Poetry. Alexander Pope

of the best critics—Aristotle, ver. 645; Horace, ver. 653; Dionysius, ver. 665; Petronius, ver. 667; Quintillian, ver. 670; Longinus, ver. 675. Of the decay of criticism, and its revival. Erasmus, ver. 693; Vida, ver. 705; Boileau, ver. 714; Lord Roscommon, &c., ver. 725. CONCLUSION.

PART FIRST.

       Table of Contents

      'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill

       Appear in writing or in judging ill;

       But, of the two, less dangerous is the offence

       To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.

       Some few in that, but numbers err in this;

       Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss;

       A fool might once himself alone expose,

       Now one in verse makes many more in prose.

       'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none

       Go just alike, yet each believes his own. 10

       In poets as true genius is but rare,

       True taste as seldom, is the critic's share;

       Both must alike from Heaven derive their light,

       These born to judge, as well as those to write.

       Let such teach others who themselves excel.

       And censure freely who have written well.

       Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true,

       But are not critics to their judgment too?

       Yet if we look more closely, we shall find

       Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: 20

       Nature affords at least a glimmering light;

       The lines, though touch'd but faintly, are drawn right.

       But as the slightest sketch, if justly traced,

       Is by ill colouring but the more disgraced,

       So by false learning is good sense defaced:

       Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools,

       And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.

       In search of wit these lose their common sense,

       And then turn critics in their own defence:

       Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write, 30

       Or with a rival's, or an eunuch's spite.

       All fools have still an itching to deride,

       And fain would be upon the laughing side;

       If Maevius scribble in Apollo's spite,

       There are who judge still worse than he can write.

       Some have at first for wits, then poets pass'd,

       Turn'd critics next, and proved plain fools at last.

       Some neither can for wits nor critics pass,

       As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass.

       Those half-learn'd witlings, numerous in our isle, 40

       As half-form'd insects on the banks of Nile;

       Unfinished things, one knows not what to call,

       Their generation's so equivocal:

       To tell 'em would a hundred tongues require,

       Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire.

       But you who seek to give and merit fame,

       And justly bear a critic's noble name,

       Be sure yourself and your own reach to know,

       How far your genius, taste, and learning go;

       Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet, 50

       And mark that point where sense and dulness meet.

       Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit,

       And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit.

       As on the land while here the ocean gains,

       In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains;

       Thus in the soul while memory prevails,

       The solid power of understanding fails;

       Where beams of warm imagination play,

       The memory's soft figures melt away.

       One science only will one genius fit, 60

       So vast is art, so narrow human wit:

       Not only bounded to peculiar arts,

       But oft in those confined to single parts.

       Like kings, we lose the conquests gain'd before,

       By vain ambition still to make them more;

       Each might his several province well command,

       Would all but stoop to what they understand.

       First follow Nature, and your judgment frame

       By her just standard, which is still the same:

       Unerring Nature, still divinely bright, 70

       One clear, unchanged, and universal light,

       Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart,

       At once the source, and end, and test of Art.

       Art from that fund each just supply provides,

       Works without show, and without pomp presides;

       In some fair body thus the informing soul

       With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole,

       Each motion guides, and every nerve sustains,

       Itself unseen, but in the effects, remains.

       Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profuse, 80

       Want as much more to turn it to its use;

       For wit and judgment often are at strife,

       Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife,

       'Tis more to guide than spur the Muse's steed,

       Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed;

       The wingèd courser, like a generous horse,

       Shows most true mettle when you check his course.

       Those rules, of old discover'd, not devised,

       Are Nature still, but Nature methodised;

       Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd 90

       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, the immortal prize,

       And urged the rest by equal steps to rise.

       Just precepts thus from great examples given,

       She drew from them what they derived from Heaven.

       The generous critic fann'd the poet's fire, 100

       And taught the world with reason to admire.

       Then Criticism the Muse's handmaid proved,

       To dress her charms, and make her more beloved:

       But following wits from that intention stray'd,

       Who could not win the mistress, woo'd the maid;

       Against the poets their own arms they turn'd,