Faith, Gospel, all, seem'd made to be disputed, And none had sense enough to be confuted: Scotists and Thomists, now, in peace remain, Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Duck-lane. 445 NOTES. Ver. 444. Scotists] So denominated from Johannes Duns Scotus. Erasmus tells us, an eminent Scotist assured him, that it was impossible to understand one single proposition of this famous Duns, unless you had his whole metaphysics by heart. This hero of incomprehensible fame suffered a miserable reverse at Oxford in the time of Henry VIII. That grave antiquary, Mr. Antony Wood (in the Vindication of himself and his writings from the reproaches of the Bishop of Salisbury), sadly laments the deformation, as he calls it, of that University, by the King's Commissioners; and even records the blasphemous speeches of one of them, in his own words-"We have set Duns in Boccardo, with all his blind Glossers, fast nailed up upon posts in all common houses of easement." Upon which our venerable Antiquary thus exclaims: "If so be, the Commissioners had such disrespect for that most famous author, J. Duns, who was so much admired by our predecessors, and so difficult to be understood, that the Doctors of those times, namely, Dr. William Roper, Dr. John Keynton, Dr. William Mowse, &c. professed, that, in twenty-eight years study, they could not understand him rightly, what then had they for others of inferior note?"-What indeed! But if so be, that most famous J. Duns was so difficult to be understood (for that this is a most theologic proof of his great worth, is past all doubt), I should conceive our good old Antiquary to be a little mistaken. And that the nailing up this Proteus of the Schools was done by the Commissioners in honour of the most famous Duns: There being no other way of catching the sense of so slippery and dodging an Author, who had eluded the pursuit of three of their most renowned Doctors in full cry after him, for eight and twenty years together. And this Boccardo in which he was confined, seemed very fit for the purpose; it being observed, that men are never more serious and thoughtful than in that place of retirement. Scribl. Warburton. Ver. 444. Thomists] From Thomas Aquinas, a truly great ge nius, If Faith itself has diff'rent dresses worn, What wonder modes in Wit should take their turn? Oft, leaving what is natural and fit, The current folly proves the ready wit; NOTES. BIJO nius, who, in those blind ages, was the same in theology, that our Friar Bacon was in natural philosophy; less happy than our countryman in this, that he soon became surrounded with a number of dark Glossers, who never left him till they had extinguished the radiance of that light, which had pierced through the thickest night of Monkery, the thirteenth century, when the Waldenses were suppressed, and Wickliffe not yet risen. Warburton. The Summa summæ, &c. of Thomas Aquinas, is a treatise well deserving a most attentive perusal, and contains an admirable view of Aristotle's Ethics. Aquinas did not understand Greek; what he knew of Aristotle he got from Averroes, an Arabian, whom the Spanish Jews first translated into Hebrew, and from Hebrew into Latin. Warton. Ver. 445. Amidst their kindred cobwebs] Were common sense disposed to credit any of the Monkish miracles of the dark and blind ages of the Church, it would certainly be one of the seventh century, recorded by honest Bale. "In the sixth general council (says he) holden at Constantinople, Anno Dom. 680, contra Monothelitas, where the Latin Mass was first approved, and the Latin ministers deprived of their lawful wives, spiders' webbs, in wonderfull copye were seen falling down from above, upon the heads of the people, to the marvelous astonishment of many.”— The justest emblem and prototype of School Metaphysics, the divinity of Scotists and Thomists, which afterwards fell, in wonderfull copye on the heads of the people, in support of Transubstantiation, to the marvelous astonishment of many, as it continues to do to this day. Warton. Ver. 445. Duck-lane.] A place where old and second-hand books were sold formerly, near Smithfield. P. Ver. 448. Oft, leaving what is natural] Ita comparatum est humanum ingenium, ut optimarum rerum satietate, defatigetur. Unde 450 And authors think their reputation safe, COMMENTARY. Ver. 452. Some valuing those of their own side or mind, &c.] 3. The third and last instance of partiality in the learned, is Party and Faction. Which is considered from ver. 451 to 474, where he shews how men of this turn deceive themselves, when they load tere. NOTES. a writer Unde fit, artes, necessitatis vi quâdam