Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

when prince, in the road of St. Andero, is wrote with fome fpirit; but his divine poetry has hardly the least spark of elevation or fire. But notwithstanding this criticifm, the English language is greatly obliged to him; few writers before his time had compofed in a smooth and polished ftile; but Waller was fo exact in his choice of words, that his poetry at this day contains very few obfolete ones. The harmony, foftnefs, and rhyme in his poems make them more generally read at prefent than the greater part of the works of his cotemporaries. In fhort, Waller was a man of wit and ingenuity; but his poetry does not contain any ftrokes either of the fublime or pathetic +.

Pope

Charles II. on Waller's prefenting him a copy of verfes in his praife, reproached him with

[blocks in formation]

Pope made Dryden his model in the art of verfification. The English language can scarce produce any numbers more

har

not writing with so much energy and fire, as when he had applauded the ufurper: "Sir, replied Waller to the King, We poets fucceed better in fiction than in truth."

On a beaucoup entendu parler du celebre Waller en France. Mr. de la Fontaine, St. Evremond, & Bayle ont faits fon eloge; mais on ne connoit de lui que fon nom. Il eut à Londres la meme reputation que Voiture eut à Paris, & je crois qu'il la meritoit mieux. Voiture vint dans un tems ou l'on fortoit de la barbarie, & ou l'on étoit encore dans l'ignorance. On vouloit avoir de l'efprit, & on n'en avoit point encore. On cherchoit des tours en lieu de penfées. Les faux brillans fe trouvent plus aifément que les pierres precieuses. Voiture né avec un genie frivole & facile, fut le premier qui brilla dans cette aurore de la literature Françoife. S'il étoit venu apres les grands hommes qui ont illuftré le fiecle de Louis XIV, ou il au

harmonious and noble than thofe of this great man in fome of his poems; parti

roit été inconnu, ou on n'auroit parlé de lui que pour le méprifer, ou il auroit corrigé fon ftile. Mr. Defpreaux le louë, mais c'eft dans fes premieres fatires, c'eft dans le tems que le gout de Defpreaux n'étoit pas encore formé : il étoit jeune & dans l'age ou l'on juge des hommes par la reputation, & non pas par eux memes. D'ailleurs, Mr. Defpreaux étoit fouvent bien injufte dans fes loüanges. & dans fes cenfures. Il loüoit Segrais que perfonne ne lit, il infultoit Quinault que tout le monde fçait par cœur, & il ne dit rien de la Fontaine. Waller meilleur que Voiture, n'étoit pas encore parfait. Ses ouvrages galans refpirent la grace, mais la negligence les fait languir, & fouvent les penfées fauffes les defigurent. Les Anglois n'étoient pas encore parvenus de fon tems à écrire avec correction. Ses ouvrages ferieux font pleins d'une vigueur qu'on n'attendroit pas de la moleffe de fes autres pieces. Il a fait un éloge funebre de Cromwel, qui avec fes defauts paffe pour un chef d'œuvre. Lettres fur les Anglois, p. 188.

[blocks in formation]

cularly many lines in his Abfalom and Achitophel, his fables, and fome fpeeches to be met with here and there in his tragedies. His noble and original ode I have fpoke of already; that piece alone would have rendered the memory of Dryden immortal *. I hardly know any poet whofe works are, in general, fo unequal. The poems which I have mentioned above, and fome few others, are excellent; but as for his dramatic pieces, they are almost the refuse of the English language. His tranflations are performed with spirit, and bear many marks of the genius of Dryden; but they are too incorrect, and were rather the offspring of neceffity, than of leifure and reflection.

6. O you!

His prologues, for which he was fo famous, are wrote with an infinite deal of wit and humour;

few fince his time have equalled them.

6. O you! whom Vanity's light bark conveys On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise, With what a shifting gale your courfe you ply, For ever funk too low, or borne too high! Who pants for glory finds but short repofe, A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.

Nothing can be more beautiful than these lines on the vanity of fame. Mr. Johnfon has an obfervation on the fame. fubject, which is worthy of being quoted. "It is long before we are convinced of the small proportion which every individual bears to the collective body of mankind; or learn how few can be interefted in the fortune of any fingle man'; how little vacancy is left in the world for any new object of attention; to how small extent the brightest blaze of merit can be fpread amidst the mists of business and of folly; and how foon it is clouded

by

« ZurückWeiter »