ther he believed the Mofaic History of the Creation is a Point in which we are not in the leaft concerned, but it was plainly his Opinion that tho' it be condefcendingly fuited to the finite Conception of Man, yet it is related in a manner not inconfiftent with the Majefty of God. To contend as fome do that he never read Mofes, is trifling, or rather litigious. The Greek Tranflation had been difperfed throughout the Roman Empire long before the time in which he lived, and no Man of a ferious, much lefs of a philofophical Turn, could reject it as unworthy a perufal. Befides, Zenobia, according to the Testimony of Photius*, was a Jewish Convert. And I have fomewhere seen it mentioned from Bellarmine, that fhe was a Chriftian; but as I am a ftranger to the Reasons on which he founds the Affertion, I fhall lay no ftrefs upon it.

But there is strong probability that Longinus was not only acquainted with the Writings of the Old Testament, but with thofe alfo of the New, fince to a Manufcript of the latter in the Vatican Library, there is prefixed a Passage from fome of this Author's Writings, which is preferved there as an Inftance of his Judgment. He is drawing up a list of the greatest Orators, and at the close he fays, " And further, Paul *Prefixed to Hudfon's Longinus.

of

L

"of Tarfus, the chief Supporter of an Opinion "not yet established." Fabricius I own has been fo officiously kind as to attribute thefe Words to Chriftian Forgery †, but for what Reafons I cannot conjecture. If for any of real weight and Importance, certainly he ought not to have concealed them from the World.

If Longinus ever faw any of the Writings of St. Paul, he could not but entertain an high Opinion of him. Such a Judge must needs applaud fo masterly an Orator. For where is the Writer that can vie with him in fublime and pathetic Eloquence? Demofthenes could rouse up the Athenians against Philip, and Cicero ftrike Shame and Confufion into the Breafts of Anthony or Catiline; and did not, the Eloquence of St. Paul, tho' bound in degrading Fetters, make the oppreffive, the abandon'd Felix tremble, and almost persuade Agrippa, in fpite of all his Prejudice, to be a Chriftian? Homer after his Death was looked upon as more than human, and Temples were erected to his Honour; and was not St. Paul admired as a God even whilst he was on Earth, when the Inhabitants of Lyftra would have facrificed to him? Let his Writings be examined and judged by the feverest Teft of the fevereft Critics, and they cannot be found deficient; nay, they will appear more abundantly Bibliotheca Græça, 1. 4. C«31、

bundantly stocked with fublime and pathetic Thoughts, with strong and beautiful Figures, with nervous and elegant Expreffions, than any other Compofition in the World.

But, to leave this Digreffion. It is a Remark of Sir William Temple, that no pure Greek was written after the Reign of the Antonini. But the Diction of Longinus, tho' lefs pure than that of Ariftotle, is elegant and nervous, the Concifenefs or Diffusenefs of his Periods being always fuited to the nature of his Subject. The Terms he ufes are generally fo ftrong and expreffive, and sometimes fo artfully compounded, that they cannot be rendred into another Language without wide Circumlocution. He has a high and mafculine turn of Thought unknown to any other Writer, which inforced him to give all poffible Strength and Energy to his Words, that his Language might be properly adjusted to his Senfe, and the Sublimity of the latter be uniform ly fupported by the Grandeur of the former. L. But further, there appears not in him the leaft Shew or Affection of Learning, tho' his Stock was wonderfully large, yet without any Preju dice to the brightness of his Fancy, Some Wri ters are even profufe of their Commendations of him in this respect. For how extenfive must his Reading have been to deserve thofe Appellations

given

given him by Eunapius, that he was a living Library, and a walking Mufaum? Large Reading, without a due balance of Judgment, is like a voracious Appetite with a bad Digestion. It breaks out according to the natural Complexion of different Perfons, either into learned Dulness, or a brisk but infipid Pedantry. In Longinus it was fo far from palling or extinguishing, that on the contrary it sharpned and enlivened his Taste. He was not so furly as to reject the Sentiments of others without Examination, but he had the Wisdom to stick by his own.

Let us pause a little here, and confider what a disagreeable and fhocking Contrafte there is between the Genius, the Tafte, the Candor, the Good-nature, the Generofity and Modesty of Longinus, and the Heavinefs, the Dullness, the fnarling and fneering Temper of modern Critics, who can feast on inadvertent Slips, and triumph over what they think a Blunder. His very Rules are shining Examples of what they incul cate; his Remarks the very Excellencies he is pointing out. Theirs are often Inverfions of what is right, and finking other Men by clogging them with a weight of their own Load. He keeps the fame majestic Pace, or foars aloft with his Authors; they are either creeping after or plunging below them, fitted more by Nature

for

for Heroes of a Dunciad than for Judges of fine Senfe and fine Writing. The Business of a Critic is not only to find fault, nor to be all Bitternefs and Gall. Yet fuch Behaviour in those who have ufurped the Name has brought the Office into Scandal and Contempt. An Essay on Criticism appears but once in an Age; and what a tedious Interval is there between Longinus and Mr. Addifon!

Having traced our Author thus far as a Critic, we must view him now in another light, I mean, as a Philofopher. In him these are not different, but mutually depending and co-existing Parts of the fame Character. To judge in a worthy manner of the Performances of Men, we must know the Dignity of Human Nature, the Reach of the Human Understanding, the Ends for which we were created, and the Means of their Attainment. In these Speculations Longinus will make no contemptible Figure, and I hope the View will not appear fuperfluous or useless.

Man cannot arrive to a juft and proper understanding of himself without worthy Notions of the fupreme Being. The fad Depravations of the Pagan World are chiefly to be attributed to a Deficiency in this refpect. Homer has exalted his Heroes at the Expence of his Deities, and

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