ALEXAMBER POPE ESQ. ^l^ aft this piece, which, as an uncommon curiolity, one would have been glad to have beheld. The matter's gardener reprefented the character of Ajax ; and the actors were drefled after the pictures of his favourite Ogilby; which were indeed defigned and engraved by artifts of note. At twelve years of age, our young bard retired with his father to Binfield near Oakingham ; who, unwilling to truft the money he had gained in trade to government fecurity, lived on the principal, which gradually was confumed before he was aware. Another private tutor was now fought out for his fon ; this was another prieft, named Dean ; from whom his pupil deriving very little advantage, he at lad determined to ftudy on a plan of his own ; which he did with great diligence and perfeverance ; devour- ing all books that he could procure, efpecially poetical works. To indulge this darling paflion, he left no call- ing nor profeflion,as fo many eminent poets and painters appear to have done : He was invariably and folely a poet, from the beginning of his life to the end. And it was now he firft perufed the writings of Waller, of Spenfer, and of Dryden, in the order here mentioned. Spenfer is faid to have made a poet of Cowley ; that Ogilby mould give our author his firft poetic plea- fures, is a remarkable circumftance. But Dryden foon became his chief favourite, and his model. And a 2 as xii THE LIFE OF as a defire to fee eminent men is one of the firft marks of a mind eager to excel, he entreated a friend to carry him to Button's coffee-houfe, which Dryden frequented, that he might gratify himfelf \vith the bare fight of a man whom he fo much admired. I have heard, that among works of profe, he was moft fond of the fecond part of Sir William Temple's Mifcellanies. How very early he began to write, can- not now be exactly afcertained ; but his father fre- quently propofed familiar fubje&s to him, and after many corrections would fay, " Thefe are now good " rhymes." Though the Ode to Solitude, written at twelve years of age, is faid to be his earlieft production, yet DodJJcV) who was honoured with his intimacy, had feen feveral pieces of a flill earlier date. It is re- markable that, precifely at the fame age, Voltaire produced his firft copy of verfes on record. They were written at the requeft of an old invalid, to be prefented, in his name, to the only fon of Louis XIV. If it mould be urged, that too much is faid of the childifh performances of thefe two great men, let it be remembered that it is amufmg to trace the foun- tain of the Nile. Cowley and Milton had written pieces of equal value at as early an age, and Taflb ftill earlier. Mil- ton's Paraphrafes of the I i/j-th and 1 36th Pfahns, made when he was only fifteen years old, are very poetical and ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ^ xiii and fpirited ; and Metaftafio was as young when he wrote Giuftino, a tragedy. At fourteen, he employed himfelf in tranflating the firft book of the Thebais of Statius, and in modernif- ing the January and May of Chaucer; the Prologue of the Wife of Bath ; and alfo in tranflating the Epiftle of Sappho to Phaon, in order to complete the carelefs verfion publifhed under the name of Dryden, but very unequally performed. About the fame time he gave imitations of many Englifh poets ; the beft of which was, that of Lord Rochefter on Silence ; in which might be difcovered the ftrong fenfe, and moral turn of thinking, for which he was afterwards fo juftly celebrated. There was no imitation of Milton *. After fpending a few months in London, to be inftructed in the Italian and French languages, he returned to Binfield, and profecuted with frefh ardour his poetical ftudies. He wrote a Comedy; a Tragedy on the flory of St. Genevieve, copied by Dodiley in his Cleone; and an Epic Poem, called Alcander; all of them attempts that indicated an ardent and eager defire of future fame. If it be faid, that thefe are marks of vanity and felf-conftdence, let it be remembered that he who in youth has never grafped in his mind at more than he could perform, will never arrive at eminence and excellence in any art. At * Mr. Harte informed me that Dryden gave Pope a {Killing for tranflating, when a boy, the ftory ofPyramut and Thi/le. xiv THE LIFE OF At fixteen he wrote his Paftorals ; and as the firft ftep in the literary, as well as in the political world is of the utmofl confequence, thefe Paftorals intro- duced him to the acquaintance, and foon into the friendfhip, of Sir William Trumbull, who had for- merly been much in public life, Ambaflador at Con- flantinople, and Secretary of State ; and was then retired into Windfor Foreft, near BinfielJ. This amiable ex-minifter, wearied with the intrigues and buflle of courts, was very naturally pleafed to difr cover in his neighbourhood a youth of fuch abilities and tafte as young Pope ; and was therefore happy in his company and ccnverfation. It was Trumbull who circulated his Paftorals among his friends, and firft introduced him to Wycherley and Walfh, and the wits of that time. The Paftorals, though written in 1704, were not publifhed till 1709, in Tonfon's fixth Mifcellany ; which volume opened with the Paftorals of Philips, and ended with thofe of our Author. As examples of correct and melo- dious verification, thefe Paftorals deferve the higheft commendation. It has been faid, and indeed truly, that they want invention ; and it is thought a fuffi- cient anfwer to obferve, that this is to require what was never intended. But this is a confeffion of the very fault imputed to them. There ought to have been invention. The difcourfe prefixed to them is very elegantly and elaborately written ; though moft of the obfervations are taken from Rapin on Paftoral, published ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ^ xv published a few years before in Creech's Theocritus^ from Walfh on Virgil's Eclogues, and from Fonts- nelle; whofe differtation is as full of affected thoughts as his own Eclogues ; and whom I wilh our young poet had profcribed for his paradoxical doctrines againft the ancients, which he firft broached in this difcourfe *. It has been my fortune, from my way of life, to have feen many compofitions of youths of fixteen years old, far beyond thefe Paftorals in point of ge- nius and imagination, though not perhaps of correct- nefs. Their excellence, indeed, might be owing to having had fuch a predeceffbr as Pope. About this time old Mr. Wycherley courted the friendfhip, and requefted the affiftance, of our young Author, to correct his verfes, which had all the un- couth harfhnefs and afperity of Donne : But Wycher- ley's vanity was foon difgufled by the honeft freedom and true judgment with which Pope executed the tafk he had unwillingly undertaken ; a coolnefs en- fued, which ended in a rupture betwixt them. " A " book has been written, faid a man of wit, De morbis " artificum. Among authors, jealoufy and envy are " incurable difeafes," When * But another critical treatife of Fontenelle deferves to be fpo- ken of in very different terms ; his Reflexions fur la Poetique, an- nexed to his life of Corneille ; for this treatife contains fome of the moll true and profound remarks on dramatic poetry that can be found in any critic whatever. E4 xvi THE LIFE OF When we confider the juft tafte, the flrong fenfe, the knowledge of men, books, and opinions, that are fo predominant in the Effay on Criticifm y and at the fame time recollecl that it was written be- fore the Author was twenty years old, we are natu- rally flruck with aftonifhment ; and muft readily agree to place him among the firft critics, though not, as Dr. Johnfon fays, " among the firft poets,'* on this account alone. As a poet, he muft rank much higher, for his E/oifa, and Rape of the Lock. This judgment reminds one of what the fame critic has faid of Dryden's Religio Laid ; that one might have expefted to have found in it, the effulgence of his genius; though, as he adds, on an argumentative fubjeft ; and therefore improper for a difplay of genius. As much as I revere and refpecl the memory of my old acquaintance Dr. Johnfon*, and as highly as I think of his abilities, integrity, and virtue, yet muft I be pardoned for faying, that I cannot poffibly fubfcribe to many of his critical de^ifions ; particular- ly to what he has faid of the Lycidas, II Penferofo, and * The perpetual pompoufnefs, and the uninterrupted elaboration, of the over-ornamented ftyle of the Rambler, makes one wifh that the excellent Author had recollefted the opinion of Cicero; "Is enim eft eloquens, qui et humilia fubtiliter, et magna graviter, et me- diocria temperate poteft dicere. Nam qui nihil poteft tranquille, nihil leniter, nihil definite, diftincle poteft dicere, is, cum non przpaxatis auribus inflammare rem ccepit, furere apud fanos, et quafi inter fobrios bacchari temulentus videtur." ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ^ xvii and Latin poems of Milton ; of the Sixth Book of Paradife Loft ; of Taflb's Aminta ; of the Rhyming Tragedies, Ode to Killigrew, and the Fables of Dry- den ; of Chaucer ; of the Rehearfal ; of Prior ; of Congreve's Mourning Bride ; of Blackmore ; of Yal- den ; of Pomfret ; of Dyer ; of Garth ; of Lyttelton ; of Fielding ; of Harris ; of Hammond ; of Beattie ; of Shenftone ; of Savage ; of Hughes ; of Spence ; of Akenfide ; of Collins ; of Pope's Eflay on Man, and Imitations of Horace j and of the Odes of Gray. The EiTay on Criticifm was firft advertifed at the end of the Spectator, No. 65. May 15, 1711, and was praifed by Addifon in the December following, in Number 253 of the Spectator. But Pope was not a little difpleafed at one fentence in this paper, in which Addifon faid, " I am forry to find an Author " who is very juftly efleemed among the befl judges, " has admitted fome ftrokes of ill-nature into a very " fine poem, which was published fome months fince, " and is a mafter-piece of its kind, 3 ' He adds, " The obfervations follow one another, like thofe in " Horace's Art of Poetry, without that methodical " regularity which would have been requifite in a " profe writer." So that Addifon did not perceive that clear order and clofe connection, which War- burton drove to difcover, in order to give fome fhadow of propriety to a perpetual Commentary upon it. The xviu THE LIFE OF The fierce hoftilities of Dennis againft Pope, began from fome paflages in this EfTay, which this redoubted critic applied to himfelf, and never forgave ; but pur- fued our Author, through life, in bitter invectives againft every work he gradually publifhed. Old Mr. Lewis, the bookfeller in Rufiel-ftreet, who printed the firft edition of this Eflay in quarto, without Pope's name, informed me, that it lay many days in his fhop, unnoticed and unread ; and that, piqued with this neglect, the Author came one day, and packed up and directed twenty copies to feveral great men ; among whom he could recollect none but Lord Lanfdowne and the Duke of Buckingham ; and that in confequence of thefe prefents, and his name being known, the book began to be called for. This Eflay, it is faid, was firft written in profe, according to the precept of Vida, in his firft book, and the practice of Racine, who was accuftomed to draw out in plain profe, not only the fubject of each of the five acts, but of every fcene and every fpeech, that he might fee the conduct and coherence of the whole at one view, and would then fay, " My Tragedy is " finimed." The Meffiah appeared firft in the Spectator, 1712, with a warm recommendation by Steele. Nothing can be added to the juft and univerfal approbation \vith which it was received and read. It raifed the higheft expectations of what the Author was capable of performing. He ALEXANDER POPE, ES<^ xix He was notfo happy in his Ode* on St. Cecilia's Day; which, in refpeft both of fubjeft and execution, is fo manifeftly inferior to that unrivalled one of his maf- ter, Dryden ; but which, Dr. Johnfon, by a ftrange perverfity of judgment, pronounces to contain nothing equal to the firft bombaft ftanza of his Ode on Kil- legrew. Pope's Ode, many years after it was written, was fet to mufic by Dr. Greene, as were the two Chorufles to the tragedy of Brutus, by Bononcini, part of which were written by the Duke of Bucking- ham. Mr. Galliard fet to mufic the Chorus of Julius Cafar, entirely written by His Grace. This appears from a letter now before me, from Mr. Galliard to Mr. Duncombe. It was at Steele's defiref that he wrote that beauti- ful little Ode, The Dying Chriftian to his Sou/, to be fet to mufic. But it was not quite candid and open in our Author to tell Steele, that he would fee he had not only the verfes of Adrian, but the fine fragment * Irregular Odes, of which this is one, feem now to be univer- fally exploded : Dr. Brown has, however, remarked, " that the return of the fame meafure, in the Strophe, Antiftrophe, and Epode, of the ancient Greek Ode, was the natural confequenee of its union with the Dance. But this union being irrecoverably loft, the unvaried meafure of the Ode becomes, at belt, an unmeaning thing ; and indeed is an abfurd one, as it deprives the Eoet of that variety of meafure, which often gives a great energy to the com- pofition, by the incidental and fudden intervention of an abrupt or lengthened verification. " f In general, our Author's fubjecls, which is a happy circum- ftance for a poet, were chofen by himfelf. xx THE LIFE OF fragment of Sappho in his head ; and totally to fupprefs the name ofF/atman, whofe Ode he not only imitated, but copied fome lines of it verbatim. If we knew the hiflory of that mofl unfortunate Lady, who is the fubjecT: of the fweet and pathetic Elegy, and could relate it at large, it might give us an opportunity of enlivening thefe Memoirs, with what the Life of a retired Poet mufl unavoidably want, fome interefling event. No fuch does the Life of our Author afford, who was in no public flation nor employment, as were Milton, Prior, and Addifon; and who fpent mod of his time among his papers and books. All that can now be learnt of this Lady, is to be found in the notes on this Elegy ; and is therefore not repeated in this place. A very different fcene, and a Lady in another fort of fituation, appeared, in his next poem, where all was gaiety and gallantry. Lord Petre, in a frolic, carried rather beyond the bounds of delicacy and good-breeding, having cut off a favourite lock of Mrs. Arabella Fermor's hair, his rudenefs, as it was called, was refented, and occa- fioned a ferious rupture betwixt the two families. Mr. Caryl, a friend to both parties, defired Mr. Pope to write a piece of raillery on this inviting fubjeft, which might appeafe their refentment. The Rape of the Lock, therefore, that mofl delicious poem, in which SATIRE wears the ceftus of VENUS, was pro- duced in a fortnight, and appeared, 1711, in only two cantos, in a Mifcellany of Lintot. Finding it received ALEXANDER POPE, ES(^ xxi received with juft and univerfal applaufe, he in the next year enlarged it into five cantos ; and, by the happieft art and judgment imaginable, enriched it with the beautiful machinery of the Sylphs, a fet of invifible beings whom he accidentally faw mentioned, as conftant attendants, and as interefled agents, in the affairs of the Ladies, not only in the Comte de Gabalis, but alfo in fome of Madame de Sevigne's Letters. Into what a mafs of exquifite poetry has he raifed and expanded fo flight a hint ! and placed the Rape of the Lock, by this happy infertion and addi- tion, above all other Mock Heroic Poems whatever ! Addifon, to whom he communicated his intention of introducing this new fpecies of machinery, did not certainly conceive the felicity and the propriety with which it would be executed ; and, for that reafon, and not from envy and jealoufy, may be candidly fuppofed to have diiTuaded him from the attempt. It would have been as unfortunate for him to have followed the advice of Addifon on this occafion, as it would have been for La Fontaine and Boileau to have liftened to Patru, when he perfuaded the one not to attempt to write his Fables, and the other his Art of Poetry. Dennis, fome years after, attacked this invulnerable compofition, with equal impotence and ill-nature, en- deavouring to mew that the intertexture of the ma- chinery was fuperfluous. It is remarkable that he had introduced guardian fpirits as attendants on the fa- vourites xxii THE LIFE OF vourites of Heaven, in his Temple of Fame, as he in* forms Steele in a letter on this fubjeft ; which fpirits he afterwards judicioufly omitted. It appears by this letter to Steele, dated November 16, 1712, that he firft communicated to him at that time, The Temple of Fame, though he had written it two years before. Steele allures him, it contained " a thoufand thou- " fand beauties ;" many of which are fpecified in the notes of this edition, and therefore need not be here repeated. The defcriptive powers of Pope are much more vifible and flrong in this poem, than in the next that is to be mentioned in the order of time ; the Windfor For eft * j the firft pa"rt of which was writ- ten, indeed, 1704, but the whole was not finimed and publifhed till 1713*. a poem evidently written in imitation of Cooper's Hill, and as evidently fuperior to it. Denham is a writer that has been extolled far beyond his merits. Nothing can be colder and more profaic, for inftance, than the manner in which he has fpoken of the diftant profpect of London and St. Paul's, and alfo of Edward the Third ; both fine fub- je&s for poetry. The Claremont of Garth was alfo another imitation of Cooper's Hill, and unworthy the Author of the Difpenfary ; it contains an unnatural mixture of wit, pleafantry, and fatire, with rural de- fcription. But Thomfon has carried defcriptive poetry to * I have a peculiar pleafure in mentioning another excellent defcriptive piece, The Ntedwood Forejl of Mr. Mundy. ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ^ xxiii ro its height ; and being a true fon of Nature, has deli- neated all her moft ftriking obje&s, with a force and diftinclnefs hitherto unparalleled. The filence, the folitude, the gloomy folemnity, the pleafing melancholy, imprefied on our minds by the conventual Fcenes of Elolfa and Abelard, by the ideas of long-founding t/les, and cells, and lamps, and altars, and graves ; induce and allure the reader to forget the inherent indelicacy of the ftory of thefe two un- fortunate lovers. For though the " high-embowed " roof," " ftoried windows," " ftudious cloifters," and " pealing organ," had been mentioned by Milton, yet this fort of fcenery had never before been exhi- bited as the chief and leading object and foundation of any poem in our language. Pope was fully fenfible of the indelicate circumftances above-mentioned, that attended his fubjecl:, and did not therefore much re- lifh the manner in which Prior had faid, that thefe circumftances were concealed with dexterity and fkill, in the following elegant lines : He o'er the weeping nun has drawn Such artful folds of facred lawn ; That Love with equal grief and pride Shall fee the crime he ftrives to hide ; And foftly drawing back the veil, The God fhall to his votaries tell, Each confcious tear, each blufhing grace That deck'd dear Eloifa's face. ALMA, p. IOT. Savage THE LIFE OF Savage related that Pope attempted this competition in rivalfhip to Prior's Nut-brown Maid. It is not true that thefe very unhappy lovers " found quiet and " confolation in retirement and piety." The whole tenor of their letters contradicts this fuppofition. Thefe curious letters were publifhed in London by Dr. Rawlinfon, 1718, with an extraordinary motto prefixed from Claudian, relative to Abelard's punifh- ment, too grofs to be here inferted. After arriving at fuch eminence by fo many capital compofmons, our Author, with that juft felf-con- fidence that ought to actuate every man of real genius and ability, meditated a higher effort ; fomething that might improve and advance his fortune as well as his fame ; a tranflation* of Homer, which Milton is faid once to have thought of executing. This tranflation he propofed to print by fubfcription, in fix volumes in quarto, for the fum of fix guineas : And to the eternal horiour of our country, in en- couraging a work of fuch fuperlative and uncommon merit, the fubfcription was larger than any before known. Every man of every party, that had any, or pretended to have any tafte or love of literature, fent his * A clamour was raifed at the time, that he had not fufficient learning for fuch an undertaking; Dr. Johnfon fays, that con- fidering his irregular education, and courfe of life, it is not very likely that he overflowed with Greek." Perhaps our moft emi- nent Poets may be ranked, with refpeft to their learning, in the Mowing order: Milton, Spenfer, Cowley, Butler, Donne, Jon- fon, Akenfide, Gray, Dryden, Addifon. ALEXANDER POPE, ESCX xxv his name; and the number of fubfcribers were five hundred and feventy-five ; but as fome fubfcribed for more than one copy, the copies delivered to fub^ fcribers were fix hundred and fifty-four. Thefe copies Lintot, who became proprietor of the work, engaged to fupply, at his own expence, and alfo to give the Author two hundred pounds for each volume; fo that Pope obtained, on the whole, the fum of five thoufand three hundred and twenty pounds four mil- lings. With this money, fo very honourably obtain- ed, he immediately and prudently purchafed feveral annuities, and particularly one of five hundred pounds a year, from the Duke of Buckingham. The work was enriched by many judicious notes by Pope him- felf, as well as by Broome, who alfo was employed to make extracts from Euftathius, as was alfo a man of much greater learning, the celebrated Dr. Jortin, who gives the following account of the matter in his Adverfaria : " What pafled between Mr. Pope and me, I will " endeavour to recolleft as well as I can, for it hap- " pened many years ago, and I never made any me- " morandum of it* " When I was a foph at Cambridge, Pope was been his benefactor,) under the name of Timon. He peremptorily and po- fitively denied the charge, and wrote an exculpatory letter to the Duke, with the afieverations of which letter, as the laft Duke of Chandos told me, his an- ceflor was not perfectly fatisfied. It ought to be added, that the many refpelable authors, who have, fmce this Epiftle, treated of the art of laying out grounds and gardens, have acknow* ledged the juftnefs and propriety of the rules and pre- cepts delivered by Pope, in this highly-nnimed piece. What relates to architecture is fhorter, and perhaps not equal to the reft. 5 baboaftnq onw 3 i i <.Aifii Adhering to the chronological order in which the Ethic Epiftles were publifhed, I am' next to obferve, that there appeared, in 1732 *, " Of the Ufe of " -Riches, an Epiftle to the Right Hon. Allen Lord " Bathurft," folio ; which he has treated in fo maf- terly a way, as to have almoft exhaufted the fub- ject. I never faw this very amiable old nobleman, whofe wit, vivacity, fenfe, and integrity are well known ; but he repeatedly exprefied his difguft, and his furprife, at finding, in later editions, this Epiftle awkwardly * IB the Epiftles to Lord Burlington and Lord Bathurft, fays Johnfon, Warburton has endeavoured to find a train of thought which was never in the writer's head, .i-ru'-i \ c 2 - : io - a k"" xliv THE LIFE OF awkwardly converted into a Dialogue, in which he has but little to fay. And I remember he once re- marked, " that this line, " P. But you are tir'd. I'll tell a tale. B. Agreed; " was infupportably infipid and flat." Pope almoft annually vifited, and frequently praifed, his fine im- provements, and many plantations, at Cirencefter. It was in this year alfo, 1732 *, that, determined to wait in fecret the opinion of the public, he publifhed, what he had for eight years at lead been revolving in his mind, the Firft Epiftle of his Effhy on Man ; the Second followed in the fame year; the Third in 1733; and the Fourth, in 1734. He enjoyed in private the various fufpicious f fur- mifes of thofe who pretended to point out the right author, and once punimed the vanity and petulance of Mallet, who, being aiked by him what new pub- lication there was, anfwered, " Only an infignificant " thing, called, An Effay on Man;" on which Pope ftruck him dumb, and filled him with confufion, by faying, " I wrote it." The nature, the merits, the tendency of this work, are fo much enlarged upon in * About this time died Gay, for whom he appears to have felt the trueft tendernefs and affeaion. And Swift was fo affefted at the news of Gay's death, that he delayed to open a letter, which he thought contained the aiFeding intelligence, for many days. f In the edition in i 2 mo, 1735, by Dodfley, they were called, Ethic Epifiles, the Fiift Book ; and not Eflay on Man ; and the four Epiftles to Lord Burlington, &c. were called, Ethic Epiftles, the Second Book. ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ^ xlv in the Notes to this Edition *, that to them the reader muft be referred : obferving only, that up and down were fcattered fo many fplendid and ftriking fentiments of religion and virtue, that for many years it was not, till Croufaz f attacked it, fufpefted to contain tenets hoftile to the Chriftian revelation, though not to na- tural religion. That Pope himfelf, fome years after- wards, wilhed it might be otherwife interpreted, may appear, * After the noble panegyric our Poet has beftowed on his guide Boh'ngbroke at the end of this Effay, his conduct in clan- deftinely printing the Patriot King may feera indefenfible. Oft confidering coolly and impartially the circumftajices that attended this improper Publication, I am inclined to think, that he did not print 1500 copies of that Treatife from avariee or treachery j but from too eager a defire to fpread, as he thought, (he reputation of his friend, whom he idolized. f- IVarburton, who, in the early part of his life, was a cenfurer of Pope, and had faid, in- a tetter to Coficanen-, with whom he was intimate, that Pope borrowed by neceflity, and who had affixed Theobald in his Notes on Shakfpeare, now ftept forth with a vi- gorous defence of the Doctrines of the Effay on Man, againft the objections of Croufaz, ; which defence was firft publifhed in a Monthly Literary Journal, but was afterwards collected into a volume, and dedicated to Mr. Allen of Bath ; with remarks on Fate and Free Will, of which poor AUen. could underftand little. With this vindication Pope was fo delighted that he eagerly fought the acquaintance of Warburton, and told him, he under- ftood his opinions better than he did himfelf; which acquaintance made the fortune of Warburton, and ultimately got him a wife and a bifhopric. Bolingbroke reproached Pope with this new connexion, and faid, " You have at your elbow a foul-mouth'd and dogmatical critic." It is afferted, that, fbme years before, Warburton, in a literary club held at Newark, produced and read a Piflertation againft the Doftrines of the Eflay on Man. ' xjyi THE * -LIFE OF appear, from a curious Letter to Racine the Son, \vho had accufed him of infidelity, here inferted. L E T T R E DE M. POPE A M.RACINE. J'AUROIS eu 1'hohneur, Mbnfieur, de repon- " dre plutot a votre lettre, fi je n'avois pas toujours lc attendu le beau prefent dont vous m'avez honore. " J'ai re^u enfin votre Poeme fur la Religion. Le " plaifir que me caufa cette lecture cut ete' fans me. ^< iange, fi je n'avois eu le chagrin de voir que vous '* m'imputiez des principes que j'abhorre. Je nem'en. " fuis confole qu'en lifant 1'endroit de votre avertiffe- " ment ou vous declarez que n'entendant pas 1'origi- " nal Anglois vous ne pouvez pas juger de I'Effai " fur rHomme par vous meme ; & que vous n'attaque fc pas mes principes, mais les faufles confequences qu'on " en a tirees, & les dangereufes maximes que quelques perfonnes ont cru y trouver. Get aveu eft une " preuve eclatante de votre candeur, de votre pru- " dence, & de votre charite. " Je'puis vous affurer, Monfieur, que votre entiere " ignorance de notre Langue, m'a ete beaucoup moins ff fatale que la connoiflance imparfaite qu'en avoient (C mes traducleurs, qui les a empeche de penetrer mes " veritables fentimeiis. Toutes les beautes de la ver- " fification de M. D. R . . . ont ete moins honora- " bles a mon Poeme, que fes meprifes continuelles " fur ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ^ xlvif " fur mes raifonnemens & fur ma dodrine ne lui ont " etc prejudiciables. Vous verrez ces meprifes re- " levees & refute'es dans 1'ouvrage Anglois que j'ai " 1'honneur de vous envoyer. Get ouvrage eft urt " commentaire cridque & philofophique par le f$a- " vant Auteur de la Divine Legation de Moife. " Je me flatte que le Chevalier de Ramfay, rempli " comme 1'eft d'un zele ardent pour la verite, VQU- " dra bien vous en expliquer le contenu. Alorsje " m'en rapporterai a votre juftice, & je me flatte que cf tous vos foup9ons feront diffipes, " En attendant ces eclairciflemens, je ne f9aurois " me refufer le plaifir de repondre nettement. a ce v 'tfSDTri? 3jFJE VARIATIONS. VER. 34. The firfl reading was, And his pwn image from the bank furveys. W. VER. 36. And clutters lurk beneath the curling vines. P, ; ft/ft 9M^ : ->qo' n m nsfb m -;.'-j>?ii Yfos:i sj[ i.ue/a st REMARK S. VER. 38. The various feafons ] The fubjeft of thefe Paftorals engraven on the bowl is not without its propriety. W. My friend Mr. William Collins, author of the Perfian Eclogues and Odes, affured me that Thomfon informed him, that he took the firlt hint and idea of writing his Seafons, from the titles of Pope's four Paftorals. So that thefe Paftorals have not had only the merit of fetting a pattern for correct and mufical Verfification, but have given rife to fome of the trueft poetry in our language. Mr. Collins wrote his Eclogues when he was about feventeen years old, at Winchefter School, and, as I well remember, had been juft reading that volume of Salmon's Modern Hiftory, which defcribed Perfia ; which determined him to lay the fcene of thefe pieces, as being productive of new images and fentiments. la his maturer years he was accuftomed to fpeak very contemptuoufly of IMITATIONS. VER. 35, 36. *' Lenta quibus torno facili fuperaddita villa, DifFufos edera vcftit pallente corymbos." Virg. P. The Shepherd's hefitation at the name of the Zodiac imitates that in Virgil, " Et quis fuit alter, Defcripfit radio totum qui gentibus orbem . ? " P. Then 6* PASTORALS, DAMON. Then fmg by turns, by turns the Mufes fmg, Now hawthorns bloflbm, now the daifies fpring, Now leaves the trees, and flow'rs adorn the ground; Begin, the vales fhall ev'ry note rebound. , S T R E P H O N. Infpire me, Phoebus, in my Delia's praife, 45 With Waller's drains, or Granville's moving lays I A milk-white Bull mall at your altars ftand, That threats a fight, and fpurns the rifmg fand. REMARKS. of them, calling them his Irifh Eclogues, and faying they had not in them one fpark of Orientalifm ; and defiring me to erafe a motto he had prefixed to them in a copy he gave me ; quos primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis. Virg. He was greatly mortified that they found more readers and admirers than his Odes. VER. ^.i.Jing ly turns,] Amabsean Verfes, and the cuftom of vying in extempore verfes, by turns, was a cuftom derived from the old Sicilian fhepherds, and fpread over all Italy ; and is, aa Mr. Spence obferves, exaftly like the pradice of the Improvifatori at prefent in Italy. They are furprizingly ready in their anfwers, and go on oftave for o&ave, and fpeech for fpeech alternately, for a coniiderable time. At Florence they have even had Improvifo Comedies. It is remarkable that the celebrated Triflino, Leonardi du Vinci, Bramante, and the charming dramatic poet Metaftafio, were all Improvifatori. VER. 46. Granvi/le ] George Granville, afterwards Lord Lanfdown, known for his Poems, moft of which he composed very young, and propos'd Waller as his model. P. IMITATIONS. VER. 41. Then fmg ly turns,'] Literally from Virgil, " Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camoenae : Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, Nunc frondent fylvae, nunc formofiffimus annus." P. VER. 47. A milli'iuUte Bull.'] Virg. " Pafcite taurum, Qui cornu petat, et pedibus jam fpargat arenam." P. O Love ! PASTORALS. D A P H N I S. O Love ! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, And make my tongue victorious as her eyes : 50 No lambs or meep for viaims I'll impart, Thyviaim, Love, mall be the fliepherd's heaft. !X STREPHON. Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, ) unj Then hid in fhades, eludes her eager fwain ; But feigns a laugh, to fee me fearch around, 5$ And by that laugh the willing fair is found. D A P ; H N,I S. f . The fprightly Sylvia trips along the green, She runs, but hopes me does not run unfeen ; r t inrt . VataV While a kind glance at her purfuer flies,:oiV A. How much at variance are her feet and eyes ! 60 VARIATION .i,.- 'ft w VER. 49. Originally thus in the MS. Pan, let my numbers equal Strephon's lays, Of Parian ftone thy ftatue will I raife ; But if I conquer and augment my fold, Thy Parian ilatue mail be chang'd to gold. W, REMARKS. VER. 60. Hotu much at variance] A very trifling and falfe conceit, and too witty for the occafion. IMITATIONS. VER. 58. She runs, lut hopes'] Imitation of Virgil, " Malo me Galatea petit, lafciva puella, Et fugit ad faliccs, fed fe cupit ante viderL" P. O'er 64 PASTORALS. STREPHON. O'er golden fands let rich Paftolus flow, And trees weep amber on the banks of Po ; Bright Thames's mores the brighteft beauties yield, Feed here my lambs, I'll feek no diflant field. D A P H N I S. Celeflial Venus haunts Idalia's groves ; 65 Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves ; If Windfor-fhades delight the matchlefs maid, Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windfor-fhade. STREPHON. All nature mourns, the Ikies relent in jfhow'rs, Hufh'd are the birds, and clos'd the drooping flow'rsj VARIATIONS. YER. 61. It flood thus at firft, Let rich Iberia golden fleeces boaft, Her purple wool the proud Afiyriaii coaft, Bleft Thames's fhores, &c. p. YER. 61. Originally thus in the MS. Go, flow'ry wreath, and let my Sylvia know, Compar'd to thine how bright her Beauties fliow ; Then die ; and dying teach the lovely Maid How foon the brighteft beauties are decay'd. D APH N I S. Go, tuneful bird, that pleas'd the woods fo long, Of Amaryllis learn a fweeter long ; To Heav'n arifing then her notes convey, For Heav'n alone is worthy fuch a lay. W". VER. 69, &c. Thefe verfes were thus at firft : All nature mourns, the birds their fongs deny, Nor wafted brooks the thirfty flow'rs fupply j If Delia fmile the ftow'rs begin to fpring, The brooks to murmur, and the birds to fing. P. IMITATIONS. VER. 69. AU nature mourns ^\ " Aret ager, vitio moriens fitit aeris hevba," &c. * Phyllidis adventu noftrae nemus omne virebit." Vir^. P. If PASTORALS. 65 If Delia fmile, the flow'rs begin to fpring, 71 The ikies to brighten, and the birds to fing. D A P H N i s. All nature laughs, the groves are frefh and fair, The Sun's mild luftre warms the vital air ; If Sylvia fmiles new glories gild the more, 75 And vanquifh'd nature feems to charm no more. STREPHON. In fpring the fields, in autumn hills I love, At morn the plains, at noon the fhady grove, But Delia always ; abfent from her fight, Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight. 80 r> A P H N i s. Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, More bright than noon, yet frefh as early day ; Ev'n fpring difpleafes, when me mines not here ; But blefl with her, 'tis fpring throughout the year. STREPHON. Say, Daphnis, fay, in what glad foil appears, 85 A wondrous Tree that facred Monarchs bears ; Tell me but this, and I'll difclaim the prize, And give the conqueft to thy Sylvia's eyes. REMARKS. VER. 86. A wondrous Tree that facred Monarchs bears ;] An allufion to the Royal Oak, in which Charles II. had been hid from the purfuit after the battle at Worcefter. P. This is one of the moft trifling and puerile conceits in any of our author's works j except what follows of the Thiftle and the Lily. VOL. i. F Nay 66 PASTORALS. D A P H N I S. Nay tell me firfl, in what more happy fields The Thiftle fprings, to which the Lily yields : 90 And then a nobler prize I will refign ; For Sylvia, charming Sylvia mall be thine. DAMON. Ceafe to contend, for, Daphnis, I decree, The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee : Bleft Swains, whofe Nymphs in ev'ry grace excel ; Bleft Nymphs, whofe Swains thofe graces fing fo well ! Now rife, and haile to yonder woodbine bow'rs, 97 A foft retreat from fudden vernal Ihow'rs ; The turf with rural dainties mail be crown'd, While op'ning blooms diffufe their fweets around. For fee! the gath'ring flocks to fhelter tend, 101 And from the Pleiads fruitful fhow'rs defcend. VARIATIONS. VER. 99. was originally, The turf with country dainties fliall be fpread, And trees with twining branches {hade your head. P. REMARKS. VER. 93. Ceafe to contend,] An author of ftrong fenfe, but not of equal tafte and feeling, and who preferred the dungeons of the Strand to the valleys of Arcadia, fays, " That every intelligent reader fickens at the mention of the crook and the pipe, the fheep and the kids." This appears to be an unjtift and harfh condemnation of all Paftoral Poetry. And the fame author depreciates and defpifes the Amynta of Tafib, and the Paftor Fido of Guarini, two pieces of exquifite poetry, and which have gained a Jailing applaufe. IMITATIONS. VER. 90. The Thiftle fprlngs, to which tlx Lily yie/Js:] Allude* to the device of the Scots Monarchs, the Thiftle worn by Queen Anne ; and to the arms of France, the Fleur de lys. The two riddles are in imitation of thofe in Virg. Eel. iii. " Die quibus in tcrris infcripti nomina Regum Nafcantur Floret, & Phyllida folus habeto." " fc. PASTORALS. A mixture of Britifh and Grecian ideas may juftly be deemed a blemilh in thefe Paftorals : and propriety is certainly violated, when he couples Paclolus with Thames, and Windfor with Hybla, Complaints of immoderate heat, and wifhes to be conveyed to cooling caverns, when uttered by the inhabitants of Greece, have a decorum and confiftency, which they totally lofe in the character of a Britifh fhepherd : and Theocritus, during the ardors of Sirius, mud have heard the murmurings of a brook, and the whifpers of a pine, with more home-felt pleafure, than Pope could poffibly experience upon the fame occafion. We can never completely relifh, or adequately underftand any author, efpecially any ancient, except we keep in our eye, his climate, his country, and his age. Pope himfelf informs us, in a Note, that he judicioufly omitted the following verfe, And liil'ning wolves grow milder as they hear, on account of the abfurdity, which Spenfer overlooked, of introducing wolves into England. But on this principle, which is certainly a juft one, may it not be afked why he mould fpeak, the fcene lying in Windfor Foreft, of the fultry Sirius, of the grateful clufters of grapes, of a pipe of reeds, the antique fiftula, of thanking Ceres for a plentiful harvejl, of the facrifice of lambs, with many other inflances that might be adduced to this purpofe. That Pope however was fenfible of th$ importance of adapting images to the fcene of action, is obtious from the following example of his judgment ; for in tranflating Audiit Eurotas, juffitque edifcere Lauros, lie has dexteroufly dropt the laurels appropriated to Eurotas, as he is fpeaking of the river Thames, and has rendered it, Thames heard the numbers, as he flow'd along, And bade his Willows learn the moving fong. In the pafiages which Pope has imitated from Theocritus, and from his Latin Tranflator Virgil, he has merited but little applaufe. It may not be unentertaining to fee how coldly and unpoetically Pope has copied the fubfequent appeal to the Nymphs on the death of Daphnis, in comparifon of Milton onLycidas, one of his juvenile, but one of his moft exquifite pieces. Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorfelefs deep Clos'd o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas? F 2 For 6S PASTORALS. For neither were ye playing on the fteep Where your old bards, the famous Druids lie ; Nor on the fhaggy top of Mona high, Nor yet where Deva fpreads her wizard ftream. LYCIDAS. The mention of places remarkably romantic, the fuppofed habitations of Druids, Bards, and Wizards, is far more pleafing to the imagination, than the obvious introduction of Cam and Ifis, as feats of the Mufes. SUMMER: THE SECOND PASTORAL. 