equent among authors
than divines (when they are not pedants); that _fencing_-masters have
more of it than dancing-masters, and singers than players; and that
(if it be not an Irishism to say so) it is far more generally
diffused among women than among men. In poetry, as well as writing in
general, it will never _make_ entirely a poet or a poem; but neither
poet nor poem will ever be good for any thing without it. It is the
_salt_ of society, and the seasoning of composition. _Vulgarity_ is
far worse than downright _blackguardism_; for the latter comprehends
wit, humour, and strong sense at times; while the former is a sad
abortive attempt at all things, "signifying nothing." It does not
depend upon low themes, or even low language, for Fielding revels in
both;--but is he ever _vulgar_? No. You see the man of education, the
gentleman, and the scholar, sporting with his subject,--its master,
not its slave. Your vulgar writer is always most vulgar, the higher,
his subject; as the man who showed the menagerie at Pidcock's was
wont to say,--"This, gentlemen, is the _eagle_ of the _sun_, from
Archangel, in Russia; the _otterer_ it is, the _igherer_ he flies."
But to the proofs. It is a thing to be felt more than explained. Let
any man take up a volume of Mr. Hunt's subordinate writers, read (if
possible) a couple of pages, and pronounce for himself, if they
contain not the kind of writing which may be likened to
"shabby-genteel" in actual life. When he has done this, let him take
up Pope;--and when he has laid him down, take up the cockney
again--if he can.

* * * * *

_Note to the passage in page_ 396. _relative to Pope's
lines upon Lady Mary W. Montague_.] I think that I could
show, if necessary, that Lady Mary W. Montague was also
greatly to blame in that quarrel, _not_ for having
rejected, but for having encouraged him: but I would rather
decline the task--though she should have remembered her own
line, "_He comes too near, that comes to be denied_." I
admire her so much--her beauty, her talents--that I should do
this reluctantly. I, besides, am so attached to the very name
of _Mary_, that as Johnson once said, "If you called a
dog _Harvey_, I should love him;" so, if you were to call
a female of the same species "Mary," I should love it better
than others (biped or quadruped) of the same sex with a
different appellation. She was a