Let me for once presume t'instruct the times, 340
To know the Poet from the Man of rhymes :
'Tis he, who gives my breast a thousand pains,
Can make me feel each Passion that he feigns ;
Inrage, compose, with more than magic Art,
With Pity, and with Terror, tear my heart ; 345
And snatch me, o'er the earth, or thro’ the air,
To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where.

p But not this part of the Poetic state
Alone, deserves the favour of the Great:
Think of those Authors, Sir, who would rely 350
More on a Reader's sense, than Gazer's

eye. Or who shall wander where the Muses fing? Who climb their mountain, or who taste their spring? How shall we fill 9 a Library with Wit, When Merlin's Cave is half unfurnish'd yet? 355

My Liege! why Writers little claim your thought, I guess; and, with their leave, will tell the fault : We Poets are (upon a Poet's word) Of all mankind, the creatures moft absurd : The s season, when to come, and when to go, 360 To fing, or cease to fing, we never know;

Notes. Ver. 354. a Library] Munus Apolline dignum. The Pa. latine Library then building by Auguftus. P.

VER. 355. Merlin's Cave] A Building in the Royal Garden of Richmond, where is a small, but choice Collection of Books. P.

* LA

Si quis amicorum est ausus reprendere verfum :
Cum loca jam 'recitata revolvimus irrevocati :
Cum "lamentamur non apparere labores
Noftros, et tenui deducta poemata filo;
Cum * speramus eo rem venturam, ut, fimul atque
Carmina rescieris nos fingere, commodus ultro
Arcefsas, et egere vetes, et fcribere cogas.
Sed tamen est y operae precium cognoscere, quales
Aedituos habeat belli spectata domique
Virtus, a indigno non committenda poetac.

• Gratus Alexandro regi Magno fuit ille
Chocrilus, incultis qui versibus et male natis
Rettulit acceptos, regale numisma, Philippos.
Sed veluti tractata notain labemque remittunt
Atramenta, fere scriptores carmine foedo
Splendida facta linunt. idem rex ille, poema
Qui tam ridiculum tam care prodigus emit,
Edicto vetuit, ne quis se praeter Apellem
Pingeret, aut alius Lysippo duceret aera
Fortis Alexandri vultum fimulantia. quod fi
Judicium subtile videndis artibus illud
Ad libros et ad haec Musarum dona vocares ;
Bocotum in crasso jurares aere națum,

And if we will recite ninc hours in ten,
You lose your patience, just like other men.
Then too we hurt ourselves, when to defend
A single verse, we quarrel with a friend; 365
Repeat' unask'd ; lament, the " Wit's too fine
For vulgar eyes, and point out ev'ry line.
But most, when straining with too weak a ving,
We needs will write Epistles to the King ;
And * from the moment we oblige the town, 370
Expect a place, or pension from the Crown;
Or dubb'd Hiftorians by express command,
T'enroll your triumphs o'er the seas and land,
Be call'd to Court to plan some work divine,
As once for Louis, Boileau and Racine.

375
Yet y think, great Sir! (so many Virtues shown)
Ah think, what Poet best may make them known?
Or chuse at least some Minister of Grace,
Fit to bestow the 2 Laureat's weighty place.

Charles, to late times to be transmitted fair, 380 Affign'd his figure to Bernini's care; And great Nafsau to Kneller's hand decreed To fix him graceful on the bounding Steed; So well in paint and stone they judg'd of merit: But Kings in Wit may want discerning Spirit. 385 The Hero William, and the Martyr Charles, One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles ; Which made old Ben, and furly Dennis swear, * No Lord's anointed, but a Ruffian Bear.

[At neque dedecorant tua dè fe judicia, atque Munera, quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt, Dilecti tibi Virgilius Variufque poetae ;]

Nec magis exprefli vultus per ahenea figna, Quam per vatis opus mores animique virorum Clarorum apparent. nec sermones ego mallem Repentes per humum, . quam res componere geftas, Terrarumque f fitus et Aumina dicere, et arces Montibus impofitas, et & barbara regna, tuisque Auspiciis totum confe&ta duella per orbem, Clauftraque cuftodem pacis cohibentia Janum, Et i formidatam Parthis, te principe, Romam: Si quantum cuperem, pofsem quoque. sed neque par

vum

* Carmen majestas recipit tua; nec meus audet Rem tentare pudor, quem vires ferre recusant.

Nores. VER. 405. And I'm not us'd to Panegyric frains ;] Archbishop Tillotfon hath said, “ That satire and invective were “ the easielt kind of wit, because almoft any degree of it • will serve to abuse and find fault. For wit (says he) is

a keen instrument, and every one can cut and gash with “ it. But to carve a beautitul image and polish it, re•

quires great art and dexterity. To praise any thing well, is an argument of much more wit than to abuse ; a little wit, and a great deal of ill-nature, will furnish

a man for satire, but the greatelt initance of wit is to " commend well.” Thus far this candid Prelate. And 1, in my turn, might as well say, that Satire was the most difficult, and Panegyric the easiest thing in nature; for

Not with such majefty, such bold relief, 390 The Forms auguft, of King, or conqu’ring Chief, E’er swell’d on marble; as in verse have thin'd (In polith'd verse) the Manners and the Mind. Oh! could I mount on the Mæonian wing, Your Arms, your Actions, your Repose to fing! 395 What f seas you travers'd, and what fields you fought! Your Country's Peace, how oft, how dearly bought! How : barb'rous rage subsided at your word, And Nations wonder'd while they dropp'd the sword ! How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 400

Peace stole her wing, and wrapt the world in sleep; 'Till earth's extremes your mediation own, And Asia's Tyrants tremble at your ThroneBut * Verse, alas ! your Majesty disdains; And I'm not us’d to Panegyric strains :

405

Notes. that any barber-surgeon can curl and shave, and give cormetic-walhes for the skin ; but it requires the abilities of an Anatomist to dissect 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 user. The one is just as easy to do ill, and as difficult to do well as the other. In our Author's Elay on the Characters of Men, the Encomium on Lord Cobham, and the satire 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 Ihew that it is more easily written.