amination, that trembling sensibility which he always mani- 

 fested with regard to his literary reputation, will not al- 

 low us to suppose it; it remains then that we account for 

 it by his ignorance of that art, which professes to unfold the 

 most complicated chain of fallacy, and guide the mind in 

 safety through the labyrinth of ingenious sophistry. Here 

 then we see an important advantage to be derived to the 

 poet from the study of the art of reasoning ; and the same 

 instance is sufficient to prove its still more indispensable ne- 

 cessity to the critic. " The Essay on Man" says Johnson *, 

 " abounded in splendid amplifications and sparkling senten- 

 ces, which were read and admired, with no great attention 

 to their ultimate purpose; it's flowers caught the eye, which 

 did not see what the gay foliage concealed, and for a time 

 flourished in the sunshine of universal approbation.. So little 

 was any evil tendency discovered, that, as innocence is un- 

 suspicious, many read it for a manual of piety." Here was 

 that semblance of majesty, against which Longinus advises 

 the Clitic to be so cautious, and with such dexterity and ele- 

 gance was the counterfeit wrought, that it was received as 

 genuine by the universal English nation; and for the disco- 

 very of the imposture, the world was indebted, not to any 

 of the wits and more refined critics of the da}', but to a pro- 

 fessed writer on the subject of logic. 



Thus have we seen that subjects of a lighter and more ele- 

 gant turn arc capable of being treated with encreased. per- 



* Life of Pope. 



