Montibus impofitas, et barbara regna, tuifque Si quantum cuperem, poffem quoque. fed neque par vum k Carmen majeftas recipit tua; nec meus audet VIR. 405. And I'm not us'd to Panegyric frains;] ArchBishop Tillerfon hath faid, "That fatire and invective were the " easiest kind of wit, because almost any degree of it will ferve " to abuse and find fault. For wit (fays he) is a keen inftru"ment, and every one can cut and gash with it. But to " carve a beautful image and polish it, requires great art and dexterity. To praife any thing well, is an argument of much more wit than to abufe: a little wit, and a great deal "of ill-nature, will furnifh a man for fatire, but the greatest inftance of wit is to commend well." Thus far this candid Prelate. And I, in my turn, might as well fay, that Satire was the most difficult, and Panegyrick the most easy thing in nature; How & barb'rous rage fubfided at your word, And Nations wonder'd while they drop'd the fword! How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 400 h Peace ftole her wing, and wrapt the world in fleep; "Till earth's extremes your mediation own, : 1 And Afia's Tyrants tremble at your ThroneBut * Verfe, alas! your Majesty disdains; And I'm not us'd to Panegyric strains : 405 But most of all, the Zeal of Fools in rhyme, That when I aim at praise, they say " I bite. A vile " Encomium doubly ridicules: 410 for that any barber-furgeon can curl and fhave, and give cofmetic washes for the fkin; but it requires the abilities of an Anatomift to diffect and lay open the whole interior of the human frame. But the truth is, these fimilitudes prove nothing, but the good fancy, or the ill judgment of the ufer. The one is juft as easy to do ill, and as difficult to do well as the other. In our Author's Effay on the Characters of Men, the Encomium on Lord Cobham, and the fatire on Lord Wharton, are the equal efforts of the fame great genius. There is one advantage indeed in Satire over Panegyric, which every body has taken notice of, that it is more readily received; but this does not fhew that it is more eafily written, P In pejus, vultu proponi. cereus ufquam, If true, a woful likeness; and if lyes, Well may he blush, who gives it, or receives; 415 (Like Journals, Odes, and fuch forgotten things As Eufden, Philip, Settle, writ of Kings) Cloath fpice, line trunks, or flutt'ring in a row, |