alse Scents, like a Spaniel, that
starts away at Random after a Stone, which is kept back in the
Hand, though It seem'd to fly before him. To speak with Freedom
on this Subject, is a Task of more Danger than Honour; for few
Minds have real Greatness enough to consider a Detection of their
Errors, as a Warning to their Conduct, and an Advantage to their
Fame; But no discerning Judgment will consider it as ill Nature,
in one Writer, to mark the Faults of another. A general Practice
of that Kind wou'd be the highest Service to poetry. No Disease
can be cur'd, till its Nature is examin'd; and the first likely
Step towards correcting our Errors, is resolving to learn
impartially, that we have Errors to be corrected.

I will, therefore, with much Freedom, but no manner of Malice,
remark an Instance or two, from no mean Writers, to prove, that
our Poetry has been degenerating apace into mere Sound, or
Harmony; nor ought This to be consider'd as an invidious Attempt,
since whatever Pains we take, about polishing our Numbers, where
we raise not our Meaning, are as impertinently bestowed, as the
Labour wou'd be, of setting a broken Leg after the Soul has left
the Body. The Gunners have a Custom, when a Ball is too little
for the Bore of their Canon, to wrap Towe about it, till it
fills the Mouth of the Piece; after which, it is discharg'd, with
a Thunder, proportionable to the Size of the Gun; But its
Execution at the Mark, will immediately discover, that the Noise
of the Discharge was a great deal too big for the Diameter of the
Bullet. It is just the same thing with an unsinewy Imagination,
sent abroad in sounding Numbers; The Loftiness of the Expression
will astonish shallow Readers into a temporary Admiration, and
support it, for a while; but the Bounce, however loud, goes no
farther than the Ear; The Heart remains unreach'd by the Languor
of the Sentiment.

Poetry, the most elevated Exertion of human Wit, is no more than
a weak and contemptible Amusement, wanting Energy of Thought, or
Propriety of Expression. Yet we may run into Error, by an
injudicious Affectation of attaining Perfection, as Men, who are
gazing upward, when they shou'd be looking to their Footsteps,
stumble frequently against Posts, while they have the Sun in
Contemplation.

In attempting, for Example, to modernize so lofty an Ode as the
104th Psalm, the Choice of Metaphors shou'd, methinks, have been
considered, as one of the most remarkable Difficul