_Various Readings in the Life of_ DRYDEN.
'The reason of this general perusal, Addison has attempted to [find in]
_derive from_ the delight which the mind feels in the investigation
of secrets.
'His best actions are but [convenient] _inability of_ wickedness.
'When once he had engaged himself in disputation, [matter] _thoughts_
flowed in on either side.
'The abyss of an un-ideal [emptiness] _vacancy_.
'These, like [many other harlots,] _the harlots of other men_, had his
love though not his approbation.
'He [sometimes displays] _descends to display_ his knowledge with
pedantick ostentation.
'French words which [were then used in] _had then crept into_
conversation.'
The Life of POPE[163] was written by Johnson _con amore_, both from the
early possession which that writer had taken of his mind, and from the
pleasure which he must have felt, in for ever silencing all attempts to
lessen his poetical fame, by demonstrating his excellence, and
pronouncing the following triumphant eulogium[164]:--'After all this, it
is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked,
Whether Pope was a poet? otherwise than by asking in return, If Pope be
not a poet, where is poetry to be found? To circumscribe poetry by a
definition, will only shew the narrowness of the definer; though a
definition which shall exclude Pope will not easily be made.
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