Some neither can for Wits nor Critics pass,
As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass.
Those half-learn'd witlings, numerous in our isle, 40
As half-form'd infects on the banks of Nile;
Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call,
Their generation 's-lo equivocal :
To tell them, would a hundred tongues require,
Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire. 45
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, 50
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 ;

55
Thus in the soul while memory prevails,
The solid power 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:

65 Each

60

VARIATION.

Ver. 63. Ed. 1, But ev'n in those, &c.

70

Each might his several 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, ftill 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 : 75
In some fair body thus th' informing soul
With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole,
Each motion guides, and every nerve sustains;
Itself unseen, but in th' effects remains.
Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profuse, 80
Want as much more, to turn it to its use;
For wit and judgment often are at strife,
Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife.
'Tis more to guide, than spur the Muse's steed;
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed :
The winged courfer, like a generous horse,
Shows most true mettle when you check his course.

Those Rules of old discover'd, not devis'd, Are Nature still, but Nature methodis'd :

:

Nature,

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 74

That art is best, which most resembles her;

Which still presides, yet never does appear. : Ver: 76.

the secret foul. Ver. 80.

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

100

So

Nature, like Liberty, is but restrain'd

90 By the same laws which first herfelf 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 the show'd,
And pointed out thofe arduous paths they trod : 95
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urg'd the rest by equal steps to rise.
Just precepts thus from great examples given,
She drew from them what they deriv'd from Heaven.
The

generous Critic fann'd the Poet's fire,
And taught the world with reafon to admire.
Then Criticism the Muse's handmaid provid,
To dress her charms, and make her more belord:
But following wits from that intention stray'd,
Who could not win the mistress, woo'd the maid; 105
Against the poets their own arms they turn'd,
Sure to hate most the men from whom they learn'd.
So modern ’Pothecaries, taught the art
By Doctors bills to play the Doctor's part,
Bold in the pra&tice 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
VARIATIONS.
Ver. 90. Ed. 1. Nature, like Monarchy, &c.
Ver. 92. First learned Greece just precepts did indite,

When to repress and when indulge our flight.
Ver. 97. From great examples useful rules were given.
After ver. 104. this line is omitted,

Set up themselves, and drove a separate trade.

IIO

115

120

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 : His Fable, Subject, scope in every page ; Religion, Country, genius of his Age : Without all these at once before your eyes, Cavil you may, but never criticize. Be Homer's works your study and delight, Read them by day, and meditate by night; 125 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 VARIATIONS. Ver. 116. Ed. 1. These loft, &c. Ver. 117. And these explain’d, &c. Ver. 123. Ed. 1. You may confound, but, &c.

Ver. 123. 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 dy'd, 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.
Ver. 126. Thence form your judgment, thence your no-

tions bring.

}

}

When first young Maro, in his boundless mind 139
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 every part he came,
Nature and Homer were, he found, the same.

135
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 line.
Learn hence for ancient rules a juft esteem;
To copy nature, is to copy them.

149 Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, For there's a happiness as well as care. Mufic resembles Poetry, in each Are nameless graces which no methods teach,

And which a master-hand alone can reach. 145 į II

, where the rules not far enough extend, (Since rules were made but to promote their end). Some lucky Licenfe anfwer to the full Th'intent propos’d, that License is a rule. Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,

150 . May boldly deviate from the common tracą;

From VARIATIONS. When first young Maro sung of Kings and Wars Ere warning Phoebus touch'd his trembling ears. 130. Ed. 1. When first great Maro, &c.

re 136. Convinc'd, amaz'd, he check d the bold design'; And did his work to rules as ftri&t confine. 19:145. Ed, 1. And which a master's hand, *.

H

a

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Vol. I,

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