critical but a moral nature, by being let into many particulars of the perfon as well as genius, and of the fortune as well as merit, of our Author: In which if I relate fome things of little concern peradventure to thee, and some of as little even to him; I entreat thee to confider how minutely all true critics and commentators are wont to infist upon fuch, and how material they seem to themselves, if to none other. Forgive me, gentle reader, if (following learned example) lever and anon become tedious: allow me to take the fame pains to find whether my author were good or bad, well or ill-natured, modeft or arrogant; as another, whether his author was fair or brown, fhort or tall, or whether he wore a coat or a caffock,

We purposed to begin with his Life, Parentage, and Education: But as to thefe, even his contemporaries do exceedingly differ. One faith, he was educated at home; another, that he was bred at St. Omer's by Jefuits; a third, not at St. Omer's, but at Oxford; a fourth, that he had no university education at all. Those who allow him to be bred at home, differ as much concerning his Tutor: One faith, he was kept by his father on purpose ;' a fecond', that he was an itinerant prieft; a third,

that

2 Giles Jacob's Lives of Poets, vol. ii. in his Life. b Dennis's Reflections on the Effay

e Dunciad diffected, p. 4.

Jacob's Lives, &c. vol. ii.
Farmer P. and his fon.

on Criticism, p. 4.

d Guardian, N° 40.

f Dunciad diffected, p. 4.

h

that he was a parfon; one calleth him a fecular clergyman of the church of Rome; another, a monk. As little do they agree about his father, whom one fuppofeth, like the father of Hefiod, a tradefman or merchant; another', a husbandman; anotherm, a hatter, &c. Nor has an author been wanting to give our poet fuch a father, as Apuleius hath to Plato, Jamblichus to Pythagoras, and divers to Homer, namely a Demon: For thus Mr. Gildon": "Certain it is, that his original is not from Adam, but the Devil; and that he wanted nothing but horns and tail to be the exact refemblance of his infernal Father." Finding therefore fuch contrariety of Opinions, and (whatever be ours of this fort of generation) not being fond to enter into controverfy, we shall defer writing the Life of our Poet, till authors can determine among themselves what parents or education he had, or whether he had any education or parents at all.

Proceed we to what is more certain, his Works, though not less uncertain the judgments concerning them;

h Dunciad diffected.

i Characters of the times, p. 45.

Dunciad diffected.

* Female Dunciad, p. ult. Roome, Paraphrafe on the ivth of Genefis, printed 1729. ■ Character of Mr. P. and his Writings, in a Letter to a Friend, printed for S. Popping, 1716, p. 10. Curl, in his Key to the Dunciad, (first edit. faid to be printed for A. Dodd), in the 10th page, declared Gildon to be author of that libel; though in the fubfequent editions of his Key he left out this affertion, and affirmed (in the Curliad, p. 4. and 8.) that it was written by Dennis only.

them; beginning with his Effay on Criticifm, of which hear firft the most ancient of Critics,

Mr. JOHN DENNIS.

"His precepts are falfe or trivial, or both; his thoughts are crude and abortive, his expreffions abfurd, his numbers harsh and unmufical, his rhymes trivial and common:-instead of majesty, we have fomething that is very mean; inftead of gravity, fomething that is very boyifh; and inftead of perfpicuity and lucid order, we have but too often obfcurity and confufion." And in another place: "What rare numbers are here! fwear that this youngster had antiquated mufe, who had fued out a divorce from fome fuperannued finner, upon account of impotence, and who being poxed by her former spouse, has got the gout in her decrepid age, which makes her hobble fo damnably "."

Would not one

efpoufed fome

No lefs peremptory is the cenfure of our hypercritical Historian,

Mr. OLDMIXON.

"I dare not fay any thing of the Effay on Criticism in verfe; but if any more curious reader has difcovered in it fomething new which is not in Dryden's prefaces, dedications, and his Effay on Dramatic Poetry, not to mention the French critics, I fhould be very glad to have the benefit of the discovery "."

He

• Reflections critical and fatirical on a Rhapfody, called an

Effay on Criticifm. Printed for Bernard Lintot, octavo.

P Essay on Criticism in profe, octavo, 1728, by the author of The Critical History of England.

He is followed (as in fame, fo in judgment) by the modeft and fimple-minded

Mr. LEONARD WELSTEAD;

Who, out of great respect to our poet not naming him, doth yet glance at his Effay, together with the Duke of Buckingham's, and the Criticisms of Dryden, and of Horace, which he more openly taxeth : "As to the numerous treatifes, effays, arts, &c. both in verse and profe, that have been written by the moderns on this ground-work, they do but hackney the fame thoughts over again, making them still more trite. Most of their pieces are nothing but a pert, infipid heap of common-place. Horace has even in his Art of Poetry thrown out feveral things which plainly shew he thought an Art of Poetry was of no use, even while he was writing one."

To all which great Authorities, we can only oppose that of

Mr. ADDISON.

"The Art of Criticism (faith he) which was published some months fince, is a master-piece in its kind. The observations follow one another, like those in Horace's Art of Poetry, without that methodical regularity which would have been requifite in a profe writer. They are fome of them uncommon, but fuch as the reader must affent to, when he fees them explained with that eafe and perfpicuity in which

which they are delivered. As for those which are the most known and the most received, they are placed in fo beautiful a light, and illuftrated with fuch apt allufions, that they have in them all the graces of novelty; and make the reader, who was before acquainted with them, ftill more convinced of their truth and folidity. And here give me leave to mention what Monfieur Boileau has fo well enlarged upon in the preface to his works: That wit and fine writing doth not confift fo much in advancing things that are new, as in giving things that are known an agreeable turn. It is impoffible for us who live in the latter ages of the world, to make obfervations in criticism, morality, or any art or fcience, which have not been touched upon by others; we have little else left us, but to represent the common sense of mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more uncommon lights. If a reader examines Horace's Art of Poetry, he will find but few precepts in it which he may not meet with in Aristotle, and which were not commonly known by all the poets of the Auguftan age. His way of expreffing and applying them, not his invention of them, is what we are chiefly to admire.

"Longinus, in his reflections, has given us the fame kind of fublime, which he obferves in the feveral paffages that occafioned them: I cannot but take notice that our English author has after the fame manner exemplified feveral of the precepts in

the