The Truth is, Mr. _Addison_, in the above Quotation, has a Fling upon the Author of the Critick upon his _Cato_. _A few general Rules extracted out of the_ French _Authors, with a certain Cant of Words, have sometimes set up an illiterate heavy Writer, for a most judicious and formidable Critick._ I know no Instance wherein that Gentleman loses his Temper so much as in this. There were but three Authors in our Time who were _Criticks_ by Profession, _Rymer_, _Dennis_, and _Gildon_. _Rymer_ is own'd by himself to be a masterly Critick: He himself knew Mr. _Dennis_ did not want Learning; and as to Fire, he has perhaps rather too much of it, than too little. I can't help thinking, that the Ode he writ on _Dryden_'s Translation of the 3d Book of the _Georgicks_, in _Tonson_'s Fourth Miscellany, deserv'd a kinder Word than illiterate or heavy. STANZA II. _Sometimes of humble rural Things My Muse, which keeps great_ Maro _still in sight, In middle Air with varied Numbers sings; And sometimes her sonorous Flight To Heaven sublimely wings. But first takes Time with Majesty to rise Then, without Pride, divinely great She mounts her native Skies; And Goddess-like retains her State When down again she flies._ The Passage, taken out of the _Spectator_, could not relate to _Gildon_, because of the _French_ Cant, which he did not affect, nor understand. It is plain therefore, it must refer to the Critick upon _Cato_; which shews us, that as conscious as the most modest Man may be of his own Insufficiency; yet, when it is in Dispute, he cannot always preserve his Insensibility. _Cato_ is a very good _Dramatick_ Poem, and so was the _Cid_; yet the best _Critick_ that ever was written in _French_, was that upon the _Cid_, as _La Bruyere_ observes.