"And none of thofe attractive Charms remain, "To which the flighted ECHO fu'd in vain. "She faw him in his prefent Mifery, "Whom spite of all her Wrongs the griev'd to fee. "She answer'd fadly to the Lover's Moan, Sigh'd back his Sighs, and anfwer'd Groan for Groan. "Ah Youth! belov'd in vain, NARCISSUS cries, "Ah Youth! belov'd in vain, the Nymph replies. "Farewell, fays he, the parting Sound fcarce fell "From his faint Lips, but the reply'd, "Farewell. " Then on th' unwholfome Earth he gasping lies, Till Death fhuts up thofe felf-admiring Eyes, "To the cold Shades his flitting Ghost retires, "And in the Stygian Waves itself admires Ibid. iii. If Cum rifi, arrides: lachrymas quoque fæpe notavi Verba refers aures non pervenientia nostras. Metam. Lib. iii. * Nec corpus remanet quondam quod amaverat Echo, Quæ tamen ut vidit, quamvis irata memorque, Indoluit: quotiefque puer miferabilis, Eheu, Dixerat: hæc refonis iterabat vocibus Eheu. Ultima vox folitam fuit hæc fpectantis in undam, Heu fruftra dilecte puer! totidemque remifit Verba locus: dictoque vale, vale inquit et Echo. Ille caput viridi feffum fubmifit in herba. Lumina nox claudit domini mirantia formam. If the ingenious Author of the Difcourfe on Poetical Imitation, had not made it plainly appear, that what is too frequently mistaken for one Poet's Imitation of another, is only an unavoidable Similarity, that will always attend the Defcription of the fame thing drawn by two Geniuses tho' living in two different Ages and Countries, (for Defcriptions are nothing but Tranfcripts from Nature, and Nature is always the fame) I fhould have been ready to have pronounced Eve's Defcription of viewing herself in the Fountain, in Paradife Loft, to be borrowed by MILTON from the former of these two last Paffages in OVID, which is exactly the fame, and then concludes, -Pleas'd I foon return'd, "Pleas'd it return'd as foon, with answering Looks "Of Sympathy and Love: there I had fix'd "Mine Eyes till now, and, pin'd with VAIN Defire, "Had not a Voice, &c. MILTON'S Par. Loft. B. iv. What would lead me too more strongly to the Conjecture, is, the feeming Allu fion to the Story of Narciffus in the Expreffion, preffion, pin'd with VAIN Defire.-For fear a Chain of Thoughts fhould here lead me to fay any thing disrespectful of that Work which Nature form with most taste, Woman, I will abruptly conclude myself, Your, &c. &c. LETTER [43] LETTER VII, To the Same. Remember, EUPHEMIUS, when we were reading over together LUCIAN'S Dialogue concerning BEAUTY, you was uncommonly pleas'd with that Author for calling HOMER the most excellent of the Painters. Which imply'd, by beftowing this Expreffion upon the Father of the Poets, that Poetry comprehended all the Powers of her Sifter Art. But I'm afraid it would be too bold in any Writer to call APELLES, or PROTOGENES, the most excellent of the Poets. For tho' no Painter can arrive at any Perfection without a poetical Genius, yet his Art comprehending only Part of the Powers of Poetry, there would not be fufficient Authority for the mutual Appellation. There are Subjects indeed in com mon + Αριςον των Γραφέων Ομηρον. LUCIAN. mon to Poets and Painters, but even in thofe very Subjects, (not to mention others which are the Province only of the former) Poetry has feveral adventitious Aids which maintain her Superiority over the other Art. Many Objects, 'tis true, fuch as the following Night-Pieces for Example, may be fo defcrib'd even by the greatest Poets, that Painters of equal Genius might produce Pictures, betwixt which and them, the Palm of Glory would hang wav’ring, The first is MILTON'S, "The Moon Rifing in clouded Majefty, at length "Apparent Queen unveil'd her peerless Light, "And o'er the Earth her Silver Mantle threw." MILTON'S Par. Loft. B. iv. The next is HOMER'S, which EUSTA THIUS esteem'd the most beautiful Night Piece in Poetry. NS NOT EV regvw, &c. ‡ Iliad. lib. viii. 1. 55 M The Mr. Pope's Tranflation of this Paffage is, in my Opinion, fuperior to the Original, which the ingenious Author of Sir Tho. Fitzofborne's Letters has remark'd before me. I must add one Obfervation, which is, that Mr. POPE has moft happily digested a Line of Shakefpear's, "And |