
of Characters. It differs from the serious Romance in its Fable and Action, in
this; that as in the one these are grave and solemn, so in the other they are
light and ridiculous: it differs in its Characters, by introducing Persons of
inferiour Rank, and consequently of inferiour Manners, whereas the grave
Romance, sets the highest before us; lastly in its Sentiments and Diction, by
preserving the Ludicrous instead of the Sublime. In the Diction I think,
Burlesque itself may be sometimes admitted; of which many Instances will occur
in this Work, as in the Descriptions of the Battles, and some other Places, not
necessary to be pointed out to the Classical Reader; for whose Entertainment
those Parodies or Burlesque Imitations are chiefly calculated.
    But tho' we have sometimes admitted this in our Diction, we have carefully
excluded it from our Sentiments and Characters: for there it is never properly
introduced, unless in Writings of the Burlesque kind, which this is not intended
to be. Indeed, no two Species of Writing can differ more widely than the Comic
and the Burlesque: for as the latter is ever the Exhibition of what is monstrous
and unnatural, and where our Delight, if we examine it, arises from the
surprizing Absurdity, as in appropriating the Manners of the highest to the
lowest, or è converso; so in the former, we should ever confine ourselves
strictly to Nature from the just Imitation of which, will flow all the Pleasure
we can this way convey to a sensible Reader. And perhaps, there is one Reason,
why a Comic Writer should of all others be the least excused for deviating from
Nature, since it may not be always so easy for a serious Poet to meet with the
Great and the Admirable; but Life every where furnishes an accurate Observer
with the Ridiculous.
    I have hinted this little, concerning Burlesque; because, I have often heard
that Name given to Performances, which have been truly of the Comic kind, from
the Author's having sometimes admitted it in his Diction only; which as it is
the Dress of Poetry, doth like the Dress of Men establish Characters, (the one
of the whole Poem, and the other of the whole Man,) in vulgar Opinion, beyond
any of their greater Excellencies: But surely, a certain Drollery in Style,
where the Characters and Sentiments are perfectly natural, no more constitutes
the Burlesque, than an empty Pomp and Dignity of Words, where every thing else
is mean and low, can entitle any Performance to the Appellation of the true
Sublime.
    And I apprehend, my Lord Shaftesbury
