the art of composing poems, or pieces in verse; or, as defined by Voßius, the art of representing actions in metre.

Vossius thinks that love was the first occasion of poetry; which is not improbable, considering that this affection is coeval with mankind, is universal, and naturally productive of poetry. Yet it undoubtedly owes its increase and progress to religion. Dacier indeed calls it the offspring of religion; and it is certain, in the earliest ages of the world, that it was usual to sing hymns to the honour of the gods upon solemn festivals. Du Bos thinks that poetry has been employed in all ages, even by the most unpolished nations, to preserve the memory of past events. Its principal aim is to flatter our senses and imagination: for, according to Plato, it awakes the spiritual empire of the soul. Every kind of poetry charms us in proportion to its object, says Du Bos; and to be very affecting, it ought to be very exact. It is not the same with poetry as with other arts; for an ignorant person may judge of poetry by the impression it makes on him: whence all men have a right to give their opinion concerning a piece of poetry; and this judgment ought to be founded on experience rather than on argumentation. Poetry is an art where every thing should please. It is not enough to exhibit nature, which in certain places and circumstances is rude and unpleasant; but the poet must choose her what is beautiful from what is not; whence a poet ought to choose, for the subject of his imitation, something that is naturally affecting. There is a particular rhetoric for poetry, which consists in discerning very precisely what ought to be said figuratively, and what to be spoken simply; and in knowing where ornament is required, and where not: yet the style should be copious, and every species of writing in this art should have a dictio proper to itself. The qualifications, then, necessary for poetry, or those which form a good poet, are seldom found united in one person: he must have an extraordinary genius, great natural gifts, a wit just, piercing, solid, and universal; an understanding clear and distinct; an imagination neat and pleasant; an elevation of soul that depends not on art, or study, and which is purely a gift of heaven, and must be sustained by a lively sense and vivacity, a great judgment to consider wisely of things, and a vivacity to express them with that grace and abundance which gives them beauty. In fine, to accomplish a poet, is required a temperature of wit and fancy, of strength and sweetness, of penetration and delicacy; but, above