1pse etiam erigeret vultus si forte verendos
Zoilus ex orco gressus revocaret. Ubique
Virtuti malus, umbra velut nigra, livor adhæret,
Sed verum ex vanâ corpus cognoscitur umbrâ.
Ingenium, solis jam deficientis ad instar
Invisum, oppositi tenebras tantum arguit orbis,
Dum claro intemerata manent sua lumina divo.
Sol prodit cum primum, atque intolerabile fulget
Attrahit obscuros flammâ magnete vapores;
Mox vero pingunt etiam invida nubila callem
Multa caloratum, & crescentia nubila spargunt
Uberiùs, geminoque die viridaria donant.

Tu primus meritis plaudas nihil ipse meretur Qui serus laudator adest. Brevis, heu ! brevis ævi

Participes nostri vates celebrantur, et æquum est
Angustamquam primum assuescant degere vitam.
Aurea nimirum jamjudum evanuit ætas,
Cum vates patriarchæ extabant mille per an-
Jam spes deperiit, nobis vita altera, famæ, [nos:
Nostraque marcescit sexagenaria laurus!
Aspicimus nati patriæ dispendia linguæ,
Et vestris Chauceri olim gestanda Drydeno est.
Sic ubi parturuit mens dives imagine multâ
Pictori, calamoque interprete cœpit acuti
Concilium cerebri narrare coloribus aptis,
Protinus ad nutum novus emicat orbis, et ipsa
Evolvit manui sese natura disertæ ;
Dulcia cum molles coeunt in fœdera fuci
Tandem maturi, liquidamque decentèr obum-
Admistis lucem tenebris, et euntibus annis [brant
Quando opus ad summum perductum est cul-
men, & audent

E vivå formæ extantes spirare tabellâ :

Perfidus heu! pulchram color ævo prodidit artem, Egregiusque decor jam nunc fruit omnis, et urbes,

Et fluvii, pictique homines, terræque fuerunt ;
Heu! dos ingenii, veluti quodcunque furore
Cæco prosequimur, nihil unquam muneris adfert,
Quod redimat comitem invidiam! juvenilibus an-
pis

Nil nisi inane sophos jactamus, et ista voluptas
Vana, brevis, momento evanuit alitis horæ !
Flos veluti veris peperit quem prima juventus,
Ille viret, periitque virens sine false caducus.
Quid verò ingenium est quæso ? Quid ut illius

ergo

Tartum insudemus ? nonne est tibi perfida conjux
Quam dominus vestis vicinia tota potita est;
Quo placuisse magis nobis fors obtigit, inde
Nata magis cura est. Quid enim? crescentibus
Musæ muneribus populi spes crescit avari. [almæ
Laus ipsa acquiri est operosa, et lubrica labi ;
Quin quosdam irritare necesse est; omnibus autem
Nequaquam fecisse satis datur ; ingeniumque
Expallet vitium, devitat conscia virtus,
Stulti omnes oderê, scelesti perdere gaudent.

Quando adco infestam sese ignorantia præstet, Absit, ut ingenium bello doctrina lacessat! Præmia proposuit meritis olim æqua vetustas, Et sua laus etiam conatos magna secuta est; Quanquam etenim fortis dux solus ovabat, at Militibus crines pulchræ impediere corollæ. [ipsis At tunc qui bifidi superarunt improba montis Culmina, certatim socios detrudere tentant; Scriptorem, quid enim! dum quemque philautia ducit

For envy'd wit, like Sol eclips'd, makes known
Th' opposing body's grossness, not its own.
When first the Sun too powerful beams displays,
It draws up vapours which obscure the rays;
But ev'n those clouds at last adorn its way,
Reflect new glories and augment the day.

Be thou the first true merit to befriend, His praise is lost who stays till all commend. Short is the date, alas! of modern rhymes, And 'tis but just to let them live betimes. No longer now that golden age appears, When patriarch-wits surviv'd a thousand years; Now length of fame (our second life) is lost, And bare threescore is all ev'n that can boast; Our sons their fathers' failing language see, And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be. So when the faithful pencil has design'd Some bright idea of the master's mind, Where a new world leaps out at his command, And ready Nature waits upon his hand; When the ripe colours soften and unite, And sweetly melt into just shade and light, When mellowing years their full perfection give, And each bold figure just begins to live, The treach'rous colours the fair art betray, And all the bright creation fades away.

Unhappy wit, like most mistaken things, Atones not for the envy which it brings. In youth alone its empty praise we boast, But soon the short-liv'd vanity is lost! Like some fair flow'r the early spring supplies, That gaily blooms, but ev'n in blooming dies. What is this wit which most our cares employ The owner's wife that other men enjoy ; Still most our trouble, when the most admir'd; The more we give, the more is still requir'd ; The fame with pains we gain, but lose with ease, Sure some to vex, but never all to please; 'Tis what the vicious fear, the virtuous shun, By fools 'tis hated, and by knaves undone !

Ah, let not learning too commence its foe!
If wit so much from ign'rance undergo,
Of old, those met rewards who cou'd excel,
And such were prais'd who but endeavour'd well;
Though triumphs were to gen'rals only due,
Crowns were reserv'd to grace the soldier too.
Now they who reach Parnassus' lofty crown
Employ their pains to spurn some other down
And while self-love each jealous writer rules,
Contending wits become the sport of fools

[gam.

Zelotypum, instaurant certamina mutua vates,
Et sese alterni stultis ludibria præbent.
Fert ægrè alterius, qui pessimus audit honores,
Improbus improbuli vice fungitur author amici;
En fædis quam fæda viis mortalia corda
Cogit persequier famæ malesuada libido!
Ah! ne gloriolæ usque adeo sitis impia regnet,
Nec critica affectans, hominis simul exue nomen:
Sed candor cum judicio conjuret amicè,
Feccare est hoininum, peccanti ignoscere, divûm.
At vero si cui ingenuo præcordia bilis
Non despumatæ satis acri fæce laborant,
In scelera accensas pejora exerceat iras,
Nil dubitet, segetem præbent hæc tempora lar-
Obscæno detur nulla indulgentia vati,
Ars licet ingenio supeaddita cerea flecti
Fectora pelliciat. Verum, hercule, juncta stupori
Scripta impura pari vano molimine prorsus
Invalidam æquiparant eunuchi turpis amorem.
Tunc ubi regnavit dives cum pace voluptas
In nostris flos iste malus caput extulit oris.
Tunc ubi rex facilis viguit, qui semper amore,
Consiliis rarò, nunquam se exercuit armis :
Scripserunt mimos proceres, meretricibus aulæ
Successit regimen; nec non magnatibus ipsis
Affuit ingenium, stipendiaque ingeniosis.
Patricia in scenis spectavit opuscula musæ
Multa nurus, lasciva tuens, atque auribus hausit
Omnia larvato secura modestia vultu.
Machina, virginibus quæ ventilat ora, pudicum
Dedidicit clausa officium, ad ludicra cachinnus
Increpuit, rubor ingenuus nihil amplius arsit.
Deinde ex externo traducta licentia regno
Audacis fæces Socini absorbuit imas,
Sacrilegique sacerdotes tum quemque docebant
Conati efficere, ut gratis paradison adiret;
Ut populus patriâ cum libertate sacratis
Assererent sua jura locis, ne scilicet unquam
(Crediderim) Omnipotens foret ipse potentior

æquo.

Templa sacram satiram jam tum violata silebant:
Et laudes vitii, vitio mirante, sonabant !
Accensi bine musa Titanes ad astra ruerunt,
Legeque sancitum quassit blasphemia prælum.-
Hæc monstra, O critici, contra hæc convertite te-
Huc fulmen, tonitruque styli torquete severi, [lum,
Et penitus totum obnixi exonerate furorem!
At tales fugias, qui, non sine fraude severi,
Scripta malam in partem, livore interprete, ver-

tunt;

Pravis omnia prava videntur, ut omnia passim Ictericus propriâ ferrugine tingit ocellus.

