Of all the causes which confpire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind,

What the weak head with strongest bias rules,

IS PRIDE, the never-failing vice of fools.
Whatever Nature has in worth deny'd,

205

She gives in large recruits of needful Pride!
For as in bodies, thus in fouls, we find

What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind:

Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our defence,

And fills up all the mighty void of sense.

210

If once right reason drives that cloud away,

:

Truth breaks upon us with resistless day.
Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know,
Make use of every friend-and every foe.
A little learning is a dangerous thing!
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring :
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely fobers us again.
Fir'd at first sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts,
While, from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind;
But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprize
New distant scenes of endless science rife!

215

220

So

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 219.

Fir'd with the charms fair Science does impart, In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Art. Ver. 223. But more advanc'd, survey, &c.

So pleas'd at first the towering Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,
Th' eternal fnows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains feem the last:

225

But, those attain'd, we tremble to furvey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way,

230

Th' increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,

Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arife !

A perfect judge will read each work of Wit

With the same spirit that its author writ:

Survey the WHOLE, nor seek flight faults to find
Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind;
Nor lose, for that malignant dull delight,
The generous pleasure to be charm'd with wit.
But, in such lays as neither ebb nor flow,

235

:

Correctly cold, and regularly low,

240

That, shunning faults, one quiet tenour keep;
We cannot blame indeed-but we may fleep.
In wit, as Nature, what affects our hearts

Is not th' exactness of peculiar parts;

'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call, But the joint force and full result of all.

245

Thus when we view fome well-proportion'd dome, (The world's just wonder, and ev'n thine, O Rome!)

VARIATION.

No

Ver. 225.

So pleas'd at first the towering Alps to try,

V

Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy,

The traveller beholds with chearful eyes

The lessening vales, and seems to tread the skies.

No single parts unequally furprize,
All comes united to th' admiring eyes;
No monftrous height, or breadth, or length appear;
The Whole at once is bold, and regular.

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to fee,
Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.

In every work regard the writer's end,
Since none can compass more than they intend;
And if the means be just, the conduct true,
Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due.
As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit,
T' avoid great errors, must the less commit:
Neglect the rules each verbal Critic lays,
For not to know some trifles, is a praife.
Moft Critics, fond of fome subservient art,
Still make the Whole depend upon a Part:
They talk of principles, but notions prize,
And all to one lov'd folly sacrifice.
Once on a time, La Mancha's Knight, they say,
A certain Bard encountering on the way,
Difcours'd in terms as just, with looks as fage,
As e'er could Dennis, of the Grecian stage;
Concluding all were defperate fots and fools,
Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.

250

255

260

265

270

Our

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 259. As men of breeding, oft the men of wit.

Ver. 265. They talk of principles, but parts they prize.

Ver. 270. As e'er could Dennis of the laws o' th' stage.

Ver. 272, Ed. 1. That durst, &c.

Our Author, happy in a judge so nice,
Produc'd his play, and begg'd the Knight's advice :
Made him observe the subject, and the plot,

275

The manners, passions, unities; what not?
All which, exact to rule, were brought about,
Were but a combat in the lists left out.

"What! leave the combat out?" exclaims the Knight.

Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite.
"Not so by heaven (he answers in a rage)

280

" Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage." So vast a throng the stage can ne'er contain. " Then build a new, or act it in a plain." Thus Critics, of less judgment than caprice, Curious, not knowing, not exact but nice, Form short ideas; and offend in arts (As most in manners) by a love to parts.

285

Some to Conceit alone their taste confine, And glittering thoughts struck out at every line; 290 Pleas'd with a work where nothing's just or fit;

One glaring Chaos and wild heap of wit.

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd;
Something, whose truth convinc'd at fight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.

300

As

Ver. 298. Ed. 1.

VARIATION.

What oft was thought, but ne'er before express'd.

As shades more sweetly recommend the light,
So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.

For works may have more wit than does them good,

As bodies perish through excess of blood.

Others for Language all their care express,

305

And value books, as women men, for drefs :
Their praise is still, - the style is excellent :

The sense, they humbly take upon content.

Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,

Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

310

315

}

False eloquence, like the prismatic glass,
Its gaudy colours spreads on every place;
The face of Nature we no more furvey,
All glares alike, without diftinction gay:
But true expreffion, like th' unchanging fun,
Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon,
It gilds all objects, but it alters none.
Expreffion is the dress of thought, and still
Appears more decent, as more suitable;
A vile conceit in pompous words express'd
Is like a clown in regal purple drest:
For different styles with different fubjects fort,
As several garbs, with country, town, and court.
Some by old words to Fame have made pretence,
Ancients in phrafe, mere moderns in their sense; 325
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style,
Amaze th' unlearn'd, and make the learned smile.

320

Ver. 320. Ed. 1.

VARIATION.

1

A vile conceit in pompous style express'd.

Unlucky,