No single parts unequally surprize,
All come united to th' admiring eyes; 250
No monstrous height, or breadth, or length appear;
The Whole at once is bold, and regular.

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see,
Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.
In ev'ry work regard the writer's End, 255
Since none can compass more than they intend;
And if the means be just, the conduct true,
Applause, in spight of trivial faults, is due.
As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit,
T'avoid great errors, must the less commit: 263
Neglect the rules each verbal Critic lays,
For not to know some trifles, is a praise.
Most Critics, fond of some subservient art,
Still make the Whole depend upon a Part:
They talk of principles, but notions prize,

265 And all to one lov'd Folly sacrifice.

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 Dennis, of the Grecian stage; 270 Concluding all were desp’rate fots and fools, Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules. 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, 275 The manners, pallions, unities, what not?

All

Ver. 261. verbal Critic] is not here used in its common fignification, of one who retails the sense of single words; but of one who deals in large cargo's of them without any sense at all.

All which, exact to rule, were brought about, Were but a Combat in the lifts 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) “ Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the

stage.” So vast a throng the stage can ne'er contain. " Then build a new, or act it on a plain.”

Thus Critics, of less judgment than caprice, 285 Curious not knowing, not exact but nice, Form short Ideas ; and offend in arts (As most in manners) by a love to parts.

Some to Conceit alone their taste confine, And glitt'ring thoughts struck out at ev'ry line; 290 Pleas'd with a work where nothing's just or fit; One glaring Chaos and wild heap of wit.

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Poets,

VER. 285. Thus Critics of less judgment than caprice,

Curious not knowing, not exact but nice.] In these two lines the poet finely describes the way in which bad writers are wont to imitatc the qualities of good ones. As true Judgment generally draws men out of popular opinions, so he who cannot get from the croud by the alliitance of this guide, willingly follows Caprice, which will be sure to lead him into fingularities. Again, true Knowledge is the art of treasuring up only that which, from its use in life, is worthy of being lodged in the memory: Eut Curiosity consists in a vain attention to every thing out of the way, and which, for its uselesness, the world least regards. Lastly, Exatness is the just proportion of parts to one another, and their harmony in a whole : But he who has not extent of capacity for the exercise of this quality, contents himself with Nicety, which is a busying one's self about points and syllables.

Poets, like painters, thus, unskilựd to trace
The naked nature and the living grace,
With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part, 295
And hide with ornaments their want of art.
True Wit is Nature to advantage dress’d,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd ;
Something, whose truth convinc'd at fight we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind. 3ဝဝ,
As shades more sweetly recommend the light,
So modeft plainness sets off sprightly wit.

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For

VER. 297. Trus Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, etc.] This definition is very exact. Mr. Locke had defined Wit to confift in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together, with quickness and variety, wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, whereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy. But that great Philosopher, in separating Wit from Judgment, as he does in this place, has given us (and he could therefore give us no other) only an account of Wit in general : In which false Wit, tho' not every species of it, is included. A friking Image therefore of Nature is, as Mr. Locke observes, certainly Wit: But this image may Arike on several other accounts, as well as for its truth and amiableness; and the Philosopher has explaind the manner how. But it never becomes that Wit which is the ornament of true Poesy, whose end is to represent Nature, but when it dresses that Nature to advantage, and presents her to us in the clearest and most amiable light. And to know when the Fancy has done its office truly, the poet subjoins this admirable Test, viz. When we perceive that it gives us back the image of our mind. When it does that, we may be sure it plays no tricks with us: For this image is the creature of the Judgment ; and whenever Wit corresponds with Judgment, we may safely jronounce it to be true.

Natúram intueamur, hanc fequamur: id facillime accia
pit animi quod agnofcunt. Quintil. lib. viii

. c. 3.

For works may have more wit than does 'em good, As bodies perish thro' excess of blood.

Others for Language all their care express, 305 And value books, as women men, for Dress: Their praise is still,—the Style is excellent : The Sense, they humbly take upon content. Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. 310 False Eloquence, like the prismatic glafs, Its gaudy colours spreads on ev'ry place ; The face of Nature we no more survey, All glares alike, without distinction gay : But true Expression, like th' unchanging Sun, Clears, and improves whate'er it shines upon, It gilds all objects, but it alters none. Expression is the dress of thought, and still Appears more decent, as more suitable; A vile conceit in pompous words exprefs'd, 320 Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd : For diff'rent styles with diff'rent subjects fort, As several garbs with country, town, and court.

Some

VER. 311. False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, etc.] 'This fimile is beautiful.

For the false colouring, given to objects by the prismatic glass, is owing to its untwisting, by its obliquities, those threads cf light, which Nature had put together in order to spread over its works an ingenuous and simple candor, that should not hide, but only heighten the native complexion of the objects. And false Eloquence is nothing else but the ftraining and divaricating the parts of true expreffion; and then daubing them over with what the Rhetoricians very properly term, COLOURS ; in lieu of that candid light, now lost, which was reflected from them in their natural state while sincere and entire.

}

Some by old words to fame have made pretence,
Ancients in phrase, meer moderns in their sense ;
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, 326
Amaze th’ unlearn'd, and make the learned smile.
Unlucky, as Fungoso in the Play,
These sparks with aukward vanity display
What the fine gentleman wore yesterday;

330
And but fo mimic ancient wits at best,
As apes our grandfires, in their doublets dreft.
In words, as fashions, the fame rule will hold;
Alike fantastic, if too new, or old :
Be not the first by whom the new are try'd, 335
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

But most by Numbers judge a Poet's fong; And smooth or rough, with them, is right or wrong: In the bright Muse tho' thousand charms conspire, Her Voice is all these tuneful fools admire; 340

Who

Ver. 324. Some by old words, etc.] Ab, lita et abro. gata retinere, insolentie cujusdam eft, et frivola in parvis jnetan'ip. Quingil. lib. i. c. 6. P.

Opus eft ut verba à vetuftate repetita neque crebra fint, neque manifesta, quia nil eft odiofius affectatione, nec utique ab ultimis repetita temporibus. Oratio cujus fumma virtus eft perspicuitas, quam fit vitiofa, fi egeat interprete? Ergo ut novorum oprima erunt maxime vetera, ita veterum maxime novo. Idem. P.

VER. 328.--unlucky as Fungoso, etc.) See Ben Johnson's Every Man in his Humour. P. Ver. 337. But most by Numbers, etc.]

Quis populi fermo eft? quis enim ? nifi carmina molli
Nunc demum numero fluere, ut per læve severos
Effundat jun&tæra ungues : fcit tendere versum
Non secus ac fi oculo rubricam dirigat uno.

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Perf, Sat, i, P.