That Medium must be
copied, which Nature it self has mark'd out; whatever falls short of
it is poor and insipid, whatever is above it is Rant and
Extravagance.
[E] _Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi._
And whatsoever contradicts my Sense,
I hate to see, and never can believe.
Ld. _Roscommon_.
[E: Horat. Art. Poet. _v._ 188.]
A consummate Delicacy of Sentiments, and an exquisite Judgment are the
very Soul of _Characteristic-Writing_; for every particular Stroke, as
well as the whole Character, has a proper Degree of Perfection. To
attain this Point, and to bring the several Parts, as well as the
Whole, exactly to this Pitch, is the Work of a sagacious Head, and
of a perfect Judgment.--An Author, in this Kind, must not dwell too
long upon one Idea: As soon as the masterly Stroke is given, he must
immediately pass on to another Idea. This will give Life to the Work,
and serve to keep up the Spirit of the Writing, and of the Reader too:
Forif, after the masterly Stroke is given, the Author shou'd, in a
paraphrastical Manner, still insist upon the same Idea, the Work will
immediately flag, the Character grow languid, and the Person
characteris'd will insensibly vanish from the Eyes of the
Reader.
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