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"I am sorry to find that an author who is very justly esteemed among the best judges has admitted some strokes of this nature [attacks upon contemporary writers] into a very fine poem; I mean 'The Art of Criticism,' which was published some months since, and is a masterpiece in its kind. The observations follow one another like those in Horace's 'Art of Poetry,' without that methodical regularity which would have been requisite in a prose author. They are some of them uncommon, but such as the reader must assent to when he sees them explained with that elegance and perspicuity in which they are delivered. As for those which are the most known and the most received, they are placed in so beautiful a light, and illustrated with such apt allusions, that they have in them all the graces of novelty, and make the reader who was before acquainted with them still more convinced of their truth and solidity." -Addison, in The Spectator, December 20, 1711.

"Some verses, said to be written by a lord upon Mr. Pope, intimate that he has invented nothing. To take from him the most essential characteristic of a poet is wrong; it's confessed he has written two or three original poems-enough for one man, and as much as Mr. Dryden himself did, except plays. Mr. Pope is a great man, an excellent poet; but where the author of the verses says

Pope is called poet 'cause in rhyme he wrote
What Dacier construed and what Homer thought,

he has made him a compliment he does not deserve, though he intended to abuse him as a mere translator of a translation. His version may be justly censured: the sense is often mistaken; not seldom Homer is made to say unnatural things; and ten or dozen places would make the reader smile."-The Grub Street Journal, March 7, 1734, quoted in The Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1734.

"Mr. Pope is undoubtedly the greatest genius of the age, in whom all the qualifications of a good poet and an excellent critic are eminently joined. This author has a fine imagination, a delicate judgment, and such a beautiful diction, such an enlivened flow of words, as no modern before him was ever master of. . . . . But that which is particularly remarkable in the writings of this noble poet is that flame and spirit which he so justly admires in his great master Homer. Pope's 'Essay on Criticism' is the most masterly piece of the kind that is extant."-John Boswell, M. A., Prebendary of Wells, in The London Magazine, November, 1738.

"Only the noblest genius and best satirist of our age could with so lively a spirit lash the follies and vices of it. Mr. P*** has been in this piece [the "Dunciad," Book IV] equal to himself, though some of our town critics will not allow it. The censure they pass is that the satire is too allegorical, and the characters he has drawn are too concealed; that real names should have been inserted instead of fictitious ones; in short, that he should have put on a severity, which others would as heavily have censured. The poet has made the Sovereign of Dulness come in all the majesty of a goddess, to destroy Science and Learning: the description of Science, Wit, etc., captives at the footstool of Dulness is a picture so full of imagery that every figure as much presents itself to your view as if drawn by the pencil of LeBrun."-Letter in The Universal Spectator, April 3 and 10, 1742, reprinted in The Gentleman's Magazine, April, 1742.

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"Rest satisfied that 'whatever is,' by the appointment of Heaven, 'is right,' is best. . . . . If Mr. Pope understands the maxim according to the limitation suggested above, he speaks a most undeniable and glorious truth. But if that great poet includes whatever comes to pass through the wild and extravagant passions of men, surely no thinking person, at least no Christian, can accede to his opinion."-James Hervey, Meditations and Contemplations (1746). "At length the impatience of the public is gratified by the appearance of this longexpected edition [Warburton's] of the works of the great Prince of English poets."-The Monthly Review, July, 1751.

"Is not the poetry of these lines ['Summer,' ll. 71-84] superior to anything in either the pastorals of Theocritus or the eclogues of Virgil? But it would greatly exceed the bounds

allowed us to point out every other passage in Pope where he has surpassed the Sicilian and the Mantuan; we shall, therefore, only observe that the English poet, by appropriating a pastoral to every season of the year and ascertaining the scene and time of the day in each of them, has improved on his two masters, and particularly on Virgil, whom he seems chiefly to have imitated, as both Theocritus and the Roman often neglect to specify the season, scene, and time of day. If there are more of manners and of the rus verum in Theocritus, it must be allowed that there is more tenderness, more delicacy, and finer sudden transitions in Pope. . . . . He who enriches a work with a new moral sentiment is as much an inventor as he who recites a tale of fancy. But what poet ever introduced so many new things, in that way, as Pope?"-The Monthly Review, June and July, 1756.

