CONTENTS OF THE ESSAY on CRITICISM. INtroduction. That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to That a 1. true Tafte is as rare to be found, as a true Genius, That most men are born with fome Tafte, but spoil'd by falfe The Multitude of Critics, and caufes of them, 26 to 45. That we are to fudy our own Tafte, and know the Limits of it, That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be study'd by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, & 120 to 138. 2 PART II. Ver. 203, etc. 2. Im Caufes bindering a true Judgment. 1. Pride, ✈ 208. perfect Learning, † 215. 3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, 233 to 288. Critics in Wit, Language, Verfification, only, 288. 305. 339, etc. 4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, # 384. 5. Partiality-too much love to a Sect, -to the Ancients or Moderns, 394. 6. Prejudice or Prevention, ✈ 408. 7. Singularity, ✯ 424. 8. Inconftancy, ✈ 430. 9. Party Spirit, 452, etc. 10. Envy, 466. Against Envy and in praise of Goodnature, 508, etc. When Severity is chiefly to be used by Critics, 526, etc. PART III. Ver. 560, etc. Rules for the Conduct and Manners in a Critic, 1. Candour, 563. Modefty, 566. Good-breeding, 572. Sincerity and Freedom of advice, fel is to be refrained, 584. 578. 2. When one's CounCharacter of an incorrigible 645• Poet, 600. And of an impertinent Critic, ✈ 610, etc. Conclufion. ΑΝ ESSAY ON 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. Some few in that, but numbers err in this, Ten cenfure wrong for one who writes amiss; 5 An EfJay] The Poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or members. The first [to 201.] gives rules for the Study of the Art of Criticism: the fecond [from thence to 560.] expofes the Caufes of wrong Judgment; and the third [from thence to the end] marks out the Morals of the Critic. When the Reader hath well confidered the whole, and hath obferved the regularity of the plan, the mafterly conduct of the several parts, the penetration into Nature, and the compafs of Learning fo confpicuous throughout, he should then be told that it was the work of an Author who had not attained the twentieth Year of his age. A fool might once himself alone expose, 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none True Taste as feldom is the Critic's fhare; 10 15 Yet if we look more clofely, we fhall find The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right. VER. 15. Let fuch teach others] "Qui fcribit artificiofe, ab "aliis commode fcripta facile intelligere poterit." Cic. ad Heren. lib. iv. "De pictore, fculptore, fictore, nifi artifex, judicare 66 non poteft." Pliny. 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. VER. 25. So by falfe learning] " Plus fine doctrina prudentia, quam fine prudentia valet doctrina. Quint. 26 Some are bewilder'd in the maze of fchools, 30 There are, who judge ftill worse than he can write. To tell 'em, would a hundred tongues require, VARIATIONS. 45 Between 25 and 26 were these lines, fince omitted by the author: Many are spoil'd by that pedantic throng, Who with great pains teach youth to reafon wrong. By ftrange transfufion to improve the mind, Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. |