203, etc.
Caufes hindering a true Judgment. 1. Pride, ver. 208.
2. Imperfect Learning, ver. 215. 3. Judging by
parts, and not by the whole, ver. 233 to 288. Critics
in Wit, Language, Verfification, only, 288, 305,339,
etc. 4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire,
ver. 384. 5. Partiality too much love to a Sect,
-to the Ancients or Moderns, ver. 394. 6. Pre-
judice or Prevention, ver. 408.
ver. 424. 8. Inconftancy, ver. 430.
ver. 452, etc. Io. Envy, ver. 466.
7. Singularity,
9. Party Spirit,
Against Envy,
and in praife of Good-nature, ver 508, etc.
Severity is chiefly to be used by Critics, ver. 526, etc.
PART III. Ver. 560, etc.
Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic.
1. Can-
dour, ver. 563. Modesty, ver. 566. Good-breeding,
ver. 572. Sincerity and Freedom of advice, ver. 578.
2. When one's Counsel is to be refrained, ver. 584.
Character of an incorrigible Poet, ver. 600. And of
an impertinent Critic, ver. 610, etc. Character of
good Critic, ver. 629. The Hiftory of Criticism,
and Characters of the beft Critics, Ariftotle, ver. 645.
Horace, ver. 653. Dionyfius, ver. 665. Petronius,
ver. 6.67. Quintilian, ver. 67c. Longinus,
ver. 675. Of the Decay of Criticism, and its Revi-
val. Erafmus, ver. 693. Vida, ver. 705. Boi-
leau, ver. 714. Lord Rofcommon, etc. ver. 725.
Conclufion.
He stood convinced twas fit.
Who conquerd Nature should preside ver Wit.
Is hard to fay, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But of the two, lefs dang'rous is th' offence
To tire our patience, than mislead our fenfe.
Some few in that, but numbers err in' this,
Ten cenfure wrong for one who writes amifs;
A fool might once himself alone expofe,
Now one in verfe makes many more in profe.
'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go juft alike, yet each believes his own.
In Poets as true genius is but rare,
True tafle as feldom is the Critic's fhare,
Both must alike from Heav'n derive their light,
Thefe born to judge, as well as thofe to write.
An Effy] The Poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or members. The first [to ver. 201.] gives rules for the Study of the Art of Criticism; the fecond [from thence to ver. 560.] expofs the Causes of wrong Judgment; and the third [from thence to the end] maiks out the Morals of the Critic. When the Reader hath well confidered the whole, and hath ohferved the regularity of the plan, the maflerly conduct of the fveral parts, the penetration into Nature, and the compafs of Learning fo confpicuous throughout, he should then be told that it was the work of an Author who had not attained the twentieth year of his age.
Let fuch teach others who themselves excel,
And cenfure freely who have written well.
Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true,
But are not Critics to their judgment too?
Yet, if we look more closely, we shall find
Most have the feeds 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 flightest sketch, if juftly trac'd,
Is by ill-colouring but the more difgrac'd,
So by falfe learning is good fenfe defac'd:
Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools,
And fome made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.
In fearch of wit these lose their common fenfe,
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 ftill an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing fide.
VER. 15. Let fuch teach others] "Qui fcribit artificiofe, ab aliis "commode fcripta facile intelligere poterit." Cic. ad Heren. lib. iv. "De pictore, fculptore, fictore, nifi artifex, judicare non poteft." Pliny.
VER. 20. Moft have the feeds] " Omnes tacito quodam fenfu, "fine ulla arte, aut ratione, quæ fint in artibus ac rationibus recta "et prava dijudicant. Cc. de Orat. lib. iii.
VER. 25. So by falfe learning] " Plus fine doctrina prudentia, 66 quam fine prudentia valet doctrina." Quint.
Between ver. 25 and 26 were thefe lines, fince omitted by the Author:
Many are spoil'd by that pedantic throng,
Who with great pains teach youth to reafon wrong.
Tutors, like Virtuofos, oft inclin'd
Bv ftrange transfufion to improve the mind,
Draw off the fenfe we have, to pour in new;
Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do.
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