II. 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. COMMENTARY. fenfe; which, if it will not of itself difpofe Moderns to a diffidence of their own (one of the great uses, as well as natural fruits of that study) our author, to help forward their modefty, in his fecond part fhews them (in a regular deduction of the causes and effects of wrong Judgment) their own bright. image and amiable turn of mind. VER. 201. Of all the causes, etc.] Having, in the first part, delivered Rules for perfecting the Art of Criticism, the second is employed in explaining the Impediments to it. The order of the two parts was well adjusted. For the caufes of wrong Judgment being Pride, fuperficial Learning, a bounded Capacity, and Partiality; They to whom this part is principally addreffed, would not readily be brought either to fee the malignity of the causes, or to own themselves concerned in the effects, had not the author previously both enlightened and convinced them, by the foregoing obfervations, on the vastness of Art, and narrowness of Wit; the extenfive ftudy of human Nature and Antiquity; and the Characters of ancient Poetry and Criticifm; the natural remedies to the four epidemic diforders he is now endeavouring to redress. Ibid. Of all the caufes, etc.] The firft caufe of wrong Judgment is PRIDE. He judiciously begins with this, [from ver. 200 to 215.] as on other accounts, fo on this, that it is the very thing which gives modern Criticism its character; whose complexion is abuse and cenfure. He calls it the vice of Fools, by which is not meant, thofe to whom Nature has given no Judgment (for he is here speaking of what misleads the Judgment) but those on whom education and study has made no improvement; as appears from the happy fimilitude of an illnourished body; where the fame words which exprefs the cause, exprefs likewise the nature of PRIDE: "For as in bodies, thus in fouls, we find "What wants in blood and fpirits, fwell'd with wind." 1 Whatever Nature has in worth deny'd, 205 What wants in blood and spirits, fwell'd with wind: away, 210 Truth breaks upon us with refiftlefs day. your Make use of ev'ry friend----and ev'ry foe. COMMENTARY. 'Tis the business of Reason, he tells us, to difpell the cloud in which pride involves the mind: But the mischief is that the rays of reason, diverted by felf-love, fometimes gild this cloud, inftead of difpelling it. So that the Judgment, by false lights reflected back upon itself, is ftill apt to be a little dazzled, and to mistake its object. He therefore advises to call in still more helps : "Truft not yourself; but your defects to know, "Make ufe of ev'ry Friend-and ev'ry Foe. Both the beginning and conclufion of this precept, are remarkable. The question is, of the means to fubdue Pride: He directs the Critic to begin with a diftruft of himself; and this is Modefty, the first mortification of Pride: And then to feck the affiftance of others, and make ufe even of an Enemy; and this is Humility, the last mortification of Pride: For when a man can once bring himself to fubmit to profit by an enemy, he has either already quite fubdued his Vanity, or is in a fair way of fo doing. NOTES. VER. 209. Pride, where Wit fails, fteps in to our defence, A very fenfible French writer makes the following remark Á A little learning is a dang'rous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring : There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely fobers us again. 215 Fir'd at first fight with what the Mufe imparts, In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts, 220 COMMENTARY. VER. 215. A little learning, etc.] We must here remark the Poet's skill in his difpofition of the caufes obftructing true Judgment. Each general caufe which is laid down firft,' has its own particular caufe in that which follows. Thus, the se cond caufe of wrong Judgment, SUPERFICIAL LEARNING, is what occafions that critical Pride, which he places first. VER. 216. Drink deep, etc.] Nature and Learning are the pole ftars of all true Criticifm: But Pride obftructs the view of Nature; and a jmattering of letters makes us infenfible of our ignorance. To avoid this ridiculous fituation, the Poet [from ver. 214 to 233.] advises, either to drink deep, or not to drink at all; for the least taste at this fountain is enough to make a bad Critic, while even a moderate draught can never make a good one. And yet the labours and difficulties of drinking deep are so great that a young author, "Fir'd with “ideas of fair Italy," and ambitious to fnatch a palm from Rome, engages in an undertaking like that of Hannibal: Finely illuftrated by the fimilitude of an unexperienced tra veller penetrating thro' the Alps. NOTES. "Langues, qui entend les Auteurs Grecs et Latins, qui s'eleve "même jufqu'à la dignité de SCHOLIASTE ; fi cet homme "venoit à pefer fon véritable mérite, il trouveroit fouvent "qu'il fe réduit, avoir eu des yeux et de la mémoire, il fe "garderoit bien de donner le nom refpectable de fcience à "une erudition fans lumiere. Il y a une grande difference entre "s'enrichir des mots où des chofes, entre alleguer des auto"ritez ou des raifons. Si un homme pouvoit fe furprendre à "n'avoir que cette forte de mérite, il en rougiroit plûtôt que "d'en être vain." While from the bounded level of our mind, Short views we take, nor fee the lengths behind; But more advanc'd, behold with ftrange furprize New distant scenes of endless fcience rife! So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try, 225 And the first clouds and mountains feem the last : A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit With the fame fpirit that its author writ: VER. 225. VARIATIONS. So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps to try, The Traveller beholds with chearful eyes COMMENTARY. VER. 233. A perfect Judge, etc.] The third caufe of wrong Judgment is a NARROW CAPACITY; the natural caufe of the foregoing defect, acquiefcence in fuperficial learning. This bounded Capacity our Author fhews [from 232 to 384.] betrays itfelf, two ways; in it's judgment both of the matter, and the NOTES. VER. 233. A perfect Judge, etc.] "Diligenter legendum eft ac pæne ad fcribendi follicitudinem: Nec per partes modo "fcrutanda funt omnia, fed perectus liber utique ex integro "refumendus." Quint. P. Survey the WHOLE, nor feek flight faults to find 235 Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind; Nor lofe for that malignant dull delight, The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with wit. COMMENTARY. manner of the work criticised: Of the matter, in judging by parts, or in having one favourite part to a neglect of all the reft: Of the manner, in confining the regard only to conceit, or language, or numbers. This is our Poet's order and we fhall follow him as it leads us; only juft obferving one general beauty which runs thro' this part of the poem; it is that under each of these heads of wrong Judgment, he has intermixed excellent precepts for the right. We fhall take notice of them as they occur. He exposes the folly of judging by parts very artfully, not by a direct defcription of that fort of Critic, but of his oppofite, a perfect Judge, etc. It is obfervable that our Author makes it almoft the neceffary confequence of judging by parts; TO FIND FAULT: And this not without much difcernment: For the feveral parts of a compleat Whole, when feen only fingly; and known only independently, must always have the appearance of irregularity; often of deformity: because the Poet's defign being to create a refultive beauty from the artful affemblage of feveral various parts into one natural whole; those NOTES. VER: 235. Survey the Whole, nor feek flight faults to find Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind;1 The fecond line, in apologizing for thofe faults which the first fays fhould be overlooked, gives the reafon of the precept: For when a great 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 difpofition both of matter and style, because the avoiding these requires a coolness of recollection, which a writer fo qualified and fo bufied is not mafter of. |