expected to dictate. He supposes
himself to be asked two questions; whether the essay will succeed, and
who or what is the author.

Its success he admits to be secured by the false opinions then
prevalent: the author he concludes to be "young and raw."

"First, because he discovers a sufficiency beyond his little ability,
and hath rashly undertaken a task infinitely above his force. Secondly,
while this little author struts, and affects the dictatorian air, he
plainly shows, that at the same time he is under the rod; and, while he
pretends to give laws to others, is a pedantick slave to authority and
opinion. Thirdly, he hath, like schoolboys, borrowed both from living
and dead. Fourthly, he knows not his own mind, and frequently
contradicts himself. Fifthly, he is almost perpetually in the wrong."

All these positions he attempts to prove by quotations and remarks; but
his desire to do mischief is greater than his power. He has, however,
justly criticised some passages: in these lines,

There are whom heav'n has bless'd with store of wit,
Yet want as much again to manage it;
For wit and judgment ever are at strife--

is apparent, that _wit_ has two meanings; and that what is wanted,
though called _wit_, is, truly, judgment. So far Dennis is undoubtedly
right; but, not content with argument, he will have a little mirth, and
triumphs over the first couplet in terms too elegant to be forgotten.
"By the way, what rare numbers are here! Would not one swear that this
youngster had espoused some antiquated muse, who had sued out a divorce
on account of impotence from some superannuated sinner; and, having been
p--xed by her former spouse, has got the gout, in her decrepit age,
which makes her hobble so damnably?" This was the man who would reform
a nation sinking into barbarity.

In another place Pope himself allowed, that Dennis had detected one of
those blunders, which are called "bulls." The first edition had this
line:

What is this wit--
Where wanted, scorn'd; and envied, where acquir'd?

"How," says the critick, "can wit be scorn'd where it is not? Is not
this a figure frequently employed in Hibernian land? The person that
wants this wit may, indeed, be scorned, but the scorn shows the honour
which the contemner has for wit." Of this remark Pope made the proper
use, by correcting the passage.

I have preserved, I think, all that is reasonable in Dennis's criticism;
it remains, that justic