』は規範的・規則的ですが、『カエサル』は不規則で規範に従っていません。また『オイディプス』は神に対して敬虔ですが、『カエサル』は不敬です。閣下のご判断に従いますが、私が考えるところでは、すべての悲劇は神に関する教育、何らかの神の定めを見る者の心に刻みこむものであるべきです。神が善良な者を守り、悪い者、少なくとも暴力的な者を戒めることを明白に示すべきです。そうでなければ、それは内容のない娯楽、むしろこの世の安定にとって有害・破壊的な文書となります。シェイクスピアにおけるカエサル殺害は、殺人という犯罪、あるいは合法行為、どちらでしょうか。もしそれが合法であるなら、ブルトゥスとカッシウスの殺害はまさに犯罪で、シェイクスピアは最後にして最高のローマ人ふたりの血で舞台を汚したと責められるべきでしょう。逆に、カエサル殺害が犯罪で、ブルトゥスとカッシウスが正当に罰せられたとします。それでもシェイクスピアは、多くのローマ貴族たちが観客の前で恐ろしい殺人の罪を犯すことを見せ、しかしそのうちのふたりを罰したのみ、としてやはり非難されるでしょう。このようなシナリオは、統治、むしろ人間社会そのものを破壊しかねない危険な議論につながりますから。

以上、規則的・宗教的であるがゆえに『オイディプス王』は優れていると考えてよいでしょう。このような評価は、次の考察からも導かれます。すなわち、上にふれた規則性とは、強い感情を高い確率で掻き立てるのに必要と日々の観察や探究からわかっている何らかの規則の実践に他ならない、ということです。なぜなら、心と体の強さが同じふたりが戦った場合によりていねいな準備をしたほうが勝つのと同様、詩の優劣や評価においても、思考の力が同等ならその力の使いかたをよりよく知っている詩人の作品が勝ると考えざるをえないからです。

規則性を嫌う人でも、少し時間を割いてソポクレスの『オイディプス王』を先入観なしに読んでみれば、すぐに気づくでしょう。読者の心が驚きから驚きへ、共感・憐みから恐怖へ、そして再度恐怖から共感・憐みへ、息つく間もなく動かされる理由はまさに技巧に他ならない、ということに。すぐにわかるでしょう。劇中至るところに織り交ぜられた宗教が、宗教とは無関係と見えるすべてのどんでん返しをもたらしていることが。それらはみな神の恐ろしい定めの帰結であり、それゆえ晴天から落ちる雷のように読者を呆然自失・混乱の状態に陥れるのです。

詩人のつくる物語が日々湧きあがる感情をより強く引きおこすとしたら、それは一般に規則性と呼ばれるものがそこにあるから、言葉や内容が何らかの規則にしたがっているからです。また、日々の感情の背後には宗教、つまり見えない力に対する畏怖や敬意があり、それを活用する力と技能さえあれば、詩人は詩の内容や表現により、日々の感情を超える特殊な感情を引きおこすことができます。この特別な感情こそ忘我、神に憑かれたかのような陶酔・自失、などと呼ばれるものです。

規則性およびそれが日常的な感情を呼びおこすことについて、もう特に話す必要はないかもしれません。閣下ご自身、小さくとも重要で輝かしい、言わば大きな宝より遠くを照らす高純度の宝石のようなご著書を社会に対して贈られています。またそれは、すでに他の者たちの著作によっても十分明らかになっています。すなわち、規則的に書くということは、道徳的に正しく、趣味よく適切に、根拠とともに、自然に、理にしたがって、書く、ということです。しかしながら、いかに宗教が詩の発展に寄与するかを示すこの論考に欠かせない準備として、規則性に関する従来の議論を確認しておきたいと思います。これがけっして無駄な遠まわりではないことをご理解いただけましたら幸いです。昨今では規則を無視あるいは軽視する者が少なくありませんので、ある程度時間を割いて、それを守ることの重要性を証明する必要があるのです。もし本当に規則など守らなくてよいのであれば、以下の論文は空虚な暇つぶしにすぎないものとなるでしょう。ですが、そのように考えるなら、今後詩を発展させることなど絶望的に不可能と言わざるをえません。

完璧な詩をつくるためには規則にしたがう必要があります。これはあたりまえのことなので、少し頭を使えば誰にでもわかるでしょう。下位の芸術、たとえば絵画や音楽にも規則はあります。構図やバランスについて知らない、習わない、あるいは練習しないまま、もって生まれた空想の力だけで絵を描こうとする人は、当然ぶしつけな愚か者とみなされます。

