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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.
Still with itself compar'd, his text peruse;
And let your comment be the Mantuan Muse.
When firft young Maro in his boundless mind
A work t' outlaft immortal Rome defign'd,
Perhaps he feem'd above the Critic's law,
And but from Nature's fountains fcorn'd to draw:
But when t' examine ev'ry part he came,
Nature and Homer were, he found, the fame. 135
Convinc'd, amaz'd, he checks the bold defign:
And rules as ftrict his labour'd work confine,
As if the Stagirite o'erlook'd each line.
Learn bence for ancient rules a just esteem;
To copy nature is to copy them.

VER. 130.

VARIATIONS.

When first young Maro fung of Kings and Wars
Ere warning Phoebus touch'd his trembling ears,

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.

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Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare,
For there's a happiness as well as care.
Mufic resembles Poetry, in each

145

Are nameless graces which no methods teach,
And which a mafter-hand alone can reach.
If, where the rules not far enough extend,
(Since rules were made but to promote their end)

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
Th' intent propos'd, that Licence is a rule,
Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,
May boldly deviate from the common track;
From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,
And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art,
Which without paffing thro' the judgment, gains
The heart, and all its end at once attains.

In profpects thus, fome objects please our eyes,
Which out of nature's common order rife,
The fhapeless rock, or hanging precipice.

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.

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Great Wits fometimes may gloriously offend,
And rife to faults true Critics dare not mend.
But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade,
(As Kings dispense with laws themselves have made)
Moderns, beware! or if you must offend
Against the precept, ne'er tranfgrefs its End;
Let it be feldom, and compell'd by need;
And have, at leaft, their precedent to plead.
The Critic elfe proceeds without remorse,
Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force.

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,
Confider'd fingly, or beheld too near,
Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place,
Due distance reconciles to form and grace.
A prudent chief not always must display
His pow'rs, in equal ranks, and fair array,
But with th' occafion and the place comply,
Conceal his force, nay feem fometimes to fly.
Those oft are ftratagems which errors feem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.

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,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.

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

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non intelligunt. Ac fi neceffe eft in alteram errare par "tem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa dif"plicere maluerim." Quint, P

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