8 OR, ALEXIS. TO DR. GARTH. A Shepherd's Boy (he feeks no better name) Led forth his flocks along the filver Thame, Where dancing fun-beams on the waters play'd, And verdant alders form'd a quiv'ring made. Soft as he mourn'd, the ftreams forgot to flow, 5 The flocks around a dumb companion mow, VARIATIONS. VER. I, 2, 3, 4, were thus printed in the firft edition : A faithful fwain, whom Love had taught to fing, Bewail'd his fate befide a filver fpring ; Where gentle Thames his winding waters leads Thro' verdant forefts, and thro* flow'ry meads. P. VER. 3. Originally thus in the MS. There to the winds he plain'd his haplefs love, And Amaryllis filTd the vocal grove. W. REMARKS. * It is unfortunate that this fecond paftoral, the worft of the four, mould be infcribed to the belt judge of all his four other friends to whom they were addreft. VER. 2. Thame,'] An inaccurate word, inftead of Thames. VER. 3. The Scene of this Paftoral by the river fide, fuitablc to the heat of the feafon ; the Time, noon. P. F 3 The 7 o PASTORALS. The Naiads wept in ev'ry wat'ry bow'r, And Jove confented in a filent fhow'r. Accept, O GARTH, the Mufe's early lays, That adds this wreath of ivy to thy bays j 10 Hear what from Love unpraclis'd hearts endure, From Love, the fole difeafe thou canft not cure. Ye Ihady beeches, and ye cooling dreams, Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams, To you I mourn, nor to the deaf I fing, 1 5 The woods mail anfwer, and their echo ring, The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay, Why art thou prouder and more hard than they ? REMARKS. VER. 9. Dr. Samuel Garth, Author of the Difpenfary, was one of the firft friends of our Poet, whofe acquaintance with him began at fourteen or fifteen. Their friendfhip continued from the year 1703 to 1718, which was that of his death. P. He was a man of the fweeteft difpofition, amiable manners, and univerfal benevolence. All parties, at a time when party violence was at a great height, joined in praifing and loving him. I hope I may be pardoned from fpeaking of his character con amore, from my near connexion with one of his defendants ; and yet I truft I (hall not be accufed of an improper partiality. One of the moil exquifite pieces of wit ever written by Addifon, is a defence of Garth againft the Examiner, 1710. VER. 16. The woods fhall anfiver t and their echo ring,'] Is a line out of Spenfer's Epithalamion. P. VER. 1 8. Why art thou prouder and more hard than they?] A line unworthy our Author, containing a falfe and trivial thought ; as is alfo the 22 d line. IMITATIONS. VER. 8. And Jove confented} " Jupiter et laeto defcendet plurimus imbri." Virg. P. VER. 15. nor to the deaf Ifmg.~\ " Non canimus furdis, refpondent omnia fylrae." Virg. P. The PASTORALS. 71 The bleating fheep with my complaints agree, They parch'd with heat, and I inflam'd by thee. 20 The fultry Sirius burns the thirfty plains, While in thy heart eternal winter reigns. Where ftray ye, Mufes, in what lawn or grove, While your Alexis pines in hopelefs love ? In thofe fair fields where facred Ifis glides, 25 Or elfe where Cam his winding vales divides ? As in the cryftal fpring I view my face, Frefh rifing blufhes paint the wat'ry glafs ; VARIATIONS. VER. 27. Oft in the cryftal fpring I call a view, And equal* d Hylas, if the glafs be true ; But fince thofe graces meet my eyes no more, I fhun, &c. P. REMARKS. VER. 27. As in the] This is one of thofe paflages in which Virgil, by too clofely copying Theocritus, has violated propriety ; and not attended to the different characters of Cyclops and Corydon, The fea, which is a proper looking-glafs for the gigantic fon of Neptune, who alfo conftantly dwelt on the fhore, was certainly not equally adapted to the face of the little Land-fhepherd. The fame may be faid of the cheefe and milk, and numerous herds of Polypheme, exaftly fuited to his Sicilian fituation, and the rude and favage ilate of the fpeaker, whofe character is admirably fupported through the whole eleventh Idyllium of Theocritus. IMITATIONS. VER. 23. Where Jlray ye, Mufes, ffr.] *' Quae nemora, aut qui vos faltus habuere, puellae Naiades, indigno cum Gallus amore periret ? Nam neque Parnaffi vobis juga, nam neque Pindi Ulla moram fecere, neque Aonia Aganippe." Virg. out of Theocr. P. VER 27. Virgil again, from the Cyclops of Theocritus, " nuper me in littore vidi, Cum placidum ventis ftaret mare ; non ego Daphnim, Judice te, metuam, fi nunquam fallat imago." F 4 But 72 PASTORALS. But fmce thofe graces pleafe thy eyes no more, I fhun the fountains which I fought before. 30 Once I was fkill'd in ev'ry herb that grew, And ev'ry plant that drinks the morning dew ; Ah wretched fhepherd, what avails thy art, To cure thy lambs, but not to heal thy heart ! Let other fwains attend the rural care, 35 Feed fairer flocks, or richer fleeces fheer : But nigh yon' mountain let me tune my lays, Embrace my Love, and bind my brows with bays. That flute is mine which Colin's tuneful breath Infpir'd when living, and bequeath 'd in death : 40 He faid j Alexis, take this pipe, the fame That taught the groves my Rofolinda's name : REMARKS. VER. 35, 36. Care,'] The only faulty rhymes, care and fleer, pe'rhaps in thefe poems, where verfificatlon is in general fo exact and correct. VER. 39. Colin} The name taken by Spenfer in his Eclogues, where his miftrefs is celebrated under that of Rofalinda. P. VER. 42. Rofalinda' s~\ This is the Lady with whom Spenfer fell violently in love, as foon as he left Cambridge and went into the North ; it is uncertain into what family, and in what capacity. Her name is an Anagram, and the letters of which it is compofed will make out her true name ; for Spenfer (fays the learned and ingenious Mr. Upton, his beft Editor) is an Anagrammatift in many of his names : thus Algrind tranfpofed is Archbifliop Grindal; and Morrel is Bifhop Elmer. He is fuppr>fed to hint t at the cruelty and coquettery of his Rofalind in B. 6. of the Fairy Queen, in the character of Mirabella. IMITATIONS. VER. 40. bequeath' din death, &c.} Virg, Eel. ii. " Eft mihi difparibus feptem compacla cicutis Fiftula, Damoetas dono mihi quam dedit olim, Et dixit rnoriens, Te nunc habet ifta fecundum," P. But PASTORALS. 73 But now the reeds fhall hang on yonder tree, For ever filent, fince defpis'd by thee. Oh ! were I made by fome transforming pow'r 45 The captive bird that fmgs within thy bow'r ! Then might my voice thy lift'ning ears employ, And I thofe kifles he receives enjoy. And yet my numbers pleafe the rural throng, Rough Satyrs dance, and Pan applauds the fong : The Nymphs, forfaking ev'ry cave and fpring, 5 1 Their early fruit, and milk-white turtles bring ! Each am'rous nymph prefers her gifts in vain, On you their gifts are all beftow'd again. For you the fwains their faireft flow'rs defign, 55 And in one garland all their beauties join ; Accept the wreath which you deferve alone, In whom all beauties are compriz'd in one. See what delights in fylvan fcenes appear ! Defcending Gods have found Elyfmm here. 60 In woods bright Venus with Adonis ftray'd, And chafte Diana haunts the foreft-fhade. Come, lovely nymph, and blefs the filent hours, When fwains from fheering feek their nightly bow'rs ; When weary reapers quit the fultry field, 65 And crown* d with corn their thanks to Ceres yield. IMITATIONS. VER. 60. Defcending Gods have found Elyjium kere.~] " Habitarunt Di quoque fylvas" Virg. *' Et forraofus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis." Idem. P. This 74 PASTORALS. This harmlefs grove no lurking viper hides, But in my breaft the ferpent Love abides. Here bees from bloffoms fip the rofy dew, But your Alexis knows no fweets but you. 70 O deign to vifit our forfaken feats, The mofly fountains, and the green retreats ! Where'er you walk, cool gales mail fan the glade, Trees, where you fit, mall croud into a made : Where'er you tread, the blufhing flow'rs mall rife, And all things flourifh where you turn your eyes. 76 O ! how I long with you to pafs my days, Invoke the Mufes, and refound your praife ! Your praife the birds mall chant in ev'ry grove, And winds mall waft it to the pow'rs above. 80 But would you fing, and rival Orpheus' flrain, The wond'ring forefts foon mould dance again, The moving mountains hear the pow'rful call, And headlong ftreams hang lift'ning in their fall ! VER. 67, 68.] I think thefe two lines would not have pafied without animadverfion in any of our great fchools. VARIATIONS. VER. 79, 80. Your praife the tuneful birds to heav'n fhall bear, And lift'ning wolves grow milder as they hear. So the verfes were originally written. But the Author, young as he was, foon found the abfurdity which Spenfer himfelf overlooked, of introducing wolves into England. P. IMITATIONS. VER. 80. And winds Jkall ivaft, 5c.] Partem aliquam, vend, divum referatis ad aures :" Virg. P. But PASTORALS. 75 But fee, the Ihepherds fhun the noon-day heat, The lowing herds to murm'ring brooks retreat, 86 To clofer fhades the panting flocks remove ; Ye Gods ! and is there no relief for Love ? But foon the fun with milder rays defcends To the cool ocean, where his journey ends : 90 On me love's fiercer flames for ever prey, By night he fcorches, as he burns by day. VARIATIONS. VER. 91. Me love inflames, nor will his fires allay. P. IMITATIONS. VER. 88. Te Gods, &V.] " Me tamen urit amor, quis enim modus adfit amori ?" Idem. P. Virgil in his Epic, attempted to paint thofe manners which he had never feen ; and in his Palloral, thofe ruftic manners which he was little acquainted with. ||. C 76 3 ' 3 ' '"A U T U M N: THE THIRD PASTORAL." O R, HYLAS and AEGON. TO MR. WYCHERLEY. f TJENEATH the fliade a fpreading Beech difplays, *-* Hylas and Aegon fung their rural lays ; This mourn* d a faithlefs, that an abfent Love, And Delia's name and Doris* fill'd the Grove. Ye Mantuan nymphs, your facred fuccour bring ; 5 Hylas and Aegon's rural lays I fmg. REMARKS. a This Paftoral conGfts of two parts, like the viii th of Virgil : The Scene, a Hill ; the Time at Sun-fet. P. f His intrigues with the Dutchefs of Cleveland, his marriage with the Countefs of Drogheda, Charles the Second's difpleafure on this marriage, his debts and diflrefles, and other particulars of his life, are well related by Dennis in a Letter to Major Pack, 1720. In Dennis's collection of Letters, publifhed in two volumes, 1721, to which Mr. Pope fubfcribed, Lord Lanfdown has drawn his character, as a Writer, in an elegant manner ; chiefly with a view of (hewing the impropriety of an epithet given to him by Lord Rochefter, who called him Slow Wycherley ; for that, notwithftanding his pointed wit, and forcible expreffion> he compofed with facility and hafte. Thou, PASTORALS, 77 Thou, whom the Nine, with Plautus* wit infpire, The art of Terence, and Menander's fire ; Whofe fenfe inftruds us, and whofe humour charms, Whofe judgment fways us, and whofe fpirit warms ! Oh, fldU'd in Nature ! fee the hearts of Swains, 1 1 Their artlefs paffions, and their tender pains. REMARKS. VER. 7. Thou, whom the Nine,] Mr. Wycherley, a famous author of Comedies ; of which the moft celebrated were the Plain-Dealer and Country -wife. He was a writer of infinite fpirit, fatire, and wit. The only objection made to him was, that he had too much. However, he was followed in the fame way by Mr. Congreve ; tho' with a little more corre&nefs. P. Surely with much more correftnefs, tafte, and judgment. VER. 8. The art of Terence, and Menander* s fire ;] This line alludes to that famous character given of Terence, by Caefar : " Tu quoque, tu in fummts, 6 dimidiate Menander, Poneris, et merito, puri fermonis amator : Lentous atque utinam fcriptis adjunfta foret vlt Comica." So that the judicious critic fees he fhould have faid with Menander' s fire. For what the Poet meant, was, that his friend had joined to Terence's art, what Caefar thought wanting in Terence, namely, the vis comica of Menander. Betides, and Menander' s fire, is making that the Chara&eriftic of Menander which was not. He was diftinguifhed for having art and comic fpirit in conjunction, and Terence having only the firft part, is called the half of Maunder. W. VER. 9. Whofe fenfe inftrutts us,] He was always very careful in his encomiums not to fall into ridicule, the deferved fate of weak and proftitute flatterers, and which they rarely efcape. For fenfe, he would willingly have faid moral; propriety required it. But this dramatic Poet's moral was remarkably faulty. His plays are all fliamefully profligate both in the Dialogue and Aftion. W. VER. ii. Ohtfkill'd] Few writers have lefs nature in them than Wycherley. Now 7 8 PASTORALS. Now fetting Phoebus (hone ferenely bright, And fleecy clouds were ftreak'd with purple light $ When tuneful Hylas with melodious moan, 15 Taught rocks to weep, and made the mountains groan. Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs away ! To Delia's ear the tender notes convey. As fome fad turtle his loft love deplores, And with deep murmurs fills the founding mores ; Thus, far from Delia, to the winds I mourn, 2 1 Alike unheard, unpity'd, and forlorn. Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs along ! For her, the feather'd quires neglect their fong : For her, the limes their pleafing (hades deny ; 25 For her, the lilies hang their heads and die. Ye flow'rs that droop, forfaken by the fpring, Ye birds that, left by fummer, ceafe to fing, Ye trees that fade when autumn-heats remove, Say, is not abfence death to thofe who love ? 30 Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs away ! Curs'd be the fields that caufe my Delia's flay 5 Fade ev'ry bloflbm, wither ev'ry tree, Die ev'ry flow'r, and perifh all, but me, What have I faid ? where'er my Delia flies, 35 Let fpring attend, and fudden flow'rs arife j REMARKS. VER. 25.] This rich afiemblage of very pleafing pafioval images, is yet excelled by Shenftone's beautiful Paftoral Ballad in four parts. Let PASTORALS. 79 Let opening rofes knotted oaks adorn, And liquid amber drop from ev'ry thorn. Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs along ! The birds mail ceafe to tune their ev*ning fong, 40 The winds to breathe, the waving woods to move, And flreams to murmur, ere I ceafe to love. Not bubbling fountains to the thirfty fwain, Not balmy fleep to lab'rers faint with pain, REMARKS. VER. 43. Not lullling'] The turn of thefe four lines i$ evidently borrowed from Drmnmond of Hawthwarden, a charming but neglected Poet. He was born 1585, and died 1649. His verfes are as fmooth as Waller's, whom he preceded many years, having written a poem to King James, 1617 ; whereas Waller's firft compofition was to Charles I, 1625. His Sonnets are exquifitely beautiful and correct. He was one of our firft, and beft imitators of the Italian Poets, and Milton had certainly read and admired him, as appears by many pafiages that might be quoted for that purpofe. The four lines mentioned above follow ; To virgins flow'rs, to fun-burnt earth the rain, To mariners fair winds amid the main, ' Cool fhades to pilgrims, whom hot glances burn, Are not fo pleafing as thy bleft return. And afterwards again our author borrows in Abelard j The grief was common, common were the cries. I will juft add, that Drayton's Paftorals, and his Nymphidia, do not feem to be attended to fo much as they deferve. IMITATIONS. VER. 37. " Aureadurac Mala ferant quercus ; narciflb floreat alnus, Pinguia eorticibua fudent eledlra myricae." Virg. Eel. viii. P. VER. 43, &c.] " Quale fopor fern's in gramine, quale per aeftura Dulcis aquae faliente fitim reftinguere rivo." Ecl.v. P. Not 8o PASTORALS, Not fhow'rs to larks, nor mun-mine to the bee, 45 Are half fo charming as thy fight to me. Go, gentle gales, and bear my fighs away ! Come, Delia, come ; ah, why this long delay ? Thro' rocks and caves the name of Delia founds, Delia, each cave and echoing rock rebounds. 50 Ye pow'rs, what pleafmg phrenzy fooths my mind ! Do lovers dream, or is my Delia kind ? She comes, my Delia comes ! Now ceafe my lay, And ceafe, ye gales, to bear my fighs away ! Next Aegon fung, while Windfor groves admir'd ; Rehearfe, ye Mufes, what yourfelves infpir'd. 56 Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful ftrain ! Of perjur'd Doris, dying I complain : Here, where the mountains, lefs'ning as they rife, Lofe the low vales, and fteal into the fkies : 60 While laboring oxen, fpent with toil and heat, In their loofe traces from the field retreat : While curling fmoaks from village tops are feen, And the fleet fhades glide o'er the dufky green. Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful lay ! 65 Beneath yon' poplar oft we pafl the day : VARIATIONS. VER. 48. Originally thus in the MS. With him through Lybia's burning plains I'll go, On Alpine mountains tread th* eternal fnow ; Yet feel no heat but what our loves impart, And dread no coldnefs but in Thyrfis heart. W. IMITATIONS. VER. 52. " An qui amant, ipfi libi fomnia fingunt ?" Id. viii. P. Oft' PASTORALS. f i Oft* on the rind I carv'd her am'rous vows, While fhe with garlands hung the bending boughs 5 The garlands fade, the vows are worn away j So dies her love, and fo my hopes decay. 70 Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful ftrain t Now bright Arcturus glads the teeming grain, Now golden fruits on loaded branches mine, And grateful cluflers fwell with floods of wine ; Now blufhing berries paint the yellow grove ; / Juft Gods ! mall all things yield returns but love ? Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful lay ! The fhepherds cry, u Thy flocks are left a prey" Ah ! what avails it me, the flocks to keep, Who loft my heart while I preferv'd my fheep. 80 Pan came, and afk'd, what magic caus'd my fmart Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart ? What eyes but hers, alas, have pow'r to move 1 And is there magic but what dwells in love ! 84 Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful ftrains ! I'll fly from fhepherds, flocks, and flow'ry plains, From fhepherds, flocks, and plains, I may remove, Forfake mankind, and all the world but love 1 I know thee, Love ! on foreign mountains bred, Wolves gave thee fuck, and favage tigers fed. 90 REMARKS. VKR. 82. dart?~\ It fhould be darted; the prefent tenfe is ufed for the fake of the rhyme. IMITATIONS. VER. 82. Or what III eyes} " Nefcio quis teneros oculus mihi fafcinat agnos." P. VOL, i. o Thou 82 PASTORALS. Thou wert from Aetna's burning entrails torn, Got by fierce whirlwinds, and in thunder born ! Refound, ye hills, refound my mournful lay ! Farewel, ye woods, adieu the light of day ! One leap from yonder cliff mall end my pains, 95 No more, ye hills, no more refound my ftrains ! Thus fung the fhepherds till th' approach of night, The fkies yet blufhing with departing light, When falling dews with fpangles deck'd the glade, And the low fun had lengthen'd ev'ry made. ioo REMARKS. VER.97. Thus fung'] Among the multitude of Englifh Poets who wrote pallorals, Fairfax, to whom our Verification is thought to be fo much indebted, ought to be mentioned. He wrote ten or twelve Eclogues after the acceffion of James I. They were like thofe of Mantuan and Spenfer, allegorical, and alluded to the manners and characlers of the times, and contained many fatyrical ilrokes againft the King and his Court. They were loft in the fire that confumed the Banquetting Houfe at Whitehall ; but it is faid that Mr. W. Fairfax, his fon, recovered them from his father's papers ; the fourth of them was publiihed by Mrs. Cooper in the Mules Library, 1737. VER. 98. ioo.] There is a little inaccuracy here; the firftline makes the time after fun-fet ; the fecond, before. W. VER. ioo. And the low fun] Mr. Gray 's Evening, defcribed in the two nrft ilanzas of his excellent Elegy, is far more pi'cturefque and poetical. I would propofe to read the two firft lines of his elegy with a new punctuation, as follows : The curfew tolls ! the knell of parting day ! IMITATIONS. VEH. 89. " Nunc fcio quid fit Amor: duris in cotibus ilium," &c. P. This from Virgil is much inferior to the paflage in Theocritus^ from whence it is taken. WINTER.* THE FOURTH PASTORAL, OR, DAPHNE. TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. TEMPEST, L V c I D A s. >TpHYRsis, the mufic of that murm'ring fpring ** Is not fo mournful as the ftrains you fmg. Nor rivers winding through the vales below, So fweetly warble, or fo fmoothly flow. REMARKS. WINTER.] This was the Poet's favourite Paftoral. Mrs. Tempeft.~\ This Lady was of an ancient family iii Yorkmire, and particularly admired by the Author's friend Mr. Walfh *, who having celebrated her in a Paftoral Elegy, defired his friend to do the fame, as appears from one of his Letters, IMITATIONS. VER. I. Thir/is, the mujic, &c.~\ AW rt, &c. Theocr. Td. i. * On lately reading Mr. Walm's Preface to Dryden's tranflatiort of Virgil's Eclogues, I was convinced he had a greater fhare of learning than he is ufually allowed to poflefs. His ftriclures on the French language dnd manners, and on Fontenelle's affected and unnatural eclogues, as well as on his vain attempt to depreciate the Ancients, are very folid and judicious. To what he has faid of Virgil may be added, that one of the moft natural ftrokes in all his eclogues, is the fhepherd's reckoning his years by the fucceffion of his loves ; Poftquam nos Amaryllis habet This paftoral chronology is much in chara&er. G 2 Now 84 PASTORALS. Now fleeping flocks on their foft fleeces lie, 5 The moon, ferene in glory, mounts the iky, While filent birds forget their tuneful lays, Oh fmg of Daphne's fate, and Daphne's praife! T H Y R S I S. Behold the groves that fhine with filver froft, Their beauty wither'd, and their verdure loft. 10 Here fhall I try the fweet Alexis 5 ftrain, That call'd the lift'ning Dryads to the plain ? Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along, And bade his willows learn the moving fong. REMARKS. Letters, dated Sept. 9, 1706. "Your laft Eclogue being on the fame fubjecl with mine, on Mrs. Tempeft/s death, I mould take it very kindly in you to give it a little turn, as if it were to the memory of the fame lady." Her death having happened on the night of the great ftorm in 1703, gave a propriety to this eclogue, which in its general turn alludes to it. The fcene of the Paftoral lies in a grove, the time at midnight. P. I do not find any lines that allude to the great ftorm of which the Poet fpeaks. VER. g. Jhine with fi her froft t ~\ The image is a fine one, but improperly placed. The idea he would raife is the deformity of Winter, as appears by the following line : but this imagery contradicts it. It mould have been glare with hoary frojl, or fome fuch expreflion : the fame inaccuracy in ver. 31, where he ufes pearls, when he mould have faid tears. W. The alteration here propofed by Warburton, feems to be very injudicious and inelegant j and much refembles an alteration he wimed to make in Love's Labour Loil ; which was, to read to paint the meadows much bedight, inftead of the prefent reading, to paint the meadows with delight. IMITATIONS. VER. 13. Thames heard, &c,] " Audiit Eurotas, jufiltqu* edifcere lajinxv' Virg. P. So PASTORALS. $5 L Y C I D A S. So may kind rains their vital moifture yield, 1 5 And fwell the future harveft of the field. Begin ; this charge the dying Daphne gave, And faid, " Ye fhepherds fmg around my grave !" Sing, while befide the fhaded tomb I mourn, And with frefti bays her rural fhrine adorn. 20 T H Y R s i s. Ye gentle Mufes, leave your cryftal fpring, Let Nymphs and Sy Ivans cyprefs garlands bring; Ye weeping Loves, the ft ream with myrtles hide, And break your bows, as when Adonis dy'd ; And with your golden darts, now ufelefs grown, 25 Infcribe a verfe on this relenting ftone : " Let nature change, let heav'n and earth deplore, " Fair Daphne's dead, and love is now no more !" 'Tis done, and nature's various charms decay, See gloomy clouds obfcure the chearful day! 30 Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear, Their faded honours fcatter'd on her bier. VARI ATIO NS. VER 29. Originally thus in the MS. 'Tis done, and nature's chang'd fince you are gone ; Behold the clouds have put their mourning on. W. Which are very bad lines indeed. REMARKS. VER. 29. y Tu done,'} Thomfon ufes thefe very words at the end of his Winter. ' Tis done ! &c. IMITATIONS. VER. 23, 24, 25. " Inducite fontibus umbras t tumulum facite, et tumulo fuperaddite carmen." P. c 3 See, 86 PASTORALS. See, where on earth the flow'ry glories lie, With her they flourifli'd, and with her they die. Ah what avail the beauties nature wore ? 35 Fair Daphne's dead, and beauty is no more ! For her the flocks refufe their verdant food, The thirfty heifers fhun the gliding flood, The filver fwans her haplefs fate bemoan, In notes more fad than when they fing their own ; In hollow caves fweet echo filent lies, 41 Silent, or only to her name replies ; Her name with pleafure once fhe taught the more, Now Daphne's dead, and pleafure is no more ! No grateful dews defcend from ev'ning ikies, 45 Nor morning odours from the flow'rs arife ; No rich perfumes refrefh the fruitful field, Nor fragrant herbs their native incenfe yield. The balmy Zephyrs, filent fmce her death, Lament the ceafing of a fweeter breath ; 50 Th* induftrious bees neglect their golden ftore ! Fair Daphne's dead, and fweetnefs is no more ! No more the mounting larks, while Daphne fmgs, Shall liil'ning in mid-air fufpend their wings j No more the birds fhall imitate her lays, 55 Or hufh'd with wonder, hearken from the fprays ; No more the ftreams their murmurs fhall forbear, A fweeter mufic than their own to hear, REMARKS. VER. 41. Jkveet echo] This expreffion c Jko&t ttko is taken from Comus ; as is another exprefilon, loofe traces, Third Paft. v. 62. And he recommends thefe poems in high terms to Sir W. Trumball (fee the Letters) fo early as the year 1704, But PASTORALS. 87 But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal fhore, , Fair Daphne's dead, and mufic is no more ! 60 Her fate is whifper'd by the gentle breeze, And told in fighs to all the trembling trees ; The trembling trees, in ev'ry plain and wood, Her fate remurmur to the filver flood ; The filver flood, fo lately calm, appears 65 Swell'd with new paflion, and o'erflows with tears ; The winds, and trees, and floods, her death deplore, Daphne, our grief! our glory now no more! But fee ! where Daphne wond'ring mounts on high Above the clouds, above the ftarry iky ! 70 Eternal beauties grace the mining fcene, Fields ever frefh, and groves for ever green ! There while you reft in Amaranthine bow'rs, Or from thofe meads felecl unfading flow'rs, Behold us kindly, who your name implore, 75 Daphne, our Goddefs, and our grief no more ! REMARKS. VER. 70. Above the clouds,'] In Spenfer's November, and in Milton's Lycidas, is the fame beautiful change of circumftances : in the latter moft exquifite, from line 165. Weep no more, woful mepherds, weep no more- Where other groves and other ftreams along, With ne&ar pure his oozy locks he laves, And hears the inexpreffive nuptial fong In the bleft kingdoms meek of joy and love. IMITATIONS. VER. 69, 70. " miratur limen Olympi, Sub pedibufque videt nubes et fydera Daphnis." Vjrg. P. o 4 How as PASTORALS. L Y C I D A S. How all things liften, while thy Mufe complains ! Such filence waits on Philomela's {trains, In fome ftill ev'ning, when the whifp'ring breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. So To thee, bright goddefs, oft a lamb mall bleed, If teeming ewes increafe my fleecy breed. While plants their made, or flow'rs their odours give, Thy name, thy honour, ami thy praife mail live ! T H Y R S I S. But fee, Orion fheds unwholefome dews ; 85 Arife, the pines a noxious made diffufe ; Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay, Time conquers all, and we muft Time obey. VARIATIONS, VER. 83, Originally thus in the MS. While vapours rife, and driving fnows defcend, Thy honour, name, and praife, {hall never end. REMARKS. VER. 85. vnwholefomc dews ;] Obferve how the melody of thofe four verfes is improved, by the pure iambic foot at the end of each line, except the fecond, . - unwholefome dews decay . obey. VER. 87.] If, according to fome critics, pleafing images alone are proper to be exhibited in paftoral poetry, it muft be wnfuitable, to the intent of this fort of poetry, to lay the fcene jn the feverities of winter. IMITATIONS, VER. 81. " ilh'us aram Saepe tener noftris ab ovilibus inibuet agnus. Virg." P. VER. 86. " folet efle gravis cantantibus umbra, Juniperi gravis umbra." Virg. P. VER. 88. Time conquers all, tec.] " Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori.'* Vid, etiam Sannazarii Eel. et Spenfer's Calendar. Adieu, PASTORALS. 8^ Adieu, ye vales, ye mountains, flreams and groves, Adieu, ye fhepherds' rural lays and loves ; 90 Adieu, my flocks ; farewel, ye fylvan crew ; Daphne, farewel ; and all the world adieu f REMARKS. VER. 89, &c.] Thefe four lad lines allude to the feveral fubje&s of the four paftorals, and to the feveral fcenes of them, particularized before in each. P. The Sycophancy of A. Phillips, who had prejudiced Mr. Addifon againft Pope, occafkmed thofe papers in the Guardian, written by the latter, in which there is an ironical preference given to the Paftorals of Phillips, above his own ; in order to fupport the profound judgment of thofe who could not diftinguifh between the rural and the ruftic ; and on that account, condemned the Paftorals of Pope for wanting fimplicity. Thefe papers were fent by an unknown hand to Stecle, and the irony efcaping him, he communicated them to Mr. Pope, declaring he would never publifh any paper, where one of the Club was complimented at the expence of another. Pope told him he was too delicate, and infilled that the papers mould be publimed in the Guardian. They were fo. And the pleafautry efcaped all but Addifon : who, taking Pope afide, faid to him in his agreeable manner ; You have put your friends here in a very ridiculous light, as will be feen when it is underftood, as it muft foon be, that you was only laughing at the admirers of Phillips. But this ill conduct of Phillips occasioned a more open ridicule of his Paftorals, in the mock poem 'called the Shepherd's Weel y written by Gay. But tho' more open, the object of it was ill underftood by thofe who were ftrangers to the quarrel. Thefe miftook the Shepherd's Week for a Burlefque of Pirgik Paftorals. How far this goes towards a vindication of Phillips's fimple painting, let others judge. W. Upon the whole, the principal merit of thefe paftorals confifts, in their mufical and correct verification ; mufical, to a degree of which rhyme could hardly be thought capable ; and in giving the trueft fpecimen of that harmony in Englim verfe, which is now become indifpenfably neceffary ; and which has fo forcibly and univerfally 90 PASTORALS. univerfally influenced the public ear, as to have obliged every moderate rhymer to be at leaft melodious. Ten paftorals written by Dr. Evans, the friend of Pope, are inferted in the Eighth Volume of Nichols's Poems, never before printed, and as early as our Author's. Some of them in the ruftic ftyle and manner of Gay. In the fame volume, page 208, are fourteen Pifcatory Eclogues, entitled Nereides, by Diaper, who was patronized by Swift, and who dedicates them to Congreve. MESSIAH, A SACRED ECLOGUE: IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S POLLIO. .O! 8 f J If ADVERTISEMENT. I N reading feveral paflages of the Prophet Ifaiah, which foretel the coming of Chrift and the felicities attending it, I could not but obferve a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts, and thofe in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not feem furprifmg, when we reflect, that the Eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophecy on the fame fubject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by line, but felected fuch ideas as beft agreed with the nature of paftoral poetry, and difpofed them in that manner which ferved moft to beautify his piece. I have endeavoured the fame in this imitation of him, though without admitting any thing of my own; fince it was written with this particular view, that the reader, by comparing the feveral thoughts, might fee how far the images and defcriptions of the Prophet are fuperior to thofe of the Poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by my management, I mail fubjoin the paflages of Ifaiah , and thofe of Virgil, under the fame difadvantage of a literal tranflation *. P. * As Pope made ufe of the old tranflation of Ifaiah in the paffages which he fubjoined, it was thought proper to ufe the fame, and not have recourfe to the more accurate and more animated verfion of Bifhop Lowth. The fpurioufnefs of thofe Sibylline verfes which have been applied to our Saviour, has been fo fully demonftrated by many able and judicious critics, that, I imagine, they will not be again, adduced [94] adduced as proofs of the truth of the Chriftian Religion by any found and concluiive reafoner. The learned Heyne has difcuffed this point In his notes on the fecond eclogue of Virgil, p. 73. v. i. ; and he adds an opinion about prophecy in general, too remarkable to be omitted, but of too delicate a nature to be quoted in any words but his own. " Scilicet inter omnes populos, magna imprimis calamitate oppreflbs, Vaticinia circumferri folent, quae five graviora minari, five lastiora folent polliceri, eaque, neceflaria rerum viciffitudine, melioribus aliquando fuccedentibus temporibus, fere femper eventum habent. Nullo tamen tempore vaticiniorum infanius fuit ftudium, quam fub extrema Reipublicae Romanae tempora, primofque imperatores ; cum bellorum civitium calamitateg hominum animos terroribus omnis generis agitatos ; ad varia portentorum prodigiorum, & vaticiniorum ludibria convettiffent. Quafcunque autem hoc in genere defcriptiones, novae felicitatis habemus, five in Orientis five in Graecis & Romanis poetis, omnes inter fe fimiles funt: beftiae ac ferae cicures, ferpentes innocui, fruges nullo cultu enatae, mare plaidum, dii prefentes in terris, aliaque ejufmodi in omnibus memorantur. In contradiction to this opinion the reader is defired to turn to as remarkable a paflage at the end of the twenty-firft of Biihop Lowth's excellent Ledures on the Hebrew Poetry. [953 MESSIAH, A SACRED ECLOGUE. TT E Nymphs of Solyma ! begin the fong : - To heav'nly themes, fublimer drains belong. The mofiy fountains, and the fylvan fhades, The dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian maids, Delight no more O Thou my voice infpire 5 Who touch'd Ifaiah's hallow'd lips with fire ! Rapt into future times, the Bard begun : A Virgin mail conceive, a Virgin bear a Son ! IMITATIONS. VER.8. A Virgin Jball conceive All crimes Jbatt eeafe, fcfr.] Virg. Eel. iv. ver. 6. ts Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna * ; Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto. Te duce, fi qua manent fceleris veftigia noftri, Irrita perpetua folvent formidine terras Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem." " Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns* now a new progeny is fent down from high heaven. By means of thee, whatever reliques of our crimes remain, mall be wiped away, and free the world from perpetual fears. He mail govern the earth in peace, with the virtues of his father." Ifaiah, Ch. vii. v. 14. " Behold, a Virgin mail conceive and bear a fon." Ch. ix. v. 6, 7. *' Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; the Prince of Peace: of the increafe of his government, and of his peace, there mall be no end : Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to eftablifli it, with judgment, and with juftice, 'for ever and ever.'* P. * Dante fays, that Statius was made a Chriftian by reading this paflage in Virgil. See L. Gyraldus, p. 534. From 96 PASTORALS. From a Jefie's root behold a branch arife,, \Vhofe facred flow'r with fragrance fills the Ikies : Th' Ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves fhall move, 1 1 And on its top defcends the myftic Dove. Ye b heav'ns ! from high the dewy nectar pour, And in foft filence fhed the kindly fhow'r ! REMARKS. VER. 1O. with fragrance f Us} Badly tranflated by Dr. Joknfon ; mulcentefque asthera flores Casleftes lambunt animse VER. 13. The heavens! from high the dewy neflar pom; And in ffjftfilencejbea 1 the lindly flow' r!.} His original fays, " Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the fkies pour down righteoufntfs : let the earth open, and let them bring forth falvation, and let righteoufnefs fpring up together." This is a very noble defcription of divine grace fhed abroad in the hearts of the faithful under the Gofpel difpenfation. And the poet underftood all its force, as appears from the two lines preceding thefe, Th' Ethereal Spirit, &V. The prophet defcribes this under the image of rain, which chiefly fits the Jirjl age of the Gofpel : The poet, under the idea of deiUi which extends it to every age. And it was his purpofe it mould be fo underftood, as appears from his exprefllon of foftjilence, which agrees with the common, not the extraordinary effufions of the Holy Spirit. The figurative term is wonderfully happy. He who would moralize the ancient Mythology in the- manner of Bacon, would fay, that by the poetical neftar, is meant the grace of the Theologifts. W. This interpretation of the words rain and de i sa t and of the common and the extraordinary effufions of the Holy Spirit, is to the laft degree forced, and fanciful, and far-fetched. Warburton, it muft be eonfefled, frequently difgraced his acutenefs and great talents, by endeavouring to find out and extort new meanings ii> the authors whom he undertook to criticife. This interpretation Is near a-kin to that marvellous one which he has given to a fpeech in the fecond A& of Hamlet, where he contends, that the words, " if the fun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a God, kiffing carrion," point out the fupreme caufe diffufing its bleffinga on- Ifai.xi. v.i. b Ch. xlv. v.8. The PASTORALS. 97 The c fick and weak the healing plant mall aid, 15 From ftorms a flicker, and from heat a made. All crimes mail ceafe, and ancient fraud fhall fail j Returning d Juflice lift aloft her fcale j Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, And white-rob'd Innocence from heav'n defcend. 20 Swift fly the years, and rife the expected morn ! Oh fpring to light, aufpicious Babe, be born t See Nature hades her earlieft wreaths to bring, With all the incenfe of the breathing fpring : REMARKS. on mankind, who is, as it were, a dead carrion, dead in original fin, man, inftead of a proper return of duty, fhoirld breed only corruption and vices. Are thefe fort of interpretations a jot lefs ridiculous than that of Father Harduin's on the twentieth ode of the fecond book of Horace, who tells us, this ode is a profopopeia of Chrill triumphing and addreffing the Jews after his refurre&ion ? That biformis vates alludes to his being in forma del, and in forma, fervi. That the fecond part of the allegory points to the Dominicans, who mould preach and diffufe his gofpel to diftant nations ; that alitem album, meant their white garments ; and refidunt pelles cruribus afperse, their boots. VER. 17. ancient fraud} i.e. the fraud of the ferpent. W. VER.23. See Nature'] Perhaps the dignity, the energy, and the fimplicity of the original, are in a few paflages weakened and diminifhed by florid epithets, and ufelefs circumlocutions. See Nature haftes her earlieft wreaths to bring, With all the incenfe of the breathing fpring: Are IMITATION S. VER. 23. See Nature hajles, sV.} Virg. Eel. iv. v. 1 8. " At tibi prima, puer, nullo munufcula aultir, Errantes hederas paflim cum baccare tellus, Mixtaque ridenti colocafia fundet acantho Ipfa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores." For c Ifai. xxv. v. 4. d Ch. Ix. v. 7. VOL. i. H See 9 8 PASTORALS. See lofty Lebanon 6 his head advance, 25 See nodding forefts on the mountains dance : See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife, And Camel's flow'ry top perfumes the ikies ! Hark ! a glad voice the lonely defert cheers ; Prepare the f way ! a God, a God appears : 30 REMARKS. Are lines which have too much prettincfs, and too modern an air. The judicious addition of circumftances and adjuncts is what renders poefy a more lively imitation of nature than prefe. Pope has been happy in introducing the following circumftance : the prophet fays, " The parched ground mail become a pool ;" our Author exprefles this idea by faying, that the fliepherd mail ftart amid the thirfty wild to hear New falls of water murmuring in his ear *. A ftriking example of a fimilar beauty may be added from Thomfon. Melifander, in the Tragedy of Agamemnon, after telling us he was conveyed in a velfel, at midnight, to the wildeft of the Cyclades, adds, when the pitilefs mariners had left him in that dreadful folitude, ' I never heard A found fo difmal as their parting oars ! On IMITATIONS. " For thee, O Child, mall the earth, without being tilled, produce her early offerings ; winding ivy, mixed with Baccar y and Cokcafia with fmiling Acanthus. Thy cradle mall pour forth pleafing flowers about thee." Ifaiah, Ch. xxxv. v. i. "The wildernefs and the folitary place (hall be glad, and the defert mall rejoice and bloffom as the rofe." Ch. Ix. v. 13. The glory of Lebanon mail come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy fan&uary." P. VER.29. Hark! a glad voice ', etc.