音楽でも同じです。主旋律を知らずに他のパートをつくる人は誰にも相手にされません。このようにいささか劣る芸術においてもよい作品をつくるために規則が必要なのですから、より高貴な芸術においてそうなのはあたりまえですよね？ 規則にしたがって優れた詩が書けないなら、いったいどうすればいいのでしょう？ 偶然に任せるしかありませんね！ そうです、規則に従うか偶然に期待するかのどちらかしかありません。第三の道はないのです。

自然界にある偉大で美しいものは、すべてなんらかの規則にしたがっています。なんらかの秩序をもっています。私たちの知覚の対象に規則性・秩序・調和があればあるほど、私たちはそれを価値あるもの・高貴なものととらえます。僭越ながら私は、これは芸術、特に詩においても同じと考えます。詩とは、自然にあるものの正確な模倣をめざすべきなのですから。むしろ厳密に言えば、自然とは神がつくったこの世のもののなかの規則や秩序に他なりません。この世界が驚くほど美しいのは、その各部分が大きさや配置の点で調和し補完しあっているからです。世界の縮小版である人が健康で安らかに楽しく生きていられるのは、いや、そもそも存在できるのは、無意識のうちに体が規則的に動き、はたらいているからです。これがあってはじめて、人だけがもつ理性の力、この世の境界を高く超えて貫く思考の力が発揮されるのです。自然が目に見えるこの世界の秩序・規則・調和であるように、理性とは見えない世界の秩序・規則・調和です。それは秩序そのものであり、また秩序がもたらす結果です。不規則なものは、それが不規則であるかぎり自然ではありませんし、理性的でもありえません。神はすべてのものを規則にしたがうようにつくりました。だから、あらかじめ神が定めた永遠の掟・法則からほんのわずかでも逸れたものは、私たちにとって恐ろしいもの、憎むべきものとなります。同じように、人の心は自分にとっての掟・法則であり、そこから少しでも逸れるなら、人は理性を、自分の本質を、貶めることになります。つまり、正しく考えることができる人にとって、目に見える・見えないを問わず不規則なものは、ごくまれな例外を除いてすべて憎むべきもの、あるいはとるに足らないものなのです。

自然と理性は－－大きく括れば理性も自然なものですから、自然は、とまとめていいと思いますが－－常に永遠に規則的だからこそ美しく、そして偉大です。この世のはじまりにおいて秩序がすべてのものを美しくしたのですから、秩序がなくなれば再び世界は混沌に戻ってしまいます。自然の模倣である詩についても同様に考えなくてはなりません。理性の定めた厳格な法則から逸れる詩は偉大ではありません。本当の意味で美しくありません。詩は不規則であればあるほど訳のわからないめちゃくちゃなもの、意味のない、存在意義のないものとなるのです。

（つづく）

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John Dennis (1657-1734)
From The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry:
A Critical Discourse.

To the Most Noble John, Lord Marquess of Normanby,
Earl of Mulgrave, &c. and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

The Design of all Poetical Criticism, must be, if it is just and good, to advance so useful and so noble an Art as Poetry. And the design of the following Treatise is no less than to set the Moderns upon an equal foot with even admir'd Antiquity. In order to the doing which, I humbly desire leave of your Lordship, that I may make an enquiry in what the preheminence of the Ancient Poets consists; and why I prefer one of the Grecian Tragedies, as for example, the Oedipus of Sophocles, to one of our celebrated English Tragedies; as for instance, the Julius Caesar of Shakespear. Upon reflection I find that the reason is, because I am more delighted and more instructed by the former; and that for this very reason, because I am more mov'd by it: For I find by experience that I am no further pleas'd nor instructed by any Tragedy, than as it excites Passion in me. But in order to the discovering why I am more mov'd by the former than the latter of those Tragedies, I desire leave to make an enquiry into the principal differences between them, and that in all probability will determine the matter. I find then, my Lord, that there are two very signal differences between the Oedipus and the Julius Caesar. First, the Oedipus is exactly Just and Regular, and the Julius Caesar is very Extravagant and Irregular. Secondly, the Oedipus is very Religious, and the Julius Caesar is Irreligious. For, with submission to your Lordships Judgment, I conceive that every Tragedy ought to be a very solemn Lecture, inculcating a particular Providence, and showing it plainly protecting the good, and chastizing the bad, or at least the violent; and that if it is otherwise, it is either an empty amusement, or a scandalous and pernicious Libel upon the government of the world. The killing of Julius Caesar in Shakespear, is either a Murder or a Lawful Action; if the killing Caesar is a, Lawful Action, then the killing of Brutus and Cassius is downright Murder; and the Poet has been guilty of polluting the Seene with the blood of the very best and last of the Romans. But if the killing of Caesar is Murder, and Brutus and Cassius are very justly punish'd for it; then Shakespear is on the other side answerable for introducing so many Noble Romans, committing in the open face of an Audience, a very horrible Murder, and only punishing two of them; which proceeding gives an occasion to the people to draw a dangerous inference from it, which may be Destructive to Government, and to Human Society.