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"I revere the memory of Pope, I respect and honor his abilities; but I do not think him at the head of his profession. In other words, in that species of poetry wherein Pope excelled, he is superior to all mankind; and I only say that this species of poetry is not the most excellent one of the art. We do not, it should seem, sufficiently attend to the difference there is betwixt a man of wit, a man of sense, and a true poet. ... All I plead for is to have their several provinces kept distinct from each other; and to impress on the reader that a clear head and acute understanding are not sufficient alone to make a poet; that the most solid observations on human life, expressed with the utmost elegance and brevity, are morality and not poetry; . . . . and that it is a creative and glowing imagination, 'acer spiritus ac vis,' and that alone, that can stamp a writer with this exalted and very uncommon character. . . . . The sublime and the pathetic are the two chief nerves of all genuine poesy. What is there transcendently sublime or pathetic in Pope? . . . . Upon the whole, I hope it will not be thought an exaggerated panegyric to say that 'The Rape of the Lock' is the best satire extant; that it contains the truest and liveliest picture of modern life; and that the subject is of a more elegant nature, as well as more artfully conducted, than that of any other heroi-comic poem. It is in this composition Pope principally appears a poet; in which he has displayed more imagination than in all his other works taken together."-Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope, Vol. I (1756).

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'Every ear must feel the ill effect of the monotony in these lines ["An Essay on Man," I. 267-74]. The cause of it is obvious: this verse consists of ten syllables, or five feet; when the pause falls on the fourth syllable, we shall find that we pronounce the six last in the same time that we do the four first, so that the couplet is not only divided into two equal lines, but each line, with respect to time, is divided into two equal parts. . . . . Or else the pause falls on the fifth syllable, and then the line is divided with a mechanic exactness.' Though we entirely agree with Mr. Webb that every ear must feel the monotony of these lines, it may notwithstanding be said, in favor of Mr. Pope, that the division of the line into two equal parts, though it is prejudicial to the verbal harmony, may yet in some measure promote the sentimental by keeping the ideas more distinct and consequently impressing them more strongly on the mind; that mechanic exactness which our author complains of, and which indeed gives an air of stiffness to the numbers, has its advantage in ethic poetry, which requires the utmost brevity, precision, and regularity."-The Critical Review, May, 1762, in a review of Webb's Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry.

"In a word, he [Chaucer] was (as a certain biographer terms him) the morning-star of this art; for as we descend to later times we can trace the progress of English poetry from this great original to its full blaze and perfect consummation in Dryden and Pope."-The Critical Review, January, 1764.

"We cannot think with him [Goldsmith] that the letter of Eloisa to Abelard may be considered as superior to anything in the epistolary way. The very harmony of numbers for which he commends it we think destroys its merit. . . . . This editor might have said, with great justice, that no composition in any language can equal its warmth, its passion, its ecstasy, and wildness."-The Critical Review, June, 1767.

"One of his greatest, though of his earliest, works, is the 'Essay on Criticism,' which,

if he had written nothing else, would have placed him among the first critics and the first poets, as it exhibits every mode of excellence that can embellish or dignify didactic compositionselection of matter, novelty of arrangement, justness of precept, splendor of illustration, and propriety of digression. . . . . The comparison of a student's progress in the sciences with the journey of a traveller in the Alps is perhaps the best that English poetry can show. . . . . 'The Rape of the Lock' stands forward, in the classes of literature, as the most exquisite example of ludicrous poetry; . . . . with elegance of description and justness of precepts, he had now exhibited boundless fertility of invention. . . . . He cultivated our language with so much diligence and art that he has left in his 'Homer' a treasure of poetical elegancies to posterity. His version may be said to have tuned the English tongue; for since its appearance no writer, however deficient in other powers, has wanted melody. . . The 'Essay on

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Man' was a work of great labor and long consideration, but certainly not the happiest of Pope's performances. The subject is perhaps not very proper for poetry, and the poet was not sufficiently master of his subject: metaphysical morality was to him a new study; he was proud of his acquisitions, and, supposing himself master of great secrets, was in haste to teach what he had not learned. His poetry has been censured as too uniformly musical and as glutting the ear with unvaried sweetness. I suspect this objection to be the cant of those who judge by principles rather than perception, and who would even themselves have less pleasure in his works if he had tried to relieve attention by studied discords or affected to break his lines and vary his pauses. . . . . New sentiments and new images others may produce; but to attempt any farther improvement of versification will be dangerous. Art and diligence have now done their best, and what shall be added will be the effort of tedious toil and needless curiosity. After all this it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked, whether Pope was a poet, otherwise than by asking in return, If Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found?''-Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets (1779–81). "Mr. Pope's Ethical Epistles deserve to be mentioned with signal honor as a model, next to perfect, of this kind of poetry. Here, perhaps, the strength of his genius appeared. In the more sublime parts of poetry he is not so distinguished. In the enthusiasm, the fire, the force and copiousness of poetic genius, Dryden, though a much less correct writer, appears to have been superior to him. . . . . That he was not incapable of tender poetry appears from the epistle of Eloisa to Abelard, and from the verses 'To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady,' which are almost his only sentimental productions, and which indeed are excellent in their kind. But the qualities for which he is chiefly distinguished are judgment and wit, with a concise and happy expression and a melodious versification."-Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783).

