whofe order of the spheres is clear in Cicero De natu-
ra Deorum, De fomnio Scipionis, and in Macrobius.
The feat of the Semidei manes is Platonic too; for
Apuleius De deo Socratis affigns the fame to the Genii,
viz. the region of the Air, for their intercourse with
gods and men; fo that, I fancy, Rowe mistook the
fituation, and I can't be reconciled to, Look down on
the fun's rays.
I am glad you agree with me about
the latitude he takes; and wish you had told me, if the
fortilegi, and fatidici, could licence his invective against
priests; but, I fuppofe you think them (with Helena)
undeferving of your protection. I agree with you in
Lucan's errors, and the cause of them, his poetic de-
fcriptions: for the Romans then knew the coast of
Africa from Cyrene (to the fouth-eaft of which lies
Ammon toward Egypt) to Leptis and Utica: but,
pray remember how your Homer nodded while Ulyffes
flept, and waking knew not where he was, in the fhort
paffage from Corcyra to Ithaca. I like Trapp's ver-
fions for their juftnefs; his Pfalm is excellent, the pro-
digies in the first Georgic judicious (whence I conclude
that 'tis easier to turn Virgil juftly into blank verse,
than rhyme.) The eclogue of Gallus and fable of
Phaeton pretty well; but he is very faulty in his num-
bers; the fate of Phaeton might run thus,

The blasted Phaeton with blazing hair
Shot gliding thro' the vast abyss of air.
And tumbled headlong, like a falling ftar.

I am,

Your, &c,

}

T

LETTER XXIV.

Nov. 24. 1710.

O make use of that freedom and familiarity of ftyle, which we have taken up in our correfpondence, and which is more properly talking upon paper, than writing; I will tell you without any preface, that I never took Tycho Brahe for one of the ancients, or in the least an acquaintance of Lucan's; nay, 'tis a mercy on this occafion, that I do not give you an account of his life and converfation; as how he liv'd fome years like an inchanted knight in a certain island, with a tale of a King of Denmark's mistress that shall be nameless-But I have compaffion on you, and would not for the world you should stay any longer among the Genii and Semidei Manes, you know where; for if once you get so near the moon, Sappho will want your prefence in the clouds and inferior regions; not to mention the great lofs Drury-lane will fuftain, when Mr C

is in the milky way. These celeftial thoughts put me in mind of the priests you mention, who are a fort of Sortilegi in one sense, because in their lottery there are more blanks than prizes; the adventurers being at best in an uncertainty, whereas the fetters up are fure of something. Priests indeed in their character, as they reprefent God, are facred; and so are Conftables as they represent the King; but you will own a great many of them are very odd fellows, and the devil of any likeness in them. Yet I can affure you, I honour the good as much as I deteft the bad, and I think, that in condemning these,

we praise those. The tranflations from Ovid I have not fo good an opinion of as you; because I think they have little of the main characteristic of this author, a graceful eafinefs. For let the sense be ever fo exact. ly render'd, unless an author looks like himself, in his habit and manner, 'tis a disguise, and not a tranflation. But as to the Pfalm, I think David is much more beholden to the tranflator than Ovid; and as he treated the Roman like a Jew, fo he has made the Jew fpeak like a Roman.

LETTER

Your, &c.

XXV.

From Mr CROMWEL L.

Dec. 5. 1710.

HE fame judgment we made on Rowe's ixth of
Lucan will ferve for his part of the vith, where

I find this memorable line,

Parque novum Fortuna videt concurrere, bellum
Atque virum.

For this he employs fix verfes, among which is this,

As if on Knightly terms in lifts they ran.

Pray can you trace chivalry up higher than Pharamond? will you allow it an anachronifin?- Tickel in his version of the Phenix from Claudian,

When nature ceafes, thou shalt fill remain,
Nor fecond Chaos bound thy endless reign.

Claudian thus,

Et clades te nulla rapit, folufque fuperftes,
Edomita tellure, manes.

Which plainly refers to the deluge of Deucalion and the conflagration of Phaeton; not to the final diffolution. Your thought of the Priefts lottery is very fine; you play the wit, and not the critic, upon the errors of your brother.

Your obfervations are all very just: Virgil is eminent for adjusting his diction to his fentiments; and among the moderns, I find you practife the Profodia of your rules. Your * poem fhews you to be, what you say of Voiture-with books well-bred: the state of the fair, tho' fatirical, is touched with that delicacy and gallantry, that not the court of Auguftus, notBut hold, I fhall lofe what I lately recovered, your opinion of my fincerity: yet I muft fay, 'tis as faultlefs as the fair to whom 'tis addrefs'd, be the never fo perfect. The M. G. (who, it seems, had no right notion of you, as you of him) tranfcrib'd it by lucubration: From fome difcourfe of yours, he thought your inclination led you to (what the men of fashion call learning) pedantry; but now, he fays, he has no leis I aflure you than a veneration for you.

Your, &c.

LETTER XXVI.

Dec. 17. 1710.

T feems that my late mention of Crashaw, and

IT

my

quotation from him, has mov'd your curiosity. I therefore send you the whole Author, who has held a place among my other books of this nature for fome years; in which time having read him twice or thrice, I find him one of those whofe works may just deserve reading. I take this poet to have writ like a gentleman, that is, at leisure hours, and more to keep out of idlenefs, than to establish a reputation: fo that nothing regular or just can be expected from him. All that regards defign, form, fable (which is the foul of poetry) all that concerns exactness, or confent of parts (which is the body) will probably be wanting; only pretty conceptions, fine metaphors, glittering expreffions, and fomething of a neat caft of verfe (which are properly the dress, gems, or loose ornaments of poetry) may be found in thefe verfes. This is indeed the cafe of inoft other poetical writers of miscellanies; nor can it well be otherwife, fince no man can be a true poet, who writes for diverfion only. Thefe authors fhould be confidered as versifiers and witty men, rather than as poets; and under this head will only fall the thoughts, the expreffion, and the numbers. These are only the pleafing part of poetry, which may be judged of at a view, and comprehended all at once. And (to exprefs myfelf like a painter) their colouring entertains the fight, but the lines and life of the picture are not to be infpected too narrowly.