"I can refell opinion, and approve The state of poesy, such as it is, Blessed, eternal, and most true divine: Indeed, if you will look on poesy, As she appears in many, poor and lame, Patched up in remnants and old worn-out rags, Half-starved for want of her peculiar food, Sacred invention; then I must confirm Both your conceit and censure of her merit: But view her in her glorious ornaments, Attired in the majesty of art, Set high in spirit with the precious taste Of sweet philosophy; and, which is most, Crowned with the rich traditions of a soul, That hates to have her dignity prophaned With any relish of an earthly thought, Oh then how proud a presence doth she bear! Then is she like herself, fit to be seen Of none but grave and consecrated eyes."[493] Milton also gives expression to this consecrated conception of the poet. Poetry is a gift granted by God only to a few in every nation;[494] but he who would partake of the gift of eloquence must first of all be virtuous.[495] It is impossible for any one to write well of laudable things without being himself a true poem, without having in himself the experience and practice of all that is praiseworthy.[496] Poets are the champions of liberty and the "strenuous enemies of despotism";[497] and they have power to imbreed and cherish in a people the seeds of virtue and public civility, to set the affections in right tune, and to allay the perturbations of the mind.[498] Poetry, which at its best is "simple, sensuous, and passionate," describes everything that passes through the brain of man,--all that is holy and sublime in religion, all that in virtue is amiable and grave. Thus by means of delight and the force of example, those who would otherwise flee from virtue are taught to love her. FOOT-NOTES: [445] Haslewood, ii. 103. [446] Haslewood, ii. 28. [447] _Ibid._ ii. 42. [448] Haslewood, ii. 128. [449] _Hist. Litt. de la France_, xxix. 502-525. [450] Puttenham, p. 19 _sq._ [451] _Ibid._ p. 39. [452] Gosson, p. 34. [453] _Ibid._ p. 65. [454] _Ibid._ pp. 25, 40. [455] Lodge, _Defence_ (_Shakespeare Soc. Publ._), p. 6. [456] Arber, _Transcript of the Stat. Reg._, iii. 154. [457] Haslewood, ii. 28. [458] Sidney's acquaintance with Minturno is proved beyond doubt, even were such proof necessary, by the list of poets (_Defence_, pp. 2, 3) which he has copied from Minturno's _De Poeta_, pp. 14, 15. [459] Scaliger's _Poetics_ is specifically mentioned and cited by Sidney four or five times; but these citations are far from exhausting his indebtedness to Scaliger. [460] _Defence_, p. 2 _sq._; _cf._ Minturno, _De Poeta_, pp. 9, 13. [461] _Defence_, p. 9. [462] This ancient phrase had become, as has been seen, a commonplace during the Renaissance. _Cf._, _e.g._, Dolce, _Osservationi_, 1560, p. 189; Vauquelin, _Art Poet._ i. 226; Camoens, _Lusiad._ vii. 76.