After all that has been said of the _Sublime, &c._ perhaps the Criticks do make more of Things than is necessary, or in Nature: Tho' Poets pretend to Inspiration, and cry out, _The god, the god_, they are, in the Main, but meer Men, and have their Tricks and Quirks to keep up the Reputation of that Art: Nay, like other Professions, they would have us believe, that there's Mystery in it too; not, I suppose, as Divines understand it, but in the vulgar Sense, as it is understood when we say, the Trade or Mystery of a _Cordwainer_. Some of these Poetical Mysteries are as follow. We are told that this Verse of _Homer_'s Third _Iliad_ was said, by _Alexander the Great_, to be the best in all the Poem: _Great in the Wars, and great in Arts of Sway._ Methinks our _Gazette_ Men, and _Courant_ Men, express themselves every whit as well, when in Honour of a defunct General, whose Activity had long furnish'd them with Matter for their News-Books, they tell us, He was great alike in the Camp, and in the Cabinet, which easily runs into as good a Verse as the other. _Great in the Camp, and in the Cabinet._ The next best Verses that ever were, are _Boileaus_; and they were said to be the best in all his Works, by _La Fontaine_: The Subject is the _French_ King's setting up Lace-making at _Roan_. Et nos voisins frustrez de ces tributs serviles, Que paiat a leur Art, le Luxe de nos Villes. _No more by foreign Tributes are we griev'd, Which, from our Luxury, alien Arts receiv'd._ Why these are better Verses than all other best Verses, is the Mystery we are speaking of, and like that of the Free-Masons, it cannot be unfolded but by a Brother; nay, one may suspect of this Mystery what is justly suspected of that; they do not tell it us, for fear we shou'd laugh at it. Of this Kind, doubtless, is the famous Couplet, taken out of Sir _John Denham_'s _Coopers-Hill_, which _Dryden_ says, are the two best Verses in the _English_ Tongue: _Tho' Deep, yet clear; tho' Gentle, yet not dull; Strong without Rage, without o'erflowing full._ He said he would not reveal the Secret why they were the best Verses, but left it as a Riddle to Posterity. I dare say, there are a Thousand as good Verses in Mr. _Pope_'s _Homer_, if by good Verses he means smooth ones, and one would think Three such Monysyllables as _Yet_, _Not_, _Dull_, all together, was enough to set aside the Claim of that Line. Having said so much already of my honest Intention In this _Essay_, I must, at last, refer it to the Judgement of the Reader, and whatever it is, shall receive it with Pleasure, when it is given with Candour. If he approves of what I have said, I cannot but be pleased with having given some few Hints to another. If he does not approve of it, 'twill please me still more to receive new Light my self.