390 POPE. 



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

 publication of the Nibehmgen Lied (1757) by Bodmer, 

 and the imitations of Thomson in France. Was it pos- 

 sible, then, that there was anything better than good 

 •sense, elegant diction, and the highest polish of style 1 

 Coul4 there be an intellectual appetite which antithesis 

 failed to satisfy 1 If the horse would only have faith 

 enough in his gi'eeu spectacles, surely the straw would 

 acquire, not only the flavor, but the nutritious proper- 

 ties of fresh gi-ass. 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 sesthetic, palatable with the pep- 

 per of epigram. The styla 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 Voltau-e, after he had got some 

 knowledge of Shakespeare, continually endeavormg to rc- 

 assu}'e 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 1 " He seems 

 to have felt that there was a dreadful mistake somewhere, 

 when poetry must be called upon to prove itself ius})ired, 

 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 'J It 

 was something, at any rate, which an increasing number 

 ')f persons wei'e perverse enough to feel in attempting 



