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If, where the rules not far enough extend,
(Since rules were made but to promote their end)
Some lucky License answer to the full

150

Th' intent propos'd, that License 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 paffing thro' the judgment, gains
The heart, and all its end at once attains.

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VER. 146. If, where the rules, etc.] "Neque enim roga. "tionibus plebifve fcitis fancta funt ifta præcepta, fed hoc, "quicquid eft, Utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo autem fic utile "effe plerumque; verum fi eadem illa nobis aliud fuadebit "Utilitas, hanc, relictis magiftrorum autoritatibus, fequemur." Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13.

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VER. 150. Thus Pegasus, etc.] He first describes the fublime flight of a Poet, foaring above all vulgar bounds, to snatch a grace directly, which lies beyond the reach of a common adventurer. And afterwards, the effect of that grace upon the true Critic whom it penetrates with an equal rapidity; going the nearest way to his heart, without paffing through his Judgment. By which is not meant that it could not ftand the test of Judgment; but that, as it was a beauty uncommon, and above rule, and the Judgment habituated to determine only by rule, it makes its direct application to the heart; which once gained, foon opens and enlarges the Judgment, whofe concurrence (it being now set above forms) is easily procured. That this is the poet's fublime conception appears from the concluding words:

and all its end at once attains. For Poetry doth not attai all its end, till it hath gained the Judgment as well as Heart

In profpects thus, fome objects please our eyes,
Which out of nature's common order rife,
The shapeless rock, or hanging precipice.
Great Wits fometimes may gloriously offend,

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And rife to faults true Critics dare not mend. 160
But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade,
(As Kings dispense with laws themselves have made)
Moderns, beware! or if you must offend
Against the precept, ne'er tranfgrefs its End;
Let it be feldom, and compell'd by need;
And have, at least, their precedent to plead.
The Critic elfe proceeds without remorse,
Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force.

165

I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts Those freer beauties, ev'n in them, feem faults. 170 Some figures monftrous and mis-fhap'd appear, Confider'd fingly, or beheld too near,

175

Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place,
Due diftance reconciles to form and grace.
A prudent chief not always must display
His pow'rs in equal ranks, and fair array,
But with th' occafion and the place comply,
Conceal his force, nay seem sometimes to fly.
Those oft are ftratagems which errors feem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.

180

VER. 175. A prudent chief, etc.] Oîóv tɩ wažoı vi próvipa σρατηλάται και τὰς τάξεις τῶν σφαλυμάτων-Dion. Hal. De Struct. orat.

VER. 180. Nor is it IIomer nods, but we that dream.] "Mo

Still green with bays each ancient Altar stands,
Above the reach of facrilegious hands;
Secure from Flames, from Envy's fiercer rage,
Destructive War, and all-involving Age.

See from each clime the learn'd their incense bring!
Hear, in all tongues confenting Pæans ring!

In praise fo juft let ev'ry voice be join'd,
And fill the gen'ral chorus of mankind.
Hail, Bards triumphant! born in happier days;
Immortal heirs of univerfal praise !

Whose honours with increase of ages grow,

186

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As ftreams roll down, enlarging as they flow;
Nations unborn your mighty names shall found,
And worlds applaud that muft not yet be found!
O may fome fpark of your celeftial fire,
The laft, the meaneft of your fons infpire.
(That on weak wings, from far, pursues your flights;
Glows while he reads, but trembles as he writes)

195

"defte, et circumfpecto judicio de tantis viris pronunciandum “est, ne (quod plerifque accidit) damnent quod non intelligunt. "Ac fi neceffe eft in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa difplicere maluerim. Quint.

66

VER. 183. Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage,

Destructive war, and all-involving age.] The Poet here alludes to the four great causes of the ravage amongst ancient writings: The deftruction of the Alexandrine and Palatine libraries by fire; the fiercer rage of Zoilus and Mævius and their followers against Wit; the irruption of the Barbarians into the empire; and the long reign of Ignorance and Superftition in the cloifters.

To teach vain Wits a fcience little known,

T'admire fuperior fenfe, and doubt their own! 200
Of all the Caufes which confpire to blind

Man's erring judgment, and mifguide the mind,
What the weak head with ftrongest bias rules,
IS PRIDE, the nev'r-failing vice of fools.
Whatever Nature has in worth deny'd,
She gives in large recruits of needful Pride;
For as in bodies, thus in fouls, we find

205

210

215

What wants in blood and spirits, fwell'd with wind:
Pride, where Wit fails, fteps in to our defence,
And fills up all the mighty Void of sense.
If once right reason drives that cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with refiftless day.
Truft not yourself; but your defects to know,
Make use of ev'ry friend-and ev'ry foe.
A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
Drink deep, or tafte not the Pierian spring:
There fhallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely fobers us again.
Fir'd at first fight with what the Mufe imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts, 220
While from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor fee the lengths behind;
But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprize
New diftant fcenes of endless science rife!
So pleas'd at firft the tow'ring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,

225

Th' eternal fnows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains feem the laft:
But, thofe attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 230
Th' increafing profpect tires our wand'ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arife!

A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit
With the fame spirit that its author writ:
Survey the WHOLE, nor feek flight faults to find 35
Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind;

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VER. 233. A perfect Judge, etc.] " Diligenter legendum eft

ac pæne ad fcribendi follicitudinem: Nec per partes modo "fcrutanda funt omnia, fed perlectus liber utique ex integro "refumendus." Quint.

VER. 235. Survey the whole, nor feek flight faults to find, Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind ;] The fecond line, in apologizing for those faults which the first fays fhould be overlooked, gives the reafon of the precept. For when a writer's attention is fixed on a general View of Nature, and his imagination warm'd with the contemplation of great ideas, it can hardly be but that there must be small irregularities in the difpofition both of matter and ftyle, because the avoiding these requires a coolness of recollection, which a writer fo bufied is not mafter of.

VER. 225.

VARIATIONS.

So pleas'd at firft the tow'ring Alps to try,
Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy,

The Traveller beholds with chearful eyes

The lefs'ning vales and feems to tread the fkies.

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