Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	baronet_n	esq_n	sir_n	15,712	5	8.8709	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49903	Parrhasiana, or, Thoughts upon several subjects, as criticism, history, morality, and politics by Monsieur Le Clerk ... ; done into English by ****; Parrhasiana. English	Le Clerc, Jean, 1657-1736.	1700 (1700)	Wing L823; ESTC R16664	192,374	324

PARRHASIANA OR THOUGHTS UPON Several Subjects AS CRITICISM HISTORY MORALITY AND POLITICS By Monsieur Le Clerk under the feigned Name of Theodorus Parrhasi Done into English by **** London Printed for A. and J. Churchil at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row MDCC THE PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR 'T IS an Observation made long ago That the World is pleased with Miscellany Thoughts upon several Subjects as appears not only by the kind reception the Thoughts of Monsieur Paschal and Monsieur de la Bruyere's Characters have found but likewise by the Scaligerana Perroniana Sorberiana Valesiana Menagiana c. some of which have seen several Editions This gave me Encouragement to set down in Paper several Reflexions which I had made upon very different Subjects and now to venture them abroad I have not divided the Thoughts into several * This was our Author's Modesty However for the ease of the English Reader we have divided it into Chap. Chapters but only by some Marginal Notes because I never pretended to give any thing finished upon any of the Matters I treat of However I may affirm that generally speaking they are better connected than any of those I have mentioned above If I had so thought fit I cou'd have swell'd each of them into several little Tracts by making a few Additions to them and some of them I might have distinguished by Chapters But before I cou'd bring them to this Regularity I must of necessity say many Things which have been deliver'd by others in so exact and perspicuous a manner that there was no occasion to repeat them after them My Design was only to touch upon those Things which to the best of my Knowledge were never said before or if they have been were not so fully handled and supported as now you find them For Instance there are several compleat Treatises of Rhetorick and the Art of writing History to which a Man may have recourse in order to form in his Mind an exact Idea of these Sciences but I never read or saw any of those Matters so fully handled as they deserve And therefore the Reader may if he pleases join what I have said concerning them as a Supplement to those Treatises of Rhetorick and History that are extant or else furnish himself out of others what is deficient in mine The principal Thing I aim'd at in this Collection of different Thoughts was to say something that might be serviceable to the present Age I leave it to the Reader to judge whether the Advertisements I give him are well grounded For my part I am persuaded that there was a necessity of saying something like it that Men of Parts may improve these Hints and inlarge upon at their leisure Perhaps it may be objected that there is too great a Freedom in my Thoughts and Expressions but unless I am mistaken they can find nothing which in the least offends against Religion and Good Manners No Man living is more persuaded of the Truth and Importance of both these things than my self and I should never engage so heartily as to defend them against those that attack them The Obedience that is due to Sovereigns and Magistrates is not at all violated by this Liberty and 't is no hard matter to be persuaded of this Truth in the Country where I live Since there is not a Man here that has not reason to bless the Gentleness of the Government and of its excellent Maxims one of the chief of which is To suffer all that are Subjects to it to speak freely so long as they obey the Civil Laws In effect let Men carry Liberty as high as they please provided this Liberty be accompanied by a Love of Justice and of Order it will only better discover the excellence of this Government and oblige those that live under it to obey it with more cheefulness As for the rest the Liberty I have taken in this Collection was never intended to create any Quarrels I have only made use of it to speak general Truths which I never apply but to Authors dead long ago If any Persons of the same Character are now alive 't is no fault of mine It wou'd be impossible ever to Censure any Irregularities if a Man were to stay till there were none to be found to whom his Censure might be applied 'T is sufficient that he has no particular Views and designs no such matter At the end of this Collection I have only endeavoured to defend the Writings of a certain Author in whom I am interessed and if I have answer'd the Calumnies of his Adversaries somewhat sharply I may safely say that it was not till after several of them had for a long time abused his Silence and vented their Malice in the most injurious manner that could be We use to suffer him who defends himself to speak in a higher Tone than those that attack his Innocence and the World passes by several Things in him which are not pardon'd in the Aggressors But I here declare that I have express'd my self with much more Tenderness than those who have fallen foul upon the Party whom I defend and those that have read their Libels will make no question of it I have not enter'd here into any Matter but only contented my self to touch some Matters of Fact till I have a proper opportunity to explain these Matters as far as I see convenient In the mean time the Publick ought not to be surprized that the Person whom I here defend has return'd no other Answer to those who had a Mind to quarrel with him He has been and still is taken up in some Occupations that appear more useful to him and consequently such as he ought more to mind There are several honest and discerning Judges that will not be wanting to espouse his Party till such time as he defends himself if ever he thinks it necessary If he 's capable of doing the Publick any Service either in discovering or supporting any one Truth which is of general Importance they are more obliged to him in my Opinion than if he had formally convicted his Adversaries of a thousand false Reasonings and a thousand Calumnies As he is ready to sacrifice his private Resentments to the public Advantage 't is but reasonable the Public should do him Justice without his importuning them upon that score Lately Publish'd THE Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian In fifteen Books The first Five contain the Antiquities of Egypt Asia Africa Greece the Islands and Europe The last Ten an historical Account of the Affairs of the Persians Grecians Macedonians and other Parts of the World To which are added The fragments of Diodorus that are found in the Bibliotheca of Photius Together with those Publish'd by H. Valesius L. Rhodomannus and F. Vrsinus Made English by G. Booth of the City of Chester Esq in Folio Three Discourses of Happiness Virtue and Liberty Collected from the Works of the Learn'd Gassendi by Monsieur

