FOOTNOTES:[1]This language, held by Warton in his Essay on the Genius of Pope, was subsequently reversed by him in his edition of Pope's Works. He then acknowledged that the notion of "a methodical regularity" in the Essay on Criticism was a "groundless opinion."[2]Singer's Spence, p. 107.[3]Johnson's Works, ed. Murphy, vol. ii. p. 354.[4]Spence, p. 128.[5]Spence, p. 147.[6]Spence, p. 205.[7]Warton's Pope, vol. i. p. xviii.[8]Dennis's Reflections, Critical and Satyrical, upon a late Rhapsody called An Essay upon Criticism, was advertised as "this day published" inThe Daily Courantof June 20, 1711. Pope sent the pamphlet to Caryll on June 25, and in a letter to Cromwell of the same date, he says "Mr. Lintot favoured me with a sight of Mr. Dennis's piece of fine satire before it was published."[9]Remarks upon Mr. Pope's Dunciad, p. 39.[10]Ver. 147.[11]Dennis's Reflections, p. 29.[12]Pope to Caryll, June 25, 1711.[13]Spence, p. 208.[14]Ver. 158.[15]Imitations of Horace, bk. ii. Sat. 1, ver. 75.[16]Dennis's Reflections, p. 22.[17]Pope to Caryll, June 25, 1711; Pope to Trumbull, Aug. 10, 1711.[18]Biographia Literaria, ed. 1847, vol. i. p. 3.[19]Wakefield's Works of Pope, p. 168.[20]Spectator, No. 253, Dec. 20, 1711.[21]Pope to Steele, Dec. 30, 1711.[22]Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed. vol. i. p. 108.[23]Lectures on the English Poets, 3rd ed. p. 142.[24]De Quincey's Works, ed. 1862, vol. vii. p. 64; xv. p. 142.[25]Spence, p. 176.[26]Spence, p. 147, 211.[27]Dryden's Virgil, ed. Carey, vol. ii. p. xxxii., lxxxviii.[28]Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe, 5th ed. vol. iv. p. 228.[29]Pope's Poetical Works, ed. Elwin, vol. i. p. 9.[30]Ver. 68, 130-140, 146-157, 161-166.[31]Ver. 715-730.[32]Spence, p. 195.[33]Ver. 719.[34]Poetical Works of Dryden, ed. Robert Bell, vol. i. p. 75.[35]Ver. 395, 406.[36]Ver. 480.[37]Temple of Fame, ver. 505.[38]Jortin's Works, vol. xiii. p. 124.[39]Ver. 511, 514, 100, 629-644, 107.[40]Ver. 524, 526.[41]Ver. 596-610.[42]Religio Laici.[43]Ver. 600-603.[44]Spence, p. 212.[45]Essay on the Genius of Pope, vol. i. p. 195.[46]Works of Edward Young, ed. Doran, vol. ii. p. 578.[47]Moore's Life of Byron, 1 vol. ed., p. 699.[48]Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets, p. 145.[49]De Quincey's Works, vol. xv. p. 141: xii. p. 58.[50]De Quincey's Works, vol. xv. p. 142.[51]De Quincey's Works, vol. viii. p. 14.[52]De Quincey's Works, vol. viii. p. 15-17.[53]Pope's Poetical Works, ed. Elwin, vol. i. p. 7.[54]Dryden's Epilogue to All for Love:This difference grows,Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours in prose.[55]An extravagant assertion. Those who can appreciate, are beyond comparison more numerous than those who can produce, a work of genius.[56]Qui scribit artificiose, ab aliis commode scripta facile intelligere proterit. Cic. ad Herenn. lib. iv. De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex, judicare non potest. Pliny.—Pope.Poets and painters must appeal to the world at large. Wretched indeed would be their fate, if their merits were to be decided only by their rivals. It is on the general opinion of persons of taste that their individual estimation must ultimately rest, and if the public were excluded from judging, poets might write and painters paint for each other.—Roscoe.The execution of a work and the appreciation of it when executed are separate operations, and all experience has shown that numbers pronounce justly upon literature, architecture, and pictures, though they may not be able to write like Shakespeare, design like Wren, or paint like Reynolds. Taste is acquired by studying good models as well as by emulating them. Pope, perhaps, copied Addison, Tatler, Oct. 19, 1710: "It is ridiculous for any man to criticise on the works of another who has not distinguished himself by his own performances."[57]Omnes tacito quodam sensu, sine ulla arte aut ratione, quæ sint in artibus ac rationibus, recta et prava dijudicant. Cic. de Orat. lib. iii.—Pope.[58]The phrase "moredisgraced" implies that slight sketches "justly traced" are a disgrace at best, whereas they have often a high degree of merit.[59]Plus sine doctrina prudentia, quam sine prudentia valet doctrina. Quint.—Pope.[60]Between ver. 25 and 26 were these lines, since omitted by the author:Many are spoiled by that pedantic throng,Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong.Tutors, like virtuosos, oft inclinedBy strange transfusion to improve the mind,Draw off the sense we have, to pour in new;Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. —Pope.The transfusion spoken of in the fourth verse of this variation is the transfusion of one animal's blood into another.—Wakefield.[61]"Nature," it is said in the Spectator, No. 404, "has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's own making, by applying his talents otherwise than nature designed." The idea is expressed more happily by Dryden in his Hind and Panther:For fools are doubly fools endeav'ring to be wise.Pope contradicts himself when he says in the text that the men made coxcombs by study were meant by nature but for fools, since they are among his instances of persons upon whom nature had bestowed the "seeds of judgment," and who possessed "good sense" till it was "defaced by false learning."[62]Dryden's Medal:The wretch turned loyal in his own defence.[63]The couplet ran thus in the first edition, with less neatness and perspicuity:Those hate as rivals all that write; and othersBut envy wits as eunuchs envy lovers.The inaccuracy of the rhymes excited him to alteration, which occasioned a fresh inconvenience, that of similar rhymes in the next couplet but one.—Wakefield.Dryden's Prologue to the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada:They who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write,Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.[64]In the manuscript there are two more lines, of which the second was afterwards introduced into the Dunciad:Though such with reason men of sense abhor;Fool against fool is barb'rous civil war.Though Mævius scribble and the city knight, &c.The city knight was Sir Richard Blackmore, who resided in Cheapside. "In the early part of Blackmore's time," says Johnson, "a citizen was a term of reproach, and his place of abode was a topic to which his adversaries had recourse in the penury of scandal."[65]Dryden's Persius, Sat. i. 100:Who would be poets in Apollo's spite.[66]"The simile of the mule," says Warton, "heightens the satire, and is new," but the comparison fails in the essential point. Pope's "half-learn'd witlings," who aim at being wit and critic, are inferior to both, whereas the mule, to which he likens the literary pretender, is in speed and strength superior to the ass.[67]"I am confident," says Dryden in the dedication of his Virgil, "that you will look on those half-lines hereafter as the imperfect products of a hasty muse, like the frogs and serpents in the Nile, part of them kindled into life, and part a lump of unformed, unanimated mud."[68]The diction of this line is coarse, and the construction defective.—Wakefield.The omission of "them" after "call" exceeds the bounds of poetic licence.[69]Equivocal generation is the production of animals without parents. Many of the creatures on the Nile were supposed to be of this class, and it was believed that they were fashioned by the action of the sun upon the slime. The notion was purely fanciful, as was the idea that the insects were half-formed—a compound of mud and organisation.[70]Dryden's Persius, v. 36:For this a hundred voices I desireTo tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire."I have often thought," says the author of the Supplement to the Profound, speaking of Pope's couplet, "that one pert fellow's tongue might tire a hundred pair of attending ears; but I never conceived that it could communicate any lassitude to the tongues of the bystanders before." The evident meaning of Pope is that it would tire a hundred ordinary tongues to talk as much as one vain wit, but the construction is faulty.