} 160 In prospects thus, some objects please our eyes, I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts Still green with bays each ancient Altar stands, 170 180 Secure from Flames, from Envy's fiercer rage', Destructive War, and all-involving Age. See, from each clime the learn'd their incense bring! And fill the gen'ral chorus of mankind. Hail, Bards triumphant! born in happier days; 190 Whose honours with increase of ages grow, As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow; (That on weak wings, from far, pursues your flights; 1 Dryden's Aurungzebe: 2 A prudent chief, &c.] Olóv TI TOLOVσi oi φρόνιμοι στρατηλάται κατὰ τὰς τάξεις τῶν στρατευMárov. Dion. Hal. De struct. orat. Warburton. 3 Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.] 'Modeste, ac circumspecto judicio de tantis viris pronunciandum est, ne quod (quod plerisque accidit) damnent quod non intelligunt. Ac si necesse est in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum le gentibus placere, quam multa displicere maluerim.' Quint. P. Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage, Destructive war, and all-involving age.] The poet here alludes to the four great causes of the ravage amongst ancient writings. The destruction of the Alexandrine and Palatine libraries by fire; the fiercer rage of Zoilus and Mævius and their followers against wit; the irruption of the barbarians into the empire; and the long reign of ignorance and superstition in the cloisters. Warburton. To teach vain Wits a science little known, OF all the Causes which conspire to blind 200 She gives in large recruits of needful pride; What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind: Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence, And fills up all the mighty Void of sense. 210 If once right reason drives that cloud away, A little learning is a dang'rous thing; Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind; 220 Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky, And the first clouds and mountains seem the last; 230 A perfect Judge will read each work of Wits The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with Wit. 240 can "drink deep" enough to be, in truth, anything more than very superficial; and every human being, that is not a downright idiot, must taste.'] 3 A perfect judge, &c.] 'Diligenter legendum est, ac pæne ad scribendi sollicitudinem: Nec per partes modo scrutanda sunt omnia, sed perlectus liber utique ex integro resumendus.' Quintil. Warburton. In wit, as nature, what affects our hearts But the joint force and full result of all. Thus when we view some well-proportion'd dome, (The world's just wonder1, and ev'n thine, O Rome!) All comes united to th' admiring eyes; 250 No monstrous height, or breadth, or length appear; The Whole at once is bold, and regular. Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be. Once on a time, La Mancha's Knight', they say, A certain bard encount'ring on the way, Discours'd in terms as just, with looks as sage, As e'er could Dennis3 of the Grecian stage; Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools, 260 270 Our Author, happy in a judge so nice, Produc'd his Play, and begg'd the Knight's advice Made him observe the subject, and the plot, The manners, passions, unities; what not? All which, exact to rule, were brought about, Were but a Combat in the lists left out. "What! leave the Combat out?" exclaims the Knight; Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite. 280 "Not so by Heav'n" (he answers in a rage), 66 'Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage." The Pantheon, I would suppose; perhaps St Peter's; no matter which; the observation is true of both. Warburton. 2 The incident is taken from the Second Part of Don Quixote, first written by Don Alonzo Fernandez de Avellanada, and afterwards translated, or rather imitated and new-modelled, by no less an author than the celebrated Le Sage. Warton. 3 Dennis], see Introductory Memoir. Some to Conceit alone their taste confine, Poets like painters, thus, unskill'd to trace 290 And hide with ornaments their want of art1. True Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express 'd2; Something, whose truth convinc'd at sight we find, That gives us back the image of our mind. 300 As shades more sweetly recommend the light, So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit. For works may have more wit than does 'em good, Their praise is still, the Style is excellent : Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found, 310 False Eloquence, like the prismatic glass, Its gaudy colours spreads on ev'ry place; 1 [This class of poets and style of poetry have probably never been so well illustrated and exposed, as, in the case of the English Fantastic school, by Dr Johnson in his life of Cowley.] 2 [Warburton commends, while Johnson with much success impugns, this definition. The term wit, as observed above, is very loosely and variously applied in this poem.] ['Humour is all; wit should be only brought To turn agreeably some proper thought.' Buckingham's Essay on Poetry.] 320 330 3 Some by old words, &c.] 'Abolita et abrogata retinere, insolentiæ cujusdam est, et frivolæ in parvis jactantiæ.' Quintil. lib. 1. cap. 6. P. 'Opus est ut verba a vetustate repetita neque crebra sint, neque manifesta, quia nil est odiosius affectatione, nec utique ab ultimis repetita temporibus. Oratio cujus summa virtus est perspicuitas, quam sit vitiosa, si egeat interprete? Ergo ut novorum optima erunt maxime vetera, ita veterum maxime nova.' Idem. P. 4 Unlucky as Fungoso, &c.] See Ben Jonson's And but so mimic ancient wits at best, As apes our grandsires, in their doublets drest. Be not the first by whom the new are try'd, But most by Numbers judge a Poet's song1; Not mend their minds; as some to Church repair, Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire2; } That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along. Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweetness join3. As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 2 Though oft the ear, &c.] 'Fugiemus crebras vocalium concursiones, quæ vastam atque hiantem orationem reddunt. Cic. ad Heren. lib. iv. Vide etiam, Quintil. lib. ix. c. 4. P. 3 While expletives their feeble aid do join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line.] From Dryden. "He creeps along with ten little words in every line, and helps out his numbers with [for] [to] and [unto] and all the pretty exple 340 350 360 tives he can find, while the sense is left half tired behind it." Essay on Dramatic Poetry. Warburton. [The beauty of Waller's versification, as Dr Johnson has pointed out, is impaired by the very frequent use of the expletive do.] 4 [It has been pointed out that Pope's Messiah is open to the objection of the introduction of Alexandrines, at the close of the poem and elsewhere. His later poems contain very few Alexandrines. Dr Johnson believes that 'Cowley was the first poet that mingled Alexandrines at pleasure with the common heroic of ten syllables; and from him Dryden borrowed the practice, whether ornamental or licentious.'] 5 [The master-pieces of these two poets are similarly linked in Buckingham's Essay on Poetry: 'But not an Elegy, nor writ with skill, No Panegyrick, nor a Cooper's Hill.'] 6 The sound must seem an Echo to the sense,] |