[At neque dedecorant tua de fe judicia, atque Munera, quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt, Dilecti tibi Virgilius Variufque poetae ;]

Quam per

Nec magis expreffi vultus per ahenea figna, vatis opus mores animique virorum Clarorum apparent. nec fermones ego mallem Repentes per humum, quam res componere geftas, Terrarumque fitus et Alumina dicere, et arces

f

с

Montibus impofitas, et barbara regna, tuisque
Aufpiciis totum confecta duella per orbem,

h

Clauftraque cuftodem pacis cohibentia Janum,

i

Et formidatam Parthis, te principe, Romam:
Si quantum cuperem, poffem quoque. fed neque par-

vum

* Carmen majeftas recipit tua; nec meus audet Rem tentare pudor, quem vires ferre recufant.

NOTES.

VER. 405. And I'm not us'd to Panegyric ftrains ;] Archbifhop Tilletfon hath said, "That fatire and invective were "the eafieft kind of wit, becaufe almoft any degree of it "will serve to abuse and find fault. For wit (fays he) is a keen inftrument, and every one can cut and gash with ❝ it. But to carve a beautiful image and polish it, requires great art and dexterity. To praise any thing "well, is an argument of much more wit than to abuse; little wit, and a great deal of ill-nature, will furnish a man for fatire, but the greateft inttance of wit is to "commend well." Thus far this candid Prelate. And I, in my turn, might as well fay, that Satire was the most difficult, and Panegyric the eafieft thing in nature; for

66 a

66

d

Not with fuch majefty, fuch bold relief,
The Forms auguft, of King, or conqu❜ring Chief,
E'er fwell'd on marble; as in verse have shin'd
(In polifh'd verfe) the Manners and the Mind.
Oh! could I mount on the Mæonian wing,

e

390

Your Arms, your Actions, your Repose to fing! 395
What f feas you travers'd, and what fields you fought!
Your Country's Peace, how oft, how dearly bought!
How barb'rous rage fubfided at your word,
And Nations wonder'd while they dropp'd the fword!
How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 400
b Peace ftole her wing, and wrapt the world in fleep;
'Till earth's extremes your mediation own,

i

And Afia's Tyrants tremble at your Throne

k

But Verfe, alas! your Majefty disdains;

And I'm not us'd to Panegyric ftrains :

NOTES.

405

that any barber-furgeon can curl and fhave, and give cofmetic-washes for the fkin; but it requires the abilities of an Anatomift to diffect and lay open the whole interior of the human frame. But the truth is, these fimilitudes prove nothing, but the good fancy, or the ill judgment of the. ufer. The one is juft as eafy to do ill, and as difficult to do well as the other. In our Author's Effay on the Characters of Men, the Encomium on Lord Cobham, and the fatire on Lord Wharton, are the equal efforts of the fame great genius. There is one advantage indeed in Satire over Panegyric, which every body has taken notice of, that it is more readily received; but this does not fhew that it is more eafily written.

Sedulitas autem 'stulte, quem diligit, urget;
Praecipue cum fe numeris commendat et arte.

Difcit enim citius, meminitque libentius illud

Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat et veneratur.
Nil moror" officium, quod me gravat: ac neque ficte
In pejus vultu proponi cereus ufquam,

Nec prave factis decorari verfibus opto:
Ne P rubeam pingui donatus munere, et una
Cum fcriptore meo capfa porrectus aperta,
Deferar in vicum vendentem thus et odores,
Et piper, et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis.

The Zeal of Fools offends at any time,

But most of all, the Zeal of Fools in rhyme.
Befides, a fate attends on all I write,

n

m

That when I aim at praise, they fay " I bite.
A vile Encomium doubly ridicules:
There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools.
If true, a ° woful likeness; and if lyes,
"Praise undeserv'd is scandal in disguise:"
Well may he blush, who gives it, or receives;
And when I flatter, let my dirty leaves

(Like Journals, Odes, and fuch forgotten things
As Eufden, Philips, Settle, writ of Kings)
Cloath fpice, line trunks, or flutt'ring in a row,
Befringe the rails of Bedlam and Soho.

410

415