[71]This is a palpable imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 38:Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquamViribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent,Quid valeant humeri.—Wakefield.[72]Pope is unfortunate in his selection of instances to illustrate his position that the various mental faculties are never concentrated in the same individual. Men of great intellect have sometimes bad memories, and a good memory is sometimes found in persons of a feeble intellect; but it is a monstrous paradox to assert that a retentive memory and a powerful understanding cannot go together. No one will deny that Dr. Johnson and Lord Macaulay were gifted with vigorous, brilliant minds; yet the memory of the first was extraordinary, and that of the second prodigious. In general, men of transcendent abilities have been remarkable for their knowledge.[73]Dryden, in his Character of a Good Parson:But when the milder beams of mercy play.—Wakefield.[74]From the second couplet, apparently meant to be the converse of the first, one would suppose that he considered the understanding and imagination as the same faculty, else the counterpart is defective.—Warton.The structure of the passage requires the interpretation put upon it by Warton, in which case the language is incorrect. The statement is not even true of the imagination proper, as the example of Milton would alone suffice to prove. His imagination was grand, and the numberless phrases he adopted from preceding writers evince that it was combined with a memory unusually tenacious.[75]This position seems formed from the well-known maxim of Hippocrates, which is found at the entrance of his aphorisms, "Life is short, but art is long."—Wakefield.The standard of excellence in any art or science, must always be that which is attained by the persons who follow it with the greatest success; and those who give themselves up to a particular pursuit will, with equal talents, eclipse the rivals who devote to it only fragments of time. For this reason men can rarely attain to the highest skill in more than one department, however many accomplishments they may possess in a minor degree. The native power to shine in various callings may exist, but the practice which can alone make perfect, is wanting.[76]These are the words of Lord Shaftesbury in his Advice to an Author: "Frame taste by the just standard of nature." The principle is as old as poetry, and has been laid down by multitudes of writers; but the difficulty, as Bowles remarks, is to determine what is "nature," and what is "her just standard." "Nature" with Pope meant Homer.[77]Roscommon's Essay:Truth still is one: Truth is divinely bright;No cloudy doubts obscure her native light.—Wakefield.[78]Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry by Sir William Soame and Dryden, canto i.Love reason then, and let whate'er you writeBorrow from her its beauty, force, and light.[79]In the early editions,That art is best which most resembles her,Which still presides, yet never does appear.[80]Dryden's Virgil, Æn. vi. 982:———one common soulInspires, and feeds, and animates the whole.—Wakefield.[81]So Ovid, exactly, Metam. iv. 287:causa latet; vis est notissima.—Wakefield.Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry:A spirit which inspires the work throughout,As that of nature moves the world about;Itself unseen, yet all things by it shown.[82]In all editions before the quarto of 1743, it was,There are whom heav'n has blest with store of wit,Yet want as much again to manage it.The idea was suggested by a sentence in Sprat's Account of Cowley: "His fancy flowed with great speed, and therefore it was very fortunate to him that his judgment was equal to manage it." Pope gave a false sparkle to his couplet by first using "wit" in one sense and then in another. "Wit to manage wit," says the author of the Supplement to the Profound, "is full as good as one tongue's tiring another. Any one may perceive that the writer meant that judgment should manage wit; but as it stands it is pert." Warburton observes that Pope's later version magnified the contradiction; for he who had already "a profusion of wit," was the last person to need more.[83]"Ever are at strife," was the reading till the quarto of 1743.[84]We shall destroy the beauty of the passage by introducing a most insipid parallel of perfect sameness, if we understand the word "like" as introducing a simile. It is merely as if he had said: "Pegasus, as a generous horse is accustomed to do, shows his spirit most under restraint." Our author might have in view a couplet of Waller's, in his verses on Roscommon's Poetry:Direct us how to back the winged horse,Favour his flight, and moderate his force.—Wakefield.[85]Dryden's preface to Troilus and Cressida: "If the rules be well considered, we shall find them to be made only to reduce nature into method."[86]It was "monarchy" until the edition of 1743.[87]Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry, by Dryden and Soame:And afar off hold up the glorious prize.—Wakefield.[88]Nec enim artibus editis factum est ut argumenta inveniremus, sed dicta sunt omnia antequam præciperentur; mox ea scriptores observata et collecta ediderunt. Quintil.—Pope.[89]This seems to have been suggested by a couplet in the Court Prospect of Hopkins:How are these blessings thus dispensed and giv'n?To us from William, and to him from heav'n.[90]After this verse followed another, to complete the triplet, in the first impressions:Set up themselves, and drove a sep'rate trade.—Wakefield.[91]A feeble line of monosyllables, consisting of ten low words.—Warton.The entire passage seems to be constructed on some remarks of Dryden in his Dedication to Ovid: "Formerly the critics were quite another species of men. They were defenders of poets, and commentators on their works, to illustrate obscure beauties, to place some passages in a better light, to redeem others from malicious interpretations. Are our auxiliary forces turned our enemies? Are they from our seconds become principals against us?" The truth of Pope's assertion, as to the matter of fact, will not bear a rigorous inquisition, as I believe these critical persecutors of good poets to have been extremely few, both in ancient and modern times.—Wakefield.[92]The prescription of the physician was formerly called his bill. Johnson, in his Dictionary, quotes from L'Estrange, "The medicine was prepared according to the bill," and Butler, in Hudibras, speaks ofhim who took the doctor's bill,And swallowed it instead of the pill.The story ran that a physician handed a prescription to his patient, saying, "Take this," and the man immediately swallowed it.[93]This is a quibble. Time and moths spoil books by destroying them. The commentators only spoiled them by explaining them badly. The editors were so far from spoiling books in the same sense as time, that by multiplying copies they assisted to preserve them.[94]Soame and Dryden's Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry:Keep to each man his proper character;Of countries and of times the humours know;From diff'rent climates diff'ring customs grow.The principle here is general. Pope, in terms and in fact, applied it only to the ancients. Had he extended the precept to modern literature he would have been cured of his delusion that every deviation from the antique type arose from unlettered tastelessness.[95]In the first edition,You may confound, but never criticise,which was an adaptation of a line from Lord Roscommon:You may confound, but never can translate.[96]The author, after this verse, originally inserted the following, which he has however omitted in all the editions:Zoilus, had these been known, without a nameHad died, and Perrault ne'er been damned to fame;The sense of sound antiquity had reigned,And sacred Homer yet been unprophaned.