But when you find that vigorous heat abate,
Leave off, and for another summons wait.
Before the radiant fun, a glimmering lamp,
Adulterate metals to the fterling ftamp,
Appear not meaner, than mere human lines,
Compar'd with those whofe inspiration shines :
These nervous, bold; thofe languid and remifs
There, cold falutes; but here, a lover's kifs.
Thus have I feen a rapid, headlong tide,
With foaming waves the paffive Soane divide;
Whose lazy waters without motion lay,
While he, with eager force, urg'd his impetuous way.

The privilege that ancient poets claim,

Now turn'd to license by too just a name,
Belongs to none but an establish'd fame,
Which fcorns to take it---

Abfurd expreffions, crude, abortive thoughts,
All the lewd legion of exploded faults,

Bafe fugitives to that asylum fly,

;

And facred laws with infolence defy.
Not thus our heroes of the former days,
Deferv'd and gain'd their never-fading bays;
For I mistake, or far the greatest part
Of what fome call neglect, was study'd art.
When Virgil feems to trifle in a line,
'Tis like a warning-piece, which gives the fign
To wake your fancy, and prepare your fight,
To reach the noble height of fome unusual flight.
I lofe my patience, when with faucy pride,
By.untun'd ears I hear his numbers try'd.

Reverse of nature! fhall fuch copies then
Arraign th' originals of Maro's pen!
And the rude notions of pedantic schools
Blafphere the facred founder of our rules!
The delicacy of the niceft ear

Finds nothing harsh or out of order there.
Sublime or low, unbended or intense,
The fund is ftill a comment to the fenfe.
A skilful ear in numbers fhould prefide,
And all difputes without appeal decide.
This ancient Rome and elder Athens found,
Before mistaken ftops debauch'd the found.
When, by impulfe from heaven, Tyrtaus fung,
In drooping foldiers a new courage sprung;
Reviving Sparta now the fight maintain'd,
And what two generals loft a poet gain'd.
By fecret influence of indulgent skies,
Empire and poefy together rife.

True poets are the guardians of a state,

And, when they fail, portend approaching fate.
For that which Rome to conqueft did infpire,
Was not the Veftal, but the Mufes' fire;
Heaven joins the bleffings: No declining age
E'er felt the raptures of poetic rage.

Of many faults, rhyme is (perhaps) the caufe,
Too ftrict to rhyme, we flight more useful laws,
For that, in Greece or Rome, was never known,
Till by barbarian deluges o'erflown:

Subdued, undone, they did at laft obey,
And change their own for their invaders' way.

I grant

But when you find that vigorous heat abate,
Leave off, and for another fummons wait.
Before the radiant fun, a glimmering lamp,
Adulterate metals to the fterling ftamp,
Appear not meaner, than mere human lines;
Compar'd with those whofe inspiration fhines:
These nervous, bold; thofe languid and remifs;
There, cold falutes; but here, a lover's kifs.
Thus have I seen a rapid, headlong tide,
With foaming waves the paffive Soane divide;
Whose lazy waters without motion lay,

While he, with eager force, urg'd his impetuous way.
The privilege that ancient poets claim,
Now turn'd to license by too just a name,
Belongs to none but an establish'd fame,
Which fcorns to take it---

Abfurd expreffions, crude, abortive thoughts,
All the lewd legion of exploded faults,
Base fugitives to that asylum flv
And facred laws with infol
Not thus our heroes of the
Deferv'd and gain'd their
For I mistake, or far the
Of what fome call neglect,
When Virgil feems to trifle
'Tis like a warnir
To wake your fa
To reach the no
I lofe my patien
By.untun'd ears

Reverse of nature! fhall fuch copies then
Arraign th' originals of Maro's pen!
And the rude notions of pedantic schools
Blafpheme the facred founder of our rules !
The delicacy of the niceft ear

Finds nothing harsh or out of order there.
Sublime or low, unbended or intense,
The fund is ftill a comment to the fenfe.
A skilful ear in numbers fhould prefide,
And all difputes without appeal decide.
This ancient Rome and elder Athens found,
Before mistaken ftops debauch'd the found.
When, by impulfe from heaven, Tyrtaus fung,
In drooping foldiers a new courage sprung;
Reviving Sparta now the fight maintain'd,
And what two generals loft a poet gain'd.
By fecret influence of indulgent fkies,
Empire and poefy together rife.

poets are the guardians of a ftate,

they fail, portend approaching fate.

ome to conquest did inspire,
the Mufes' fire;

declining age

;

The first great work (a task perform'd by few)
Is, that yourself may to yourself be true:
No mask, no tricks, no favour, no referve
Diffect your mind, examine every nerve.
Whoever vainly on his ftrength depends,
Begins like Virgil, but like Mævius ends.
That wretch (in fpite of his forgotten rhymes)
Condemn'd to live to all fucceeding times,
With pompous nonfenfe and a bellowing found
Sung lofty Ilium, tumbling to the ground.
And (if my Mufe can through past ages see)
That noify, naufseous, gaping fool was he;
Exploded, when with univerfal fcorn,

The mountains labour'd and a mouse was born.
Learn, learn, Crotona's brawny wrestler cries,.
Audacious mortals, and be timely wife!
'Tis I that call, remember Milo's end,
Wedg'd in that timber, which he ftrove to rend.
Each poet with a different talent writes,
One praises, one inftructs, another bites.
Horace did ne'er afpire to Epic bays,
Nor lofty Maro ftoop to Lyric lays.
Examine how your humour is inclin'd,
And which the ruling paffion of your mind
Then, feek a poet who your way does bend,
And choose an author as you choose a friend,
United by this fympathetic bond,

You grow familiar, intimate, and fond;

Your thoughts, your words, your ftyles, your fouls agree, No longer his interpreter, but he.