TO MR. JERVAS,
With Mr. DRYDEN'S Tranflation of FRESNOY'S. Art of Painting.
THIS Epiftle, and the two following, were written fome years before the rest, and originally printed in 1717.
HIS Verfe be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse
This, from no venal or ungrateful Muse.
Whether thy hand ftrike out fome free design,
Where Life awakes, and dawns at every line;
Or blend in beauteous tints the colour'd mafs,
And from the canvas call the mimic face:
Read these inftructive leaves, in which conspire
Fresnoy's close Art, and Dryden's native Fire :
And reading wish, like theirs, our fate and fame,
So mix'd our studies, and fo join'd our name;
Like them to shine through long fucceeding age,
So just thy fkill, so regular my rage.
Smit with the love of Sifter-Arts we came,
And met congenial, mingling flame with flame;
Like friendly colours found them both unite,
And each from each contract new strength and light.
How oft in pleafing tasks we wear the day,
While fummer-funs roll unperceiv'd away!
How oft our flowly-growing works impart,
While Images reflect from art to art!
How oft review; each finding like a friend
Something to blame, and fomething to commend!
What flattering fcenes our wandering fancy wrought,
Rome's pompous glories rifing to our thought!
Together o'er the Alps methinks we fly,
Fir'd with Ideas of fair Italy.
With thee on Raphael's Monument I mourn,
Or wait infpiring Dreams at Maro's Urn:
With thee repose, where Tully once was laid,
Or feek fome Ruin's formidable fhade:
While Fancy brings the vanish'd piles to view,
And builds imaginary Rome anew.
Here thy well-ftudied marbles fix our eye;
A fading Fresco here demands a figh:
Each heavenly piece unwearied we compare,
Match Raphael's grace with thy lov'd Guido's air,
Carracci's ftrength, Correggio's fofter line,
Paulo's free ftroke, and Titian's warmth divine.
How finish'd with illuftrious toil appears.
This fmall, well-polish'd Gem, the work of years! 40
Yet ftill how faint by precept is express'd
The living image in the painter's breast!
Thence endless streams of fair Ideas flow,
Strike in the sketch, or in the picture glow;
Thence Beauty, waking all her forms, fupplies
An Angel's fweetnefs, or Bridgewater's eyes.
Mufe! at that Name thy facred forrows fhed,
Those tears eternal that embalm the dead;
Call round her Tomb each object of defire,
Each purer frame inform'd with purer fire:
Bid her be all that chears or foftens life,
The tender fifter, daughter, friend, and wife :
Bid her be all that makes mankind adore';
Then view this marble, and be vain no more'!'
Yet still her charms in breathing paint' engage';
Her modeft cheek fhall warm a future age.
Beauty, frail flower that every seafon fears',
Blooms in thy colours for a thousand years.
Thus Churchill's race shall other hearts furprize,
And other Beauties envy Worfley's eyes;
Each pleafing Blount shall endless smiles bestow,
And foft Belinda's blush for ever glow.
Oh, lasting as thofe Colours may they shine,
Free as thy ftroke, yet faultlefs as thy line;
New graces yearly like thy work's display,
Soft without weaknefs, without glaring gay';
Led by fome rule, that guides; but not constrains;
And finish'd more through happiness than pains !
The kindred Arts fhall in their praife' confpire,
One dip the pencil, and one string the lyre.
Yet should the Graces all thy figures place,
And breathe an air divine on every face;
Yet should the Mufes bid my numbers roll
Strong as their charms, and gentle as their foul;
With Zeuxis? Helen thy Bridgewater vie,
And these be fung till Granville's Myra die?
Alas! how little from the grave we claim'!
Thou but preferv'ft a Face, and I a Name:
WITH THE WORKS OF VOITURE.
N thefe gay thoughts the Loves and Graces fhine,
And all the Writer lives in every line;
His eafy Art may happy. Nature feem,
Trifles themselves are elegant in him.
Sure to charm all was his peculiar fate,
Who without flattery pleas'd the fair and great ;
Still with esteem no lefs convers'd than read;
With wit well-natur'd, and with books well-bred
His heart, his mistress and his friend did share,,
His time, the Mufe, the witty and the fair.
Thus wifely,carelefs, innocently gay,
Chearful he play'd the trifle, Life, away;
Till fate scarce felt his gentle breath supprest,
As fmiling Infants fport themselves to reft.
Ey'n rival Wits did Voiture's death deplore,
And the gay mourn'd who never mourn'd before;
The truest hearts for Voiture heav'd with fighs,
Voiture was wept by all the brightest Eyes:
The Smiles and Loves had died in Voiture's death,
But that for ever in his lines they breathe.
Let the ftrict life of graver mortals be
A long, exact, and serious Comedy;
In every scene fome Moral let it teach,
And, if it can, at once both please and preach.
Let mine, an innocent gay
And more diverting still than regular,
Have Humour, Wit, a native Ease and Grace,
Though not too strictly bound to Time and Place:
Critics in Wit, or Life, are hard to please,
Few write to thofe, and none can live to these.
Too much your Sex are by their forms confin'd,
Severe to all, but most to Womankind;
Custom, grown blind with Age, must be your guide;
Your pleasure is a vice, but not your pride;
By Nature yielding, ftubborn but for fame;
Made Slaves by honour, and made fools by Shame.
Marriage may all thofe petty Tyrants chace,
But fets up one, a greater in their place :
Well night you wish for change by those accurst,
But the last Tyrant ever proves the worst.
Still in constraint your suffering Sex remains,
Or bound in formal, or in real chains :
Whole years neglected, for fome months ador'd,
The fawning Servant turns a haughty Lord.
Ah, quit not the free innocence of life,
For the dull glory of a virtuous Wife;
Nor let falfe Shews, nor empty Titles please:
Aim not at Joy, but reft content with Eafe.
The Gods, to curfe Pamela with her prayers,
Gave the gilt Coach and dappled Flanders Mares,
The shining robes, rich jewels, beds of ftate,
And, to complete her blifs, a Fool for Mate.
She glares in Balls, front Boxes, and the Ring,
A vain, unquiet, glittering, wretched Thing!
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