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The Preface.
Love alone, to thoſe mad Orlandos, and thoſe melting Rinaldo’s; hearing from them that we ought to ſacrifice all, nay, ev’n Virtue itſelf, to Love, as to the only ſupreme Divinity; that we can never ſuffer our ſelves to take Fire too ſoon, that bounteous Heaven has beſtow’d a Heart upon us only that we might love; and all thoſe common places of ſlippery Morals, to which Lully has given freſh Fire by the Charms of his Muſick. Then how will ſhe be melted, how tranſported, how will every Senſe be ſhaken in her? I dare not aſſure thee, that as ſhe comes back, throwing off that Awe which has hitherto been a reſtraint upon her, and having all her Soul poſſeſt with thoſe melting Sounds, ſhe does not inſtantly withdraw to ſome convenient Retirement, and with ſome young Medoro bring theſe fine Speculations to practiſe. Yet let us ſuppoſe for once, that ſhe comes back as faithful and chaft as ſhe went from this dangerous Shock, &c.
Nothing can be fuller than this paſſage of Boileau, we could eaſily make it appear that Plato and Cicero are of the ſame Opinion, but what need can there be of Authorities, when we can ſhew by experience what Influence the ſoft and effeminate Meaſures of the Italian Opera has upon the Minds and Manners of Men. The Modern Italians have the very ſame Sun and Soil which the Antient Romans had, yet are their Manners directly oppoſite; their Men are neither Vertuous, nor Wiſe, nor Valiant, and they who have reaſon to know their Women, never truſt them out of their ſight. ’Tis impoſſible to give any reaſon of ſo great a Difference between the Ancient Romans, and the Modern Italians but only Luxury, and the Reigning Luxury of Modern Italy, is that ſoft and effeminate Muſick which abounds in the Italian Opera. And if Muſick of the ſame Nature has not as yet had the
ſame
