Having complained that it was contrary to the laws of sight to suppose that a prospect in sleep could be extended beyond the ordinary range of mortal vision, Dennis proceeds to contend that for a rock to be sustained in the air was contrary to the eternal laws of gravitation, "which," says Pope sarcastically, in a manuscript note, "no dream ought to be." The cavil of Dennis was as false in science as in criticism, for it is not more contrary to the laws of gravitation for a rock to be suspended in space than for the earth itself.] [Footnote 15: Dryden, Æneis, vi. 193: Smooth the descent, and easy is the way.] [Footnote 16: Tho saw I all the hill y-grave With famous folkes names fele. That had been in muchel wele And her fames wide y-blow; But well unneth might I know Any letters for to rede Their names by, for, out of drede, They weren almost off-thawen so, That of the letters one or two Were molte away of every name, So unfamous was woxe their fame; But men said what may ever last.--POPE.] [Footnote 17: Tho gan I in myne harte cast, That they were molte away for heate, And not away with stormes beate.--POPE.] [Footnote 18: Does not this use of the heat of the sun appear to be a puerile and far-fetched conceit? What connection is there betwixt the two sorts of excesses here mentioned? My purpose in animadverting so frequently as I have done on this species of false thoughts is to guard the reader, especially of the younger sort, from being betrayed by the authority of so correct a writer as Pope into such specious and false refinements of style.--WARTON. Not only is the comparison defective, but the fundamental idea is unfounded, for though excess of admiration may produce a temporary reaction, the opinion of the world oscillates back to the middle line, and no instance can be quoted of an author who has finally lost his due reputation because he had once been overpraised. Chaucer makes a different use of the image. In his poem the north side of the icy mountain bears the names of the ancients which were safe from injury. The sunny side bears the names of the moderns, and he perhaps intended to intimate his opinion that the reason why their fame was less durable than that of the Greeks and Romans was that they were a more luxurious race, and did not in the same degree "scorn delights, and live laborious days" for the sake of producing immortal works.] [Footnote 19: