If his language be not elegant, his observations uncommon, his
sense strong and masculine, he will in vain boast his nature and
simplicity. He may be correct, but he never will be agreeable. 'Tis the
unhappiness of such authors that they are never blamed nor censured. The
good fortune of a book and that of a man are not the same. The secret
deceiving path of life, which Horace talks of--_fallentis semita
vitae_--may be the happiest, lot of the one, but is the greatest
misfortune that the other can possibly fall into.
On the other hand, productions which are merely surprising, without
being natural, can never give any lasting entertainment to the mind. To
draw chimaeras is not, properly speaking, to copy or imitate. The
justness of the representation is lost, and the mind is displeased to
find a picture which bears no resemblance to any original. Nor are such
excessive refinements more agreeable in the epistolary or philosophic
style, than in the epic or tragic. Too much ornament is a fault in every
kind of production. Uncommon expressions, strong flashes of wit, pointed
similes, and epigrammatic turns, especially when laid too thick, are a
disfigurement rather than any embellishment of discourse.
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