Pride, and the Petulancy of that little Gentleman, A. P-E; which puerile Manner of calling him Ape, (by adding a Capital E to the initial Letters of his Name, hinting at his Form, for he was fmall, lean, and crooked,) has something in it two low for Contempt; Tion of the Tragick Stage, contrary to the Nature and Defign of Tragedy, the Practice of Sophocles, Euripides, and our Countryman Shakespear. As his Intentions were more to get Reputation than Money, and to gain the Approbation of the Judicious and Knowing (which he look'd upon as a certain Earneft of future Fame) rather than of a Crowd of ignorant Spectators and Readers; he resolved to deviate a little from the reigning Practice of the Stage, and not to make his Heroes whining Slaves in their Amours; which not only debases the Majefty of Tragedy, but confounds most of its principal Characters, by making that Paffion the predominant 'Quality in all-; and which must for ever make the prefent and fucceeding Writers unable to attain to the Excellency of the Ancients: But he did not think it adviseable at once to fhew his principal Characters wholly exempt from it, apprehending that fo great and fudden an Alteration might prove difagreeable; he rather chose to steer a middle Courfe, and to make Love appear violent, but at the fame Time to give Way to the Force of Reafon, or to the Influence of fome other more noble Paffion; as in Rinaldo, it gives Place to Glory; in Iphigenia, to Friendfhip; and in Liberty Afferted, to the publick Good. He thought by these Means an Audience might be entertain'd and prepar'd for greater Alterations, whereby the Dignity of Tragedy might be fupported, and its principal Characters juftly diftinguish'd. He has writ several other Pieces both in Verfe and Profe, befides his other Works; the chief of which, with four of his Plays, are publish'd in Two Volumes Octavo. If I did not allow this Gentleman to be a Poet, and the greatest Critick of this Age, I should be wanting in Juftice Contempt; and he repeats it fix Times in the fame Manner, in the fame Preface, as being fond of it; tho' an ingenious School-Boy, of twelve Years old, would have blufh'd at it. In his fecond Letter he fays: 1 SIR, Juftice to his Character. In his Grounds of Criticism he obferves, that the antient Poets deriv'd that Advantage which they have over the Moderns, to the conftituting their Subjects after a religious Manner; and he proves from the Precepts of Longinus, (tho' that Author did not make the Discovery) that the greatest Sublimity is to be deriv'd from religious Ideas. He is of Opinion, that one of the principal Reasons that has made the modern Poetry fo contemptible, is, that by divesting itself of Religion, it is fallen from its Dignity, and its original Nature and Excellence; and from the greatest Production of the Mind of Man, is dwindled to an extravagant and vain Amusement. Thefe Reflections are very much for the Reputation of the Author; and in another Place, fpeaking of Subjects for Poetry, There are fome Perfons (fays he) mov'd by Love, and are not touch'd by Ambition; others are animated by Ambition, and only laugh at Love: Some are pleas'd with a brave Revenge, others with a generous Contempt of Injuries; but the eternal Power and infinite Knowledge of God, the Wonders of the Creation, and the beautiful Brightness of Virtue, make a powerful Impreffion on all. Mr. Dennis is very fond of Milton, a certain Demonftration of his found Judgment, and in his Blank Verfe he has come nearest that fublime Poet of any of his Contemporaries. His Poems are the following. I. Upon our Victory at Sea, and burning the French Fleet at La Hogue in 1692. This Poem is writ in Rhyme. II. A Pindarick Ode on the King: Written in the Year 1691; occafion'd by the Victory of Aghrim. III. To Mr. Dryden, upon his Tranflation of the Third Book SIR, May 3, 1714. I HOPE mine of the firft of this Month came to your Hands, which contained fome Reflections upon the Dedication and Title-Page of the Rape of the Lock which latter creates an Expectation of Pleasantry in us, when there is not fo much as one Jeft in the Book. Quanto rectius hic qui nil molitur ineptè? How much more judiciously does Boileau appear in the Title-Page of his Lutrin? In a fottifh Emulation