Jam mores critici proprios, adverte, docebo ; Dimidiata etenim est tibi sola scientia virtus. Non satis est ars, ingenium, doctrinaque vires Quæque suas jungant, si non quoque candor honestis,

Et veri sincerus amor sermonibus insint.
Sic tibi non solum quisque amplos solvet honores,
Sed te, qui criticum probat exoptabit amicum,

Mutus, quando animus dubius tibi fluctuat,
Sin tibi confidis, dictis confide prudenter. [esto;
Quidam bebetes semper perstant erroribus; at tu
Præteritas lætus culpas fateare, dies-que
Quisque dies redimat, criticoque examine tentet.

But still the worst with most regret commend,
For each ill author is as bad a friend.
To what base end, and by what abject ways,
Are mortals urg'd through sacred lust of praise!
Ah, ne'er so dire a thirst of glory boast,
Nor in the critic let the man be lost :
Good nature and good sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive divine.

But if in noble minds some dregs remain,
Not yet purg'd off, of spleen and sour disdain ;
Discharge that rage on more provoking crimes,
Nor fear a dearth in these flagitious times.
No pardon vile obscenity shou'd find,
Though wit and art conspire to move your inind
But dulness with obscenity must prove,
As shameful sure as impotence in love.
In the fat age of pleasure, wealth and ease,
Sprung the rank weed, and thriv'd with large in
crease;

When love was all an easy monarch's care,
Seldom at council, never in a war:

Jilts rul'd the state, and statesmen farces writ;
Nay wits had pensions, and young lords had wit:
The fair sate panting at a courtier's play,
And not a mask went unimprov'd away:
The modest fan was lifted up no more,
And virgins smil'd at what they blush'd before➡
The following license of a foreign reign
Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain;
Then unbelieving priests reform'd the nation,
And taught more pleasant methods of salvation;
Where Heaven's free subjects might their rights

dispute

Lest God himself should seem too absolute.
Pulpits their sacred satire learn'd to spare,
And vice admir'd to find a flatt'rer there!

Encourag'd thus, wit's Titans brav'd the skies,
And the press groan'd with licens'd blasphemies-
These monsters, critics, with your darts engage,
Here point your thunder, and exhaust your rage
Yet shun their fault, who scandalously nice,
Will needs mistake an author into vice;
All seems infected that th' infected spy,
As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye.

Learn then what morals critics ought to show, For 'tis but half a judge's task to know: 'Tis not enough, wit, art, and learning join, In all you speak, let truth and candour shine: That not alone what to your judgment's due All may allow ; but seek your friendship too.

Tu vero quisnam est monita instillare peritus, Qui, quod scis, lætus monstras, neque scire superNon odio ductus pravove favore, nec ulli [bis, Addictus sectæ, ut pecces,neque cœcus,ut erres; Doctus, at urbanus, sincerus, at aulicus idem, Audatèrque pudens mediâque humanus in irâ. Qui nunquam dubites vel amico ostendere culpas, Et celebres inimicum haud parca laude merenPurgato ingenio felix, sed & infinito. [tem. Et quod librorumque hominumque scientia ditat; Colloquium cui come, animus summissus & ingens,

Laudandique omnes, ratio cum præcipit, ardor!
Tales extiterunt critici, quos Græcia quondam
Romaque mirata est natos melioribus annis.
Primus Aristoteles est ausus solvere navem,
Atque datis velis vastum explorare profundum.
Tutus iit, longèque ignotas attigit oras
Lumina Mæoniæ observans radiantia stellæ.
Jam vates, gens illa, diu quæ lege soluta est,
Et sævæ capta est malè libertatis amore,
Lætantes dominum accipiunt,atque omnis eodem
Qui domuit naturam, exultat præside musa.

Nusquam non grata est incuria comis Horati,
Qui nec opinantes nos erudit absque magistro.
Ille suas leges, affabilis instar amici
Quam veras simul & quam claro more profundit!
Ille licet tam judicio quam divite venâ [audax
Maximus, audacem criticum, non scriptor in-
Præstaret se jure, tamen sedatus ibidem
Censor, ubi cecinit divino concitus æstro,
Carminibusque eadem inspirat, quæ tradidit
Arte.

