Some neither can for Wits nor Critics pass,
As heavy mules are neither horfe nor afs.
Thofe half-learn'd witlings, numerous in our ifle,
As half-form'd infects on the banks of Nile;
Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call,
Their generation's fo equivocal :

To tell them, 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 juftly bear a Critic's noble name,
Be fure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius, tafte, and learning, go;
Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet,
And mark that point where fenfe and dulnefs meet.
Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit,
And wifely curb'd proud man's pretending wit,
As on the land while here the ocean gains,
In other parts it leaves wide fandy plains;
Thus in the foul while memory prevails,
The folid power of understanding fails;
Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memory's foft figures melt away.
One fcience only will one genius fit;
So vaft is art, fo narrow human wit:
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,

40

45

50

55

60

But oft' in those confin'd to fingle parts.

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

By vain ambition still to make them more :

65

Each

VARIATION.

Ver. 63. Ed. 1. But ev'n in those, &c,

Each might his several province well command,
Would all but stoop to what they understand.

70

First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her juft ftandard, which is ftill the fame : Unerring NATURE, ftill divinely bright, One clear, unchang'd, and universal light, Life, force, and beauty, muft to all impart, At once the fource, and end, and teft of Art. Art from that fund each just supply provides; Works without show, and without pomp prefides: 75 In fome fair body thus th' informing foul

With fpirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole,
Each motion guides, and every nerve fustains;
Itself unfeen, but in th' effects remains.

Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profufe,
Want as much more, to turn it to its ufe;
For wit and judgment often are at strife,

80

Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife.
'Tis more to guide, than fpur the Mufe's steed;
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed:
The winged courfer, like a generous horfe,

Shows moft true mettle when you check his course.
Thofe RULES of old difcover'd, not devis'd,
Are Nature ftill, but Nature methodis'd:

Ver. 74.

VARIATIONS.

That art is beft, which moft resembles her; Which still prefides, yet never does appear. -the fecret foul.

Ver. 76.

Ver. 80.

85

Nature,

There are whom Heaven has bleft with ftore of wit, Yet want as much again to manage it.

ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

Nature, like Liberty, is but restrain'd
By the fame laws which first herself ordain'd.
Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites,
When to reprefs, and when indulge our flights;
High on Parnaffus' top her fons she show'd,

And pointed out those arduous paths they trod :
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urg'd the reft by equal steps to rife.

Juft precepts thus from great examples given,

She drew from them what they deriv'd from Heaven.
The generous Critic fann'd the Poet's fire,

100

And taught the world with reafon to admire.
Then Criticism the Mufe's handmaid prov'd,
To drefs her charms, and make her more belov'd :
But following wits from that intention stray'd,
Who could not win the mistress, woo'd the maid; tog
Against the poets their own arms they turn'd,
Sure to hate moft the men from whom they learn'd.
So modern 'Pothecaries, taught the art
By Doctors bills to play the Doctor's part,
Bold in the practice of mistaken rules,
Prefcribe, apply, and call their mafters fools.
Some on the leaves of ancient authors prey,
Nor time nor moths e'er spoil'd so much as they :

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 90. Ed. 1. Nature, like Monarchy, &c.

Some

Ver. 92. First learned Greece juft precepts did indite,
When to reprefs and when indulge our flight.

Ver. 97. From great examples useful rules were given.
After ver. 104. this line is omitted,

Set up themselves, and drove a feparate trade.

Some drily plain, without invention's aid,
Write dull receipts how poems may be made.
These leave the fenfe, their learning to display,
And thofe explain the meaning quite away.

115

120

You then whofe judgment the right course would steer, Know well each ANCIENT's proper character: His Fable, Subject, fcope in every page; Religion, Country, genius of his Age: Without all these at once before your eyes, Cavil you may, but never criticize.

125

Be Homer's works your study and delight,
Read them by day, and meditate by night;
Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring,
And trace the Mufes upward to their fpring.

Still with itself compar'd, his text perufe;
And let your comment be the Mantuan Mufe.

VARIATIONS.

When

Ver. 116. Ed. 1. These loft, &c.

Ver. 117. And these explain'd, &c.

Ver. 123. Ed. 1. You may confound, but, &c.

Ver. 123. Cavil you may, but never criticize.] The Author after this verfe originally inferted the following, which he has however omitted in all the editions:

Zoilus, had these been known, without a Name
Had dy'd, and Perault ne'er been damn'd to fame;
The fenfe of found antiquity had reign'd,
And facred Homer yet been unprophan'd.
None e'er had thought his comprehenfive mind
To modern cuftoms, modern rules confin'd;
Who for all ages writ, and all mankind.

}

Ver. 126. Thence form your judgment, thence your notions bring.

When first young Maro, in his boundless mind 130 A work t' outlast immortal Rome defign'd,

Perhaps he seem'd above the Critic's law,

And but from Nature's fountains scorn'd to draw:
But when t' examine every part he came,
Nature and Homer were, he found, the fame.
Convinc'd, amaz'd, he checks the bold defign;
And rules as strict his labour'd work confine,
As if the Stagirite o'erlook'd each line.
Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem;
To copy nature, is to copy them.

Some beauties yet no precepts can declare,
For there's a happiness as well as care.
Music resembles Poetry, in each

Are nameless graces which no methods teach,
And which a mafter-hand alone can reach.
If, where the rules not far enough extend,
(Since rules were made but to promote their end)
Some lucky License anfwer to the full

Th' intent propos'd, that License is a rule.

Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,
May boldly deviate from the common track;

Ver. 130.

VARIATIONS.

145

135

}

140

150

From

When firft young Maro fung of Kings and Wars
Ere warning Phoebus touch'd his trembling ears.
Ver. 130. Ed. 1. When first great Maro, &c.
Ver. 136.

Convinc'd, amaz'd, he check'd the bold defign;
And did his work to rules as ftrict confine.

Ver. 145. Ed. 1. And which a master's hand, &c.
VOL. I.

H