new and more exact examination of the
grounds upon which I had formed my opinions. I thought it would be
impossible to come to any clear and definite idea on this subject,
without remounting to the natural passions or dispositions of men, which
first gave rise to this species of writing; for from these alone its
nature, its limits, and its true character can be determined.

There are but four general principles which can move men to interest
themselves in the characters of others, and they may be classed under
the heads of good and ill opinion: on the side of the first may be
classed admiration and love, hatred and contempt on the other. And these
have accordingly divided poetry into two very different kinds,--the
panegyrical, and the satirical; under one of which heads all genuine
poetry falls (for I do not reckon the didactic as poetry, in the
strictness of speech).

Without question, the subject of all poetry was originally direct and
personal. Fictitious character is a refinement, and comparatively
modern; for abstraction is in its nature slow, and always follows the
progress of philosophy. Men had always friends and enemies before they
knew the exact nature of vice and virtue; they naturally, and with
their best powers of eloquence, whether in prose or verse, magnified and
set off the one, vilified and traduced the other.

The first species of composition in either way was probably some
general, indefinite topic of praise or blame, expressed in a song or
hymn, which is the most common and simple kind of panegyric and satire.
But as nothing tended to set their hero or subject in a more forcible
light than some story to their advantage or prejudice, they soon
introduced a narrative, and thus improved the composition into a greater
variety of pleasure to the hearer, and to a more forcible instrument of
honor or disgrace to the subject.

It is natural with men, when they relate any action with any degree of
warmth, to represent the parties to it talking as the occasion requires;
and this produces that mixed species of poetry, composed of narrative
and dialogue, which is very universal in all languages, and of which
Homer is the noblest example in any. This mixed kind of poetry seems
also to be most perfect, as it takes in a variety of situations,
circumstances, reflections, and descriptions, which must be rejected on
a more limited plan.

It must be equally obvious, that men, in relating a story in a forcible
ma