Thirdly, he hath, like fchoolboys, borrowed both from living and dead. Fourthly, he knows not his own mind, and frequently contradicts himself. Fifthly, he is almoft perpetually in the wrong.

All these pofitions he attempts to prove by quotations and remarks; but his defire to do mifchief is

greater than his power. He has, however, juftly cri

ticised some paffages. In thefe lines,

There are whom heav'n has blefs'd with ftore of wit,

Yet want as much again to manage it ; For wit and judgement ever are at ftrife

it is apparent that wit has two meanings, and that what is wanted, though called

called wit, is truly judgement. So far Dennis is undoubtedly right; but, not

content with argument, he will have a little mirth, and triumphs over the first couplet in terms too elegant to be forgotten. "By the way, what rare num"bers are here! Would not one fwear "that this youngfter had efpoufed fome "antiquated Mufe, who had fued out "a divorce on account of impotence "from fome fuperannuated finner; and,

66

having been p-xed by her former spouse, has got the gout in her decrepit age, which makes her hobble "fo damnably." This was the man who would reform a nation finking into barbarity.

In another place Pope himself allowed that Dennis had detected one of those

blunders which are called bulls. The first edition had this line:

What is this wit

Where wanted, fcorn'd, and envied where acquir'd?

"How," fays the critick, " can wit be

fcorn'd where it is not? Is not this a "figure frequently employed in Hiber"nian land? The perfon that wants this "wit may indeed be fcorned, but the "fcorn fhews the honour which the " contemner has for wit." Of this remark Pope made the proper ufe, by correcting the paffage.

I have preserved, I think, all that is reasonable in Dennis's criticism; it re

mains that justice be done to his delicacy. "For his acquaintance (fays Dennis) he "names Mr. Walth, who had by no means

"the qualification which this author rec"kons abfolutely neceffary to a critick, it "being very certain that he was, like "this Effayer, a very indifferent poet; "he loved to be well-dreffed; and I re"member a little young gentleman "whom Mr. Walfh ufed to take into "his company, as a double foil to his "perfon and capacity.-Enquire be"tween Sunninghill and Oakingham for "a young, fhort, fquab gentleman, the 66 very bow of the God of Love, and "tell me whether he be a proper author "to make perfonal reflections?-He

66

may extol the antients, but he has

" reason

"reafon to thank the gods that he was " born a modern; for had he been born "of Grecian parents, and his father "confequently had by law had the ab"folute difpofal of him, his life had "been no longer than that of one of "his poems, the life of half a day."Let the perfon of a gentleman of his

66

parts be never fo contemptible, his ❝inward man is ten times more ridi"culous; it being impoffible that his "outward form, though it be that of downright monkey, fhould differ fo

66

"much from human fhape, as his un"thinking immaterial part does from "human understanding." Thus began the hoftility between Pope and Dennis, which, though it was fufpended for a

fhort