Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/18

 That I used no artifice to raise or continue a repu­tation, depreciated no dead author I was obliged to, brib'd no living one with unjust praise, in­sulted no adversary with ill language, or when I could not attack a Rival's works, encourag'd re­ports against his Morals. To conclude, if this vo­lume perish, let it serve as a warning to the Cri­tics, not to take too much pains for the future to destroy such things as will die of themselves; and a Memento mori to some of my vain contemporaries the Poets, to teach them that when real merit is wanting, it avails nothing to have been encourag'd by the great, commended by the eminent, and fa­vour'd by the public in general.