But soon by impious arms from Latium chas'd, Yet some there were, among the sounder few Who durst assert the juster ancient cause, And here restor'd Wit's fundamental laws. Such was the Muse, whose rules and practice tell, 710 715 720 'Nature's chief Master-piece is writing well.' Such was Roscommon, not more learn'd than good, 725 With manners gen'rous as his noble blood; To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And ev'ry author's merit but his own. Such late was Walsh-the Muse's judge and friend, 730 Who justly knew to blame or to commend; 735 740 Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame; Still pleas'd to praise, yet not afraid to blame; Averse alike to flatter or offend; Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend. NOTES. 2. Appear, subjunctive mood. 4. sense, here 'critical sense,' that faculty by which we pass judgment on the products of poetic imagination. 5. in that...in this. Pope does not advance far before dragging in his favourite antithesis. In line 14 he gives us another, these and those. "I think one gets a little tired of the invariable this set off by the inevitable that, and wishes antithesis would let him have a little quiet now and then.” (Lowell, My Study Windows, p. 368.) Yet Pope was ready enough to detect the mannerism in somebody else. Of his enemy 'Sporus,' Lord Hervey, he writes, in the Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, 323-5: "His wit all see-saw, between that and this, Now high, now low, now master up, now miss, And he himself one vile Antithesis." 6. censure wrong, 'criticise wrongly.' The word censure once signified simply 'to estimate,' 'to pass an opinion upon something.' As criticisms are often unfavourable, it acquired its modern meaning 'to find fault,'' to blame.' 9. The illustration from a watch had been used by Sir John Suckling (1609-1641) in the Epilogue to Aglaura: "But as when an authentic watch is shown, Each man winds up and rectifies his own, 12. This statement is exaggerated. An aptitude for sound criticism is not indeed by any means a common endowment, but the gift of poetic creation is rarer still. 15. such requires as, not who, for its correlative, according to our modern idiom, but in Pope's time it frequently occurred with who, which, or that following. See lines 385, 511. 16. In a note to this passage Pope quotes from Pliny: "De pictore, sculptore, fictore, nisi artifex, judicare non potest." ['None but the artist is capable of criticising painters and sculptors and makers of statues.'] Addison expresses a similar opinion in the Tatler: "It is ridiculous for any man to criticise on the works of another who has not distinguished himself by his own performances." Johnson thought differently. Boswell had joined the Hon. Andrew Erskine and Mr Dempster in writing a pamphlet containing critical strictures on the tragedy of Elvira. Dempster felt qualms about their conduct and said, “We have hardly a right to abuse this tragedy; for bad as it is, how vain should either of us be to write one not near so good." Boswell reported this remark to Johnson. "Why no, Sir," said Johnson, "this is not just reasoning. You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables." (Boswell's Life of Johnson, p. 138.) To the same effect Shaftesbury asks in his Characteristics, "Can no one possibly judge a fiddle, but who is himself a fiddler? Can no one judge a picture, but who is himself a layer of colours ?" 50. 17. wit, 'genius.' 'creative power.' 20. Pope quotes in his note from Cicero, De Oratore, Book III. ch. "Omnes tacito quodam sensu, sine ulla arte aut ratione, quae sint in artibus ac rationibus, recta et prava dijudicant." ['By a sort of tacit sense, and without any artistic skill or power of reasoning, all men can distinguish between what is right and what is wrong in art and reasoning.'] Mr Elwin finds in 1. 27 a contradiction of 1. 20, since Nature cannot have meant for mere fools those who had been furnished with "seeds of judgment." But the sense of the word "meant" must not be pressed too closely. If we take "meant" to signify 'destined,' the contradiction disappears. Nature indeed implanted in most men "seeds of judgment," but it was fated that these seeds should be choked by "false learning." 23. Triplets occur eight times in the Essay. Dryden used them freely in his later writings Pope ceased to use them at all. No example appears in the Essay on Man. The triplet, like the Alexandrine, is occasionally appropriate to mark a climax, but in the middle of a passage it produces an unpleasant effect upon the ear. The monotony of the versification is indeed broken, but the interruption of the regularity with which the rhymes are expected to occur is too violent. It is better to avoid monotony by varying the position of the pause. 24. more disgraced: this expression is not to be taken quite literally. A slight sketch, in which the lines are drawn right, is not necessarily lacking in grace; but if colours are unskilfully daubed on, it will become less graceful, less pleasing than before. 26. maze of schools, 'conflicting systems of doctrine,' such as exist in theology, philosophy, science, poetry, and criticism. maze, which appears in amaze, signifies (1) 'confusion,' 'perplexity,' (2) 'a confusing network of paths,' ‘a labyrinth.' school, from Lat. schola, Gk. σxoλń (which signified i. 'leisure'; ii. 'a learned discussion' or 'lecture' by which leisure was occupied; iii. the 'place' where such discussions or lectures were carried on) was in Early Eng. written scole, the spelling being afterwards changed so as to conform to that of the Lat. schola. The word denotes (1) 'a place of instruction'; (2) ‘a body of pupils' gathered in one place; (3) 'the followers of a particular teacher,' 'a sect' in theology or philosophy. 27. coxcombs: the right spelling of coxcomb would be cock's-comb, viz., the emblem worn by fools in their caps: hence, 'a conceited dunce.' meant but fools is not in accordance with our idiom, which requires for with meant. 29. turn critics. Mr T. Arnold thinks that Pope may be referring to Thomas Rymer (1639—1714), historiographer royal in the reign of William III., and collector of the vast and valuable mass of state documents known as Rymer's Fœdera. During his earlier career Rymer had been dramatist and critic. He wrote the tragedy of Edgar and some absurd strictures on Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. On Julius Caesar and Othello he is particularly severe, and speaks with fine scorn of "that Paradise Lost of Milton's, which some are pleased to call a poem." 30. Each...who can or cannot, for 'each...whether he can or cannot.' Pope uses a free hand in putting upon his relative pronouns work which they are not accustomed to perform. Thus in l. 15, who figured as the correlative after such. In line 35, Pope, imitating the Latin idiom sunt qui, suppresses the antecedent, and writes "There are who judge" instead of "There are those who judge." Cf. also 1. 169. 30-1. In the first edition this couplet was expressed differently. One result of Pope's tinkering is that the rhymes write, spite, now occur twice in the space of six lines. |