390 POPE. 



nent, notably in the translation of Milton (1732) and the 

 publication of the Nibdungen Lied (1757) by Bodmer, 

 and the imitations of Thomson in France. ~\Vas it pos 

 sible, then, that there was anything better than good 

 sense, elegant diction, and the highest polish of style \ 

 ' 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 flavor, but the nutritious proper 

 ties of fresh grass. The horse was foolish enough to 

 starve, but the public is wiser. It is surprising how pa 

 tiently 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 natu 

 ral bent of the French mind, which finds a predominant 

 satisfaction in phrases if elegantly turned, and can make 

 a despotism, political or aesthetic, palatable with the pep 

 per 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 endeavoring to re 

 assure himself about the poetry of the grand siecle, and 

 all the time asking himself, " Why, in the name of all 

 the gods at once, is this not the real thing ! " He seems 

 to have felt that there was a dreadful mistake somewhere, 

 when poetry must be called upon to prove itself inspired, 

 above all when it must demonstrate that it is interesting, 

 all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. Diffi 

 culty, according to Voltaire, is the tenth Muse ; but how 

 if there were difficulty in reading as well as writing ? It 

 was something, at any rate, which an increasing number 

 of persons were perverse enough to feel in attempting 



