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ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

'Tis hard to fay, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill;

IC

But of the two, lefs dangerous is th' offence
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.
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 profe
'Tis with our judgments as our watches; none
Go just 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 atike from Heaven derive their light,
Thefe born to judge, as well as thofe to write.
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
Moft have the feeds of judgment in their mind: 20
Nature affords at least a glimmering light; [right,
The lines, though touch'd but faintly, are drawn
But as the flightest sketch, if juftly trac'd,
Is by ill colouring but the more difgrac'd,
So by falfe learning is good sense 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:
Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write,
Or with a rivals, or an eunuch's spite.
All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing side.
If Mævius fcribble in Apollo's fpite,
There are who judge ftill worfe than he can write.
Some have at first for wits, then poets past;
Turn'd critics next, and prov'd plain fools at last.
Some neither can for wits nor critics pafs,
As heavy mules are neither horfe nor ass.

VARIATIONS.

Thofe half-learn'd witlings, numerous in our ifle,
As half-form'd infects on the banks of Nile; 41
Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call,
Their generation 's fo equivocal:

To tell them would a hundred tongues require,
Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire.
But you, who feck to give and merit fame,
And justly bear a critic's noble name,
Be fure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius, tafte, and learning, go;
Launch not beyond your depth, but be difereet, 50
Andmark that point where fenfe and dulnefs meet.

Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit,
And wifely curb'd proud man's pretending wit:
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 power of understanding fails;
Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memory's foft figures melt away.
One fcience only will one genius fit;
So vaft is art, fo narrow human wit:
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,
But oft in thofe confin'd to fingle parts.
Like kings, we lofe the conquefts gain'd before,
By vain ambition still to make them more :
Each might his several province well command,
Would all but ftoop to what they understand.

60

70

First follow nature; and your judgment frame
30 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 fapply provides;
Works without thew, and without pomp prefides,
In fome fair body thus thi' informing foul
With fpirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole,
Each motion guides, and every nerve fustains;
Itself unfeen, but in th' effects remains.
Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profufe,
Want as much more, to turn it to its ufe;
For wit and judgment often are at ftrife,
Though meant each others aid, like man and
wife.

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 reason wrong:
Tutors, like virtuofos, 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.
Ver. 30, 31. In the first edition thus:
Thefe hate as rivals all that write; and others
But envy wits, as eunuchs envy lovers.

66

Ver. 32. All fools," in the first edition: "All

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VARIATIONS.

Ver. 63. Ed. 1. But ev'n in thofe, &c.
Ver. 74.
That art is beft, which most refembles her;
Which still prefides, yet never does appear.
Ver. 76. the fecret foul.
Ver. 80.

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

90

ICO

'Tis more to guide, than fpur the mufe's fteed;
Refrain his fury, than provoke his speed:
The winged courfer, like a generous horse,
Shows moft true mettle when you check his courfe.
Thofe rules of old difcover'd, not devis'd,
Are nature ftill, but nature methodis'd:
Nature, like liberty, is but reftrain'd
By the fame laws which first herself ordain'd.
Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules endites,
When to reprefs, and when indulge our flights:
High on Parnaffus' top her fons the fhew'd,
And pointed out thofe arduous paths they trod :
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urg'd the reft by equal fteps to rife.
Juft precepts thus from great example 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 mufe's handmaid prov'd,
To drefs her charms, and make her more belov'd:
But following wits from that intention stray'd,
Who could not win the mistress woo'd the maid;
Against the poets their own arms they turn'd,
Sure to hate moft 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 practice of mistaken rules,
Frefcribe, apply, and call their masters fools.
Some on the leaves of ancient authors prey,
Nor time nor moths e'er fpoil'd fo much as they :
Some drily plain, without invention's aid,
Write dull receipts how poenis may be made.
These leave the fenfe, their learning to display,
And thofe explain the meaning quite away. [fteer,
You then whofe judgment the right courfe would
Know well each Ancient's proper character:
His fable, fubject, fcope in every page;
Religion, country, genius of his age:
Without all thefe at once before your eyes,
Cavil you may, but never criticife.

Be Homer's works your ftudy and delight
Read them by day, and meditate by night,;

VARIATIONS.

110

I 20

Ver. 90. Ed. 1. Nature, like monarchy, &c.
Ver. 92.
First learned Greece juft precepts did endite,
When to reprefs, and when indulge our flight.
Ver. 97.

From great examples ufeful rules were given.
After ver. 104, this line is omitted:
Set up themselves, and drove a feparate trade.
Ver. 116. Ed. 1. These loft, &c.
Ver. 117. And thefe explain'd, &c.

Ver. 123. Ed. 1. You may confound, but, &c.
Ver. 123. Cavil you may, but never criticife.