}None e'er had thought his comprehensive mindTo modern customs, modern rules confined;Who for all ages writ, and all mankind.Be his great works, &c.—Pope.Perrault, in his Parallel between the ancients and the moderns, carped at Homer in the same spirit that Zoilus had done of old.[97]Horace, Ars Poet., ver. 268:vos exemplaria GræcaNocturna versate manu, versate diurna.Tate and Brady's version of the first psalm:But makes the perfect law of GodHis business and delight;Devoutly reads therein by day,And meditates by night.—Wakefield.[98]Dryden, Virg. Geor. iv. 408:And upward follow Fame's immortal spring.—Wakefield.[99]Lord Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse:Consult your author with himself compared.[100]The word outlast is improper; for Virgil, like a true Roman, never dreamt of the mortality of the city.—Wakefield.[101]Variation:When first young Maro sung of kings and wars,Ere warning Phœbus touched his trembling ears.Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius auremVellit. Virg. Ecl. vi. 3.It is a tradition preserved by Servius, that Virgil began with writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs, which he found above his years, and descended, first to imitate Theocritus on rural subjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in heroic poetry.—Pope.The second line of the couplet in the note was copied, as Mr. Carruthers points out, from Milton's Lycidas:Phœbus replied, and touched my trembling ears.The couplet in the text, with the variation of "great Maro" for "young Maro," was Pope's original version, but Dennis having asked whether he intended "to put that figure called a bull upon Virgil" by saying that he designed a work "to outlast immortality," the poet wrote in the margin of his manuscript "alter the seeming inconsistency," which he did, by substituting the lines in the note. In the last edition, he reinstated the "bull." The objection of Dennis was hypercritical. The phrase only expresses the double fact that the city was destroyed, and that its fame was durable. The manuscript supplies another various reading, which avoids both the alleged bull in the text, and the bad rhyme of the couplet in the note:When first his voice the youthful Maro tried,Ere Phœbus touched his ear and checked his pride.[102]And did his work to rules as strict confine.—Pope.[103]Aristotle, born atStagyra,B.C.384.—Croker.[104]In the manuscript a couplet follows which was added by Pope in the margin, when he erased the expression "a work t' outlast immortal Rome:""Arms and the Man," then rung the world around,And Rome commenced immortal at the sound[105]When Pope supposes Virgil to have properly "checked in his bold design of drawing from nature's fountain," and in consequence to have confined his work within rules as strict,As if the Stagyrite o'erlooked each line,how can he avoid the force of his own ridicule, where a little further, in this very piece, he laughs at Dennis forConcluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.—Dr. Aikin.The argument of Pope is sophistical and inconsistent. It is inconsistent, because if Virgil found Homer and nature the same, his work would not have been confined within stricter rules when he copied Homer than when he copied nature. It is sophistical, because though Homer may be always natural, all nature is not contained in his works.[106]Rapin's Critical Works, vol. ii. p. 173: "There are no precepts to teach the hidden graces, and all that secret power of poetry which passes to the heart."[107]Neque enim rogationibus plebisve scitis sancta sunt ista præcepta, sed hoc, quicquid est, utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo autem sic utile esse plerumque; verum si eadem illa nobis aliud suadebit utilitas, hanc, relictis magistrorum auctoritatibus, sequemur. Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13.—Pope.[108]Dryden's Aurengzebe:Mean soul, and dar'st not gloriously offend!—Steevens.[109]This couplet, in the quarto of 1743, was for the first time placed immediately after the triplet which ends at ver. 160. The effect of this arrangement was that "Pegasus," instead of the "great wits," became the antecedent to the lines, "From vulgar bounds," &c., and the poetic steed was said to "snatch a grace." Warton commented upon the absurdity of using such language of a horse, and since it is evident that Pope must have overlooked the incongruity, when he adopted the transposition, the lines were restored to their original order in the editions of Warton, Bowles, and Roscoe.
[1]This language, held by Warton in his Essay on the Genius of Pope, was subsequently reversed by him in his edition of Pope's Works. He then acknowledged that the notion of "a methodical regularity" in the Essay on Criticism was a "groundless opinion."
[1]This language, held by Warton in his Essay on the Genius of Pope, was subsequently reversed by him in his edition of Pope's Works. He then acknowledged that the notion of "a methodical regularity" in the Essay on Criticism was a "groundless opinion."
[2]Singer's Spence, p. 107.
[2]Singer's Spence, p. 107.
[3]Johnson's Works, ed. Murphy, vol. ii. p. 354.
[3]Johnson's Works, ed. Murphy, vol. ii. p. 354.
[4]Spence, p. 128.
[4]Spence, p. 128.
[5]Spence, p. 147.
[5]Spence, p. 147.
[6]Spence, p. 205.
[6]Spence, p. 205.
[7]Warton's Pope, vol. i. p. xviii.
[7]Warton's Pope, vol. i. p. xviii.
[8]Dennis's Reflections, Critical and Satyrical, upon a late Rhapsody called An Essay upon Criticism, was advertised as "this day published" inThe Daily Courantof June 20, 1711. Pope sent the pamphlet to Caryll on June 25, and in a letter to Cromwell of the same date, he says "Mr. Lintot favoured me with a sight of Mr. Dennis's piece of fine satire before it was published."
[8]Dennis's Reflections, Critical and Satyrical, upon a late Rhapsody called An Essay upon Criticism, was advertised as "this day published" inThe Daily Courantof June 20, 1711. Pope sent the pamphlet to Caryll on June 25, and in a letter to Cromwell of the same date, he says "Mr. Lintot favoured me with a sight of Mr. Dennis's piece of fine satire before it was published."
[9]Remarks upon Mr. Pope's Dunciad, p. 39.
[9]Remarks upon Mr. Pope's Dunciad, p. 39.
[10]Ver. 147.
[10]Ver. 147.
[11]Dennis's Reflections, p. 29.
[11]Dennis's Reflections, p. 29.
[12]Pope to Caryll, June 25, 1711.
[12]Pope to Caryll, June 25, 1711.
[13]Spence, p. 208.
[13]Spence, p. 208.
[14]Ver. 158.
[14]Ver. 158.
[15]Imitations of Horace, bk. ii. Sat. 1, ver. 75.
[15]Imitations of Horace, bk. ii. Sat. 1, ver. 75.
[16]Dennis's Reflections, p. 22.
[16]Dennis's Reflections, p. 22.
[17]Pope to Caryll, June 25, 1711; Pope to Trumbull, Aug. 10, 1711.
[17]Pope to Caryll, June 25, 1711; Pope to Trumbull, Aug. 10, 1711.
[18]Biographia Literaria, ed. 1847, vol. i. p. 3.
[18]Biographia Literaria, ed. 1847, vol. i. p. 3.
[19]Wakefield's Works of Pope, p. 168.
[19]Wakefield's Works of Pope, p. 168.
[20]Spectator, No. 253, Dec. 20, 1711.
[20]Spectator, No. 253, Dec. 20, 1711.
[21]Pope to Steele, Dec. 30, 1711.
[21]Pope to Steele, Dec. 30, 1711.
[22]Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed. vol. i. p. 108.
[22]Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed. vol. i. p. 108.
[23]Lectures on the English Poets, 3rd ed. p. 142.
[23]Lectures on the English Poets, 3rd ed. p. 142.
[24]De Quincey's Works, ed. 1862, vol. vii. p. 64; xv. p. 142.
[24]De Quincey's Works, ed. 1862, vol. vii. p. 64; xv. p. 142.
[25]Spence, p. 176.
[25]Spence, p. 176.
[26]Spence, p. 147, 211.
[26]Spence, p. 147, 211.
[27]Dryden's Virgil, ed. Carey, vol. ii. p. xxxii., lxxxviii.
[27]Dryden's Virgil, ed. Carey, vol. ii. p. xxxii., lxxxviii.
[28]Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe, 5th ed. vol. iv. p. 228.
[28]Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe, 5th ed. vol. iv. p. 228.
[29]Pope's Poetical Works, ed. Elwin, vol. i. p. 9.