of which, this and feveral late fantastick Poems . appear E 2 Book of Virgil's Georgicks. This is an excellent Pindarick. IV. Part of the Te Deum paraphras'd, in Pindarick Verse. V. The Court of Death; a Pindarick Poem, dedicated to the Memory of her most facred Majefly Queen Mary. This is a very good Piece. VI. The Paffion of Byblis; made English from the ninth Book of Ovid's Metamorphofes. VII. The Monument: a Poem facred to the immortal Memory of King William the Third. Dedicated to William Duke of Devonshire. VIII. A Poem on the Battle of Blenheim, dedicated to Queen Anne. This is the chief of Mr. Dennis's Performances, and is indeed an admirable Poem. XI. On the Battle of Ramellies. A Poem in five Books, dedicated to Charles Lord Halifax. X. On the Acceffion of King George to the British Throne. Mr. Dennis, in all his Writings, is a zealous Defender of Liberty; and, in his Military Poems, there appears great Spirit, and Thoughts very beautiful. He has written, befides his Poetry, An Effay on Publick Spirit, and feveral other learned Tracts in Profe; and a Collection of Letters very much admir'd. 1 appear both to you and me to have been writ. Boileau calls his Lutrin an Heroick Poem, and he is fo far from raifing an Expectation of Laughter, either in the Title, or in the Beginning of the Poem, that he tells Monfieur de Lamoignon, to whom he addrefses it, that 'tis a grave Subject, and must be read with a grave Countenance. Garde toy de rire en ce grave fujet. Lutrin, Chant. I. Butler modeftly calls his Poem, by the Name of his Hero, Hudibras; and without endeavouring to prepoffefs his Reader, leaves the Poem itself to work its natural Effect upon him. But now, Sir, fince I have faid that the Rape of the Lock feems to be writ in Imitation of Lutrin, mean fo far in Imitation, that the Author had a Mind to get Reputation by writing a great many Verfes upon an inconfiderable Subject, as Boileau appears to have done before him ;) I believe it will not be difagreeable to you, if I fhew the Difference between the Lutrin and this fantaftick Poem. The Rape of the Lock is a very empty Trifle, without any Solidity or fenfible Meaning; whereas the Lutrin is only a Trifle in Appearance, but under that Appearance carries a very grave and very important Inftruction: For if that Poem were only what it appears to be, Boileau would run counter to the fam'd Rule which he has prefcrib'd to others. Now fince 'tis impoffible that so judicious an Author as Boileau fhould run counter to his own, and to the Inftructions of his Mafter Horace, the Lutrin at the Bottom cannot be an empty Trifle. 'Tis indeed a noble and important fatirical Poem, upon the Luxury, the Pride, the Divifions, and Animofities of the Popish Clergy, 'Tis true indeed the admira ble ble Addrefs of the Poet has made it in Appearance a Trifle; for otherwife it would not have been fuffer'd in a bigotted Popish Country. But yet Boileau in fome Places seems to have given broad Hints at what was his real Meaning; as in the following Paffage : La Deeffe en entrant, qui voit la nappe mife, Admire un fi bel ordre, & reconnoit Peglife. Lutrin, Chant. F. And this other Paffage is ftill more bold. Lutrin, Chant. I. As the Rape of the Lock is an empty Trifle, it can have no Fable nor any Moral; whereas the Lutrin has both Fable and Moral. 'Tis true, indeed, the Allegory under which that Moral is conceal'd, is not fo perfpicuous as Boileau would have made it, if it had not been for the Apprehenfion of provoking the Clergy. But on the other Side, 'tis not fo obfcure, but that a penetrating Reader may fee through it. The Moral is, "That when Chriftians, and efpecially the Clergy, run into great Heats about religious Trifles, their Animofity proceeds from the Want of that Religion which is the Pretence of their Quarrel." The Fable is this;. Two Perfons being deferted by true Piety, are em"Broiled about a religious Trifle, to the Perplexity " and Confufion of them and theirs: Upon the Re"turn of Piety, they agree to fet afide the Trifle "about which they differed, and are reconciled, to "the Quiet and Satisfaction both of themselves and "their Partizans.’ If you will be pleased to compare the Beginning: of the Sixth Canto with the reft of the Poem, you will |