And did not know it; no, they went about
Holding a poor _decrepit_ standard out
Mark'd with most flimsy mottos, and in large
The name of _one_ Boileau.'

"A little before the manner of Pope is termed

"'A _scism_[8],
Nurtured by _foppery_ and barbarism,
Made great Apollo blush for this his land.'

"I thought '_foppery_' was a consequence of _refinement_; but
_n'importe_.

"The above will suffice to show the notions entertained by the new
performers on the English lyre of him who made it most tunable,
and the great improvements of their own _variazioni_.

"The writer of this is a tadpole of the Lakes, a young disciple of
the six or seven new schools, in which he has learnt to write such
lines and such sentiments as the above. He says, 'easy was the
task' of imitating Pope, or it may be of equalling him, I presume.
I recommend him to try before he is so positive on the subject, and
then compare what he will have _then_ written and what he has _now_
written with the humblest and earliest compositions of Pope,
produced in years still more youthful than those of Mr. K. when he
invented his new 'Essay on Criticism,' entitled 'Sleep and Poetry'
(an ominous title), from whence the above canons are taken. Pope's
was written at nineteen, and published at twenty-two.