When next he looks thro' Galilæo's eyes;
And hence th' egregious wizard shall foredoom
The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome.

Then cease, bright Nymph! to mourn thy ravish'd

hair,

Which adds new glory to the shining sphere!

Not all the treffes that fair head can boast,
Shall draw fuch envy as the Lock you loft:
For, after all the murders of your eye,
When, after millions flain, yourself shall die
When those fair funs shall fet, as set they must ̧
And all those treffes shall be laid in dust ;
This Lock, the Mufe shall confecrate to fame,
And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's name!

AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM,

A N

ESSAY

ON

CRITICISM.

THE

CONTENTS

OF THE

ESSAY ON CRITICISM.

PART I.

1. THAT 'tis as great a fault to judge ill

as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to

the public.

2. The variety of men's Taftes; of a true

Tafte, how rare to be found.

3. That most men are born with some Taste,

but fpoil'd by false education.

4. The multitude of Critics, and causes of'em.

5. That we are to study our own Taste, and

know the limits of it.

6. Nature the best guide of Judgment.

7. Improv'd by Art, and Rules, which are

but methodiz'd Nature.

8. Rules deriv'd from the Practice of the an

cient Poets.

9. That therefore the Ancients are necessary

to be ftudy'd by a Critic, particularly Homer

and Virgil.

10. Of Licenses, and the ufe of'em by the

Ancients.

11. Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise

of'em.

PART II. Ver. 204, &c.

Caufes hind'ring a true Judgment, 1. Pride.

2. Imperfect Learning. 3. Judging by parts, and

not by the whole : Critics in Wit, Language,

Verfification, only. 4. Being too hard to please,

or too apt to admire. 5. Too much Love to a

Sect,-

to the the Ancients or Moderns. 6. Pre-

judice, or Prevention. 7. Singularity. 8. Inconf

tancy. 9. Partiality. 10. Envy. Against Envy,

and in the praise of Good-nature. When Seve-

rity is chiefly to be used by Critics? Against

Immorality and Obscenity.

-

PART III. Ver. 565, &c.

Rules forthe Conduct of Manners in a Critic.

Candour, Modefty, Good-breeding, Sincerity

and Freedom of Advice. When one's Counsel is

to be reftrain'd? Character of an incorrigible

Poet. And of an impertinent Critic. The Cha-

racter of a good Critic. The History of Criti-

cifm, and Characters of the beft Critics. Arif.

totle, Horace, Dionyfius, Petronius, Quinti-

lian, Longinus. Of the Decay of Criticism, and
its Revival. Erafmus, Vida, Boileau, Lord

Rofcommon, &c.— Conclufion.

-

AN ESSAY