If, where the rules not far enough extend,
(Since rules were made but to promote their end)
Some lucky Licence answer to the full
Th' intent propos'd, that Licence is a rule.
Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,

150
May boldly deviate from the common track;
From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,
And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art,
Which without passing thro’ the judgment, gains
The heart, and all its end at once attains. 155
In prospects thus, some objects please our eyes,
Which out of nature's common order rise,
The shapeless rock, or hanging precipice.
Great Wits sometimes may gloriously offend,
And rise to faults true Critics dare not mend. 160
But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade,
(As Kings dispense with laws themselves have made)
Moderns, beware! or if you must offend
Against the precept, ne'er transgress its End;
Let it be seldom, and compelld by need; 165
And have, at least, their precedent to plead.
The Critic else proceeds without remorse,
Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force.

I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts Those freer beauties, ev’n in them, seem faults. 170

Some

}

VER. 146. IS, where the rules, etc.) Neque enim rogationibus plebifve scitis fanéta funt ifta Præcepta, fed hoc, quicquid eft, Utilitas excogitavit. Non negebo autem fic utile efe plerumque ; verum fi eadem illa nobis aliud fuadebit Utilitas, hanc, relittis magiftrorum autoritaribus, sequemur. Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13. P. VOL. I.

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Some figures monstrous and mis-shap'd appear,
Consider'd singly, or beheld too near,
Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place,
Due distance reconciles to form and grace.
A prudent chief not always must display 175
His pow'rs in equal ranks, and fair array,
But with th’occasion and the place comply,
Conceal his force, nay seem sometimes to fly.
Those oft are stratagems which errors seem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. 18@

Still green with bays each ancient Altar stands,
Above the reach of facrilegious hands;
Secure from Flames, from Envy's fiercer rage,
Destructive War, and all-involving Age.
See, from each clime the learn'd their incense bring!
Hear, in all tongues consenting Pæans ring! 185
In praise so just let ev'ry voice be join'd,
And fill the gen’ral chorus of mankind.

Hail,

Ver. 175. A prudent chief, etc.] 0lby ti wołowe φρόνιμοι σρατηλάταικατα τας τάξεις των τρατευμάτων – Dion. Hal. De struct. orat.

Ver. 180. Nor is it Homer nods, but are that dream.] Modeste, et circumspecto judicio de tantis viris pronunciandum eft, ne (quod plerisque accidit) damnent quod xon intelligunt. Ac fi neceffe eft in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa difplicere maluerim. Quint.

P.
VER. 183. 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 deftruction 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 cloistert.

Hail, Bards triumphant! born in happier days;
Immortal heirs of universal praise !

190
Whose honours with increase of ages grow,
As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow;
Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound,
And worlds applaud that must not yet be found!
Oh may some spark of your celestial fire, 195
The last, the meanest of your sons inspire,
(That on weak wings, from far, pursues your flights ;
Glows while he reads, but trembles as he writes)
To teach vain Wits a science little known,
T'admire superior sense, and doubt their own! 200

Of all the Causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind, What the weak head with strongest bias rules, Is Pride, the never-failing vice of fools. Whatever Nature has in worth deny'd, 205 She gives in large recruits of needful Pride ; For as in bodies, thus in fouls, we find What wants in blood and spirits, swelld with wind: Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our defence, And fills up all the mighty Void of sense.

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If

210

Ver. 189. Hail, Bards triumphant!] There is a pleasantry in this title, which alludes to the state of warfare that all true Genius muft undergo while here upon earth.

Ver. 209. Pride where Wit fails Reps in to our defence, And fills up all tbe mighty void of sense.] A very sensible French writer makes the following remark on this species of pride. “Un homme qui fçait plusieurs " Langues, qui etend les Auteurs Grecs et Latins, qui “ s'eleve même jusqu'à la dignité de SCHOLIASTE ; “ fi cet homme venoit à peser son véritable mérite, il

If once right reason drives that cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with resistless day.
Trust not yourself ; but your defects to know,
Make use of ev'ry friend and ev'ry foe.

A little learning is a dang’rous thing ; 215
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely fobers us again.
Fir'd at first fight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts,
While from the bounded level of our mind, 221
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind;
But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprize
New diftant scenes of endless science rise !
So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try, 225
Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,
'Th' eternal fnows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last :

But

66

s6 trouveroit fouvent qu'il se réduit à avoir eu des yeux " et de la mémoire, il se garderoit bien de donner le nom

respectable de science à une érudition sans lumiere. Il

y a une grande difference entre s'enrichir des mots ou “ des choses, entre alleguer des autoritez ou des raisons. 6 Si un homme pouvoit se surprendre à n'avoir que

cette forte de mérite, il en rougiroit plûtôt que d'en Hi être vain."

VER.217. There foallow draughts,etc.] The thought was taken from Lord Verulam, who applies it to more ferious enquiries.

VARIATION S.
VER. 225.

So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps to try,
Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy,
The Traveller beholds with chearful

eyes
The lefs'ning vales, and seems to tread the skies.

But, those attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 230
Th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arife!

A perfect Judge will read each work af Wit
With the same spirit that its author writ:
Survey the WHOLE, nor seek flight faults to find
Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind;
Nor lose, for that malignant dull delight,
The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with wit.
But in such lays as neither ebb, nor flow,
Correctly cold, and regularly low,

240 That shunning faults, one quiet tenour keep; We cannot blame indeed-but we may sleep. In Wit, as Nature, what affects our hearts Is not th' exactness of peculiar parts ; 'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call,

245 But the joint force and full result of all. Thus when we view fome well-proportion'd dome, (The world's just wonder, and ev’n thine, O Rome!)

No VER: 233. A perfect Judge, etc.] Diligenter legendum ejt, ac pæne ad scribendi follicitudinem: Nec per partes modo scrutanda funt omnia, fed perlectus liber utique ex integro refumendus. Quin.

VER. 235. Survey the Whole, nor seek fight faults to find, Wbere nature moves, and rapture warms the mind;]

The second line, in apologizing for those faults which the first says should be overlooked, gives the reason of the precept. For when a writer's attention is fixed on a general view of Nature, and his imagination warm’d with the contemplation of great ideas, it can hardly be but that there must be small irregularities in the disposition both of matter and style, because the avoiding these requires a coolness of recollection, which a writer fo bufied is not matter of,

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