Page:The Poetical Works of Thomas Parnell (1833).djvu/302

174 to be without rest in the next, which was the case of the mouse before us. And accordingly the Ajax of Sophocles continues after the death of its hero more than an act, upon the contest concerning his burial. All this Zoilus knew very well: but Zoilus is not the only one who disputes for victory rather than truth. These foolish critics write even things they themselves can answer, to show how much they can write against an author. They act unfairly, that they may be sure to be sharp enough; and trifle with the reader, in order to be voluminous. It is needless to wish them the return they deserve: their disregard to candour is no sooner discovered, but they are for ever banished from the eyes of men of sense, and condemned to wander from stall to stall, for a temporary refuge from that oblivion which they cannot escape.

P. 53. v. 9. Our eldest perish'd.]Zoilus has here taken the recapitulation of those misfortunes which happened to the royal family, as an impertinence that expatiates from the subject; though indeed there seems nothing more proper to raise that sort of compassion, which was to inflame his audience to war. But what appears extremely pleasant is, that at the same time he condemns the passage, he should make use of it as an opportunity to fall into an ample digression on the various kinds of mouse-traps, and display that minute learning which every critic of his sort is fond to show himself master of. This they