CVI.—ADVICE TO A YOUNG CRITIC.POPE.
POPE.
1. ’Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning join;In all you speak, let truth and candor shine;That not alone what to your sense is dueAll may allow, but seek your friendship too.Be silent always, when you doubt your sense,And speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence.[646]2. Some positive, persisting[647]fops we know,Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so:Butyou, with pleasure, own your errors past,And make each day a critic on the last.’Tis not enough your counsel to be true:Blunt truths more mischief than slight errors do;Men must be taught, as if you taught them not,And things unknown proposed, as things forgot.3. Without good breeding truth is disapproved;That only makes superior sense beloved.Be niggard[648]of advice on no pretense;For the worst avarice is that of sense.With mean complacence[649]ne’er betray your trustNor be so civil as to prove unjust.Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise.4. But where’s the man who counsel can bestow,Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know;Unbiassed, or by favor, or by spite;Not dully prepossessed, nor blindly right;Though learned, well-bred; and, though well-bred, sincere;Modestly bold, and humanly severe;Who to a friend his faults can freely show,And gladly praise the merit of a foe?5. Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined;A knowledge both of books and human kind;Generous converse, a soul exempt from pride,And love to praise with reason on his side;Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame;Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame;Averse alike to flatter or offend;Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend?
1. ’Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning join;In all you speak, let truth and candor shine;That not alone what to your sense is dueAll may allow, but seek your friendship too.Be silent always, when you doubt your sense,And speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence.[646]2. Some positive, persisting[647]fops we know,Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so:Butyou, with pleasure, own your errors past,And make each day a critic on the last.’Tis not enough your counsel to be true:Blunt truths more mischief than slight errors do;Men must be taught, as if you taught them not,And things unknown proposed, as things forgot.3. Without good breeding truth is disapproved;That only makes superior sense beloved.Be niggard[648]of advice on no pretense;For the worst avarice is that of sense.With mean complacence[649]ne’er betray your trustNor be so civil as to prove unjust.Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise.4. But where’s the man who counsel can bestow,Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know;Unbiassed, or by favor, or by spite;Not dully prepossessed, nor blindly right;Though learned, well-bred; and, though well-bred, sincere;Modestly bold, and humanly severe;Who to a friend his faults can freely show,And gladly praise the merit of a foe?5. Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined;A knowledge both of books and human kind;Generous converse, a soul exempt from pride,And love to praise with reason on his side;Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame;Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame;Averse alike to flatter or offend;Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend?
1. ’Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning join;In all you speak, let truth and candor shine;That not alone what to your sense is dueAll may allow, but seek your friendship too.Be silent always, when you doubt your sense,And speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence.[646]
1. ’Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning join;
In all you speak, let truth and candor 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, though sure, with seeming diffidence.[646]
2. Some positive, persisting[647]fops we know,Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so:Butyou, with pleasure, own your errors past,And make each day a critic on the last.’Tis not enough your counsel to be true:Blunt truths more mischief than slight errors do;Men must be taught, as if you taught them not,And things unknown proposed, as things forgot.
2. Some positive, persisting[647]fops we know,
Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so:
Butyou, with pleasure, own your errors past,
And make each day a critic on the last.
’Tis not enough your counsel to be true:
Blunt truths more mischief than slight errors do;
Men must be taught, as if you taught them not,
And things unknown proposed, as things forgot.
3. Without good breeding truth is disapproved;That only makes superior sense beloved.Be niggard[648]of advice on no pretense;For the worst avarice is that of sense.With mean complacence[649]ne’er betray your trustNor be so civil as to prove unjust.Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise.
3. Without good breeding truth is disapproved;
That only makes superior sense beloved.
Be niggard[648]of advice on no pretense;
For the worst avarice is that of sense.
With mean complacence[649]ne’er betray your trust
Nor be so civil as to prove unjust.
Fear not the anger of the wise to raise;
Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise.
4. But where’s the man who counsel can bestow,Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know;Unbiassed, or by favor, or by spite;Not dully prepossessed, nor blindly right;Though learned, well-bred; and, though well-bred, sincere;Modestly bold, and humanly severe;Who to a friend his faults can freely show,And gladly praise the merit of a foe?
4. But where’s the man who counsel can bestow,
Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know;
Unbiassed, or by favor, or by spite;
Not dully prepossessed, nor blindly right;
Though learned, well-bred; and, though well-bred, sincere;
Modestly bold, and humanly severe;
Who to a friend his faults can freely show,
And gladly praise the merit of a foe?
5. Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined;A knowledge both of books and human kind;Generous converse, a soul exempt from pride,And love to praise with reason on his side;Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame;Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame;Averse alike to flatter or offend;Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend?
5. Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined;
A knowledge both of books and human kind;
Generous converse, a soul exempt from pride,
And love to praise with reason on his side;
Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame;
Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame;
Averse alike to flatter or offend;
Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend?
[646]Difˊ-fi-dence, want of confidence.[647]Per-sistˊ-ing, persevering steadily.[648]Nigˊ-gard, meanly; parsimonious.[649]Com-plaˊ-cence, civility.
[646]Difˊ-fi-dence, want of confidence.
[646]Difˊ-fi-dence, want of confidence.
[647]Per-sistˊ-ing, persevering steadily.
[647]Per-sistˊ-ing, persevering steadily.
[648]Nigˊ-gard, meanly; parsimonious.
[648]Nigˊ-gard, meanly; parsimonious.
[649]Com-plaˊ-cence, civility.
[649]Com-plaˊ-cence, civility.