Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,”
- Source
- Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot
- Date
- 1735
Meaning of “Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,”
The line describes a subtle form of hostility in which apparent approval is calibrated to diminish rather than support its target.
Where does it come from?
An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 11 / scan leaf 17, lines 199–212. “Damn with faint praise” belongs to Pope’s satirical portrait of “Atticus,” conventionally associated with Joseph Addison. It is polemical literary characterization inside Pope’s self-defence, not neutral biography or a general diagnosis of insincere praise.