} Virg. Eel. iv. v. 46. " Aggredere 6 magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores, Cara deum foboles, magnum Jovis incrementum IpG * Ifai. xxxv. v. 2. f Ch. xl. v. 3, 4. * MefT. v. 70. A God, PASTORALS. $$ A God, a God ! the vocal hills reply, The rocks proclaim th* approaching Deity. Lo, earth receives him from the bending ikies ! Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rife ; With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay j 35 Be fmooth, ye rocks j ye rapid floods, give way ! REMARKS. On the other hand, the prophet has been fometimes particular, when Pope has been only general. " Lift up thine eyes round about, and fee ; all they gather themfelves together, they come to thee : The multitude of camels (hall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah : all they from Sheba fhall come : they mail bving gold and incenfe, and they fhall fhew forth the praifes of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar fhall be gathered together unto thee ; the rams of Nebaioth fhall minifter unto thee f ." In imitating this pafiage, Pope has omitted the different beads that in fo piclurefque a manner chara&erife the different countries which were to be gathered together on this important event ; and fays, only in undiftinguifhing terms, See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend ; See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings ; And heap'd with produces of Sabasan fprings J. VER. 26.] An improper and burlefque image ! VER. 35. With heads decTir?d^\ All is here uniformly folemn, and majeftic ; not debafed by any of thofe mean images that Cowley has fo unaccountably introduced into his imitation of the 3 4 th IMITATIONS. Tpfi laetitia voces ad fydera jaftant Intonfi monies, ipfae jam carmina rupes, Ipfa-fonant arbufta, Deus, deus ille Menalca !" Eel. v. ver. 62. " Oh come an J receive the mighty honours : the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great encreafe of Jove 1 The f Ifaiab, cb. k. v. 4, 6, 7. \ MeflT. v, 94. H 2 The ioo PASTORALS, The Saviour comes ! by ancient bards foretold \ Hear g him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold ! He from thick films mail purge the vifual ray, And on the fightlefs eye-ball pour the day : 40 REMARKS. 34th chapter of this fublime prophet. The fvvord of God is called the Scarlet Glutton. And fee the marvellous burlefque in- the following lines ; The lion then (hall to the leopard fay, Brother leopard come away ! The vultures fhall find the bus'nefs done ! Th' unbury'd ghofts fhall fadly moan, The fatyrs laugh to hear them groan ! VER. 39. He from thick Jilms Jkall purge the vifual ray,~\ The fenfe and language fhew, that by vifual ray, the poet meant the Jighty or, as Milton calls it, indeed fomething lefs boldly, tho r more exactly, the vifual nerve. However, no critic would quarrel with the figure which calls the Injlrument of vifion by the name of the caufe. But tho* the term be noble and fublime, yet the expreffion of thick Jilms is faulty ; and he fell into it by a common negleft of the following rule of good writing, " That when a figurative word is ufed, whatfoever is predicated of it ought not only to agree in terms to the thing to which the figure is applied, but likewife to that from which the figure is taken." Thick Jilms agree only with the thing to which it is applied, namely, to the fight or eye ; and not to that from which It is taken, namely, a ray of light coming to the eye. He mould have faid thick clouds ; which would have agreed whh both. But thefe inaccuracies are not to found in his later poems. W. It IMITATIONS. The uncultivated mountains fend fliouts of joy to the ftars, the very rocks fing in verfe, the very fhrubs cry out, A God, a God!" Ifaiah, ch. xl. v. 3, 4. " The voice of him that crieth in the wildernefs, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make ftraight in the defert a high way for our God ! Every valley fhall be exalted, and every mountain and hill fhall be made low, and the crooked fhall be made ftraight, and the rough places plain.'* Ch. iv. v. 23. " Break forth into finging, ye mountains! O foreft, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed IfraeL" p. 8 Ifai. xh'ii. v. 18. Ch. xxxv. v. 5, 6. 'Tis PASTORALS. ioi Tis he th* obftrudted paths of found mall clear, And bid new mufic charm th* unfolding ear : The dumb mall fmg, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting like the bounding roe. No figh, no murmur the wide world mail hear, 45 From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear. In h adamantine chains fhall death be bound, And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. As the good fhepherd * tends his fleecy care, Seeks fremeft paflure and the pureft air, 50 Explores the loft, the wand'ring fheep direfts, By day o'erfees them, and by night protects, The tender lambs he raifes in his arms, Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms ; Thus (hall mankind his guardian care- engage, 55 The promis'd k father of the future age. No more fhall ' nation againft nation rife, Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, REMARKS, It is remarkable, that this observation bears a clofe refemblancc to what Concanen fays of this paflage, p. 23. of his Supplement to the Profund. 1728. VER. 46. This line was thus altered by Steele. VER. 53. HE, is redundant. VER. 56. The promts' it father of the future age."] In Ifaiah ix. it is the everlafting Father ; which the LXX render, The Father of the world to come ; agreeably to the ftyle of the New Teftament, in which the kingdom of the Meffiah is called the age of the world to come ; Mr. Pope, therefore, has, with great judgment, adopted the fenfe of the LXX, which, it is ftrange, his commentator, who is a divine, haa not obferved. h Ifai. xxv. v. 8. iCh.xl.v. n. k Ch.ix. v. 6. 'Ch. 1*1.7.4. H 3 Nor 102 PASTORALS. Nor fields with gleaming fleel be cover'd o'er, The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more ; 60 But ufelefs lances into fcythes mall bend, And the broad faulchion in a plow-mare end. Then palaces fhall rife ; the joyful m Son Shall finifh what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun ; Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield, 65 And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field. The fwain in barren n defer ts with furprife See lilies fpring, and fudden verdure rife ; And ftarts, amidft the thirfty wilds to hear New falls of water murm'ring in his ear. 70 On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, The green reed trembles, and the bulrufh nods. Wafte fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, The fpiry fir and fhapely box adorn ; To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed, 75 And od'rous myrtle to the noifom weed. IMITATIONS. VER. 67. Thefwaln in barren defer ts~] Virg. Eel. iv. ver. 28. '* Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arifta, Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uva, Et durae quercus fudabunt rofcida mella." :< The fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks fhall diflil honey like dew/' Ifaiah, Ch. xxxv. v. 7. The parched ground fhall become a pool, and the thirfty lands fprings of water : In the habitation where dragons lay, fhall be grafs, and reeds and rufhes." Ch. Iv. y. 13. Inftead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, and inflead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle-tree." P. m Ifal - fcv. V. 21, 22. Ch> xxxy> v . j, 7. Ch. xli. v. 19. and Ch. Iv. v. 13, The PASTORALS. 103 The p lambs with wolves mall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flow'ry banks the tiger lead ; The fleer and lion at one crib mail meet, And harmlefs q ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet. 80 The fmiling infant in his hand mall take The crefled bafiliik and fpeckled fnake, Pleas'd the green luftre of the fcales furvey, And with their forky tongue mall innocently play. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial r Salem, rife ! 85 Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes ! I M IT ATI O N S. VER. 77. The lambs -with wolves , &c.] Virg. Eel. iv. ver. 21. " Ipfae lafte domum referent diftenta capellae Ubera, nee magnos metuent armenta leones Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni Occidet." " The goats mall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk : nor {hall the herds be afraid of the greateft lions. The ferpent ihall die, and the herb that conceals poifon fhall die." Ifaiah, Ch. xi. v. 16, &c. " The wolf fhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fading together : and a little child fhall lead them. And the lion fhall eat ftraw like the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice." P. VER. 80. From the words occidet & ferpens, it was idly concluded the old ferpent, Satan, was meant, VER. 85. Rife, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rife !~\ The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of 'the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftiefl parts of his Pollio. " Magnus P Ifai. xi. v. 6, 7, 8. a Ch.lvi. v. 25. * Ch.lx. v. i. H 4 See, 104 PASTORALS. See, a long ' race thy fpacious courts adorn ; See future fons, and daughters yet unborn, In crouding ranks on ev'ry fide arife, Demanding life, impatient for the fides ! 90 See barb'rous * nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend ; See thy bright altars throng'd with proilrate kings, And heap'd with produds of u Sabaean fprings ! For thee Idume's fpicy forefts blow, 95 And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. See heav'n its fparkling portals wide difplay, And break upon thee in a flood of day. No more the rifmg w Sun mail gild the morn, Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn ; i oo But loft, diflblv'd in thy fuperior rays, One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze REMARKS. VER. 87. See the very animated prophecy of Joad, in the feventh fcene of Racine's Athaliah, perhaps the moft fublime piece of poetry in the French language, and a chief ornament of that which is one of the beft of their tragedies. In fpeaking of thefe paraphrafes from the facred fcriptures, I cannot forbear mentioning Dr. Young's nervous and noble paraphrafe of the book of Job, and Mr. Pitt's of the third and twenty-fifth chapters of the fame book, and alfo of the fifteenth chapter of Exodus. VER. 100. Cynthia is an improper becaufe a claffical word. IMITATIONS. " Magnus ab integro faeclorum nafcitur ordo! toto furget gens aurea mundo ! incipient magni procedere menfes ! Afpice, venture laetentur ut omnia faeclo !" &c. The reader needs only to turn to the paflages of Ifaiah, here cited. P. s Ifai. Ix. v. 4. t ch. Ix. v. 3. Ch. lx. v. 6. w Ch. be. v. 19, 20. Overflow PASTORALS. 105 O'erflow thy courts : the Light himfelf fhall fhine Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine ! The x feas fhall wafte, the fkies in fmoke decay, Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away ; 106 But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains : Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH reigns ! x Ifai. li. v. 6. and Ch.liv. v. 10. THIS is certainly the moft animated and fublime of all our Author's compofitions, and it is manifeftly owing to the great original which he copied. Ifaiah abounds in ftriking and magnificent imagery. See Mr. Mafon's paraphrafe of the I4th chapter of this exalted prophet. Dr. Johnfon, in his youth, gave a tranflation of this piece, which has been praifed and magnified beyond its merits. It may juftly be faid, (with all due refpeft to the great talents of this writer), that in this tranflation of the Meffiah are many hard and unclaflical expreffions, a great want of harmony, and many unequal and Un-virgilian lines. I was once prefent at a difpute, on this fubjedt, betwixt a perfon of great political talents, and a fcholar who had fpent his life among the Greek and Roman daffies. Both were intimate friends of Johnfon. The former, after many objections had teen made to this tranflation by the latter, quoted a line which he thought equal to any he ever had read. juncique tremit variabilis umbra. The green reed trembles The Scholar (Pedant if you will) faid, there is no fuch word as variabilis in any claffical writer. Surely, faid the other, in Virgil ; variabile femper foemina. You forget, faid the opponent, it is varium & mutabile. In two men of fuperior talents it was certainly no difgrace to the one not to have written pure Virgilian vcrfes, nor to the other to have mifquoted a line of the JEneld. They only who are fuch idolaters of the Rambler, as to think he could do every thing equally well, can alone be mortified at hearing that the following lines in his Meffiah are reprehenfible ; Coelum mihi carminis alta matcries dignos accende furores Mittit PASTORALS. Mittit aromaticas vallis faronica nubes Ilk cutira fpiflam vifus habetare vetabit furat horrida membris juncique trerait variabilis umbra Buxique fequaces Artificis frondent dextrce fefla colubri Membra viatoris recreabunt frigore linguae. Boileau defpifed the writers of modern Latin poetry. Jortin faid he was no extraordinary claflical fcholar, and that he tranflated Longinus from the Latin. Of all the celebrated French writer! Racine appears to be the beft, if not the only Greek fcholar, except Fenelon. The reft, Corneille, Moliere, La Motte, Fontenelle, Crebillon, Voltaire, knew little of that language. I find and feel it impofiible to conclude thefe remarks on Pope's Mefliah, without mentioning another poem taken alfo from Ifaiah, the noble and magnificent ode on the Deftru&ion of Babylon, which Dr. Lowth hath given us in the thirteenth of his Prelections on the Poetry of the Hebrews ; and which, the fcene, the adors, the fentiments, and diction, all contribute to place in the firft rank of the fublime ; thefe Prele&ions, abounding in remarks entirely new, delivered in the pureft and inofi: expreffive language, have been received and read with almoft univerfal approbation, both at home and abroad, as being the richeft augmentation literature has in our times received, and as tending to illuftrate and recommend the Holy Scriptures in an uncommon degree. It has been confequently a matter of furprize to hear an eminent prelate pronouncing lately, with a dogmatical air, that thefe Prelections, " are in a vein of criticifm not above the common." Notwithftanding which decifion, it may fafely be affirmed, that they will long furvive, after the commentaries on Horace's Art of Poetry, and on the Eflay on Man, are loft and forgotten. WINDSOR-FOREST. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN. Non injufla cano : Te noflrae, Vare^ myrlcae, Te Nemus omne canet ; nee Phoebo gratior ulla eft, Quam fibi quae Van praefcripfit pagina noraen. VIRG. [ log ] WINDSOR-FOREST. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE LORD LANSDOWN. /nr^HY foreft, Windfor! and thy green retreats, * At once the Monarch's and the Mufe's feats, Invite my lays. Be prefent, fylvan maids ! Unlock your fprings, and open all your mades. GRANVILLE VARIATIONS. VER. 3, &c. Originally thus, (and indeed much better ;) Chafte Goddefs of the woods, Nymphs of the vales, and Na'iads of the floods, Lead me through arching bow'rs, and glimm'ring glades, Unlock your fprings P. NOTES. This Poem was written at two different times : the firft part of it, which relates to the country, in the year 1704, at the fame time with the Paftorals ; the latter part was not added till the year 1713* in which it was publifhed. P. a Notwithftanding the many praifes lavifhed on this celebrated nobleman as a poet, by Dryden, by Addifon, by Bolingbroke, by our Author, and others, yet candid criticifm muft oblige us to confefs, that he was but a feeble imitator of the feebleft parts of Waller. In his tragedy of Heroic Love, he feems not to have had a true relifh for Homer whom he copied ; and in the Britifh Enchanters, very little fancy is to be found in a fubjecl fruitful of romantic imagery. It was fortunate for him, fays Mr. Walpole in his Anecdotes, that in an age when perfection raged fo fiercely againil lukewarm authors, that he had an intimacy with the Inquifitor General ; how elfe would fuch lines as thefe efcape the Bathos ; they are in his Heroic Love ; Why thy Gods Enlighten thee to fpeak their dark decrees. His Progrefs of Beauty, and his EfTay on Unnatural Flights in Poetry, feem to be the beft of his pieces ; in the latter are many good critical remarks and precepts, and it is accompanied with notes no WINDSOR. FOREST. GRANVILLE commands ; your aid, O Miifes, bring! What Mufe for GRANVILJLE can refufe to fmg? 6 The Groves of Eden, vanifh'd now fo long, Live in defcription, and look green in fong : NOTES. notes that contain much agreeable inftruftlon. For it may be added, his profe is better than his verfe. Witnefs a Letter to a Young Man on his taking Orders, his Obfervations on Burnet, and his Defence of his relation Sir Richard Grenville, and aTranflation of fome parts of Demoithenes, and a Letter to his Father on the Revolution, written in October 168*1. After having been Secretary at War 1710, Controller and Treafurer to the Houfehold, and of her Majefty's Privy Council, and created a Peer 1711, he was feized as a fufpefted perfon, at the acceffion of King George the Firft, and confined in the Tower, in the very chamber that had before been occupied by Sir Robert Walpole. But whatever may be thought of Lord Lanfdown as a poet, his- character as a man, was highly valuable. His converfation was moft pleafing and polite ; his affability, and univerfal benevolence and gentlenefs, captivating ; he was a firm friend, and a fincere lover of his country. This is the character I received of him from his near relation, and defcendant, the late excellent Mrs. Delany; who was herfelf a true judge of merit and worth; of which Ihe poflefied. fo great a degree. Lord Lanfdown was frequently the fubjeft of thofe entertaining converfations at which I had the honour and advantage of being fometimes prefent, both in London and Windfor ; in both which places, fhe was enabled to pafs the remainder of a moft well-fpent life, with great eafe and comfort, by the kindnefs of royal munificence, beitowed on her with equal delicacy and generofity. VER. 7. A feeble and niggardly encomium on the Paradife Loft, which in truth was not much read when our young poet wrote this paflage. There is an inaccuracy in the ninth line, in making the flame equal to a grove. It might have been Milton's flame. In a great writer we can pardon nothing, leaft his blemifhes fhould be copied. IMITATIONS. VER, 6. neget quis carmina Gallo ?" Virg. Thefe, WINDSOR-FOREST. m Thefe, were my breaft infpir'd with equal flame, Like them in beauty, mould be like in fame. 10 Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water feem to ftrive again ; Not Chaos-like together crufh'd and bruis'd, But, as the world, harmonioufly confus'd : ' Where order in variety we fee, 15 And where, tho* all things differ, all agree. Here waving groves a chequer'd fcene difplay, And part admit, and part exclude the day ; As fome coy nymph her lover's warm addrefs Nor quite indulges, nor can quite reprefs. 20 There, interfpers'd in lawns and op'ning glades, Thin trees arife that fhun each other's mades. Here in full light the ruflfet plains extend : There wrapt in clouds the blueiih hills afcend. Ev'n the wild heath difplays her purple dyes, 25 And 'midft the defert fruitful fields arife, That crown'd with tufted trees and fpringing corn, Like verdant ifles the fable wafte adorn. VARIATIONS. VER. 25. Originally thus ; Why mould I fing our better funs or air, Whofe vital draughts prevent the leach's care, While through frefh fields th' enliv'ning odours breathe, Or fpread with vernal blooms the purple heath ? . P. NOTES. VER. 15.] Evidently from Cooper's Hill; Such was the difcord which did firft difperfe Form, order, beauty, thro' the univerfe. VER. 19.] It is a falfe thought, and gives, as it were, fentiment to the groves. Let ii2 WINDS OR. FOREST. Let India boafl her plants, nor envy we The weeping amber or the balmy tree, 30 While by our oaks the precious loads are born, And realms commanded which thofe trees adorn. Not proud Olympus yields a nobler fight, Tho* gods aflembled grace his tow 'ring height, Than what more humble mountains offer here, 35 Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear. See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd, Here bluming Flora paints th' enamel'd ground, Here Ceres' gifts in waving profpect fland, And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand ; 40 Rich Induftry fits milling on the plains, And peace and plenty tell, a STUART reigns. Not thus the land appear'd in ages pail, A dreary defert, and a gloomy wafte, To favage beafts and favage laws a prey, 45 And kings more furious and fevere than they ; NOTES. VER. 33. Not proud Olympus, 5V.] Sir J. Denham, in bl& Cooper's Hill, had faid, ** Than which a nobler weight no mountain bears, But Atlas only, which fupports the fpheres." The companion is childifh, as the taking it from fabulous hiftory deftroys the compliment. Our Poet has (hewn more judgment : he has made a manly ufe of as fabulous a circumftance by the artful application of the mythology, Where, in their bleffings, all thofe Gods appear," &c. Making the nobility of the hills of Windfor-foreft to confift ia fupporting the inhabitants in plenty. W. This appears an idle play on the word " fupporting." VER. 37.] The word cro' impatient courfer, &c.] Tranfiated from Statius, " Stare adeo miferum eft, pereunt veftigia mille Ante fugam, abfentemqne ferit gravis ungula campum. " Thefe lines Mr. Dryden, in his preface to his tranflation of Frefnoy's Art of Painting, calls wonderfully fne, and fays, they would coft him an hour, if he had the leifure, to translate them, there is fo much of beauty in the original;" which was the reafon, I fuppofe, why Mr. P. tried his ftrength with them. W- The fecond line in Statius, fays Jortin, is bombaftic. VER. 158. and earth rolls back'} He has improv'd his original, " terraeque urbefque recedunt." Virg. W. JBut no imitation of Virgil was here intended. Here WINDS OR. FORE ST. 12 i Here arm'd with filver bows, in early dawn, Her bufkin'd Virgins traced the dewy lawn. 170 Above the reft a rural nymph was fam'd, Thy offspring, Thames ! the fair Lodona nam'd ; (Lodona's fate, in long oblivion caft, The Mufe mall fmg, and what me fmgs mail iaft.) Scarce -could the Goddefs from her nymph be known, 175 But by the crefcent and the golden zone. She fcorn'd the praife of beauty, and the care ; A belt her waift, a fillet binds her hair ; A painted quiver on her moulder founds, And with her dart the flying deer me wounds. 180 It chanc'd, as eager of the chace, the maid Beyond the foreft's verdant limits flray'd, Pan faw and lov'd, and burning with defire Purfu'd her night, her flight increas'd his fire. NOTES. VER. 171.] Dr. Johnfon feems to have pafied too fevere a cenfure on this epifode of Lodona. A tale in a defcriptive poet has certainly a good effeft. See Thomfon's Lavjnia ; and the many beautiful tales interwoven in the Loves of the Plants. VER. 179.] From the fourth book of Virgil, who copied it from Homer's beautiful figure of Apollo. Iliad, b. i. v. 76. But, as Dr. Clark finely and acutely obferves, even Virgil has loft the beauty and the propriety of the original. Homer fays, the arrows founded in the quiver becaufe the ftep of the God was hafty and irregular, as of an angry perfon. Irati defcribjtur iriceflus, paulo utique inasquebilior. IMITATIONS. VER. 175. " Nee pofitu variare comas ; ubi fibula veftem, Vitta coe'rcuerat negleftos alba capillos." Ovid. Not 122 WINDS OR- FORE ST. Not half fo fwift the trembling doves can fly 185 When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid fky j Not half fo fwiftly the fierce eagle moves, When through the clouds hedrives the trembling doves ; As from the God me flew with furious pace, Or as the God, more furious, urg'd the chace. 1 90 Now fainting, finking, pale, the nymph appears ; Now clofe behind, his founding fleps fhe hears j And now his fhadow reach'd her as fhe run, His fhadow lengthen'd by the fetting fun ; And now his fhorter breath, with fultry air, 195 Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair. In vain on father Thames fhe calls for aid, Nor could Diana help her injur'd maid. Faint, breathlefs, thus fhe pray'd, nor pray'd in vain ; " Ah Cynthia! ah tho' banifh'd from thy train, * e Let me, O let me, to the fhades repair, 201 * c My native fhades there weep, and murmur there/' She faid, and melting as in tears fhe lay, In a foft, filver flream diffolv'd away. The filver ftream her virgin coldnefs keeps, 205 For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps ; IMITATIONS. VER. 185, 186. " Ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbae, Ut folet accipiter trepidas agitare columbas." Ovid. VER. 193, 196. " Sol erat a tergo : vidi praecedere longam Ante pedes umbram : niii fi timor ilia videbat. Sed certe fonituque pedum terrebar ; et ingens Crinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris." Moft of the circumftances in this tale are from Ovid. Still WINDSOR-FOREST. 123 Still bears the name the haplefs virgin bore, And bathes the foreft where me rang'd before. In her chafte current oft the Goddefs laves, And with celeftial tears augments the waves. 210 Oft in her glafs the mufing fhepherd fpies The headlong mountains and the downward fkies. The wat'ry landfkip of the pendant woods, And abfent trees that tremble in the floods ; In the clear azure gleam the flocks are feen, 215 And floating forefts paint the waves with green, Through the fair fcene roll flow the lingering flreams, Then foaming pour along, and rufh into the Thames. Thou, too, great father of the Britilh floods ! With joyful pride furvey'fl our lofty woods ; 220 Where tow'ring oaks their growing honours rear, And future navies on thy mores appear. Not Neptune's felf from all her ftreams receives A wealthier tribute than to thine he gives. No feas fo rich, fo gay no banks appear, 225 No lake fo gentle, and no fpring fo clear. Nor Po fo fwells the fabling Poet's lays, While led along the ikies his current ftrays, As thine, which vifits Windfor's fam'd abodes, To grace the manfion of our earthly Gods : 230 NOTES. VER. 207. Still bears the name'} The River Loddon. VER. 211. Oft in her glafs, &c.] Thefe fix lines were added after the firil writing of this poem. P. And in truth they are but puerile and redundant. VER. 227.] Very ill exprefled; efpecially the river's filling jthe lays. Nor ,24 WINDSOR. FOREST. Nor all his flars above a luftre mow, Like the bright beauties on thy banks below ; Where Jove, fubdu'd by mortal paflion ftill, Might change Olympus for a nobler hill. Happy the man whom this bright Court approves, His Sovereign favours, and his country loves : 236 Happy next him, who to thefe fhades retires, Whom Nature charms, and whom the Mufe infpires : Whom humbler joys of home-felt quiet pleafe, Succeffive ftudy, exercife, and eafe. 240 He gathers health from herbs the foreft yields, And of their fragrant phyfic fpoils the fields .- With chemic art exalts the min'ral pow'rs, And draws the aromatic fouls of flow'rs : Now marks the courfe of rolling orbs on high ; 245 O'er figured worlds now travels with his eye ; Of ancient writ unlocks the learned ftore, Confults the dead, and lives paft ages o'er : Or wand'ring thoughtful in the filent wood, Attends the duties of the wife and good, 250 v ARI AT i ON s. VER. 233. It flood thus in the MS. And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover ftill, To change Olympus, &c. VER. 235. Happy the man, who to thefe (hades retires, But doubly happy, if the Mufe infpires! Bleft whom the fvveets of home-felt quiet pleafe ; But far more bleft, who ftudy joins with eafe* P. NOTES. VtR.236.] All this paflage clearly refembles one in Philips'* Cyder, Book i. towards the end. T obferve WINDS OR. FOREST. 125 T' obferve a mean, be to himfelf a friend, To follow nature, and regard his end ; Or looks on heav'n with more than mortal eyes, Bids his free foul expatiate in the ikies, Amid her kindred ftars familiar roam, 255 Survey the region, and confefs her home ! Such was the life great Scipio once admirM, Thus Atticus, and TRUMBAL thus retir'd. Ye facred Nine ! that all my foul poflefs, Whofe raptures fire me, and whofe vifions blefs, Bear me, oh bear me to fequefter'd fcenes, 261 The bow'ry mazes, and furrounding greens ; To Thames's banks which fragrant breezes fill, Or where ye Mufes fport on COOPER'S HILL. (On NOTES. VF.R. 251. T' obferve a mean] This is marked as an imitation of Lucretius in the firft, and all editions of Warburton ; but erroneoufly; the paflagc is in the fecond book of Lucan, v. 381. VER.259-] ' Here, you cannot but be fenfible (fays the ingenious Mr. Webb) how the enthufiafm is tamed by the preciflon of the couplet, and the confequent littlenefs of the fcsnery. How different from Milton ? Yet not the more Ceafe I to wander," &c. Par. Loft. 3d B. The following four lines, v. 267, are far more poetical, but thefe again muft yield to an enchanting pafTage in Thomfon's Summer, p. 39, of the firft edition, and which is altered for the worfe in the later editions. VER. 263.] Denham, fays Dr. Johnfon, feems to have been, at leaft among us, the author of a fpecies of compofition that may be denominated Local Poetry, of which the fundamental fubje& is fome particular landfcape, to be poetically defcribed, with the addition of fuch embellishments as may be fupplied by hiftorical retrofpedion, or incidental meditation. Cooper's Hill, if i 2 6 WINDS OR. FOREST. (On COOPER'S HILL eternal wreathes mall grow While lads the mountain, or while Thames mall flow) I feem through confecrated walks to rove, 267 I hear foft mufic die along the grove : Led by the found, I roam from made to fhade, By god-like Poets venerable made : 270 Here his firft lays majeftic DENHAM fung 5 There the laft numbers now'd from COWLEY'S tongue, VARIATIONS. VER. 267. It flood thus in the MS. Methinks around your holy fcenes I rove, And hear your mufic echoing through the grove : With tranfport vifit each infpiring fhade, By God-like Poets venerable made. NOTES. if it be malicioufly infpe&ed, will not be found without its faults ; the digreflions are too long, the morality too frequent, and the fentiments fuch as will not bear a rigorous enquiry. It was firft printed at Oxford, in 1635. VER. 271. majeflic Denham] In the Memoirs of Count Grammont, 410 edition, p. 200, Sir John Denham is charged with the atrocious crime of poifoning his young and beautiful wife. The populace in his neighbourhood faid they would tear him in pieces for this abominable aft, as foon as he fhould come abroad. In the year 1667 he appeared to have been difordered in his intellects. And in Temple's Works a very depretiating account of his behaviour is given, vol. i. p. 484. In Butler's Pofthumous Works is a fatire, entitled, A Panegyric on Denham's Recovery from Madnefs. VER. 272. There the laft numbers font? d from Cowley' s tongue.] Mr. Cowley died at Chertfey on the borders of the Foreft, and was from thence conveyed to Weftminfter. P. Difgufted with the bufinefs and buftle of the world, and the intrigues of courts, Cowley thought to have found an exemption of all cares in retiring to Chertfey. Dr. Johnfon wrote a Rambler to ridicule his wife to retire to America, and has published a Letter, vol. i. of his Lives, p. 29, which he recommends to the perufal of all who pant for folitude. His Houfe at Chertfey now belongs to Mr. Alderman Clarke. O early WINDS OR -FOREST. 127 O early loft ! what tears the river fhed, When the fad pomp along his banks was led ? His drooping fwans on every note expire, 275 And on his willows hung each Mufe's lyre. Since fate relentlefs flop'd their heav'nly voice, No more the forefls ring, or groves rejoice ; Who now mail charm the fhades, where COWLEY ftrung His living harp, and lofty DENHAM fung ? 280 But hark ! the groves rejoice, the foreft rings ! Are thefe revivM ? or is it GRANVILLE fings ! 'Tis yours, my Lord, to blefs our foft retreats, And call the Mufes to their ancient feats ; To paint anew the flow'ry fylvan fcenes, 285 To crown the forefts with immortal greens, Make Windfor-hills in lofty numbers rife, And lift her turrets nearer to the fkies ! To fing thofe honours you deferve to wear, And add new luftre to her filver ftar. 290 VARIATIONS. VER.275. What fighs, what murmurs, fill'd the vocal more ! His tuneful fvvans were heard to fing no more. P. VER. 290. Herftfoerjlar.] All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the year 1710. What immediately followed this, and made the conclufion, were thefe, My humble Mufe in unambitious ftrains Paints the green forefls and the flow'ry plains j Where NOTES. VER. 280.] Living is from Cowley. VER. 282.] The Mira of Granville was the Countefs of Newburgh. Towards the end of her life Dr. King, of Oxford, wrote a very fevere iatire againft her, in three books, 410, called The Toaft. Here 128 WINDSOR. FOREST, Here noble SURREY felt the facred rage, SURREY, the GRANVILLE of a former age : Matchlefs his pen, victorious was his lance, Bold in the lifts, and graceful in the dance : In the fame fhades the Cupids tun'd his lyre, 295 To the fame notes, of love, and foft defire : Fair Geraldine, bright objedt of his vow, Then nll'd the groves, as heav'nly Mira now. O would'ft VARIATIONS. Where I obfcurely pafs my carelefs days, Pleas'd in the filent fhade with empty praife, Enough for me that to the lifl'ning fwains Firft in thefe fields I fung the fylvan drains. P. NOTES. VER. 291. Here nolle Surrey] Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, one of the firft refiners of the Englifh poetry j who flourifh'd in the time of Henry VIII. P. VER. 297. Fear Geraldine'] " The Fair Geraldine, (fays Mr. Warton in his Hitt. of Englifh Poetry, vol. iii.) the general objeft of Lord Surrey's paflionate fonnets, is commonly faid to have lived at Florence, and to have been of the family of the Geraldi of that city. This is a mifapprehenfion of an expreflion in one of our poet's odes, and a paflage in Drayton's Heroic Epiftles. She was, undoubtedly, one of the daughters of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. ' It is not precifely known at what period the Earl of Surrey began his travels. They have the air of a romance. He made the tour of Europe in the true fpirit of chivalry, and with the ideas of an Amadis ; proclaiming the unparalleled charms of his miftrefs, and prepared to defend the caufe of her beauty with the weapons of knight-errantry ; nor was this adventurous journey performed without the intervention of an enchanter. The firft city in Italy which he propofed to vifit was Florence, the capital of Tufcany, and the original feat of the anceftors of his Geraldine. In his way thither, he puffed a few days at the Emperor's court ; where he became acquainted with Cornelius Agrippa, a celebrated adept WINDSOR-FOREST, 129 O would'fl thou fing what heroes Windfor bore, What kings firfl breath'd upon her winding fhore, Or raife old warriours, whofe ador'd remains 301 In weeping vaults her hallow'd earth contains ! With NOTES. in natural magic. This vifionary philofopher (hewed our hero, in a mirror of glafs, a living image of Geraldine, reclining on a couch, fick, and reading one of his mod tender fonnets by a waxen taper. His imagination/ which wanted not the flattering reprefentations and artificial incentives of illufion, was heated anew by this interefting and affecting fpe&acle. Inflamed with every enthuiiafm of the moft romantic paflion, he haflened to Florence ; and, on his arrival, immediately publifhed a defiance againft any perfon who could handle a lance and was in love, whether Chriltian, Jew, Turk, Saracen, or Canibal, who mould prefume to difpute the fuperiority of Geraldine's beauty. As the lady was pretended to be of Tufcan extraction, the pride of the Florentines was flattered on this occafion : and the Grand Duke of Tufcany permitted a general and unmolelled ingrefs into his dominions of the combatants of all countries, till this important trial mould be decided. The challenge was accepted, and the Earl victorious. The fhield which he prefented to the Duke before the tournament began, is exhibited in Vertue's valuable plate of the Arundel family, and was actually in the poflefiion of the late Duke of Norfolk. " Thefe heroic vanities did not, however, fo totally engrofs the time which Surrey fpent in Italy, as to alienate his mind from letters : he ftudied, with the greateft fuccefs, a critical knowledge of the Italian tongue ; and, that he might give new luftre to the name of Geraldine, attained a juft tafte for the peculiar graces of the Italian poetry. " He was recalled to England for fome idle reafon by the King, much fooner than he expeded : and he returned home, the moft elegant traveller, the moft polite lover, the moft learned nobleman, and the moft accomplifhed gentleman, of his age. Dexterity in tilting, and gracefulnefs in managing a horfe under arms, were excellencies now viewed with a critical eye, and praftifed with a high degree of emulation. In 1540, at a tournament held in prefence of the court at Weftminfter, and ia which the principal of the nobility were engaged, Surrey was VOL. i. K diftinguilhed I 3 o WINDSOR-FORES?. With Edward's ats adorn the fhining page, Stretch his long triumphs down through ev'ry age, Draw monarchs chain'd, and Crefli's glorious field, The lilies blazing on the regal fhield : 306 Then, from her roofs when Verrio's colours fall, And leave inanimate the naked wall, Still VARIATIONS. VER. 307. Originally thus in the MS. When Brafs decays, when Trophies lie o'er-thrown, And mould 'ring into duft drops the proud Jlone. NOTES. diftinguifhed above the reft for his addrefs in the ufe and exercifc of arms." In the Hiftory of Englifh Poetry, vol. iii. p. 12. is a poeni of the elegiac kind, in which he laments his imprifonment in Windfor Cattle. VER. 303. Edward's afis] Edward III. born here. P. In what an exquifite ftrain does Gray fpeak of this monarch ! and his fon ! Mighty vt&or, mighty lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies ! No pitying heart, no eye, Afford a tear to grace his obfequies. Which is followed by that ftriking queftion, Is the fable warrior fled ? Thy fon is gone. He refts among the dead. The fwarm, that in thy noontide beam were born, Gone to falute the rifing morn. THE BARD, ftrophe 2. I have fometimes wondered that Pope did not mention the building of Windfor Caftle by Edward III. His architect was William of Wykeham, whofe name, it muft not be wondered at, rf I feize every opportunity of mentioning with veneration and gratitude. Yet, perhaps, he was rather the fupervifor and comptroller of the work, than the a&ual architect, as he had fingular talents for bufinefs, activity, and management of affairs. VER. 307.] "Without much invention, (fays Mr. Walpole, vol. iii. p. 59.) and with lefs tafle, Verrio's exuberant pencil was ready WINDSOR. FOREST. i 3I Still in thy fong fhould vanquifh'd France appear, And bleed for ever under Britain's fpear. 310 Let fofter ftrains ill-fated Henry mourn, And palms eternal flourifa round his urn. Here o'er the Martyr-King the marble weeps, And, faft befide him, once-fear'd Edward fleeps : Whom not th j extended Albion could contain, From old Belerium to the northern main, 316 The grave unites ; where e'en the Great find reft, And blended lie th* oppreifor and th' oppreft ! Make facred Charles's tomb for ever known, (Obfcure the place, and uninfcrib'd the ftone) 320 Oh NOTES. ready at pouring out gods, goddefies, kings, emperors, and triumphs, over thofe public furfaces, on which the eye never refts long enough to criticife, and where one fhould be forry to place the works of a better matter, I mean, ceilings and ftaircafes. He received, in all, for his various works, the fum of . 