Thus, My Lord, I have a great deal of reason to suspect that the Oedipus derives its advantage from its Regularity, and its Religion; and the presumption grows still more strong, when upon enquiry I find, that the fore-mention'd Regularity is nothing but the bringing some Rules into practice, which Observation and Philosophy have found requisite for the surer exciting of Passion. For as this, I think, cannot be contested, that of two Combatants, who have equal Strength and equal Courage, he is most likely to have the better who has the most address; so in a contention and prize of Poetry, between persons who have equal force of mind, he will be certain to have the advantage, who is the best instructed to use his strength.

If any of the enemies to Regularity will give themselves the trouble to peruse the Oedipus of Sophocles, with an impartial eye, he will easily discern how instrumental the Poetical Art is in leading him from Surprize to Surprize, from Compassion to Terror, and from Terror to Compassion again, without giving him so much as a time to breathe; and he will as easily discover, how the Religion that is every where intermix'd with the Play, shews all the Surprizes even when he least expects this, as so many immediate successive effects of a particular Dreadful Providence, which make them come like so many Thunder-claps from a serene Heaven to confound and astonish him.

A Poet is capacitated by that which is commonly call'd Regularity, to excite the ordinary Passions more powerfully by the constitution of the Fable, and the influence which that must necessarily have both upon the words and thoughts; and Religion, besides the Influence it will have upon the ordinary Passions, will be to a Poet, who has force and skill enough to make his advantage of it, a perpetual source of extraordinary Passion, which is commonly call'd Enthusiasm, for the sentiments and the expressions.

For what concerns Regularity, or the exciting of ordinary Passion, enough has been said already. Your Lordship has particularly made the Publick a Present, which is, I confess, but little in Volume but is magnificent in Value and Ornament; 'tis a Present in Jewels, which casts a further lustre than Treasures that take up a larger space, and is more solid to those who are near it. Our Writers have been sufficiently told, that writing Regularly is writing Morally, Decently, Justly, Naturally, Reasonably. The Design, my Lord, of the following Treatise is to shew of what use Religion may be to the advancement of Poetry. But because all that has been said concerning Regularity is so necessary a preparative to this Design, that it would be wholly useless without it, I hope your Lordship will not think it to be foreign to my purpose, if at a time when the Rules are neglected by some, and slighted by others, I bestow a little time in proving the necessity of observing those; without the strict observance of which, the following Treatise will be an empty amusement, and we must absolutely despair of making any advancement in Poetry.

The necessity of observing Rules to the attaining a perfection in Poetry is so very apparent, that he who will give himself the trouble of Reflecting, cannot easily doubt of it. Rules are necessary even in all the inferiour Arts, as in Painting and Musick. If any one should pretend to draw a Picture without having ever been taught, or without knowing or practising any thing of Perspective or Proportion, but should pretend to succeed alone by the natural force of his Fancy, that man would certainly be esteem'd a very Impudent and Impertinent person.

Your Lordship knows that it is the very same thing in Musick that it is in Painting. If any one should pretend to compose in parts, without understanding the grounds, that person would infallibly render himself very contemptible. Now if they please by Rules in a less noble Art, can they reasonably expect to please without them in one that is more noble? If they please not by Rules in Poetry, how must they please? By Chance! For this is certain, that they must do it by one or the other, for there is no third way.

There is nothing in Nature that is great and beautiful, without Rule and Order; and the more Rule and Order and Harmony we find in the objects that strike our sences, the more worthy and noble we esteem them. I humbly conceive that it is the same in Art, and particularly in Poetry, which ought to be an exact imitation of Nature. Now Nature, taken in a stricter sense, is nothing but that Rule and Order and Harmony which we find in the visible Creation. The Universe owes its admirable beauty to the Proportion, Situation and Dependance of its parts. And the little World, which we call Man, owes not only its Health and Ease and Pleasure, nay, the continuance of its very Being to the Regularity of Mechanical motion, but even the strength too of its boasted Reason, and the piercing force of those aspiring thoughts, which are able to pass the bounds that circumscribe the Universe. As Nature is Order and Rule and Harmony in the visible World, so Reason is the very same throughout the invisible Creation. For Reason is Order and the Result of Order. And nothing that is Irregular, as far as it is Irregular, ever was or ever can be either Natural or Reasonable. Whatever God Created he designed it Regular, and as the rest of the Creatures cannot swerve in the least from the Eternal Laws pre-ordain'd for them, without becoming fearful or odious to us; so Man, whose mind is a Law to itself, can never in the least transgress that Law, without lessning his Reason, and debasing his Nature. In fine, whatever is Irregular, either in the Visible or Invisible World, is to the person who thinks right, except in some very extraordinary cases, either Hateful or Contemptible.

But, as both Nature and Reason, which two in a larger acceptation is Nature, owe their Greatness, their Beauty, their Majesty, to th eirperpetualOrder; for Order at first made the face ofthings so beautiful, and the cessation of that Order would once more bring in Chaos; so Poetry, which is an imitation of Nature, must do the same thing. I can neither have Greatness or Real Beauty, if it swerves from the Laws which Reason severely prescribes it, and the more Irregular any Poetical Composition is, the nearer it comes to extravagance and confusion, and to nonsence, which is nothing.

－－ここまで－－

But, as in some of the numberless parts which constitute this beauteous all, there are some appearing irregularities, which parts notwithstanding contribute with the rest to compleat the Harmony of universal Nature; and as there are some seeming Irregularities even in the wonderful Dispensations of the Supream and Soveraign Reason, as the oppression of the good, and flourishing of the bad, which yet at the bottom are rightly adjusted, and wisely compensated, and are purposely appointed by Divine Fore-knowledge for the carrying on the profound Designs of Providence; so, if we may compare great things with small, in the creation of the accomplish'd Poem, some things may at first sight be seemingly against Reason, which yet at the bottom are perfectly Regular, because they are indispensably necessary to the admirable conduct of a great and a just Design.

No man knows better than your Lordship, that the Renown'd Masters among the Ancients, Homer and Virgil, &c. had too much Capacity, and too much Discernment, not to see the necessity of knowing and practising the Rules which Reason and Philosophy have prescib'd to Poets. They wrote not with a little narrow Design to please a Tumultuous transitory assembly, or a handful of men who were call'd their Countrymen; They wrote to their fellow Citizens of the Universe, to all Countries and to all Ages; and they were perfectly convinc'd that tho Caprice and Extravagance may please the multitude, who are always fluctuating, and always uncertain; yet that nothing but what is great in Reason and Nature, could be able to delight and instruct Mankind. They were clearly convinc'd that nothing could transmit their Immortal works to posterity, but something like that harmonious Order which maintains the Universe; that it was partly to that, they were to owe that wondrous merit, which could be able to render their Fame eternal, to extend and perpetuate the very languages in which they Your Lordship knows that it was towards the beginning of the last Century, that the French, a subtle and discerning Nation, began to be sensible of this, and upon it several of their extraordinary men, both Poets and Philosophers, began to cultivate Criticism. Upon which there follow'd two very remarkable things. For first, the cultivating of the Poetical Art advanc'd their Genius's to such a height, as was unknown to France before; and secondly, the appearing of those great Genius's, was very instrumental in spreading their language thro all the Christian World; and in raising the esteem of their Nation to that degree, that it naturally prepar'd the way for their Intrigues of State, and facilitated the execution of their vast Designs.

My Lord, these alterations happen'd in France, while the French reform'd the structure of their Poems, by the noble models of ancient Architects; and your Lordship knows very well, that the very contrary fell out among us; while, notwithstanding your generous attempt to reform us, we resolv'd with an injudicious obstinacy to adhere to our Gothick and Barbarous manner. For in the first place, our Stage has degenerated not only from the taste of Nature, but from the greatness it had in the time of Shakespear, in whose Coriolanus and Cassius we see something of the Invincible Spirit of the Romans; but in most of our Heroes which have lately appear'd on the Stage, Love has been still the predominant passion, whether they have been Grecian or Roman Heroes; which is false in Morality, and of scandalous instruction, and as false and absurd in Physicks. For Ambition makes a man a Tyrant to himself, as well as it does to others; and where it once prevails, enslaves the Reason, and subdues all other Passions. And it was for this very cause, if your Lordship will allow me to make this digression, that in the two Tragedies that I writ my self, I made Love a subordinate Passion, and subjected it in the one to Glory, and in the other to Friendship; that so I might make them fit to entertain the wisest of our Sex, and the best and most virtuous of the other. And it is impossible to tell you with what extream satisfaction I heard that the last of them was not displeasing to you.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecco;idno=004890743.0001.000
一部修正

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16‐17世紀の（一部行きすぎた）宗教改革および内乱で地に落ちた
宗教（キリスト教）のイメージのリハビリにおおいに貢献した重要エッセイ。
以下の主題の交差点。

ストア派の理性＞感情
ロック以降の感情＞理性
広教派・ケンブリッジのプラトン派・シャフツベリーの思いやり・共感・感受性
16世紀以来の「神は人のなかにいる」という議論（enthusiasm）
ロンギノス以来の崇高

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