These, in Mr.
_Pope_'s Opinion, are Blunders, which the Illiteracy of the first
Publishers of his Works has father'd upon the Poet's Memory: _it not
being at all credible, that These could be the Errors of any Man who
had the least Tincture of a School, or the least Conversation with_
_such as had._ But I have sufficiently proved, in the Course of my
_Notes_, that such Anachronisms were the Effect of poetic Licence,
rather than of Ignorance in our Poet. And if I may be permitted
to ask a modest Question by the way, *Why may not I restore an
Anachronism really made by our Author, as well as Mr. _Pope_ take
the Privilege to fix others upon him, which he never had it in his
Head to make; as I may venture to affirm He had not, in the Instance
of Sir _Francis Drake_, to which I have spoke in the proper Place?
But who shall dare make any Words about this Freedom of Mr. _Pope_'s
towards _Shakespeare_, if it can be prov'd, that, in his Fits of
Criticism, he makes no more Ceremony with good _Homer_ himself?
To try, then, a Criticism of his own advancing; In the 8th Book of
the _Odyssey_, where _Demodocus_ sings the Episode of the Loves of
_Mars_ and _Venus_; and that, upon their being taken in the Net by
_Vulcan_,
----the God of Arms
Must pay the Penalty for lawless Charms;
Mr. _Pope_ is so kind gravely to inform us, "That _Homer_ in This,
as in many other Places, seems to allude to the Laws of _Athens_,
where Death was the Punishment of Adultery.
Pages:
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63