6,845." VERGIL Henry mourn] Henry VI. P. How could he here omit the mention of Eton College, founded by this unfortunate King, and the Chapel of King's College in Cambridge. But Gray has made ample amends for this omifiion, by his moft beautiful ode on the profpeft of this neighbouring college, from which fo many ornaments and fupports of ftate and church have proceeded. VER. 314. once-feared Ed-ward fleets:] Edward IV. P. VER. 316.] See an account of Belerium, fo called from Bellerus a Cornifh giant, that part of Cornwall called the Lands End, in Warton's edition of Milton's Poems, p. 28. VER. 319. Male facred Charles's] Vigneal-Marville, v. I. p. 152. relates a faft concerning this unhappy Monarch that I do not find mentioned in any hiftory ; which, he fays, Lord Clarendon ufed to mention when he retired to Rouen in Normandy ; that one of the firfl circumftances that gave difguft to the people of England, and to fome of the nobility, was a K 2 hint t 3 ft WINDSOR- FOREST. Oh fact accurft ! what tears has Albion med, Heav'ns, what new wounds ! and how her old have bled! She faw her fons with purple death expire, Her facred domes involved in rolling fire, A dreadful feries of inteftine wars, 325 Inglorious triumphs and difhoneft fears. At length great ANNA faid " Let difcord ceafe !" She faid, the world obey'd, and all was Peace ! In that bleft moment from his oozy bed 329 Old father Thames advanc'd his rev'rend head j His VARIATIONS. VER. 321. Originally thus in the MS. Oh fadl accurft ! oh facrilegious brood, Sworn to Rebellion, principled in blood ! Since that dire morn what tears has Albion fhed, Gods ! what new wounds, &c. VER. 327. Thus in the MS. Till Anna rofe and bade the Furies ceafe ; Let there be peace file faid, and all was Peace. NOTES. hint thrown out by Charles I. at the beginning of his reign, that he thought all the ecclefiaftical revenues that had been feized and diftributed by Henry VIII. ought to be reflored to the church. VER. 322.] To fay that the plague in London, and its confumption by fire, were judgments infli&ed by Heaven for the murder of Charles I. is a very extraordinary ftretch of Tory principles indeed. VER 329,} It may gratify a curious reader to fee an extrafl of a letter of Prior to Lord Bolingbroke, written from Paris, May 1 8, 1713, concerning a medal that was to be Irruck on the Peace of Utrecht, fo highly celebrated in this paflage : communicated to me by the favor of the late Dutchefs Dowager of Portland. I diflike WINDS OR -FORE ST. 133 His trefles drop'd with dews, and o'er the flream His filming horns diffus'd a golden gleam ; Grav'd on his urn appear'd the moon, that guides His fwelling waters, and alternate tides ; The figur'd ftreams in waves of filver roll'd, 335 And on her banks Augufla rofe in gold. Around his throne the fea-born brothers flood, Who fwell with tributary urns his flood : Firfl the fam'd authors of his ancient name, The winding Ifis and the fruitful Thame : 340 V ARI ATI O N S. Between Verfe 330 and 331, originally flood thefe lines, From more to more exulting fhouts he heard, O'er all his banks a lambent light appear'd, With fparkling flames heavVs glowing concave (hone, Fictitious flars, and glories not her own. He faw, and gently rofe above the ftream ; His fhining horns diffufe a golden gleam : With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was dreft, The tributes of the diftant Eaft and Weft. P. NOTES. " I diflike your medal, with the motto, COMPOSITIS VENERANTUR ARMIS I will have one of my own defign ; the Queen's bud furrounded with laurel, and with this motto, ANNJE AUG. FELICI, PACIFIC^E : Peace in a triumphal car, and the words, PAX MISSA PER ORBEM. This is ancient, this is fimple, this is fenfe. Rofier fhall execute it, in a manner not feen in England finee Simonds's time." VER. 337.] He has copied, and equalled, the Rivers of Spenfer, Drayton, and Milton. K The i 3 4 WINDS OR- FOREST. The Kennet fwift, for filver eels renown'd ; The Lodden flow, with verdant alders crown'd ; Cole, whofe dark ftreams his flow'ry iflands lave ; And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave : The blue tranfparent Vandalis appears ; 345 The gulphy Lee his fedgy treffes rears ; And fullen Mole, that hides his diving flood ; And filent Darent, ftain'd with Danifli blood. High in the midft, upon his urn reclin'd, (His fea-green mantle waving with the wind) 350 The NOTES. VER. 341.] The word renotun'd, fays a true poet, Dr. Darwin, does not prefent the idea of a vifible objcft to the mind, and is thence profaic. VER. 350.] Whenever the river Thames is mentioned, lam afraid the difgraceful and impotent criticifm of Dr. Johnfon on a paflage in Gray's Odes, will recur to the mind of the reader. I heartily wifli, for the fake of its author, who had more ftrong fenfe than a juft relifh for true poetry, that this ftrange and unwarrantable remark of his, could be funk into oblivion. Our poet was not deterred, from the cenfure which Addifon pafled in his Campaign, on raifmg and perfonifying river-gods, from giving us this fine defcription, in which Thames appears and fpeaks with fuitable dignity and importance. How much fuperior is this picture to that of Boileau's Rhine ; who reprefents the Naids as alarming the God with an account of the march of the French Monarch ; upon which the River God aflumes the appearance of an old experienced commander, flies to a Dutch fort, and exhorts the garrifon to difpute the intended paflage. The Rhine, marching at their head, and obferving Mars and Bcllona on the fide of the enemy, is fo terrified with the view of thcfe fuperior divinities, that he moft gallantly runs away, and leaves the great hero Louis XIV. in quiet pofieflion of his banks. So much for a true court poet, who would not have dared to write the eight laft lines of this fpeech of Thames, from v. 415. The lines of Addifon in the Campaign were ; Gods WINDS OR. FORE ST. i 35 The God appear'd : he turn'd his azure eyes Where Windfor-domes and pompous turrets rife ; Then bow'd and fpoke ; the winds forget to roar, And the hufh'd waves glide foftly to the fhore. " Hail, facred Peace! hail long-expe&ed days, 355 That Thames's glory to the liars fhall raife ! Tho* Tyber's ftreams immortal Rome behold, Tho' foaming Hermus fwells with tides of gold, From heav'n itfelf, tho* fev'nfold Nilus flows, And harvefts on a hundred realms beftows ; 360 Thefe now no more mail be the Mufe's themes, Loft in my fame, as in the fea their ftreams. Let Volga's banks with iron fquadrons mine, And groves of lances glitter on the Rhine, Let barb'rous Ganges arm a fervile train j 365 Be mine the bleffings of a peaceful reign. No more my fons mail dye with Britifh blood Red Iber's fands, or Ifter's foaming flood : VARIATIONS. VER. 363. Originally thus in the MS. Let Venice boaft her Tow'rs amidft the Main, Where the rough Adrian fwells and roars in vain ; Here not a Town, but fpacious Realm fhall have A fure foundation on the rolling wave. NOTES. Gods may defcend in fa&ions from the flcies, And rivers from their oozy beds arifc. I cannot forbear mentioning, that the very firft compofition that made the young Racine known at Paris was his Ode from the Nymph of the Seine to the Queen, which ode, by the way, was corrected by Chapelain, at that time in high vogue as a critic, and by him recommended to the court. K 4 Safe 136 WINDSOR-FOREST. Safe on my fliore each tmmolefted fwain Shall tend the flocks,, or reap the bearded grain ; The fhady empire fhall retain no trace Of war or blood, but in the fylvan chace ; The trumpet ileep, while chearful horns are blown, And arms employ'd on birds and beads alone. Behold! th' afcending Villas on my fide, 375 Project long madows o'er the cryflal tide ; Behold ! Augufta's glitt'ring fpires increafe, And Temples rife, the beauteous works of Peace. I fee, I fee, where two fair cities bend Their ample bow, a new Whitehall afcend! 380 There mighty Nations mail enquire their doom, The World's great Oracle in times to come ; There Kings (hall fue, and fuppliant States be feen Once more to bend before a BRITISH QUEEN. Thy trees, fair Windfor ! now fhall leave their woods, 385 And half thy forefts rum into thy floods, Bear VARIATIONS. VER. 385, &c. were originally thus, NOW fhall our fleets the bloody Crofs difplay To the rich regions of the rifing day, Or thofe green ifles, where headlong Titan fteeps His biffing axle in th' Atlantic deeps ; Tempt icy feas, &c. p. NOTES. VER. 378. And Temple; rife,] The fifty new churches. P. VER. 380.. 4 new Whitehall'} " Several plates (fays Mr. Walpole) of the intended palace of Whitehall have been given, but, I believe, from no finifhed d efign of Inigo Jones. The four great WINDSOR. FOREST. 137 Bear Britain's thunder, and her Crofs difplay, To the bright regions of the rifing day ; Tempt icy feas, where fcarce the waters roll, Where clearer flames glow round the frozen Pole ; Or under fouthern Ikies exalt their fails, 391 Led by new ftars, and borne by fpicy gales ! For me the balm mall bleed, and amber flow, The coral redden, and the ruby glow, The pearly Ihell its lucid globe infold, 395 And Phoebus warm the rip'ning ore to gold. The time mall come, when free as feas or wind Unbounded Thames mall flow for all mankind, Whole nations enter with each fwelling tide, And feas but join the regions they divide ; 400 Earth's diftant ends our glory mall behold, And the new world launch forth to feek the old. Then mips of uncouth form mall ftem the tide, And feather'd people croud my wealthy fide, NOTES. great (beets are evidently made up from general hints, nor could fuch a fource of invention and tafte, as the mind of Inigo, ever produce fo much famenefs. The ftrange kind of cherubims on the towers at the end are prepofterous ornaments, and whether of Inigo or not, bear no relation to the reft. The great towers in the front are too near, and evidently borrowed from what he had feen in Gothic, not in Roman buildings. The circular court is a pidturefque thought, but without meaning or utility. VER. 391.] Here is almoft a prophecy of thofe difcoveries of new iflands and continents which this country of late years has had the honour to make. VER. 398. Unbounded Thames, vSV.] A wilh that London may be made a FREE PORT. P. And . ". .. il. X '.1V, A' 138 WINDSOR- FOREST. And naked youths and painted chiefs admire 405 Our fpeech, our colour, and our ftrange attire ! Oh ftretch thy reign, fair Peace ! from fliore to more, 'Till Conqueft ceafe ; and Slav'ry be no more ; 'Till the freed Indians in their native groves Reap their own fruits, and woo their fable loves, Peru once more a race of Kings behold, 41 1 And other Mexico's be rooPd with gold. Exil'd by thee from earth to deepefl hell, In brazen bonds, mall barb'rous Difcord dwell : Gigantic pride, pale Terror, gloomy Care, 415 And mad Ambition mall attend her there : There purple Vengeance bath'd in gore retires, Her weapons blunted, and extinct her fires : There hated Envy her own fnakes mail feel, And Perfecution mourn her broken wheel : 420 There Faction roar, Rebellion bite her chain, And gafping Furies third for blood in vain." Here ceafe thy flight, nor with unhallow'd lays Touch the fair fame of Albion's golden days : NOTES. VER. 4 C 9 .] To hear the favage youth repeat In loofe numbers wildly fweet, Their feather-cin&ured chiefs, and dufky loves, fays Mr. Gray, mod beautifully in his ode ; dujky loves is more accurate ihan/alle ; they are not negroes. VER. 422. in vain.'] This conclufion both of Horace and of Pope is feeble and flat. The whole mould have ended with this fpeech of Thames at this line, 422. IMITATIONS. VER. 423. " Quo, Mufa, tendis ? define pervicax Referre fermones Deorum et Magna modis tenuare parvis." Hor, The WINDS OR-F ORE ST. 139 The thoughts of Gods let GRANVILLE'S verfe recite, And bring the fcenes of op'ning fate to light. 426 My humble Mufe, in unambitious ftrains, Paints the green forefts and the flow'ry plains, Where Peace defcending bids her olive fpring, .And fcatters bleffings from her dove-like wing. Ev'n I more fweetly pafs my carelefs days, 43 1 Pleas*d in the filent made with empty praife ; Enough for me, that to the lift'ning fwains Firft in thefe fields I fung the fylvan ftrains. Several elegant imitations have been given of this fpecies of local poetry ; the principal feem to be, Grongar Hill ; the Ruins of Rome; Claremont, by Garth; Kymber, by Mr. Potter; Kenfington Gardens; Catharine Hill; Faringdon Hill; Newdwood Foreft ; Lewefdon Hill ; the Deferted Village, and Traveller, of Goldfmith; and the Ode on the diftant Profpeft of Eton College. Pope, it feems, was of opinion, that defcriptive poetry is a compofition as abfurd as a feaft made up of fauces : and I know many other perfons that think meanly of it. I will not prefume to fay it is equal, either in dignity or utility, to thofe competition* that lay open the internal conftitution of man, and that imitate characters, manners, and fentiments. I may however remind fuch contemners of it, that, in a fifter art, landfcape-painting claims the very next rank to hiftory-painting, being ever preferred to fingle portraits, to pieces of ftill-life, to droll figures, to fruit and flower-pieces ; that Titian thought it no diminution of his genius, to fpend much of his time in works of the former fpecies ; and that, if their principles lead them to condemn Thomfon, they muft alfo condemn the Georgics of Virgil, and the greateft part of the nobleft defcriptive poem extant ; I mean that of Lucretius. ODE ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY, MDCCVIIL AND OTHER PIECES FOR MUSIC. a a o C 143] ODE FOR MUSIC ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY*. I. T-VESCEND, ye Nine ! defcend and fmg 5 *~^ The breathing inflruments infpire, Wake into voice each filent firing, And fweep the founding lyre ! In a fadly-pleafmg flrain Let the warbling lute complain : Let the loud trumpet found, 'Till the roofs all around The fhrill echos rebound: While NOTES. * Our Author, as Mr. Harte told me, frequently and earneftly declared, that if Dryden had finimed a translation of the Iliad, he would not have attempted one, after fo great a mafter ; he might have faid, with even more propriety, I will not write a mufic ode after Alexander's Feaft ; which the variety and harmony of its numbers, and the beauty, force, and energy of its images, have confpired to place at the head of modern Lyric compofitions r always excepting The Bard of Gray, which, being of a more exalted ftrain than the moral poetry we had been accuftomed to, was not, at its firft appearance, fo much relifhed as it deferved ; but which, I will prefume to fay, will, in every fucceeding year, gain more and more admiration and applaufe, notwithftanding the unjuft, and I may fay taftelefs, animadverfions which Dr.Johnfon degraded himfelf by throwing out upon it, in the Lives of the Poets. The fubjecl; of Dryden's ode is fuperior to this of Pope's, becaufe the former is hiftorical, and the latter merely mythological. Dryden's is alfo more perfect in the unity of the aftion ; for Pope's is not the recital of one great action, but a defcription of many of the adventures of Orpheus. We all know, and have felt, the effecls of Handel's having fet Dryden's ode to rnufic. Mr. Smith, a worthy pupil of Handel, (as Mr. Mafon informs us), intended to have fet Mr. Gray's ode to mufic, 144 ODES. While in more lengthened notes and flow, 10 The deep, majeftic, folemn organs blow. Hark I the numbers foft and clear Gently fteal upon the ear ; Now louder, and yet louder rife, And fill with fpreading founds the fkies ; .15 Exulting in triumph now fwell the bold notes, In broken air, trembling, the wild mufic floats j 'Till, by degrees, remote and fmall, The drains decay, And melt away, 20 In a dying, dying fall. By NOTES. mufic, and Mr. Gray, whofe mufical feelings were exquifite, with a knowledge of the art, gave him an idea for the overture, which feemed equally proper and ftriking. In this refpeft, as well as many others, he refembled Milton. The name and the genius of Cowley gave, for many years, a currency and vogue to irregular odes, called Pindaric. One of the beft of which fpecies is that of Cobb, called, the Female Reign ; and two of the worft, Sprat's Plague of Athens, and Bolingbroke's Almahide. Congreve is thought to be the firil writer that gave a fpecimen of a legitimate Pindaric ode, with flrophe, antiftrophe, and ode, elucidated with a fenfible and judicious preface on the fubject. But it does not feem to have been obferved, that, long before, Ben Johnfon had given a model of this very fpecies of a regular Pindaric ode, addreft to Sir Lucius Gary and Sir H. Morrifon, page 233 of his works* folio, in which he entitles each ftanza the turne, the counter-turne, and the itand. Though Congreve's ode is not extraordinary, yet the difcourfe prefixed to it has a great deal of learning. Dr.Akenfide frequently mentioned to me, as one of the beft of the regular Pindaric odes, Fenton's to Lord Gower, 1716. Mr. Gray was of opinion, that the ftanzas of thefe regular odes ought not to confift of above nine lines each, at the moft. VER.7. Let the Imiti trumpet found, &V.] Our Author, in his rules for good writing* liad faid, that tie found jlould be an echo to ODES. 145 II. By Mufic, minds an equal temper know, Nor fwell too high, nor fink too low. If in the bread tumultuous joys arife, Mufic her foft, affuafive voice applies 5 5 Or, when the foul is prefs'd with cares, Exalts her in enhVning airs. Warriors Ihe fires with animated founds $ Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds t Melancholy lifts her Headj 30 Morpheus rouzes from his bed, Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, Lift'ning Envy drops her fnakes ; Inteftine war no more our Paflions wage, And giddy Factions hear away their rage. 35 But NOTES. to tbefenfc. The graces it adds to the harmony are obvious. But we fhould never have feen all the advantages arifing from this rule, had this ode not been written. In which, one may venture to fay, is found all the harmony that poetic found, when it comes in aid of fenfe, is capable of producing. W. This panegyric is certainly carried too high : this ode is not the confummaticn of true poetic harmony. VER. 22.] This ftanza much refembles the fifth of Congreve'a mufic ode ; the fecond of which, by the way, is uncommonly good. It is remarkable that Pope knew nothing of mufic, and had no ear for it ; as had Milton, Gray, and Mafon : the laft of whom is an excellent performer and compofer. VER. 35. Dr. Greene fet this ode to mufic, in 1730, as an exercife for his Doctor's Degree at Cambridge, on which occafion Pope made confiderable alteration in it, and added the following ftanza in this place. Amphion thus bade wild diflenfion ceafe, And foften'd mortals learn'd the arts of peace, VOL. i. L Amphion 146 ODES. III. But when our Country's caufe provokes to Arms, How martial mufic ev'ry bofom warms ! So when the firft bold veffel dar'd the feas, High on the flern the Thracian rais'd his drain, While Argo faw her kindred trees 40 Defcend from Pelion to the main. Tranfported demi-gods flood round, And men grew heroes at the found, Enflam'd with glory's charms : NOTES. Amphion taught contending kings, From various difcords, to create The mufic of a well-tun'd ftate ; Nor flack, nor ftrain the tender firings, Thofe ufeful touches to impart, That ftrike the fubjecVs anfwering heart, And the foft filent harmony that fprings From iacred union and confent of things. And he made another alteration, at the fame time, in flanza iv. v. 51, and wrote it thus ; Sad Orpheus fought his confort loft ; The adamantine gates were barr'd, And nought was feen and nought was heard, Around the dreary coaft ; But dreadful gleams, &c. VER. 39.] He might have added a beautiful defcription of the Argo in Apollonius Rhodius; and if he had been a reader of Pindar, he might have looked into the fourth Pythian ode, particularly verfe 3 15 of Orpheus. Oxford edition, folio, 1697. VER. 40. While drgo~\ Few images in any poet, ancient or modern, are more ftriking than that in Apollonius, where he fays, that when the Argo was failing near the coaft where the Centaur Chiron dwelt, he came down to the very margin of the fea, bringing his wife with the young Achilles in her arms, that he might mew the child to his father Peleus, who was on his voyage with the other Argonauts. Apollonius Rhodius, Lib. v. ver. 553. Each ODES. I47 Each chief his fev'nfold fhield difplay'd, 45 And half unfheath'd the mining blade : And feas, and rocks, and fkies rebound To arms, to arms, to arms! r :./.>; IV. But when through all th* infernal bounds, Which flaming Phlegeton furrounds, 50 Love, ftrong as Death, the Poet led To the pale nations of the dead, What NOTES. VER. 48. To arms, to arms,'} Which effects of the fong, however lively, do not equal the force and fpirit of what Dryden afcribes to the fong of his Grecian artift ; whofe imagery in this paflage is fo alive, fo fublime, and fo animated, that the poet himfelf appears to be ftrongly poflefled of the action defcribed, and confequently places it fully before the eyes of the reader. Mr. St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, happening to pay a morning vifit to Dryden, whom he always refpefted, found him in an unufual agitation of fpirits, even to a trembling. On enquiring the caufe, " I have been up all night, (replied the old bard) ; my mufical friends made me promife to write them an ode for their Feail of St. Caecilia : I have been fo ftruck with the fubje& which occurred to me, that I could not leave it till I had completed it : here it is, finifhed at one fitting." And immediately he mewed him this ode, which places the Britifh lyric poetry above that of any other nation. This anecdote, as true as it is curious, was imparted by Lord Bolingbroke to Pope, by Pope to Mr. Gilbert Weft, by him to my ingenious friend Mr. Berenger, who communicated it to me. The rapidity, and yet the perfpicuity of the thoughts, the glow and the exprefii venefs of the images, thofe certain marks of the firft fketch of a mafter, confpire to corroborate the fact. It is not to be underftood, that this piece was not afterwards reconfidered, retouched, and corrected. VER. 49. But ivbeti\ See Divine Legation, Book ii. feft. I. Where Orpheus is confidered as a Philofopher, a Legiflator, and a Myftagogue. In vol. v. of the Memoirs of Infcriptions, &c. L 2 p. U7> i 4 8 ODE S. What founds were heard, What fcenes appear'd, O'er all the dreary coaft ! 55 Dreadful gleams, Difmal fcreams, Fires that glow, Shrieks of woe, Sullen moans, 60 Hollow groans, And cries of tortur'd ghofts ! But hark ! he ftrikes the golden lyre ; And fee ! the tortur'd ghofts refpire, See, fliady forms advance ! 65 Thy ftone, O Sifyphus, Hands ftill, Ixion refts upon his wheel, And the pale fpectres dance ; The Furies fink upon their iron beds, And fnakes uncurl 'd hang lift'ning round their heads. f ' '> - \ t j V i . V. By the ftreams that ever flow, 7 1 By the fragrant winds that blow O'er the Elyfian flow'rs ; NOTES. p. 117, is a very curious diflertation upon the Orphic Life, by the Abbe Fraguier. He was the firft critic who rightly interpreted the words of Horace, Caedibus & faedo vidu, as meaning an abolition of eating human fleih. Though the Hymns that remain are not the work of the real Orpheus, yet are they extremely ancient, certainly older than ihe Expedition of Xerxes againft Greece. VER. 66.] This line is taken from an ode of Cobb. VER. 68. Dance-,] A moft improper, becaufe ludicrous image. . By ODES. , 49 By thofe happy fouls who dwell In yellow meads of Afphodel, 75 Or Amaranthine bow'rs j By the heroes armed {hades, Glitt'ring through the gloomy glades ; By the youths that dy'd for love, Wand'ring in the myrtle grove, 80 Reftore, reftore Eurydice to life : Oh take the huiband, or return the wife ! He fung, and hell confented To hear the Poet's prayer : Stern Proferpine relented, 85 And gave him back the fair. Thus fong could prevail O'er death, and o'er hell, A conqueft how hard and how glorious ! Tho' fate had fafl bound her 90 With Styx nine times round her Yet mufic and love were victorious. But NOTES. VER. 77.] Thefe images are pifturefque and appropriated, and are fuch notes as might, Draw iron tears down Pluto's cheek, And make hell grant what love did feek. Pope being infenfible of the effefts of mufic, enquired of Dr. Arbuthnot whether Handel really deferved the applaufe he met with. The Dutchefs of Queenfberry told me that Gay could play on the flute, and that this enabled him to adapt fo happily feme airs in the Beggars Opera, VER. 83.] This meafure is unfuited to the fubje&. VER. 87.] Thefe numbers are of fo burlefque, fo low, and ridiculous a kind, and have fo much the air of a vulgar drinking t 3 fong, 150 ODE S. VI. But foon, too foon, the lover turns his eyes : Again fhe falls, again fhe dies, fhe dies ! How wilt thou now the fatal fitters move ? 95 No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. Now under hanging mountains, Befide the falls of fountains, Or where Hebrus wanders, Rolling in Maeanders, 100 All alone, Unheard, unknown, He makes his moan ; And calls her ghoft, Forever, ever, ever loft 1 IP5 NOTES. fong, that one is amazed and concerned to find them in a ferious ode ; and in an ode of a writer eminently {killed, in general, in accommodating his founds to his fentiments. Addifon thought this meafure exa&ly fuited to the comic character of Sir Trufty in his Rofamond, by the introduction of which he has fo ftrangely debafed that very elegant opera. It is obfervable that this ludicrous meafure is ufed by Pryden, in a fong of evil fpirits, in the fourth aft of the State of Innocence. VER.97.] Thefe fcenes, in which Orpheus is introduced as making his lamentations, are not fo wild, fo favage, and difmal, as thofe mentioned by Virgil ; and convey not fuch images of defolation and deep defpair, as the caverns on the banks of Strymon and Tanais, the Hyperborean deferts, and the Riphaean folitudes. And to fay of Hebrus, only, that it rolls in meanders, is flat and feeble, and does not heighten the melancholy of the place. He that would have a complete idea of Orpheus's anguifh and fituation, muftlook at the exquifite figure of him (now in the poflefiion of Sir Watkin Williams Wynne) painted by Mr. Dance, a work that does honor to the true genius of the artift, and to the age in which it was produced. Now ODES. 151 Now with Furies furroimded, Defpairing, confounded, He trembles, he glows, Amidft Rhodope's fnows : See, wild as the winds, o'er the defert he flies ; no Hark ! Haemus refounds with the Bacchanals cries Ah fee, he dies ! Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he fung, Eurydice flill trembled on his tongue, Eurydice the woods, 115 Eurydice the floods, Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung. VII. Mufic the fiercefl grief can charm, And fate's fevereft rage difarm : Mufic can foften pain to eafe, 1 20 And make defpair and madnefs pleafe : Our joys below it can improve, And antedate the blifs above. NOTES. VER. 1 08.] I am afraid there is a trivial antithefis in tkefe lines betwixt the words fnows and glows, unworthy our author. VER. 112.] The death is exprefled with a brevity and abruptnefs fuitable to the nature of the ode. Inftead of befung t Virgil fays, vocabaty which is more natural and tender, and adds a moving epithet, that he called miferam Eurydicen. The repetition of Eurydice in two very fhort lines hurts the ear, which Virgil efcaped by interpofing feveral other words ; and the name itfelf happens not to be harmonious enough to fuffer fuch repetition. VER. 1 1 8. Mufic the ferceft'] This is fuch a clofe repetition of the fubjeft of the fecond ftanza, that it muft be thought ablameable tautology. L 4 This 152 ODE S. This the divine Cecilia found, And to her Maker's praife confin'd the found. When the full organ joins the tuneful quire, 126 Th* immortal pow'rs incline their ear ; Borne on the fwelling notes our fouls afpire. While folemn airs improve the facred fire ; And Angels lean from heav'n to hear. 130 Of Orpheus now no more let Poets tell, To bright Cecilia greater pow'r is giv'n ; Jlis numbers rais'd a made from hell, Her's lift the foul to heav'n, NOTES. VER. 131. It is obfervable that this ode, as well as that of Dryden, concludes with an epigram of four lines ; a fpeqies of witty writing as flagrantly unfuitable to the dignity, and as foreign to the nature of the lyric, as it is of the epic mufe. IF we caft a tranfient view over the moft celebrated of the modern lyrics, we may obferve that the ftanza of Petrarch, which has been adopted by all his fucceffors, difpleafes the ear, by its tedious uniformity, and by the number of identical cadences, And, indeed, to fpeak truth, there appears to be little valuable in Petrarch, except the purity of his diction. His fentiments, even of love, are metaphyfical and far-fetched. Neither is there much variety in his fubjefts, or fancy in his method of treating them. Fulvio Tefli, Chtabrera, and Metaftafio, are much better lyric poets. When Boileau attempted an ode, he exhibited a glaring proof of what will frequently be hinted in the courfe of thefe notes, that the writer, whofe grand charaaeriftical talent is fatiric or moral poetry, will never fucceed, with equal merit, in the higher branches of his art. In his ode on the taking Namur, are inrtances of the bombaftic, of the profaic, and pf the puerile j and it is no fmall confirmation of the ruling paffion of this author, that he could not conclude his ode, but with a fevere ftroke on his old ODES. I53 old antagonift Perrault, though the majefty of this fpecies of compofition is fo much injured by defcending to perfonal fatire. The name of Malherbe is refpe&able, as he was the firft reformer of the French poefy, and the firft who gave his countrymen any idea of a legitimate ode, though his own pieces have hardly any thing but harmony to recommend them. The odes of La Motte, though fo highly praifed by Sanadon, and by Fontenelle, are fuller of delicate fentiment, and philofophical reflection, than of imagery, figures, and poetry. There are particular ftanzas eminently good, but not one intire ode. Some pf Roufleau's, particularly that to Fortune, and fome of his Pfalms ; and one or two of Voltaire's, particularly, to the King of Pruflia on his acceffion to the throne, and on Maeupertuis's travels to the North, to meafure the degrees of the meridian toward the equator, feem to rife above that exa& mediocrity which diftinguimes the lyric poetry of the French. " We have had (fays Mr. Gray) in our language, no other odes of the fublime kind, than that of Diyden on St. Cecilia's Day : for Cowley, who had his merit, yet wanted judgment, ftyle, and harmony, for fuch a taflc. That of Pope is not worthy of (b great a mafter. Mr. Mafon, indeed of late days, has touched the true chords, and with a mafierly hand, in fome of his chorufes ; above all in the laft of Cara&acus ; ft JJark ! heard ye not yon footftep dread ?" &c. Gray's Works, 4to. page 25, C 154] TWO CHORUS'S TO THE TRAGEDY OF BRUTUS CHORUS OF ATHENIANS. STROPHE I. TT E {hades, where facred truth is fought ; * Groves, where immortal Sages taught ; Where heav'nly vifions Plato fir'd, And Epicurus lay infpir'd ! In vain your guiltlefs laurels flood 5 Unfpotted long with human blood. War, horrid war, your thoughtful Walks invades, And fteel now glitters in the Mufes fhades. N OTES. 3 Altered from Shakefpear by the Duke of Buckingham, at vrhofe defire thefe two Chorus's were compofed to fupply as many, wanting in his play. They were fet many years afterward by the famous Bononcini, and performed at Buckingham-houfe. P. VER.3. IWere beaifnly vifwns Plato Jir'J, And Epicurus lay infpir'd!] The propriety of thefe lines arifes from hence, that Brutus, one of the Heroes of this play, was of the Old Academy ; and Caffius, the other, was an Epicurean. W. I cannot be perfuaded that Pope thought of Brutus and Caffius, as being followers of different feds of philofophy. Oh ODES. 1SJ ANTISTROPHE I. Oh heav'n-born fifters ! fource of art ! "Who charm the fenfe, or mend the heart; 10 Who lead fair Virtue's train along, Moral Truth, and myftic Song ! To what new clime, what diftant fky, Forfaken, friendlefs, mail ye fly? Say, will ye blefs the bleak Atlantic more? 15 Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more ? STROPHE II. When Athens finks by fates unjuft, When wild Barbarians fpurn her duft ; Perhaps ev'n Britain's utmoft more Shall eeafe to blufti with ftranger's gore, 20 See Arts her favage fons controul, And Athens rifing near the pole ! Till fome new Tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madnefs tears them from the land. NOT ES. VER. 12. Moral Truth, and myjlic Song/] The conftruftion is dubious. Does the poet addrefs Moral Truth and Myftic Song, as being the Heaven-born Sifters ; or does he addrefs himfelf to the Mufes, mentioned in the preceding line, and fo make Moral Truth and Myftic Song to be a part of Virtue's train ? As Hefiod begins his poem. Dr. Warburton's propofed corre&ion is not confiftent with either conftruftion, when he fays, the poet had expreffed himfelf better had he faid Moral Truth in Myftic Song. Moral Truth, a finglc perfon, can neither be the Heaven-born Sifters, nor yet, alone, the train of Virtue. If it could, the emendation might have been fpared, becaufe this is no uncommon figure in poetry. The metre is unfkilfully broken by the want of a fyllablc in this line. Ye 156 ODE S. ANTISTROPHE II. Ye Gods ! what juftice rules the ball ? 25 Freedom and Arts together fall ; Fools grant whate'er Ambition craves, And men, once ignorant, are flaves. Oh curs'd effects of civil hate, In ev'ry age, in ev'ry ftate ! 30 Still, when the luft of tyrant pow'r fucceeds, Some Athens perimes, fome Tully bleeds. NOTES. VER, 26. Freedom and Arts'} A fentiment worthy of Alcasus ! Throughout all his works our author conftantly (hews himfelf a true lover of true liberty. VER. 32. Some Athens} , Where the mufes haunt, The marble porch where wifdom wont to talk With Socrates or Tully, hears no more, Save the hoarfe jargon of contentious monks j Or female fuperilition's midnight prayer j When brutal force Ufurps the throne of juftice, turns the pomp Of guardian power, the majefty of rule, The fword, the laurel, and the purple robe, To poor difhoneft pageants ! Pleafures of Imagination, B. \\. p, 663. This ode is of the kind which M. D'Alembert, judging like a mathematician, prefers to odes that abound with imagery and figures, namely, what he calls the Dida&ic ode ; and then proceeds to give reafons for preferring Horace to Pindar as a lyric poet. Marmontel in his Poetic oppofes him- Thefe chorufes are elegant and harmonious ; but are they not chargeable with the fault, which Ariftotle imputes to many of Euripides, that they are foreign and adventitious to the fubjeft, and ODES. I 57 and contribute nothing towards the advancement of the main adion ? Whereas the chorus ought, *' Mogjov avast ra oA#, xeti cvvaiyuv^eoQcct," to be a part or member of the one whole, co-operate with, and help to accelerate the intended event ; as is conftantly, adds the philofopher, the pra&ice of Sophocles. Whereas thefe refle&ions of Pope OH the baneful influences of war, on the arts and learning, and on the univerfal power of love, feem to be too general, are not fufficiently appropriated, do not rife from the fubjeft and occafion, and might be inferted with equal propriety in twenty other tragedies. This remark of Ariftotle, though he does not himfelf produce any examples, may be verified from the following, among many others. In the Phoenicians of Euripides, they fing a long and very beautiful, but ill placed, hymn to Mars ; I fpeak of that which begins fo nobly, ver. 793, " O direful Mars ! why art thou ftill delighted with blood and with death, and why an enemy to the feafts of Bacchus ?" And a ftill more glaring inftance may be brought from the end of the third aft of the Troades, in which the ftory of Ganymede is introduced not very artificially. To thefe may be added that exquifite ode in praife of Apollo, defcriptive of his birth and victories, which we find in the Iphigenia in Tauris. On the other hand, the chorufes of Sophocles, never defert the fubjeft of each particular drama, and all their fentiments and reflections are drawn from the fituation of the principal perfonage of the fable. Nay Sophocles hath artfully found a methdd of making thofe poetical defcriptions, with which the chorufes of the ancients abound, carry on the chief defign of the piece ; and has by thefe means accomplifhed what is a great difficulty in writing tragedy, united poetry with propriety. In the Philoftetes the chorus takes a natural occafion, at verfe 694, to give a minute and moving picture of the folitary life of that unfortunate hero ; and when afterwards, at verfe 855, pain has totally exhaufted the ftrength and fpirits of Philoftetes, and it is neceflary for the plot of the tragedy that he fhould fall afleep, it is then, that the chorus breaks out into an exquifite ode to fleep. As in the Antigone, with equal beauty and decorum in an addrefs to the God of Love, at verfe 791 of that play. And thus laftly, when the birth of Edipus is doubtful, and his parents unknown, the chorus fuddenly exclaims, " TK , 5> " From which, O my fon, of the immortal gods, didft thou fpring ? Was it fome nymph, a favourite of Pan, that haunts the mountains i 5 8 ODE S. mountains; or forae daughter of Apollo; for this god loves the remote rocks and caverns, who bore you ? Or was it Mercury who reigns in Cyllene, or did Bacchus, " 0? teutn ITT' axeut ofw," ver. IIl8. a god who dwells on the tops of the mountains, beget you, on any of the nymphs, that poflefs Helicon, with whom he frequently fports ?" But what mall we fay to the flrong objections lately made by fome very able and learned critics to the ufe of the chorus at all ? The critics I have in view, are Metaftafio, Twining, Pye, Colman, and Johnfon ; who have brought forward inch powerful arguments againli this fo important a part of the ancient drama, as to make our conviction of its utility and propriety, founded on what Hurd, Mafon, and Brumoy, have fo earneftly and elegantly urged on the fubjech ODES. , 59 CHORUS OF YOUTHS AND VIRGINS*. SEMICHORUS. H Tyrant Love! haft thou poffeft The prudent, learn'd, and virtuous breafl ? Wifdom and wit in vain reclaim, And Arts but foften us to feel thy flame. Love, foft intruder, enters here, 5 But entring learns to be fmcere. Marcus with blumes owns he loves, And Brutus tenderly reproves. NOTES. * Some of Dryden's fhort lyrical odes and fongs are wonderfully harmonious ; and not fufficiently noticed ; particularly in King Arthur, Aft III. " O fight ! the mother of defire," &c. The fong alfo of the Syrens in Aft IV : and the Incantations in the Third Aft of CEdipus, put in the mouth of Tirefias j " Chufe the darkeft part o'th' grove, Such as ghofts at noon-day love," &c. Nor muft his firft ode for St. Cecilia's Day be forgotten, in which are paffages almoft equal to any of the fecond : efpecially its opening, and the fecond ftanza that defcribes Tubal and his brethren. It is, methinks, impoflible to read, without aftonimment and regret, fuch taftelefs commendations and unmerited. applaufes as fuch a man as Dr. Johnfon has beftowed on the ode to Mrs. Killigrew, and the ftrange preference he gives it, efpecially the firft llanza, to any compofition in our language ; which ftanza is really unintelligible, and full of abfurd bombaft, and nearly approaching the realm of nonfenfe. Why, 160 ODE S. Why, Virtue, dofl thou blame defire, Which Nature has impreft ? 