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Montibus impofitas, et barbara regna, tuifque
Aufpiciis totum confecta duella per orbem,
Clauftraque h cuftodem pacis cohibentia Janum,
Et1 formidatam Parthis, te principe, Romam:

Si quantum cuperem, poffem quoque. fed neque par

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k Carmen majeftas recipit tua; nec meus audet
Rem tentare pudor, quam vires ferre recufent
Sedulitas autem ftulte, quem diligit, urget;
Praecipue cum se numeris commendat et arte.
Difcit enim citius, meminitque libentius illud
Quod quisTM deridet, quam quod probat et veneratur.
Nil moror" officium, quod me gravat: ac neque fico

VIR. 405. And I'm not us'd to Panegyric frains;] ArchBishop Tillerfon hath faid, "That fatire and invective were the " easiest kind of wit, because almost any degree of it will ferve " to abuse and find fault. For wit (fays he) is a keen inftru"ment, and every one can cut and gash with it. But to " carve a beautful image and polish it, requires great art and dexterity. To praife any thing well, is an argument of much more wit than to abufe: a little wit, and a great deal "of ill-nature, will furnifh a man for fatire, but the greatest

inftance of wit is to commend well." Thus far this candid Prelate. And I, in my turn, might as well fay, that Satire was the most difficult, and Panegyrick the most easy thing in nature;

How & barb'rous rage fubfided at your word,

And Nations wonder'd while they drop'd the fword! How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 400 h Peace ftole her wing, and wrapt the world in fleep;

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"Till earth's extremes your mediation own, : 1 And Afia's Tyrants tremble at your ThroneBut * Verfe, alas! your Majesty disdains;

And I'm not us'd to Panegyric strains :
The Zeal of Fools offends at any time,

405

But most of all, the Zeal of Fools in rhyme,
Befides, a fate attends on all I write,

That when I aim at praise, they say " I bite.

A vile " Encomium doubly ridicules:
There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools.

410

for that any barber-furgeon can curl and fhave, and give cofmetic washes for the fkin; but it requires the abilities of an Anatomift to diffect and lay open the whole interior of the human frame. But the truth is, these fimilitudes prove nothing, but the good fancy, or the ill judgment of the ufer. The one is juft as easy to do ill, and as difficult to do well as the other. In our Author's Effay on the Characters of Men, the Encomium on Lord Cobham, and the fatire on Lord Wharton, are the equal efforts of the fame great genius. There is one advantage indeed in Satire over Panegyric, which every body has taken notice of, that it is more readily received; but this does not fhew that it is more eafily written,

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In pejus, vultu proponi. cereus ufquam,
Nec prave factis decorari verfibus opto:
Ne rubeam pingui donatus munere, et una
Cum fcriptore meo capfa porrectus aperta,
Deferar in vicum vendentem thus et odores,
Et piper, et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis.

If true, a woful likeness; and if lyes,
"Praise undeferv'd is scandal in disguise:"

Well may he blush, who gives it, or receives;
And when I flatter, let my dirty leaves

415

(Like Journals, Odes, and fuch forgotten things As Eufden, Philip, Settle, writ of Kings)

Cloath fpice, line trunks, or flutt'ring in a row,
Befringe the rails of Bedlam and Soho.

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