C It f 
founded upon obferving the (uperior pleafure which we 
receive from the relation of an ailion which is one and 
entire, beyond what we receive from the relation of f'cat- 
tered and unconnedted facts. Such obfervations, taking- 
their rife at firft from feeling and experience, were found 
on examination to be fo confonant to reafon, and to the 
principles of human nature, as to pafs into eftablifhed 
rules, and to be conveniently applied forjudging of the 
excellency of any performance. This is the molt natural 
account of the origin of criticifm. 
A maderly genius, it is true, will of himfelf, untaught, 
compofe in fuch a manner as (hall be agreeable to the 
mod material rules of criticifm; for, as thefe rules are 
founded in nature, fo nature will often fugged: them in 
practice. Homer, it is more than probable, was ac¬ 
quainted with no fyltems of the art of poetry. Guided 
by genius alone, he compofed in verfe a regular dory, 
■which all poderity has admired. But this is no argu¬ 
ment againd the ufefulnefs of criticifm as an art. For 
as no human genius is perfect, there is no writer but 
may receive allidance from critical obfervations upon 
the beauties and faults of thofe who have gone before 
him. No obfervations or rules can indeed fupply the 
defeat of genius, or infpire it where it is wanting. But 
they may often diredt it into its proper channel; they 
may correft its extravagancies, and point out to it the 
mod jud and proper imitation of nature. Critical rules 
are dedgned chiefly to fliew the faults that ought to be 
avoided. To nature we mud be indebted for the pro¬ 
duction of eminent beauties. 
From what has been faid, we are enabled to form a 
judgment concerning thofe complaints which it has long 
been falhionable for petty authors to make againd critics 
and criticifms. Critics have been reprefented as the 
great abridgers of the native liberty of genius; as the 
impofers of unnatural (hackles and bonds upon writers, 
from whofe cruel perfecution they mud fly to the pub¬ 
lic, and implore its protection. Such fupplicatory pre¬ 
faces are not calculated to give very favourable ideas of 
the genius of the author. For every good writer will 
be pleafed to have his work examined by the principles 
©f (bund underdanding and true tade. The declamations 
againd criticifm commonly proceed upon this fuppofltion, 
that critics are fuch as judge by rule, not by feeling; 
which is fo far from being true, that they who judge 
after this manner are pedants, not critics. For all the 
rules of genuine criticifm are ultimately founded on feel¬ 
ing ; and tade and feeling are necelfary to guide us in the 
application of thefe rules to every particular indance. 
As there is nothing in which all forts of perfons more 
readily affeCt to be judges than in works of tade, there 
is no doubt that the number of incompetent critics will 
always be great. But this affords no more foundation 
for a general invective againd criticifm, than the num¬ 
ber of ba-d philofophers or reafoners airords againd rea¬ 
fon and phjlofophy. An objection more plaudble may 
be formed againd criticifm, from the applaufe that fome 
performances have received from the public, which, 
when accurately confldered, are found to contradict the 
rules edablilhed by criticifm. Now, it mud be obvious 
to every diferiminating mind, that the public is tire fu- 
preme judge to whom the lad appeal mud be made in 
every work of tade ; as the dandard of tade is founded 
©n the fentiments that are natural and common to all 
men. But with refpect to this, we are to obferve, that 
the fenfe of the public is often too hadily judged of. 
The genuine public tade does not always appear in the 
fird applaul'e given upon the publication of any new 
work. There are both a great vulgar and a fmall, apt 
to be caught and dazzled by very fuperficial beauties, 
the admiration of which in a little time pafles away : 
and (ometimes a writer may acquire great temporary re¬ 
putation merely by his compliance with the paflions or 
prejudices, with the party-fpirit or fuperditious notions, 
Shat may chance to rule for a time aimed a whole nu. 
4 
C R I 367 
tion. In fuch cafes, though the public may feem to 
praife, true criticifm may with reafon condemn; and it 
will, in progrefs of time gain tire afeendant: for the 
judgment of true criticifm, and the voice of the public, 
when once become unprejudiced and difpallionate, will 
ever coincide at lad. 