See also p. 312.

THOMAS PARNELL

(144) A HYMN TO CONTENTMENT.

(145) 26. in trailing purple: i. e., in wearing the purple robes of a king.

(149) THE HERMIT. Parnell may have got the material for the poem from James Howell's Familiar Letters (1645–55), IV. iv, where the same story is told although less artfully. ¶26. scallop: the scallop-shell was the badge of prilgrims, who used it for spoon, cup, and dish. 33. decent-comely.

(151) 103. eager = biting, sour (Latin "acer," sharp, sour). 107. remark-notice. (152) 155. fact=deed (Latin "factum," act, deed). ¶ 163. nice-requiring careful attention.

JOHN GAY

(155) THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK. Thursday, or the Spell. "The Shepherd's Week," written at Pope's suggestion, was meant to make ridiculous the pastorals of Pope's rival, Ambrose Philips, by carrying to extremes certain elements of rusticity by which the latter had tried to render his lines lifelike. Cf. The Guardian (1713), Nos. 30, 32, 40, in which Pope

cunningly belittled Philips' pastorals by mock praise of their homely simplicity in contrast to the finished elegance of his own.

(157) 79. slight skill; cf. "sleight-of-hand."

(158) 112. inkle: braid or tape.

(158) A BALLAD. From The What D' Ye Call It, II. viii.

(159) TRIVIA. Subtitle, "The Art of Walking the Streets of London." Book I. 1-6; Book II. 7-64; Book III. 353-92, 407-16. "Trivia," as adjective or substantive, was used of any goddess, as Artemis, whose temple often stood at the junction of "three roads"; here it is used as the name of a goddess of streets.

(160) 4. assert the wall: i. e., assert one's right to walk next the wall, where the footing was dryer and cleaner; the sidewalks were not curbed in from the street, and the outer edge was often filthy. ¶ 10. Billingsgate: the chief fishmarket of London. 11. chalks her gains: i. e., writes with chalk on the customer's door the amount of milk delivered.

(161) 58. powder: wigs were sprinkled with white powder. ¶62. kennel's=gutter's. 180. The Dardan hero: Æneas, who bore his aged father on his back out of burning Troy. Dardanus was supposed to be the ancestor of the Trojans.

(162) 100. Naples' fate: i. e., the fate to be destroyed by an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. ¶ 109. W* and G**: Walsh and Granville; see notes on Pope's "Spring," l. 46 (p. 444), and "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot," l. 136 (p. 456). ¶ 110. Chelsea: a suburb of London; Vauxhall Gardens, a fashionable resort, and many popular inns were situated there. under custards: cooks put leaves from old books under pies and custards. ¶ 111. critics: i. e., the paper on which their books were printed. ¶ 113. Fleet Street posts: the booksellers advertised their books on posts outside their shops, many of which were in Fleet St.

(162) MY OWN EPITAPH. This epitaph is on the poet's grave in Westminster Abbey. (163) SWEET WILLIAM'S FAREWELL TO BLACK-EYED SUSAN. ¶1. Downs: “A road for shipping in the English Channel, employed as a naval rendezvous in time of war."The International Dictionary. The name is derived from the downs, or tracts of hilly country, along the neighboring coast of the county of Kent.

(164) THE FOX AT THE POINT OF DEATH. Fables, No. 29. ¶23. liqu'rish-sensual, uxurious.

(165) 26. gins=traps.

ALLAN RAMSAY

For the meaning of words see Glossary to Scotch Poems, p. 509.

(167) THE GENTLE SHEPHERD. Act I, scene i. This scene was first published separately, in 1721, as "Patie and Roger."

MATTHEW GREEN

(173) THE SPLEEN. Lines 624-715. ¶2. goddess: Contentment.

(174) 31. Eurus: the east wind.

of the satyrs.

