again upon the fide of Dryden. This fpecies is the Lyric, in which the warnicft votaries of Pope muit certainly acknowledge that he is much inferior: as an irrefittible proof of this we need only compare Mr. Dryden's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day with Mr. Pope's, in which the disparity is very apparent.

It hath been generally acknowledged that the Lyric is a more excellent kind of writing than the Satiric, and, confequently, he who excels in the moft excellent fpecies muft undoubtedly be efteemed the greatest poet. Mr. Pope has very happily fucceeded in many of his occafional pieces, fuch as Eloifa to Abelard, his Elegy on an unfortunate young Lady, and a variety of other performances defervedly celebrated. To thefe may be oppofed Mr. Dryden's Fables, which, though written in a very advanced age, are yet the most perfect of his works. In thefe Fables there is, perhaps, a greater variety than in Mr. Pope's occafional pieces: many of them, indeed, are tranflations, but fuch as are original fhow a great extent of invention, and a large compafs of genius.

There are not in Pope's works fuch poignant difcoveries of wit, or fuch a general knowledge of the. humours and characters of men, as in the Prologues and Epilogues of Dryden, which are the beft records of the whims and capricious oddities of the times in which they are written.

When these two great geniufes are confidered in the light of tranflators, it will, indeed, be difficult to determine into whofe fcale the balance fhould be thrown. That Mr. Pope had a more arduous province in doing justice to Homer, than Dryden with regard to Virgil, is certainly true; as Homer is a more various and diffuse poet than Virgil; and it is likewise true, that Pope has even exceeded Dryden in the execution, and none will deny that Pope's Homer's Iliad is a finer poem than Dryden's neid of Virgil, making a proper allowance for the difproportion of

the

the original authors. But then a candid critic fhould reflect, that as Dryden was prior in the great attempt of rendering Virgil into English, fo did he perform the task under many disadvantages which Pope, by a happier fituation in life, was enabled to avoid; and could not but improve upon Dryden's errors, though the authors tranflated were not the fame and it is much to be doubted if Dryden were to tranflate the Æneid now, with that attention which the correctnefs of the prefent age would force upon him, whether the preference would be due to Pope's Homer.

But fuppofing it to be yielded (as it certainly muft) that the latter bard was the greatest tranflator, we are now to throw into Mr. Dryden's fcale all his dramatic works; which, though not the most excellent of his writings, yet, as nothing of Mr. Pope's can be opposed to them, they have an undoubted right to turn the balance greatly in favour of Mr. Dryden.When the two poets are confidered as critics, the comparison will very imperfectly hold. Dryden's Dedications and Prefaces, befides that they are more numerous, and are the best models for courtly panegyric, fhow that he understood poetry as an art beyond any man that ever lived; and he explained this art fo well, that he taught his antagonists to turn the tables against himfelf: for he fo illuminated the mind by his clear and perfpicuous reafoning, that dulnefs itfelf became capable of difcerning; and when at any time his performances fell short of his own ideas of excellence, his enemies tried him by rules of his own eftablishing; and though they owed to him the ability of judging, they feldom had candour enough to spare him.

Perhaps it may be true, that Pope's works are read with more appetite, as there is a greater evennefs and correctnefs in them; but in perufing the works of Dryden, the mind will take a wider range, and be more fraught with poetical ideas. We admire Dryden as the greater genius, and Pope as the most pleasing verfifier. Cibber's Lives.

I Am inclined to think that both the writers of books, and the readers of them, are generally not a little unreasonable in their expectations. The first seem to fancy the world must approve whatever they produce, and the latter to imagine that authors are obliged to please them at any rate. Methinks, as on the one hand no fingle man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the reft, fo, on the other, the world has no title to demand that the whole care and time of any particular perfon fhould be facrificed to its entertainment: therefore I cannot but believe that writers and readers are under equal obligations, for as much fame or pleasure as each affords the other.

Every one acknowledges it would be a wild notion to expect perfection in any work of man, and yet one would think the contrary was taken for granted by the judgment commonly passed upon poems. A critic fuppofes he has done his part, if he proves a writer to have failed in an expreffion, or erred in any particular point; and can it then be wondered at if the poets in general feem refolved not to own themselves in any error? for as long as one fide will make no allowances, the other will be brought to no acknowledgments*.

I am afraid this extreme zeal on both fides is illplaced, poetry and criticism being by no means the universal concern of the world, but only the affair of idle men who write in their closets, and of idle men who read there.

Yet fure, upon the whole, a bad author deferves better ufage than a bad critic; for a writer's endeavour, for the most part, is to please his readers, and he fails merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; but fuch a critic's is to put them out of humour; a defign he could never go upon without both that and an ill temper.

VOL. I. I

B

I think

In the former editions it was thus. For as long as one fide defpifes a "well-meant endeavour, the other will not be fatisfied with a moderate ap "probation;"---but the Author altered it, as these words were rather a confequence from the conclufion he would draw, than the conclufion itself, which he has now inferted,

I think a good deal may be faid to extenuate the faults of bad poets. What we call a Genius is hard to be diftinguished by a man himself from a strong inclination; and if his genius be ever fo great, he cannot at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propenfity which renders him the more liable to be miftaken. The only method he has is to make the experiment by writing, and appealing to the judgment of others. Now, if he happens to write ill (which is certainly no fin in itfelf) he is immediately made an object of ridicule. I wish we had the humanity to reflect, that even the worft authors might, in their endeavour to please us, deferve fomething at our hands. We have no caufe to quarrel with them but for their obftinacy in perfifting to write; and this, too, may admit of alleviating circumftances. Their particular friends may be either ignorant or infincere; and the rest of the world in general is too well-bred to fhock them with a truth which generally their bookfellers are the firft that inform them of. This happens not till they have spent too much of their time to apply to any profeffion which might better fit their talents, and till fuch talents as they have are fo far difcredited as to be but of small fervice to them. For (what is the hardest cafe imaginable) the reputation of a man generally depends upon the first steps he makes in the world; and people will establish their opinion of us from what we do at that feafon when we have leaf judgment to direct us.

On the other hand, a good poet no fooner cominunicates his works with the fame defire of information, but it is imagined he is a vain young creature, given up to the ambition of fame, when perhaps the poor man is all the while trembling with the fear of being ridiculous. If he is made to hope he may pleafe the world, he falls under very unlucky circunftances; for, from the moment he prints, he must expect to hear no more truth than if he were a prince or a beauty. If he has not very good fenfe (and indeed there are twenty men of wit for one man of fenfe) his living

thus in a courfe of flattery may put him in no fmall danger of becoming a coxcomb; if he has, he will, confequently, have fo much diffidence as not to reap any great fatisfaction from his praife; fince, if it be given to his face, it can scarce be distinguished from flattery; and if in his absence, it is hard to be certain of it. Were he fure to be commended by the best and moft knowing, he is as fure of being envied by the worft and moft ignorant, which are the majority; for it is with a fine genius as with a fine fashion, all those are difpleafed at it who are not able to follow it; and it is to be feared that efteem will feldom do any man fo much good as ill-will does him harm. Then there is a third clafs of people, who make the largeft part of mankind, thofe of ordinary or indifferent capacities, and thefe, to a man, will hate or fufpect him; a hundred honeft gentlemen will dread him as a wit, and a hundred innocent women as a fatirift. In a word, whatever be his fate in poetry, it is ten to one but he muft give up all the reasonable aims of life for it. There are indeed fome advantages accruing from a genius to poetry, and they are all I can think of; the agreeable power of felf-amufement when a man is idle or alone; the privilege of being admitted into the best company; and the freedom of faying as many careless things as other people, without being fo feverely remarked upon.

I believe if any one, early in his life, fhould contemplate the dangerous fate of authors, he would fcarce be of their number on any confideration. The life of a wit is a warfare upon earth; and the present fpirit of the learned world is fuch, that to attempt to ferve it, any way, one must have the conftancy of a martyr, and a refolution to fuffer for its fake. I could wifh people would believe, what I am pretty certain they will not, that I have been much lefs concerned about fame than I durft declare till this occafion, when, methinks, I fhould find more credit than I could heretofore, fince my writings have had their fate already, and it is too late to think of prepoffeffing the reader

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