A N ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 'TIS IS hard to fay, if greater want of skill "Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go juft alike, yet each believes his own.. In Poets as true genius is but rare, True Taste as feldom is the Critic's fhare; Both muft alike from Heav'n derive their light, 5 ΙΟ Let Let fuch teach others who themselves excel, 15 Yet if we look more closely, we shall find Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: 20 Nature affords at least a glimm'ring light; } The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right, 26 Each VER. 15. Let fuch teach others.] Qui fcribit artificiofe, ab aliis commode fcripta facile intelligere poterit. Cic. ad Herenn. lib. 4. De pittore, fculptore, fillore, nifi artifex, judicare non poteft. Pliny. P. VER. 20. Moft have the feeds] Omnes tacito quodam fenfu, fine ulla arte, aut ratione, quæ fint in artibus ac rationibus recta et prava dijudicant. Cic. de Orat. lib. iii. P. VER. 25. So by falfe learning] Plus fine do&rina prudentia, quam fine prudentia valet doctrina. Quint. P. VARIATIONS. Between v. 25 and 26 were these lines, fince omitted by the author: Many are fpoil'd by that pedantic throng, Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong. By ftrange transfufion to improve the mind, 5 Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write, 30 All fools have still an itching to deride, There are, who judge ftill worse than he can write. To tell 'em, would a hundred tongues require, 41 45 Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet, 50 As VER. 51. And mark that point where fenfe and dullness meet.] This precept cautions us against going on, when our Ideas begin to grow obfcure; as we are apt to do, tho' that obfcurity is a monition that we fhould leave off; for it arifes either thro' our fmall acquaintance with the fubject, or the incomprehenfibility of its nature. which circumftances a genius will always write as heavily as a dunce. An obfervation well worth the attention of all profound writers. In As on the land while here the ocean gains, But oft' in those confin'd to fingle parts. 55 60 65 70 Like Kings we lose the conquefts gain'd before, 76 Some, VER. 67. Would all but ftoop to what they understand.] The expreffion is delicate, and implies what is very true, that moft men think it a degradation of their genius to employ it in cultivating what lies level to their comprehenfion, but had rather exercife their ambition in fubduing what is placed above it. 81 85 Some, to whom Heav'n in wit has been profuse, 90 By the fame Laws which firft herself ordain'd. And urg'd the reft by equal steps to rise. Juft VER. 88. Thofe rules of old, etc.] Cicero has, best of any one I know, explained what that is which reduces the wild and fcattered parts of human knowledge into arts.-Nibil eft quod ad artem redigi poffit, nifi ille prin qui illa tenet, quorum artem inflituere vult, habeat illam fcientiam, ut ex iis rebus, quarum ars nondum fit, artem efficere poffit.-Omnia fere, quæ funt conclufa nunc artibus, difperfa et diffipata quondam fuerunt, ut in Muficis, it. alio genere Adhibita eft igitur ars quædam extrinfecus ex quodam, quod fibi totum PHILOSOPHIefumunt, que rem diffolutam divulfamque conglutinaret, et ratione quad..in conftringeret. De Orat. 1. i. c 41, 2. VER. 80. VARIATIONS. There are whom Heav'n has bleft with store of wit, |