Pope here compares "half-learned" critics to the animals which old writers reported were bred from the Nile mud. In 'Antony and Cleopatra', for example, Lepidus says, "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Pope thinks of these animals as in the unformed stage, part "kindled into life, part a lump of mud." So these critics are unfinished things for which no proper name can be found. "Equivocal generation" is the old term used to denote spontaneous generation of this sort. Pope applies it here to critics without proper training who spring spontaneously from the mire of ignorance. '44 tell:' count. '45' The idea is that a vain wit's tongue could out-talk a hundred ordinary men's. '53 pretending wit:' presuming, or ambitious mind. '56-58 memory ... understanding imagination.' This is the old threefold division of the human mind. Pope means that where one of these faculties is above the average in any individual, another of them is sure to fall below. Is this always the case? '63 peculiar arts:' special branches of knowledge. '73' In what sense can nature be called the source, the end, and the test of art? '76 th' informing soul:' the soul which not only dwells in, but animates and molds the body. '80-81' What two meanings are attached to "wit" in this couplet? '84 'Tis more:' it is more important. 'the Muse's steed:' Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology, was supposed to be the horse of the Muses and came to be considered a symbol of poetic genius. '86 gen'rous:' high-bred. '88' What is the difference between "discovered" and "devised"? '94 Parnassus' top:' the Muses were supposed to dwell on the top of Parnassus, a mountain in Greece. Great poets are here thought of as having climbed the mountain to dwell with the Muses. '96' What is (cf. text) "the immortal prize"? '99 She', i.e. learned Greece, especially Greek criticism, which obtained the rules of poetry from the practice of great poets, and, as it were, systematized their inspiration. '104 following wits': later scholars. '105' What is meant by "the mistress" and "the maid" in this line? '109 Doctor's bills:' prescriptions. '112' These are the prosy commentators on great poets, whose dreary notes often disgust readers with the original. '120 fable:' plot. '123' What is the difference between "cavil" and "criticise"? '129 the Mantuan Muse:' the poetry of Virgil, which Pope thinks the best commentary on Homer. In what sense is this to be understood? '130 Maro:' Virgil, whose full name was Publius Vergilius Maro, Pope here praises Virgil's well-known imitation of Homer. Since "nature and Homer were the same," a young poet like Virgil could do nothing better than copy Homer. '138 the Stagirite:'