Bernier Letters written by Sir W. Temple Baronet and other Ministers of State both at Home and Abroad Containing an Account of the most Important Transactions that pass'd in Christendom from 1665 to 1672. In Two Volumes Review'd by Sir W. Temple sometime before his Death And Publish'd by Jonathan Swift Domestick Chaplain to His Excellency the Earl of Berkeley one of the Lords Justices of Ireland The Adventures of Telemachus the Son of Vlysses Part 1. All the other Parts will soon be published and sold by A. J. Churchil PARRHASIANA OR THOUGHTS ON Several Subjects CHAP. I. Of Poets and Poetry What V se is to be made of the Poets ABundance of Men read the Poets who don't know what a Poet is or at least can't express what they mean by it A Poet is one who invents either in whole or in part the Subject he treats of who disposes it in a certain Order proper to surprize the Reader and make him attentive In short he 's one who expresses himself in a different manner from the Vulgar not only in respect of the Cadence but likewise of the Elocution That is to say when a Man sets himself to read a Poem he ought to consider that he 's going to read the Work of a Liar who intends to entertain him with Fictions or at least with Truths so corrupted that 't is no easie matter so distinguish one from t'other We ought to remember that by the glittering Pomp of his Expression he chiefly designs to surprize our Reason and by the Harmony of his Cadence to please our Ears in order to make us admire his Subject and give us a great Idea of himself Such Considerations as these wou'd serve us instead of an Antidote when we read their Compositions which perhaps may be of some Profit to those who think rightly and justly but are only fit to seduce others whose Reason is not strong enough to pass a true Judgment upon what pleases them too much If it be demanded what use a Man may make of the Poets we are in the first place to distinguish between the Ancients and the Moderns between those that write in the living and those that write in the dead Languages We must likewise take care to distinguish between the Advantage a Man may reap from the Poets alone and which is not to be had by reading any other Compositions and that which is common to the Writings of the Poets and those of other Authors For upon all these Heads a Man may say different things Not to speak of the Advantage which is to be acquir'd by reading Authors in Prose as well as in Verse 't is certain that the ancient Poets may be serviceable to us in two respects The first is That they fill the Mind with admirable Lessons of Morality and Politics with which they embellish their Works and that their Maxims being deliver'd in handsom Terms and in Verse not only affect us more but make a more lasting Impression upon our Memory The second is That their Stile being noble and elevated warms the Imagination of those that read them and may accustom them to express themselves in a lively and animated manner For this reason the ancient Rhetoricians advised the Reading of them to those that applied themselves to the Study of Eloquence These are in general the greatest Advantages that may be drawn from the ancient Poets for I don't call Diversion an Advantage which is the only use some Readers make of them since a Man may do that by reading of History Besides that to read merely to amuse one's self ought not to be lookt upon as a serious Occupation But you will ask me perhaps Whether the Moderns who write in Greek or Latin Verse may not be of equal Advantage To which I answer in the Negative That they are inferiour in all respects to the Ancients Those fine Sentences we admire in their Writings are scarce at all to be found in those of the Moderns and besides there 's a vast difference between the Stile of the former and that of the latter Several of the Moderns indeed have written Greek and Latin Verses but resemble the Ancients just as Apes may be said to resemble Men. They copy their Vices much more than their good Qualities and indeed 't is as dangerous to imitate the Thoughts of the Moderns as their Stile Instead of grave and noble Sentences they give us nothing but gross and mean Thoughts Instead of Purity and Conciseness we find in them very suspicious manners of Speaking and tiresome repetitions of synonymous Expressions borrow'd out of the Ancients and ill applied There is scarce any modern Poet either Greek or Latin who may not justly be censured with a good part of what I have said For this reason no body recommends the Reading of them to such as study the belles Lettres We send our Youth to the Ancients and counsel them to read over their Compositions without so much as condescending to mention to them the modern Poets In truth it wou'd be full as ridiculous to read the Moderns in order to instruct ourselves in the ancient Poetry as it wou'd be to read the Italian Verses written by Foreigners as for instance those of Monsieur Menage to learn how to write in Italian All the World knows that the Italians laugh at them and find very notorious Solecisms in them We need not doubt but that the ancient Poets were they to rise out of their Graves wou'd laugh in like manner at our Greek and Latin Verses and be amazed to find so many People in the World take such mighty pains and lose so much time to succeed so wretchedly If the ancient Philosophers were to come upon Earth again and should without prepossession Study the modern Philosophers they wou'd honestly confess that they are not to be compared to them in any respect neither for the Art of Reasoning justly nor that of ordering and expressing their Thoughts with perspicuity nor for the importance of their Discoveries We may pass the same Judgment upon the ancient Critics and the ancient Interpreters of the Holy Bible compared with the Moderns But as for the Poets those of latter Times I desire to be understood only of those that write in the dead Languages are only Scholars in comparison of those of Antiquity And what may the reason of this be 'T is because the Moderns are sordid Imitators of the Ancients and can pretend to nothing that is truly original because they are only Poets by rote and by imitation and have not penetrated into the Principles of their Art as the modern Philosophers and the others whom I just now mention'd have done To disengage himself from this servile Spirit of Imitation a Man ought to write in his own Mother-tongue By this means he will think less of the Expressions and Thoughts of the Ancients and as he is full of modern Words and Ideas with which he is perfectly well acquainted he