The use of Writing is Illustrated in the following Lines, which conclude my first Head of this Essay.
_By ancient Writing Knowledge is convey'd, Of famous Arts the best Foundation laid; By these the Cause of Liberty remains, Are Nations free'd from Arbitrary Chains, From Errors still our Church is purified, The State maintained, with justice on its Side._
I now advance to my second Particular, _Criticism_.
The fatal Criticism or Damnation which the Writings of some Authors meet with thro' their Obscurity, want of Friends and Interest in the World, &c. is very discouraging to the Productions of Literature: It is the greatest difficulty immaginable, for an obscure Person to Establish a Reputation in any sort of Writing; he's a long time in the same Condition with _Sisyphus_, rolling a heavy Stone against an aspiring Mount which perpetually descends again; it must be to his benign Stars, some lucky Subject suiting the Humour of the Times, more than the Beauty of his Performance, which he will be oblig'd for his Rise: And in this Age Persons in general, are so Estrang'd from bare Merit, that an Author destitute of Patronage will be equally Unsuccessful to a Person without Interest at Court, (and you'll as rarely find the Friendship of an _Orestes_, as the Chastity of _Penelope_) When a Man of Fortune has no other Task, than to give out a stupid Performance to be of his own Composing, and he's immediately respected as a Celebrated Writer: And if a Man has the good Fortune to hit the capricious Humour of the Age; after he has attained a Reputation with the utmost Difficulty, he's sure to meet with the severest Treatment, from a herd of Malicious and Implacable Scriblers.
This was the Case of the late Mr. _Dryden_, a Man for Learning and universal Writing in Poetry, perhaps the Greatest that _England_ has produc'd; he was Persecuted by Envy, with the utmost Inveteracy for many Years in Succession: And is the Misfortune at this Juncture of Mr. _Pope_, a Person tho' Inferior to Mr. _Dryden_, yet speaking Impartially has few Superiors in this Age: From these Considerations it is Evident, (tho' it seems a Paradox) that it is a Reputation to be Scandaliz'd, as a Person in all Cases of this Nature is allow'd some Merit, when Envy attacks him, and the World might not be sensible of it in General, without a publick Encounter in Criticism; and many Authors would be Buried in Oblivion were they not kept alive by Clamours against their Performances.