Collier so formidable an enemy that we should shun him. He
has lost ground at the latter end of the day by pursuing his point too
far, like the Prince of Conde at the battle of Senneffe: from immoral
plays to no plays--_ab abusu ad usum, non valet consequentia_.
[Footnote: From the fact that there are immoral plays to the inference
that there should be no plays the argument does not follow.] But being
a party, I am not to erect myself into a judge. As for the rest of
those who have written against me, they are such scoundrels that they
deserve not the least notice to be taken of them. Blackmore and Milbourn
are only distinguished from the crowd by being remembered to their
infamy.
----Demetri teque, Tigelli,
Discipulorum inter jubeo plorare cathedras.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
(1709-1784.)
III. ON THE METAPHYSICAL POETS.
The criticism of the 'metaphysical poets' occurs in the Life of Cowley,
published as one of the _Lives of the Poets_ in 1780. The name
'metaphysical poetry' was first devised by Dryden, in his _Essay of
Dramatic Poesy_.
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