396 POPE. 



that his efforts in literature showed marks of native vig- 

 or, indeed, but of a vigor clownish and uncouth. He 

 began to be ashamed of the provincialism which had 

 given strength, if also something of limitation, to his 

 character. 



Waller, who spent a whole summer in polishing the 

 life out of ten lines to be written in the Tasso of the 

 Duchess of York, expresses the prevailing belief as re- 

 garded poetry in the prologue to his " improvement " of 

 the " Maid's Tragedy " of Beaumont and Fletcher. He 

 made the play reasonable, as it was called, and there is 

 a -pleasant satire in the fact that it was refused a license 

 because there was an immoral king in it. On the throne, 

 to be sure, but on the stage ! Forbid it, decency ! 



" Above our neighbors' our conceptions are, 

 But faultless writing is the effect of care; 

 Our lines reformed, and not composed in haste, 

 Polished like marble, would like marble last. 



Were we but less indulgent to our fau'ts, 

 And patience had to cultivate our thoughts, 

 Our Muse would flourish, and a nobler rage 

 Would honor this than did the Grecian stage." 



It is a curious comment on these verses in favor of care- 

 ful writing, that Waller should have failed even to ex- 

 press his own meaning either clearly or with propriety. 

 He talks of " cultivating our thoughts," when he means 

 " pruning our style " ; he confounds the Muse with the 

 laurel, or at any rate makes her a plant, and then goes 

 on with perfect equanimity to tell us that a nobler 

 "rage" (that is, madness) than that of Greece would 

 follow the horticultural devices he recommends. It 

 never seems to have occurred to Waller that it is the 

 substance of what you polish, and not the polish itself, 

 that insures duration. Dry den, in his rough-and-ready 

 way, has hinted at this in his verses to Congreve on the 



