CONTENTS
. OP THE

. .
ESSAY on CRITICISM.

PART 1.

| Ntroduction. That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as

I to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public,

That a true Tafte is as rare to be found, as a true Ge-

nius, x 9 to 18.
That most men are born with some Taste, but spoil'd by false

Education, x 19 to 25.

The Multitude of Critics, and causes of them, ♡ 26 to 45.

That we are to study our own Taste, and know the Li-

mits of it, x: 46 to 67.

Nature the best guide of Judgment, x 68 to 87.

Improv'd by Art and Rules, which are but methodis'd

Nature, x 88.

Rules deriv’d from the Praktice of the Ancient Poets,

V id. to 110..

That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be study'd by

a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ý 120 to

138.

Of Licenses, and the use of them by the Ancients, x 140

to 18o.

Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them,

PART II. Ver, 203, etc.

Causes hindering a true Judgment. 1. Pride, x 208.

2. Imperfect Learning, x 215. 3. Judging by parts,

and not by the whole, X 233 ta 288. Critics in Wit,

Language, Versification, only, x 288. 306. 339, etc.

4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, X 384.

5. Partiality - 100 much love to a Sect, to the Anci

ents or Moderns, ¥ 394. 6. Prejudice or Prevention,

X 408. 7. Singularity, X 4.24. 8. Inconstancy, x 430.

9. Party Spirit, 452, etc. 10. Envy, x 466. Against

Envy and in praise of Good-nature, y 508, etc. When

Severity is chiefly to be used by Critics, ♡ 526, etc.

PART III. Ver. 560, etc,
Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic, 1. Can-

T IS hard to say, if greater want of skill

1 Appear in writing or in judging ill; But of the two, less dang’rous is th’offence To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.

COMMENTARY. . An Esay.] The Poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or members. The first (to 8 201.] gives rules for the Study of the Art of Criticism: the second [from thence to x 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 tho' it be intitled simply An Efay on Criticism, yet several of the precepts relate equally to the good writing as well as to the true judging of a poem. This is so far from violating the Unity of the Subject, that it preserves and compleats 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 reciprocally interwoven the precepts of each thro' his