Then unbelieving Priests reform'd the nation, dispute, 550 Lest God himself should seem too absolute : 556 NOTES. Thus he laid about him, and censured men, of whose literary, or of whose theological merits or defects, he was no more a judge than his footman, John Searle. He says, "The following licence of a foreign reign, Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain; And taught more pleasant methods of salvation.' "In the third of these lines he had Burnet in view, and his History of the Reformation; and in the fourth, Kennet; who was accused of having said, in a funeral sermon on some nobleman, that converted sinners, if they were men of parts, repented more speedily and effectually than dull rascals. If his witty friend Swift had consulted the rules of prosody, he would not have begun an epigram with, Vertiginosus, inops, surdus, male gratus amicis; and have made a false quantity in the first word. But writing Latin, either prose or verse, was not his talent, any more than making sermons. As to the knowledge which he is said to have acquired of the learned languages,--Cras credo, hodie nihil." Ver. 547. The author has omitted two lines which stood here, as containing a National Reflection, which in his stricter judgment he could not but disapprove on any people whatever. P. All seems infected that th' infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye. III. 561 565 LEARN then what MORALS Critics ought to shew, For 'tis but half a Judge's task, to know. 'Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning, join; In all you speak, let truth and candour shine : That not alone what to your sense is due All may allow; but seek your friendship too. Be silent always, when you doubt your sense; And speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence: Some positive, persisting fops we know, Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so; But you, with pleasure own your errors past, And make each day a Critique on the last. NOTES. Ver. 559. jaundic'd] Borrowed from an old comedy. 570 Ver. 560, Learn then, &c.] We enter now on the third part, the Morals of the critic; included in candour, modesty, and good-breeding. This third and last part is in two divisions. In the first of which [from ver. 559 to 631] our author inculcates these morals by precept: in the second [from ver. 630 to the end] by example. His first precept [from ver. 561 to 566] recommends candour, for its use to the critic, and to the writer criticised. W. Ver. 570. your errors past,] These few following words of Quintilian (whom Pope himself has, with propriety, so frequently quoted) contain almost every thing that can be said on the subject of correcting and emendation. Hujus autem operis est, adjicere, detrahere, mutare. Sed facilius in his simpliciusque judicium, quæ replenda, vel dejicienda sunt; premere vero tumentia, humilia extollere, luxuriantia astringere, inordinata digerere, soluta componere, exultantia coercere, duplicis operæ." Suffer me to add another passage of equal taste and utility; "Et ipsa emendatio habet finem; sunt enim qui ad omnia scripta, 'Tis not enough your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do; Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot. 575 Without Good-Breeding, truth is disapprov'd; That only makes superior sense belov❜d. Be niggards of advice on no pretence: With mean complacence ne'er betray your trust, Fear not the anger of the wise to raise; Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise. 581 NOTES. tanquam vitiosa redeunt; et quasi nihil fas sit rectum esse quod primum est, melius existiment quidquid est aliud ; idque faciunt quoties librum in manus resumpserint; similes medicis, etiam integra secantibus. Accidit itaque ut cicatricosa sint, et exanguia, et cura pejora. Sit aliquando quod placeat; aut certe quod sufficiat ut plus poliat lima, non exterat." Quintil. lib. 10. These cautions and restrictions, in the business of emendation, are excellent indeed. Ver. 580. With mean complacence ne'er betray your trust, Nor be so civil as to prove unjust.] Our poet practised this excellent precept in his conduct towards Wycherley, whose pieces he corrected with equal freedom and judgment. But Wycherley, who had a bad heart, and an insufferable share of vanity, and who was one of the professed wits of the last age, was soon disgusted at this candour and ingenuity of Pope; insomuch, that he came to an open and ungenerous rupture with him. Ver. 582. Fear not the anger of the wise to raise ;] The freedom and unreservedness with which Boileau and Racine communicated their works to each other, is hardly to be paralleled; of which many amiable instances appear in their letters lately published by a son of the latter; particularly in the following: "J'ai trouvé que la Trompette et les Sourds etoient trop joués, et qu'il ne falloit point trop appuyer sur votre incommodité, moins "Twere well might Critics still this freedom take, But Appius reddens at each word you speak, 585 And stares, tremendous, with a threat'ning eye, Like some fierce tyrant in old tapestry. NOTES.. encore chercher de l'esprit sur ce sujet." Boileau communicated to his friend the first sketch of his Ode on the taking Namur. It is entertaining to contemplate a rude draught by such a master; and is no less pleasing to observe the temper with which he receives the objections of Racine. "J'ai deja retouché à tout cela; mais je ne veux point l'achever que je n'aie reçu vos remarques, qui surément m'éclaireront encore l'esprit." The same volume informs us of a curious anecdote, that Boileau generally made the second verse of a couplet before the first; that he declared it was one of the grand secrets of poetry to give, by this means, a greater energy and meaning to his verses; that he advised, Racine to follow the same method, and said on this occasion, I have taught him to rhyme with difficulty." Ver. 584. 'Twere well might Critics, &c.] The poet having thus recommended, in his general rules of conduct for the Judgment, these three critical virtues to the Heart; shews next [from ver. 583 to 631] upon what three sorts of writers these virtues, together with the advice conveyed under them, would be thrown away; and, which is worse, be repaid with obloquy and scorn. These are, the false Critic, the dull Man of Quality, and the bad Poet; each of which species of incorrigible writers he hath very exactly painted. But having drawn the last of them at full length, and being always attentive to the two main branches of his subject, which are, of writing and judging well, he reassumes the character of the bad Critic (whom he had touched upon before) to contrast him with the other; and makes the characteristic common to both, to be a never-ceasing repetition of their own impertinence. The Poet-still runs on in a raging vein, &c. ver. 606, &c. Ver. 586. And stares, tremendous, &c.] This picture was taken to himself by John Dennis, a furious old critic by profession, who, upon no other provocation, wrote against this essay and its author, in a manner perfectly lunatic: for as to the mention made Fear most to tax an Honourable fool, Whose right it is, uncensur'd, to be dull; Such, without wit, are Poets when they please, 590 Whom, when they praise, the world believes no more, Than when they promise to give scribbling o'er. For who can rail so long as they can write? 594 Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep, In sounds and jingling syllables grown old, 605 NOTES. of him in ver. 270, he took it as a compliment, and said it was treacherously meant to cause him to overlook this abuse of his person. P. Ver. 593. fulsome Dedicators,] "To see a discourse on the ten predicaments (says Warburton pleasantly) addressed to a leader of armies, or a system of casuistry to a minister of state, always appeared to me a high absurdity." Might we not say the same of addressing a discourse on fatalism and free-will to the worthy, but illiterate, Mr. Allen of Bath? Ver. 597. be vain:] This was a favourite maxim and practice of Addison, as it is related by Swift; he never contradicted a self-sufficient affected coxcomb. Ver. 604. impenitently bold,] Bold is but a poor epithet in this place. |