"Or, I'm content, allow me Dryden's ftrains, 145
"And you fhall rife up Otway for your pains."
Much do I suffer, much, to keep in peace
This jealous, wafpifh, wrong-head, rhiming race;
And much muft flatter, if the whim should bite
To court applaufe by printing what I write :
But let the Fit pafs o'er, I'm wife enough,
To stop my ears to their confounded stuff.
14 In vain bad Rhimers all mankind reject, They treat themfelves with most profound respect ; 'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue, 155 Each prais'd within, is happy all day long.
But how feverely with themselves proccęd
The men, who write fuch Verfe as we can read?
Their own ftrict Judges, not a word they spare
That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care, 169
Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place,
Nay tho' at Court (perhaps) it may find grace ;
Quis, nifi Callimachus ? fi plus adpofcere vifus,
Fit Mimnermus, & optivo cognomine crefcit.
Multa fero, ut placeam genus irritabile vatum.
Cùm fcribo, & fupplex populi fuffragia capto:
Idem, finitis ftudiis, & mente receptâ,
Obturem patulas impunè legentibus aures.
14 Rideatur mala qui componunt carmina: verùm,
Gaudent fcribentes, & fe venerantur, & ultro,
Si taceas, laudant quidquid feripfere, beati.
At qui legitimum capiet feciffe poema,
Cum tabulis animum cenforis fumet honefti :
Audebit quæcunque parum fplendoris habebunt,
Such they'll degrade; and fometimes in its ftead,
15 In downright charity revive the dead;
Mark where a bold expreffive phrase appears,
Bright thro' the rubbish of some hundred years;
Command old words that long have flept, to wake,
Words, that wife Bacon, or brave Raleigh spake;
Or bid the new be English, ages hence,
(For Ufe will father what's begot by Senfe)
Pour the full tide of eloquence along,
Serenely pure, and yet divinely ftrong,
Rich with the treasures of each foreign tongue;
Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine,
But fhow no mercy to an empty line;
Then polish all, with fo much life and ease,
You think 'tis Nature, and a knack to please ;
"But ease in writing flows from Art, not chance,
"As thofe move easiest who have learn'd to dance.
Et fine pondere erunt, & honore indigna ferentur,
Verba movere laco; quamvis invita recedant,
Et verfentur adbuc intra penetralia Vefte:
15 Obfcurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque
Proferet in lucem fpeciofa vocabula rerum,
Qua prifcis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis,
Nunc fitus informis premit & deferta vetuftas:
Adfcifcet nova, quæ genitor produxerit ufus :
Vehemens & liquidus, puroque fimillimus amni,
Fundet opes, Latiumque beabit divite linguâ :
Luxuriantia compefcet: nimis afpera fano
Levabit cultu, virtute carentia tollet.
Ludentis fpeciem dabit, & torquebitur; ut qui
Nunc Satyrum, nunc agreftem Cyclopa movetur:
16 If fuch the plague and pains to write by rule, Better (fay I) be pleas'd, and play the fool; Call, if you will, bad rhiming a disease, It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease. There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record) A worthy member, no fmall fool, a Lord; Who, tho' the Houfe was up, delighted fate, Heard, noted, anfwer'd, as in full debate: In all but this, a man of fober life, Fond of his Friend, and civil to his Wife, Not quite a mad-man, tho' a pafty fell, And much too wife to walk into a well. Him, the damn'd Doctors and his Friends immur'd, They bled, they cupp'd, they purg'd; in fhort, they cur'd: Whereat the gentleman began to ftare
My Friends? he cry'd, p-x take you for your care!
16 Prætulerim fcriptor delirus inerfque videri,
Dum mea delectent mala me, vel denique fallant,
Quàm fapere, & ringi. Fuit haud ignobilis Argis,
Qui fe credebat miros audire tragados,
In vacuo latus feffor plauforque theatro :
Cætera qui vitæ fervaret munia recto
More; bonus fanè vicinus, amabilis hofpes,
Comes in uxorem; poffet qui ignofcere fervis,
Et figno lafo non infanire lagena:
Poffet qui rupem, & puteum vitare patentem.
Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curifque refectus,
Expulit elleboro morbum bilemque meraco,
Et redit ad fefe: "Pol me occidiftis, amici,
That from a Patriot of diftinguifh'd note,
Have bled, and purg'd me to a fimple Vote.
17 Well, on the whole, plain Profe must be my fate:
Wisdom (curse on it) will come foon or late.
There is a time when Poets will grow dull :
I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school:
To rules of Poetry no more confin'd,
I learn to fmooth and harmonize my Mind,
Teach ev'ry thought within its bounds to roll,
And keep the equal measure of the Soul.
18 Soon as I enter at my country door,
My mind resumes the thread it dropt before;
Thoughts, which at Hyde-Park-corner I forgot,
Meet and rejoin me, in the penfive Grot.
There all alone, and compliments apart,
I ask these fober queftions of my heart.
19 If, when the more you drink, the more you crave, You tell the Doctor; when the more you have, The more you want, why not with equal ease Confefs as well your Folly, as Disease?
Non fervaftis, ait; cui fic extorta voluptas,
Et demtus per vim mentis gratiffimus error.
17 Nimirum fapere eft abje&tis utile nugis,
Et tempeftivum pueris concedere ludum;
18 Ac non verba fequi fidibus modulanda Latinis,
Sed veræ numerofque modofque edifcere vitæ.
Quocirca mecum loquor bac, tacitufque recordor:
19 Si tibi nulla fitim finiret copia lymphe,
Narrares medicis: quod quanto plura parasti,
Tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes?
The heart refolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice."
20 When golden Angels cease to cure the evil, You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil : When fervile Chaplains cry, that birth and place 220 Indue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace, Look in that breast, most dirty Duke! be fair, find out one fuch lodger there?
Yet ftill, not heeding what your heart can teach,
You go to church to hear thefe Flatt'rers preach. 225
Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit,
A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,
The wifeft man might blush, I must agree,
If vile Van-muck lov'd fixpence, more than he.
21 If there be truth in Law, and Use can give 230
A Property, that's yours on which you live.
Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford
Their fruits to you, confeffes you its lord :
20 Si vulnus tibi monftratâ radice vel berba
Non fieret levius, fugeres radice vel berbâ
Proficiente nibil curarier: audieras, cui
Rem Di donarent, illi decedere pravam
Stultitiam; & cùm fis nihilo fapientior, ex quo
Plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus iisdem?
At fi divitia prudentem reddere possent,
Si cupidum timidumque minùs te; nempe ruberes,
Viveret in terris te fi quis avarior uno.
21 Si proprium eft, quod quis librâ mercatus &ære eft,
Quædam fi credis confultis) mancipat ufus :
Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft ; & villicus Orbi,
Cùm fegetes qccat, tibi mox frumenta daturus,
Te dominum fentit.
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