I 



Sect. IV.] Satirical Poetry. 25 



the ancient satirists, his Diinciad*^ and several 

 other performances of a similar kind, have been 

 long admired. In keenness of satire, energy of 

 description, condensation of thought, and vivaci- 

 ty and correctness of style, he is perhaps supe- 

 rior to all who went before him : and though 

 the moral tendency of some of his pictures may 

 be questioned, yet he lashes vice with great force 

 and effect f. The Love of Fame the Universal 



* Some of the Images in the Dunciad are very gross and dis- 

 gusting. Pope had too much of that fondness for impure ideas 

 which was so conspicuous, and carried so much further, in the 

 writings of Swift. 



f The author of the Pursuits of Literature thus speaks of this 

 great poet : " The sixth and last of this immortal brotherhood, 

 (the Satirists) in the fulness of time, and in the maturity of poetical 

 power, came Pope. All that was wanting to his illustrious pre- 

 decessor found its consummation in the genius, knowledge, cor- 

 rect sense, and condensation of thought and expression, which 

 distinguished this poet. The tenour of his life was peculiarly 

 favourable to his office. He had/rs^ cultivated all the flowery 

 grounds of poetry. He had excelled in description, in pastoral, 

 in the pathetic, and in general criticism ; and had given an En- 

 glish existence in perpetuity to the father of all poetry. Thus 

 honoured, and with these pretensions, he left them all for that ex- 

 cellence, for which the maturity of his talents and judgement so 

 eminently designed him. Familiar with the great ; intimate with 

 the polite; graced by the attentions o{ the fair; admired by the 

 learned ; a favourite with the nation ; independent in an acquir- 

 ed opulence, the honourable product of his genius and industry; 

 the companion of persons distinguished for birth, high fashion, 

 rank, wit, or virtue ; resident in the centre of all public infor- 

 mation and intelligence; every avenue to knowledge and every 

 mode of observation were open to his curious, prying, piercing, 

 and unwearied intellect. His works are so generally read and 

 studied, that I should not merely fatigue, but I should almost in- 

 sult you by such a needless disquisition." 



