I turn indefatigably over night and day, for the improvement of my mind, and the good of my country: these have, with unwearied pains, made many ufeful searches into the weak fides of the ancients, and given us a comprehensive lift of them. Befides, they have proved beyond contradiction, that the very finest things delivered of old, have been long fince invented, and brought to light by much later pens; and that the nobleft discoveries thofe ancients ever made, of art or nature, have all been produced by the transcending genius of the present age. Which clearly fhews, how little merit those ancients can justly pretend to; and takes off that blind admiration paid them by men in a corner, who have the unhappiness of conversing too little with present things. Reflecting maturely upon all this, and taking in the whole compafs of human nature, I easily concluded, that these ancients, highly fenfible of their many imperfections, must needs have endeavoured, from some paffages in their works, to obviate, soften, or divert the cenforious reader, by fatyr, or panegyric the critics, in imitation of their mafters, the upon moderns. Now, in the common-places of * both thefe, I was plentifully inftru&ted, by a long course of useful study in prefaces and prologues; and therefore immediately refolved to try what I could difcover of either, by a diligent perufal of the most ancient writers, and especially those who treated of the earliest times. Here I found, to my great furprize, that although they all entered, upon occafion,

Satyr, and panegyric upon critics.

into particular descriptions of the true critic, according as they were governed by their fears or their hopes; yet whatever they touched of that kind, was with abundance of caution, adventuring no farther than mythology and hieroglyphic. This, I fuppofe, gave ground to fuperficial readers for urging the filence of authors against the antiquity of the true critic, though the types are so appofite, and the applications fo neceffary and natural, that it is not eafy to conceive, how any reader, of a modern eye and tafte, could overlook them. I fhall venture from a great number to produce a few, which, I am very confident, will put this question beyond difpute.

It well deferves * confidering, that these ancient writers, in treating ænigmatically upon the fubject, have generally fixed upon the very fame hieroglyph, varying only the story, according to their affections, or their wit. For firft; Paufanias is of opinion, that the perfection of writing correct was intirely owing to the inftitution of critics; and, that he can poffibly mean no other than the true critic, is, I think, manifeft enough from the following defcription. He fays, they were a race of men, who delighted to nibble at the fuperfluities, and excrefcencies of books; which the learned at length obferving, took warning, of their own accord, to lop the luxuriant, the rotten, the dead, the faplefs, and the overgrown branches from their works. But now, all

This expreffion is faulty; it fhould be, It well deferves to be confidered: Or, it well deferves confideration,' &c.

+ Correct, for correctly.

this he cunningly fhades under the following allegory; that the Nauplians in Argos learned the art of pruning their vines, by obferving, that when an ASS had browsed upon one of them, it thrived the better, and bore fairer fruit. But Herodotus, holding the very fame hieroglyph, fpeaks much plainer, and almoft in terminis. He has been fo bold as to tax the true critics, of ignorance and malice; telling us openly, for I think nothing can be plainer, that in the western part of Lybia, there were ASSES with horns: upon which relation Ctefias yet refines, mentioning the very fame animal about India, adding, that whereas all other ASSES wanted a gall, these horned ones were fo redundant in that part, that their flesh was not to be eaten, because of its extreme bitterness.

so

Now, the reason why thofe ancient writers treated this fubject only by types and figures, was, because they durft not make open attacks against a party potent and terrible, as the critics of those ages were; whose very voice was fo dreadful, that a legion of authors would tremble, and drop their pens at the found; for fo Herodotus tells us exprefly in another place, how a vast army of Scythians was put to flight in a panic terror, by the braying of an ASS. * From hence it is conjectured by certain profound philologers, that the great awe and reverence paid to a true critic, by the writers of Britain, have been derived

From hence, frequently ufed by our author, as well as, from thence, and from whence,' are improper phrafes, as the prepofition, from is included in each of those words. Hence, fignifying from this; thence, from that; and whence, from which.

to

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to us from those our Scythian ancestors. In fhort, this dread was fo univerfal, that in process of time, those authors, who had a mind to publish their fentiments more freely, in defcribing the true critics of their feveral ages, were forced to leave off the use of the former hieroglyph, as too nearly approaching the prototype, and invented other terms instead thereof, that were more cautious and myftical: fo, Diodorus, fpeaking to the fame purpose, ventures no farther, than to say, that in the mountains of Helicon, there grows a certain weed, which bears a flower of fo damned a scent, as to poison those who offer to smell it. Lucretius gives exactly the fame relation;

* Eft etiam in magnis Heliconis montibus arbos,
Floris odore bominem tetro confueta necare.

Lib. 6.

But Ctefias, whom we lately quoted, has been a great deal bolder; he had been used with much severity by the true critics of his own age, and therefore could not forbear to leave behind him, at least one deep mark of his vengeance against the whole tribe. His meaning is fo near the furface, that I wonder how it poffibly came to be overlooked by those, who deny the antiquity of true critics. For, pretending to make a description of many strange animals about India, he has fet down these remarkable words: among the reft, fays he, there is a fer

* Near Helicon, and round the learned hill,

Grow trees, whofe bloffoms with their odour kill.

pent

pent that wants teeth, and confequently cannot bite; but if its vomit, to which it is much addicted, happens to fall upon any thing, a certain rottennefs or corruption enfues: these ferpents are generally found among the mountains, where jewels grow, and they frequently emit a poisonous juice; whereof whoever drinks, that perfon's brains fly out of his noftrils.

There was also among the ancients a fort of critics, not distinguished in fpecie from the former, but in growth or degree, who seem to have been only the tyros or junior scholars; yet, because of their differing employments, they are frequently mentioned as a fect by themselves. The ufual exercise of these younger ftudents, was, to attend conftantly at theatres, and learn to fpy out the worst parts of the play, whereof they were obliged carefully to take note, and render a rational account to their tutors. Fleshed at these smaller sports, like young wolves, they grew up in time to be nimble and strong enough, for hunting down large game. For it has been obferved, both among ancients and moderns, that a true critic has one quality in common with a whore, and an alderman, never to change his title or his nature; that a grey critic, has been certainly a green one, the perfections and acquirements of his age, being only the improved talents of his youth; like hemp, which fome naturalifts inform us is bad for fuffocations, though taken but in the feed. I efteem the invention, or at least the refinement of prologues, to have been owing to these younger proficients, of

whom