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necessary to avoid the incidental introduction of precepts concerning the subjectmatter as well as the manner of poetic criticism. It divides itself into three parts naturally and easily following one another: the foundation of true criticism; the causes preventing it; and the causes producing it and exemplified in its most eminent professors. But, as should always be the case in a readable essay whether in prose or verse, abruptness is avoided in the transitions, and the successive precepts are easily and happily linked together by examples which render this didactic work as entertaining as it is instructive. The errors of manner in composition, and particularly in versification, on which the Essay incidentally touches, are illustrated without effort in the verse itself; the open vowels, the monosyllables, the lagging Alexandrine, the regulation rhyme,-all these are not discussed at length, but each is instanced in passing with a single and effective touch.]

CONTENTS OF THE ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

PART I. Introduction. That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, v. I.

That a true Taste is as rare to be found, as a true Genius, v. 9 to 18.

That most men are born with some Taste, but spoiled by false Education, v. 19 to 25.

The multitude of Critics, and causes of them, v. 26 to 45.

That we are to study our own Taste, and know the Limits of it, v. 46 to 67. Nature the best guide of Judgment, v. 68 to 87.

Improv'd by Art and Rules, which are but methodis'd Nature, 88.

Rules derived from the Practice of the Ancient Poets, v. id. to 110.

That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be studyd, by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, v. 120 to 138.

Of Licenses, and the use of them by the Ancients, v. 140 to 180.

Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them, v. 181, etc.

PART II. Ver. 203, etc.

Causes hindering a true Judgment. I. Pride, v. 208. 2. Imperfect Learn

ing, v. 215. 3. Judging by parts, and
not by the whole, v. 233 to 288. Critics
in Wit, Language, Versification, only, v.
288. 305. 339, etc. 4. Being too hard
to please, or too apt to admire, v. 384.
5. Partiality-too much Love to a Sect,-
to the Ancients or Moderns, v. 394. 6.
Prejudice or Prevention, v. 408. 7. Singu-
larity, v. 424. 8. Inconstancy, v. 430. 9.
Party Spirit, v. 452 etc. 10. Envy, v. 466.
Against Envy, and in praise of Good-na-
ture, v. 508, etc. When Severity is chiefly
to be used by Critics, v. 526, etc.

PART III. Ver. 560, etc.

Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic. J. Candour, v. 563. Modesty, v. 566. Good-breeding, v. 572. Sincerity, and Freedom of advice, v. 578. 2. When one's Counsel is to be restrained, v. 584. Character of an incorrigible Poet, v. 6oo. And of an impertinent Critic, v. 610. etc. Character of a good Critic, v. 629. The History of Criticism, and Characters of the best Critics, Aristotle, v. 645. Horace, v. 653. Dionysius, v. 665. Petronius, v. 667. Quintilian, v. 670. Longinus, v. 675. Of the Decay of Criticism, and its Revival. Erasmus, v. 693. Vida, v. 705. Boileau, v. 714. Lord Roscommon, etc. v. 725. Conclusion.

AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

IS hard to say, if greater want of skill

Tappear in writing or in judging ill;

But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.
Some few in that, but numbers err in this,
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss;
A fool might once himself alone expose,
Now one in verse makes many more in prose.
'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
In Poets as true genius is but rare,

True Taste as seldom is the Critic's share ;
Both must alike from Heav'n derive their light,
These born to judge, as well as those to write.
Let such teach others who themselves excel1,
And censure freely who have written well2.
Authors are partial to their wit3, 'tis true,
But are not Critics to their judgment too?

Yet if we look more closely, we shall find
Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind*:
Nature affords at least a glimm'ring light;

The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right.
But as the slightest sketch, if justly trac'd,
Is by ill-colouring but the more disgrac'd,
So by false learning is good sense defac'd":
Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools",

And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.

In search of wit these lose their common sense,
And then turn Critics in their own defence:
Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write,
Or with a Rival's, or an Eunuch's spite.
All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing side.

Let such teach others] 'Qui scribit artificiose, ab aliis commode scripta facile intelligere poterit.' Cic. ad Herenn. lib. iv. 'De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex, judicare non potest.' Pliny. P. 2 [Warton, who quotes Dryden's remark that none but a poet is qualified to judge of a poet, has an excellent illustrative note, too long for insertion, on the amount of truth contained in the observation. The relations between the creative and the critical power have perhaps rarely been more clearly pointed out than in Mr Matthew Arnold's Essay on the Function of Criticism at the present Time.]