[29]Pope's Poetical Works, ed. Elwin, vol. i. p. 9.
[30]Ver. 68, 130-140, 146-157, 161-166.
[30]Ver. 68, 130-140, 146-157, 161-166.
[31]Ver. 715-730.
[31]Ver. 715-730.
[32]Spence, p. 195.
[32]Spence, p. 195.
[33]Ver. 719.
[33]Ver. 719.
[34]Poetical Works of Dryden, ed. Robert Bell, vol. i. p. 75.
[34]Poetical Works of Dryden, ed. Robert Bell, vol. i. p. 75.
[35]Ver. 395, 406.
[35]Ver. 395, 406.
[36]Ver. 480.
[36]Ver. 480.
[37]Temple of Fame, ver. 505.
[37]Temple of Fame, ver. 505.
[38]Jortin's Works, vol. xiii. p. 124.
[38]Jortin's Works, vol. xiii. p. 124.
[39]Ver. 511, 514, 100, 629-644, 107.
[39]Ver. 511, 514, 100, 629-644, 107.
[40]Ver. 524, 526.
[40]Ver. 524, 526.
[41]Ver. 596-610.
[41]Ver. 596-610.
[42]Religio Laici.
[42]Religio Laici.
[43]Ver. 600-603.
[43]Ver. 600-603.
[44]Spence, p. 212.
[44]Spence, p. 212.
[45]Essay on the Genius of Pope, vol. i. p. 195.
[45]Essay on the Genius of Pope, vol. i. p. 195.
[46]Works of Edward Young, ed. Doran, vol. ii. p. 578.
[46]Works of Edward Young, ed. Doran, vol. ii. p. 578.
[47]Moore's Life of Byron, 1 vol. ed., p. 699.
[47]Moore's Life of Byron, 1 vol. ed., p. 699.
[48]Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets, p. 145.
[48]Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets, p. 145.
[49]De Quincey's Works, vol. xv. p. 141: xii. p. 58.
[49]De Quincey's Works, vol. xv. p. 141: xii. p. 58.
[50]De Quincey's Works, vol. xv. p. 142.
[50]De Quincey's Works, vol. xv. p. 142.
[51]De Quincey's Works, vol. viii. p. 14.
[51]De Quincey's Works, vol. viii. p. 14.
[52]De Quincey's Works, vol. viii. p. 15-17.
[52]De Quincey's Works, vol. viii. p. 15-17.
[53]Pope's Poetical Works, ed. Elwin, vol. i. p. 7.
[53]Pope's Poetical Works, ed. Elwin, vol. i. p. 7.
[54]Dryden's Epilogue to All for Love:This difference grows,Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours in prose.
[54]Dryden's Epilogue to All for Love:
This difference grows,Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours in prose.
This difference grows,Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours in prose.
This difference grows,Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours in prose.
[55]An extravagant assertion. Those who can appreciate, are beyond comparison more numerous than those who can produce, a work of genius.
[55]An extravagant assertion. Those who can appreciate, are beyond comparison more numerous than those who can produce, a work of genius.
[56]Qui scribit artificiose, ab aliis commode scripta facile intelligere proterit. Cic. ad Herenn. lib. iv. De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex, judicare non potest. Pliny.—Pope.Poets and painters must appeal to the world at large. Wretched indeed would be their fate, if their merits were to be decided only by their rivals. It is on the general opinion of persons of taste that their individual estimation must ultimately rest, and if the public were excluded from judging, poets might write and painters paint for each other.—Roscoe.The execution of a work and the appreciation of it when executed are separate operations, and all experience has shown that numbers pronounce justly upon literature, architecture, and pictures, though they may not be able to write like Shakespeare, design like Wren, or paint like Reynolds. Taste is acquired by studying good models as well as by emulating them. Pope, perhaps, copied Addison, Tatler, Oct. 19, 1710: "It is ridiculous for any man to criticise on the works of another who has not distinguished himself by his own performances."
[56]Qui scribit artificiose, ab aliis commode scripta facile intelligere proterit. Cic. ad Herenn. lib. iv. De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex, judicare non potest. Pliny.—Pope.
Poets and painters must appeal to the world at large. Wretched indeed would be their fate, if their merits were to be decided only by their rivals. It is on the general opinion of persons of taste that their individual estimation must ultimately rest, and if the public were excluded from judging, poets might write and painters paint for each other.—Roscoe.
The execution of a work and the appreciation of it when executed are separate operations, and all experience has shown that numbers pronounce justly upon literature, architecture, and pictures, though they may not be able to write like Shakespeare, design like Wren, or paint like Reynolds. Taste is acquired by studying good models as well as by emulating them. Pope, perhaps, copied Addison, Tatler, Oct. 19, 1710: "It is ridiculous for any man to criticise on the works of another who has not distinguished himself by his own performances."
[57]Omnes tacito quodam sensu, sine ulla arte aut ratione, quæ sint in artibus ac rationibus, recta et prava dijudicant. Cic. de Orat. lib. iii.—Pope.
[57]Omnes tacito quodam sensu, sine ulla arte aut ratione, quæ sint in artibus ac rationibus, recta et prava dijudicant. Cic. de Orat. lib. iii.—Pope.
[58]The phrase "moredisgraced" implies that slight sketches "justly traced" are a disgrace at best, whereas they have often a high degree of merit.
[58]The phrase "moredisgraced" implies that slight sketches "justly traced" are a disgrace at best, whereas they have often a high degree of merit.
[59]Plus sine doctrina prudentia, quam sine prudentia valet doctrina. Quint.—Pope.
[59]Plus sine doctrina prudentia, quam sine prudentia valet doctrina. Quint.—Pope.
[60]Between ver. 25 and 26 were these lines, since omitted by the author:Many are spoiled by that pedantic throng,Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong.Tutors, like virtuosos, oft inclinedBy strange transfusion to improve the mind,Draw off the sense we have, to pour in new;Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. —Pope.The transfusion spoken of in the fourth verse of this variation is the transfusion of one animal's blood into another.—Wakefield.
[60]Between ver. 25 and 26 were these lines, since omitted by the author:
Many are spoiled by that pedantic throng,Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong.Tutors, like virtuosos, oft inclinedBy strange transfusion to improve the mind,Draw off the sense we have, to pour in new;Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. —Pope.
Many are spoiled by that pedantic throng,Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong.Tutors, like virtuosos, oft inclinedBy strange transfusion to improve the mind,Draw off the sense we have, to pour in new;Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. —Pope.
Many are spoiled by that pedantic throng,Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong.Tutors, like virtuosos, oft inclinedBy strange transfusion to improve the mind,Draw off the sense we have, to pour in new;Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. —Pope.
The transfusion spoken of in the fourth verse of this variation is the transfusion of one animal's blood into another.—Wakefield.
[61]"Nature," it is said in the Spectator, No. 404, "has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's own making, by applying his talents otherwise than nature designed." The idea is expressed more happily by Dryden in his Hind and Panther:For fools are doubly fools endeav'ring to be wise.Pope contradicts himself when he says in the text that the men made coxcombs by study were meant by nature but for fools, since they are among his instances of persons upon whom nature had bestowed the "seeds of judgment," and who possessed "good sense" till it was "defaced by false learning."
[61]"Nature," it is said in the Spectator, No. 404, "has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's own making, by applying his talents otherwise than nature designed." The idea is expressed more happily by Dryden in his Hind and Panther:
For fools are doubly fools endeav'ring to be wise.
