as dull as a Drawing-Room? Upon all theſe Occaſions, the World ſeems to have embraced a Maxim of our Law, viz. Cuicunq; in Arte ſua perito credendum eſt: For it ſeems, perhaps, difficult to conceive that any one ſhould have had enough of Impudence, to lay down dogmatical Rules in any Art or Science without the leaſt Foundation. In ſuch Caſes, therefore, we are apt to conclude there are ſound and good Reaſons at the Bottom, tho’ we are unfortunately not able to ſee ſo far.
Now, in Reality, the World have paid too great a Compliment to Critics, and have imagined them Men of much greater Profundity than they really are. From this Complaiſance, the Critics have been emboldened to aſſume a Dictatorial Power, and have ſo far ſucceeded that they are now become the Maſters, and have the Aſſurance to give Laws to thoſe Authors, from whoſe Predeceſſors they originally received them.
The Critic, rightly conſidered, is no more than the Clerk, whoſe Office is to tranſcribe the Rules and Laws laid down by thoſe great Judges, whoſe vaſt Strength of Genius hath placed them in the Light ofLegiſlators