10 "Why, Nature, doft thou fooneft Jire The mild and gen'rous breafl ? CHORUS. Love's purer flames the Gods approve ; The Gods and Brutus bend to love : Brutus for abfent Portia fighs, 1 5 And fterner Caflius melts at Junia's eyes. What is loofe love ? a tranfient guft, Spent in a fudden florin of luft, A vapour fed from wild defire, A wand'ring, felf-confuming fire. 20 But Hymen's kinder flames unite. And burn for ever one ; Chafle as cold Cynthia's virgin light, Productive as the Sun. SEMICHORUS. Oh fource of ev'ry focial tye, 25 United wim, and mutual joy ! What various joys on one attend, As fon, as father, brother, hufband, friend ? Whether his hoary fire he fpies, While thoufand grateful thoughts arife ; 33 NOTES. VER. 9. Wby t Virtue, tfc.] IQ. allufion to that famous conceit of Guarini, " Se il peccare e si dolce," &c. W. Bayle is fond of faying that Manicheifm probably arofe from a ftrong meditation on this deplorable ftate of man, Or ODES, 161 Or meets his fpoufe's fonder eye ; Or views his fmiling progeny j What tender paffions take their turns, What home-felt raptures move ? His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,' With rev'rence, hope, and love. 36 CHORUS. Hence guilty joys, diftafles, furmifes, Hence falfe tears, deceits, difguifes, Dangers, doubts, delays, furprizesj Fires that fcorch, yet dare not mine : 46 Pureft love's unwafting treafure, Conftant faith, fair hope, long leifure, Days of eafe, and nights of pleafure ; Sacred Hymen ! thefe are thine *. NOTES. VER. 31. Or meets} Recalling to our minds that pathetic flroke in Lucretius ; " dulces occurrunt ofcula nati Przripere, & tacita peftus dulcedine tangunt." Lib. iii, 909. VER. 42.] Not to the purpofe ; long leifure. * Thefe two Chorus's are enough to (hew us his great talents for this fpecies of Poetry, and to make us lament he did not profecute his purpofe in executing fome plans he had chalked out ; but the Character of the Managers of Playhoufes at that time, was what (he faid) foon determined him to lay afide all thoughts of that nature. Nor did his morals, lefs than the juft fenfe of his own importance, deter him from having any thing to do with the Theatre. He remembered that an ancient Author hath acquainted us with this extraordinary circumftance ; that, in the conftruftion of Pompey's magnificent Theatre, the feats of it were fo contrived, as to ferve, at the fame time, for fteps to a VOL. i, M temple i6t ODES. temple of Venus, which he had joined to his Theatre. The moral Poet could not but be ilruck with a ftory where the Xoyo? and the [*vQot of it ran as imperceptibly into one another, as the Theatre and the Temple. W. How lamentable is it, that a xvritef of great talents, fliould mifemploy them in ftriving to difcover new meanings, and analogies, in things aot alike, and not founded on plain truth and reafon ! Thus, the X 7 Ine in Lycidis is called gadding, becaufe, though married to the Elm, like bad wives (he goes abroad. Thus, in Shakefpear, the flower called Love-Jn-idlenefs intimates that this paflion has its chief power when people are idle. Thus, in Macbeth, fcreams of death and prophefying, mould be read, Aunts, prophefying, old women. And thus, in Midfummer Night's Dream, inflead of Cupid all-arm'd, read Cupid alarm'd ; that is, alarmed at tlie chaftity of Lady Elizabeth, which lefiened his power. ODES. 163 ODE ON SOLITUDE 4 . TT A p p Y the man, whofe wifli and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air, In his own ground. Whofe herds with milk, whofe fields with bread, Whofe flocks fupply him with attire, Whofe trees in fummer yield him made, In winter fire. Bleft, who can unconcern'dly find Hours, days, and years Hide foft away, In health of body, peace of mind, Quiet by day, Sound deep by night ; fludy and eafe, Together mixt ; fweet recreation : And innocence, which moft does pleafe With meditation. Thus let me live, unfeen, unknown, Thus unlamented let me die, Steal from the world, and not a ftone Tell where I lie., a This was a very early production of our Author, written at ubout twelve years old. P. M 2 Scaliger, 164 ODE S. Scaliger, Voltaire, and Grotius, were but eighteen years old \\hen they produced, the two firft their CEdipufes, and the laft. his Adamus Exul. But the moft extraordinary inftance of early excellence is The Old Batchelor of Congreve, written at nineteen only; as comedy implies and requires a knowledge of life and characters, which are here difplayed with accuracy and truth. Mr. Spence informed me that Pope once faid to him, " I wrote things, I am afliamed to fay how foon ; part of my epic poem Alcander when about twelve. The fcene of it lay in Rhodes, and fome of the neighbouring iflands ; and the poem opened under the water, with a defcription of the court of Neptune ; that couplet on the circulation of the blood, which I afterwards inferted in the Dunciad, As man's mxanders, to the vital fpring Roll all their tides, then back their circles bring, was originally in this poem, word for word." After he had burnt this very early composition, Atterbury told him, he much wifhed fome parts of it, as a fpecimen, had been more carefully preferved. Quintilian, whofe knowledge of human nature was confummate, has obferved, that nothing quite correct and faultlefs is to be expected in very early years, from a truly elevated genius : that a generous extravagance and exuberance are its proper marks, and that a premature exaftnefs is a certain evidence of future flatnefs and fterility. His words are incomparable, and worthy confideration. " Audeat haec astas plura, et inveniat, et inventis gaudeat, fmt licet ilia non fatis interim ficca et fevera. Facile remedium eft ubertatis, fterilia nullo labore vincuntur. Ilk mini in pueris natura nimium fpei dabit, in qua ingenium judicio prxfumitur. Materiam efie primum volo vel abundantiorem, atque ultra quam oportet fufam. Multum inde decoqtiant anni, multum ratio limabit, aliquid velut ufu -ipfo deteretur, fit modo unde excidi poffit & quod exculpi : erit autem, fi non ab initio tenuem laminam duxerimus, et quam caelatura altior rumpat. Quare mini ne maturitas quidem ipfa feftinet, nee mufta in lacu ttatim auftera fint ; fie et annos ferent, et veftuftate proficient." This is very ftrong and mafculine fenfe, expreffed and enlivened by a train of metaphors, all of them elegant, and well preferved. Whether thefe early productions of Pope, would not have appeared to ODES, 165 to Quintilian to be rather too finiftied, correft, and pure, and what he would have inferred concerning them, is too delicate a fubjecl for me to enlarge upon. Let me rather add an entertaining anecdote. When Guido and Dominichino had each of them painted a picture in the church of Saint Andrew, Annibal Carrache, their mafter, was prefled to declare which of his two pupils had excelled. The pifture of Guido reprefented Saint Andrew on his knees before the crofs ; that of Dominichino reprefented the flagellation of the fame Apoflle. Both of them in their different kinds were capital pieces, and were painted in frefco, oppofite each other, to eternize, as it were, their rivalfliip and contention. " Guido (faid Carrache) has performed as a mafter, and Dominichino as a fcholar. But (added he) the work of the fcholar is more valuable than that of the mafter. In truth, one may perceive faults in the piclure of Dominichino that Guido has avoided, but then there are noble ftrokes, not to be found in that of his rival." It was eafy to difcern a genius that promifed to produce beauties, to which the fweet, the gentle, and the graceful Guido would never afpire. The firft fketches of fuch an artift ought highly to be prized. Different geniufes unfold themfelves at different periods of life. In fome minds the one is a long time in ripening. Not only inclination, but opportunity and encouragement, a proper fubjecl, or a proper patron, influence the exertion or the fuppreffion of genius. Thefe ftanzas on Solitude are a ftrong inftance of that contemplation and moral turn, which was the diftinguifhing chara&eriftic of ogr Poet's, mind. An ode of Cowley, which he produced at the age of thirteen years, is of the fame caft, and perhaps not in the leaft inferior to this of Pope. The voluminous Lopez de Vega is commonly, but perhaps incredibly, reported by the Spaniards to have compofed verfes when he was five years old; and Torquato Taflb, the fecond or third of the Italian poets, for that wonderful original Dante is the firft, is faid to have recited poems and orations of his own writing, when he was feven. It is however certain, which is more extraordinary, that he produced his Rinaldo in his eighteenth year, no bad precurfor to the Gerufalemma Liberata, and no fmall effort of that genius, which was in due time to mew, how fine an epic poem the Italian language, notwithftanding the vulgar imputation of effeminacy, was capable of fupporting. 166 ODE S. THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL ODE, I. x TITAL fpark of heav'nly flame ! Quit, oh quit this mortal frame : Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying ; Oh the pain, the blifs of dying ! Ceafe, fond Nature, ceafe thy ftrife, 4-nd let me languifh into life, II, Hark ! they whifper ; Angels fay, Sifter Spirit, come away. What is this abforbs me quite ? Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight, Drowns my fpirits, draws my breath ? Tell me, my Soul, can this be death f III. The world recedes ; it difappears ! Heav'n opens on my eyes ! my ears With founds feraphic ring ; Lend, lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ! O Grave ! where is thy Victory ? O Death ! where is thy Sting ? ODES. This Ode was written, we find, at the defire of Steele ; and our Poet, in a letter to him on that occafion, fays, " You have itt as Cowley calls it, juft warm from the brain ; it came to me the firft moment I waked this morning ; yet you'll fee, it was not fo absolutely infpiration, but that I had in my head, not only the verfes of Hadrian, but the fine fragment of Sappho." It is poffible, however, that our Author might have had another compofition in his head, befides thofe he here refers to : for there is a clofe and furprifing refemblance between this ode of Pope, and one of an obfcure and forgotten rhymer of the age of Charles the Second, namely Thomas Flatman ; from whofe dunghill, as well as from the dregs of Crafhaw, of Carew, of Herbert, and others, (for it is well known he was a great reader of all thofe poets), Pope has very judicioufly collecled gold. And the following ftanza is, perhaps, the only valuable one Flatman has produced. When on my fick bed I languifh ; Full of forrow, full of anguilh, Fainting, gafping, trembling, crying, Panting, groaning, fpeechlefs, dying; Methinks I hear fome gentle fpirit fay, Be not fearful, come away \ The third and fourth lines are eminently good and pathetic, and the climax well preferved, the very turn of them is clofely copied by Pope ; as is likewife the ftriking circumftance of the dying man's imagining he hears~Kroice calling him away. Vital fpark of heavenly flame Quit, O quit, this mortal frame ; Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying, O the pain, the blifs of dying ! Hark ! they whifper ! angels fay, Sifter fpirit come away ! M 4 AN ESSAY N CRITICISM. Written in the Yeaf MDCCIX *. Firft advertifed in the Speftator, N 65. May 15, 1711, C CONTENTS. PART I. TNtroduflioti. That 'tis as great a fault to judge 111, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. I . That a true Tafle is as rare to be found, as a true Genius, ver. 9 to 18. That mojl men are lorn with fame Tafle, but ff oiled by ftilft Education, ver. 19 to 25. The multitude af Critics, and caufes of them, ver. 26 to 45. That we are to fludy our own Tafte, and know the Limits of it, ver. 46 to 67. Nature the beft guide of Judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improved by Art and Rules, which are but methodiz'd Nature, ver. 88. Rules derived from the Brattice of the Ancient Poets, ver. 88 to no. That therefore the Ancients are necejjary to be Jludyd by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120 to 138. O/'Licenfes, and the ufe of them by the Ancients, ver. 140 to 1 80. Reverence due to /ta Ancients, andpraife of them, ver. 181, &c. PART II. Ver. 203, &c. Caufes hindering a true Judgment, I. Pride, ver. 208. 2, Imperfeft Learning, ver. 215. 3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, ver. 233 to 288. Critics in Wit, Language, Verification, only, ver. 288. 305. 339, &c. 4. Being too hard to pleafe, or too apt to admire, ver. 384. 5. Partiality too much love to a Se6t, to the Ancients or Moderns, ver. 394. 6. Prejudice or Prevention, ver. 408. 7. Singularity, ver. 424, &c. 8. Inconftancy, ver. 430. 9. Party Spirit, ver. 452, &c. 10. Envy, ver. 466. Againft Envy and in praife of Good-nature, ver. 508, fcfr . IVhen Severity is chiefly to be ufed by Critics, ver. 526, fcfa PART 172 CONTENTS. PART III. Ver. 560, &c. Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic, I. Candour, ver. 563. Modefty, ver. 566. Good-breeding, ver. 572. Sincerity and Freedom of Advice^ ver. 578. 2. When ene's Counfel is to be reflrained^ ver. 584. Character of an incorrigible Poet, ver. 600. And of an impertinent Critic, ver. 610, &c. Char after of a good Critic, ver. 629. TfoHiftory c/"Criticifm, and characters of the bejl Critics, Ariftotle, ver. 645. Horace, ver. 653. Dionyfius, ver. 665. Petronius, ver. 667. Quintilian,ver. 670. Longinus, ver. 675. Of the Decay of Criticifm y and its Revival. Erafmus, ver. 693. Vida, ver. 705. Boileau, ver. 714. Lsrd Rofcommon, &c. ver. 725. Conclujion. C -73] A N E S S A T O N C R I T I C I S M. ;; s hard to fay, if greater want of (kill Appear in writing or in judging ill ; But, of the two, lefs dang'rous is th' offence To tire our patience, than miflead our fenfe. Some NOTES. An Efay] For a perfon of only twenty years old to have produced fuch an Eflay, fo replete with a knowledge of life and manners, fuch accurate obfervations on men and books, fuch variety of literature, fuch ftrong good fenfe, and refined tafte and judgment, has been the fubject of frequent, and of juil admiration. It may fairly entitle him to the character of being one of the firft of critics, though furely not of poets, as Dr. Johnfon afierts. For Didactic poetry being, from its nature, inferior to Lyric, Tragic, and Epic poetry, we mould confound and invert all literary rank and order if we compared and preferred the Georgics of Virgil to the jEneid, the Epiftle to the Pifos, to the Qualem Miniftrum of Horace, and Boileau's Art of Poetry to the Iphigenie of Racine. But Johnfon's mind was formed for the Didactic, the Moral, and the Satyric ; and he had no true relifh for the higher and more genuine fpecies of poetry. Strong couplets, modern manners, prefent life, moral fententious writings alone pleafed him. Hence his taftelefs and groundlefs objections to The Lycidas of Milton, and to The Bard of Gray. Hence his own Irene is fo frigid and uninterefting a tragedy ; while his imitations of Juvenal are fo forcible and pointed. His Lives of the Poets are unhappily tinctured with this narrow prejudice, and confined notion of poetry, which has occafioned many falfe and 174 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Some few in that, but numbers err in this, 5 Ten cenfure wrong for one who writes amifs ; A fool might once himfelf alone expofe, Now one in verfe makes many more in profe. 'Tis NOTES. and fpurious remarks, and many ill-grounded opinions, in a work that might have been, and was intended to have been, a manual of good tafle and judgment. Dr. Warburton, endeavouring to demonftrate, what Addifon could not difcover, nor what Pope himfelf, according to the teftimony of* his intimate friend Richardfon, ever thought of or intended, that this efiay was written with a methodical and fyftematical regularity, has accompanied the whole with a long and laboured commentary, in which he has tortured many paflages to fupport this groundlefs opinion. Warburton had certainly wit, genius, and much mifcellaneous learning ; but, was perpetually dazzled and mifled, by the eager defire of feeing every thing in a new light unobferved before, into perverfe interpretations and forced comments. His paflion being (as Longinus exprefies it) m |=v? rore precept ia the fourteenth fe&ion of Longinus, who exhorts us, when we aim at any thing elevated and fublime, to afk ourfelves while we are competing, " how would Homer, or Plato, or Demofthenes, have exerted and exprefied themfelves on this fubjet ? And ftill more, if we mould continue to afk ourfelves ; what would Homer or Demofthenes, if they had been prefent, and had heard this paffage, have thought of it, and how would they have been affected by it ?" VER. 140. To copy Nature] It may not be unufeful or tinpleafant to fee the very different opinion of a writer, who., perhaps, had done better if he had followed this rule. " A fpirit of imitation hath many ill effecls, (fays Dr. Young) ; I mall confine myfelf to three. Firft, It deprives the liberal and politer arts of an advantage which the mechanic enjoy ; in thefe, men are ever endeavouring to go beyond their predeceflbrs ; in the former, to follow them. And fince copies furpafs not their originals, as {breams rife not higher than their fpring, rarely fo high ; hence, while arts mechanic are in perpetual progrefs, and increafe, the liberal are in retrogradation, and decay. Thefe refemble pyramids, are broad at bottom, but leflen exceedingly as they rife ; thofe refemble rivers which, from a fmall fountain-head, are fpreading ever wider and wider, as they run. Hence it is evident, that different portions of underftanding are not (as fome imagine) allotted to different periods of time ; for we fee, in the fame period, underftanding rifing in one fet of artifls, and declining in another. Therefore nature ftands ablblved, and our inferiority in compolition muft be charged on ourfelves. " Nay, fo far are we from complying with a neceffity, which nature lays us under, that, fecondly, by a fpirit of imitation we o 4 counteract 200 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare, For there's a happinefs as well as care. Mufic NOTES. counteraft nature, and thwart her defign. She brings us into the world all originals. No two faces, no two minds, are juft. alike ; but all bear Nature's evident mark of feparation on them. Born originals, how comes it to pafs that we die copies ? That meddling ape, Imitation, as foon as we come to years of indifcretion, (fo let me fpeak), (hatches the pen, and blots out Nature's mark of feparation, cancels her kind intention, deftroys all mental individuality ; the lettered world no longer confifts of fingulars, it is a medley, a mafs ; and a hundred books, at bottom, are but one. Why are monkies fuch mailers of mimickry ? Why receive they fiich a talent at imitation ? Is it not as the Spartan flaves received a licence for ebriety ; that their betters might be alhamed of it ? ** The third fault to be found with a fpirit of imitation is, that with great incongruity it makes us poor, and proud ; makes us think little, and write much ; gives us huge folios, which are little better than more reputable cumions to promote our repofe. Have not fome feven-fold volumes put us in mind of Ovid's {even-fold channels of the Nile at the conflagration ? " Cilia feptem Pulverulenta vacant feptem fine flumine valles." Such leaden labours are like Lycurgus's iron money, which was fo much Icls in value than in bulk, that it required barns for ftrong boxes, and a yoke of oxen to draw five hundred pounds." VER. 141. Some beauties y st no precept s~\ Pope in this pafTage feems to have remembered one of the efiays of Bacon, of which he is known to have been remarkably fond. " There is no excellent beauty that hath not fome ftrangenefs in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Abel Durer, were the more trifler ; whereof the one would make a perfonage by geometrical proportions j the other, by taking the beft parts out of divers faces to make one excellent. Such perfonages, I think, would pleale nobody, but the painter that made them. Not but I think, a painter may make a better face than ever was ; but he mutt uo it by a kind of felicity, as a mufician that maketh an excellent air in muiic, and not by rule. A man mall fee faces, that if you examine them, part by part, you mall find never a good one ; and yet altogether do well." " Non ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 201 Mufic refembles Poetry, in each Are namelefs graces which no methods teach, And which a mafter-hand alone can reach. 145 If, where the rules not far enough extend, (Since rules were made but to promote their end) Some lucky licence anfwer to the full Th* intent propos'd, that Licence is a rule. Thus Pegafus., a nearer way to take, 150 May boldly deviate from the common track. Great Wits fometimes may glorioufly offend, And rife to faults true Critics dare not mend ; From vulgar bounds with brave diforder part, And fnatch a grace beyond the reach of art, 155 NOTES. *' Non ratione aliqua (fays Quintilian finely) fed motu nefcio an inerrabili judicatur. Neque ab hoc ullo fatis explicari puto, licet multi tentaverint." Quintil. Inft. L. vi. In fhort, in poetry, we muft judge by tafte and fentiment, not by rules and reafoning. Different theories of philofophy, and different fyflems of theology, are maintained and exploded in different ages ; but true and genuine pictures of nature and pafiion, are not fubjeft to fuch revolutions and changes. The doftrines of Plato, Epicurus, and Zeno ; of Defcartes, Hobbes, and Malebranche, and Gaflendi, yield in fucceffion to each other; but Homer, Sophocles, Terence, and Virgil, being felt and relifhedby all men, flill retain and preferve, unaltered and undifputed, admiration and applaufe. VER. 143. Mufic refemlles~\ I am informed by one of the beil muficians of the age that this obfervation is not accurate, nor agreeable to the rules of that art. VKR. 146. If, where the rules, sV.] " Neque enim rogationibus plebjfve fcitis fancla funt ifta praecepta, fed hoc, quicqtiid ell, Utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo autem fie utile effe plerumque ; verum fi eadem ilia nobis aliud fuadebit Utilitas, hanc, relidis magiltrorum autoritatibus, fequcmur." Quintil. lib. cap. 13. P. Which 202 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Which without pafling through the judgment gain* The heart, and all its end at once attains. In profpech thus, fome objects pleafe our eyes, Which out of nature's common order rife, The fhapelefs rock, or hanging precipice. 160 But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade, (As Kings difpenfe with laws themfelves have made) Moderns, beware ! or if you muft offend Againfl the precept, ne'er tranfgrefs its End ; Let it be feldom, and compell'd by need ; 165 And have, at lead, their precedent to plead. The Critic elfe proceeds without remorfe, Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force. I know there are, to whofe prefumptuous thoughts Thofe freer beauties, ev'n in them, feem faults. 170 Some figures monftrous and mis-map'd appear, Confider'd fmgly, or beheld too near, Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place, Due diftance reconciles to form and grace. A prudent chief not always mud difplay 1 75 His powers, in equal ranks, and fair array, But NOTES. VER. 161.3 Tbelr means their o-wn. 'V8..l'J5.j4prudent chief ,&."] OTa'x TI vowy- M ^Jxftoi rgnh&rai **i T; TO&K*** r^Aw/MTwi Dion. Hal. De ftroA. oral. P.y The fame may be faid of mufic ; concerning which, a difcerning judge has lately made the following obfeivation. " I do not mean to affirm, that in this extenfive work (of Marcello) every recitative air, or chorus, is of equal excellence. A continued elevation of this kind no author ever came up to. Nay, if we confider that variety, which in all arts is neccflary to keep up attention, ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 303 But with th* occafion and the place comply, Conceal his force, nay feem fometimes to fly. Thofe oft are flratagems which errors feem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. 180 Still green with bays each ancient Altar ftands, Above the reach of facrilegious hands ; Secure K O T E S. attention, we may perhaps affirm with truth, that inequality makes a part of the charafter of excellence ; that fomething ought to be thrown into fhades, in order to make the lights more ftriking. And, in this refpeft, Marcello is truly excellent ; if ever he feems to fall, it is only to rife with more altonifhing majefty and greatnefs *." Jt may be pertinent to fubjoin Rofcommon's remark on the fame fubjedl. - *' Far the greatefl. part Of what fome call negleft, is ftudy'd art. When Virgil feems to trifle in a line, 'Tis but a warning-piece which gives the fign To wake your fancy, and prepare your fight To reach the noble height of fome unufual flight." VER. 1 80. Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.'] " Modefle, et circumfpefto judicio de tantis viris pronunciandum eft, ne (quod plerifque accidit) damnent quod non intelligunt. Ac fi necefle eft in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa difplicere maluerim." Quint. P. Racine applied this fine pafiage to Pen-auk and La Motte when they fo much undervalued the ancients, in their famous controverfy. How well Fontenelle, who was at the head of the French wits, that attacked and depreciated Homer, was qualified to judge of our divine old Bard, may be gathered from what the p'refent Lord Mansfield told me ; that of ah 1 the Iliad, the following was the favourite line of this champion of the moderns ; Ttcrsiav A^ao tp.y. oot-xpva. CTOKTI /3iAw;rtj'. VER. 1 8 1 . Each ancient Altar} " All the inventions and thoughts of the ancients, whether conveyed to us in ftatues, bas-reliefs, * Avifon on Mufical Expreffion, page 103. intaglio's 2o 4 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Secure from Flames, from Envy's fiercer rage, Definitive War, and all-involving Age. See N OTES. intaglio's, cameo's, or coins, are to be fought after, and carefully ftudied. The genius that hovers over thefe venerable reliques, may be called the Father of Modern Art. " From the remains of the works of the antients the modern arts were revived, and it is by their means that they muft be reftored a fecond time. However it may mortify our vanity, we muft be forced to allow them our mafters ; and we may venture to prophecy, that when they (hall ceafe to be ftudied, arts will no longer flourifh, and we mall again relapfe into barbarifrn. " The fire of the artiiVs own genius operating upon thefe materials, which have been thus diligently collected, will enable him to make new combinations, perhaps, fuperior to what had ever befoi-e been in the polTefiion of the art. As in the mixture of the variety of metals, which are faid to have been melted and run together in the burning of Corinth, a new, and till then unknown, metal was produced,, equal in value to any of thofe that had contributed to its compofition. And though a curious refiner may come with his crucibles, analyfe and feparate its various component parts, yet Corinthian brafs would ftill hold its rank amongft the moft beautiful and valuable of metais. ** We have hitherto confidered the advantages of imitation, as it tends to form the tafie, and as a practice by which a fpark of that genius may be caught, which illumines thefe noble works, that ought always to be prefent to our thoughts. We come now to fpeak of another kind of imitation ; the borrowing a particular thought, an action, attitude, or figure, and tranfplanting it into your own work ; this will either come under the charge of plagiarifm, or be warrantable, and deferve commendation, according to the addrefs with which it is performed. There is fome difference likewife whether it is upon the ancients or the moderns that thefe depredations are made. It it generally allowed, that no man need be amarned of copying the ancients ; their works are confidered as a magazine of common property, always open to the Public, whence every man has a right to what materials he pleafes ; and if he has the art of ufrng them, they are fuppofed to become, to all intents and purpofes, his own property. The ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 205 See from each clime the learn' d their incenfe bring ! Hear, in all tongues confenting Paeans ring! 186 In praife 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 praife! 190 Whofe honours with increafe of ages grow, As ftreams roll down, enlarging as they flow ; Nations unborn your mighty names mail found, And worlds applaud that muft not yet be found ! O may fome fpark of your celeflial fire, 1 95 The laft, the meaneft of your fons infpire, (That on weak wings, from far, purfues your flights j 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! 200 IL OF all the caufes which confpire to blind Man's erring judgment, and mifguide the mind, What the weak head with flrongeft 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 j NOTES. s in to our defence, And Jills up all the mighty void of fenfe, ] A very fenfible French writer makes the following remark on this fpecies of pride. " Un homme qui fcait plulieurs Langues, qui entend les Auteurs Grecs et Latins, qui s'eleve m.eme jufqu* a la dignite de SCHOLIASTS ; fi cet homme veuoit a pefer fon veritable merite, il trouveroit fouvent qu'il fe reduit, avoir eu des yeux et de la me'moire ; il fe garderoit bien de donner le nom refpe&able de fcience a tme erudition fans fatnier;. II y a unc grande difference entre s'enrichir des mots ou des chofes, entre alleguer des autorites ou des raifons. Si un homme pouvoit fe furprendre a n'avoir que cette forte de mcrite, il en rougiroit plutot que d'en etre vain." W. VER. 213. Tour defeQs to lnoiu^\ Correction is one of the mod difficult tafks impofed on an author. It is hard to know how far it ought to be carried. Quintilian has many juft and ufeful obfervations on this fubjecl. Perhaps the excefs of it is productive of as many mifchiefs, as the total neglect of it. The file fometimes, iriftead of polifhing, eats away the fubftance to which it is applied. Akenfide much injured his poem by too much correction. Ariofto, as eafy and familiar as he feems to be, made many and great alterations in his enchanting poem. Some of Rochefocault's Maxims were corrected and new written more than thirty times. The Provincial Letters of Pafcal, the model of good ftyle in the French language, were fubmitted to the judgement of twelve members of the Port Royal, who made many corrections in them. Voltaire fays, " That in all the books of Fenelon's Telemaque, of which he had feen the original, there were not ten rafurcs and alterations. All that can be ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 207 A little learning is a dang'rous thing ; 21^ Drink deep, or tafte not the Pierian fpring : There fhallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely fobers us again. Fir'd at firft fight with what the Mufe imparts, In fearlefs 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 ftrange furprize New diftant fcenes of endlefs fcience rife ! So pleas'd at firft the tow'ring Alps we try, 225 Mount o'er the vales, and feem to tread the Iky, TV VARIATIONS. VER. 225. So pleas'd at firft the tow'ring Alps to try, Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy, The Traveller beholds with chcarful eyes The lefs'ning vales, and feems to tread the fldes* NOTES. t>e faid about corre&ion, is contained in thefe few incomparable words of Qunitilian. " Hujus operis eft, adjicere, detrahere, mutare. Sed facilius in his fimpliciufque judicium, quje replenda vel dejicienda funt ; premere verd tumentia, humilta extollere, luxuriantia aftringere, inordinata dirigere, foluta component, exukantia coercere, duplicis operce." Q^iint. Lib. x. c. 3. VER. 225. Sofleas'd] Dr. Johnfon thinks this fimile the moft apt, the moft proper, moft fublime, of any in the English language. I will own I am not of this opinion. It appears evidently to have been fuggefted by the following one in the Works of Drummond, p. 38. 410. " Ah ! as a pilgrim who the Alpes doth pafie, Or Atlas' temples crown'd with winter's glafle, The airy Caucafus, the Apennine, Pyrene's cliffes where funne doth never fhioe, 208 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Th* eternal fnows appear already pad, And the firfl clouds and mountains feem the laft : But, thofe attain'd, we tremble to furvey The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 230 Th* increafmg profpect tires our wand'ring eyes, Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arife ! A perfed Judge will read each work of Wit With the fame fpirit that its author writ : Survey the WHOLE, nor feek flight faults to find 235 Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind ; Nor NOTES. When he feme heapes of hills hath overwent > Beginnes to think on reft, his journey fpent, Till mounting fome tall mountaine he doth finde More hights before him thann he left behind." See alfo Silias Italicus, Lib. iii. 528. VEE. 233. A perfea Judge, &<:.] " Diligenter legendtfm eft ac paene ad fcribendi follicitudinem : Nee per parries modo fcrutanda funt omnia, fed perleftus liber utique ex integro refurnendus." Quint. P. It is obfervable that our Author makes it almoft the necefiary confequence of judging by parts, to find fault : And this not without much difcernment : For the feveral parts of a complete Whole, when feen only fmgly, and known only independently, muft always have the appearance of irregularity ; often of deformity : becaufe the Poet's defign being to create a refultivc beauty from the artful afiemblage of feveral various parts into one natural whole ; thofe parts muft be fafhioned with regard to their mutual relations in the ftations they occupy in that whole, from whence, the beauty required is to arife : But that regard will occafion fo unreducible a form in each part, when confidered fingly, as to prefent a very mis-fhapen Form. W. VER. 235. Survey the Whole, nor feel flight faults tojlnd Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind ;~\ The fecond line, in apologizing for thofe faults which the firfl fay* ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 209 Nor lofe for that malignant dull delight, The gen'rous pleafure to be charm'd with wit. But in fuch lays as neither ebb nor flow, Corre&ly cold, and regularly low, 240 That munning faults, one quiet tenour keep ; We cannot blame indeed but we may fleep. In Wit, as Nature, what affe&s our hearts Is not th' exa&nefs of peculiar parts ; *Tis not a lip, of eye, we beauty call, 245 But the joint force and full refult of all. Thus when we view fome well-proportion'd dome, (The world's juft wonder, and ev'n thine, O Rome !) No NOTES. fays fhould be overlooked, gives the reafon of the precept. For when a great writer's attention is fixed on a general view of Nature, and his- imagination become \varmed with the contemplation of great ideas, it can hardly be, but that there muft be fmall irregularities in the difpofition both of matter and ftyle, becaufe the avoiding thefe requires a coolnefs of recolieclion, which a writer fo qualified and fo bufied is not mafter of. W. According to a moft juft and judicious obfervation in the firil book of Strabo, " lvj;6BV ys n TOK XOAOCWXCK gy-K y TO **&' eXs exarc* a*t/3.=? fyrxpit, aXA* Tot; xaO' oA 7Tfccre%of*E!r /**AA&t> wr> JtaXfcfc TO oXo* KTu^ it aa TIoij woi!!cr9ai ^E rr, Xi0-v. As in great coloflal works, we do not feek for exactnefs and accuracy in every part, but rather attend to the general effect, and beauty of the whole ; fo ought we to judge of compofitions. And, as Quintilian fays, Ungues polire, & capillum reponere, is an ufclefs and ill-placed care. VER. 239. But in fucli lays'} Thefe four lines are fuperior to Horace's, " Serpit hum! tutus nimium," &c. VER. 247. Thus when we view'] This is juftly and elegantly expreffed ; and though it may feem difficult to fpeak of the fame fubjeft after fuch a defcription, yet Akenfide has ventured, and nobly fucceeded : TO L.I. F " Mark, no ESSAY ON CRITICISM. No fmgle parts unequally furprize, All comes united to th' admiring eyes ; 250 No monftrous height, or breadth, or length appear ; The Whole at once is bold and regular. Whoever thinks a faultlefs piece to fee, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er mail be. In NOTES. " Mark, how the dread Pantheon ftands, Amid the domes of modern hands I Amid the toys of fimple ftate, How fimply, how feverely great ! Then paufe ! VER.248. The world's jufl wondery and e v'n thine , O Rome /j The Pantheon, I would fuppofe ; perhaps St. Peter's ; no matter which ; the obfervation is true of both. There is fomething very Gothic in the tafte and judgment of a learned man, who defpifes this mafter-piece of Art, the Pantheon, for thofe very qualities which deferve our admiration. " Nous efmerveillons comme 1'on fait fi grand cas de ce Pantheon, veu que fon edifice n'eft de fi grande induftrie comme Ton crie : car chaque petit Maflbn peut bien concevoir la maniere de fe fa9on tout en un inftant : car eftant la bafe fi maffive, et les murailles fi efpaifles, ne nous a femble difficile d'y adjoufter la voute a claire voye." Pierre Belon's Obfervations, &c. The nature of the Gothic ftru&ures apparently led him into this miftake of the Architectonic art in general ; that the excellency of it confifts in raifing the greateft weight on the leaft affignable fupport, fo that the edifice mould have ftrength without the appearance of it, in order to excite admiration. But to a judicious eye fuch a building would have a contrary effect, the Appearance (as our poet exprefles it) of a monftrous height, or breadth, or length. Indeed did the juft proportions in regular Architecture take off from the grandeur of a building, by all the fmgle parts coming united to the eye, as this learned traveller feems to infinuate, it would be a reafonable objection to thofe rules on which this Mafter-piece of Art was conftrucled. But it is not fo. The Poet tells us truly, " The Whole at once is bold and regular." W. VER. 253. Whoever tblnls a faultlefs piece to fee,] He ihews next [from ver. 252 to 263.] that to fix our cenfure on fmgle parts, ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 211 In ev'ry work regard the writer's End, 255 Since none can compafs more than they intend ; And if the means be juft, the conduct true, Applaufe, in fpite of trivial faults, is due. As men of breeding, fometimes men of wit, T* avoid great errors, muft the lefs commit : 260 NeglecT: the rules each verbal Critic lays, For not to know fome trifles, is a praife. Mod Critics, fond of fome fubfervient art, Still make the Whole depend upon a Part : They talk of principles, but notions prize, 265 And all to one lov'd Folly facrifice. NOTES. parts, though they happen to want an esaftnefs confident enough with their relation to the reft, is even then very unjuft : And for thefe reafons, I. Becaufe it implies an expectation of a faultlefs piece, which is a vain fancy. 2. Becaufe no more is to be expeded of any work than that it fairly attains its end : But the end may be attained, and yet thefe trivial faults committed : Therefore, in fpight of fuch faults, the work will merit that praife that is due to everything which attains its end. 3. Becaufe fometimes a great beauty is not to be procured, nor a notorious blemifh to be avoided, but by fuffering one of thefe minute and trivial errors. 4. And laftly, becaufe the general neglect of them is a praife ; as it is the indication of a Genius, attentive to greater matters. W. VER. 258. In fpile of trivial} As if one was to condemn the divine Paradife Loft, on account of fome low puns there introduced; or fome pafiages in Ariofto, on account of vulgar and familiar images and expreffions, that have crept unaccountably into that enchanting and original Poem. VER. 261. Critic lays,] The word lays is very exceptionable: in an inferior and common Writer it would not be worth while to mark fuah improper exprefiions. p 2 Once 2ii ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Once on a time, La Mancha's Knight they fay, 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 flage ; 270 NOTES. VER. 267. Once on a time, La Mancha's Knight they fdy\ By this fliort tale Pope has (hewed us, how much he could have excelled in telling a ftory of humour. The incident is taken from the Second Part of Don Quixote, firft written by Don Alonzo Fernandez de Avellanada, and afterwards tranflated, or rather imitated and new-modelled, by no lefs an Author than the celebrated Le Sage. The Book is not fo contemptible as fome authors infinuate ; it was well received in France, and abounds in many ftrokes of humour and character worthy of Cervantes himfelf. The brevity to which Pope's narration was confined, would not permit him to Jnfert the following humourous dialogue at length. " I am fatisfied you'll compafs your defign (faid the fcholar) provided you omit the combat in the lifts. Let him have a care of that, faid Don Qmxote, interrupting him, that is the belt part of the plot. But, Sir, quoth the Bachelor, if you would have me adhere to Ariftotle's rules, I mufl omit the combat. Ariftotle, replied the Knight, I grant was a man of fome parts ; but his capacity was not unbounded : and, give me leave to tell you, his authority does not extend over combats in the lift, which are far above his narrow rules. Would you fuffer the chafte queen of Bohemia to perim ? For how can you clear her innocence ? Believe me, combat is the moft honourable method you can purfue ; and befides, it will add fuch grace to your play, that all the roles in the univerfe muft not ftand in. competition with it. Well, Sir Knight, replied the Bachelor, for your fake, and for the honour of chivalry, I will not leave out the combat ; and that it may appear the more glorious, all the court of Bohemia lhall be prefent at it, from the Princes of the blood, to the very footmen. But flill one difficulty remains, which is, that our common theatres are not large enough for it. There muft be one erected on purpofe, anfwered the Knight ; and in a word, rather than leave out the combat, the play had better be afted in a field or plain." It may be obferved, that there is but one Tale in this eflay, nor in Boileau's art, nor Rofcommon's effay, and this is fuperior to the other two. Concluding ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 213 Concluding all were defperate fots and fools, Who durft depart from Ariftotle's rules. Our Author, happy in a judge fo nice, Produced his Play, and begg'd the Knight's advice ; Made him obferve the fubjecl:, and the plot, 275 The manners, paffions, unities j what not ? All which, exa& to rule, were brought about, Were but a Combat in the lifts left out. What leave the Combat out ?" exclaims the Knight j Yes, or we muft renounce the Stagirite. 