All this may be; the People's Voice is odd, It is, and it is not, the voice of God. To Gammer Gurton if it give the bays, And yet deny the Careless Husband praise, Or fay our Fathers never broke a rule; Why then, I fay, the Public is a fool... But let them own, that greater Faults than we 95 They had, and greater Virtues, I'll agree. Spenfer himself affects the Obfolete,

i

90

101

And Sydney's verse halts ill on Roman feet:
Milton's ftrong pinion now not Heay'n can bound.
Now Serpent-like, in' profe he sweeps the ground,
In Quibbles, Angel and Archangel join,
And God the Father turns a school-divine.
"Not that I'd lop the Beauties from his book,
Like" flashing Bentley with his desp’rate hook,
Or damn all Shakespear, like th' affected Fool 105
At court, who hates whate'er he read at school.
But for the Wits of either Charles's days,
The Mob of Gentlemen who wrote with Ease;'
Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred morė,
(Like twinkling ftars the Mifcellanies o'er)
One Simile, that P. folitary shines

O

a page,

110

In the dry defert of a thousand lines,

Or lengthen'd Thought that gleams through many

9

Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia craffe Compofitam, illepideve putetur, fed quia nuper; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem et praemia posci. 'Recte néone crocum florefque perambulet Attac Fabula, fi dubitem; clamant periiffè pudorem Cuncti pene patres; ca cum reprehendere çoner, Quae gravis Aefopus, quae doctus Rofcius egit. Vel quia nilˇ re&tum, nifi quod placuit fibi, ducunt; Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, et, quae Imberbi didicere, fenes perdenda fateri. Jam Saliare Numar carmen qui laudat, et illud, Quod mecum ignorat, folus vult fcire videri; Ingeniis non ille favet plauditque fepultis,

7

Noftra fed impugnat, nos neftraque lividus odit. **Quod fi tam Graecis novitas invifa fuiffet, Quam nobis ; quid nunc effet vetus! aut quid ha

beret,

Qyod legeret tereretque viritim publicus ufus?

Ver. 119. On Avon's bank,] At Stratford in Warwickshire, where Shakespear had his birth. The thought of the Original is here infinitely improved. Perambulet is a low allufion to the name and imperfections of Atta,

'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,
Thefe fools demand not pardon, but Applause.
* On Avon's bank, where flow'rs eternal blow,
If I but afk, 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.
(Tho' 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 fhould teach his father fkill,
And, having once been wrong, will be fo ftill. 139
He, who to feem more deep than you or I,
Extols old Bards, or Merlin's Prophecy,
Mistake him not; he envies, not admires,
And to debase the Sons, exalts the Sires.
* Had ancient times confpir'd to difallow
What then was new, what had been ancient now?

W

135

115

120

125

VER. 124. A mußter-roll of Names,] An abfurd custom of feveral Actors, to pronounce with emphafis the meer Proper Names of Greeks or Romans, which (as they call it) fill the mourb of the Player.

VER. 129-130.] Inferior to the original: as VER. 133-40

с

"Ut primum pofitis nugari Graecia bellis

Coepit, et in vitium fortuna labier aequa;

Z

Nunc athletarum ftudiis, nunc arfit equorum

• Marmoris aut eboris fabros aut aeris amavit;

Sufpendit picta vultum mentemque tabella:

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 paces habuere bonae, ventique fecundi.

*:

VER. 142. A Verfe of the Lord Lanfdown. VER. 143. In Horsemanship t'excel, And ev'ry flow'ry Courtier writ Romance.] The Duke of Newcastle's book of Horfemanship: the Romance of Parthenia, by the Earl of Orrery, and most of the French Romances translated by Persons of Quality

VIR. 149. Lely on animated Canvas ftole-The fleepy Eye, etc.]

Or what remain'd, fo worthy to be read
By learned Critics, of the mighty Dead?

y In Days of Eafe, when now the weary Sword Was fheath'd, and Luxury with Charles reftor'd; 140 In ev'ry taste of foreign Courts improv'd,

66

Z

All, by the King's Example, liv'd and lov'd."
Then Peers grew proud in Horsemanship t' excell,
New-market's Glory rofe, as Britain's fell;

The Soldier breath'd the Gallantries of France, 145
And ev'ry flow'ry Courtier writ Romance.
Then Marble, soften'd into life, grew warm,
And yielding Metal flow'd to human form:
Lely on animated Canvas stole

b

The fleepy Eye, that spoke the melting foul.
No wonder then, when all was Love and sport,
The willing Muses were debauch'd at Court:
On each enervate ftring they taught the note
To pant, or tremble thro' 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 and State;
Now for Prerogative, and now for Laws;
Effects unhappy! from a Noble Caufe.

150

155

This was the Characteristic of this excellent Colourist's expreffion; who was an exceflive Manierest.

VER. 1:3. On each enervate firing, etc.] The Siege of Rhodes,

,

by Sir William Davenant, the firft Opera fung in England.