3 [The word 'wit' is said to be used in Pope's Essay on Criticism in seven different senses. Bain's Eng. Comp. and Rhetoric, p. 57. Here

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it seems tantamount to 'creative power' or 'ge-
nius.']

4 Most have the seeds] 'Omnes tacito quodam
sensu, sine ulla arte, aut ratione, quæ sint in arti-
bus ac rationibus recta et prava dijudicant.' Cic.
de Orat. lib. III. P.

5 So by false learning] 'Plus sine doctrina prudentia, quam sine prudentia valet doctrina.’ Quint. P.

6 Some are bewilder'd, &c.] This thought is
taken from Lord Rochester, but more decently
expressed:

God never made a coxcomb worth a groat,
We owe that name to industry and arts.'

Warburton.

T

If Mævius scribble in Apollo's spite1,

There are who judge still worse than he can write.
Some have at first for Wits, then Poets past,
Turn'd Critics next, and prov'd plain fools at last.
Some neither can for Wits nor Critics pass,
As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass.
Those half-learn'd witlings, num'rous in our isle,
As half-form'd insects on the banks of Nile;
Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call,
Their generation's so equivocal :

To tell 'em, would a hundred tongues require,
Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire.
But you who seek to give and merit fame,
And justly bear a Critic's noble name,
Be sure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius, taste, and learning go;
Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet,

And mark that point where sense and dulness meet.
Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit,

And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit.
As on the land while here the ocean gains,
In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains;
Thus in the soul while memory prevails,
The solid pow'r of understanding fails;
Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memory's soft figures melt away.
One science only will one genius fit;
So vast is art, so narrow human wit:
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,
But oft in those confin'd to single parts.
Like kings we lose the conquests gain'd before,
By vain ambition still to make them more;
Each might his sev'ral province well command,
Would all but stoop to what they understand.

First follow Nature, and your judgment frame
By her just standard, which is still the same:
Unerring NATURE, still divinely bright,
One clear, unchang'd, and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart,
At once the source, and end, and test of Art.
Art from that fund each just supply provides,
Works without show, and without pomp presides:
In some fair body thus th' informing soul
With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole,
Each motion guides, and ev'ry nerve sustains;
Itself unseen, but in th' effects, remains.

60

70

Some, to whom Heav'n in wit has been profuse2,
Want as much more, to turn it to its use;
For wit and judgment often are at strife,
Tho' meant each other's aid, like man and wife.

80

1 [Verg. Buc. III. 90. Hor. Epod. x. 2.] 2 Variation :)

There are whom Heav'n has blest with store of wit,
Yet want as much again to manage it.

40

50

'Tis more to guide, than spur the Muse's steed;
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed;

The winged courser, like a gen'rous horse,

Shows most true mettle when you check his course.
Those RULES of old discovered, not devis'd1,
Are Nature still, but Nature methodiz'd;
Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd

By the same laws which first herself ordain'd.

Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites,
When to repress, and when indulge our flights:
High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd,
And pointed out those arduous paths they trod;
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urg'd the rest by equal steps to rise.
Just precepts thus from great examples giv'n2,

She drew from them what they deriv'd from Heav'n.

The gen'rous Critic fann'd the Poet's fire,
And taught the world with reason to admire.
Then Criticism the Muses handmaid prov'd,

To dress her charms, and make her more belov'd:
But following wits from that intention stray'd,
Who could not win the mistress, woo'd the maid;
Against the Poets their own arms they turn'd,

Sure to hate most the men from whom they learn'd.
So modern 'Pothecaries 3, taught the art

By Doctor's bills to play the Doctor's part,

Bold in the practice of mistaken rules,

Prescribe, apply, and call their masters fools.
Some on the leaves of ancient authors prey+,

Nor time nor moths e'er spoil'd so much as they.
Some drily plain, without invention's aid,

Write dull receipts how poems may be made.
These leave the sense, their learning to display,
And those explain the meaning quite away.

