ABSTRACT
BOILEAU [attacking Pope for wasting his poetic energies as a translator and editor]. I cannot but regret that your talents were thus employed. A great poet so tied down to a tedious translation is a Columbus chained to an oar. What new regions of fancy, full of treasures yet untouched, might you have explored if you had been at liberty boldly to expand your sails and steer your own course under the conduct and direction of your own genius!—But I am still more angry with you for your edition of Shakespeare. The office of an editor was below you, and your mind was unfit for the drudgery it requires. Would any body think of employing a Raphael to clean an old picture?
