some secret meaning, some remote allusion, some artful allegory, or some occult imitation which no other reader ever suspected; but they have no perception of the cogency of arguments, the force of pathetick sentiments, the various colours of diction, or the flowery embellishments of fancy; of all that engages the attention of others, they are totally insensible, while they pry into worlds of conjecture, and amuse themselves with phantoms in the clouds.
In criticism, as in every other art, we fail sometimes by our weakness, but more frequently by our fault. We are sometimes bewildered by ignorance and sometimes by prejudice, but we seldom deviate far from the right, but when we deliver ourselves up to the direction of vanity.
Numb. 177. Tuesday, November 26, 1751.
Turpe est difficiles habere nugas. |
Mart. |
Those things which now seem frivolous and slight, Will be of serious consequence to you, |
Roscommon. |
TotheRAMBLER
SIR,
WHEN I was at the usual time, about to enter upon the profession to which my friends had destined me, being summoned, by the death of my father, into the country, I found myself master of an unexpected sum of money, and of an estate which, though not large, was, in my opinion, sufficient to support me in a condition far preferable to the fatigue, dependance,
