POPE. 339 



technical skill, of the ease that comes of practice, not of the 

 fulness of original power. And yet, as we have seen, while 

 he was in the very plenitude of his power, there was already 

 a widespread discontent, a feeling that what &quot; comes 

 nearest,&quot; as Phillips calls it, may yet be infinitely far from 

 giving those profounder and incalculable satisfactions of 

 which the soul is capable in poetry. A movement was 

 gathering strength which prompted 



&quot; The age to quit their clogs 

 By the known rules of virtuous liberty.&quot; 



Nor was it wholly confined to England. Symptoms of a 

 similar reaction began to show themselves on the Continent, 

 notably in the translation of Milton (1732) and the pub 

 lication of the &quot; Nibelungen Lied &quot; (1757) by Bodmer, and 

 the imitations of Thomson in France. Was it possible, 

 then, that there was anything better than good sense, 

 elegant diction, and the highest polish of style 1 Could 

 there be an intellectual appetite which antithesis failed to 

 satisfy ? If the horse would only have faith enough in his 

 green spectacles, surely the straw would acquire, not only 

 the flavour, but the nutritious properties of fresh grass. The 

 horse was foolish enough to starve, but the public is wiser. 

 It is surprising how patiently it will go on, for generation 

 after generation, transmuting dry stubble into verdure in 

 this fashion. 



The school which Boileau founded was critical and not 

 creative. It was limited, not only in its essence, but by 

 the capabilities of the French language and by the natural 

 bent of the French mind, which finds a predominant satis 

 faction in phrases if elegantly turned, and can make a 

 despotism, political or a3sthetic, palatable with the pepper of 

 epigram. The style of Louis XIV. did what his armies 

 failed to do. It overran and subjugated Europe. It struck 

 the literature of imagination with palsy, and it is droll 

 enough to see Voltaire, after he had got some knowledge of 

 Shakespeare, continually endeavouring to reassure himself 

 about the poetry of the grand siecle, and all the time 