Pope contradicts himself when he says in the text that the men made coxcombs by study were meant by nature but for fools, since they are among his instances of persons upon whom nature had bestowed the "seeds of judgment," and who possessed "good sense" till it was "defaced by false learning."
[62]Dryden's Medal:The wretch turned loyal in his own defence.
[62]Dryden's Medal:
The wretch turned loyal in his own defence.
[63]The couplet ran thus in the first edition, with less neatness and perspicuity:Those hate as rivals all that write; and othersBut envy wits as eunuchs envy lovers.The inaccuracy of the rhymes excited him to alteration, which occasioned a fresh inconvenience, that of similar rhymes in the next couplet but one.—Wakefield.Dryden's Prologue to the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada:They who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write,Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.
[63]The couplet ran thus in the first edition, with less neatness and perspicuity:
Those hate as rivals all that write; and othersBut envy wits as eunuchs envy lovers.
Those hate as rivals all that write; and othersBut envy wits as eunuchs envy lovers.
Those hate as rivals all that write; and othersBut envy wits as eunuchs envy lovers.
The inaccuracy of the rhymes excited him to alteration, which occasioned a fresh inconvenience, that of similar rhymes in the next couplet but one.—Wakefield.
Dryden's Prologue to the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada:
They who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write,Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.
They who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write,Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.
They who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write,Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.
[64]In the manuscript there are two more lines, of which the second was afterwards introduced into the Dunciad:Though such with reason men of sense abhor;Fool against fool is barb'rous civil war.Though Mævius scribble and the city knight, &c.The city knight was Sir Richard Blackmore, who resided in Cheapside. "In the early part of Blackmore's time," says Johnson, "a citizen was a term of reproach, and his place of abode was a topic to which his adversaries had recourse in the penury of scandal."
[64]In the manuscript there are two more lines, of which the second was afterwards introduced into the Dunciad:
Though such with reason men of sense abhor;Fool against fool is barb'rous civil war.Though Mævius scribble and the city knight, &c.
Though such with reason men of sense abhor;Fool against fool is barb'rous civil war.Though Mævius scribble and the city knight, &c.
Though such with reason men of sense abhor;Fool against fool is barb'rous civil war.Though Mævius scribble and the city knight, &c.
The city knight was Sir Richard Blackmore, who resided in Cheapside. "In the early part of Blackmore's time," says Johnson, "a citizen was a term of reproach, and his place of abode was a topic to which his adversaries had recourse in the penury of scandal."
[65]Dryden's Persius, Sat. i. 100:Who would be poets in Apollo's spite.
[65]Dryden's Persius, Sat. i. 100:
Who would be poets in Apollo's spite.
[66]"The simile of the mule," says Warton, "heightens the satire, and is new," but the comparison fails in the essential point. Pope's "half-learn'd witlings," who aim at being wit and critic, are inferior to both, whereas the mule, to which he likens the literary pretender, is in speed and strength superior to the ass.
[66]"The simile of the mule," says Warton, "heightens the satire, and is new," but the comparison fails in the essential point. Pope's "half-learn'd witlings," who aim at being wit and critic, are inferior to both, whereas the mule, to which he likens the literary pretender, is in speed and strength superior to the ass.
[67]"I am confident," says Dryden in the dedication of his Virgil, "that you will look on those half-lines hereafter as the imperfect products of a hasty muse, like the frogs and serpents in the Nile, part of them kindled into life, and part a lump of unformed, unanimated mud."
[67]"I am confident," says Dryden in the dedication of his Virgil, "that you will look on those half-lines hereafter as the imperfect products of a hasty muse, like the frogs and serpents in the Nile, part of them kindled into life, and part a lump of unformed, unanimated mud."
[68]The diction of this line is coarse, and the construction defective.—Wakefield.The omission of "them" after "call" exceeds the bounds of poetic licence.
[68]The diction of this line is coarse, and the construction defective.—Wakefield.
The omission of "them" after "call" exceeds the bounds of poetic licence.
[69]Equivocal generation is the production of animals without parents. Many of the creatures on the Nile were supposed to be of this class, and it was believed that they were fashioned by the action of the sun upon the slime. The notion was purely fanciful, as was the idea that the insects were half-formed—a compound of mud and organisation.
[69]Equivocal generation is the production of animals without parents. Many of the creatures on the Nile were supposed to be of this class, and it was believed that they were fashioned by the action of the sun upon the slime. The notion was purely fanciful, as was the idea that the insects were half-formed—a compound of mud and organisation.
[70]Dryden's Persius, v. 36:For this a hundred voices I desireTo tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire."I have often thought," says the author of the Supplement to the Profound, speaking of Pope's couplet, "that one pert fellow's tongue might tire a hundred pair of attending ears; but I never conceived that it could communicate any lassitude to the tongues of the bystanders before." The evident meaning of Pope is that it would tire a hundred ordinary tongues to talk as much as one vain wit, but the construction is faulty.
[70]Dryden's Persius, v. 36:
For this a hundred voices I desireTo tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire.
For this a hundred voices I desireTo tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire.
For this a hundred voices I desireTo tell thee what an hundred tongues would tire.
"I have often thought," says the author of the Supplement to the Profound, speaking of Pope's couplet, "that one pert fellow's tongue might tire a hundred pair of attending ears; but I never conceived that it could communicate any lassitude to the tongues of the bystanders before." The evident meaning of Pope is that it would tire a hundred ordinary tongues to talk as much as one vain wit, but the construction is faulty.
[71]This is a palpable imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 38:Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquamViribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent,Quid valeant humeri.—Wakefield.
[71]This is a palpable imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 38:
Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquamViribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent,Quid valeant humeri.—Wakefield.
Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquamViribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent,Quid valeant humeri.—Wakefield.
Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquamViribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent,Quid valeant humeri.—Wakefield.
[72]Pope is unfortunate in his selection of instances to illustrate his position that the various mental faculties are never concentrated in the same individual. Men of great intellect have sometimes bad memories, and a good memory is sometimes found in persons of a feeble intellect; but it is a monstrous paradox to assert that a retentive memory and a powerful understanding cannot go together. No one will deny that Dr. Johnson and Lord Macaulay were gifted with vigorous, brilliant minds; yet the memory of the first was extraordinary, and that of the second prodigious. In general, men of transcendent abilities have been remarkable for their knowledge.
[72]Pope is unfortunate in his selection of instances to illustrate his position that the various mental faculties are never concentrated in the same individual. Men of great intellect have sometimes bad memories, and a good memory is sometimes found in persons of a feeble intellect; but it is a monstrous paradox to assert that a retentive memory and a powerful understanding cannot go together. No one will deny that Dr. Johnson and Lord Macaulay were gifted with vigorous, brilliant minds; yet the memory of the first was extraordinary, and that of the second prodigious. In general, men of transcendent abilities have been remarkable for their knowledge.
[73]Dryden, in his Character of a Good Parson:But when the milder beams of mercy play.—Wakefield.
[73]Dryden, in his Character of a Good Parson:
But when the milder beams of mercy play.—Wakefield.
[74]From the second couplet, apparently meant to be the converse of the first, one would suppose that he considered the understanding and imagination as the same faculty, else the counterpart is defective.—Warton.The structure of the passage requires the interpretation put upon it by Warton, in which case the language is incorrect. The statement is not even true of the imagination proper, as the example of Milton would alone suffice to prove. His imagination was grand, and the numberless phrases he adopted from preceding writers evince that it was combined with a memory unusually tenacious.
