In this epigram Jonson satirizes a spiteful "courtling" who condemns his work with a fashionable faintness of approbation, or sets himself up as a censorious critic to gain a reputation for wit. The same thing Jonson satirizes here is found in Lucian's recommendation to the courtier in
The Rhetorician's Vade Mecum, Fowler:
And then do not wave your hand too much-warm approval is rather low: and as to jumping up, never do it more than once or twice. A slight smile is your best expression; make it clear that you do not think much of the thing.
So, Pope's "Damn with faint praise," &c.
*LII. — To Censorious Courtling
COURTLING, I rather thou shouldst utterly
Dispraise my work, than praise it frostily:
When I am read, thou feign'st a weak applause,
As if thou wert my friend, but lackd'st a cause.
This but thy judgement fools: the other way
Would both thy folly, and thy spite betray.
*An Epistle to Arbuthnot
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; [...]
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