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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47666	Of the art both of writing & judging of history with reflections upon ancient as well as modern historians, shewing through what defects there are so few good, and that it is impossible there should be many so much as tolerable / by the Jesuit Father Le-Moyne.	Le Moyne, Pierre, 1602-1671.	1695 (1695)	Wing L1046; ESTC R26152	66,036	250

Example of the Force of Thoughts of Instructions and Precepts and how to be used p. 147 Dissertation VI. Of Descriptions Chap. I. OF the Worth of Descriptions And some Rules the Historian ought to observe p. 152 Chap. II. Other Rules for Descriptions Ovid censured And of some Historians that have failed in those Rules p. 156 Chap. III. Other Rules necessary in Descriptions How and to what Degree they ought to approach Poetry Apuleius censured and his Stile p. 160 Chap. IV. The last Rule in Descriptions and its Importance p. 163 Dissertation VII Of Harangues and Digressions Chap. I. WHether Harangues are Superfluous in History And whether contrary to the Rule of Truth p. 166 Chap. II. That Harangues are necessary in History not contrary to Truth nor Probability Historians and Poets justified thereupon p. 169 Chap. III. What Persons ought to Harangue What ought to be the Subject Matter and Measure of Harangues Thucydides and Salust reprehended for having failed in this Rule p. 176 Chap. IV. Of the Kinds Vse and End of Digressions p. 183 Dissertation VIII Of Order Chap. I. OF the Preface Rules to be observed and Faults ●o be avoided Reflections upon the Prefaces of Salust p. 187 Chap. II. The Historick Narration requires Order What is this Order and how it differs from that of Poetry p. 194 Dissertation IX Of the Stile of History Chap. I. THE Stile of History demands Ornament p. 200 Chap. II. What ought to be the Ornament of the Stile of History and in what it consists p. 203 Chap. III. That the Sublime Character is the most proper for the Stile of History p 205 Chap. IV. That the Stile of History ought to approach that of Poetry and to what Degree p. 209 Chap. V. The Historick Stile demands Pureness and Clearness p. 213 Chap. V. That the Stile of History demands Brevity and in what it ought to consist p. 219 OF HISTORY Dissertation I. Of the Merit of History and Qualities of an Historian CHAP. I. That History and Poetry are allied The Passage that separates them is not long Why no Man has hitherto passed from one to the other That one must be a Poet to be an Historian I Know not but this Enterprise I have undertaken of passing from Poetry to History may be accused of Presumption or Infidelity to the Muses They may say I have done enough to follow Homer and Virgil without endeavouring after Thucydides and Livy And that Heroick Poetry being the greatest Effort of Wit and the just Measure of Humane Life I might have spared my self the Fatigue of a second Carreer and reposed where the two greatest Men of the World have sate down They may yet add That having been hitherto well treated by the Muses I ought to have been Faithful to the end and not occasion'd them the Grief of seeing themselves abandon'd by me after so many Graces receiv'd from them I confess the Race of Poets and that of Historians are different an● that not one having ever yet attempted to change I ought to fear hazarding my self first in the Journey Nevertheless having with Care discovered the Passage I have neither found it so Long nor so Painful as many imagine not knowing the Country but by ill Maps and false Representations made of it There are no Forts to take no Rocks nor Precipices to go over the descent is almost Insensible by which you may pass from one to the other 'T is true no body has hitherto udertaken it and to speak Poetically when we are treating of Prose Homer Virgil and Tasso satisfied with the first Rank they hold on this side of Parnassus either had not leasure or would not give themselves the trouble of crossing over to that of the Historians And what I say of those may be said of Thucydides Tacitus and Livy c. who have abstained through Weariness or other Considerations I find enough of leasure to venture upon it and I owe this leasure partly to my Condition that places me in an equal distance from doing nothing or nothing to the purpose and partly to my Constitution that Nourishes it self by Labour and is Enlightned by Motion as the Fire and Stars And what I say of Leasure arising from Labour is not strange seeing those that work continually lengthen and multiply their Days and by the same reason according