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Be Homer's works your ftudy and delight,

Read them by day, and meditate by night; 125 Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring,

And trace the Mufes upward to their spring. Still with itself compar'd, his text peruse; And let your comment be the Mantuan Muse.

When firft young Maro in his boundless mind A work t'outlaft immortal Rome defign'd, 131 Perhaps he seem'd above the Critic's law, And but from Nature's fountains fcorn'd to draw

VER. 130.

VARIATIONS.

When first young Maro fung of Kings and Wars,
Ere warning Phoebus touch'd his trembling ears,

COMMENTARY.

ture, yet the vulgar reader would believe him to be a copier Homer; and though he copied Homer, yet the judicious read would fee him to be an imitator of Nature: the finest pra which any one, who came after Homer, could receive.

NOTES.

VER. 130. When firft young Maro, etc.] Virg. Eclog. vi. Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius aurem

Vellit.

It is a tradition preferved by Servius, that Virgil began v writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs; which found above his years, and defcended first to imitate Theo tus on rural fubjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in He poetry.

P.

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But when t'examine ev'ry part he came,
Nature and Homer were, he found, the fame.
Convinc'd, amaz'd, he checks the bold defign:
And rules as ftrict his labour'd work confine,
As if the Stagirite o'erlooked each line.
Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem;
To copy nature is to copy them.

Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare,
For there's a happiness as well as care.
Mufic resembles Poetry, in each

140

Are nameless graces which no methods teach,
And which a master-hand alone can reach. 145
If, where the rules not far enough extend,
(Since rules were made but to promote their end)

COMMENTARY.

VER. 141. Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare, etc.] Our Author, in these two general precepts for ftudying Nature and her Commentators, having confidered Poetry as it is, or may be reduced to Rule; left this fhould be mistaken as fufficient to attain PERFECTION either in writing or judging, he proceeds [from 140 to 201.] to point up to thofe fublimer beauties which Rules will never reach, that is, enable us either to execute or tafte: and which rife fo high above all precept as not even to be defcribed by it; but being entirely the gift of Heaven, Art and Reason have no further share in their production than just to moderate their operations. These Sublimities of Poetry, like the Mysteries of Religion (fome of which are above Reafon, and fome contrary to it) may be divided into two forts, fuch as are above Rules, and fuch as are contrary to them.

Be Homer's works your study and delight,

Read them by day, and meditate by night; 125 Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring,

And trace the Mufes upward to their spring. Still with itself compar'd, his text peruse; And let your comment be the Mantuan Mufe.

When first young Maro in his boundless mind A work t'outlast immortal Rome defign'd, 131 Perhaps he seem'd above the Critic's law, And but from Nature's fountains fcorn'd to draw:

VER. 130.

VARIATIONS.

When first young Maro fung of Kings and Wars,
Ere warning Phoebus touch'd his trembling ears,

COMMENTARY.

ture, yet the vulgar reader would believe him to be a copier of Homer; and though he copied Homer, yet the judicious reader would fee him to be an imitator of Nature: the finest praif which any one, who came after Homer, could receive.

NOTES.

VER. 130. When firft young Maro, etc.] Virg. Eclog. vi, Cum canerem reges et prælia, Cynthius aurem

Vellit.

It is a tradition preferved by Servius, that Virgil began wit writing a poem of the Alban and Roman affairs; which h found above his years, and defcended first to imitate Theocr tus on rural fubjects, and afterwards to copy Homer in Hero. poetry. P.

From vulgar bounds with brave diforder part,
And fnatch a grace beyond the reach of art,
Which without paffing thro' the judgment, gains
The heart, and all its end at once attains.
155
In prospects thus, fome objects please our eyes,
Which out of nature's common order rife,
The shapeless rock, or hanging precipice.
Great Wits sometimes may gloriously offend,
And rife to faults true Critics dare not mend. 160
But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade,
(AsKings dispense with laws themselves have made)
Moderns, beware! or if you must offend
Against the precept, ne'er tranfgrefs its End;
Let it be seldom, and compell'd by need;
And have, at least, their precedent to plead.

COMMENTARY.

165

VER. 159. Great Wits fometimes may gloriously offend, etc.] He defcribes next the fecond fort, the beauties against rule. And even here, as he obferves [from 158 to 169] the offenfe is fo glorious, and the fault fo fublime, that the true Critic will not dare either to censure or reform them. Yet ftill the Poet is never to abandon himself to his Imagination: the rules our author lays down for his conduct in this refpect, are these : 1. That though he tranfgrefs the letter of fome one particular precept, yet that he ftill adhere to the end or spirit of them all; which end is the creation of one uniform perfect Whole. And 2. That he have, in each inftance, the authority of the difpenf ing power of the Ancients to plead for him. These rules obferved, this licence will be feldom used, and only when he is compelled by need: which will difarm the Critic, and fcreen the

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