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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

Are nameless graces which no methods teach,
And which a master-hand alone can reach. 145
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, &c.] Our author, in thefe two general precepts of studying Nature and her Commentators, having confidered Poetry as it is, or may be reduced to Rule; left this fhould be miftaken as fufficient to attain PERFECTION either in writing or judging, he proceeds [from 140 to 2c1.] to point up to thofe fublimer beauties which Rules will never reach, nor enable us either to execute or Tafle: And which rife fo high above all precept as not even to be defcribed by it; but being entirely the gift of Heaven, Art and Reason have no further concern with them than just to moderate their operations. Thele Sublimities of Poetry, like the Mysteries of Religion, fome of which are above Reason, and fome contrary to it, may also be divided into two forts, fuch as are above Rules, and fuch as are contrary to them.

VER. 146. If where the rules, &c.] The first fort our author defcribes [from y 145 to 158] and fhews, that

NOTES.

146. If, where the funt ifta Præcepta, fed bot rules, &c.] Neque tam fan&a quicquid eft, Utilitas excogi

Some lucky Licence anfwers 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;

COMMENTARY.

150

1

where a great beauty is in the Poet's view which no stated Rules will direct him how to reach, there, as the purpofe of Rules is only to promote an end like this, a lucky Licence will fupply the want of them: Nor can the Critic fairly object to it, fince this Licence, for the reason given above, has the proper force and authority of a Rule.

NOTES.

tavit. Non negabo autem fic utile effe plerumque verum fi eadem illa nobis aliud Juadebit Utilitas, banc, relictis magiftrorum autoritatibus, fequemur. Quintil. lib. ii. cap. 13.

150] Thus Pegafus, We have obferved how the precepts for writing and judging are interwoven throughout the whole work. He first defcribes the fublime flight of a Poet, foaring above all vulgar bounds, to fnatch a grace directly, which lies beyond the reach of a common ad

venturer. And afterwards, the effect of that grace upon the true Critic: whom it penetrates with an equal rapidity, going the nearelt way to his heart, without paffing thro' his Judgment. By which is not meant that it could not ftand the test of Judgment; but that being a beauty, uncommon, and above rule, and the Judgment habituated to determine only by rule, it makes its direct application to the Heart; which once gained, foon opens and enlarges the Judgment, whole concur

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From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,
And fnatch a grace beyond the reach of art,
Which without paffing thro' the judgment, gains
The heart, and all its end at once attains. 159
In profpects thus, fome objects please our eyes,
Which out of nature's common order rife,
The shapelefs rock, or hanging precipice.
Great Wits fometimes may gloriously offend,
And rife to faults true Critics dare not mend. 160

COMMENTA RY.

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VER. 159. Great Wits fometimes may gloriously of fend, & He defcribes next the fecond fort, the beauties against rule. And even here, as he obferves, the offense is fo glorious, and the fault fo fublime, that the true Cri tic will not dare either to cenfure or reform them. Yet ftill the Poet is never to abandon himself to his Imagination: The rules our author lays down for his conduct in this respect, are thefe: 1. That tho' he tranfgrefs the letter of fome dne particular precept, yet that he ftill adheres to the end or spirit of them all; which end is the creation of one perfect uniform Whole. And 2. That he

NOTES.

rence, it being now fet à-
bove forms, is eafily pro-
cured. That this is the po-

and all its end at once attains.

But Poetry doth not attain

et's fublime conception ap-all its end, 'till it hath gainpears from the concluding ed the Judgment as well as words:

Heart.

But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade,
(As Kings difpenfe 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 ; 165:
And have, at least, their precedent to plead.
The Critic elfe proceeds without remorse,
Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force.

7.

I know there are, to whofe prefumptuous thoughts Those freer beauties, ev'n in them, feem faults. 170

COMMENTARY,

have, in each particular inftance, the authority of the dif penfing power of the Ancients to plead for his excufe. Thele rules obferved, this licence will be feldom used, and only when compell'd by need: Which will difarm the Critic, and fereen the Poet from his laws."

VER. 169. I know there are, But as fome modern Critics have had the prefumption to fay, that this laft rule is only juftifying one fault by another, our author goes on [from 169 to 180] to vindicate the Ancients; and to fhew that this cenfure proceeds from frank Ignorance. As where their partial Judgment cannot fee that this licence is fometimes ufed as neceflary to give the noft graceful fymmetry and proportion to a perfect whole, from the point and in the light wherein it must be viewed: Or, where their hafty Judgment will not give them time. to discover, that a deviation from rule is for the fake of attaining a great and admirable purpose. These obferva-" tions are further useful as they tend to give modern Cri

:

Some figures monftrous and mifhap'd appear,
Confider'd fingly, or beheld too near,

175

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.
Thofe oft are ftratagems which errors feem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.

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180

tics an humbler opinion of their own abilities, and an higher of the Authors they undertake to criticise. On which account he concludes with a fine stroke of fatire, against a common proverb perpetually in the mouths of Critics, quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus; mifunderftanding the fenfe of Horace, and taking quandoque for aliquando:

Thofe oft are stratagems which errors feem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.

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