Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/126
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90
ESSAY on CRITICISM.
Once on a time, La Mancha's Knight, they say,
A certain Bard encount'ring on the way,
Discours'd in terms as just, with looks as sage,
As e'er could Dennis, of the laws o'th' stage;
Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,
That durst depart from Aristotle's rules.
Our author, happy in a judge so nice,
Produc'd his Play, and begg'd the Knight's advice;
Made him observe the subject and the plot,
The manners, passions, unities, what not?
All which, exact to rule, were brought about,
Were but a Combate in the lists left out.
"What! leave the combate out?" exclaims the knight;
Yes, or we must renounce the Stagyrite.
"Not so by heav'n" (he answers in a rage)
Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage."
The stage can ne'er so vast a throng contain.
"Then build a new, or act it in a Plain."
Thus Critics, of less judgment than caprice,
Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice,
A certain Bard encount'ring on the way,
Discours'd in terms as just, with looks as sage,
As e'er could Dennis, of the laws o'th' stage;
Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,
That durst depart from Aristotle's rules.
Our author, happy in a judge so nice,
Produc'd his Play, and begg'd the Knight's advice;
Made him observe the subject and the plot,
The manners, passions, unities, what not?
All which, exact to rule, were brought about,
Were but a Combate in the lists left out.
"What! leave the combate out?" exclaims the knight;
Yes, or we must renounce the Stagyrite.
"Not so by heav'n" (he answers in a rage)
Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage."
The stage can ne'er so vast a throng contain.
"Then build a new, or act it in a Plain."
Thus Critics, of less judgment than caprice,
Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice,
Form