PART I

INTRODUCTION. That it is as great a fault to judge ill as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public. That a true Taste is as rare to be found as a true Genius. That most men are born with some Taste, but spoiled by false education. The multitude of Critics, and causes of them. That we are to study our own Taste, and know the limits of it. Nature the best guide of judgment. Improved by Art and rules, which are but methodized Nature. Rules derived from the practice of the ancient poets. That therefore the ancients are necessary to be studied by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil. Of licenses, and the use of them by the ancients. Reverence due to the ancients, and praise of them.

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Nature, like Liberty, is but restrain'd By the same laws which first herself ordain'd.

Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites

When to repress and when indulge our flights:

High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd,

And pointed out those arduous paths they trod;

Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize, And urged the rest by equal steps to rise. Just precepts thus from great examples giv'n,

She drew from them what they derived from Heav'n.

The gen'rous Critic fann'd the poet's fire, And taught the world with reason to ad

mire.

ΤΟΥ

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Some lucky license answer to the full
Th' intent proposed, that license is a rule.
Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,
May boldly deviate from the common track.
Great Wits sometimes may gloriously of-
fend,

And rise to faults true Critics dare not mend;

From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,

And snatch a grace beyond the reach of Art, Which, without passing thro' the judgment, gains

The heart, and all its end at once attains. In prospects thus some objects please our

O may some spark of your celestial fire The last, the meanest of your sons inspire, (That on weak wings, from far, pursues your flights,

Glows while he reads, but trembles as he writes)

To teach vain Wits a science little known, T'admire superior sense, and doubt their

PART II

Causes hindering a true judgment. Pride. Imperfect learning. Judging by parts, and not by the whole. Critics in wit, language, versification only. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire. Partiality - too much love to a sect to the ancients or mod

erns. Prejudice or prevention. Singularity. Inconstancy. Party spirit. Envy. Against envy, and in praise of good-nature. When severity is chiefly to be used by critics.

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

What the weak head with strongest bias rules,

Is Pride, the never failing vice of fools.
Whatever Nature has in worth denied
She gives in large recruits of needful Pride:
For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find
What wants in blood and spirits swell'd
with wind:

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

And fills up all the mighty void of Sense: 10 If once right Reason drives that cloud away, Truth breaks upon us with resistless day. Trust not yourself; but your defects to know,

No single parts unequally surprise,
All comes united to th' admiring eyes;
No monstrous height, or breadth, or length,
appear;

The whole at once is bold and regular.

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

In

every work regard the writer's end, Since none can compass more than they intend;

And if the means be just, the conduct true, Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due. As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit,

T'avoid great errors must the less commit; Neglect the rules each verbal critic lays, 61 For not to know some trifles is a praise. Most critics, fond of some subservient art, Still make the whole depend upon a part: They talk of Principles, but Notions prize, And all to one lov'd folly sacrifice.

Once on a time La Mancha's Knight,

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Concluding all were desperate sots and fools Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules. Our author, happy in a judge so nice, Produced his play, and begg'd the knight's advice;

Made him observe the Subject and the Plot, The Manners, Passions, Unities; what not? All which exact to rule were brought about, Were but a combat in the lists left out. 'What! leave the combat out?' exclaims the knight.

'Yes, or we must renounce the Stagyrite.' 'Not so, by Heaven! (he answers in a rage)

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Knights, squires, and steeds must enter on the stage.'

'So vast a throng the stage can ne'er contain.'

'Then build a new, or act it in a plain.'

Thus critics of less judgment than caprice,

Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice, Form short ideas, and offend in Arts (As most in Manners), by a love to parts.

Some to Conceit alone their taste confine, And glitt'ring thoughts struck out at every line;

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Pleas'd with a work where nothing's just or fit,

One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit. Poets, like painters, thus unskill'd to trace The naked nature and the living grace, With gold and jewels cover every part, And hide with ornaments their want of Art. True Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd;

Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,

That gives us back the image of our mind. As shades more sweetly recommend the light,

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So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit: For works may have more wit than does them good,

As bodies perish thro' excess of blood.

Others for language all their care express, And value books, as women men, for dress: Their praise is still-the Style is excel.. lent;

The Sense they humbly take upon content. Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,

Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.