CONTENTS. PART I. INTRODUCTION. That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. 1. That a true Taste is as rare to be found, as a true Genius, ver. 9 to 18. That most men are born with some Taste, but spoil'd by false Education, ver. 19 to 25. The Multitude of Critics, and causes of them, ver. 26 to 45. That we are to study our own Taste, and know the Limits of it, ver. 46 to 67. Nature the best guide of judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improved by Art and Rules, which are but methodis'd Nature, ver. 88. Rules deriv'd from the Practice of the Ancient Poets, ver. 88 to 110. That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be studied by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120 to 138. Of Licenses, and the use of them by the Ancients, ver. 140 to 180. Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c. PART II. Ver. 203, &c. 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. Critics in Wit, Language, Versification, only, ver. 288, 305, 339, &c. 4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, v. 384. 5. Partiality-too much love to a Sect, to the Ancients or Moderns, ver. 324. 6. Prejudice or Prevention, ver. 408. 7. Singularity, ver. 424. 8. Inconstancy, ver. 430. 9. Party Spirit, ver. 452, &c. 10. Envy, ver. 466. Against Envy and in praise of Good-nature, ver. 508, &c. When Severity is chiefly to be used by Critics, ver. 526, &c. PART III. Ver. 560, &c. Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic, 1. Candour, ver. AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM. WITH THE COMMENTARY OF WILLIAM WARBURTON, D. D. 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill COMMENTARY. An Essay] The poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or numbers. The first [to ver. 201.] gives rules for the Study of the Art of Criticism: the second [from thence to ver. 560.] exposes the Causes of wrong Judgment; and the third [from thence to the end] marks out the Morals of the Critic. In order to a right conception of this poem, it will be necessary to observe, that though it be intitled simply An Essay on Criticism, yet several of the precepts relate equally to the good writing as well as the true judging of a poem. This is so far from violating the Unity of the subject, that it preserves and completes it: or from disordering the regularity of the Form, that it adds beauty to it, as will appear by the following considerations: 1. It was impossible to give a full and exact idea of the Art of Poetical Criticism, without considering at the same time the Art of Poetry; so far as Poetry is an Art. These therefore being closely connected in nature, the author has, with much judgment, interwoven the precepts of each reciprocally through his whole poem. 2. As the rules of the antient Critics were taken from Poets who copied nature, this is another reason why every Poet should be a Critic : therefore as the subject is poetical Criticism, it is frequently addressed to the critical Poet. And 3dly, the Art of Criticism is as properly, and much more usefully exercised in writing, than in judging. Some few in that, but numbers err in this, 5 10 COMMENTARY. But readers have been misled by the modesty of the Title, which only promises an Art of Criticism, to expect little, where they will find a great deal; a treatise, and that no incomplete one, of the Art both of Criticism and Poetry. This, and the not attending to the considerations offered above, was what, perhaps, misled a very candid writer, after having given the ESSAY ON CRITICISM all the praises on the side of genius and poetry which his true taste could not refuse it, to say, that the observations follow one another like those in Horace's Art of Poetry, without that methodical regularity which would have been requisite in a prose writer. Spect. No. 235. I do not see how method can hurt any one grace of Poetry; or what prerogative there is in Verse to dispense with regularity. The remark is false in every part of it. Mr. Pope's Essay on Criticism, the Reader will soon see, is a regular piece: And a very learned Critic has lately shewn, that Horace had the same attention to method in his Art of Poetry. See Mr. Hurd's Comment on the Epistle to the Pisos. Ver. 1. 'Tis hard to say, &c.] The Poem opens [from ver. 1 to 9.] with shewing the use and seasonableness of the subject. Its use, from the greater mischief in wrong Criticism than in ill Poetry; this only tiring, that misleading the reader: Its seasonableness, from the growing number of bad Critics, which now vastly exceeds that of bad poets. Ver. 9. 'Tis with our judgments, &c.] The author having shewn us the expediency of his subject, the Art of Criticism, inquires next [from ver. 8 to 15.] into the proper Qualities of a true Critic: and observes first, that JUDGMENT alone, is not sufficient to constitute this character, because Judgment, like the artificial measures of Time, goes different, and yet each man relies The his own. upon reasoning is conclusive; and the similitude extremely just. For Judgment, when it is alone, is generally regulated, or at least much influenced, In Poets as true Genius is but rare, COMMENTARY. influenced by custom, fashion, and habit; and never certain and constant but when founded upon and accompanied by TASTE: which is in the Critic, what in the Poet, we call GENIUS: both are derived from Heaven, and like the Sun, the natural measure of Time, always constant and equable. Judgment alone, it is allowed, will not make a Poet; where is the wonder then, that it will not make a Critic in poetry? for on examination we shall find, that Genius and Taste are but one and the same faculty, differently exerting itself under different names, in the two professions of Poetry and Criticism. The Art of Poetry consists in selecting, out of all those images which present themselves to the fancy, such of them as are truly beautiful: and the Art of Criticism in discerning, and fully relishing what it finds so selected. The main difference is, that in the POET, this faculty is eminently joined to a bright imagination, and extensive comprehension, which provide stores for the selection, and can form that selection, by proportioned parts, into a regular whole : in the CRITIC, it is joined to a solid judgment and accurate discernment, which can penetrate into the causes of an excellence, and display that excellence in all its variety of lights. Longinus had taste in an eminent NOTES. Ver. 11. In Poets as true Genius is but rare,] It is indeed so extremely rare, that no country, in the succession of many ages, has produced above three or four persons that deserve the title. The "man of rhymes" may be easily found; but the genuine poet, of a lively plastic imagination, the true Maker or Creator, is so uncommon a prodigy, that one is almost tempted to subscribe to the opinion of Sir William Temple, where he says, "That for one man that is born capable of making a great poet, there may be a thousand born capable of making as great generals, or ministers of state, as the most renowned in story." Warton. Ver. 12. True Taste as seldom] The first piece of criticism in our language, worthy our attention, for little can be gathered from Webbe and Puttenham, was Sir Philip Sydney's Defence of Poesie. Spenser |