throw away his thoughts or reflections, where he hopes not to reap any fatisfaction from them. In all compofitions of genius, therefore, 'tis requifite that the writer have fome plan or object; and tho' he may be hurried from this plan by the vehemence of thought, as in an ode, or drop it carelefly, as in an epistle or effay, there must appear some aim or intention, in his firft fetting out, if not in the compofition of the whole work. A production without a defign would resemble more the raving of a madman, than the fober efforts of genius and learning. As this rule admits of no exception, it follows, that in narrative compofitions, the events or actions, which the writer relates, must be connected together, by fome bond or tye: They must be related to each other in the imagination, and form a kind of Unity, which may bring them under one plan or view, and which may be the object or end of the writer in his first undertaking. t THIS connecting principle among the feveral events, which form the fubject of a poem or history, may be very different, according to the different defigns of the poet or historian. OVID has formed his plan upon the connecting principle of refemblance. Every fabulous transformation, produced by the miraculous power power of the gods, falls within the compafs of his work. There needs but this one circumftance in any event to bring it under his original plan or intention. AN annalift or historian, who should undertake to write the hiftory of EUROPE during any century, would be influenced by the connexion of contiguity in time and place. All events, which happen in that portion of space, and period of time, are comprehended in his defign, tho' in other refpects different and unconnected. They have still a fpecies of unity, amidst all their diversity. BUT the most ufual fpecies of connexion among the different events, which enter into any narrative compofition, is that of caufe and effect: while the historian traces the series of actions according to their natural order, remounts to their fecret fprings and principles, and delineates their most remote confequences. He chufes for his fubject a certain portion of that great chain of events, which compose the hiftory of mankind: Each link in this chain he endeavours to touch in his narration: Sometimes unavoidable ignorance renders all his attempts fruitless: Sometimes, he supplies by conjecture what is wanting in knowlege: And always, he is fenfible, that the more unbroken the chain is, which he prefents to his readers, the more perfect is his production. He fees, that the knowlege of caufes is not only the most satisfactory; this relation or connexion being the frongC 5 eft of all others; but alfo the most inftructive; fince it is by this knowlege alone, we are enabled to controul events, and govern futurity. HERE therefore we may attain fome notion of that Unity of Action, about which all critics, after ARISTOTLE, have talked fo much: Perhaps, to little purpofe, while they directed not their talte or fenti. ment by the accuracy of philofophy. It appears, that in all productions, as well as in the epic and tragic, there is a certain unity required, and that, on no occafion, can our thoughts be allowed to run at adventures, if we would produce a work, which will give any lafting entertainment to mankind. It ap pears alfo, that even a biographer, who fhould write the life of ACHILLES, would connect the events, by fhewing their mutual dependence and relation, as much as a poet, who should make the anger of that hero, the subject of his narration *. Not only in any limited portion of life, a man's actions have a dependance on each other, but also during the whole period of his duration, from the cradle to the grave; nor is it poffible to ftrike off one link, however minute, in this regular chain, without affecting the * Contrary to ARISTOTLE, Μῦθος δ ̓ ἐξίν εἷς, εχ, ὥστες τινὲς εἶναι, ἐὰν περὶ θ ̓ ἕνΘ 7. Πολλὰ γὰρ, καὶ απείρα τῷ γενει Οὕτω δὲ καὶ πραξεῖς, ἑνός πολλαὶ Συμβαίνει, ἐξ ὧν ἐιίων ἐςιν ἕν. 3 whole whole feries of events, which follow. The unity of action, therefore, which is to be found in biography or hiftory, differs from that of epic poetry, not in kind, but in degree. In epic poetry, the connexion among the events is more close and fenfible: The narration is not carried on thro' fuch a length of time: And the actors haften to fome remarkable period, which fatisfies the curiofity of the reader. This conduct of the epic poet depends on that particular fituation of the Imagination and of the Paffions, which is fuppofed in that production. The imagination, both of writer and reader, is more enlivened, and the paffions more enflamed than in hiftory, biography, or any fpecies of narration, which confine themselves to strict truth and reality. Let us confider the effect of thefe two circumstances, an enlivened imagination and enflamed paffions, circumftances, which belong to poetry, efpecially the epic kind, above any other fpecies of compofition; and let us examine the reafon why they require a ftricter and clofer unity in the fable. FIRST. All poetry, being a fpecies of painting, approaches us nearer to the objects than any other fpecies of narration, throws a fironger light upon them, and delineates more diftinctly those minute circumftances, which, tho' to the historian they seem fuperfluous, ferve mightily to enliven the imagery, and gratify the fancy. If it be not neceffary, as in the Iliad, to inform us each time the hero buckles his fhoes, and ties his garters, it will be requifite, perhaps, to enter into a greater detail than in the HENRIADE; where the events are run over with fuch rapidity, that we scarce have leifure to become acquainted with the scene or action. Were a poet, therefore, tɔ comprehend in his fubject any great compass of time or series of events, and trace up the death of HECTOR to its remote caufes, in the rape of HELEN, or the judgment of PARIS, he muft draw out his poem to an immeafurable length, in order to fill this large canvas with just painting and imagery. The reader's imagination, enflamed with such a series of poetical descriptions, and his paffions, agitated by a continual fympathy with the actors, muft flag long before the period of the narration, and must fink into laffitude and difguft, from the repeated violence of the fame movements. SECONDLY. That an epic poet must not trace the caufes to any great distance, will farther appear, if we confider another reason, which is drawn from a property of the paffions ftill more remarkable and fin gular. "Tis evident, that in a juft compofition, all the affections, excited by the different events, described and reprefented, add mutual force to each other; and that while the heroes are all engaged in one common fcene, and each action is ftrongly connected with the whole, the concern is continually awake, and the paf |