Be Homer's works your study and delight, Read them by day, and meditate by night; 125 Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring, 131 And trace the Mufes upward to their spring. VER. 130. VARIATIONS. When first young Maro fung of Kings and Wars NOTES. 140 VER. 130. When firft young Maro, etc.] Virg. Eclog. vi. Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius aurum Vellit. It is a tradition preferved by Servius, that Virgil began with writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs; which be found above his years, and defcended first to imitate Theocritus on rural fubjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in Heroic poetry, P. 24 Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare, 145 Are nameless graces which no methods teach, COMMENTARY. VER. 141. Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare, etc.] Our author, in these two general directions for ftudying Nature and her Commentators, having confidered Poetry as it is, or may be reduced to Rule; left this should be miftaken as fufficient to attain PERFECTION either in writing or judging, he proceeds [from ver. 140 to 201.] to point up to thofe fublimer beauties which Rules will never reach, nor enable us either to execute or tafle: beauties, which rife so high above all precept as not even to be described by it; but being entirely the gift of Heaven, Art, and Reafon have no further share in them than just to moderate their operations. These Sublimities of Poetry, like the Mysteries of Religion (fome of which are above Reafon, and fome contrary to it) may be divided into two forts, fuch as are above Rules, and such as are contrary to them. VER. 146. If, where the rules, etc.] The first fort our author defcribes [from ver. 145 to 158.] and fhews, that where a great beauty is in the Poet's view, which no stated Rules will direct him how to reach, there, as the purpose of rules is only to attain an end like this, a lucky Licence will supply the want of them: nor can the Critic fairly object to it, fince this Licence, for the reafon given above, has the proper force and authority of a Rule. NOTES. VER. 146. If, where the rules, etc.] "Neque enim rogationibus plebifve fcitis fancta funt ifta præcepta, fed "hoc, quicquid eft, Utilitas excogitavit. Non negabo "autem fic utile effe plerumque; verum fi eadem VOL. I. K Some lucky licence answer to the full In profpects thus, fome objects please our eyes, NOTES. 150 155 "illa nobis aliud fuadebit Utilitas, hanc, relictis magi"ftrorum autoritatibus, fequemur." Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13. P. VER. 150. Thus Pegafus, etc.] We have obferved how the precepts for writing and judging are interwoven throughout the whole Poem. The fublime flight of a Poet is first defcribed, foaring above all vulgar bounds, to fnatch a Grace directly which lies beyond the reach of a common adventurer. And afterwards, the effect of that grace upon the true Critic: whom it penetrates with an equal rapidity; going the nearest way to his heart, without paffing through his Judgment. By which is not meant that it could not ftand the teft of Judgment; but that, as it was a beauty uncommon, and above rule, and the Judgment habituated to determine only by rule, it makes its direct appeal to the heart; which, when once gained, foon brings over the Judgment, whofe concurrence (it being now enlarged and fet above forms) is eafily procured. That this is the Poet's fublime conception appears from the concluding words: "and all its end at once attains. For Poetry doth not attain all its end, till it hath gained the Judgment as well as Heart. 160 Great Wits fometimes may gloriously offend, 165 I know there are, to whofe prefumptuous thoughts Those freer beauties, ev'n in them, feem faults. 170 COMMENTARY. VER. 159. Great Wits fometimes may gloriously offend, etc.] He defcribes next the fecond fort, the beauties against rule. And even here, as he obferves [from ver. 158 to 169.] the offence is fo glorious, and the fault fo fublime, that the true Critic will not dare either to cenfure or reform them. Yet ftill the Poet is never to abandon himself to his imagination: The rules laid down for his conduct in this refpect, are thefe; 1. That though he tranfgrefs the letter of fome one particular Precept, yet that he be still careful to adhere to the end or spirit of them all; which end is the creation of one uniform perfect Whole. And 2. That he have, in each inftance, the authority of the dif penfing power of the Ancients to plead for him. Thefe rules obferved, this licence will be feldom ufed, and only when he is compelled by need: which will difarm the Critic, and fcreen the offender from his laws. 1 VER. 169. I know there are, etc.] But as fome modern Critics have had the prefumption to fay, that this last reafon is only justifying one fault by another, our author goes on [from ver, 168 to 181.] to vindicate the Ancients; and to fhew that this feverity of opinion proceeds from mere Ignorance. As where their partiality will not let them fee that this licence is fometimes neceffary for the fymmetry Some figures monftrous and mis-fhap'd appear, COMMENTARY, 175 180 and proportion of a perfect Whole, from the point, and in the light, wherein it must be view'd: or where their hafle will not give them time to obferve, that a deviation from rule is for the fake of attaining fome great and admirable purpofe.-Thefe obfervations are further ufeful, as they tend to give modern Critics an humbler opinion of their own abilities, and an higher of the Authors they undertake to criticize. On which account he concludes with a fine reproof of that common proverb perpetually in the mouths of the Critics, quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus; misunderstanding the fenfe of Horace, and taking quandoque for aliquando: Those oft are ftratagems which errors feem, NOTES. VER. 175. A prudent chief, etc.] Oióv TI Wonton of Ogóvμοι σρατηλάται κατὰ τὰς τάξεις τῶν εξαλευμάτων Dion. Hal De ftruct. orat. P. VER. 180. Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream:] "Modefte, et circumfpecto judicio de tantis viris pronun "ciandum eft, ne (quod plerifque accidit) damnent quod non intelligunt. Ac fi neceffe eft in alteram errare par "tem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa dif"plicere maluerim." Quint, P |