You then whose judgment the right course would steer,
Know well each ANCIENT's proper character;

1 Those Rules of old, &c.] Cicero has, best of any one I know, explained what that is which reduces the wild and scattered parts of human knowledge into arts. Nihil est quod ad artem redigi posset, nisi ille prius, qui illa tenet, quorum artem instituere vult, habeat illam scientiam, ut ex iis rebus, quarum ars nondum sit, artem efficere possit. Omnia fere, quæ sunt conclusa nunc artibus, dispersa et dissipata quondam fuerunt, ut in musicis, etc. Adhibita est igitur ars quædam extrinsecus ex alio genere quodam, quod sibi totum PHILOSOPHI assumunt, quæ rem dissolutam divulsamque conglutinaret, et ratione quadam constringeret.' De Orat.lib. 1. c. 41, 2. Warburton.

2 Just precepts] 'Nec enim artibus editis factum est ut argumenta inveniremus, sed dicta sunt omnia antequam præciperentur; mox ea scriptores observata et collecta ediderunt.' Quintil. P.

3 [This familiar abbreviation is sanctioned in poetry by early dramatic usage. The Poticary is

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one of the 'Four P's' of John Heywood's Interlude. ]

4 Some on the leaves-Some drily plain.] The
first, the apes of those Italian critics, who at the
restoration of letters having found the classic
writers miserably mangled by the hands of monk-
ish librarians, very commendably employed their
pains and talents in restoring them to their native
purity. The second, the plagiaries from the
French, who had made some admirable commen-
taries on the ancient critics. Warburton.
5 [A forward Critic often dupes us

With sham quotations Peri Hupsous;
And if we have not read Longinus,
Will magisterially outshine us.
Then, lest with Greek he overrun ye,
Procure the Book for Love or Money
Translated from Boileau's Translation,
And quote Quotation on Quotation.

Swift On Poetry.]

His fable, subject, scope in ev'ry page;
Religion, Country, genius of his Age:
Without all these at once before your eyes,
Cavil you may, but never criticize1.

Be Homer's works your study and delight,
Read them by day, and meditate by night;

Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring,
And trace the Muses upward to their spring.
Still with itself compar'd, his text peruse;

And let your comment be the Mantuan Muse.

When first young Maro in his boundless mind 2

A work t'outlast immortal Rome design'd,
Perhaps he seem'd above the critic's law,

And but from Nature's fountains scorn'd to draw:
But when t'examine ev'ry part he came,
Nature and Homer were, he found, the same.
Convinc'd, amaz'd, he checks the bold design;
And rules as strict his labour'd work confine,
As if the Stagirite o'erlook'd each line3.
Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem;
To copy nature is to copy them.

Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare,
For there's a happiness as well as care.
Music resembles Poetry, in each

120

130

140

Are nameless graces which no methods teach1,
And which a master-hand alone can reach.

If, where the rules not far enough extend3,

(Since rules were made but to promote ther end)
Some lucky Licence answer to the full
Th' intent propos'd, that Licence is a rule.
Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,
May boldly deviate from the common track;
From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,.
And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art,
Which without passing thro' the judgment, gains
The heart, and all its end at once attains.

1 Cavil you may, but never criticize.] The author after this verse originally inserted the following, which he has however omitted in all the editions:

'Zoilus*, had these been known without a name, Had died, and Perault† ne'er been damn'd to fame;

The sense of sound Antiquity had reign'd, And sacred Homer yet been unprophan'd. None e'er had thought his comprehensive mind' To modern customs, modern rules confin'd; Who for all ages writ, and all mankind. *[Zoilus, called Homeromastix from his petty criticisms of Homer.]

P.

[Perault, a Dominican writer of the 13th century.]

2 When first young Maro,&c.] Virg. Eclog. vI. 'Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius aurem Vellit.'

150

It is a tradition preserved by Servius, that Virgil began with writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs; which he found above his years, and descended first to imitate Theocritus on rural subjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in Heroic poetry. P.

3 [Dr Aikin, quoted by Warton, justly points out the inconsistency between this line and v. 272.]

4 Non ratione aliquâ, sed motu nescio an inerrabili judicatur. Neque hoc ab ullo satis explicari puto licet multi tentaverint. Quintil. lib. vi. Warton.

5 If, where the rules, &c.] Neque enim rogationibus plebisve scitis sancta sunt ista Præcepta, sed hoc, quicquid est, Utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo autem sic utile esse plerumque; verum si eadem illa nobis aliud suadebit Utilitas, hanc, relictis magistrorum autoritatibus, seque Quintil. lib. II. cap. 13. P.

mur.

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