ABSTRACT
In his Dedication of Examen Poeticum (1693) Dryden wrote:
Thus the corruption of a Poet, is the Generation of a Critick: I mean of a Critick in the general acceptation of this Age: For formerly they were quite another Species of Men. They were Defendors of Poets, and Commentators on their Works: to Illustrate obscure Beauties; to place some passages in a better light, to redeem others from malicious Interpretations: to help out an Author’s Modesty, who is not ostentatious of his Wit; and, in short, to shield him from the Ill-Nature of those Fellows, who were then call’d Zoili, and Momi, and now take upon themselves the Venerable Name of Censors…: what their Reputation was then, we know; and their Successours in this Age deserve no better. 1