¶54. Silenus: foster-father of Bacchus, and leader

(175) 78. liv'ry smile: i. e., a smile worn in the regular service of Virtue.

JOHN DYER

(175) GRONGAR HILL. Grongar Hill is in southwestern Wales; the poet was born and reared at its base. Compare the poem with Denham's "Cooper's Hill" (1642) with regard to title and subject-matter; with regard to meter, compare Milton's "L'Allegro." ¶ 1. Silent nymph: the Muse of Painting; see ll. 5, 10, 14.

(176) 14. landskip: Dyer follows Milton (cf. "L'Allegro,” 1. 70) in his preference for this form over "landscape"; it is nearer to the O. E. "landscipe," region. ¶33-36. Cf. Pope's "Essay on Criticism," ll. 112-19 (p. 86).

(177) 66. lawn=a grassy field.

JAMES THOMSON

(179) THE SEASONS. "Winter," ll. 223-321. "Summer," ll. 352-468, 783-801. "Spring," II. "Autumn," ll. 950-1003.

1-113.

(182) Summer.

(184) 78, 79. Added in the edition of 1746, when England and France were at war. (185) Spring. 5. Hertford: the Countess of Hertford, a patroness of the poet. (186) 26, 27. Aries . . . . Bull: about the middle of April, the sun, in its apparent motion through the zodiac, leaves the sign of the Ram and enters that of the Bull. ¶ 30. sublime-high up, in the upper sky. 44. White: this is the reading in all the early editions, but one is tempted to think it a typographical error for "while."

(187) 55. rural Maro: Virgil in his Georgics. ¶60. some: such as Cincinnatus, the Roman legendary hero of the fifth century B. C., who was called from his farm to be dictator, defeated the invading army of Equians, laid down the dictatorship after sixteen days, and returned to his plough.

(190) THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE. Canto I, stanzas 1-11, 19-22, 24-29, 33-43"This poem being writ in the manner of Spenser, the obsolete words, and a simplicity of diction in some of the lines, which borders on the ludicrous, were necessary to make the imitation more perfect. And the style of that admirable poet, as well as the measure in which he wrote, are, as it were, appropriated by custom to all allegorical poems writ in our language; just as in French the style of Marot, who lived under Francis I, has been used in tales and familiar epistles by the politest writers of the age of Louis XIV."-Prefatory "Advertisement" by Thomson. ¶ 3. emmel-ant. ¶4. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."-Gen. 3:19. 8. bale trouble. ¶31. vacant-empty of care.

(191) 56. hight-was called.

(192) 97. Astraea: goddess of justice; she was the last of the gods to leave the earth, in the Iron Age.

(193) 121. han-have. ¶ 124. perdie: the same as "pardy" by God (French "pardi," "pardieu"). ¶ 132. the giant crew: the Titans, who rebelled against Jupiter.

(194) 168. nepenthe joy and forgetfulness of care (Greek vn-, not, and wévéos, grief). ¶ 169. Dan Master, a title of honor (Latin "dominus," lord, master); cf. "Don" and "Dame." Homer sings: in the Odyssey, iv. 219-21: "Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, turned to new thoughts. Presently she cast a drug into the wine whereof they drank, a drug to lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of every sorrow "-Butcher and Lang's translation. ¶ 183. eftsoons- soon after.

(196) 242. Lorrain: Claude Lorrain (1600-82), the famous French landscape-painter. 243. Rosa: Salvator Rosa (1615?-73), the Italian landscape-painter, whose pictures have more wildness and dash, and less softness and serenity, than Claude's. Poussin: Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), the celebrated French painter of landscapes and historical pieces.

(197) 263. diapason the whole compass of the instrument (Greek diá, through. and mas, all). 284. mell=mingle.

CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM

"Thomson was blessed with a strong and copious fancy; he hath enriched poetry with a variety of new and original images, which he painted from nature itself and from his own attual observations: his descriptions have therefore a distinctness and truth, which are utterly wanting to those of poets who have only copied from each other and have never looked abroad on the objects themselves. Thomson was accustomed to wander away into the country for days and for weeks, attentive to 'each rural sight, each rural sound,' while many a poet who has dwelt for years in the Strand has attempted to describe fields and rivers and generally succeeded accordingly. Hence that nauseous repetition of the same circumstances; hence that disgusting impropriety of introducing what may be called a set of hereditary images, without proper regard to the age or climate or occasion in which they were formerly

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