In other instances Boyer adheres more closely to the original form of the material he borrows.  The long passage from the middle of page twenty to the middle of twenty-five is taken from “Des Ouvrages de L’Esprit” of La Bruyere’s Les Caracteres.  Though retaining the sequence of these observations, he has deleted certain paragraphs.  In most cases he has translated the French faithfully, but here and there he has paraphrased a passage or added a brief remark of his own.  There was little he could do, of course, with La Rochefoucauld, from whose Maximes all of page 282 and about half of 283 of the second selection are taken.  Boyer was content to translate almost literally these remarks upon wit and judgment which he collected from widely scattered sections of the Maximes.

Boyer’s own contribution to his collection was slight, covering, all told, little more than fifteen of the 383 pages.  Distinguished neither by originality of conception nor individuality of style, it is, nevertheless, marked by good sense.  A moderate man in his pronouncements, Boyer was less clever than reasonable.

Boyer’s remarks on wit are in keeping with his character.  Like many of his contemporaries, he has something to say on the subject, but uses the term rather loosely.  He would seem, though, to identify wit with genius, which gives evidence of itself in literary utterance.  But judgment is a necessary concomitant of good wit.  Conversely, the would-be wit lacks genius, expression, and judgment, and therefore turns critic, that he may denounce in others what is not to be found in himself.  Hence the word critic has come to mean a fault finder rather than a man of sound judgment.

The following selections are reproduced, with permission, from a copy of The English Theophrastus in the library of the University of Michigan.

W. Earl Britton

University of Michigan

THE

MANNERS

Of the AGE.

Authors, Wits, Poets, Criticks, Will’s Coffee-House, Play-House, &c.

“Eubulus fancying himself Inspir’d, stands up for the Honour of Poetry, and is mightily provok’d to hear the Sacred Name of Poet, turn’d into Scandal and Ridicule; He tells you what a profound Veneration the Athenians had for their Dramatick Writers; how greatly Terence and Virgil were Honour’d in Rome; the first, by Scipio and Laelius, the other by Augustus and Mecaenas; how much Francis the First, and Cardinal Richelieu, encourag’d the Wits of France; and drawing his Argument more home, he relates to you, how in this Island the Buckinghams, the Orrerys, the Roscommons, the Normanbys, the Dorsets, the Hallifaxs, and several other Illustrious Persons have not only encouraged Poetry, but ennobled the Art itself by their Performances.