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It is an eſtabliſhed maxim in criticiſm, That an intereſting moral is eſſential to a good poem. The character of the Man of Fortune is of the utmoſt importance both in the political and moral world; to throw, therefore, a juſt ridicule on the purſuits and pleaſures which often prove fatal to the important virtues of the Gentleman, muſt afford an intereſting moral, but it is the management of the Writer which alone muſt render it ſtriking. Yet however he may have failed in attaining this, the Author may decently aſſert, that to paint falſe pleaſure as it is, ridiculous and contemptible, alike deſtructive to virtue and to happineſs, was, at leaſt, the purpoſe of his Poem.
It is also an eſtabliſhed maxim in criticiſm, That the ſubject of a poem ſhould be One; that every part ſhould contribute to the completion of One deſign, which, properly purſued, will naturally diffuſe itſelf into a regular Beginning, Middle, and End. Yet in attaining this Unity of the Whole, the neceſſary Regularity must ſtill be poetical, for the ſpirit of poetry cannot exiſt under the ſhackles of logical or mathematical arrangement. Or, to uſe the words of a very eminent Critic, "As there must needs be a connexion, ſo that connexion will beſt anſwer its end, and the purpoſe of the writer, which, whilſt it leads by a ſure train of thinking to the concluſion in view, conceals itſelf all the while, and leaves to the Reader the ſatisfaction of ſupplying the intermediate links, and joining together, in his
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