Note 1071 — AN ESSAY ON MAN, IN FOUR EPISTLES (continued 3)
Reading edition
Dryden, Marriage-a-la-mode, Act ii.:
And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, That, spider-like, we feel the tender'st touch.—Wakefield.
These lines are admirable patterns of forcible diction. The peculiar and discriminating expressiveness of the epithets ought to be particularly regarded. Perhaps we have no image in the language more lively than that of ver. 218. "To live along the line," is equally bold and beautiful. In this part of the epistle the poet seems to have remarkably laboured his style, which abounds in various figures, and is much elevated. Pope has practised the great secret of Virgil's art, which was to discover the very single epithet that precisely suited each occasion. If Pope must yield to other poets in point of fertility of fancy, or harmony of numbers, yet in point of propriety, closeness, and elegance of diction, he can yield to none.—Warton.