Spenfer himself affects the i Obfolete,
And Sydney's verfe halts ill on * Roman feet:
Milton's ftrong pinion now not Heaven can bound,
Now Serpent-like, in 1 profe he sweeps the ground, 100
In Quibbles, Angel and Archangel join,
And God the Father turns a School-divine.
m Not that I'd lop the Beauties from his book,
Like flashing Bentley with his defperate hook,
Or damn all Shakespeare, like th' affected Fool
At court, who hates whate'er he o read at school.
But for the Wits of either Charles's days,
The Mob of Gentlemen who wrote with Eafe;
Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more,
(Like twinkling stars the Miscellanies o'er)
One Simile, that P folitary fhines
In the dry defert of a thousand lines,
Or lengthen'd Thought that gleams through many a
Has fanctify'd whole poems for an age.
Si quaedam nimis i antique, fi pleraque k dure
Dicere credit eos, ignave multa fatetur;
Et fapit, et mecum facit, et Jove judicat aequo.
m Non equidem infector, delendaque carmina Livî
Effe reor, memini quae n plagofum mihi parvo
Orbilium dictare;
fed emendata videri
Pulchraque, et exactis minimum diftantia, miror
Inter quae P verbum emicuit fi forte decorum,
Si verfus paulo concinnior unus et alter:
I lose my patience, and I own it too,
When works are cenfur'd, not as bad, but new;
While, if our Elders break all reafon's laws,
These fools demand not pardon, but Applause.
s On Avon's bank, where flowers eternal blow,
If I but ask if any weed can grow;
One Tragic fentence if I dare deride,
Which Betterton's grave action dignify'd,
Or well-mouth'd Booth with emphasis proclaims,
(Though but, perhaps, a mufter-roll of Names)
How will our Fathers rife up in a rage,
And fwear, all fhame is loft in George's Age!
You'd think " no Fools difgrac'd the former reign,
Did not fome grave Examples yet remain,
Who fcorn a Lad should teach his father skill,
And, having once been wrong, will be so still.
He, who to feem more deep than you or I,
Extols old Bards, or Merlin's Prophecy,
Injufte totum ducit venditque poema.
Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia craffe Compofitum, illepideve putetur, fed quia nuper; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem et praemia pofci. s Recte necne crocum florefque perambulet Attae Fabula, fi dubitem; clamant periiffe pudorem Cuncti pene patres: ea cum reprehendere coner, Quae gravis Aefopus, quae doctus Rofcius egit.
Vel quia nil" rectum, nifi quod placuit fibi, ducunt; Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, et quae Imberbi didicere, fenes perdenda fateri.
Jam w Saliare Numae carmen qui laudat, et illud,
Mistake him not; he envies, not admires,
And, to debase the Sons, exalts the Sires.
x Had ancient times confpir'd to difallow
What then was new, what had been ancient now?
Or what remain'd, fo worthy to be read
By learned Critics, of the mighty Dead?
In Days of Eafe, when now the weary
Was fheath'd, and Luxury with Charles reftor'd; 140 In every taste of foreign Courts improv'd,
"All, by the King's Example, liv'd and lov'd."
Then Peers grew proud z in Horsemanship t' excel,
Newmarket's Glory rofe, as Britain's fell;
The Soldier breath'd the Gallantries of France,
And every flowery Courtier writ Romance.
Then a Marble, soften'd into life, grew warm,
And yielding Metal flow'd to human form :
Lely on b animated Canvas stole
The fleepy Eye, that spoke the melting foul.
Quod mecum ignorat, folus vult fcire videri ;
Ingeniis non ille favet plauditque fepultis,
Noftra fed impugnat, nos noftraque lividus odit,
* Quod fi tam Graecis novitas invisa fuisset, Quam nobis ; quid nunc effet vetus? aut quid haberet, Quod legeret tereretque viritim publicus ufus?
y Ut primum pofitis nugari Graecia bellis Coepit, et in vitium fortuna labier aequa; Nunc athletarum ftudiis, hunc arfit z equorum a Marmoris aut eboris fabros aut aeris amavit; Sufpendit picta vultum mentemque tabella;
No wonder then, when all was love and fport,
The willing Mufes were debauch'd at Court:
On c each enervate ftring they taught the note
To pant, or tremble through an Eunuch's throat.
But & Britain, changeful as a Child at play,
Now calls-in Princes, and now turns away.
Now Whig, now Tory, what we lov'd we hate;
Now all for Pleasure, now for Church or State;
Now for Prerogative, and now for Laws;
Effects unhappy! from a Noble Caufe.
e Time was, a fober Englishman would knock His fervants up, and rife by five o'clock, Inftruct his Family in every rule,
And fend his Wife to Church, his Son to School.
To f worship like his Fathers, was his care;
To teach their frugal Virtues to his Heir;
To prove, that Luxury could never hold;
And place, on good s Security, his Gold.
Nunc tibicinibus, nunc eft gavisa tragoedis :
d Sub nutrice puella velut fi luderet infans,
Quod cupide petiit, mature plena reliquit.
Quid placet, aut odio eft, quod non mutabile credas?
Hoc habuere bonae, ventique fecundi.
e Romae dulce diu fuit et folemne, reclufa Mane domo vigilare, clienti promere jura; Scriptos nominibus rectis expendere nummos; g Majores audire, minori dicere, per quae
Crefcere res poffet, minui damnofa libido.
Now times are chang'd, and one ↳ Poetic Itch
Has feiz'd the Court and City, poor and rich :
Sons, Sires, and Grandfires, all will wear the bays,
Our Wives read Milton, and our Daughters Plays,
To Theatres and to Rehearsals throng,
And all our Grace at table is a Song.
I, who so oft renounce the Mufes, i lye,
Not -'s felf e'er tells more Fibbs than I;
When fick of Mufe, our follies we deplore,
And promife our best Friends to rhyme no more;
We wake next morning in a raging fit,
And call for pen and ink to fhow our Wit..
* He ferv'd a 'Prenticeship, who sets up shop;
Ward try'd on Puppies, and the Poor, his Drop;
Ev'n Radcliff's Doctors travel first to France,
Nor dare to practife till they've learn'd to dance.
Who builds a Bridge that never drove a pile?
(Should Ripley venture, all the world would fmile)
But m those who cannot write, and thofe who can,
All rhyme, and fcrawl, and scribble, to a man.
Mutavit mentem populus levis, het calet uno
Scribendi ftudio: puerique patrefque feveri
Fronde comas vincti coenant, et carmina dictant.
Ipfe ego, qui nultos me affirmo fcribere verfus,
Inveniori Parthis mendacior; et prius orto
Sole vigil, calamum et chartas et fcrinia pofco.
k Navem agere ignarus navis timet: abrotonum aegro Non audet, nifi qui didicit, dare: quod medicorum est, Promittunt medici: tractant fabrilia fabri:
Scribimus indocti doctique poemata paffim.
|