All this may be; the People's Voice is odd,
It is, and it is not, the voice of God.
Toh Gammer Gurton if it give the bays,
And yet deny the Careless Husband praise,
Or fay our Fathers never broke a rule;
Why then, I fay, the Public is a fool.

90

But let them own, that greater Faults than we 95 They had, and greater Virtues, I'll agree.

i

Spenfer himself affects the Obfolete,

And Sydney's verse halts ill on

1

k Roman feet:

Milton's ftrong pinion now not Heay'n can bound." Now Serpent-like, in profe he fweeps the ground, In Quibbles, Angel and Archangel join,

And God the Father turns a school-divine.

101

" Not that I'd lop the Beauties from his book,
Like" flashing Bentley with his defp'rate hook,
Or damn all Shakespear, like th' affected Fool 105
At court, who hates whate'er he read at school.

But for the Wits of either Charles's days,
The Mob of Gentlemen who wrote with Ease;'
Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more,
(Like twinkling ftars the Mifcellanies o'er)
One Simile, that P. folitary shines

In the dry desert of a thousand lines,

110

Or lengthen'd Thought that gleams through many

a page,

Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia craffe Compofitum, illepideve putetur, fed quia nuper; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem et praemia posci. 'Recte néone crocum florefque perambulet Attac Fabula, fi dubitem; clamant periisse pudorem Cuncti pene patres: ea cum reprehendere çoner, Quae gravis Aefopus, quac doctus Rofcius egit. Vel quia nil rectum, nifi quod placuit fibi, ducunt; Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, et, quae Imberbi didicere, fenes perdenda fateri... Jam Saliare Numae carmen qui laudat, et illud, Quod mecum ignorat, folus vult scire videri ; Ingeniis non ille favet plauditque fepultis,

Noftra fed impugnat, nos noftraque lividus odit. * Quod fi tam Graecis novitas invifa fuiffet,

Quam nobis ; quid nunc effet vetus! aut quid haberet,

Qyod legeret tereretque viritim publicus ufus?

V21. 119. On Avon's bank,] At Stratford in Warwickshire, where Shakespear had his birth. The thought of the Original is here infinitely improved. Perambulet is a low allufion to the name and imperfections of Atta,

115

'I lose my patience, and I own it too,

When works are cenfur'd, not as bad but new;
While if our Elders break all reafon's laws,
Thefe fools demand not pardon, but Applaufe.
'On Avon's bank, where flow'rs eternal blow,
If I but afk, if any weed can grow?

One Tragic fentence if I dare deride,

t

Which Betterton's grave action dignify'd,

Or well-mouth'd Booth with emphasis proclaims. (Tho' but, perhaps, a mufter-roll of Names) How will our Fathers rife úp in a rage,

And fwear, all fhame is loft in George's Age!

120

125

You'd think no Fools difgrac'd the former reign,
Did not fome grave Examples yet remain,
Who fcorn a Lad fhould teach his father skill,
And, having once been wrong, will be fo ftill. 130
He, who to feem more deep than you or I,

W

Extols old Bards, or Merlin's Prophecy,
Miftake him not; he envies, not admires,
And to debase the Sons, exalts the Sires.
* Had ancient times confpir'd to difallow
What then was new, what had been ancient now ?

135

VER. 124. A mußter-roll of Names,] An abfurd cuftom of feveral Actors, to pronounce with emphafis the meer Proper Names of Greeks or Romans, which (as they call it) fill the mouth of the Player.

VER. 129—130.] Inferior to the original: as VER. 133~4. excel it,

Quod cupide petiit, mature plena reliquit.

Quid placet, aut odio eft, quod non mutabile credas? Hoc paces habuere bonae, ventique fecundi.

VER. 142. A Verfe of the Lord Lanfdown.

- VER. 143. In Horsemanship t'excèl, And ev'ry flow'ry Courtier writ Romance.] The Duke of Newcastle's book of Horsemanship: the Romance of Parthenissa, by the Earl of Orrery, and most of the French Romances translated by Perfons of Quality

VIR. 149. Lely on animated Canvas fiole-The fleepy Eye, etc.]

Or what remain'd, fo worthy to be read
By learned Critics, of the mighty Dead?

y In Days of Eafe, when now the weary Sword Was fheath'd, and Luxury with Charles reftor'd; 140 In ev'ry tafte of foreign Courts improv'd,

"All, by the King's Example, liv'd and lov'd."

Then Peers grew proud in Horfemanship t' excell,
New-market's Glory rofe, as Britain's fell;

The Soldier breath'd the Gallantries of France, 145
And ev'ry flow'ry Courtier writ Romance.
Then Marble, soften'd into life, grew warm,
And yielding Metal flow'd to human form:
Lely on ⚫ animated Canvas stole

150

The sleepy Eye, that spoke the melting foul.
No wonder then, when all was Love and fport,
The willing Mufes were debauch'd at Court:
On each enervate ftring they taught the note
To pant, or tremble thro' an Eunuch's throat.
But Britain, changeful as a Child at play, 155
Now calls in Princes, and now turns away.
Now Whig, now Tory, what we lov'd we hate;
Now all for Pleasure, now for Church and State;
Now for Prerogative, and now for Laws;

This was the Characteristic of this excellent Colourist's expreffion; who was an exceflive Manierest.

VER. 1:3. On each enervate firing, etc.] The Siege of Rhodes, by Sir William Davenant, the firft Opera sung in England.