crescere, aut decrescere semper, et ad summum fastigium evectas, ibi non diu posse consisThus music, deserting simple and pathetic expression, is taken up with tricks of execution, and a sort of slight of hand. Thus Borromini, to be new and original, has, as Mr. Walpole expresses it, twisted and curled architecture, by inverting the volutes of the Ionic order. L'ennui du Beau, amene le gout du Singulier. This will happen in every country, every art, and every age. Warton. Ver. 450. And authors think, &c.] This is an admirable satire on those called Authors in fashion, the men who get the laugh on their side. He shews on how pitiful a basis their reputation stands, the changeling disposition of fools to laugh, who are always carried away with the last joke. Warburton. Ver. 451. as long as fools] "Mirabile est (says Tully De Oratore, VARIATIONS. Ver. 447. Between this and ver. 452. The rhyming clowns that gladded Shakespear's age, No more with crambo entertain the stage; Who now in anagrams their patron praise, Or sing their mistress in acrostic lays? Ev'n pulpits pleas'd with merry puns of yore; Thus leaving what was natural and fit, And authors thought their reputation safe, Which liv'd as long as fools were pleas'd to laugh. Fondly we think we honour merit then, COMMENTARY. 455 They fancy they a writer of their own side with commendation. are paying tribute to merit, when they are only sacrificing to selflove. But this is not the worst. He further shews, that this party-spirit has often very ill effects on Science itself; while, in support of Faction, it labours to depress some rising genius, that was, perhaps, raised by nature, to enlighten his age and country. By which he would insinuate, that all the baser and viler passions seek refuge, and find support in party-madness. NOTES. Oratore, lib. iii.) quum plurimum in faciendo inter doctum et rudem, quàm non multum differant in judicando." Horace and Milton declare against general approbation, and wish for "fit audience though few." And Tully relates, in his Brutus, the story of Antimachus, who, when his numerous auditors all gradually left him, except Plato, said, I still continue reading my work; Plato, enim mihi unus instar est omnium. The noble confidence and strength of mind in Milton, is not in any circumstance more visible and more admirable, than his writing a poem in a style and manner that he was sure would not be relished or regarded by his corrupt contemporaries. He was different in this respect from Bernardo Tasso, the father of his beloved Torquato, who, to satisfy the vulgar taste and current opinions of his country, new-modelled his epic poem Amadigi, to make it more wild and romantic, and less suited to the rules of Aristotle. Warton. Ver. 459. shapes of Parsons, Critics,] The Parson alluded to was Jeremy Collier; the Critic was the Duke of Buckingham; the first of whom very powerfully attacked the profligacy, and the latter the irregularity and bombast of some of Dryden's plays. These attacks were much more than merry jests. Warton. But sense surviv'd when merry jests were past; 460 For rising merit will buoy up at last. 465 Might he return, and bless once more our eyes, NOTES. Ver. 463. Milbourn] The Rev. Mr. Luke Milbourn. Dennis served Mr. Pope in the same office. But these men are of all times, and rise up on all occasions. Sir Walter Raleigh had Alexander Ross; Chillingworth had Cheynel; Milton a first Edwards; and Locke a second; neither of them related to the third Edwards of Lincoln's Inn. They were Divines of parts and learning: this a Critic without one or the other. Yet (as Mr. Pope says of Luke Milbourn) the fairest of all critics; for having written against the Editor's remarks on Shakespear, he did him justice in printing, at the same time, some of his own. Warburton. But all impartial critics allow the remarks to have been decisive and judicious; and his Canons of Criticism remain unrefuted and unanswerable. Warton. Ver. 465. Zoilus again] In the fifth book of Vitruvius is an account of Zoilus's coming to the court of Ptolemy at Alexandria, and presenting to him his virulent and brutal censures of Homer, and begging to be rewarded for his work; instead of which, it is said, the king ordered him to be crucified, or, as some said, stoned alive. His person is minutely described in the 11th book of Elian's various History. Warton. Ver. 468. For envy'd Wit, &c.] This similitude implies a fact too often verified; and of which we need not seek abroad for examples. It is this, that frequently those very authors, who have at first done all they could to obscure and depress a rising genius, have |