CONTENT S. PART I. INtroduction. That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. 1. That a true Tafte is as rare to be found, as a true Genius, That most men are born with fome Tafte, but spoiled by falfe The multitude of Critics, and caufes of them, ver. 26 to 45. That we are to fludy our own Tafte, and know the Limits of Nature the best guide of Judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improv'd by Art and Rules, which are but methodiz'd Nature, Rules derived from the practice of the Ancient Poets, ver. 88 That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be study'd by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120 to 138. Of Licenses, and the use of them by the Ancients, ver. 140 Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c. Caufes hindering a true Judgment, 1. Pride, ver. 208. 2. Imperfect Learning, ver. 215. 3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, ver. 233 to 288. Critics in Wit, Language, Verfification, only, ver. 288. 305. 339, &c. 4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, ver. 384. 5. Partiality— too much love to a Sect,-to the Ancients or Moderns, ver. 394. 6. Prejudice or Prevention, ver. 408. 7. Singularity, ver. 424, &c. 8. Inconftancy, ver. 430. 9. Party Spirit, ver. 452, &c. 10. Envy, ver. 466. Against Envy and 1 PART III. Ver. 560, &c. Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic, 1. Candour, AN ESSA A Y Ο Ν CRITICISM. Is hard to fay, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill; But, of the two, lefs dang'rous is th' offence To tire our patience, than mislead our fenfe. NOTES. Some An Effay] For a perfon of only twenty years old to have produced fuch an Effay, fo replete with a knowledge of life and manners, fuch accurate obfervations on men and books, fuch variety of literature, fuch ftrong good fenfe, and refined tafte and judgment, has been the fubject of frequent, and of juft admiration. It may fairly entitle him to the character of being one of the firft of critics, though surely not of poets, as Dr. Johnson afferts. For Didactic poetry being, from its nature, inferior to Lyric, Tragic, and Epic poetry, we fhould confound and invert all literary rank and order if we compared and preferred the Georgics of Virgil to the Æneid, the Epiftle to the Pifos, to the Qualem Miniftrum of Horace, and Boileau's Art of Poetry to the Iphigenie of Racine. But Johnson's mind was formed for the Didactic, the Moral, and the Satyric; and he had no true relish for the higher and more genuine fpecies of poetry. Strong couplets, modern manners, prefent life, moral fententious writings alone pleased him. Hence his tasteless and groundless objections to The Lycidas of Milton, and to The Bard of Gray. Hence his own Irene is so frigid and uninteresting a tragedy; while his imitations of Juvenal are fo forcible and pointed. His Lives of the Poets are unhappily tin&ured with this narrow prejudice, and confined notion of poetry, which has occafioned many falfe and |