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CONTENTS.

PART I.

Introduction. That it is as great a fault to judge ill as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. 1. That a true taste is as rare to be found as a true genius, ver. 9 to 18. That most men are born with some taste, but spoiled by false education, ver. 19 to 25. The multitude of critics, and causes of them, ver. 26 to 45. That we are to study our own taste, and know the limits of it, ver. 46 to 67. Nature the best guide of judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improved by art and rules, which are but methodised nature, ver. 88. Rules derived from the practice of the ancient poets, ver. 88 to 110. That therefore the ancients are necessary to be studied by a critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120 to 138. Of licenses, and the use of them by the ancients, ver. 140 to 180. Reverence due to the ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c.

PART II.

Ver. 203, &c. Causes 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, and versification 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. 8. Inconstancy, ver. 430. 9. Party spirit, ver. 452, &c. 10. Envy, ver. 466. Against envy, and in praise of good-nature, ver. 508, &c. When severity is chiefly to be used by critics, ver. 526, &c.

PART III.

Ver. 560, &c. Rules for the conduct of manners in a critic. 1. Candor, ver. 563. Modesty, ver. 566. Good breeding, ver. 572. Sincerity and freedom of advice, ver. 578. 2. When one's counsel is to be restrained, ver. 584. Character of an incorrigible poet, ver. 600. And of an impertinent critic, ver. 610, &c. Character of a good critic, ver. 629. The history of criticism, and characters of the best critics: Aristotle, ver. 645. Horace, ver. 653. Dionysius, ver. 665. Petronius, ver. 667. Quintilian, ver. 670. Longinus, ver. 675. Of the decay of criticism and its revival; Erasmus, ver. 693. Vida, ver. 705. Boileau, ver. 714. Lord Roscommon, &c. ver. 725. Conclusion.

AN

ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

I.

'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill; But, of the two, less dangerous is the offence To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. Some few in that, but numbers err in this; Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss: A fool might once himself alone expose; Now one in verse makes many more in 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none

Go just alike, yet each believes his own.

In poets as true genius is but rare,

True taste as seldom is the critic's share:

prose.

Both must alike from Heaven derive their light, These born to judge, as well as those to write. Let such teach others who themselves excel; And censure freely, who have written well.

5

10

15

15 Let such teach others. The inadequacy of all but artists to judge of an art is a maxim of ancient origin. 'De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex, judicare non potest,' says Pliny.

Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true;
But are not critics to their judgment too?

Yet if we look more closely, we shall find
Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind :
Nature affords at least a glimmering light; 21
The lines, though touch'd but faintly, are drawn
right;

25

But as the slightest sketch, if justly traced,
Is by ill-coloring but the more disgraced,
So by false learning is good sense defaced:
Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools,
And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools:
In search of wit these lose their common sense,
And then turn critics in their own defence:
Each burns alike, who can or cannot write,
Or with a rival's or an eunuch's spite.
All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing side.

30

Yet, for what tribunal do painters and sculptors exert their skill? for the eyes of the multitude; in other words, they appeal to the judgment of those, who, in a thousand instances, can have no direct knowlege of the processes, or even of the principles, of art. The truth is, that the maxim, whether in the works of the pen, the pencil, or the chisel, is little more than an ingenious subterfuge from criticism. It will be readily conceded, that the practised writer or artist alone can derive full enjoyment from, or exercise the most accurate judgment on, a fine performance: but the work which fails of pleasing the taste of the multitude has defects which no subterfuge can shelter, and no dexterity can argue into perfections.

32 All fools have still an itching to deride. Warburton conceives this to allude to idiots and natural fools, who are observed to be ever on the grin.' It more obviously alludes to the foolish jealousy which tempts inferior writers to ridicule those whom they cannot hope to equal. One of the well-known absurdities of Hobbes was his attributing laughter to pride!

34

If Mævius scribble in Apollo's spite,
There are, who judge still worse than he can write.

Some have at first for wits, then poets pass'd, Turn'd critics next, and proved plain fools at last: Some neither can for wits nor critics pass,

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As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass.
Those half-learn'd witlings, numerous in our isle,
As half-form'd insects on the banks of Nile;
Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call,
Their generation's so equivocal:

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To tell them would a hundred tongues require,
Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire.
But you, who seek to give and merit fame,
And justly bear a critic's noble name,
Be sure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius, taste, and learning go;
Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet;
And mark that point where sense and dulness

meet.

Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit, And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit. As on the land while here the ocean gains, In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; Thus in the soul while memory prevails, The solid power of understanding fails; Where beams of warm imagination play, The memory's soft figures melt away.

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41 Insects on the banks of Nile. Fenton amusingly, and with sufficient truth, pronounces 'the Nile to be as fruitful of English similes as the sun;' compassionately adding, 'that it would be as hard to restrain a young poet from either, as forbidding fire and water was esteemed among the Romans.'

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