[74]From the second couplet, apparently meant to be the converse of the first, one would suppose that he considered the understanding and imagination as the same faculty, else the counterpart is defective.—Warton.
The structure of the passage requires the interpretation put upon it by Warton, in which case the language is incorrect. The statement is not even true of the imagination proper, as the example of Milton would alone suffice to prove. His imagination was grand, and the numberless phrases he adopted from preceding writers evince that it was combined with a memory unusually tenacious.
[75]This position seems formed from the well-known maxim of Hippocrates, which is found at the entrance of his aphorisms, "Life is short, but art is long."—Wakefield.The standard of excellence in any art or science, must always be that which is attained by the persons who follow it with the greatest success; and those who give themselves up to a particular pursuit will, with equal talents, eclipse the rivals who devote to it only fragments of time. For this reason men can rarely attain to the highest skill in more than one department, however many accomplishments they may possess in a minor degree. The native power to shine in various callings may exist, but the practice which can alone make perfect, is wanting.
[75]This position seems formed from the well-known maxim of Hippocrates, which is found at the entrance of his aphorisms, "Life is short, but art is long."—Wakefield.
The standard of excellence in any art or science, must always be that which is attained by the persons who follow it with the greatest success; and those who give themselves up to a particular pursuit will, with equal talents, eclipse the rivals who devote to it only fragments of time. For this reason men can rarely attain to the highest skill in more than one department, however many accomplishments they may possess in a minor degree. The native power to shine in various callings may exist, but the practice which can alone make perfect, is wanting.
[76]These are the words of Lord Shaftesbury in his Advice to an Author: "Frame taste by the just standard of nature." The principle is as old as poetry, and has been laid down by multitudes of writers; but the difficulty, as Bowles remarks, is to determine what is "nature," and what is "her just standard." "Nature" with Pope meant Homer.
[76]These are the words of Lord Shaftesbury in his Advice to an Author: "Frame taste by the just standard of nature." The principle is as old as poetry, and has been laid down by multitudes of writers; but the difficulty, as Bowles remarks, is to determine what is "nature," and what is "her just standard." "Nature" with Pope meant Homer.
[77]Roscommon's Essay:Truth still is one: Truth is divinely bright;No cloudy doubts obscure her native light.—Wakefield.
[77]Roscommon's Essay:
Truth still is one: Truth is divinely bright;No cloudy doubts obscure her native light.—Wakefield.
Truth still is one: Truth is divinely bright;No cloudy doubts obscure her native light.—Wakefield.
Truth still is one: Truth is divinely bright;No cloudy doubts obscure her native light.—Wakefield.
[78]Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry by Sir William Soame and Dryden, canto i.Love reason then, and let whate'er you writeBorrow from her its beauty, force, and light.
[78]Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry by Sir William Soame and Dryden, canto i.
Love reason then, and let whate'er you writeBorrow from her its beauty, force, and light.
Love reason then, and let whate'er you writeBorrow from her its beauty, force, and light.
Love reason then, and let whate'er you writeBorrow from her its beauty, force, and light.
[79]In the early editions,That art is best which most resembles her,Which still presides, yet never does appear.
[79]In the early editions,
That art is best which most resembles her,Which still presides, yet never does appear.
That art is best which most resembles her,Which still presides, yet never does appear.
That art is best which most resembles her,Which still presides, yet never does appear.
[80]Dryden's Virgil, Æn. vi. 982:———one common soulInspires, and feeds, and animates the whole.—Wakefield.
[80]Dryden's Virgil, Æn. vi. 982:
———one common soulInspires, and feeds, and animates the whole.—Wakefield.
———one common soulInspires, and feeds, and animates the whole.—Wakefield.
———one common soulInspires, and feeds, and animates the whole.—Wakefield.
[81]So Ovid, exactly, Metam. iv. 287:causa latet; vis est notissima.—Wakefield.Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry:A spirit which inspires the work throughout,As that of nature moves the world about;Itself unseen, yet all things by it shown.
[81]So Ovid, exactly, Metam. iv. 287:
causa latet; vis est notissima.—Wakefield.
Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry:
A spirit which inspires the work throughout,As that of nature moves the world about;Itself unseen, yet all things by it shown.
A spirit which inspires the work throughout,As that of nature moves the world about;Itself unseen, yet all things by it shown.
A spirit which inspires the work throughout,As that of nature moves the world about;Itself unseen, yet all things by it shown.
[82]In all editions before the quarto of 1743, it was,There are whom heav'n has blest with store of wit,Yet want as much again to manage it.The idea was suggested by a sentence in Sprat's Account of Cowley: "His fancy flowed with great speed, and therefore it was very fortunate to him that his judgment was equal to manage it." Pope gave a false sparkle to his couplet by first using "wit" in one sense and then in another. "Wit to manage wit," says the author of the Supplement to the Profound, "is full as good as one tongue's tiring another. Any one may perceive that the writer meant that judgment should manage wit; but as it stands it is pert." Warburton observes that Pope's later version magnified the contradiction; for he who had already "a profusion of wit," was the last person to need more.
[82]In all editions before the quarto of 1743, it was,
There are whom heav'n has blest with store of wit,Yet want as much again to manage it.
There are whom heav'n has blest with store of wit,Yet want as much again to manage it.
There are whom heav'n has blest with store of wit,Yet want as much again to manage it.
The idea was suggested by a sentence in Sprat's Account of Cowley: "His fancy flowed with great speed, and therefore it was very fortunate to him that his judgment was equal to manage it." Pope gave a false sparkle to his couplet by first using "wit" in one sense and then in another. "Wit to manage wit," says the author of the Supplement to the Profound, "is full as good as one tongue's tiring another. Any one may perceive that the writer meant that judgment should manage wit; but as it stands it is pert." Warburton observes that Pope's later version magnified the contradiction; for he who had already "a profusion of wit," was the last person to need more.
[83]"Ever are at strife," was the reading till the quarto of 1743.
[83]"Ever are at strife," was the reading till the quarto of 1743.
[84]We shall destroy the beauty of the passage by introducing a most insipid parallel of perfect sameness, if we understand the word "like" as introducing a simile. It is merely as if he had said: "Pegasus, as a generous horse is accustomed to do, shows his spirit most under restraint." Our author might have in view a couplet of Waller's, in his verses on Roscommon's Poetry:Direct us how to back the winged horse,Favour his flight, and moderate his force.—Wakefield.
[84]We shall destroy the beauty of the passage by introducing a most insipid parallel of perfect sameness, if we understand the word "like" as introducing a simile. It is merely as if he had said: "Pegasus, as a generous horse is accustomed to do, shows his spirit most under restraint." Our author might have in view a couplet of Waller's, in his verses on Roscommon's Poetry:
Direct us how to back the winged horse,Favour his flight, and moderate his force.—Wakefield.
Direct us how to back the winged horse,Favour his flight, and moderate his force.—Wakefield.
Direct us how to back the winged horse,Favour his flight, and moderate his force.—Wakefield.
[85]Dryden's preface to Troilus and Cressida: "If the rules be well considered, we shall find them to be made only to reduce nature into method."
[85]Dryden's preface to Troilus and Cressida: "If the rules be well considered, we shall find them to be made only to reduce nature into method."
[86]It was "monarchy" until the edition of 1743.
[86]It was "monarchy" until the edition of 1743.
[87]Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry, by Dryden and Soame:And afar off hold up the glorious prize.—Wakefield.
