:

for Æneas, in the most lively and most natural colours imaginable: Homer was ambitious enough of moving pity; for he has attempted twice on the fame fubject of Hector's death: first, when Priam and Hecuba beheld his corpfe, which was dragged after the chariot of Achilles; and then in the lamentation which was made over him, when his body was redeemed by Priam; and the fame perfons again bewailed his death, with a chorus of others to help the cry. But if this laft excite compaffion in you, as I doubt not but it will, you are more obliged to the tranflator than the poet : for Homer, as I obferved before, can move rage better than he can pity he ftirs up the irafcible appetite, as our philofophers call it; he provokes to murther, and the deftruction of God's images; he forms and equips thofe ungodly man-killers, whom we poets, when we flatter them, call heroes; a race of men, who can never enjoy quiet in themselves, till they have taken it from all the world. This is Homer's commendation; and fuch as it is, the lovers of peace, or at least of more moderate heroifm, will never envy him. But let Homer and Virgil contend for the prize of honour betwixt themfelves; I am satisfied they will never have a third concurrent. I wish Mr. Congreve had the leisure to translate him, and the world the good-nature and justice to encourage him in that noble defign, of which he is more capable than any man I know. The earl of Mulgrave and Mr. Waller, two the best judges of our age, have affured me, that they could never read over the tranflation of Chapman, without incredible pleasure

and extreme tranfport. This admiration of theirs must needs proceed from the author himself: for the translator has thrown him down as low as harsh numbers, improper English, and a monftrous length of verse, could carry him. What then would he appear in the harmonious version of one of the best writers, living in a much better age than was the laft? I mean for versification, and the art of numbers: for in the drama we have not arrived to the pitch of Shakespeare and Ben Jonfon. But here, my Lord, I am forced to break off abruptly, without endeavouring at a compliment in the close. This Mifcellany is, without difpute, one of the best of the kind, which has hitherto been extant in our tongue. At least, as Sir Samuel Tuke has faid before me, a modest man may praise what is not his own. My fellows have no need of any protection: but I humbly recommend my part of it, as much as it deferves, to your patronage and acceptance, and all the rest to your forgiveness. I am,

My LORD,

Your Lordship's most

Obedient Servant,

JOHN DRYDEN.

THE

THE

FIRST BOOK

O F

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

F bodies changed to various forms I fing:
Ye Gods, from whence thefe miracles did spring,
Infpire my numbers with celeftial heat;
Till I my long laborious work compleat;
And add perpetual tenor to my rhymes,
Deduc'd from nature 's birth, to Cæfar's times.
Before the feas, and this terreftrial ball,
And heaven's high canopy, that covers all,
One was the face of nature, if a face;
Rather a rude and indigested mass :

A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,
Of jarring feeds, and juftly Chaos nam'd,
No fun was lighted up the world to view 3
No moon did yet her blunted horns renew;
Nor yet was earth fufpended in the sky;
Nor, pois'd, did on her own foundations lie
Nor feas about the fhores their arms had thrown ;
But earth, and air, and water, were in one.
Thus air was void of light, and earth untable,
And water's dark aby is unnavigable.

No

No certain form on any was imprest;
All were confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest.
For hot and cold were in one body fixt,

And foft with hard, and light with heavy mixt.

But God, or Nature, while they thus contend, To these inteftine difcords put an end.

Then earth from air, and feas from earth were driven,
And groffer air funk from ætherial heaven.

Thus difembroil'd, they take their proper place;
The next of kin contiguously embrace;
And foes are funder'd by a larger space.
The force of fire afcended first on high,
And took its dwelling in the vaulted sky.
Then air fucceeds, in lightnefs next to fire;
Whofe atoms from unactive earth retire.

Earth finks beneath, and draws a numerous throng
Of ponderous, thick, unwieldy feeds along.
About her coafts unruly waters roar,

And, rifing on a ridge, infult the shore.

Thus when the God, whatever God was he,
Had form'd the whole, and made the parts agree,
That no unequal portions might be found,
He moulded earth into a spacious round :
Then, with a breath, he gave the winds to blow
And bade the congregated waters flow.

He adds the running fprings, and standing lakes;
And bounding banks for winding rivers makes.
Some part in earth are fwallow'd up, the most
In ample oceans, difembogued, are loft.,

}

He

He fhades the woods, the vallies he restrains With rocky mountains, and extends the plains. And as five zones th' ætherial regions bind, Five, correfpondent, are to earth affign'd : The fun with rays, directly darting down, Fires all beneath, and fries the middle zone: The two beneath the diftant poles complain Of endless winter, and perpetual rain. Betwixt th' extremes, two happier climates hold The temper that partakes of hot and cold. The fields of liquid air, inclofing all, Surround the compass of this earthly ball: The lighter parts lie next the fires above; The groffer near the watery furface move: Thick clouds are fpread, and ftorms engender there, And thunder's voice, which wretched mortals fear, And winds that on their wings cold winter bear. Nor were those bluftering brethren left at large, On feas and fhores their fury to discharge: Bound as they are, and circumfcrib'd in place, They rend the world, refiftlefs, where they pass; And mighty marks of mischief leave behind; Such is the rage of their tempestuous kind. First Eurus to the rifing morn is fent, (The regions of the balmy continent) And Eastern realms, where early Perfians run, To greet the bleft appearance of the fun. Weftward the wanton Zephyr wings his flight, Pleas'd with the remnants of departing light: