Alexander Pope, Neil Azevedo, Editor
from "Essay on Criticism" “Tis hard to say if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill; But of the two less dangerous is th’ offence To tire our patience than mislead our sense: Some few in that, but numbers err in this; Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss; A fool might once himself alone expose; Now one in verse makes many more in prose. ’Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own. In Poets as true Genius is but rare, True Taste as seldom is the Critic’s share; Both must alike from Heav’n derive their light, These born to judge, as well as those to write. Let such teach others who themselves excel, And censure freely who have written well; Authors are partial to their wit, ’tis true, But are not Critics to their judgment too? “ Yet if we look more closely, we shall find Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: Nature affords at least a glimm’ring light; The lines, tho’ touch’d but faintly, are drawn right: But as the slightest sketch, if justly traced, Is by ill col’ring but the more disgraced, So by false learning is good sense defaced: Some are bewilder’d in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools: In search of wit these lose their common sense, And then turn Critics in their own defence: Each burns alike, who can or cannot write, Or with a rival’s or an eunuch’s spite. All fools have still an itching to deride, And fain would be upon the laughing side. If Mævius scribble in Apollo’s spite, There are who judge still worse than he can write.”
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