The Author after this verfe originally inferted the following, which he has however omitted in all the editions:

Zoilus, had thefe been known, without a name
Had dy'd, and Perault ne'er been damn'd to fame:
The fenfe of found antiquity had reign'd,
And facred Homer yet been unprofan'd.
None c'er had thought his comprehensive mind
To modern customs, modern rules confin'd;
Who for all ages writ, and all mankind,

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A work t'outlaft immortal Rome defign'd, 131
Perhaps he feem'd above the critic's law,
And but from nature's fountains fcorn'd to draw:
But when t' examine every part he came,
Nature and Homer were, he found, the fame.
Convinc'd, amaz'd, he checks the bold defign;
And rules as ftrict his labour'd work confine,
As if the Stagyrite o'erlook'd each line.
Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem;
To copy nature, is to copy them.

Some beauties yet no precepts can declare,
For there's a happiness as well as care.
Mufic refembles poetry; in each

140

Are nameless graces which no methods teach, And which a master-hand alone can reach. If, where the rules not far enough extend, (Since rules were made but to promote their end),

150

Some lucky license anfwer to the full
Th' intent propos'd, that license is a rule.
Thus Pegafus, a nearer way to take,
May boldly deviate from the common track;
From vulgar bounds with brave diforder part,
And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art,
Which, without palling through the judgment,
gains

The heart, and all its end at once attains.
In profpects thus, fome objects pleafe our eyes,
Which out of nature's common order rife,
The thapelefs rock, or hanging precipice.
Great wits fometimes may gloriously offend,
And rife to faults true critics dare not mend. 166
But though the ancients thus their rules invade
(As kings difpenfe with laws thenfelves 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 remorie.
seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force.

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Ver. 130.

When firft young Maro fung of kings and wars,
Ere warning Phabus touch'd his trembling ears.
Ver. 130. Ed. 1. When firit great Maro, &c.
Ver. 136.

Convinc'd, amaz'd, he check'd the bold defign;
And did his work to rules as ftrict confine.
Ver. 145. Ed. 1. And which a master's hand, &c.
After ver. 158. the first edition reads,

But care in poetry must still be had,
It afks difcretion ev'n in running mad;
And though the ancients, &c.

And what are now ver. 159, 160, followed ver. 155

I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts Those freer beauties, ev'n in them, feem faults, 170 Some figures monftrous and mis-shap'd appear, Confider'd singly, or beheld too near, Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place,' Due distance reconciles to form and grace. A prudent chief not always must display His powers in equal ranks, and fair array, But with th' occafion and the place comply, Conceal his force, nay fometimes feem to fly. Thofe oft are ftratagems which error seem, Ner is it Hemer nods, but we that dream.

180

Still green with bays each ancient altar stands, Above the reach of facrilegious hands; Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage, Defructive war, and all-involving age.

190

See from each clime the learn'd their incenfe bring!
Hear, in all tongues confenting Faans ring!
ip praise fo just let every voice be join'd,
And fill the general chorus of mankind.
Hail, bards, triumphant! born in happier days;
Immortal heirs of universal praise !
Whole honours with increase of ages grow,
As ftreams roll down, enlarging as they flow;
Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound,
And worlds applaud that muft not yet be found!
O may fome (park of your celestial 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)
To teach vain wits a fcience little known,
T'admire fuperior fenfe, and doubt their own:

210

Of all the caufes which confpire to blind 201 Man's erring judgment, and mifguide the mind, What the weak head with strongest bias rules, Is pride, the never-failing voice 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 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 fenfe, If once right reafon drives that cloud away, Truth breaks upon us with refiftlefs day. Truft 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 tafle not the Pierian fpring; There fhallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely fobers us again. Fir'd at first fight with what the muse imparts, In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts, 220

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While, from the bounded level of our mind, Short views we take, nor fee the lengths behind; But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprise New diftant fcenes of endless science rife!

So pleas'd at firft 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:
But, thofe attain'd, we tremble to furvey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way; 230
Th' increafing profpect tires our wandering eyes,'
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

A perfect judge will read each work of wit
With the fame fpirit that its author writ:
Survey the whole, nor feek flight faults to find
Where nature moves, and rapture warms the
mind;

Nor lofe, for that malignant dull delight,
The generous pleasure to be charm'd with wit.
But, in fuch lays as neither ebb nor flow,
Correctly cold, and regularly low,

240

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

No fingle parts unequally furprise,
All comes united to th' admiring eyes;

250

No monftrous height, or breadth, or length ap

pear;,

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 fhall be. In every work regard the writer's end, Since none can compaís more, than they intend; And if the means be just, the conduct true, Applaufe, in fpite of trivial faults, is due.. As men of breeding, fometimes men of wit, T' avoid great errors must the lefs commit: 260' Neglect the rules each verbal critic lays, For not to know fome trifles, is a praise. Moft critics, fond of fome fubfervient art, Still make the whole depend upon a part: They talk of principles, but notions prize, And all to one lov'd folly facrifice. Once on a time, La Mancha's knight, they say, A certain bard encountering on the way, Difcours'd in terms as juft, with looks as fage, As e'er could Dennis, of the Grecian stage;

VARIATIONS. Ver.225.

So pleas'd at firft the towering alps to try, Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy,

270

The traveller beholds with cheerful eyes
The leffening vales, and feems to tread the skies.
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."

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