"Who lasts a 17 century can have no flaw, "I hold that Wit a Claffick, good in law.

55

Suppose he wants a year, will you compound? And shall we deem him 18 Ancient, right and found, Or damn to all eternity at once,

At ninety nine, a Modern and a Dunce?

66

"We fhall not quarrel for a year or two;

By 19 courtesy of England, he may do.

60

Then, by the rule that made the 20 Horse-tail bare, I pluck out year by year, as hair by hair,

And melt 21 down Ancients like a heap of fnow: 65 While you, to meafure merits, look in 22 Stowe, And eftimating authors by the year,

Bestow a Garland only on a 23 Bier,

24 Shakespear*, (whom you and ev'ry Play-house bill Style the divine, the matchlefs, what you will)

70

For

"Eft vetus atque probus, 17 centum qui perficit annos. Quid? qui deperiit minor uno menfe, vel anno; Inter quos referendus erit? 18 veterefne poetas, An quos & præfens & posterà refpuet ætas ?

Ife quidem veteres inter ponetur 19 honestè, Qui vel menje brevi, vel toto eft junior anno. Utor permiffo, caudæque pilos ut 20 equina Paulatim vello, & demo unum, demo etiam unum ; Dum cadat elufus, ratione 21 ruentis acervi, Qui redit ad 22 faftos, & virtutem æftimat annis, Miraturque nibil, nifi quod 23 Libitina facravit.

24 Ennius (& fapiens, & fortis, & alter Homerus,

*Shakespear and Ben. Johnfon may truly be faid not much to have thought of this Immortality, the one in D 2

many

For gain, not glory, wing'd his roving flight,
And grew Immortal in his own despight.
Ben, old and poor, as little feem'd to heed

25 The Life to come, that makes a Poet's Creed.
Who now reads 26 Cowley? if he pleases yet,
His Moral pleases, not his pointed Wit;
Forgot his Epic, nay Pindaric Art,
But ftill

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80

27 I love the language of his heart. "Yet furely, 28 furely, these were famous men ! "What boy but hears the fayings of old Ben? "In all 29 debates where Criticks bear a part, "Not one but nods, and talks of Johnson's Art,

Ut Critici dicunt) leviter curare videtur, Quo 25 promiffa cadant, & fomnia Pythagorea. 26 Nævius in manibus non eft; at 27 mentibus hæret

Pæne recens :

66

"28 Adeo fan&tum eft vetus omne poema! Ambigitur 29 quoties, uter utro fit prior; aufert "Pacuvius docti famam fenis, Accius alti: "Dicitur Afrani toga conveniffe Menandro; "Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epickarmi; "Vincere Cæcilius gravitate, Terentius arte.

many pieces composed in hafte for the Stage; the other in his latter works in general, which Dryden call'd his Dotages.

* Pindaric art, which has much more merit than his Epic, but very unlike the Character, as well as Numbers, of Pindar.

"Of

Of Shakespear's Nature, and of Cowley's Wit; "How Beaumont's Judgment check'd what Fletcher

writ;

"How * Shadwell hafty, Wycherly was flow ;

66

85

But, for the Paffions, Southern fure and Rowe. Thefe, 30 only thefe, fupport the crouded stage, "From eldest Heywood down to Cibber's age.

31 All this may be; the People's Voice is odd,
It is, and it is not, the voice of God..
To 32 Gammer + Gurton if it give the bays,
And yet deny the Careless Husband praise,
Or lay our Fathers never broke a rule;
Why then, I fay, the Publick is a fool.

90

"Hos edifcit, & hos ar&to ftipata theatro Spectat Roma potens; 30 habet hos numeratque poetas "Ad noftrum tempus, Livi fcriptoris ab avo.

31 Interdum vulgus rectum videt: eft ubi peccat. Si 32 veteres ita miratur laudatque poetas, Ut nibil anteferat, nihil illis comparet: errat:

*Shadwell hafly, Wycherly was flow.] Nothing was lefs true than this particular: But the whole Paragraph has a mixture of Irony, and must not altogether be taken for Horace's own Judgment, only the common Chatt of the pretenders to Criticifm; in fome things right, in others wrong as he tells us in his answer,

Interdum vulgus reflum videt, eft ubi peccat.

+ Gammer Gurton, a piece of very low humour, one of the first printed Plays in English, and therefore much valued by fome Antiquaries.

95

But let them own, that greater Faults than we
They had, and greater Virtues, I'll agree.
*Spenfer himself affects the 33 Obfolete,
And Sydney's verse halts ill on 34 Roman feet:
Milton's ftrong pinion now not Heav'n can bound,
Now Serpent-like, in 35 profe he fweeps the ground,
In Quibbles, Angel, and Archangel join,
And God the Father turns a School-divine.
35 Not that I'd lop the Beauties from his book,
Like 37 flashing Bentley with his defp'rate hook,
Or damn all Shakespear, like th' affected Fool
105
At court, who hates whate'er he 38 read at school.
But for the Wits of either Charles's days,
The Mob of Gentlemen who wrote with Ease;
Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more,
(Like twinkling ftars the Mifcellanies o'er)
One Simile, that 39 folitary fhines
In the dry defert of a thousand lines,

110

Si quædam nimis 33 antiquè, fi pleraque 34 durè
Dicere credit eos, 35 ignavè multa; fatetur ;
Et fapit, & mecum facit, & Jove judicat aquo.
36 Non equidem infector, delandaque carmina Livi
Efe reor, memini qua 37 plagofum, 38 mihi parvo,
Orbilium dictare Sed emendata videri

Pulchraque, & exactis minimum diftantia, miror :
Inter quæ 39 verbum emicuit fi forte decorum, &

*Spenfer himself affects the obfolete.] Particularly in the Shepherd's Calendar, where he imitates the unequal meatures, as well as the language, of Chaucer.

Or

Or 40 lengthen'd Thought that gleams thro' many a

Has fanctify'd whole poems for an age.

[page, 115

41 I lose my patience, and I own it too,
When works are cenfur'd, not as bad, but new;
While if our Elders break all reason's laws,
Thefe fools demand not pardon, but Applaufe.
42 On Avon's bank, where flow'rs eternal blow,
If I but ask, if any weed can grow?

One Tragic fentence if I dare deride
Which 43 Betterton's grave action dignify'd,
Or well-mouth'd Booth with emphasis proclaims,
(Tho' but, perhaps a mufter-roll of Names)
How will our Fathers rife up in a rage,

*

And fwear, all fhame is loft in George's Age!

You'd think 44 no Fools difgrac'd the former reign, Did not fome grave Examples yet remain,

Si 40 verfus paulo concinnior unus & alter;
Injufte totum ducit venditque poema.

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125

41 Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia crafsè Compofitum illepideve putetur, fed quia nuper ; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem & præmia pofci. 42 Recti necne crocum florefque perambulet Attæ Fabula, fi dubitem; clamant periiffe pudorem Cundi pæne patres, ea cum reprehendere coner, Que 43 gravis fopus, quæ doctus Rofcius egit. Vel quia nil 44 re&tum, nifi quod placuit fibi, ducunt ;

*A mufter-roll of Names.] An abfurd custom of feveral Actors, to pronounce with emphasis the meer Proper Names of Greeks or Romans, which (as they call it) fill the mouth of the Player. D4

Who