I was always convinced by Example, that a Critick may have a just Taste, without being a Poet; and that the Indignation the _Guardian_ speaks of, is never provoked, unless a weak Place is hit upon: As, in the low Phrase, _A galled Horse winces when you touch the Sore_. In three or four Lines, we have _tasteless_, _heavy_, _dogmatical_, _stupid_ Macer _and_ Mundungus all of the poor Criticks. Had they been really such stupid Creatures, they could not have given such Offence. Hard Words shew Anger more than Indignation, and we are apt to conjecture, that the Poets would not be so angry with the Criticks, if they were not afraid of them. The Concern of the former is wonderfully generous; they are not in Pain for what the Criticks say of their Errours and Failings, but for the Heaviness and Stupidity of their Criticisms. Thus in the lowest Life, we shall often hear one angry Woman cry out of another, _I do not matter what she said of me, but to see the Impudence of the Slut_. _Macer_ and _Mundungus_ are taken from Mr. _Congreve_'s Epistle to Sir _Richard Temple_; _So_ Macer _and_ Mundungus _school the Times, And write in rugged Verse the softer Rules of Rhimes_. If the _Guardian_ had the Critick upon _Cato_ in his Thoughts, when he quoted those Verses, which I suppose he had, why does he mention rhiming Criticisms? That Author wrote his Rules and Remarks always in Prose, so did _Rymer_; what then do they all mean by _rugged Verse_? The Lord _Roscommon_'s Poetry is Harmony it self. The last Essay upon Criticism in Verse was not then written. There remains only the late Duke of _Buckingham_'s Poetical Essay, of Note enough to be remembered by Mr. _Congreve_: That could not be named, without offending _good Breeding_, a Term very often made use of by two elegant Authors; who, I much question, had never the Education of a Dancing-Master. However, Poetry and Criticism are perfect Levellers, and no Man can plead Privilege in the Court of _Parnassus_; what then is the Meaning of the next Lines after _Mundungus_? _Well do they play the careful Critick's Part, Instructing doubly by their matchless Art: Rules for good Verse they first with Pains indite, Then shew us what are bad by what they write._