——Far the greatest part
Of what some call neglect is studied art.
When Virgil seems to trifle in a line,
'Tis but a warning piece which gives the sign,
To wake your fancy and prepare your sight
To reach the noble height of some unusual flight.—Warton.
Variety and contrast are necessary, and it is impossible all parts should be equally excellent. Yet it would be too much to recommend introducing trivial or dull passages to enhance the merit of those in which the whole effort of genius might be employed.—Bowles.
[120] Modeste, et circumspecto judicio de tantis viris pronunciandum est, ne (quod plerisque accidit) damnent quod non intelligunt. Ac si necesse est in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa displicere maluerim. Quint.—Pope.
Lord Roscommon was not disposed to be so diffident in those excellent verses of his Essay:
For who, without a qualm, hath ever looked
On holy garbage, though by Homer cooked?
Whose railing heroes, and whose wounded gods,
Make some suspect he snores as well as nods.—Wakefield.
Pope originally wrote in his manuscript,
Nor Homer nods so often as we dream,
which was followed by this couplet:
In sacred writ where difficulties rise,
'Tis safer far to fear than criticise.
[121] So Roscommon's epilogue to Alexander the Great: