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Fir'd at first fight with what the Mufe imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts, 220
While from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor fee the lengths behind;
But, more advanc'd, behold with ftrange furprizę
New diftant scenes of endless science rife!

225

So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and feem to tread the sky,
Th' eternal fnows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains feem the laft:
But, thofe attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 230
Th' increasing profpect tires our wand ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit,
With the fame spirit that its author writ:

COMMENTARY,

Italy," and ambitious to fnatch a palm from Rome, en gages in an undertaking as arduous almoft as that of Hannibal: Finely illuftrated by the fimilitude of an unexperienced traveller penetrating thro' the Alps.

VER. 233. A perfect Judge, &c.] The third cause of wrong Judgment is a narrow and BOUNDED COMPRE

NOTE

233. A perfect Judge,
Diligenter legendum

ནི॰ ༥༡ f, ac pæne ad fcribendi

C.2

Survey the WHOLE, nor feek flight faults to find 235 Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind;

COMMENTARY.

HENSION; the natural and neceffary cause of the foregoing defect, acquiefcence in fuperficial learning. This bounded Capacity the poet fhews [from 233 to 384] betrays itself two ways; in the matter, and in the manner of the work criticised. As to the matter, in judging by parts; or in having one favorite part to a neglect of all the reft: As to the manner, in confining the regard only to conceit, or language, or numbers. This is our author's order; and we fhall follow him as it leads us ; only juft obferving one great beauty running thro' this part of the poem, which is that under each of these heads of wrong Judgment, he has inter-worked excellent precepts for right. We fhall take notice of them as they

Occur.

He exposes the folly of judging by parts very artfully, not by a direct defcription of that fort of Critic, but of his oppofite, a perfect Judge, &c. Nor is the elegance of this converfion lefs than the Art; for as, in poetic ftyle, one word or figure is still put for another, in order to catch new lights from diftant images, and reflect them back upon the fubject in hand; so in poetical matter, one perfon or defcription may be commodiously employed for another, with the fame advan

NOTES.

follicitudinem: Nec per partes modo fcrutanda funt omnia, fed porlectus liber

utique ex integro resumendus. Quintil..

Nor lofe, for that malignant dull delight,
The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with wit.
But in fuch lays as neither ebb, nor flow,
Correctly cold, and regularly low,

That fhunning faults, one quiet tenour keep;
We cannot blame inded

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240

but we may Дeep. In Wit, as Nature, what affects our hearts Is not th' exactnefs of peculiar parts; 'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call, But the joint force and full refult of all. Thus when we view fome well-proportion'd dome, (The world's just wonder, and ev'n thine, O Rome!)

COMMENTARY.

245

tage of reprefentation. It is obfervable that our author makes it almoft the neceffary confequence of judging by parts, to find fault: And this not without much difcernmet. For the feveral parts of a compleat Whole, when feen only fingly, and known only independently, must always have the appearance of irregularity, and often, of deformity: Because the Poet's defign being to create a refultive beauty from the artful affemblage of feveral various parts into one natural whole; thofe parts must be fashioned with regard to the mutual relations, from whence the beauty required is to arife: But that regard will occafion fo unreducible a form in each part, as, when confidered fingly, to prefent the appearance of an Irregularity.

3

No fingle parts unequally furprize,
All comes united to th' admiring eyes;

250 No monstrous height, or breadth, or length appear; The Whole at once is bold, and regular.

Whoever thinks a faultlefs piece to see, 'Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er fhall be. In ev'ry work regard the writer's End, 255 Since none can compass more than they intend; And if the means be juft, the conduct true, Applaufe, in fpight of trivial faults, is due. As men of breeding, fometimes men of wit, T'avoid great errors, muft the lefs commit: 260

COMMENTARY.

VER. 253. Whoever thinks a faultless piece to fee] He thews, in the fecond place, that to fix our cenfure on Jingle parts, tho they happen to want an exactness confiftent enough with their relation to the reft, is even then very unjuft: And for thefe realons, 1. Because it implies an expectation of a fauitless piece, which is a vain ima gination 2. Because no more is to be expected of any work than that it fairly attains its end: But the end may be attained, and yet thee trivial faults committed: Therefore, in fpight of fuch faults, the work will merit the praife due to that attainment. 3. Becaufe fometimes a great beauty is not to be had, nor a notorious blemish to be avoided, but by the luffering one of thefe minute. and trivial errors. And lastly, because the generous neglet of them is a praife, as it is the indication of a Ge nius, bufied about greater matters.

Neglect the rules each verbal Critic lays,
For not to know fome trifles, is a praife.
Moft Critics, fond of some fubfervient art,
Still make the Whole depend upon a Part:

COMMENTARY.

VER. 263. Moft Critics fond of fome fubfervient art, &c. II. The fecond way in which the bounded comprehenfion, as it relates to the matter, fhews itself, is judging by a favorite Part. The author has placed this after the other of judging by parts, with great propriety, it being indeed a natural confequence of it. For when men have once left the whole to turn their attention to the Separate parts, that regard and reverence due only: to a whole, is fondly transferred to one or other of its parts. And thus we fee that Heroes themselves as well as Hero-makers, even Kings as well as Critics, when they chance never to have had, or long to have lost the idea of that which is the only legitimate object of their office, the care and confervation of the whole, are wont entirely to devote themselves to the fervice of fome favourite part, whether it be love of money, military glory, defpoticifm, &c. And all, as our poet fays on this occafion,

to one lov'd Folly facrifice.

This general misconduct much recommends that maxim in good Poetry and Politics, to give a principal attention to the whole (a maxim which our author has elsewhere demonftrated to be equally true likewife in Morals and

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