[87]Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry, by Dryden and Soame:
And afar off hold up the glorious prize.—Wakefield.
[88]Nec enim artibus editis factum est ut argumenta inveniremus, sed dicta sunt omnia antequam præciperentur; mox ea scriptores observata et collecta ediderunt. Quintil.—Pope.
[88]Nec enim artibus editis factum est ut argumenta inveniremus, sed dicta sunt omnia antequam præciperentur; mox ea scriptores observata et collecta ediderunt. Quintil.—Pope.
[89]This seems to have been suggested by a couplet in the Court Prospect of Hopkins:How are these blessings thus dispensed and giv'n?To us from William, and to him from heav'n.
[89]This seems to have been suggested by a couplet in the Court Prospect of Hopkins:
How are these blessings thus dispensed and giv'n?To us from William, and to him from heav'n.
How are these blessings thus dispensed and giv'n?To us from William, and to him from heav'n.
How are these blessings thus dispensed and giv'n?To us from William, and to him from heav'n.
[90]After this verse followed another, to complete the triplet, in the first impressions:Set up themselves, and drove a sep'rate trade.—Wakefield.
[90]After this verse followed another, to complete the triplet, in the first impressions:
Set up themselves, and drove a sep'rate trade.—Wakefield.
[91]A feeble line of monosyllables, consisting of ten low words.—Warton.The entire passage seems to be constructed on some remarks of Dryden in his Dedication to Ovid: "Formerly the critics were quite another species of men. They were defenders of poets, and commentators on their works, to illustrate obscure beauties, to place some passages in a better light, to redeem others from malicious interpretations. Are our auxiliary forces turned our enemies? Are they from our seconds become principals against us?" The truth of Pope's assertion, as to the matter of fact, will not bear a rigorous inquisition, as I believe these critical persecutors of good poets to have been extremely few, both in ancient and modern times.—Wakefield.
[91]A feeble line of monosyllables, consisting of ten low words.—Warton.
The entire passage seems to be constructed on some remarks of Dryden in his Dedication to Ovid: "Formerly the critics were quite another species of men. They were defenders of poets, and commentators on their works, to illustrate obscure beauties, to place some passages in a better light, to redeem others from malicious interpretations. Are our auxiliary forces turned our enemies? Are they from our seconds become principals against us?" The truth of Pope's assertion, as to the matter of fact, will not bear a rigorous inquisition, as I believe these critical persecutors of good poets to have been extremely few, both in ancient and modern times.—Wakefield.
[92]The prescription of the physician was formerly called his bill. Johnson, in his Dictionary, quotes from L'Estrange, "The medicine was prepared according to the bill," and Butler, in Hudibras, speaks ofhim who took the doctor's bill,And swallowed it instead of the pill.The story ran that a physician handed a prescription to his patient, saying, "Take this," and the man immediately swallowed it.
[92]The prescription of the physician was formerly called his bill. Johnson, in his Dictionary, quotes from L'Estrange, "The medicine was prepared according to the bill," and Butler, in Hudibras, speaks of
him who took the doctor's bill,And swallowed it instead of the pill.
him who took the doctor's bill,And swallowed it instead of the pill.
him who took the doctor's bill,And swallowed it instead of the pill.
The story ran that a physician handed a prescription to his patient, saying, "Take this," and the man immediately swallowed it.
[93]This is a quibble. Time and moths spoil books by destroying them. The commentators only spoiled them by explaining them badly. The editors were so far from spoiling books in the same sense as time, that by multiplying copies they assisted to preserve them.
[93]This is a quibble. Time and moths spoil books by destroying them. The commentators only spoiled them by explaining them badly. The editors were so far from spoiling books in the same sense as time, that by multiplying copies they assisted to preserve them.
[94]Soame and Dryden's Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry:Keep to each man his proper character;Of countries and of times the humours know;From diff'rent climates diff'ring customs grow.The principle here is general. Pope, in terms and in fact, applied it only to the ancients. Had he extended the precept to modern literature he would have been cured of his delusion that every deviation from the antique type arose from unlettered tastelessness.
[94]Soame and Dryden's Translation of Boileau's Art of Poetry:
Keep to each man his proper character;Of countries and of times the humours know;From diff'rent climates diff'ring customs grow.
Keep to each man his proper character;Of countries and of times the humours know;From diff'rent climates diff'ring customs grow.
Keep to each man his proper character;Of countries and of times the humours know;From diff'rent climates diff'ring customs grow.
The principle here is general. Pope, in terms and in fact, applied it only to the ancients. Had he extended the precept to modern literature he would have been cured of his delusion that every deviation from the antique type arose from unlettered tastelessness.
[95]In the first edition,You may confound, but never criticise,which was an adaptation of a line from Lord Roscommon:You may confound, but never can translate.
[95]In the first edition,
You may confound, but never criticise,which was an adaptation of a line from Lord Roscommon:
You may confound, but never can translate.
[96]The author, after this verse, originally inserted the following, which he has however omitted in all the editions:Zoilus, had these been known, without a nameHad died, and Perrault ne'er been damned to fame;The sense of sound antiquity had reigned,And sacred Homer yet been unprophaned.}None e'er had thought his comprehensive mindTo modern customs, modern rules confined;Who for all ages writ, and all mankind.Be his great works, &c.—Pope.Perrault, in his Parallel between the ancients and the moderns, carped at Homer in the same spirit that Zoilus had done of old.
[96]The author, after this verse, originally inserted the following, which he has however omitted in all the editions:
Zoilus, had these been known, without a nameHad died, and Perrault ne'er been damned to fame;The sense of sound antiquity had reigned,And sacred Homer yet been unprophaned.}None e'er had thought his comprehensive mindTo modern customs, modern rules confined;Who for all ages writ, and all mankind.Be his great works, &c.—Pope.
Zoilus, had these been known, without a nameHad died, and Perrault ne'er been damned to fame;The sense of sound antiquity had reigned,And sacred Homer yet been unprophaned.}None e'er had thought his comprehensive mindTo modern customs, modern rules confined;Who for all ages writ, and all mankind.Be his great works, &c.—Pope.
Zoilus, had these been known, without a nameHad died, and Perrault ne'er been damned to fame;The sense of sound antiquity had reigned,And sacred Homer yet been unprophaned.}None e'er had thought his comprehensive mindTo modern customs, modern rules confined;Who for all ages writ, and all mankind.Be his great works, &c.—Pope.
}
Perrault, in his Parallel between the ancients and the moderns, carped at Homer in the same spirit that Zoilus had done of old.
[97]Horace, Ars Poet., ver. 268:vos exemplaria GræcaNocturna versate manu, versate diurna.Tate and Brady's version of the first psalm:But makes the perfect law of GodHis business and delight;Devoutly reads therein by day,And meditates by night.—Wakefield.
[97]Horace, Ars Poet., ver. 268:
vos exemplaria GræcaNocturna versate manu, versate diurna.
vos exemplaria GræcaNocturna versate manu, versate diurna.
vos exemplaria GræcaNocturna versate manu, versate diurna.
Tate and Brady's version of the first psalm:
But makes the perfect law of GodHis business and delight;Devoutly reads therein by day,And meditates by night.—Wakefield.
But makes the perfect law of GodHis business and delight;Devoutly reads therein by day,And meditates by night.—Wakefield.
But makes the perfect law of GodHis business and delight;Devoutly reads therein by day,And meditates by night.—Wakefield.
