And did by that describe the task so hard,
It seems stupendious, and above reward."
or,—
"To tell men freely of their foulest faults,
To laugh at their vain deeds and vainer thoughts:"
would proceed from Dryden, while it is to be noticed that the inharmonious rhymes "faults" and "thoughts" were favourites of Mulgrave, and occur twice in his Essay on Poetry.
Neither can I doubt that the verses on Shaftesbury,—the four "will any dog;" the four "For words and wit did anciently agree," the four "Mean in each action;" the two "Each pleasure has its price"—are Dryden's additions, with many others, which a careful reader will instantly appropriate.
I can find no sufficient authority for the statement of Malone and Sir W. Scott, that Pope revised the Essay on Satire. It is well known he corrected that on Poetry.
Jas. Crossley.
Manchester, Feb. 10. 1851.