Nostrates hoinines planè in contraria currunt,
Turba, stylovehemens critico,sed frigida Phœbo:
Nec malè vertendo Flaccum torsere poetæ
Absurdi, magè quam critici sine mente citando.
Aspice, ut expoliat numeros Dionysius ipsi
Mæonidæ, veneresque accersat ubique recentes!
Conditam ingenio jactat Petronius artem,
Cui doctrina scholas redolet simul & sapit aulam.
Cum docti Fabii cumulata volumina versas,
Optima perspicuâ in serie documenta videre est,
Haud secus utilia ac apothecis condimus arma,
Ordine perpetuo sita juncturâque decorâ,
Non modo ut obtineat quo sese oblectet ocellus,
Verum etiam in promptu, quando venit usus,
habenda.

mænæ,

But where's the man who counsel can bestow,
Still pleas'd to teach, and yet not proud to know?
Unbiass'd, or by favour, or by spite;
Not dully prepossess'd, or blindly right,
Though learn'd, well-bred; and though well-bred,
sincere ;

Modestly bold, and humanely severe ?
Who to a friend his faults can freely show,
And gladly praise the merit of a foe?
Blest with a taste exact and unconfin'd;
A knowledge both of books and human kind;
Gen'rous converse; a soul exempt from pride,
And love to praise, with reason on his side?

Such once were critics; such the happy few,
Athens and Rome in better ages knew.
The mighty Stagyrite first left the shore,
Spread all his sails, and durst the deep explore;
He steer'd securely, and discover'd far,
Led by the light of the Mæonian star.
Poets, a race long unconfin'd and free,
Still fond and proud of savage liberty,
Receiv'd his laws, and stood convinc'd 'twas fit,
Who conquer'd nature, should preside o'er wit.

Horace still charms with graceful negligence,
And without method talks us into sense;
Will like a friend, familiarly convey
The truest notions in the easiest way;
He, who supreme in judgment, as in wit,
Might boldly censure, as he boldly writ;
Yet judg'd with coolness, though he sung with
fire,

His precepts teach but what his works inspire.
Our critics take a contrary extreme,
They judge with fury,but they write with phlegm;
Nor suffers Horace more in wrong translations
By wits, than critics in as wrong quotations.
See Dionysius 13 Homer's thoughts refine,
And call new beauties forth from ev'ry line.
Fancy and art in gay Petronius please,
The scholar's learning, with the courtier's case.

In grave Quintilian's copious work we find The justest rules, and clearest method join'd; Thus useful arms in magazines we place, All rang'd in order, and dispos'd with grace. Nor thus alone the curious eye to please, But to be found, when need requires, with ease.

Thee, bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire, And bless their critic with a poet's fire; An ardent judge, who zealous in his trust, With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just; Whose own example strengthens all his laws, And is himself that great sublime he draws.

Thus long succeeding critics justly reign'd, Licence supress'd, and useful laws ordain'd, Learning and Rome alike in empire grew, And arts still follow'd where her eagles flew ; From the same foes, at last, both felt their doom, And the same age saw learning fall and Rome. With tyranny then superstition join'd, As that the body, this enslav'd the mind; Much was believ'd, but little understood, And to be dull was construed to be good; A second deluge learning thus o'er-run, And the Monks finish'd what the Goths begun, 13 Dionysius of Halicarnassus,

At vero tandem memorabile nomen Erasmus, (Cuique sacerdoti jactandus, cuique pudendus) Barbariæ obnixus torrentia tempora vincit, Atque Gothos propriis sacros de finibus arcet.

At Leo jam rursus viden' aurea secula condit, Sertaque neglectis revirescunt laurea musis! Antiquus Romæ Genius de pulvere sacro Attollit sublime caput. Tunc cœpit amari Sculptura atque artes sociæ, cælataque rupes Vivere, et in pulchras lapides mollescere formas; Divinam harmoniam surgentia templa sonabant, Atque stylo & calamo Raphael & Vida vigebant; Illustris vates! cui laurea serta poetæ Intertexta hederis critici geminata refulgent: Jamque æquat claram tibi, Mantua, Vida Cre

monam,

Utque loci, sic semper erit vicinia famæ.