[98]Dryden, Virg. Geor. iv. 408:And upward follow Fame's immortal spring.—Wakefield.
[98]Dryden, Virg. Geor. iv. 408:
And upward follow Fame's immortal spring.—Wakefield.
[99]Lord Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse:Consult your author with himself compared.
[99]Lord Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse:
Consult your author with himself compared.
[100]The word outlast is improper; for Virgil, like a true Roman, never dreamt of the mortality of the city.—Wakefield.
[100]The word outlast is improper; for Virgil, like a true Roman, never dreamt of the mortality of the city.—Wakefield.
[101]Variation:When first young Maro sung of kings and wars,Ere warning Phœbus touched his trembling ears.Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius auremVellit. Virg. Ecl. vi. 3.It is a tradition preserved by Servius, that Virgil began with writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs, which he found above his years, and descended, first to imitate Theocritus on rural subjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in heroic poetry.—Pope.The second line of the couplet in the note was copied, as Mr. Carruthers points out, from Milton's Lycidas:Phœbus replied, and touched my trembling ears.The couplet in the text, with the variation of "great Maro" for "young Maro," was Pope's original version, but Dennis having asked whether he intended "to put that figure called a bull upon Virgil" by saying that he designed a work "to outlast immortality," the poet wrote in the margin of his manuscript "alter the seeming inconsistency," which he did, by substituting the lines in the note. In the last edition, he reinstated the "bull." The objection of Dennis was hypercritical. The phrase only expresses the double fact that the city was destroyed, and that its fame was durable. The manuscript supplies another various reading, which avoids both the alleged bull in the text, and the bad rhyme of the couplet in the note:When first his voice the youthful Maro tried,Ere Phœbus touched his ear and checked his pride.
[101]Variation:
When first young Maro sung of kings and wars,Ere warning Phœbus touched his trembling ears.Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius auremVellit. Virg. Ecl. vi. 3.
When first young Maro sung of kings and wars,Ere warning Phœbus touched his trembling ears.Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius auremVellit. Virg. Ecl. vi. 3.
When first young Maro sung of kings and wars,Ere warning Phœbus touched his trembling ears.Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius auremVellit. Virg. Ecl. vi. 3.
It is a tradition preserved by Servius, that Virgil began with writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs, which he found above his years, and descended, first to imitate Theocritus on rural subjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in heroic poetry.—Pope.
The second line of the couplet in the note was copied, as Mr. Carruthers points out, from Milton's Lycidas:
Phœbus replied, and touched my trembling ears.
The couplet in the text, with the variation of "great Maro" for "young Maro," was Pope's original version, but Dennis having asked whether he intended "to put that figure called a bull upon Virgil" by saying that he designed a work "to outlast immortality," the poet wrote in the margin of his manuscript "alter the seeming inconsistency," which he did, by substituting the lines in the note. In the last edition, he reinstated the "bull." The objection of Dennis was hypercritical. The phrase only expresses the double fact that the city was destroyed, and that its fame was durable. The manuscript supplies another various reading, which avoids both the alleged bull in the text, and the bad rhyme of the couplet in the note:
When first his voice the youthful Maro tried,Ere Phœbus touched his ear and checked his pride.
When first his voice the youthful Maro tried,Ere Phœbus touched his ear and checked his pride.
When first his voice the youthful Maro tried,Ere Phœbus touched his ear and checked his pride.
[102]And did his work to rules as strict confine.—Pope.
[102]
And did his work to rules as strict confine.—Pope.
[103]Aristotle, born atStagyra,B.C.384.—Croker.
[103]Aristotle, born atStagyra,B.C.384.—Croker.
[104]In the manuscript a couplet follows which was added by Pope in the margin, when he erased the expression "a work t' outlast immortal Rome:""Arms and the Man," then rung the world around,And Rome commenced immortal at the sound
[104]In the manuscript a couplet follows which was added by Pope in the margin, when he erased the expression "a work t' outlast immortal Rome:"
"Arms and the Man," then rung the world around,And Rome commenced immortal at the sound
"Arms and the Man," then rung the world around,And Rome commenced immortal at the sound
"Arms and the Man," then rung the world around,And Rome commenced immortal at the sound
[105]When Pope supposes Virgil to have properly "checked in his bold design of drawing from nature's fountain," and in consequence to have confined his work within rules as strict,As if the Stagyrite o'erlooked each line,how can he avoid the force of his own ridicule, where a little further, in this very piece, he laughs at Dennis forConcluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.—Dr. Aikin.The argument of Pope is sophistical and inconsistent. It is inconsistent, because if Virgil found Homer and nature the same, his work would not have been confined within stricter rules when he copied Homer than when he copied nature. It is sophistical, because though Homer may be always natural, all nature is not contained in his works.
[105]When Pope supposes Virgil to have properly "checked in his bold design of drawing from nature's fountain," and in consequence to have confined his work within rules as strict,
As if the Stagyrite o'erlooked each line,
how can he avoid the force of his own ridicule, where a little further, in this very piece, he laughs at Dennis for
Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.—Dr. Aikin.
Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.—Dr. Aikin.
Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules.—Dr. Aikin.
The argument of Pope is sophistical and inconsistent. It is inconsistent, because if Virgil found Homer and nature the same, his work would not have been confined within stricter rules when he copied Homer than when he copied nature. It is sophistical, because though Homer may be always natural, all nature is not contained in his works.
[106]Rapin's Critical Works, vol. ii. p. 173: "There are no precepts to teach the hidden graces, and all that secret power of poetry which passes to the heart."
[106]Rapin's Critical Works, vol. ii. p. 173: "There are no precepts to teach the hidden graces, and all that secret power of poetry which passes to the heart."
[107]Neque enim rogationibus plebisve scitis sancta sunt ista præcepta, sed hoc, quicquid est, utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo autem sic utile esse plerumque; verum si eadem illa nobis aliud suadebit utilitas, hanc, relictis magistrorum auctoritatibus, sequemur. Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13.—Pope.
[107]Neque enim rogationibus plebisve scitis sancta sunt ista præcepta, sed hoc, quicquid est, utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo autem sic utile esse plerumque; verum si eadem illa nobis aliud suadebit utilitas, hanc, relictis magistrorum auctoritatibus, sequemur. Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13.—Pope.
[108]Dryden's Aurengzebe:Mean soul, and dar'st not gloriously offend!—Steevens.
[108]Dryden's Aurengzebe:
Mean soul, and dar'st not gloriously offend!—Steevens.
[109]This couplet, in the quarto of 1743, was for the first time placed immediately after the triplet which ends at ver. 160. The effect of this arrangement was that "Pegasus," instead of the "great wits," became the antecedent to the lines, "From vulgar bounds," &c., and the poetic steed was said to "snatch a grace." Warton commented upon the absurdity of using such language of a horse, and since it is evident that Pope must have overlooked the incongruity, when he adopted the transposition, the lines were restored to their original order in the editions of Warton, Bowles, and Roscoe.
[109]This couplet, in the quarto of 1743, was for the first time placed immediately after the triplet which ends at ver. 160. The effect of this arrangement was that "Pegasus," instead of the "great wits," became the antecedent to the lines, "From vulgar bounds," &c., and the poetic steed was said to "snatch a grace." Warton commented upon the absurdity of using such language of a horse, and since it is evident that Pope must have overlooked the incongruity, when he adopted the transposition, the lines were restored to their original order in the editions of Warton, Bowles, and Roscoe.