Thus let me live, unfeen, unknown, Thus unlamented let me die, Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie. O D E. THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL. I. VITAL fpark of heavenly flame! Quit, oh quit this mortal frame : II. Hark! they whisper; Angels fay, Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight, III. The world recedes; it disappears! 20 5 ΤΟ Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears With founds feraphic ring: 15 Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! O Grave! where is thy Victory? O Death! where is thy Sting? ΑΝ AN ESSA Y ON CRITICIS Written in the Year M DCCIX*. "Si quid novifti rectius iftis, "Candidus imperti; fi non, his utere mecum." M. HOR. *Mr. Pope told me himself, that the "Effay on "Criticifm" was indeed written in 1707, though said 1709 by mistake, J. RICHARDSON. the THE Poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or members. The firft [to ver. 201.] gives rules for the Study of the Art of Criticism; fecond [from thence to ver. 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 masterly conduct of the feveral parts, the penetration into Nature, and the compass 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 very learned Critic has fhewn, that Ho race had the fame attention to method in his Art of Poetry. со CONTENTS OF THE That a true Tafte is as rare to be found as a true Ge- That most men are born with fome Tafte, but spoil'd That we are to ftudy our own Tafte, and know the limits Nature the best guide of judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improved by Art and Rules, which are but methodized Rules derived from the practice of the Ancient Poets, That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be studied by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. ï20 Of Licences, and the use of them by the Ancients, ver. 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. Cri- tics in Wit, Language, Verfification, only, 288, 305, 339, &c. 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 Spi- rit, ver. 452, &c. 10. Envy, ver. 466. Against Envy, and in praise of Good-nature, ver. 508, &c. Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic. 1. Can- dour, ver. 563. Modefty, ver. 566. Good-breed- ing, 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 Hiftory of Criticism, and Characters of the best Critics: Aristotle, ver. 645. Horace, ver. 653. Dionyfius, ver. 665. Petronius, ver. 667. Quintilian, ver. 670. Longinus, ver. 675. Of the Decay of Criti- cifm, and its Revival. Erafmus, ver. 693. Vida, AN |