Which the _Spectator_ speaks of as inexpressibly beautiful for its Simplicity, though I think one can hardly repeat it with a grave Tone; and when I have heard it pronounced on the Stage in a burlesque Way, as it is in _The Plot and No Plot_; it has never fail'd of a hearty Laugh and Clap. _Spectator_, Nº 39. _There is a Simplicity in the Words, which out-shines the utmost Pride of Expression_; and he attributes it to the Break, _good gods_! He also informs us, that the Thought is at once _natural_, _soft_, _passionate_, and _simple_. It would have been well for us, if the learned Critick had told us in what this Thought is _simple_, in what _passionate_, in what _soft_, and in what _natural_, there being so few Words to express it; and I cannot help thinking, that it is but one fond Rant of an amorous Woman. True it is, Simplicity is not of it self very wordy, but methinks the Break, _good gods!_ has more of the _Passionate_ in it, than of the _Simple_ or the _Soft_; and may be as well used in Anger as in Love, as well in a Fright as in a Transport. It would have gone a good Way in explaining the different Kinds of Thought, if the judicious Author had distinguished them in this Line; for there are not so many Kinds in one Verse in all Father _Bouhour_'s _Maniere de bien penser_. I would not be mistaken here, nor be charged with Ostentation, in setting up my Judgement in Opposition to the _Spectator_'s; from whose Writings and Lessons, I have learned more than from all other Authors. I only offer it as an Instance, that the Best of our Criticks do not seem to have gone to the Bottom of this Subject. It never enter'd into the Heads of Writers and Readers in General, that Thought was any Thing but Thought, or Stile any Thing but Stile, or that there were any other Terms or Distinctions for them, but the Good and the Bad, as is already hinted; nor were they at all sensible of my Lord _Roscommon_'s Meaning in these Verses: _Whose incoherent Stile, like sick Men's Dreams, Varies all Shapes, and mixes all Extreams._ The same may be said of Thought. I want very much to be informed, whether there is a perfect Agreement of Thought in these several Quotations out of _Homer_, or how they must be understood so as not to contradict one another. The first Couplet is against _Wine_: _Inflaming Wine, pernicious to Mankind, Unnerves the Limbs, and dulls the noble Mind._ The next Couplet is for Wine: _With_ Thracian _Wines recruit thy honour'd Guests, For happy Counsels flow from sober Feasts._ What follows taken out of the _Notes_ upon _Homer_ is against Wine. _What_ Hector _says against Wine in the two first Verses has a great Deal of Truth in it: It is a vulgar Mistake to imagine the Use of Wine, either raises the Spirits or encreases Strength._ The next Words are for Wine: _Then with a plenteous Draught refresh his Soul, And draw new Spirits from the generous Bowl._ Again for Wine: