£796. | 
Mr. W. feems to juftify this cold fen- 
tence, by obferving, that the ancient 
philofophers made that equilibrium of 
character, which prevents the emotion 
of admiration, a teft of perfect wifdom. 
But furely a poet thould not write. for 
fuch philofophors! Ibid. 
Some ne’er advance a judgment of their own, 
But catch the {preading notion of the town. 
Mr. W. ingenioufly fuppofes that the 
word cafch is here ufed in the fenfe of 
catching an epidemic difeafe. I demur, 
however, to this explanation, and rather 
incline to think the meaning like that of 
the author’s, ‘* ca/ch the manners living 
as theymues? = bid. 
What is that wit which moft our cares employ ? 
The owner’s wife that other men enjoy. 
Mr. W. fpeaks harfhly of the flovenly 
fuperfluity of words in the latter line, 
and afks, to whom can a wife belong, 
but to the ower? I can, however, dil- 
<ern no fuperfluity. ‘* Wit is to its 
owner, as a wife, &c.”’ Ibid. 
Horace ftill charms with graceful negligence, 
And without method talks us into fenfe. 
*“ A moft abfurd and romantic idea ! 
(exclaims Mr. W.) as if a man of genius 
wrote without a regular feries of ideas !”’ 
I am aware, that the want of method 
in Horace and other ancients, is a topic 
on which true clailical men are very 
fore ; but fuch an exclamation is only 
begging the quettion. One who denied 
method to Horace, would only fay, 
‘¢ then he is not yous man of genius.” 
Sol through white curtains fhot a tim’rous ray, 
And op’d thofe eyes that muft eclipfe the 
day. Rape of the Lock. 
Mr. W. clegantly explains ‘“orovs, 
as “pale and feeble from the medium 
through which it paft.’ But query, 
whether it may not be fmorous, as if 
afraid to look in. The fecond line fecms 
to make this probable. Ibid, 
Each filver vafe in my ftic order laid, 
Mr. W. objeéis to the epithet //ver, 
as not appropriate to the mock folemnity 
of the paflage. 1 fuppofe, however, it 
is ufed literally, for the materials of 
which the drefling boxes were made, 
as much as the tortoife and ivory for the 
combs. | 
Ibid. Mr. W. thinks the defcription 
of the game at ombre exceptionable, as 
being unconneéted with the machinery, 
and contributing nothing to the cataftro- 
Obfervations on Wakefield's Popes 
rE 
phe. But is not the pleafure arifing from 
Variety, a fufficient purpofe to Juitify 
digreifion > What would poetry be with- 
Out it? Ibid. 
While Hampton’s echoes, wretched maid! re= 
plied. 
This appears to Mr. W. a ridicule of 
the echo writings once in vocue. But 
the felicity or humour of thefe confifted 
in a rhyming word, which was a reply or 
a contraft to that in the preceding line of 
the couplet. In the prefent cafe, Pope 
clearly feems to have parodied Viregil’s 
“Ah miferam Eurydicen !” ' 
There the Arft rofes of the year fhall blow. 
Elegy on at Unfortunate Lady. 
Mr. W. propofes, as an emendation 
Spring tor year. Better as it is; for rofes 
do not blow till fummer. 
IT own I differ much from Mr. W. in 
his favourable opinion of the Epilogue io 
Fane Shore, which appears to me a filly 
picce of flippancy ; countenanced, in- 
deed, by the tafte of that time for pert 
epilogues. 
In Eloifa to Abelard, the line 
| Plants of thy hand, and children of thy 
pray’r, 
Is confidered by Mr. W. as containing a 
purely oriental expre{fion; but furely the 
allufion in “children of thy pray’r,”’ 
fimply refers to the {piritual paternity 
of Abelard, 
ee ftriking addrefs towards the con- 
ciulion of this admirable poem, begin- 
ning, “ Come, fifter; come,” has -been 
ee with wonderful effeét by Rouf- 
eau, in his Julie. “ J’entends murmu- 
rer une voix plaintive—Claire, 6 ma 
Claire, OU es-tu ? que fais-tu loin de ton 
amie ?—fon cercueij ne.la contient pas 
toute entiére,”’ 
The fober follies of the wife and great. 
Epifile to the Earl of Oxford. 
Mr. W. thinks there is an incongruity 
here, and that he ought to have written 
proud inftead of wife; but wife here only 
means fo in appearance, or grave, and 
there is an evident oppofition intended 
between follies and Wie, , a 
Juft when fhe learns to roll a melting eye, 
And hear a {park, yet think no danger nigh. 
; Epifile vi, 
This feems to Mr. W. ungrammatical, 
and he propofes to read hears and thinks. 
But why not, “ learns” to “hear,” and 
toss thank 3? on 
Ca ‘The 