280 " Not fo, by Heav'n !" (he anfwers in a rage) " Knights, fquires,and fteeds, muft enter on the ftage." So vaft a throng the ftage can ne'er contain. " Then build a new, or aft it in a plain." Thus Critics of lefs judgment than caprice, 285 Curious not knowing, not exacl: but nice, NOT-ES. VER. 276. Unities; what not ?~\ The two unities of time and place have been fo powerfully and irrefiftibly combated by Dr. Johnfon, (in his Preface to Shakefpeare), that I do not think a critic will be found hardy enough to undertake a defence of them ? Non quifquam ex agmine tanto Audet adire virura 1 That thefe unities have, in fa&, never been obferved by the three Greek writers of tragedy, is demonftrated, at large, in the fifth chapter of Metaftafio's very judicious work, ' entitled, Eflratto della Poetica D'Ariftotile, from page 93 to 119, a work full of tafte and judgment, and which comes with double weight from fo long and able a practitioner in the dramatic art, many of vvhofe plays are planned with the greateft Hull, and who is, on the whole, one of the fineft and trueft poets Italy has produced. Whoever would thoroughly underftand Ariftotle, fliould, in my Opinion, very attentively pcrufe his Eftratto. Forni 214 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Form fhort Ideas ; and offend in arts (As mod in manners) by a love to parts. Some to Conceit alone their tafte confine, And glitt'ring thoughts ftruck out at ev'ry line ; 290 Pleas'd with a work where nothing's juft or fit ; One glaring Chaos and wild heap of wit. Poets, like painters, thus, unikill'd to trace The naked nature and the living grace, With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part, 295 And hide with ornaments their want of art. True Wit is Nature to advantage drefs'd ; What oft M r as thought, but ne'er fo well exprefs'd ; Something, NOTES. VER. 290. And glu? ring thoughts} A rage that infeded Marino, Donne, and his difciple Cowley. See Dr. Johnfon's excellent Diflertation on Cowley, and his fantaflic ftyle, in the firft volume of Lives of the Poets. Little can be added to his difcufiion on falfe and unnatural thoughts. It is, beyond companion, the bell of all his criticifms. VER. 296. Hide with ornaments} Nothing can excel the fine obfervation of Tully on this fubject, in the 3d Book de Oratore ; " Voluptatibusmaximis, faftidium iinitimum eft. in rebus omnibus ; quo hoc minus in oratione miremur. In qua, vel ex poetis, vel oratoribus poflumus judicare, concinnam, ornatam, feftivam, fine intermifllone, quamvis clans fit coloribus pidta, vel poefis, vel oratio, non pofTe in deleftatione efTc diuturna. Quare bene & prasclare, quamvis nobis fispe dicatur, belle feftive nimium fxpe nolo." VER. 297. True Hit is Nature to advantage drefs'a 1 , sV.] This definition is very exact:. Mr. Locke had defined wit to confift *' in the aficmblage of ideas, and putting thofe together, with quicknefs and variety, wherein can be found any refcmblance or congruity, whereby to make up pleafant pictures and agreeable vifions in the fancy." But that great philofopher, in feparating wit from judgment, as he does in this place, has given us (and he could therefore give us no other) only an account of Wit in general .ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 215. Something, whofe truth convincd at fight we find, That gives us back the image of our mind. 300 As N OTES. general : In which falfe wit, tho* not every fpecies of it, Is included. A ftriking image therefore of Nature is, as Mr. Locke obferves, certainly Wit : But this image may ilrike on feveral other accounts, as well as for its truth and beauty ; and the philofopher has explained the manner how. But it never becomes that Wit which is the ornament of true poefy, whofe end is to reprefent nature, but when it drefies that nature to advantage, and prefents her to us in the brighteft and mod amiable light. And to know when the Fancy has clone its office truly, the poet fubjoins this admirable left, viz. When we perceive that it gives us back the image of our mind. When it does that, we maybe fure it plays no tricks with us : For this image is the creature of the Judgment; and wfienever Wit correfponds with Judgment, we may fafely pronounce it to be true. " Naturam intueamur, hanc fequamur : id facillime accipiunt animi quod agnofcunt." Quint, lib. viii. c. 3. W. *' The poet in cenfuring the narrow and partial tafles of fome critics, begins with that for conceit, or a glitter of dazzling thoughts rifing one after another, without meaning or connection. This is falfe wit ; as a contrail to which, he gives a definition of the true, in the preceding lines. But he evidently, by this purpofe of contrafting the two kinds, has been led to a description which exhibits none of the peculiar features of wit, as other writers have represented it. By this definition, any jufl moral fentiment, any exact picture of a natural object, if clothed in good exprefiion, would be wit. Its teft being an agreement with images previoufly exifting in our own minds, no other quality is-requifite to it but truth. Even uncommonnefs is not taken into the character : for we muft often have thought it, and be able to recognize it at fight. .Nor has he given any diftincl idea of that advantageous drefs which makes a natural thought witty. " No drefs can fuit fome thoughts fo well, as the moft fimple. Exalted fentiments of the heart, and fublime objecls in nature, generally flrike moft when prefented in language the lead ftudied. Indeed, he ufes, within a few lines, the very fame metaphor of drefs, in expofing the finical tafte of thofe who value a work for the ftyle rather than the fenfe ; and the fadl certainly is, that the p 4 moft 116 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. As fhades more fweetly recommend the light, So modeft plainnefs fets off fprightly wit. NOTE s. mod confeffedly witty writers have been often little felicitous as to the manner of expreffing their notions. " Pope evidently entertains a different conception of wit, from that of the definition above quoted, in the lines immediately following : As (hades more fweetly recommend the light, So modeft plainnefs fets off fprightly wit. For works may Isave more wit than does them good, As bodies perim thro' excefs of blood. " Now " modeft plainnefs" is no foil or contraft to wit, as charafterifed in the definition, becaufe it may be the raoft " advantageous drefs" for a thought. Again, that wit which may fuperabound in a work, muft be a different thing from " natural imagery joined to good expreffion," for in thefe, what danger can there be of excefs ? He was certainly now recurring in his mind to thofe brilliant flames, which, though often introduced with falfe judgment, are not, however, falfe wit. " The two characters of bad critic and bad poet are grofsly confounded in the paffage relating to poetical numbers ; for though it be true, that vulgar readers of poetry are chiefly attentive to the melody of the verfe, yet it is not they who admire, but the paltry verfifier who employs monotonous fyllables, feeble expletives, and a dull routine of unvaried rhymes. Again, an ordinary ear is capable of perceiving the beauty arifmg from the found being made an echo to the fenfe ; indeed it is one of the moft obvious beauties in poetry ; but it is no eafy tafk for the poet to fucceed in his attempts to render it fo, as Pope has fufficiently proved by the miferable failure of fome of his examples in illuftration of the precept." Effays Hiftorical and Critical. VER. 297. True Wit is Nature,] Immediately after this the poet adds, For works may have more wit than does 'em good. '* Now (fays a very acute and judicious critic) let us fubftitute the definition in the place of the thing, and it will (land thus ; A work may have more of Nature drefs'd to advantage than will do it good. This is impoffible ; and it is evident that the confufion arifes from the poet's having annexed two different ideas to the fame word." Webb's Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry, p. 68. For ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 217 For works may have more wit than does 'em good, As bodies perifh through excefs of blood. NOTES. VER. 298. What oft was thought,] In Dr. Johnfon's remarks on thefe poets, whom, after Dryden, he calls the metaphyfical poets, he fays, very finely ; " Pope's account of wit is undoubtedly erroneous ; he deprefles it below its natural dignity, and reduces it from ftrength of thought to happinefs of language. " If by a more noble and more adequate conception that be confidered as wit, which is at once natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, upon its firft production, acknowledged to be juft ; if it be that, which he that never found it, wonders how he mifled ; to wit of this kind the metaphyfical poets have feldom rifen. Their thoughts are often new, but feldom natural ; they are not obvious, but neither are they juft ; and the reader, far from wondering that he mifled them, wonders more frequently by what perverfenefs they were ever found. " But wit, abftrafted from its effects upon the hearer, may be Tnore vigorously and philofophically confidered as a kind of difcordia concors ; a combination of diffimilar images, or difcovery of occult refemblances in things apparently unlike. Of wit, thus defined, they have more than enough. The moft heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together ; nature and art are ranfacked for illuftrations, companions, and allufions ; their learning inftrudts, and their fubtilty furprifes ; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought, and, though he fometimes admires, is feldom pleafed. " From this account of their compofittons it will be readily infened, that they were not fuccefsful in reprefenting or moving the affections. As they were wholly employed on fomething unexpected and furprizing, they had no regard to that uniformity of fentiment which enables us to conceive and to excite, the pains and the pleafures of other minds ; they never enquired what, on any occafion, they fhould have faid or done ; but wrote rather as beholders than partakers of human nature ; as beings looking upon good and evil, impaffive and at leifure, as Epicurean deities, making remarks on the a&ions of men, and the vicifihudes of life, without intereft and without emotion. Their courtfliip was void of fondnefs, and their lamentation of forrow. Their wifli was only to fay what they hoped had never been faid before." Others 2i8 ESSAY ON CRITICISM, Others for Language all their care exprefs, 305 And value books, as women men, for drefs : Their praife is {till, The Style is excellent j The Senfe, they humbly take upon content. Words are like leaves j and where they molt abound, Much fruit of fenfe beneath is rarely found : 310 Falfe eloquence, like the prifmatic glafs, Its gaudy colours fpreads on ev'ry place ; The NOTES. VER. 302. Modejl plalnnefs.] Xenophon In Greek, and Casfar In Latin are the unrivalled mafters of the beautiful fimplicity here recommended. We have no Englifh, French, or Italian Writer, that can be placed in the fame rank with them, for this uncommon excellence. VER. 311. Falfe eloquence,] The naufeous affe&ation of expreffing every thing pompoufly and poetically, is no where more viiible than in a poem by Mallet, entitled Amyntor and Theodora. The following inftance may be alleged among many others. Amyntor having a pathetic tale to difcover, being choaked with forrow, and at a lofs for utterance, ufes thefc ornamental and unnatural images. " O could I fteal From Harmony her fofteft warbled ftrain Of melting air ! or Zephyr's vernal voice ! Or Philomela's fong, when love diffolves To liquid blandifhments his evening lay, All nature fmiling round." Voltaire has given a comprehenfive rule with refpeft to every fpecies of compofition. " II ne faut rechercher, ni les penfees, ni les tours, ni les exprefllons, et que Part, dans tous les grands ouvrages, eft de bien raifonner, fans trop faire d'argument ; de bien peindre, fans voiloir tout peindre, d'emouvoir, fans vouloir toujours exciter les paffions." In a word, true eloquence, a juft ftyle, confifts in the number, the propriety, and the placing of words ; is content with a natural and fimple beauty ; hunts not after foreign figures, difdains far-fought and meretricious ornaments. Juft as the ftrength of ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 219 The face of Nature we no more furvey, All glares alike, without diftindion gay : But true Expreffion, like th* unchanging Sun, 315 Clears and improves whatever it fhines upon, It gilds all objects, but it alters none. Expreffion is the drefs of thought, and flill Appears more decent, as more fuitable ; A vile conceit in pompous words exprefs'd 320 Is like a clown in regal purple drefs'd : For different ftyles with different fubjecls fort, As fev'ral garbs with country, town, and court. Some by old words to fame have made pretence, Ancients in phrafe, meer moderns in their fenfe ; Such NOTES. an army, fays Algarotti, confifts in well-difciplined men, not In a number of camels, elephants, fcythed chariots, and Afiatic encumbrances. Among many excellencies, this is the chief blemifh of the Rambler ; every objeft, every fubje&, is treated with an equal degree of dignity; he never foftens and fubdues his tints, but paints and adorns every image which he touches, with perpetual pomp, and unremitted fplendor. VER. 324- Some by old words, &c.~\ t( Abolita et abrogata retinere, infolentiae cujufdam eft, et frivolae in parvis jaantiae." Quint, lib. i. c. 6. P. " Opus eft, ut verba a vetuftate repetita neque crebra fint, neque manifefta, quia nil eft odiofius affeclatione, nee utique ab ultimis repetita temporibus. Oratio cujus fumma- virtus eft perfpicuitas ^uam fit vitiofa, fi egeat interprete ? Ergo ut nbvorum optima erunt maximevetera, ita veterum maxime nova." Idem. P. Qmntilian's advice on this fubjeft is as follows : " Cum fint autem verba propria, fifta, tranflata ; propriis dignitatem dat antiquitas. Namque et fancliorem, et magis admirabilem reddunt orationem, quibus non quilibet fuit ufurus : eoque ornamento acerrimi judicii Virgilius unice eft ufns. Olli enim, et quianam, et mis, et pone, pelluctnt, et afpergunt illam, quae etiam in pifturis 220 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Such laboured nothings, in fo ftrange a ftyle, 326 Amaze th' unlearn'd, and make the learned fmile. Unlucky, as Fungofo in the Play, Thefe fparks with aukward vanity difplay What the fine gentleman wore yeflerday j 330 K OTES. piduris eft gratiflima, vetuftatis inimitabilem arti auftoritatem. Sed utendum modo, nee ex ultimis tenebris repetenda." " The language of the age (fays Mr. Gray, admirably well,) is never the language of poetry ; except among the French, whofe verfe, where the thought or image does not fupport it, differs in nothing from profe. Our poetry, on the contrary, has a language peculiar to itfelf ; to which almofl every one that has written, has added fomething by enriching it with foreign idioms and derivatives : nay, fcmetimes words of their own compofitions or invention. Shakefpeare and Milton have been great creators this way ; and no one more licentious than Pope or Dryden, who perpetually borrow expreffions from the former. Let me give you fome inftances from Dryden, whom every body reckons a great matter of our poetical tongue. Full of mufeful mopings, unlike the trim of love, a pleafant be verage,-^-a roundelay oflove, flood filent in his mood, with knots and knaves deformed, his ireful mood, in proud array, his boon was granted, and difarray and fhameful rout, wayward but wife, furbifhed for the field, the foiled dodderd oaks, difherited, fmouldring flames, retchlefs of laws, crones old and ugly, the beldam at his fide, the grandam hag, villanize his father's fame. But- they are infinite ; and our language not being ^ fettled thing, (like the French), has an undoubted right to words of an hundred years old, provided antiquity have not rendered them unintelligible. In truth, Shakefpeare's language is one of his principal beauties ; and he has no lefs advantage over your Addifons and Rowes in this, than in thofe great excellencies you mention. Every word in him is a pidure. Pray put me in the following lines, into the tongue of our modern dramatics." VER. 328. Unlucky, as Fungofo, &c.~\ See Ben. Jonfon's Every Man out of his Humour. P. And ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 221 And but fo mimic ancient wits at beft, As apes our grandfires, in their doublets dreft, In words, as famions, the fame rule will hold ; Alike fantaftic, if too new, or old : Be not the firft by whom the new are try'd 335 Nor yet the laft to lay the old afide. But moft by Numbers judge a Poet's fong, And fmooth or rough, with them, is right or wrong : In the bright Mufe, tho' thoufand charms confpire, Her voice is all thefe tuneful fools admire j 340 Who haunt Parnaffus but to pleafe their ear, Not mend their minds j as fome to church repair, Not for the do&rine, but the mufic there. Thefe equal fyllables alone require, Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire ; 345 While expletives their feeble aid do join ; And ten low words oft creep in one dull line : NOTES. Vp.R.337. But mojlly Numbers, ^fc."] " Quis populi fermo eft ? quis enim ? nlfi carmine mollt Nunc demum numero fluere, ut per laeve feveros Effundat jun&ura ungues : fcit tendere verfum 'Non fecus ac fi ocrlo rubricam dirigat uno." Perf. Sat. i. P. VER. 345. Tho' aft the ear, &c.] " Fugiemus crebras vocalium concurfiones, quae vaftam atque hiantem orationem reddunt." Cic ad Keren, lib. iv. Vide etiam Quintil. lib. ix. c. 4. P. " Non tamen (fays the fenfible Quintilian) id utcrimen ingens expavefcendum eft ; ac nefcio negligentia in hoc, an folicitudo fit major ; nimiofque non immerito in hac cura putant omnes Ifocratem fecutos, prascipueque Theopompum. At Demofthenes & Cicero modice refpexcrunt ad hanc partem." Quintil. lib. ix. c.p, While 222 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. While they ring round the fame unvary'd chimes, With fure returns of ftill expected rhymes ; 349 Where-e'er you find " the cooling weftern breeze/' In the next line, it ec whifpers through the trees :" If cryftal ftreams te with pleafmg murmurs creep," The reader's threatened (not in vain) with " fleep :" Then, at the laft and only couplet fraught With fome unmeaning thing they call a thought, A needlefs Alexandrine ends the fong, 356 That, like a wounded make, drags its flow length along. Leave fuch to tune their own dull rhymes, and know What's roundly fmooth, or languimingly flow ; And praife the eafy vigour of a line, 36*0 Where Denham's flrength, and Waller's fweetnefs join. NOTES. VER. 347. Ten low words] Our language is thought to be overloaded with monofyllables ; Shaftefbury, we ate told, limited their number to nine in any fentence ; Quintilian condemns too great a concourfe of them ; etiam monofyllaba, li plura funt, male continuabuntur ; quia necefle eft compofitio, multis claufulis concifa, fubfultet. Inft. lib. ix. c. 4. VER. 360. And praife the eafy vigour~\ Fenton, in his entertaining obfervations on Waller, has given us a curious anecdote concerning the IMITATIONS. VER. 346. Where expletives their feeble aid do join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line :] From Dryden. '* He creeps along with ten little words in every line, and helps out his numbers with [for] [to] and [unto] and all the pretty expletives he can find, while the fenfe is left half tired behind it." Efiay on Dram. Poetry. But there are many lines of monofyllables that have much force and energy ; in our author himfelf, as well as Dryden. True ESSAY ON CRITICISM. ^ True eafe in writing comes from art, not chance, As thofe move eafiefl who have learn'd to dance. NOTES. the great induftry and exadnefs with which Waller polifhed even his fmalleft competitions. " When the court was at Windfor, thefe verfes were writ in the Taffo of her Royal Highnefs, at Mr. Waller's requeft, by the late Duke of Buckinghamfhire ; and I very well remember to have heard his Grace fay, that the author employed the greateft part of a fummer in compofing and correcting them." So that, however he is generally reputed the parent of thofe fwarms of infect wits, who affeft to be thought eafy writers, it is evident that he bellowed much time and care on his poems, before he ventured them out of his hands. VER. 361. Denbam's ftrengtb,~\ Sufficient juftice is not done to Sandys, who did more to poliih and tune the Englifh verification, by his Pfalms and his Job, than thofe two writers, who are ufually applauded on this fubjeft. VER. 362. True eafe\ Writers who feem to have compofed with the greatelt eafe, have exerted much labour in attaining this facility. Virgil took more pains than Lucan, though the ftyle of the former appears fo natural ; and Guarini and Ariofto fpent much time in making their poems fo feemingly natural and eafy. Even Voiture wrote with extreme difficulty, though apparently without any effort ; what Taffo fays of one of his heroines may be applied to fuch writers j " Non fo ben dire s'adorna, o fe negletta, Se cafo, od arte, il bel volto compofe, Di natura, d'amor, del cielo amici Le negligenze fue fono artifici." Tt is well known, that the writings of Voiture, of Saraffin, and La Fontaine, were laboured into that facility for which they are fo famous, with repeated alterations and many rafures. Moliere is reported to have pad whole days, in fixing upon a proper epithet or rhyme, although his verfes have all the flow and freedom of converfation. " This happy facility (faid a man of wit) may be compared to garden-terraces, the expence of which does not appear ; and which, after the coft of feveral millions, yet feem to be a mere work of chance and nature." I have been informed, that Addifon was fo extremely nice in polifliing his profe compofitions, that when almoft a whole impreffion of a fpedtator was worked off, he would Hop the prefs, to infert a new prepofition or conjunction. 'Tis 22* ESSAY ON CRITICISM, 'Tis not enough no harfhnefs gives offence, The found muft feem an Echo to the fenfe : 365 Soft is the ftrain when Zephyr gently blows, And the fmooth ftream in fmoother numbers flows 5 NOTES. VER. 364. No bar/briefs gives offence,'] We are furprifed to fee the conftant attention of the ancients, to give melody to their periods, both in profe and verfe ; of which fo many inftances arc given in Tully De Oratore, in Dionyfius, and Quintilian. Plato many times altered the order of the four firft words of his Republic. Cicero records the approbation he met with for finiming a fentence with the word comprobavit, being a dichorce. Had he rimmed it otherwife, he fays, it might have been animo fatis, auribus non fatis. We may be equally mortified in finding Quintilian condemning the inharmonioufnefs of many letters \\ith which our language abounds; particularly the letters F, M, B, D, and Dionyfius reprobates the letter S. VER. 365. The found mujl feem an echo to the fenfe. ~\ Lord Rofcommon fays, " The found is flill a comment to the fenfe." They are both well exprelfed, although fo differently ; for Lord R. is mewing how the fenfe is affifted by the found ; Mr. P. how the found is affifted by the fenfe. VER. 366. Soft it thejlrain~\ See examples in Clarke's Homer, Iliad i. v. 430 ; ii. v. 102 ; iii. v. 357 ; vi. v. 510 ; vii. v. 157 ; viii. v. 210, 551; xi. v. 687, 697, 766; and many others. The judicious Heyne, in his Virgil, thinks this beauty of ftyle, as it is called, very fantaftical, and not intended by either Homer or Virgil, fo often as hath been imagined. Thefe lines are ufually cited as fine examples of adapting the found to the fenfe. But that Pope has failed in this endeavour has been clearly demonftrated by the Rambler. " The verfe intended to reprefent the whifper of the vernal breeze muft furely be confefled not much to excel in foftnefs or volubility ; and the fmooth Aream runs with a perpetual clafh of jarring confonants. The IMITATIONS. VER. 366. Soft u tbejlrain, fcJV.] " Turn fi laeta canunt," &c. Vida, PoeU L iii. ver, 403. But ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 225 But when loud furges lafli the founding fhoar, The hoarfe, rough verfe mould like the torrent roar : When Ajax ftrives fome rock's vaft weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move flow: 371 Not fo, when fwift Camilla fcours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and ikims along the main. NOTES. The noife and turbulence of the torrent is, indeed, diflin&ly imaged; for it requires very little fkill to make our language rough. But in the lines which mention the effort of Ajax, there is no particular heavinefs or delay. The fwiftnefs of Camilla, is rather contrafted than exemplified. Why the verfe mould be lengthened to exprefs fpeed, will not eafily be difcovered. In the daftyls, ufed for that purpofe by the ancients, two fhort fyllables were pronounced with fuch rapidity, as to be equal only to one long ; they therefore naturally exhibit the acl of pafling through a long fpace in a mort time. But the Alexandrine, by its paufe in the midft, is a tardy and ftately meafure ; and the word unbending, one of the moft fluggifh and flow which ou~ language affords, cannot much accelerate its motion." Aaron Hill, long before this was publifhed by the Rambler, wrote a letter to Pope, pointing out the many inftances in which he had failed to accommodate the found to the fenfe, in this famous paflage. This rule of making the found an echo to the fenfe, as well as alliteration, has been carried to a ridiculous extreme by fcveral late writers. It is worth obferving, that it is treated of at length, and recommended by Taflb, page 168 of his Difcorfi del Poema Eroico. IMITATIONS. VE 11.368. But whin loud furges, &V.] " Turn longe fale faxa fonant," Sec. Vida, Poet. 1. iii. v. 388. VER.370. When Ajaxjlrives, EsV.j " Atque ideo fi quid geritur molimine magno," &c. Vida, ib. 417. VER. 372. Notfo f w&en/wift Camilla, &c.] " At mora fi fuerit damno, properare jubebo," &c. Vida, ib. 420. VOL. i. o Hear 226 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Hear how Timotheus* vary'd lays furprize. And bid alternate pafiions fall and rife ! 375 While at each change, the fon of Libyan Jove Now burns with glory, and then melts with love ; Now his fierce eyes with fparkling fury glow, Now fighs (leal out, and tears begin to flow : Perfians and Greeks like turns of nature found, 380 And the world's victor flood fubdu'd by Sound ! The pow'r of Mufic all our hearts allow, And what Timotheiis was, is DRYDEN now. Avoid extremes ; and fhun the fault of fuch* Who ftill are pleasM too little or too much. 385 At ev'ry trifle fcorn to take offence, That always mews great pride, or little fenfe : Thofe heads, as flomachs, are not fure the befl, \Vhich naufeate all, and nothing can digeft. Yet let not each gay Turn thy rapture move ; 390 For fools admire, but men of fenfe approve : As NOTES. VER. 374- Hear bow Timolheus, sV.j See Alexander's Feaft, or the Power of Mufic ; an Ode by Mr. Dryden. P. " Some of the lines (fays Dr. Johnfon) are \vithout correfpondent rhymes ; a defect which the enthufiafm of the writer might hinder hi 111 fiom perceiving." VER. 391. Facts admire, but men of fenfe approve :~\ " This prudifli fentence has probably made as many formal coxcombs in literature, as Lord Cheflerfield's opinion on the vulgarity of laughter, has among men of high breeding. As a general maxim, it has no foundation whatever in truth. " Pronenefs to admiration is a quality rather of temper than of underftanding ; and if it often attends light minds, it is alfo. infeparable from that warmth of imagination which is requiiite for the firong perception of what is excellent in art or nature. Innumerable inftances might be produced of the. rapturou 5 admiration ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 227 As things feem large which we through mifts defcry, Dulnefs is ever apt to magnify. NOTES. admiration with which men of genius have been ftruck at the view of great performances. It is enough here to mention the poet's favourite critic, Longinus, who is far from being contented with cool approbation, but gives free fcope to the moft enraptured praife. Few things indicate a mind more unfavourably conftituted for the fine arts, than a flownefs in being moved to the admiration of excellence ; and it is certainly better that this pafiion mould at firft be excited by objects rather inadequate, than that it mould not be txcittd at all." Thefe are the words of a fenfible obferver on this efiay, Dr. Aikin, in Letters to his Son. " What I diflike is, the pedantry of appealing to fpeculative principles in oppofition to the deciiions of 'tafte ; and what I defpile is, the ridiculous vanity of attempting to demonftrate, by argument, that men ought to admire, when experience proves that no one does or can admire ; and, on the other hand, that men are in the wrong to be pleafed, when experience proves that it is impofiible to avoid it. In a word, of all kind of literary affectation, that which is moll difguiling is, the affectation of judging in matters of tafte by rule, and not by feeling ; and this appears to me the fundamental defeat of the work to which I have before alluded ; I mean the Elements of Criticifm. Lord Kaims was no lefs remarkable for delicacy of tafte than acutenefs of underftanding ; and he evidently feems to have thought it much below the dignity of a critic to embrace any opinion even in a mere matter of taile, which was not fupported by fome rule. Where the rule was not already eftabliflied, therefore, he was obliged to have recourfe to his invention, which did not always fupply him with fuch as were of the moft fatisfadlory kind ; and he feems, through the whole of his elaborate work, to entertain much too high an idea of the importance of thofe rules ; for he feems to con fide r them as founded in reafon, and as laws by which tafte ought to be regulated ; whereas they are properly founded in tafte, and the moft judicious and bell eftablifhed rules are really nothing more than the different principles by which experience (hews that the deciiions of tafte are governed." Efiays Philofophical and Literary. The turn and manner of many paffages in our author are much like Dryden's prologues ; and particularly the famous prologue and epilogue to All for Love. 2 Some 228 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Some foreign writers, fome our own defpife ; The Ancients only, or the Moderns prize. 395 Thus Wit, like Faith, by each man is apply'd To one fmall feel:, and all are damn'd befide. Meanly they feek the bleffing to confine, And force that fun but on a part to mine, Which not alone the fouthern wit fublimes, 400 But ripens fpirits in cold northern climes ; Which from the firft has fhone on ages pad, Enlights the prefent, and mall warm the laft j NOTES. VER. 394. Our own defpife;} If any proof was wanting how little the Paradife Loft was read and attended to, at this time, our author's total filence on the fubjeft would be fufficient to {hew it. That an Eflay on Criticifm could be written, without a fingle mention of Milton, appears truly ftrange and incredible; if we did not know that our author feems to have had no idea of any merit fuperior to that of Dryden! and had no relifh for an author, who, " Omncs exllinxit Hellas, exortus uti cetherius fol." Lucret. VER. 395. The Antients only,~\ A very fenfible Frenchman fays, " En un mot, touchez comme Euripide, etonnez comme Sophocle, peignez comme Homere, & compofez d* apres vous. Ces maitres n'ont point eu de regies ; ils n'en ont etc que plus grands ; & ils n'ont acquis le droit de commander, que parce qu'ils n'ont jamats obci. II en eft tout autrement en literature qu'en politique ; le talent qui a befoin de fubir des loix, n'en donnera jamais." VER. 402. Winch from tie Jirjl, ^fc.J Genius is the fame in all ages ; but its fruits are various ; and more or lefs excellent as they are checked or matured by the influence of government or religion upon them. Hence in fome parts of literature the Ancients exctl ; in others, the Moderns; juft as thofe accidental circumftances occurred. W. rcumltances occurred. VER. 403. Enlights'] An improper word for enlifhtent. Tho' ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 229 Tho' each may feel encreafes and decays, And fee now clearer and now darker days. 405 Regard not then if Wit be old or new, But blame the falfe, and value flill the true. Some ne'er advance a judgment of their own, But catch the fpreading notion of the Town ; They reafon and conclude by precedent, 410 And own ftale nonfenfe which they ne'er invent. Some judge of authors names, not works, and then Nor praife nor blame the writings, but the men. Of all this fervile herd, the worfl is he That in proud dulnefs joins with Quality. 415 A conftant Critic at the great man's board, To fetch and carry nonfenfe for my Lord. What woful fluff this madrigal would be, In fome ftarv'd hackney fonneteer, or me ? But let a Lord once own the happy lines, 420 How the wit brightens ! how the ftile refines ! Before his facred name flies ev'ry fault, And each exalted ftanza teems with thought ! NOTES. VERSOS. Some ne'er] There is very little poetical exprefiion from this line to ver. 450. It is only mere profe, fringed with rhyme. Good fenfe in a very profaic ftyle. Reafoning, not ppetry. VER. 420. Let a Lord] " You ought not to write verfes, (taid George the Second, who had little tafte, to Lord Hervey,) 'tis beneath your rank ; leave fuch work to little Mr. Pope ; it is his trade." But this Lord Hervey wrote fome that were above the level of thofe defcribed here by our author. The 230 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. The Vulgar thus through Imitation err ; As oft the Learn'd by being fingular ; 425 So much they fcorn the croud, that if the throng By chance go right, they purpofely go wrong : So Schifmatics the plain believers quit, And are but damn'd for having too much wit. Some praife at morning what they blame at night ; But always -think the lad opinion right. . 431 A Mufe by thefe is like a miftrefs us'd, This hour fhe's idoliz'd, the next abus'd ; While their weak heads, like towns unfortify'd, 'Twixt fenfe and nonfenfe daily change their fide. Afk them the caufe ; they're wifer ilill they fay ; 436 And flill to-morrow's wifer than to-day. We think our fathers fools, fo wife we grow ; Our wifer fons, no doubt, will think us fo. 439 Once School-divines this zealous ifle o'er-fpread j Who knew moft Sentences, was deepefl read ; Faith, Gofpel, all, feem'd made to be difputed, And none had fenfe enough to be confuted : Scotifts and Thomifls, now, in peace remain, Amidft their kindred cobwebs in Duck-lane. 445 If NOTES. VER-425;. By being Jingular ; ] Of which truth there cannot be a ftronger example than the learned commentator on our author ; " Who (to ufe his own excellent words on the character of Bayle) ftruck into the province of paradox, as an exercife for the reftlefs vigour of his mind." VER. 444. Scct'Jls'] So denominated from Johannes Duns Scottis. Erafmus tells us, an eminent Scotift affured him, that it was impoffible to underftand one fmgle propofjtion of this famous ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 231 If Faith itfelf has difTrent drefles worn, What wondef modes in Wit fhould take their turn ? Oft' NOTES. Duns, unlefs you had his whole metaphyfics by heart. This hero of incomprehenfible fame fuffered a miferable reverfe at Oxford in the time of Henry VIII. That grave antiquary, Mr. Antony Wood, (in the Vindication of himfelf and his writings from the reproaches of the Bifhop of Salifbury), fadly laments the deformation, as he calls it, of that Uiiiverfity by the King's Commiffioners ; and even records the blaiphemous fpeeches of one of them, in his own words " We have fet Duns in Boccardo, with all his blind gloffers, fait nailed up upon potts in all common houfes of eafement." Upon which our venerable antiquary thus exclaims : " If fo be, the commilTioners had fuch difrefpeft for that moft famous author J. Duns, who was fo much admired by our predeceflbrs, and fo difficult to be underflood, that the Doctors of thofe times, namely, Dr. William Roper, Dr. John Keynton, Dr. William Mowfe, &c. profefled, that, in twenty-eight years ftudy, they could not underftand him rightly, what then had they for others of inferior note ?" What indeed ! But they, If fo be, that moft famous J. Duns was fo difficult to be underftood, (for that this is a moft theologic proof of his great worth, is paft all doubt), I mould conceive our good old Antiquary to be a little miftaken. And that the nailing up his Proteus of the Schools was done by the com miffi oners in honour of the moft famous Duns : There being no other way of catching the fenfe of fo fiippery and dodging an author, who had eluded the purfuit of three of their moft renowned doclors in full cry after him, for eight and twenty years together. And this boccardo in which he was confined, feemed very fit for the purpofe ; it being obferved, that men are never more ierious and thoughtful than in that place of retirement. Scribl. VER.444- T/jom>Jrs] From Thomas Aquinas, a truly great genius, who, in thofe blind ages, was the fame in theology, that our Friar Bacon was in natural philofophy ; kfs happy than our countryman, in this, that he foon became furrounded -with a number of dark glofTcrs, who never left him till they had extinguished the radiance of that light, which had pierced through the thickeft night of Monkery, the thirteenth century, when the Waldenfes were fupprefied, and Wickliffe not yet riftn. W. 0^4 Tloml/ls] a 3 2 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Oft, leaving what is natural and fit, 448 The current folly proves the ready wit ; And VARIATIONS. VER. 447. Between this and ver. 452. The rhyming clowns that gladded Shakefpear's age, No more with crambo entertain the ftage. Who now in anagrams their patron praife, Or fing their miftrefs in acroftic lays ? Ev'n pulpits pleas'd with merry puns of yore ; Now all are banifh'd to th* Hibernian ftiore ! Thus leaving what was natural and fit, The current folly prov'd their ready wit ; And authors thought their reputation fafe, Which liv'd as long as fools were pleas'd to laugh. NOTES. VER. 444. Thomtfls] The Summa fummae, &c. of Thomas Aquinas, is a treatife well deferving a moft attentive perufal, and contains an admirable view of Ariftotle's Ethics. Aquinas did not understand Greek ; what he knew of Ariftotle he got from Averroes, an Arabian, whom the Spanim Jews firfl tranflated into Hebrew, and from Hebrew into Latin. VER. 445. Amidjl their kindred cobwebs] Were common fenfe difpofed to credit any of the Monkifh miracles of the dark and blind ages of the church, it would certainly be one of the feventh century recorded by honeft Bale. " In the fixth general council (fays he) holden at Constantinople, Anno Dom. 680, contra Monothelitas, where the Latin Mafs was firft approved, and the Latin miniilers deprived of their lawfull wives, fpiders webbs, in wonderfull copye were feen falling down from above, upon the heads of the people, to the marvelous aftonifhment of many." The juileft emblem and prototype of School Metaphyfics, the divinity of Scotifts and Thomifts, which afterwards fell, 1:1 wonderfull copye on the heads of the people, in fupport of Tranfubftantiation, to the marvellous aftoniihment of many, as it continues to do to this day. W. This is very forced and far-fetched. VER. 445. Duck-lane.'] A place where old and fecond-hand books were fold formerly, near Smithfield. P. VER. 448. Oft, having what Is natural] Ita comparatum eft humanujn ingenium, ut optimarum rerum fatietate defatigetur. Unde ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 333 And authors think their reputation fafe, 450 Which lives as long as fools are pleas'd to laugh. Some valuing thofe of their own fide or mind, Still make themfelves the meafure of mankind : NOTES. Unde fit, artes, neceffitatis vi quadam crefcere, aut decrrfcere Temper, & ad fummum faftigium evcftas, ibi non din pofle confiftere. Thus mufic, deferting fimple and pathetic expreflion, is taken up with tricks of execution, and a fort of flight of hand. Thus Borromini, to be new and original, has, as Mr. Walpole exprefles it, twifted and curled architecture, by inverting the volutes of the Ionic order. L'ennui du Beau, amene le gout du Singulier. This will happen in every country, every art, and every age. VER. 450. And authors think their reputation fafe, Which lives as long as fools are pleas' d to laugh.] This is an admirable fatire on thofe called Authors in faftiion ; the men who get the laugh OH their fide. He mew s, on how pitiful a bafis their reputation Hands, the changling difpofition of fools to laugh, who are always carried away with the laft joke. W. Another forced interpretation ! VtR. 451. As long as fools] " Mirabile eft (fays Tully) De Oratore, lib. iii. quum plurimum in faciendo inter do&um 8c rudem, quam non multum differant in judicando." Horace and Milton declare againft general approbation, and wifti for fit audience though few. And Tully relates, in his Brutus, the flory of Antimachus, who, when his numerous auditors all gradually left him, except Plato, faid, I ftill continue reading my work ; Plato, enim mihi unus inftar eft omnium. The noble confidence and ftrength of mind, in Milton, is not in any circumftance more vifible and more admirable, than his writing a poem in a ftyle and manner that he was fure would not be relifhed or regarded by his corrupt contemporaries. He was different in this refpecl from Bernardo TafTo, the father of his beloved Torquato, who, to fatisfy the vulgar tafte and current opinions of his country, new-modelled his epic poem Amadigi, to make it more wild and romantic, and lefs fuited to the rules of Ariftotle. VER. 452. Side or mind,] Are two vulgar words, unworthy of our author. r ondly 434 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Fondly we think we honour merit then, When we but praife ourfelves in other men. 45$ Parties in Wit attend on thofe of State, And public faction doubles private hate. Pride, Malice, Folly, againft Dryden rofe, In various fhapes of Parfons, Critics, Beaus ; But feiife furviv'd when merry jefls were pad ; 460 For rifing merit will buoy up at laft. Might he return, and blefs once more our eyes, New Blackmores and new Milbourns muil arife : Nay mould great Homer lift his awful head, Zoilus again would ftart up from the dead. 465 Envy NOTES. VF.R. 458. Pride, Malice,] " Matty perfons of high quality (fays Voltaire,) protected Pradon again!