to Seneca the Idle shorten and diminish their Number And it happens to me in this as to those that make of a well manag'd Mediocrity an undecaying Fund in the place that the bad employ of Abundance is a cause of Perpetual Want to the Rich Prodigals As to my Infidelity to the Muses 't is not so great as those may imagine that are Ignorant History is one of them the most Noble and I believe the oldest of all the Troop Not only because Fable succeeded Truth and Musick Speech but because the World was acquainted with Histories before Poems and Homer's Iliads as every Body knows are only a Copy in Verse made of what Datis and Dictis have written in Prose of the Wars of Troy I may add That Antiquity having given the Names of the Nine Muses to the Books of Herodotus History was willing by that to make the World understand that History was of the same Family or that the Muses labour not less with the Historians than the Poets And Dion Halicar says That of all the Muses there is not one that resembles that of Homer's and approaches nearer than that of Herodotus A great deal more may be said for my change History if we believe Cicero is but a Poem without the Slavery of Dress without Ceremony and Constraint The Poetick Muse has therefore no reason to complain of my Inconstancy or to esteem me Disloyal if I serve her in her days of Liberty after having serv'd her in her days of Confinement It may likewise be said with Confidence upon the resemblance remarked by the Criticks between History and Poetry that a Man must be a Poet to be an Historian I do not say Historian after the manner of the Makers of Legends and Chronicles the Remassers o● Journals and Gazettes nor of thos● Gentlemen Historiographers who ar● perpetual Compilers and think to have well deserv'd a Pension whe● they have joyn'd together a parce● of Scraps stollen from Froissard Nicholas Gill du Hallin c. and exposed them with a little Disguisement for their own I say Historians of the Rank of Salust Livy and Tacitus that have bee● Poets free and disingaged from th● Constraint of Numbers and Measure as Pontin has made appear by confronting their Figures and manne● of Speech with those of Virgil. Upon which we must not forget the Testimony of Lucian a great Master i● the Art of History who says th● Vessel would be Sluggish and without Movement if the Wind of Poetry did not fill the Sails Upon this and the Faith of Quintilian and Cicero who have ofte● affirmed that History is a Poem free from

alone with their Chagrin they would pull the Stars from Heaven and Eyes from our Heads But Descriptions how Beautiful soever we make them must have their Rules as all other beautiful things that cease to be so when they cease to be governed Let Wariness then be the first Rule in the use of Descriptions and the Historian though never so ready in this way of Drawing must not pride himself to multiply them in History and shew his Wit to the Prejudice of his Judgment That which pleases in one season and place pleases not always nor every where and Rarity gives value to many things We seldom admire the Sun because she shews her self every day when the Comets that have nothing taking but denounce what is Ill and Ungrateful because they appear not every Year draw the Eyes and Admiration of all the World And after all Descriptions being but Resting-places as well for the Historian as the Reader it would be very Ungenteel for the one and unuseful for the other to search Repose at every step Besides a multitude of Descriptions would be a Confusion and Obstacle to the course of History and the Reader being desirous of coming to an end would suffer with Impatience these delays notwithstanding the Care taken to embellish them Let the Historian remember then Instructions being the principal end of his Labour to which Descriptions serve but little and only by way of Ornament he ought not to use them but when Prudence and Occasion require CHAP. II. Other Rules for Descriptions Ovid censured And of some Historians that have fail'd in these Rules BUT let him take care in this he does not as the Rich Covetous who do profusely and without measure what is done but once a Year 't is not enough Descriptions are seldom they must be short The same Reasons of Confusion Obstacle and Interruption that forbid a Heap and Crowding forbids also Length and Extension chiefly when this Length runs upon things that make neither Substance nor Shadows serve neither the Essence nor Accidents of Affairs And in this consists the third Rule that forbids in any Description which is not to the purpose works not some great Effect and is not worthy the Grandeur and Majesty of History The Ancient Criticks despised Ovid for that in a Description of the Deluge where the Towns and People had equally suffered Wrack when Forrests Mountains and Earth were drown'd he mentions Wolves that Swam with the Sheep without biting them How would they then have decried Livy or Tacitus obliged by the Dignity of History to a more composed Gravity if the like had escaped their Pens The less Severe Criticks of Italy would not pardon one of their Historians who in a long and troublesome Description of a Feast made at Rome for the King of Navar 's Daughter in her passage to Marry the Duke of Ferrara leaving the Duty of an Historian and taking upon him that of Maistre d'Hostel obliges his Reader against his Will to see the Account he gives of all the Services and Expence made at that Feast And shall we forgive an Historian that having but a word to say of the Magnificence with which the Late King was received at Paris in his return from Rochel makes all the Wards march in Arms counts the Ranks and Files of Companies represents the Habits and Liveries of their Captains their Colours and Feathers and from thence enters by force the Town-hall takes upon him to cover the Tables to range the Dishes and Plates after this goes to the Greve describes the Machines and all the Fire-works distributes the Wine and le ts off the Fusees This unuseful Diligence could hardly be indured in a Gazette-maker who writes for Shops and Ale-houses By the same reason in describing of Battles after ranging the Troops of one side and the other he must not amuse himself to represent the Horses Arms Devices and Banners to tell all the Thrusts made with Pikes and Swords the Wounded and Kill'd as the Poets do by the Rules of their Profession this were to confound the things ought to be distinguished and mingle Poetry and History together Homer is very large in describing the Buckler of Achilles Virgil has outgone him in Wit Judgment and Fame by the Description of Aeneas his Arms where is abridged all the Roman History And to do yet more than Homer he represents too the Symbols the Chiefs of the Latin Army carried in their Bucklers and Helmets Ariosto and Tasso who followed their Method have done the same and my self by their Example in my St. Lovis not only in the Tournament spoke of in the fourth Book but in the Marching of Armies and Combats to the end this Diversity of Pictures that are proper to Poetry might enliven that matter a Composure of the same Colour and equal throughout had rendred disagreeable These Beauties are not permitted the Historian who serves Muses either more Serious or more Severe and we know no body that has not in some measure abstained from it if it be not that worthy Person that Lucian tells employ'd a whole Book in describing the Bridles and Trappings of Vologezes Horse and another longer to represent the Figures he saw in the Buckler of another General CHAP. III. Other Rules necessary in Descriptions How and to what Degree they ought to approach Poetry Apuleius censured and his Stile ALthough these Affected Descriptions of Poetry be forbid the Historian 't is not to be understood that in those proper for him and his Right he is obliged to confine himself and avoid all that belongs to a Poetick Fullness and Elevation On the contrary 'T is in these places chiefly he ought to take Liberty and unfold as Lucian says the Sail of History to the Poets Gale This Fourth Rule demands Vigor and Force of Spirit to be observed as it has been by the Historians who have had wherewithall to support the length of their Work and extent of their Fame I believe I have already said Versification excepted Salust Livy and Tacitus are not less Poets than Homer and Virgil. I may add That if the Poetick Genius has sometimes warm'd their Fancy it has been chiefly in Descriptions But the Force and Vigor this Rule requires must be accompanied with Judgment and Discretion as all others for fear the Vessel of History to speak again in Lucian's Phrase pressed by the wind of Poetry with too much Violence should split against some Rock or be lost in some Barbarous Gulph The Historian must above all shun the Winds that carry to the Florides of Apuleius If there be an Antipodes to true Latinism and Eloquence 't is that Country where good Sense Reason and Judgment are worse treated than in that Famous Isle of Witchcraft where Men are turn'd into Beasts And yet this Writer has his Imitators his Golden-Ass-Adorers as well as the Golden Calf when there is not a more Villanous Animal not fit to be received into any Stables less foul