I ndances there are of fome works that contain grofs tra-n f- 
greflions of the laws of criticifm, acquiring, neverthelefs, 
a general, and even a lading, admiration. Such are tire 
plays of Shakefpeare,- which, conlidered as dramatic po¬ 
ems, are irregular in the highed degree. But then we 
are to remark, that they have gained the public admira¬ 
tion, not by their being irregular, not by their tranfgref- 
(ions of the rules of art, but in fpite of fuch tranfgref- 
(ions. They podefs other beauties which are conform¬ 
able to jud rules ; and the force of thefe beauties has 
been fo great as to overpower all cenfure, and to give 
the public a degree of fatisfa&ion (uperior to the dif- 
gud aridng from their blemifhes. Shakefpeare pleafes, 
not by his bringing the tranfadlions of many years into 
one play ; not by his grotefque mixtures of tragedy and 
comedy in one piece ; nor by the drained thoughts, and 
adefted witticifms, which he fometimes employs. Thefe 
we condder as blemifhes, and impute them to the gioli- 
nefs of the age in which he lived. But he pleafes by his 
animated and maderly reprefentations of channders, by 
the livelinefs of his deferiptions, the force of his fenti- 
ments, and his poffeding, beyond ail writers, the natural 
language of pallion: beauties which true criticifm no 
lei's teaches us to place in the highed rank, than nature 
teaches us to feel. See Genius, Taste, &c. 
CRI'TO, an Athenian philofopher, who fiouriftted its 
the ninety-fourth olympiad, or about four centuries be¬ 
fore Chrid. He was the difciple and deady friend of 
Socrates, whom he carefully provided with necedaries 
during life, and for whom he wrote an apology againd 
the unjud fentence under which he was put to death. 
He was alfo the author of feventeen dialogues on moral, 
philofophical, and literary, fubjeils, of which the titles 
are fpecified by Diogenes Laertius. Being a rich man, 
and of a quiet and eafy temper, who would fooner part 
with his money on no ground than engage in a fuit at 
law, he was haraded and plundered by a let of men, who 
are in all places, and at all times, ready to take advan¬ 
tage of fuch a difpodtion ; until,, by the advice of So¬ 
crates, he fixed upon a poor but able lawyer, of that 
troublefome cad, and by condantly retaining him to fight 
his former afibciates at their own weapons, preferved 
himfelf and his friends from being inoleded by their in- 
ddious arts. 
CRITOLA'US, a peripatetic philofopher, native of 
Phafelis, a fea-port of I.ycia. Arriving at Athens, he 
became the fucceflor of Arido, and, excepting Diodorus 
\vho was his difciple, the lad who filled the chair <fi the 
peripatetic fchool in uninterrupted fuccefilon. Of the 
high edimation in which his talents were held we may 
form an idea from the circumdance, that he was dxed 
upon by the people of Athens, jointly with Carneades 
the academic, and Diogenes the lloic, to Undertake an 
embalfy to the Roman fenate, to obtain the mitigation of 
a due laid on the inhabitants of that city, without their 
having been heard in their own defence, and to imprefs 
the Romans with favourable fentiments of the literature 
and eloquence of Greece. Critolaus is faid to have held 
the dodtrine of the eternity of the world. 
CRITOLA'US, a citizen of Tegea in Arcadia, who, 
with two brothers, fought againd the two Ions’of Demo, 
dratus of Pheneus, to put an end to a long war between 
their refpeftive nations. The brothers of Critolaus were 
both killed, and he alone remained to withdand his three 
bold antagonids. He conquered them ; and when, at 
his return, his (ider deplored the death of one of his au- 
tagonids, to whom die was betrothed, he killed her in a 
dt of refentmerit. The offence deferved capital punifli, 
meat; but lie was pardoned, on account of the let vices 
lie 