} Racine; Duke Zoilus, Le Comte Bavius, Marquis Masvius." VER. 459. Shapes of Parfons, Critics,] The Parfon alluded to was. Jeremy Collier ; the Critic was the Duke of Buckingham ; the firil of whom very powerfully attacked the profligacy, and the latter the irregularity and bombaft of feme of Dryden's plays. Thefe attacks were much more than merry jefts. VER. 463. Mi/bourn] The Rev. Mr. Luke Milbourn. Dennis ferved Mr. Pope in the fame office. But thefe men are of all times, and rife up on all occasions. Sir Walter Raleigh had Alexander Rofs; Chillingworth had Cheynel ; Milton a firft Edwards ; and Locke a fecond ; neither of them related to the third Edwards of Lincoln's-Inn. They were divines of parts and learning; this a critic-without one or the other. Yet (as Mr. Pope fays of Luke Milbourn) the faireir. of all critics ; for having written againft the Editor's remarks on Shakefpear, he did him juftice in printing, at the fame time, fome of his own. W. But all impartial critics allow the remarks to have been decifive and judicious ; and his Canons of Criticifm remain unrefuted and unanfwerable. VER. 465. Zoilus again] In the fifth book of Vitruvius is an account of Zoilus' s coming to the court of Ptolemy at Alexandria, and ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 235 Envy will merit, as its made, purfue ; But like a fhadow, proves the fubftance true : For envy'd Wit, like Sol eclips'd, makes known, Th* oppofmg body's groflhefs, not its own. When firft that fun too powerful beams difplays, It draws up vapours which obfcure its rays ; 47 1 But ev'n thofe clouds at laft adorn its way, Reflect new glories, and augment the day. Be thou the firft true merit to befriend ; His praife is loft, who ftays till all commend. 475 NOTES. and prefenting to him his virulent and brutal cenfures of Homer, and begging to be rewarded for his work ; in/lead of which, it is faid, the king ordered him to be crucified, or, as fome faid, floned alive. His perfon is minutely defcribed in the nth book of ./Elian's various Hiftory. VER. 468. For envy'd Wit, like Sol eclipsed, &c.] This fimilitude implies a fat too often verified ; and of which we need not feek abroad for examples. It is this, that frequently, thofe very authors, who have at firft done all they could to obfcure and deprefs a rifing genius, have at length been reduced to borrow from him, imitate his manner, and reflect what they could of his fplendor; merely to keep themfelves in fome little credit. Nor hath the poet been lefs artful, to infinuate alfo what is fometimes the caufe. A youthful genius, like the fun rifing towards the meridian, difplays too ftrong and powerful beams for the dirty temper of inferior writers, which oceafions their gathering, condenfing, and blackening. But as he defcends from the' meridian (the time when the fun gives its gilding to the furrounding clouds) his rays grow milder, his heat more benign, and then " ev'n thofe clouds at laft adorn its way, Reflect new glories, and augment the day." W. All the latter part of this note is in the true manner of 6tfr Commentator's extorting meanings never meant, and allufions incongruous and unnatural. Short 236 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Short is the date, alas, of modern rhymes, 476 And 'tis; but juft to let them live betimes. No N O T $ S. VER. 474. Be thou ihejirjl true merit to befriend; His praife is lojl y -who Jl ays till all commend.] When Thomfon publiftied his Winter, 1726, it lay a long time neglected, till Mr. Spence made honourable mention of it in his Effay on the OdyiTey ; which becoming a popular book, made the poem univerfaily known. Thomfon always acknowledged the ufe of this recommendation ; and from this circumftance an intimacy commenced between the critic and the poet, which laded till the lamented death of the latter, who was of a moft amiable and benevolent temper. I have before me a letter of Mr. Spence to Pitt, earneftly begging him to fubfcribe to the quarto edition of Thomfon's Seafons, and mentioning a defign which Thomfon had formed of writing a defcriptive poem on Blenheim ; a fubjeft that would have fhone in his hands. It was fome time after publication, before the Odes of Gray were relifhed and admired. They were even burlefqued by two men of wit and genius, who, however, once owned to me, that they repented of the attempt. The Hecyra of Terence, the Mifanthrope of Moliere, the Phsedra of Racine, the Way of the World of Congreve, the Silent Woman of Ben Jonfon, were ill received on their firft exhibitions, Out of an hundred comedies written by Menander, eight only obtained the prize ; and only five of Euripides out of the feventy tragedies he wrote. Our author ftems to be eminently fortunate, who never, from his early youth, publifhed a piece that did not meet with immediate approbation, except, perhaps, the firft Epiftle of the EiTay on Man, which Mallet, not knowing the author, told him he thought it a mean performance. The confufion and fhame of Mallet may be eafily imagined, when Pope informed him that he was the author. VER. 476. Short is the date^\ Dr. Beattie has a good commentary on thefe words : *' All living languages are liable to change. The Greek and Latin, though compofed of more durable materials than ours, were fubjeft to perpetual viciffitude, till they ceafed to be fpoken. The former is, with reafon, believed to have been more ftationary than any other ; and indeed a very particular attention was paid to the preservation of it ; yet, between Spenfer and Pope, Hooker and ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 237 No longer now that golden age appears, When Patriarch-wits furviv'd a thoufand years : Now length of Fame (our fecond life) is loft, 480 And bare threefcore is all ev'n that can boaft j Our fons their fathers' failing language fee, And fuch as Chaucer is lhall Dryden be. So NOTES. and Sherlock, Raleigh and Smollet, a difference of dialect is not more perceptible, than between Homer and Appollonius, Xenophon and Plutarch, Ariilotle and Antoninus. In the Roman authors, the change of language is ft ill more remarkable. How different, in this refpeft, is Ennius from Virgil, Lucilius from Horace, Cato from Columella, and even Catullus from Ovid ! The Laws of the Twelve Tables, though ftudied by every Roman of condition, were not perfectly underftood, even by antiquarians, in the time of Cicero, when they were not quite four hundred years old. Cicero himfelf, as well as Lucretius, made feveral improvements in the Latin tongue ; Virgil introduced fome new words ; and Horace afferts his right to the fame privilege ; and from his remarks upon it, appears to have confidered the immutability of living language as an impoflible thing. It were vain then to flatter ourfelves with the hope of permanency to any of the modern tongues of Europe ; which, being more ungvammatical, than the Latin and Greek, are expofed to more dangerous, becaufe lefs difcernible, innovations. Our want of tenfes and cafes makes a multitude of auxiliary verbs neceffary ; and to thefe the unlearned are not attentive, becaufe they look upon them as the leaft important parts of language ; and hence they come to be omitted or misapplied in conversation, and afterwards in writing. Befides the fpirit of commerce, manufacture, and naval enterprize, fo honourable to modern Europe, and to Great Britain in particular, and the free circulation of .arts, fciences, and opinions, owing, in part, to the ufe of printing, and to our improvement* in navigation, muft render the modern tongues, and efpecially the Englifh, more variable than the Greek or Latin." VER.482. Failing language'] "In England (fays an ingenious Italian) the Tranflation of the Bible is the ftandard of their language ; trf ESSAY ON CRITICISM. So when the faithful pencil has defign'd Some bright Idea of the matter's mind, 485 Where a new world leaps out at his command, And ready nature waits upon his hand : When the ripe colours foften and unite, And fweetly melt into juft made and light; When mellowing years their full perfection give, And each bold figure juft begins to live, 491 The treach'rous colours the fair art betray, And all the bright creation fades away ! NOTES. language ; in Italy the ftandard is, the Decamerone of Boccacio. Thofe tales have been fo highly applauded, and fo univerfally read, that they feem to have overwhelmed his other works, which are feldom fpoken of. It is only within a few years that the Tefeide of Boccacio was known, or talked of, even among profefled critics, though this epic poem was frequently quoted by Taffo in his Difcorfi del Poema Eroico. Voltaire calls the languages of modern Europe, Enfans boffus & boiteaux d'un grand homme de belle taille, meaning Latin." VE 11.484. So 'when the faithful pencil, ffr.] This fimilitude from painting, in which our author difcovers (as he always does on that fubjeft) real fcience, has ftill a more peculiar beauty, as at the fame time that it confefles the juft fuperiority of ancient writings, it inlinuates one advantage the modern have above them ; which is this, that in thefe latter, our more intimate acqaintance with the occafion of writing, and with the manners defcribed, lets us into thofe living and ftriking graces which may be well compared to that perfection of imitation given only by the pencil. While the ravages of time, amongft the monuments of former ages, have left us but the grofs fubftance of ancient wit ; fo much only of the form and fafhion of bodies as may be exprefled in brafs or marble. W. The fame may be faid of this paflage, as of that which relates to verfe 468, above mentioned. Unhappy ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 239 Unhappy Wit, like moll irxiftaken things, Atones not for that envy which it brings. 495 In youth alone its empty praife we boafl, But foon the fhort-liv'd vanity is loft : Like fome fair flow'r the early fpring fupplies, That gaily blooms, but e'en in blooming dies. What is this Wit, which muft our cares employ ? The owner's wife, that other men enjoy ; 501 Then moft our trouble (till when moft admir'd, And flill the more we give, the more required ; Whofe fame with pains we guard, but lofe with eafe, Sure fome to vex, but never all to pleafe ; 505 'Tis what the vicious fear, the virtuous fhun, By fools 'tis hated, and by knaves undone ! If Wit fo much from Ign'rance undergo, Ah let not learning too commence its foe ! Of NOTES. VER. 494. Unhappy ft'it,~\ " Ceux qui manient le plomb Sc le mercure, (fays Voltaire with hie ufual pleafantry), font fujets a des coliques dangereufes, & a des tremblemens de nerfs tres facheux. Ceux qui fe fervent de plumes & d'encre, font attaques d'une vermine, qu'il faut contiuuellement fecouer." VER. 507. by knaves undone!} By which the poet would infmuate, a common but (hameful truth, That men in power, if they got into it by illiberal arts, generally left Wit and Science to ftarve. W. VER. 508. If Wit fo much from Ign'rance wider -go ,] The inconveniences that attend wit are well enumerated m this excellent paffage. " Poets, who imagine they are known and admired, are frequently mortified, and humbled. Boileau going one day to receive his penfion, and the treafurer reading thefe words in his order ; " the penfion we have granted to Boileau, on account of the fatisfaciion his works have given us," afked him ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Of old, thofe met rewards who could excell, 510 And fuch were prais'd who but endeavour'd well : Though triumphs were to gen'rals only due, Crowns were referv'd to grace the foldiers too. Now, they who reach Parnaffus' lofty crown, Employ their pains to fpurn fome others down ; 515 And while felf-love each jealous writer rules, Contending wits become the fport of fools : But ftill the word with moft regret commend, For each ill Author is as bad a Friend. NOTES. him of what kind were his works; " Of mafonry (replied the poet), I am a builder." Racine always reckoned the praifes of the ignorant among the chief fources of chagrin ; and ufed to relate, that an old magiftrate, who had never been at a play, \vas carried, one day, to his Andromaque. This magiftrate was very attentive to the tragedy, to which was added the Plaideurs ; and going out of the theatre, he faid to the author, " I am extremely pleafed, Sir, with your Andromaque : I am only amazed that it ends fo gaily ; j'avois d'abord eu quelque envie de pleurer, mais la vue des petits chiens m'a fait rire. VER. 5 1 9. Each ill Author'} This might be expefted. But how mortifying, that geniufes of a higher rank mould malign and harafs each other. What mall we fay of the difgraceful difTenfions betwixt Sophocles and Euripides ; Plato and Ariftotle ; BofTuet and Fenelon ; Boileau and Qm'nault j Racine and Moliere ; Taflb and the La Crufca Academicians ; Corneille, Seudery, and Cardinal Richlieu ; Bayle and Le Clerc ; Voltaire and Crebillon; Bentley and Boyle ; Clarke and Atterbury ; Locke and Stillingfleet ; and many others ! Mr. Harte related to me, that being with Mr. Pope when he received the news of Swift's death, Harte faid to him, he thought it a fortunate circutnftance for their friendfhip, that they had lived fo diflant from each other ; Pope refented the reflection, but yet, faid Harte, I am convinced it was true. To ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 241 To what bafe ends, and by what abject ways, 520 Are mortals urg'd through facred luft of praife ! Ah ne'er fo dire a third of glory boafl, Nor in the Critic let the Man be loft. Good-nature and good fenfe muft ever join ; To err is human, to forgive, divine. 535 But if in noble minds fome dregs remain Not yet purg'd off, of fpleen and four difdain ; Difcharge that rage on more provoking crimes, Nor fear a dearth in thefe flagitious times, N OTES. VER. 526. But if in nolle minds fome dregs remain, &c.] So far as to what ought to be the true critic's principal ftudy and employment. But if the four critical humour abounds, and mud therefore needs have vent, he directs to its proper object ; and (hews [from ver. 525 to 556.] how it may be innocently and ufefully pointed. This is very obfervable ; our author had made fpleen and difdain the charafteriftic of the falfe critic, and yet here fuppofes them inherent in the true. But it is done with judgment, and a knowledge of Nature. For as bitternefs and aftringency in unripe fruits of the beft kind are the foundation and capacity of that high fpirit, race, and flavour, which we find in them when perfectly concocted by the warmth and influence of the fun, and which, without thofe qualities, would gain no more by that influence than only a mellow infipidity : fo fpleen- and difdain in the true critic, when improved by long Hudy and experience, ripen into an exa&nefs of judgment and an elegance of tafte : altho', in the falfe critic, lying remote from the influence of good letters, they remain in all their firft offenfive- harmnefs and acerbity. The poet therefore fhews how, after the exaltation of thefe qualities into their ftate of perfeaio-n, the very dregs (which, though precipitated, may poffibly, on fome occafions, yife and ferment even in a noble mind) may be ufefully employed, that is to fay, in branding obfcenity and impiety. W. I have prefcrved this remark, to juftify the cenfure I have prefumed to pafs on Warburton's manner of criticifmg. VOL. I. R k T 242 ESSAY ON CRITICISM* No pardon vile Obfcenity fhould find, 530 Tho' wit and art confpire to move your mind ; But Dulnefs with Obfcenity muft prove As fhameful fure as Impotence in love. In the fat age of pleafure, wealth, and eafe, Sprung the rank weed, and thriv'd with large increafe : When love was all an eafy Monarch's care ; 536 Seldom at council, never in a war : Jilts rul'd the ftate, and flatefmen farces writ : Nay wits had penfions, and young Lords had wit : The Fair fate panting at a Courtier's play, 540 And not a Mafk went unimprov'd away : The modeft fan was lifted up no more, And Virgins fmil'd at what they blufh'd before. The following licence of a foreign reign Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain ; 545 Then NOTES. VER. 545. bold Socinus] " This author (fays Dr. Jortin) feems to have had two particular antipathies ; one to grammatical and verbal criticifm, the other to falfe doclrine and herefy. To the firfl we may afcribe his treating Bentley, Burman, Kufter, and Wafle, with a contempt which recoiled upon himfelf. To the fecond, we will impute his pious zeal againft thofe divines of King William's time, whom he fuppofed to be infeled with the Infidel, or the Socinian, or the Latitudinarian fpirit, and not fo orthodox as himfelf, and his friends Swift, Bolingbroke, &c. Thus he laid about him, and cenfured men, of whofe literary, or of whofe theological merits or defeats, he was no more a judge than his footman, John Searle. He fays, " The following licence of a foreign reign, Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain ; Then unbelieving Priefts reform'd the nation, And taught more pleafant methods of fal ration." In ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 343 Then unbelieving Priefts reform'd the nation, And taught more pleafant methods of falvation ; Where Heav'n's free fubjects might their rights difpute, Left God himielf mould feem too abfolute : Pulpits their facred fatire learn'd to fpare, 550 And Vice aclmir'd to find a flatt'rer there ! Encouraged thus, Wit's Titans brav'd the Ikies, And the prefs groan'd with licens'd blafphemies. Thefe monflers, Critics ! with your darts engage, Here point your thunder, and exhauft your rage ! Yet fhun their fault, who, fcandaloufly nice, 556 Will needs miftake an author into vice ; All feems infected that th* infe&ed fpy, As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye. NOTES. ** In the third of thefe lines he had Burnet in view, and hia Hiftory of the Reformation ; and in the fourth, Kennet ; who was accufed of having faid, in a funeral fermon on fome nobleman, that converted finners, if they were men of parts, repented more fpeedily and effectually than dull rafcals. If his witty friend Swift had confulted the rules of profody, he would not have begun an epigram with, Vertiginofus, inops, furdus, male gratus amicis } and have made a falfe quantity in the firft word. But writing Latin, either profe or veffe, was not his talent, any more than making fermons. As to the knowledge whicli he is faid to have acquired of the learned languages,- Cras credo, hodie nihil." VER. 547. The author has omitted two lines which ftood here, as containing a National Reflection, which in his ilri&er judgment he could not but difapprove on any people whatever. P. VER. 559. Jaundic'd'} Borrowed from an old comedy. R 2 LEARN 244 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. III. LEARN then what MORALS Critics ought to mow, For 'tis but half a Judge's tafk, to know. 561 'Tis not enough, tafte, judgment, learning, join j In all you fpeak, let truth and candour fliine : That not alone what to your fenfe is due All may allow ; but feek your friendmip too. 565 Be filent always, when you doubt your fenfe ; And fpeak, tho' fure, with feeming diffidence : Some pofitive, perfifling fops we know, Who, if once wrong, will needs be always fo ; But you, with pleafure own your errors pad, 570 And make each day a Critique on the laft. 'Tis NOTES. VE 11.560. Learn then, &c.~\ We enter now on the third part, the Morals of the critic; included in candour, modefty, and good-breeding. This third and laft part is in two divifions. In the firft of which [from ver. 559 to 63 1.] our author inculcates thefe morals by precept : In the fecond [from ver. 630 to the end] by example. His lirit precept [from ver. 561 to 566.] recommends candour, for its ufe to the critic, and to the writer criticifed. W. VER. 570. Tour errors pqft,] Thefe few following words of Quintilian, (whom Pope himfelf has, with propriety, fo frequently quoted), contain almoft every thing that can be faid on thefubjeci of correcting and emendation. " Hujus autem operis eft, adjicere, (letrahere, mutare. Sed facilius in his fimpliciufque judicium, quce replenda, vel dtjicienda funt ; premere vero tumentia, humilia extollere, luxuriantia aftringere, inordinata digerere, foluta componere, exultantia coercere, duplicis operae." Suffer me to add another paflage of equal tafte and utility ; " Et ipfa emendatio habet finem ; funt enim qui ad omnia fcripta, tanquam vitiofa redeunt ; & quad nihil fas fit reftum efTe quod primum eft, melius exiftiment quidquid eft aliud ; idque faciunt quoties librum in raanu8 refumpferint ; fimiles inedicis, etiam integra fecantibus. Accidit ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 245 'Tis not enough your counfel ftill be true ; Blunt truths more mifchief than nice falfhoods do ; Men mufl be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot. 575 Without Good-Breeding, truth is difapprov'd ; That only makes fuperior fenfe belov'd. Be niggards of advice on no pretence : For the worfl avarice is that of fenfe. With mean complacence ne'er betray your truft, Nor be fo civil as to prove unjuft. 581 Fear not the anger of the wife to raife ; Thofe beft can bear reproof, who merit praife. 'Twere NOTES. Accidit itaque ut cicatricofa lint, & exanguia, & <:ura pejora. Sit .aliquanclo quod placeat ; aut certe quod fufficiat : ut plus poliat lima, non extcrat." Quintil. lib. 10. Thefe cautions and reftridions, in the bufmefs of emendation, are excellent indeed. VER. 580. With mean complacence ne'er betray your fri/j7, Nor befo civil as to prove unjujl,~\ Our poet pra&ifed this excellent precept in his condnft towards Wycherleyi whofe pieces he corrected with equal freedom and judgment. But Wycherley, who had a bad heart, and an infufferable mare of vanity, and who was one of the profefled wits of the laft age, was foon difgufted at this candour and ingenuity of Pope ; infomuch, that he came to an open and ungenerous rupture with him. VER. 582. Fear not tie anger of tie wife to raife ;] The freedom and unrefervednefs with which Boileau and Racine communicated their works to each other, is hardly to be paralleled ; of which many amiable inllances appear in their letters lately published by a fon of the latter ; particularly in the following : " J'ai trotive quc la Trompette & les Sourds -etoient trop joues, & qu'il ne falloit point trop appuyer fur votre incommodite, moins encore chercher de Pefprit fur ce fujet." Boileau communicated to his friend the firft ftetch of his Ode on the Taking Namur. It is entertaining * 3 to 246 ESSAY ON CRITICISM, 'Twere well might Critics frill this freedom take, But Appius reddens at each word you fpeak, 585 And flares, tremendous, with a threat'ning eye, Like fome fierce tyrant in old tapeftry. NOTES. to contemplate a rude draught by fuch a mafter ; and Is no lefs pleafing to obferve the temper, with which he receives the objections of Racine. " J'ai deja retouche a tout cela ; mais je ne veux point 1'achever que je n'aie re9U vos remarques, qui furement m'eclaireront encore 1'efprit." The fame volume informs us of a curious anecdote, that Boileau generally made the fecond verfe of a couplet before the firft ; that he declared it was one of the grand fecrets of poetry to give, by this means, a greater energy and meaning to his verfes ; that he advifed Racine to follow the fame method, and faid on this occafion, " I have taught him to rhyme with difficulty." VER. 584. 'Ttvere -we II might Critics, &c.] The poet having thus recommended, in his general rules of conduct for the Judgment, thefe three critical virtues to the Heart; fhews next [from ver. 583 to 631.] upon what three forts of writers thefe virtues, together with the advice conveyed under them, would be thrown away ; and which is worfe, be repaid with obloquy and fcorn. Thefe are the falfe Critic, the dull Man of Quality, and the bad Poet ; each of which fpecies of incorrigible writers he hath yery exactly painted. But having drawn the lait of them at full length, and being always attentive to the two main branches of his fubject, which are, of writing and judging well, he re-aflumes the character of the bad Critic (whom he had touched upon before) to contrail him with the other ; and makes the characteriftic common to both, to be a never-cealing i - epetition of their own impertinence. The Poet ftill runs on in a raging vein, &c. ver. 606, &c. The CW/zV-r with his own tongue (till edifies his ears, 614, &c. W. VER. 586. And flares^ tremendous, &c.~\ Tills picture was taken to himfelf by John Dennis, a furious old critic by profeflion, who, upon no other provocation, wrote againft this efTay and its author, in a manner perfectly lunatic : For, as to the mention made of him in ver. 270, he took it as a compliment, and faid it was treacheroufly meant to caufe him to overlook this abufe of his perfon. P. Fear ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 247 Fear moft to tax an Honourable fool, Whofe right it is, uncenfur'd, to be dull; 589 Such, without wit, are Poets when they pleafe, As without learning they can take Degrees. Leave dang'rous truths to unfuccefsful Satires, And flattery to fulfome Dedicators, Whom, when they praife, the world believes no more, Than when they promife to give fcribling o'er. 595 'Tis beft fometimes your cenfure to reflrain, And charitably let the dull be vain : Your filence there is better than your fpite, For who can rail fo long as they can write ? Still humming on, their drouzy courfe they keep, And lafli'd fo long, like tops, are lam'd afleep. 60 1 Falfe fteps but help them to renew the race, As, after Mumbling, Jades will mend their pace. What crouds of thefe, impenitently bold, In founds and jingling fyllables grown old 3 605 NOTES. VER. 593. Fulfome Dedicators,'] " To fee a difcourfe on the ten predicaments fays Warburton pleafantly) addrelfed to a leader of armies, or a fyilem of cafuiftry to a minifler of fiate, always appeared to me a high abfurdity." Might we not fay the fame of addreffing a difcourfe on fatalifm and free-will to the worthy, but illiterate, Mr. Allen of Bath ? VER. 597. Be vain :] This was a favourite maxim and pra&ice of Addifon, as it is related by Swift ; he never contradided a felf-fufficient affefted coxcomb. VER. 604. Impenitently lold,~\ Bold is but a poor epithet in this place, R 4 Still 248 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Still run on Poets in a raging vein, Ev'n to the dregs and fqueezing of the brain, Strain out the laft dull droppings of their fenfe, And rhyme with all the rage of Impotence. Such fhamelefs Bards we have ; and yet 'tis true, There are as mad, abandon'd Critics too. 611 The bookful blockhead ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head, "With his own tongue ftill edifies his ears, And always lift'ning to himfelf appears. 615 All books he reads, and all he reads aflails, From Dryden's r ables down to Durfey's Tales. With him moft authors fteal their works, or buy j Garth -did not write" his own Difpenfary. Name a new play, and he's the Poet's friend, 620 Nay -mow'd his faults but when would Poets mend ? No place fo facred from fuch fops is barr'd, Nor is Paul's church more fafe than Paul's church yard : Nay, NOTES. VER. 607. Squeezing of the brainy] Tt has been fuggefted that he alludes to Wycherley, who had quarrelled with him for corre&ing his rough and harfh verfes, and for faying, he had better put his thoughts into profe, like Rochfoticault's maxims. VER. 619. Garil did not write, SsV.] A common {lander at that time in prejudice of that deferving author. Our Poet did him this juftice, when that flander moft prevailed ; and it is now (perhaps the fooner for this very verfe) dead and forgotten. P. VER. 622. Noplace fof acred'} This ftroke of fatire is literally taken from Boileau. " Gardez vous d'imiter ce rimeur furieux, Qui de fes vains cents lecleur harmonieux Aborde en recitant quiconque le falue, Et pourfuit de fes vers les paflans dans le rue, II ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 249 Nay, fly to Altars ; there they'll talk you dead ; For fools rufh in where Angels fear to tread. 625 Diftruftful fenfe with modeft caution fpeaks, It dill looks home, and Ihort excurfions makes ; But rattling nonfenfe in full vollies breaks, VARIATIONS. VER. 623. Between this and ver. 624. In vain you fimig and fweat and ftiive to fly; Thefe know no Manners but of poetry. They'll flop a hungry chaplain in his grace, To treat of unities of time and place. NOTES. II n'eft Temple fi faint, des Anges refpe&e, Qui foit contre fa mufe un lieu du furete." Which lines allude to the impertinence of a French poet called Du Perrier, who finding Boileau one day at church, infifted upon repeating to him an ode, during the elevation of the hoft ; and defired his opinion, whether or not it was in the manner of tylalherbe. Without this anecdote the pleafantry of the fatire would be overlooked. It may here be occafionally obferved, how many beauties in this fpecies of writing are loft, for want of knowing the fafls to which they allude. The following paflage may be produced as a proof. Boilean, in his excellent epiftle to his gardener, at Anteuil, fays, Mon maitre, dirois-tu, pafle pour un Dofteur, Et parle quelquefois mieux qu'un Predicateur." It feems our author and Racine returned one day, in high fpirits, from Verfailles, with two honeft citizens of Paris. As their converfation was full of gaiety and humour, the two citizens were greatly delighted; and one of them, at parting, ftopt Boileau with this compliment, " I have travelled with )oclors of the Sorbonne, and even with the religious ; .but I never heard fo many fine things faid before; en verite vous parlez cent fois mieux qu'un Predicateur." It is but juftice to add, that the fourteen fucceeding verfes in the poem before us, containing the character of a True Critic, are fuperior to any thing in Boileau's Art of Poetry ; from which, however, Pope has borrowed many obfevvations. And 250 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. And never fhock'd, and never turn'd afide, Burfts out, refiftlefs, with a thund'ring tide, 630 But where's the man, who counfel can beftow, Still pleas'd to teach, and yet not proud to know ? Unbiafs'd, or by favour, or by fpite ; Not dully prepoflefs'd, nor blindly right ; 634 Tho* learn'd, well-bred , and tho* well-bred, fincere ; Modeftly bold, and humanly fevere ; NOTES. VER.63I. But where's the man y Cffc.] The poet, by his manner of afking after this character, and telling us, when he had defcribed it, that fuch once were critics, does not encourage us to fearch for it amongft modern writers. And indeed the difcovery of him, if it could be made, would be but an invidious affair. However, I will venture to name the piece of criticifm in which all thefe marks may be found. It is entitled, Q._Hor. Fl. Ars Poetica, et ejufd. Ep. ad Aug. with an Englilh commentary and notes. W. This commentary is founded on the idea that Horace writes, in hie Art of Poetry, with fyftematic order, and the ftrifteft method. An idea to which feveral capable critics will not accede, and which is directly contrary to Pope's own opinion. But it may be added, that Dr. Hurd was not the firfl who entertained this idea. A French writer, M. de Brueys, gave a paraphrafe on this epiflle of Horace, in 1683, totally grounded on this fuppofition. If my partiality to my lamented friend Mr. Colman does not miflead me, I mould think his account of the matter the moft judicious of any yet publifhed. He conceives that the elder Pifo had written or meditated a poetical work, probably a tragedy; and had communicated his piece, in confidence, to Horace ; but Horace, either difapproving of the work, or doubting of the poetical faculties of the elder Pifo, or both, wifhed to diffuade him from all thoughts of publication. With this view he wrote his epiflle, addrefiing it with a courtlinefs and delicacy, perfectly agreeable to his acknowledged character, indifferently to the whole family, the father and his two fons. Epiille to the Piib's, with Notes by George Colman, 410. 1783, p. 6. Who ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 251 Who to a friend his faults can freely mow, And gladly praife the merit of a foe ? Bleft with a tafte exaft, yet unconfin'd ; A knowledge both of books and human kind ; 640 Gen'rous converfe ; a foul exempt from pride ; And love to praife, with reafon on his fide? Such once were Critics ; fuch the happy few, Athens and Rome in better ages knew. The mighty Stagirite fir ft left the more, 645 Spread all his fails, and durft the deeps explore ; He VARIATIONS. Between ver. 646 and 649. I have found the following lines, fmce fuppreft by the author : That bold Columbus of the realms of wit, Whofe firft difcovery's not exceeded yet. Led by the Light of the Maeonian Star, He fteer'd fecurely, and difcover'd far. He, when all Nature was fubdu'd before, JLike his great Pupil, figh'd and long'd for more : Fancy's wild regions yet unvanquifh'd lay, A boundlefs empire, and that ovvn'd no fway. Poets, fcfc. W. NOTES. VER. 642. With reafon on his fide, &V.] Not only on his fide, but in aftual employment. The critic makes but a mean figure, who, when he has found out the beauties of his author, contents himfelf with mewing them to the world in only empty exclamations. His office is to explain their nature, (hew from whence they arife, and what effects they produce ; or in the better and fuller expreflion of the poet, " To teach the world with reafon to admire." W. .VER. 645. The mighty Stagirite] A noble and juft character of the full and the beft of critics! and fufficient to reprefs the fashionable and naufeous petulance of feveral impertinent moderns, who have attempted to difcredit this great and ufeful writer. Whoever 252 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. He fleer 'd fecurely, and difcover'd far, Led by the light of the Maeonian itar. Poets, NOTES. "Whoever furveys the variety and perfection of his productions, all delivered in the chafteft ftyle, in the cleareft order, and the moft pregnant brevity, is amazed at the immenfity of his genius. His logic, however at prefent neglected for thofe rudiments and verbofe fyftems, which took their rife from Locke's Efiay on the Human Underftanding, is a mighty effort of the mind ; in which are difcovered the principal fources of the art of reafoning, and the dependencies of one thought on another ; and where, by the different combinations he hath made of all the forms the underftanding can afiume in reafoning, which he hath traced for it, he hath fo clofely confined it, that it cannot depart from them, without arguing ir.confequentially. His Phyiics contain many ufeful obfervations, particularly his Hiftory of Animals, which Buffou highly praifes ; to afliil him in which, Alexander gave orders, that creatures of different climates and countries mould, at a great expence, be brought to him, to pafs under his infpeclion. His Morals are, perhaps, the pureft fyftem of antiquity. His Politics are a moft valuable monument of the civil wifdom of the ancients ; as they preferve to us the defcription of feveral governments, and particularly of Crete and Carthage, that otLerwife would have been unknown. But of all his compofitions, his Rhetoric and Poetics -are moft excellent. No writer has fhewn a greater penetration into the receffes of the human heart, than this philofopher, in the ftcond book of his Rhetoric ; where he treats of the different manners and paffions that diftinguifh each different age and condition of man ; and from whence Horace plainly took his famous defcription, in the Art of Poetry (ver. 157). La Bruyere, La Rochefoucault, and Montaigne himfelf, are not to be compared to him in this refpedt. No fucceeding writer on eloquence, not even Tully, has added any thing new or important on this fubjcct. His Poetics, which, I fuppofe, are here by Pope chiefly referred to, feem to have been written for the ufc of that prince, with whofe education Ariftotle was honoured, to give him a juft talte in reading Homer and the tragedians ; to judge properly of which, was then thought no unnecefTary accomplifhment in the character of a prince. - To attempt to underftand poetry without having diligently digefted this treatife, would ESSAY ON CRITICISM. fl53 Poets, a race long unconfm'd, and free, Still fond and proud of favage liberty, 650 Receiv'd his laws ; and flood convinced 'twas fit, Who conquered Nature, fhould prefide o'er Wit. Horace flill charms with graceful negligence, And without method talks us into fenfe, Will, like a friend, familiarly convey 655 The trueft notions in the eafieft way. He, who fupreme in judgment, as in wit, Might boldly cenfure, as he boldly writ, Yet judg'd with coolnefs, tho* he fung with fire; His Precepts teach but what his works infpire. 660 Our Critics take a contrary extreme, They judge with fury, but they write with llegm: Nor fufters Horace more in wrong translations By Wits, than Critics in as wrong Quotations. NOTES. would be as abfurd and impoffible, as to pretend to a /kill iq geometry, without having ftudied Euclid. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and fixteenth chapters, wherein he has pointed out the properell methods of exciting terror and pity, convince us, that he was intimately acquainted with thofe objects which moft forcibly afTedt the heart. The prime excellence of this precious treatife is the fcholailic pvecifion, and philofophical clofenefs, with which the fabje& is handled, without any addrefs to the paffions, or imagination. It is to hue lamented, that the part of the Poetics in which he had givea precepts fbr comedy, did not Ukeivifc in a fuperftitious dread of that monkifh barbarity which he had fo feverely handled, would ufe no term, (for now almoft every man was become a Latin writer), not even when they treated of thehigheft my fteries of religion, which had not been confecrated in the Capitol, and difpenfed unto them from the facred hand of Cicero. Erafmus obferved the growth of this claflical folly with the greater concern, as he difcovered under all their attention to the language of old Rome, a certain fondnefs for its religion, in a growing impiety which difpofed them to think irreverently of the Chriftian Faith. And he no fooner difcovered it than he fet upon reforming it ; which he did fo effectually in the Dialogue, entitled Ciceronianus, that he brought the age back to that juft temper, which he had been, all his life, endeavouring to mark out to it : Purity, but not pedantry, in Letters ; and zeal, but not bigotry, in Religion. In a word, by employing his great talents of genius and literature on fubjefts of general importance ; and by oppofing the extremes of all parties in their turns ; he completed the real character of a true Critic and an honefl Man. W. VER. 697. But fee! each Mufe, in Leo's golden days,] Hiftoiy has recorded five ages of the world, in which the human mind has exerted itfelf in an extraordinary manner ; and in which its productions in literature and the fine arts have arrived at; a perfection, not equalled in other periods. The Firft, is the age of Philip and Alexander ; about which time flourifhed Socrates, Plato, Demofthenes, Ariflotle, Lyfippus, Apelles, Phidias, Praxiteles, Thucydides, Xenophon, jEfchylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Ariftophane> : Menander, Philemon. The Second ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 261 Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins fpread, 699 Shakes off the duft, and rears his rev'rend head. Then NOTES. Second age, which feeras not to have been taken diffident notice of, was that of Ptolomy Philadelphia, king of Egypt, in which appeared Lycophron, Aratus, Nicander, Apollonius Rhodiua, Theocritus, Callimachus, Eratoflhenes, Philichus, Erafiftratus the phyfician, Timceus the hifton'an, Cleanthes, Diogenes the painter, and Softrates the architect. This prince, from his love of learning, commanded the Old Teftament to be tranflated into Greek. The Third age, is that of Julius Caefar, and Auguftus ; marked with the illuflrious names of Laberius, Catullus, Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Varro, Virgil, Horace, Properties, Tibullus, Ovid, Phasdrus, Vitruvius, Diofcorides. The Fourth age was that of Julius II, and Leo X, which produced Arioflo, T-aflb, Frdcaftorius, Sannazarius, Vida, Bembo, Sadolet, Machiavel, Guiccardin, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian. The Fifth age is that of Louis XIV, in France, and of King William and Queen Anne, in England; in which, or thereabouts, are to be found, Corneille, Moliere, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Bofluet, La RochefoucauU, Pafchal, Bourdaloue, Patru, Malbranche, De Retz, La Bruyere, JSt. Real, Fenelon, Lully, Le Saeur, Pouffin, La Brun, Puget, Theodon, Gerradon, Edelinck, Nanteuill, Perrault the .architect, Dryden, Tillotfon, Temple, Pope, Addifon, Garth, Congreve, Rowe, Prior, Lee, Swift, Bolingbroke, Atterbury, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Clarke, Kneller, Thornhill, Jervas, Purcell, Mead, Friend, Leo the Tenth little imagined, that by promoting the revival of ancient literature, and by the difcoyery and diffufion of that manly and liberal knowledge which it contained, and which opened and enlarged the bigoted minds of men, into boldnefs of thought, and freedom of enquiry on all important fubjeds, he was gradually undermining the abfurdity and the tyranny of the Romifti church, and emancipating its wretched devotees from ignorance and fuperftition. In yaiii, usder fuch circumftances, was the Complutenfian edition of the bible given. Cardinal Pole, it is faid, with great (hrewdnefs, warned Leo of the confequences of thus enlightening Europe. In Bayle may be feen, the pains he took, and the expences he incurred, by purchafing suri^us manufcripU from every country s where 262 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Then Sculpture, and her fitter-arts revive ; Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live ; With fweeter notes each rifmg Temple rung ; A Raphael painted, and a Vida fung. Immortal Vida : on \vhofe honour'd brow 705 The Poet's bays and Critic's ivy grow : Cremona NOTES. where they could be found ; and his liberalities to men of genius need not be enlarged upon. One cannot but lament that the charming Ariofto, who was once fo favoured and careffed by him, was afterwards neglected and forgotten by this Pope, and denied a preferment which he had promifed him, which occafioned the feverity with which he treated Leo in his Fifth Satire. It is remarkable, that in the bull which this Pope gave to Ariofto, on the printing his Orlando, he fpeaks of it as a kind of burlefque poem ; as defcribing, Equitum errantium Itinera, ludicro more, longo tamen ftudio, &c. VER. 699. O'er its ruins fpread,~\ In the ninth century, it was faid, there were more ftatues than inhabitants, at Rome. VER. 703. With Jweeter notes] I have the beft authority, that of the learned, accurate, and ingenious Dr. Burney, for obferving, that, in the age of Leo the Tenth, mufic did not keep pace with poetry in advancing towards perfection. Coftantio Fefta was the beft Italian compofer during the time of Leo, and Pietro Aron the beft Theorift. Paleftrina was not born till eight years after the death of Leo. See Hiftory of Muiic, Vol. II. p. 336. In the year 1521, Luther wrote a ferious and prefling letter to Leo, exhorting him to retire from the fplendor and vanity of the court, to fome religious folitude, after the example of St. Bernard. We may eafily imagine how much our polite fucceflbr of St. Peter was diverted with this remonftrance of Luther. Leo did not receive the facrament before he died ; on which, Sannazarius wrote this diftich ; ' Sacra fub extrema fi forte requiritis hora, Cur Leo non potuit fumere ? vendiderat. VER. 705. Immortal Vida :] But Vida was by no means the moft celebrated poet that adorned the age of Leo the Tenth ; and mufic received not fo many improvements, as the other fine arts, at that period. When Vida was advanced to a bifhopric, he ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 263 Cremona now fhall ever boaft thy name, As next in place to Mantua, next in fame ! But NOTES. he went to pay a vifit to his aged parents, who were in very low circumftances ; but, unhappily found they were jutl deceafed. An action more meritorious than writing his Poetics. The merits of Vida feem not to have been particularly attended to in England, till Pope had beftowed this commendation upon him ; although the Poetics had been corredly publifhed at Oxford, by Bafil Kennet, fome time before. The Silk-worms of Vida are written with claflical purity, and with a juft mixture of the ftyles of Lucretius and Virgil. It was a happy choice to write a poem on Chefs; nor is the execution lefs happy. The various ilratagems, and manifold intricacies of this ingenious game, fo difficult to be defcribed in Latin, are here exprefled with the greateft perfpicuity and elegance ; fo that, perhaps, the game might be learned from this defcription. Amidfl many profaic flatnefies there are many fine ftrokes in the Chriftiad; particularly his angels, with refpeft to their petfons and infignia, are drawn with that dignity which we fo much admire in Milton ; who feems to have had his eye on thofe pafiages. Gravina (Delia Ragion. Poet. p. 127.) applauds Vida, for having found out a method to introduce the whole hiftory of our Saviour's life, by putting it into the mouth of St. Jofeph and St. John, who relate it to Pilate. But furely this fpeech, confi fling of as many lines as that of Dido to ./Eneas, was too long to be made on fuch an occafion, when Chrift was brought before the tribunal of Pilate, to be judged and condemned to death. The Poetics are, perhaps, the moft perfed of his compofitions ; they are excellently tranflated by Pitt. Vida had formed himfelf upon Virgil, who is therefore his hero ; he has too much depreciated Homer, and alfo Dante. Although his precepts principally regard epic poetry, yet many of them are applicable to every fpecies of compofition. This poem has the praife IMITATIONS. VER. 708. As next inplace to Mantua,] Alluding to " Mantua vac miferae nimium vicina Cremonae." VIRG. This application is made in Rennet's edition of Vida. S 4 ESSAY ON CRITICISM. But foon by impious arms from Latium chas'd, Their antient bounds the banifh'd Mufes pafs'd. 710 Thence NOTES. praife of being one of the * firft, if npt the very firft, pieces of criticifm, that appeared in Italy, fince the revival of learning ; for it was finiftied, as is evident from a fhort advertifement prefixed to it, in the year 1520. It is remarkable, that moft of the great poets, about this time, wrote an Art of Poetiy. Triflino, a name refpedled for giving to Europe the firft regular epic poem, and fpr firll daring to throw off the bondage of rhyme, publimed at Vicenza, in the year 1529, Delia Poetica, divifioni quattro, feveral years before his Italia Liberata. We have of Fracaftorius, Naugerius, five de poetica dialogus, Venetiis, 1555. Minturnus, De Poeta, libri fex, appeared at Venice 1559. Bernardo Taflb, he father of Torquato, and author of an epic poem, entitledj L'Amadigi, wrote Raggionamento della Poefia, printed at Venice, ^562. And to pay the higheft honour to criticifm, the great Torquato Taflb himfelf wrote Difcorfi del poema Eroico, printed at Venice, 1587. Thefe difcourfes are full of learning and tafte. But I muft not omit a curious anecdote, which Menage has given us in his Anti-Baillet ; Hamely, that Sperone claimed thefe difcourfes as his own ; for he thus fpeaks of them, in one of hij Letters to Felice Paciotto ; " Laudo voi infinitamente di voler fcriyere della poetica; della quale interrogate molto fiate dal Taflb, e rifpondendogli io Jibramente, fi come fogh'o, egli n'a fatto un volume, e mandate al Signior Scipio Gonzago per cofa fua, e non mea : ma io ne chiariro il mondo." Hence it appears, that our author was miftaken in faying, line 712, that " Critic-learning flourifhed moft in France." For thefe critical works here mentioned, by fo many capital writer? jn Italy, far exceed any which the French, at that period of time, had produced. " 'Tis hard (faid Akenfide) to conceive by what means the French acquired this character of fuperior corre&nefs. We have claflie authors in Englifh, older than in any modern language, except the Italian ; and Spenfer and Sidney wrote with the trueft tafte, when the French had not one great poet they * Viclorius's Latin tranflation of Ariftotle's Poetics, was publifhed at Florence, 1560. Caftelyetrp's Italian one at Vienna, '570. ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 265 Thence Arts o'er all the northern world advance, But Critic-learning flourifh'd moft in France ; The rules a nation, born to ferve, obeys ; And Boileau ftill in right of Horace fways. But we, brave Britons, foreign laws defpis'd, 715 And kept unconquer'd, and uncivilized j Fierce NOTES. they can bear to read. Milton and Chapelain were contemporaries ; the Pucelle and Paradife Loft were in hand, perhaps frequently, at the felf-fame hour. One of them was executed in fuch a manner, that an Athenian of Menander's age would have turned his eyes from the Minerva of Phidias, or the Venus of Apelles, to obtain more perfedt conceptions of beauty from the Englifli Poet ; the other, though foftered by the French court for twenty years with the utmoft indulgence, does honour to the Leonine, and the Runic poetry. It was too great an attention to French criticifm, that hindered our poets, in Charles the Second's time, from comprehending the genius, and acknowledging the Authority of Milton ; elfe, without looking abroad, they might have acquired a manner more correft and perfect, than French authors could or can teach them. In fhort, unlefs corre&nefs fignify a freedom from little faults, without enquiring after the moft eflential beauties, it fcarce appears on what foundation the French claim to that character is eftablimed." VER. 714. And Boileau Jlitt in right of Horace f of which is given the following account, in an entertaining writer. '* The Abbe Villars, who came from Thouloufe to Paris, to make his fortune by preaching, is the author of this diverting work. The five dialogues of which it coii'ifts, are the refult of thofe gay converfations, in which the Abbe was engaged, with a fmafl circle of men } of fine wit and humour, like himfelf. When this book firft appeared, it was univerfally read, as innocent and amufing. But at length its confequences were perceived, and reckoned dangerous, at a time when this fort of curiofities began to gain credit. Our devout preacher was denied the chair, and his book forbidden to be read- It was not clear whether the author intended to be ironical, or fpoke all ferioufly. The fecond volume, which he promifed, would have decided the queftion; but the unfortunate Abbe" was foon afterwards afiaffinated by ruffians, on the road to Lyons. The laughers gave out, that the Gnomes and Sylphs, difguifed like ruffians, had (hot him, as a puniftiment- for revealing the fecrets of the Cabala ; a crime not to be pardoned by thefe jealous fpirits, as Villara himfelf hat declared in his book." The motto to the fecond edition, when it was enlarged into five cantos, printed in oftavo for Lintot, 1714, was from Ovid ; as was that to the firft : " a tonfo eft hoc nomen adepta capillo." Both mottos feem to be happily chofen. No writer has equalled Addifon in the happy and dextrous application of paffagea from the claffics for his mottos. Such as that prefixed to the fine paper on the Hoop-petticoat, No. 1 16 of the Taller ; " Pars minima eft ipfa puella fibi." To the account of the Spectator's Club, No. 2. " aft alii fex Et plurcs uno conelamant ore" ' To To No. 8, On Mafquerades ; ' At Venus obfcuro gradientes acre fepfit, Et raulto nebulae circum Dea fudit amiftu: Cernere nequis eos" VIRG. To No. 23, On Anonymous Satires} " Szvit atrox Volfcens, nee teli confpicit ufquam Au&orem, nee quo fe ardens immittere poflit." VIRG. and many others* The mottos prefixed to the papers in the Rambler and Adventurer, were not fo happy. The attempt to tranflate them was abfurd. The one prefixed to Philips's Cyder was elegant. < " Honos erit huic quoque porno ?'* Atterbury fuggefted the interrogation point. Warburton was commended for defpifing common antagonifts, and faying, " Optat aprum, aut fulvum defcendere monte leonem." But Harrington had faid this, in his Oceana, of an adverfary. Mr. Walpole, to intimate his high and juft opinion of Gray's Ode on Eton College as a firft production, wrote on it this line of Lucan ; " Nee licuit populis parvum te Nile videre." I dare believe the learned and amiable author did not know that Fontenelle had applied the very fame line to Newton. A motto to Mr. Gray's few, but cxquifite, poems might be, from Lucretius, lib. 4. " Suaridicis potius quam multis verfibus edam, Parrus ut eft cycni melior canor." THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. a Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violate capillos ; Sed juvat, hoc precibus me tiibuiffc tuis. MA RT. C A N T O I. T T 7 HAT dire offence from am'rous caufes fprings, What mighty contefts rife from trivial things, I fing This verfe to CARYL, Mufe! is due: ^ j^, This, ev'n Belinda may vouchfafe to view: Slight NOTES. a It appears by this Motto, that the following Poem wa* written or publifhed at the Lady's requeft. But there are fomc further circumilances not unworthy relating. Mr. Caryl (a Gentleman who wa* Secretary to Queen Mary, wife of James II. whofe fortunes he followed into France, Author of the comedy of Sir Solomon Single, and of fcveral tranflations in Dryden'a Mifcellanies) originally propofed the fubjet to him, in a view of putting an end, by this piece of ridicule, to a quarrel that wa rifen between two noble Families, thofe of Lord Petre and ot Mrs. Fermor, on the trifling occafion of his having cut off a lock of her hair. The Author fent it to the Lady, with whom he was acquainted ; and me took it fo well as to give about copies of it. That firft fketch (we learn from one of his letters) was written in lefs than a fortnight, in 17.11, in two Cantos only, and it wasfo printed ; firft, in a Mifcellany of Bern. Lintot's, without the name of the Author. But it was received fo well, that he made it more confiderable the next year by the addition of the machinery of the Sylphs, and extended it to five Canto's. We fhall give the reader the pleafure of feeing in what manner thefe additions were inferted, fo as to feem not to be added, but to grow out of the Poem. See Notes, Cant. I. ver. 19, &c. P. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. Slight is the fubject, but not fo the praife, $ If She infpire, and He approve my lays. Say what flrange motive, Goddefs ! could compel A well-bred Lord t* aflault a gentle Belle ? O fay what ftranger caufe, yet unexplor'd, Could make a gentle Belle rejeft a Lord ? j o In talks fo bold, can little men engage, And in foft bofoms, dwell fuch mighty Rage ? Sol through white curtains mot a tim'rous ray, And ope'd thofe eyes that muft eclipfe the day : Now lap-dogs give themfelves the roufing (hake, And fleeplefs lovers, juft at twelve, awake : 16 Thrice VARIATIONS. VER. n, 12. It was in the firft editions) And dwells fuch rage in fofteft bofoms then, And lodge fuch daring Souls in little Men ? P VER. 13, &c. flood thus in the firfl edition, Sol through white curtains did his beams difplay. And ope'd thofe eyes which brighter fhone than they : Shock juft had given himfelf the roufing (hake, And Nymphs prepar'd their Chocolate to take ; Thrice the wrought flipper knock'd againft the ground, And ftriking watches the tenth hour refound. P. NOTES. VER. 10. Could maie a gentle Belle} " The characters introduced in this poem were Mr. Caryl, juft before mentioned ; Belinda was Mrs. Arabella Fermor ; the Baron was Lord Petre, of fmall ftature, who foon after married a great heirefs, Mrs. Wannfley, and died leaving a pofthumous fon ; Thaleftria was Mrs. Morly ; Sir Plume was her brother, Sir George Brown, of Berkfhire." Copied from a MS. in a book presented by R. Lord Burlington, to Mr, William Sherwin. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 2 8 5 Thrice rung the bell, the flipper knock'd the ground, And the prefs'd watch return'd the filver found. Belinda dill her downy pillow preft, , g Her guardian SYLPH prolong'd the balmy reft : 'Twas He had fummon'd to her filent bed The morning-dream that hover'd o'er her head, A Youth more glitt'ring than a Birth-night Beau, (That e'en in flumber caus'd her cheek to glow) Seem'd to her ear his winning lips to lay, 25 And thus in whifpers faid, or feem'd to fay. Faireft NOTES. VER. 18. Stiver found.} Boileau, at an entertainment given by Segrais, was engaged to read his Lutrin ; when he came to this paffage in the firft canto, " Les cloches dans les airs de leur voix argentine*," Chapelle, who was one of the company, and who, as ufual, had drank freely, ftopt him, and objected ftrongly to the expreffion, filler founds, Boileau difregarded his objections and continued to read ; but Chapelle again interrupting him ; " You are drunk," faid Boileau ; " I am not fo much intoxicated with wine (returned Chapelle) as you are with your own verfes." It is a fingular circumftance, that Boileau was buried in the very fpot on which the Lutrin flood. VER. 19. Belinda Jlill, &c.] All the verfes from hence to the end of this Canto were added afterwards. P. VER. 20. Her guardian Sylph] When Mr. Pope had projected to give The Rape of the Lock its prefent form of a mock-heroic poem, he was obliged to find it with its machinery. For as the fubject of the epic confifts of two parts, the metaphyfical and the civil ; fo this mock epic, which is of the fatiric kind, and receives its grace from a ludicrous mimickry of the other's pomp and folemnity, was to have the like compounded nature. W. It was referved to Dr. Warburton to fay, that the epic confifts of two parts, the metaphyfical and the civil. It is hard to fay what is the metaphyfical part of Homer and Virgil. 286 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. Fairefl of mortals, thou diftinguifh'd care Of thoufand bright Inhabitants of Air ! If e'er one Vifion touch' d thy infant thought, Of all the Nurfe and all the Prieft have taught ; 30 Of airy Elves by moonlight fhadows feen, The filver token, and the circled green, Or virgins vifited by Angel pow'rs With golden crowns and wreaths of heav'nly flow'rs ; Hear and believe ! thy own importance know, 35 Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. Some fecret truths, from learned pride conceal'd, To Maids alone and Children are reveal'd : What NOTES. VER. 27. Fairefl of mortals,] Thefe machines are vaftly fuperior to the allegorical perfonages of Boileau and Garth ; not only on account of their novelty, but for the exquifite poetry, and oblique fatire, which they have given the poet an opportunity to difplay. [The bulinefs and petty concerns of a fine lady, receive an air of importance from the notion of their being perpetually overlooked arrtl conducted, by the interpofition of celeftial agents. ) The firft time thefe beings were mentioned by any writer in our language was by Sir W. Temple., Efiays, 4. p. 255. " I mould (fays he) as foon fall into the ftudy of the Rofycrufian philosophy, and expeft to meet a Nymph or a Sylph for a wife or a miftrefs." They are alfo mentioned in 3 letter of Dryden to Mrs. Thomas, 1699; "Whether Sylph or Nymph I know not; thofe fine creatures, as your author Count Gabalis allures us, have a mind to be chriftened, and fince you defire a pame from me, take that of Corinna, if you pleafe.*' Sylphs are mentioned, as inyifiblc attendants, and as interefted in the affairs of the ladies, in the loift, io4th, and I95th, of Madame de Sevigne's celebrated Letters ; as they are alfo in the fecond chapter of Le Sage's Diable Boiteaux. M. De Sevigne fays, remarkably enough, letter 90, " If we had a few Sylphs at our command now, one might furnifh out a ftory to divert you with." THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 2 8 7 What tho* no credit doubting Wits may give? The Fair and Innocent fhall ftill believe. 4O Know then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly, The light Militia of the lower fky : Thefe, tho* unfeen, are ever on the wing, Hang o'er the Box, and hover round the Ring. Think what an equipage thou haft in Air, 45 And view with fcorn two Pages and a Chair. As now your own, our beings were of old, And once inclos'd in Woman's beauteous mould 5 Thence, by a foft tranfition, we repair From earthly Vehicles to thefe of air. 50 Think not, when Woman's tranfient breath is fled, That all her vanities at once are dead j Succeeding vanities fhe ftill regards, And tho' me plays no more o'erlooks the cards. Her joy in gilded Chariots, when alive, 55 And love of Ombre, after death furvive. For NOTES. VER. 47. As now your own, 5V.] The Poet here forfakes the Roficrucian fyftem ; which, in this part, is too extravagant even for ludicrous Poetry ; and gives a beautiful fidlion of his own, on the Platonic Theology, of the continuance of the paffions in another ftate, when the mind, before its leaving this, has not been well purged and purified by philofophy ; which furniflies an occafion for much ufeful fatire. W. IMITATIONS. VER. 54, 55. " Quae gratia currum Armorumque fuit vivis, qua^ cura nitentes Pafcere equos, eadem fequitur tellure repoftos." . Aeneid. vi. P. 288 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. For when the Fair in all their pride expire, To their firft elements their fouls retire : The Sprites of fiery Termagants in Flame Mount up, and take a Salamander's name. 60 Soft yielding minds to Water glide away, And fip, with Nymphs, their elemental Tea. The graver Prude finks downward to a Gnome, In fearch of mifchief ftill on Earth to roam. The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, 65 And fport and nutter in the fields of Air. Know further yet ; whoever fair and chafte Rejects mankind, is by fome Sylph embrac'd : For Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with eafe Affume what fexes and what fhapes they pleafe. 7* What guards the purity of melting Maids, In courtly balls, and midnight mafquerades, Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring fpark, The glance by day, the whifper in the dark, When NOTES. VER. 67. Kni)w further yet;] ! Marmontel has, on this idea, framed one of his moll popular Tales. I muft again and again repeat, that it is on account of the exquifite {kill, and humour and pleafantry of the ufe made of the machinery of the Sylphs, that this poem has excelled all the heroi-comic poems in all languages. The Ver-vert of Greflet, in point of delicate fatire, is perhaps next to it, but far inferior for the want of fuch machinery. VER. 68. Is by fome Sylph embraced :~\ Here again the Author icfumes the Roficrufian fyftem. But this tenet, peculiar to that wild philofophy, was founded on a principle very unfit to be employed in fuch a fort of poem, and therefore fupprefied, though a lefs judicious writer would have been tempted to expatiate upon it. W. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 289 When kind occafion prompts their warm defires, 75 When mufic foftens, and when dancing fires ? 'Tis but their Sylph, the wife Celeflials know, Though Honour is the word with Men below. Some nymphs there are, too confcious of their face. For life predeftin'd to the Gnomes embrace. 80 Thefe fwell their profpe&s and exalt their pride, When offers are difdain'd, and love deny'd : Then gay Ideas croud the vacant brain, While Peers, and Dukes, and all their fweeping train, And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear, 85 And in foft founds, YOUR GRACE falutes their ear. *Tis thefe that early taint the female foul, Inftruct the eyes of young Coquettes to roll, Teach Infant-cheeks a bidden blufh to know, And little hearts to flutter at a Beau. 90 Oft, when the world imagine women flray, The Sylphs through miftic mazes guide their way, Through all the giddy circle they purfue, And old impertinence expell by new. What tender maid but muft a victim fall 95 To one man's treat, but for another's ball ? When Florio fpeaks, what virgin could withftand, If gentle Damon did not fqueeze her hand ? With NOTES. VER. 78. Though Honour it the word with MM Mow.] Parody f Homer. W ' VOL. I. 290 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. With varying vanities, from ev'ry part, They fhift the moving Toy mop of their heart ; 100 Where wigs with wigs, with fword-knots fword-knots drive, Beaux baniih beaux, and coaches coaches drive. This erring mortals Levity may call, Oh blind to truth ! the Sylphs contrive it all. Of thefe am I, who thy protection claim, 105 A watchful fprite, and Ariel is my name. Late, as I rang'd the cryftal wilds of air, In the clear mirror of thy ruling Star I law, alas ! fome dread event impend, Ere to the main this morning fun defcend, 1 10 But NOTES. VER. 99. With varying vanities ,} " The freaks and humours, knd fpleen and vanity of women, (fays Dr. Johnfon), as they embroil families in difcord, and fill houfes with difquiet, do more to obflruft the happinefs of life in a year, than the pride, ambition, and difcord of the clergy, (as defcribed in the Lutrin), in many centuries." I cannot poffibly affent to this observation of Dr. Johnfon ; who muft. furely have forgotten, what he muft often have read and lamented, the cruelties, the confufions, the murders, the maflacres, the rage, and fury, in which Ecclefiaftical Miilory, to the difgrace of genuine Chriftianity, fo much abounds. His zeal therefore, and defire to place the Rape of the Lock above the Lutrin, on this account, is ill founded. He might have recollected, that Grotius, in his Annals, relates that more than one hundred thoufand Proteftants perifhed in the Netherlands, by the executioner of Charles V. VER. 108. In the char mirror] The language of the Platonifts, the writers of the intelligible world of Spirits, &c. F. IMITATIONS. VER. 101. " Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo, Enfe minax enfis, pede pes, et cufpide cufpis," &c. STAT. W. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 291 But heav'n reveals not what, or how, or where: Warn'd by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware ! This to difclofe is all thy guardian can : Beware of all, but moft beware of Man ! He faid ; when Shock, who thought fhe flept too lon S> 115 Leap'd up, and wak'd his miflrefs with his tongue. 'Twas then, Belinda, if report fay true, Thy eyes firft open'd on a Billet-doux ; Wounds, Charms, and Ardours, were no fooner read, But all the vifion vanifh'd from thy head. 120 And now, unveil'd, the Toilet flands difplay'd, Each filver Vafe in myftic order laid. Firfl, NOTES. VER. 113. This to (fifchfc, &c.] There is much pleafantry In the conduft of this fcene. The Roficrucian Doctrine was delivered only to adepts, with the utmoft caution, and under the moft folemn injunctions of fecrecy. It is here communicated to a Woman, and in that way of conveyance, which a Woman moft delights to make the fubjed of her converfation ; that is to fay. her Dreams. W. VER. 121. And now, unveiPdy &V.] The trar.flation of thefe verfes, containing the defcription of the toilette, by our Author's friend Dr. Parnell, deferve, for their humour, to be here inferted. " Et nunc dileftum fpeculum, pro more reteftum, Emicat in menfa, quac fplendet pyxide denfa : Turn primum lympha fe purgat Candida Nympha, Jamque fine menda, coeleftis imago videnda, Nuda caput, bellos retinet, regit, implet ocellos. Haec ftupet implorans, ceu cukus numen adorans. Inferior claram PythonitTa apparet ad aram, Fertque tibi caute, dicatque Superbia ! laute, Dona venufta ; oris, quae cunftis, pleno laboris, u 2 Excerpta 292 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. Firft, rob'd in white, the Nymph intent adores, With head uncover'd, the Cofmetic pow'rs. A heav'nly Image in the glafs appears, 125 To that (he bends, to that her eyes me rears ; Th' inferior Prieftefs, at her altar's fide, Trembling begins the facred rites of Pride. Unnumber'd treafures ope at once, and here The various ofPrings of the world appear ; 130 From each me nicely culls with curious toil, And decks the Goddefs with the glitt'ring fpoil. This NOTES. Excerpta explorat, dominamque deamque decorat. Pyxide devota, fe pandit hie India tota, Et tota ex ifta tranfpirat Arabia cifta ; Tcftudo hie fleclit dum fe niea Lefbia pectit ; Atque elephas lente, te peftit Lefbia dente ; Hunc maculis noris, nivei jacet ille colons. Hie jacet et munde, mundus muliebris abunde ; Spinula refplendens aeris longo ordine pendens, Pulvis fuavis odore, et epiftola fuavis amore, Induit arma ergo Veneris pulcherrima virgo ; Pulchrior in praefens tempus de tempore crefcens, Jam reparat rifus, jam furgit gratia vifus, Jam promit cultu, mirac'la latentia vultu ; Pigmina jam mifcet, quo plus fua Purpura glifcet, Et geminans bellis fplendet mage fulgor ocellis. Stant Lemures muti, Nymphae intentique faluti, Hie figit Zonam, capiti locat ille Coronam, Haec manicis formam, plicis dat et altera normam, Et tibi, vel Betty tibi vel nitidiflima Letty ! Gloria fa&orum temere conceditur horum." Some of thefe Latin lines are CKceptionable, and not claflical. VER. 122. Eachfiher Vafc] Parnell accidentally hearing Pope repeat this defcription of the Toilette, privately turned them into thefe Monkifh Latin verfes, and Pope, to whom he immediately communicated them, was allonimed at the refemblance, till Parnell undeceived THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 293 This cafket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The tortoife here and elephant unite, 135 Transform'd to combs, the fpeckled and the white. Here files of pins extend their mining rows, Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux. Now awful beauty puts on all its arms ; The fair each moment rifes in her charms, 140 Repairs her fmiles, awakens ev'ry grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face ; Sees by degrees a purer blufh arife, And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes. The bufy Sylphs furround their darling care, 145 Thefe fet the head, and thofe divide the hair, Some fold the fleeve, whilft others plait the gown ; And Betty's prais'd for labours not her own. NOTES. undeceived him. Mr. Harte told me, that Dryden had been irapofed on by a fimilar little ftratagem. One of his friends tranflated into Latin verfe, printed, and pafted on the bottom of an old hat-box, a tranflation of that celebrated paffage, " To die is landing on fome iilent ftiore," &c. and that Dryden, on opening the box, was alarmed and amazed. VER. 131. From each Jbe~\ Evidently from Addifon's Spedator, No. 69 ; " The fingle drefs of a woman of quality is often the produd of an hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The fcarf is fent from the Torrid Zone, and the tippet from beneath the Pole. The brocade petticoat arifes out of the mines of Peru, and tl diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indyftan." VER. 145. rbe bufy Sylphs, tfr.] Ancient Traditions of the Rabbi's relate, that feveralof the fallen Angels became amorous of Women, and particularize fome ; among the reft Afael, who lay with Naamah, the wife of Noah, or of Ham ; and who contmmn impenitent, ftill prefides over the women's Toilets. MMW Rabbi in Genef. vi. 2. u 3 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. CANTO II. T with more glories, in th* ethereal plain, The Sun firil rifes o'er the purpled main, Than, ifluing forth, the rival of his beams Launch'd on the bofom of the filver Thames. Fair Nymphs, and well-dreft Youths around her fhone, But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone. 6 On her white breaft a fparkling Crofs ihe wore, Which Jews might kifs, and Infidels adore. Her lively looks a fprightly mind difclofe, Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as thofe : i o Favours to none, to all me fmiles extends ; Oft me rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the fun, her eyes the gazers flrike, And, like the fun, they mine on all alike. Yet graceful eafe, and fweetnefs void of pride, 15 Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide : If to her (hare fome female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all. This VARIATIONS. VER. 4. Launch' } d on the lofom, &c.] From hence the poem continues, in the firft Edition, to ver. 46. " The reft the winds difpers'd in empty air ;" all after, to the end of this Canto, being additional. P. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 295 This Nymph, to the deftru&ion of mankind, Nourifli'd two Locks, which graceful hung behind In equal curls, and well conlpired to deck 2* With mining ringlets the fmooth iv'ry neck. Love in thee labyrinths his ilaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in flender chains. With hairy fpringes we the birds betray, 35 Slight lines of hair furprize the finny prey, Fair trefles man's imperial race infnare, And beauty draws us with a fingle hair. Th' advent'rous Baron the bjight locks admir'd ; He faw, he wim'd, and to the prize afpir'd. 30 Refolv'd to win, he meditates the way, By force to ravifh, or by fraud betray ; For when fuccefs a Lover's toil attends, Few afk, if fraud or force attain'd his ends. For this, ere Phoebus rofe, he had implor'd 35 Propitious heav'n, and ev'ry pow'r ador'd, But chiefly Love to Love an Altar built, Of twelve vaft French Romances, neatly gilt. There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves, And all the trophies of his former loves j 4 With N OT.E S. VER. 25. With hairy /fringes] In allufion to Anacreon'g manner. . ' In what ode of Anacreon ? VE.R. 28. with a fingle hair.} In allufion to thofe lines of Hudibras, applied to the fame purpofe, And tho' it be a two foot Trout, Ts with a fmgle hair pull'd out." $T U 4 296 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK, With tender billet-doux he lights the pyre, And breathes three am'rous fighs to raife the fire. Then proftrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes Soon to obtain, and long poflefs the prize : The Pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, The reft, the winds difpers'd in empty air. 46 But now fecure the painted Veflel glides, The fun-beams trembling on the floating tides : While melting mufic fteals upon the Iky, And foften'd founds along the waters die ; 50 Smooth flow the waves, the Zephyrs gently play, Belinda fmil'd, and all the world was gay. All but the Sylph with careful thoughts oppreft, Th' impending woe fat heavy on his breaft. He fummons ftraight his Denizens of air j 55 The lucid fquadrons round the fails repair : Soft o'er the fhrouds aerial whifpers breathe, That feem'd but Zephyrs to the train beneath. Some to the fun their infeft-wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or fink in clouds of gold ; 60 Tranfparent forms, too fine for mortal fight, Their fluid bodies half diffolv'd in light, Loofe to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, Dipt in the richeft tincture of the ikies, 65 Where light difports in ever-mingling dyes ; While IMITATIONS. VER. 45. The Pow'rs gave far,] VIRG. Aeneid. xi. P. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 297 While ev'ry beam new tranfient colours flings, Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings. Amid the circle, on the gilded maft, Superior by the nead, was Ariel plac'd 5 70 His purple pinions op'ning to the fun, He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun. Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear, Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Demons hear ! Ye know the fpheres, and various tafks affign'd 75 By laws eternal to th' aerial kind. Some NOTES. VER. 75. Te know] Thofe who are fond of tracing images and fentiments to their fource, may, perhaps, be inclined to think, that the hint of afcribing tafks and offices to fuch imaginary beings, is taken from the Fairies, and the Ariel of Shakefpeare ; let the impartial critic determine, which has the fuperiority of fancy. The employment of Ariel in the Tempeft, is faid to be " To tread the ooze Of the fait deep ; To run upon the {harp wind of the north ; To do bulinefs in the veins of th' earth, When it is bak'd with froft ; To dive into the fire ; to ride On the cuil'd clouds." And again, r- " In the deep nook, where once Thou call'dft me up at midnight to fetch dew JTrom the ftill-vext Bermoothes." Nor mufl. I omit that exquifitc fong, in which his favourite and peculiar paftime is exprefied. " Where the bee fucks, their fuck I, In a cowflip's bell I lie ; There I couch where owls do cry, On the bat's back I do fly, After fun-fet, merrily; Merrily, merrily, mail I live now, Under the bloflbm that hangs on the bough." With 298 THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. Some in the fields of pureft Ether play, And ba(k and whiten in the blaze of day. Some guide the courfe of wand'ring orbs on high, Or roll the planets through the boundlefs Iky. 80 Some lefs refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light Purfue the ftars that moot athwart the night, Or fuck the mifts in groffer air below, Or dip their pinions in the painted bow, Or NOTES. With what wildnefs of imagination, but yet, with what propriety, are the amufements of the fairies pointed out in the Midfummer Night's Dream ; amufements proper for none but fairies ! " For the third part of a minute, hence : Some to kill cankers in the mufk-rofe buds : Some war with rear-mice for their leathern wings To make my fmall elves coats ; and fome keep back The clamourous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders At our quaint fpirits." Shakefpeare only could have thought of the following gratifications for Titania's lover ; and they are fit only to be offered to her lover by a fairy-queen. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman, Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes ; Feed him with apricots and dewberries, With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries, The honey-bags (leal from the humble bees, And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs, And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes, To have my love to bed, and to arife ; And pluck the wings from painted butter-flies, To fan the moon-beams from his fleeping eyes." If it mould be thought, that Shakefpeare has the merit of being the firft who afligned proper employments to imaginary perfons, in the foregoing lines, yet it muft be granted, that by the addition of the moft delicate fatire to the moft lively fancy, Pope, in a following pailage, (ver. 91 .), has equalled any thing in Shakefpeare, or perhaps in any other author. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. 299 Or brew fierce tempefts on the wintry main, 85 Or o'er the glebe diftil the kindly rain. Others on earth o'er human race prefide, Watch all their ways, and ail their actions guide : Of thefe the chief the care of Nations own, And guard with arms divine the Britifh Throne. Our humbler province is to tend the Fair, 91 Not a lefs pleafmg, tho' lefs glorious care j To fave the powder from too rude a gale, Nor let th' imprifon'd eflences exhale ; To draw frefh colours from the vernal flow'rs ; 95 To fteal from Rainbows ere they drop in fliow'rs A brighter wah ; to curl their waving hairs, Aflifl their blufhes, and infpire their airs ; Nay oft, in dreams, invention we beftow, To change a Flounce, or add a Furbelow. 100 This day, black Omens threat the brighteft Fair That e'er deferv'd a watchful fpirit's care ; Some dire difafter, or by force, or flight ; But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night. Whether the nymph lhall break Diana's law, 105 Or fome frail China jar receive a flaw ; Or NOTES. VER. 90. And guard