Mox autem profugæ metuentes improba musæ Arma, Italos fines linquunt, inque Arctica migrant

Littora; sed eriticam sibi Gallia vendicat artem. Gens ullas leges, docilis servire, capessit, Boiloviusque vices domini gerit acer Horatî. At fortes spernunt præcepta externa Britanni, Moribus indomiti quoque; nam pro jure furendi Angliacus pugnat genius, Romamque magistram, Romanumque jugum semper contemnere pergit. At vero jam tum non defuit unus & alter Corda, licet tumefacta minûs, magis alta gerenIngenii partes veri studiosa fovendi [tes, Inque basi antiquâ leges & jura locandi. Talis, qui cecinit doctrinæ exemplar & author, Ars bene scribendi naturæ est summa potestas." Talis Roscommon-bonus & doctissimus idem, Nobilis ingenio magè nobilitatus honesto; Qui Graios Latiosque authores novit ad unguem, Dum veneres texit pudibunda industria privas. Talis Walshius ille fuit-judex & amicus Musarum, censuræ æquus laudisque minister, Mitis precantûm censor, vehemensque merentùm Laudator, cerebrum sine mendo, & cor sine fuco! Hæc saltem accipias, lacrymabilis umbra, licebit, Hæc debet mea musa tuæ munuscula famæ. Illa eadem, infantem cujus tu fingere vocem, Tu monstrare viam; horridulas componere plu

mas

Tu sæpe es solitus-duce jam miseranda remoto
Illa breves humili excursus molimine tentat,
Nec jam quid sublime, quid ingens amplius au-
det.
[cetur,
Illic hoc jam satis est-si hinc turba indocta do-
Docta recognoscit studii vestigia prisci :
Censuram haud curat, famam mediocritèr ardet,
Culpare întrepida, at laudis tamen æqua mi-
nistra ;

Haud 'alli prudens assentaturve notetve;
Se demum mendis haud immunem esse fatetur,
At neque fastidit limâ, quando indiget, uti.

At length Erasmus, that great injur'd name, (The glory of the priest-hood, and the shame) Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barb'rous age, And drove those holy Vandals off the stage.

But see each muse in Leo's golden days, Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays!

Rome's ancient genius, o'er its ruin spread,
Shakes off the dust, and rears his rev'rend head!
Then Sculpture and her sister arts revive,
Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live;
With sweeter notes each rising temple rung;
A Raphael painted, and a Vida 14 sung!
Immortal Vida! on whose honour'd brow
The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow :
Cremona now shall ever boast thy name,
As next in place to Mantua, next in fame!

But soon by impious arms from Latium chas'd,
Their ancient bounds the banish'd muses past;
Thence arts o'er all the northern world advance
But critic learning flourish'd most in France:
The rules a nation born to serve obeys;
And Boileau still in right of Horace sways;
But we, brave Britons, foreign laws despis'd,
And kept unconquer'd, and unciviliz'd,
Fierce for the liberties of wit, and bold,
We still defy'd the Romans, as of old.
Yet some there were among the sounder few,
Of those who less presum'd, and better knew,
Who durst assert the juster aucient cause,
And here restor'd wit's fundamental laws.
Such was the muse, whose rules and practice tell,
Nature's 's chief master-piece is writing well.
Such was Roscommon-not more learn'd than
good,

With manners gen'rous as his noble blood;
To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known,
And ev'ry author's merit but his own.
Such late was Walsh-the muse's judge and
friend;

Who justly know to blame, or to commend ;
To failings mild, but zealous for desert,
The clearest head, and the sincerest heart.
This humble praise, lamented shade! receive,
This praise at least a grateful muse may give!
The muse, whose early voice you taught to sing,
Prescrib'd her heights, and prun'd her tender
wing;

(Her guide now lost) no more pretends to rise, But in low numbers short excursions tries; Content, if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may

view;