powers diffuse;

Still happier, if that artful theme dispense 105 A poignant moral and instructive sense.

8 Then let the virgin canvas smooth expand, To claim the sketch and tempt the Artist's hand: Then, bold INVENTION, all the Of all thy sisters thou the noblest Muse:. 110 Thee every art, thee every grace inspires, Thee Phæbus fills with all his brightest fires. h Choose such judicious force of shade and

light As suits the theme, and satisfies the sight";

70

Quodque venustatum, circa formam atque co

lorem, Sponte capax, amplam emeritæ mox præbeat Arti Materiam, retegens aliquid salis et documenti.

i Tandem opus aggredior; primoq; occurrit in albo Disponenda typi, concepta potente Minerva, Machina, quæ nostris İNVENTIO dicitur oris Illa quidem priùs ingenuis instructa sororum Artibus Aonidum, et Phæbi sublimior æstu.

Quærendasque inter posituras, luminis, umbræ,

115

Weigh part with part, and with prophetick

eye The future power of all thy tints descry ; And those, those only on the canvas place, Whose hues are' social, whose effect is grace.

| Vivid and faithful to the historick page, Express the customs, manners, forms, and

age; * Nor paint conspicuous on the foremost plain Whate'er is false, impertinent, or vain; But like the Tragick Muse, thỳ lustre throw, Where the chief action claims its warmest glow.

I ZO

Atque futurorum jam præsentire colorum
Par erit harmoniam, captando ab utrisque ve-

nustum. Sit thematis genuina ac viva expressio, juxtà Textum antiquorum, propriis cum tempore formis. °Nec quod inane, nihil facit ad rem, sive videtur Improprium, miniméque urgens, potiora tenebit Ornamenta operis; Tragicæ sed lege sororis, Summa ubi res agitur, vis summa requiritur Artis.

85

This rare, this arduous task no rules can teach,

125 No skill'd preceptor point, no practice reach; 'Tis taste, 'tis genius, 'tis the heav'nly ray Prometheus ravish'd from the car of day.

In Egypt first the infant art appear'd, Rude and unform'd; but when to Greece she steer'd

130 Her prosperous course, fair Fancy met the

Maid ;

Wit, Reason, Judgment, lent their powerful aid; Till all complete the gradual wonder shone, And vanquish'd Nature own'd herself out

done.

90

Ista labore gravi, studio, monitisque magistri Ardua pars nequit addisci : rarissima namque, Ni priùs æthereo rapuit quod ab axe Prometheus Sit jubar infusum menti cum flamine vitæ. Mortali haud cuivis divina hæc munera dantur ; Non uti Dædaleam licet omnibus ire Corinthum.

Ægypto informis quondam pictura reperta, Græcorum studiis, et mentis acumine crevit : Egregiis tandem illustrata et adulta magistris, Naturam visa est miro superare labore.

Pa

95

'Twas there the Goddess fix'd her blest abodes,

135 There reign'd in Corinth, Athens, Sicyon,

Rhodes,
Her various vot'ries various talents crown'd,
Yet each alike her inspiration own’d:
Witness those marble miracles of

grace,
Those tests of symmetry where still we trace 140
All art's perfection: With reluctant gaze
To these the genius of succeeding days
Looks dazzled up, and, as their glories spread,
Hides in his mantle his diminish'd head.
P Learn then from Greece, ye youths, Pro-

portion's law, Inform’d by her, cach just Position draw

145

;

99

Quos inter, Graphidos Gymnasia prima fuêre Portus Athenarum, Sicyon, Rhodos, atquc Corinthus, Disparia inter se modicum ratione laboris ; Ut patet ex veterum Statuis, formæ atque decoris Archetypis ; queis posterior nil protulit ætas Condignum, et non inferius longè, arte modoque.

9 Horum igitur vera ad normam positura legetur :

Skilful to range each large unequal part,
With varied motion and contrasted art;
Full in the front the nobler limbs to place,
And poise each figure on its central base. 150

But chief from her that flowing outline take, Which floats, in wavy windings, like the snake, Or lambent flame ; which, ample, broad, and

long, Reliev'd not swell’d, at once both light and

strong, Glides thro' the graceful whole. Her art

divine
Cuts not, in parts minute, the tame design,
But by a few bold strokes, distinct and free,
Calls forth the charms of perfect symmetry.

155

105

Grandia, inæqualis, formosaque partibus amplis
Anteriora dabit membra, in contraria motu
Diverso variata, suo librataque centro ;

Membrorumque sinus ignis flammantis ad instar, Serpenti undantes flexu ; sed lævia, plana, Magnaque signa, quasi sine tubere subdita tactu, Ex longo deducta fluant, non secta minutim, Insertisque toris sint nota ligamina, juxta Compagem anatomes, et membrificatio Græc,