CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. PAGE Macer, a Character ODE on St. Cecilia's Day Two Choruses to the Tragedy of Brutus THE DYING CHRISTIAN to his Soul ELOISA TO ABELARD EPISTLES To Mr. Addison on his Dialogues on Medals To Robert, Earl of Oxford, prefixed to Parnelle's poems To Mr. Jervas, with Dryden's Translation of Fresnoy To Mrs. Teresa Blount, on leaving Town PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES Lines occasioned by some Verses by the Duke of Buckingham To Mr. John Moore, author of the celebrated Worm-Powder 1 11 16 19 41 43 49 52 54 59 60 63 65 67 69 72 73 75 79 81 ib. 83 Song, by a Person of Quality 84 gardens On a certain Lady at Court On his Grotto at Twickenham To Mr. Gay, who had congratulated him on finishing his house and Verbatim from Boileau Answer to Mrs. How 91 Verses on lying in the bed where the Earl of Rochester had slept at VII. On the Hon. Robert Digby, and his sister Mary VIII. On Sir Godfrey Kneller IX. On General Henry Withers X. On Mr. Elijah Fenton . XI. On Mr. Gay PAGE 96 ib. 99 ib. 101 114 ib. 115 116 117 371 375 378 XII. Intended for Sir Isaac Newton XIII. On Dr. Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester . XV. For one who would not be buried in Westminster Abbey A letter to the publisher, occasioned by the first correct edition of the Dunciad Martinus Scriblerus, his Prolegomena and illustrations to the Dunciad, with the hyper-critics of Aristarchus . Testimonies of Authors Martinus Scriblerus, of the poem Richardus Aristarchus, of the Hero of the Poem I. Preface to the five first imperfect editions of the Dunciad III. Advertisement to the first edition with notes, in quarto, 1729 381 V. Advertisement to the first edition of the fourth book of the VIII. A parallel of the characters of Mr. Dryden and Mr. Pope 392 401 VI. Advertisement to the complete edition of 1743 IF we cast a transient view over the most celebrated of the modern lyrics, we may observe, that the stanza of Petrarch, which has been adopted by all his successors, displeases the ear, by its tedious uniformity, and by the number of identical cadences. And, indeed, to speak truth, there appears to be little valuable in Petrarch, except the purity of his diction. His sentiments, even of love, are metaphysical and far-fetched. Neither is there much variety in his subjects, or fancy in his method of treating them. Fulvio Testi, Chiabrera, and Metastasio, are much better lyric poets. When Boileau attempted an ode, he exhibited a glaring proof of what will frequently be hinted in the course of these notes, that the writer, whose grand characteristical talent is satiric or moral poetry, will never succeed, with equal merit, in the higher branches of his art. In his ode on the taking of Namur, are instances of the bombastic, of the prosaic, and of the puerile; and it is no small confirmation of the ruling passion of this author, that he could not conclude his ode, but with a severe stroke on his old antagonist Perrault, though the majesty of this species of composition is so much injured by descending to personal satire. "We have had (says Mr. Gray) in our language, no other odes of the sublime kind, than that of Dryden on St. Cecilia's Day: for Cowley, who had his merit, yet wanted judgment, style, and harmony, for such a task. That of Pope is not worthy of so great a master. Mr. Mason, indeed, of late days, has touched the true chords, and with a masterly hand, in some of his choruses; above all in the last of Caractacus ; 66 "Hark! heard ye not yon footstep dread ?" &c. Gray's Works, 4to. page 25.-Warton. The foregoing observations on the character of Petrarch, as a Lyric Poet, will scarcely obtain the assent of the admirers of Italian poetry; who will be shocked by the assertions, that his stanza displeases the ear, and that there is not much variety in his subjects, or fancy in his manner of treating them. Such observations are sufficiently answered by the celebrity which still attends his writings, and by the avidity and pleasure with which they continue to be read ; and which is now extended to the English reader, by the correctly beautiful translations of LADY DACRE, published by SIG. UGO FOSCOLO, in his very judicious and entertaining Essays on Petrarch." Still more hazardous is the assertion, that Chiabrera, Fulvio Testi, and Metastasio, are better Lyric poets than Petrarch. That the two former are brilliant and spirited writers may be allowed ; but to prefer their extravagant figures, eccentric ideas, and impetuous flow of language, to the sustained dignity and purity of style of Petrarch, is, to say the least, not quite consistent with the good taste displayed by Dr. Warton on other occasions. If, instead of those examples, he had referred to their followers, Guidi, Filicaja, and the other eminent Italian poets at the close of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, who have purified the manner, and chastened the style of their immediate predecessors, he |