We turn the pages of Cowl's _The Theory of Poetry in
England_, a book of critical extracts illustrating the development of
poetry "in doctrines and ideas from the sixteenth century to the
nineteenth century," and note Ben Jonson and Wordsworth referring to or
quoting Horace in the section on Poetic Creation; Dryden and Temple
appealing to him and Aristotle on the Rules; Hurd quoting him on Nature
and the Stage; Roger Ascham, Ben Jonson, and Dryden citing him as an
example on Imitation; Dryden and Chapman calling him master and
law-giver on Translation; Samuel Johnson referring to him on the same
subject; and Ben Jonson and Dryden using him on Functions and Principles
of Criticism. "Horace," writes Jonson, "an author of much civility, ...
an excellent and true judge upon cause and reason, not because he
thought so, but because he knew so out of use and experience." Pope, in
the _Essay on Criticism_, describes with peculiar felicity both Horace's
critical manner and the character of the authority, persuasive rather
than tyrannical, which he exercises over Englishmen:
"H_orace still charms with graceful negligence_,
A_nd without method talks us into sense_;
W_ill, like a friend, familiarly convey_
T_he truest notions in the easiest way_.
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