615

With his own tongue ftill edifies his ears,
And always lift'ning to himself appears.
All books he reads, and all he reads affails,
From Dryden's Fables down to Durfey's Tales.
With him, most authors fteal their works, or buy;
GARTH did not write his own Difpenfary.
Name a new Play, and he's the Poet's friend, 620
Nay fhow'd his faults - but when wou'd Poets mend ?
No place fo facred from fuch fops is barr'd,

Nor is Paul's church more fafe than Paul's church
yard:

Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead:
For Fools rufh in where Angels fear to tread. 625
Distrustful fenfe with modeft caution fpeaks,
It ftill looks home, and fhort excurfions makes;
But rattling nonfenfe in full vollies breaks,
And never fhock'd, and never turn'd afide,
Burfts out, refiftlefs, with a thund'ring tide. 630

NOTES.

619. Garth did not write, & A common flander at that time in prejudice of that deferving auhor. Our poet did him

this juftice, when that flan-
der moft prevail'd; and it
is now (perhaps the fooner
for this very verfe) dead and
forgotten.

H

But where's the man, who counsel can bestow," Still pleas'd to teach, and yet not proud to know? Unbiafs'd, or by favour, or by fpite:

Not dully prepoffefs'd, nor blindly right ;

COMMENTARY.

VER. 631. But where's the man, &c.] II. The conclufion of the first divifion of this part, naturally leads him to the fecond; which is of the Morals of Critics by example. For, having there drawn at large the bad Critic ; he breaks out into an apoftrophe, containing an exact and finished character of the true Critic; which is, at the fame time, the most easy and proper introduction to this fecond divifion. For, having afked [from 630 to 643] Where's the man, &c. he anfwers [from 642 to 735) 1. That he was principally to be found in the happier ages of Greece and Rome; in the perfons of Ariftotle and Horace, Dionyfius and Petronius, Quintilian and Longinus. Whole features [from 642 to 681.] he has not only exactly delineated, but contrafted with a peculiar elegance; the profound science and logical method of Ariftotle being opposed to the plain common fenfe of Horace, conveyed in a natural and familiar negligence; the ftudy and refinement of Diony fius, to the gay and courtly ease of Petronius; and the gravity and minuteness of Quintilian, to the vivacity and general topics of Longinus. Nor has the poet been leis careful, in these examples, to point out their eminence in the several critical Virtues he fo carefully inculcated in his precepts. Thus in Horace he particularizes his Candour, in Petronius his Good Breeding, in Quintilian his free and copious Infruction, and in Longinus his noble Spirit.

Tho' learn'd, well-bred; and tho' well-bred, fin

cere ;

Modeftly bold, and humanly fevere :

Who to a friend his faults can freely fhow,
And gladly praise the merit of a foe?

Bleft with a taste exact, yet unconfin'd;

635

A knowledge both of books and human kind; 640
Gen'rous converfe; a foul exempt from pride;
And love to praife, with reafon on his fide?
Such once were Critics; fuch the happy few,
Athens and Rome in better ages knew.
The mighty Stagyrite first left the shore,

645

Spread all his fails, and durft the deeps explore;
He fteer'd fecurely, and discover'd far,

Led by the light of the Mæonian Star,

NOTES.

642. And love to praise with reafon on bis fide ?] Not only on his fide, but actually exercited in his fervice. That Critic makes but a mean figure, who when he has found out the excellencies of his author, contents himself in offering

them to the world, with only empty exclamations on their beauties. His office is to explain the nature of those beauties, fhew from whence they arise, and what effects they produce; or, in the better and fuller expreffion of the poet,

To teach the world with Reason to admire.

Poets, a race long unconfin'd, and free,

Still fond and proud of favage liberty,

Receiv'd his laws; and ftood convinc'd 'twas fit

650

Who conquer'd Nature, fhould prefide o'er Wit.

NOTES.

646 and 647. I found the following lines,

Between
fince fuppreft by the author:

That bold Columbus of the realms of wit,
Whofe first discov'ry's not exceeded yet.
Led by the light of the Manian Star,
He fleer'd fecurely, and difcover'd far.
He, when all Nature was fubdu'd before,
Like bis great Pupil, figb'd, and long'd for more:
Fancy's wild regions yet unvanquish'd lay,

A boundless empire, and that own'd no fway.
Poets, &c.

652. Who conquer'd Nature bould prefide o'er Wit.] By this is not meant phyfical Nature, but moral. The force of the observation confifts in our understanding it in this fenfe. For the poet not only uses the word Nature for buman nature, throughout this poem ; but

alfo, where in the beginning of it he lays down the principles of the arts he treats of, he makes the knowledge of

human nature the foundation of all Criticism and Poetry. Nor is the obfervation leís true than appofite. For, Ariftotle's natural enquiries were fuperficial, and ill F

655

Horace till charms with graceful negligence, And without method talks us into sense, Will, like a friend, familiarly convey The trueft notions in the easiest way. He, who fupreme in judgment, as in wit, Might boldly cenfure, as he boldly writ, Yet judg'd with coolness, tho' he fung with fire; His Precepts teach but what his works infpire. 660 Our Critics take a contrary extreme,

They judge with fury, but they write with fle'me:
Nor fuffers Horace more in wrong Tranflations
By Wits, than Critics in as wrong Quotations.
See Dionyfius Homer's thoughts refine, 665
And call new beauties forth from ev'ry line!

Fancy and art in gay Petronius please,
The scholar's learning, with the courtier's ease.
In grave Quintilian's copious work, we find
The jufteft rules, and cleareft method join'd: 670

NOTES.

made, tho' extenfive: But his logical and moral works are incomparable. In thefe he has unfolded the human mind, and laid open all the recefies of the heart and understanding; and by his Categories, not only con

quered Nature, but kept her in tenfold chains: Not as Dulness kept the Mufes,' in the Dunciad, to filence them; but as Arift held Proteus in Virgil, to deliver Oracles.