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A N

ESSAY

ON

CRITICISM.

'TIS

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 expose,
Now one in verfe makes many more in prose.

"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 Taste as feldom is the Critic's fhare;

Both muft alike from Heav'n derive their light,
These born to judge, as well as thofe to write.

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ΙΟ

Let

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?

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Yet if we look more closely, we shall find Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: 20 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,
Įs by ill-colouring but the more disgrac'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 sense,
And then turn Critics in their own defence:

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Each

VER. 15. Let fuch teach others.] Qui fcribit artificiofe, ab aliis commode fcripta facile intelligere poterit. Cic. ad Herenn. lib. 4. De pittore, fculptore, fillore, nifi artifex, judicare non poteft. Pliny. P.

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. Cic. de Orat. lib. iii. P.

VER. 25. So by falfe learning] Plus fine do&rina prudentia, quam fine prudentia valet doctrina. Quint. P.

VARIATIONS.

Between v. 25 and 26 were these lines, fince omitted by the author:

Many are fpoil'd by that pedantic throng,

Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong.
Tutors, like Virtuofo's, oft inclin'd

By 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. P.

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Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write,
Or with a Rival's, or an Eunuch's fpite.

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All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing fide.
If Mævius fcribble in Apollo's fpight,

There are, who judge ftill worse than he can write.
Some have at firft for Wits, then Poets paft, 36
Turn'd Critics next, and prov'd plain fools at laft.
Some neither can for Wits nor Critics pass,
As heavy mules are neither horfe nor afs.
Those half-learn'd witlings, num'rous in our isle,
As half-form'd infects on the banks of Nile;
Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call,
Their geoeration's fo 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;

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Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet, 50
And mark that point where sense and dullness meet.
Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit,
And wifely curb'd proud man's pretending wit.

As

VER. 51. And mark that point where fenfe and dullness meet.] This precept cautions us against going on, when our Ideas begin to grow obfcure; as we are apt to do, tho' that obfcurity is a monition that we fhould leave off; for it arifes either thro' our fmall acquaintance with the fubject, or the incomprehenfibility of its nature. which circumftances a genius will always write as heavily as a dunce. An obfervation well worth the attention of all profound writers.

In

As on the land while here the ocean gains,
In other parts it leaves wide fandy plains;
Thus in the foul while memory prevails,
The folid pow'r of understanding fails;
Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memory's foft figures melt away.
One science only will one genius fit;
So vaft is art, fo narrow human wit:
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,

But oft' in those confin'd to fingle parts.

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60

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Like Kings we lose the conquefts gain'd before,
By vain ambition still to make them more;
Each might his fev'ral province well command,
Would all but stoop to what they understand.
Firft follow Nature, and your judgment frame
By her just standard, which is ftill the fame:
Unerring NATURE, ftill divinely bright,
One clear, unchang'd, and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty, muft to all impart,
At once the fource, and end, and teft of Art.
Art from that fund each just fupply provides,
Works without fhow, and without pomp prefides:
In fome fair body thus th' informing foul
With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole,
Each motion guides, and ev'ry nerve sustains;
Itself unseen, but in th' effects, remains.

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Some,

VER. 67. Would all but ftoop to what they understand.] The expreffion is delicate, and implies what is very true, that moft men think it a degradation of their genius to employ it in cultivating what lies level to their comprehenfion, but had rather exercife their ambition in fubduing what is placed above it.

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Some, to whom Heav'n in wit has been profuse,
Want as much more to turn it to its ufe;
For wit and judgment often are at strife,
Tho' meant each other's aid, like man and wife.
'Tis more to guide, than fpur the Mufe's steed;
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed;
The winged courfer, like a gen'rous horse,
Shows most true mettle when you check his course.
Thofe RULES of old discover'd, not devis'd,
Are Nature ftill, but Nature methodiz'd;
Nature, like Liberty, is but reftrain'd

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By the fame Laws which firft herself ordain'd.
Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites,
When to repress, and when indulge our flights :
High on Parnaffus' top her sons she show'd,
And painted out those arduous paths they trod; 95
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,

And urg'd the reft by equal steps to rise.

Juft

VER. 88. Thofe rules of old, etc.] Cicero has, best of any one I know, explained what that is which reduces the wild and fcattered parts of human knowledge into arts.-Nibil eft quod ad artem redigi poffit, nifi ille prin qui illa tenet, quorum artem inflituere vult, habeat illam fcientiam, ut ex iis rebus, quarum ars nondum fit, artem efficere poffit.-Omnia fere, quæ funt conclufa nunc artibus, difperfa et diffipata quondam fuerunt, ut in Muficis, it. alio genere Adhibita eft igitur ars quædam extrinfecus ex quodam, quod fibi totum PHILOSOPHIefumunt, que rem diffolutam divulfamque conglutinaret, et ratione quad..in conftringeret. De Orat. 1. i. c 41, 2.

VER. 80.

VARIATIONS.

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

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