THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

DEO. OPT. MAX.

FATHER of All! in ev'ry age,

In ev'ry clime, ador'd,

By faint, by favage, and by fage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!

Thou Great First Caufe, least understood,
Who all my fense confin'd

To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind :

Yet gave me in this dark estate,

To fee the good from ill;

And, binding Nature faft in Fate,
Left free the human will.

What confcience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,

This teach me more than hell to fhun,
That more than heav'n purfuë.
What bleflings thy free bounty gives
Let me not caft away;

For God is paid when men receives :
T' enjoy is to obey.

Yet not to Earth's contracted span
Thy goodness let me bound,
Or think thee Lord alone of Man,
When thousand worlds are round.

Let not this weak unknowing hand
Prefume thy bolts to throw,

And deal damnation round the land
On each I judge thy foe.

If I am right, thy grace impart,

Still in the right to itay;

If I am wrong, oh! teach my heart
To find that better way,

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Save me alike from foolish pride
Or impious difcontent;

At aught thy witdom has deny'd,
Or aught thy goodness lent.

Teach me to fed another's woe,
To hide the fault I fee;

That mercy
That mercy fhew to me.
Mean tho' I am, not wholly fo,
Since quicken'd by thy breath;
O lead me, wherefce'er I go,
Thro' this day's life or death!

I to others fhow,

This day be bread and peace my lot;

All elfe beneath the fun

Thou know'ft if belt beftow'd or not,
And let thy will be done.

To Thee, whofe temple is all space,
Whofe altar earth, fea, kies!
One chorus let all Being raife!
All Nature's incenfe rife!

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[Written in the Year 1709.]

CONTENTS.

PART I.

INTRODUCTION. That it is as great a fault to judge ill as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. 1. That a true tafte is as rare to be found as a true genius, v. 9,-18. That most men are born with some taste, but spoiled by false education, v. 19,-25. The multitude of critics, and caufes of them, v. 26,-45. That we are to study our own tafte, and know the limits of it, v. 46,—67. Nature the best guide of judgment, v. 68,-87; improved by art and rules, which are but methodized Nature, v. 88. Rules derived from the practice of the ancient poets, v. 88,-170; that therefore the Ancients are neceffary to be ftudied by a critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, v. 118,-138. Of licenses, and the use of them, by the Ancients, v. 141,-180.. Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them, V. 181, &c.

PART II.

Caufes hindering a true judgment. 1. Pride, v. 209. 2. Imperfect learning, v. 215. 3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, v. 233,-288. Critics in wit, language, verfification only, v. 289, 305, 337, &c. 4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, v. 384. 5. Partiality,-too much love to a fect,-to the Ancients or Moderns, v. 394. 6. Prejudice or prevention, v. 468. 7. Singularity, v. 424. 8. Inconftancy, v. 430. 9. Party ipirit, v. 452, &c. 10. Envy, v. 456. Againft envy, and in praise of good-nature, v. 508, &c. When feverity is chiefly to be used by critics, v. 526, &c.

PART

PART III.

I.

Rules for the conduct of manners in a critic.

Candour, v. 563. Modesty, v. 566. Good breeding,

v. 572. Sincerity and freedom of advice, v. 578.

2. When one's counsel is to be restrained, v.
584. Cha-

racter of an incorrigible poet, v. 600; and of an im-

pertinent critic, v. 610, &c. Character of a good cri-

tic, v. 631. The hiftory of criticism, and characters

of the best critics. Ariftotle, v. 645. Horace, v. 653.

Dionyfius, v. 665. Petronius, v. 667. Quintilian,

v. 669. Longinus, v. 675. Of the decay of criticism,

and its revival. Erafmus, v. 693. Vida, v. 705.

Boileau, v. 714. Lord Rofcommon, &c. v. 725.

Conclufion.

'TIS

PART I.

IS hard to fay if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But of the two, lefs dang'rous is th' offence
To tire our patience than mislead our fense:
Some few in that, but numbers err in this;
Ten cenfure wrong for one who writes amifs;
A fool might once himself alone expofe ;
Now one in verfe makes many more in profe.
'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go juft alike, yet each believes his own.
In poets as true genius is but rare,
True taste as feldom is the critic's fhare;
Both muft alike from Heav'n derive their light,
These born to judge as well as those to write.
Let fuch teach others who themselves excel,
And cenfure freely who have written well.
Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true,
But are not critics to their judgment too?

Yet, if we look more clofely, we fhall find
Moft have the feeds of judgment in their mind:
Nature affords at least a glimm'ring light;
The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right:
But as the flightest sketch, if justly trac❜d,
Is by ill-colouring but the more disgrac❜d,
So by falfe learning is good fenfe defac'd:
Some are bewilder'd in the maze of fchools,
And fome made coxcombs Nature meant but fools:
In fearch of wit fome lofe their common sense,
And then turn critics in their own defence:
Each burns alike who can or cannot write,

Or with a rival's or an eunuch's spite.

All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing fide.
If Mævius fcribble in Apollo's fpite,

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There are who judge ftill worfe than he can write.
Some have at firit for wits, then poets, past,
Turn'd critics next, and prov'd plain fools at last.

VOL. I.

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Some