Ad libros et ad haec Mufarum dona vocares; "Boeotum in craffo jurares aëre natum. [At neque dedecorant tua de fe judicia, atque Munera, quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt, Dilecti tibi Virgilius Variufque poetae ;] d Nec magis expreffi * vultus per ahenea figna, Quam per vatis opus mores animique virorum Clarorem apparent. nec fermones ego mallem Repentes per humum, quam res componere geftas, Terrarumque' fitus et flumina dicere, et arces Montibus impofitas, et barbara regna, tuifque Aufpiciis totum confecta duella per orbem, Clauftraque cuftodem pacis cohibentia Janum, Et formidatam Parthis, te principe, Romam: Si quantum cuperem, poffem quoque. fed neque k parvum * Carmen majeftas recipit tua; nec meus audet Rem tentare pudor, quam vires ferre recufent. NOTES. Echard being the wittiest man of the age, was very fitly left to divert the Chaplains; and Anthony Wood, without all peradventure the dulleft, was called in to enjoy the conver fation of his Grace. VER. 405. And I'm not us'd to Panegyric ftrains.] Archbishop Tilletfon hath faid, "That fatire and invective were the eafieft kind of wit, becaufe almost any degree of it will "ferve to abuse and find fault. For wit (fays he) is a keen inftrument, and every one can cut and gash with it. But The Hero William, and the Martyr Charles, One knighted Blackmore, and one penfion'd Quarles; Which made old Ben, and furly Dennis fwear, "No Lord's anointed, but a Ruffian Bear." d C Not with fuch majefty, fuch bold relief, 390 The Forms auguft, of King, or conquʼring Chief, E'er fwell'd on marble; as in verfe have fhin'd (In polish'd verfe) the Manners and the Mind. Oh! could I mount on the Mæonian wing, Your Arms, your Actions, your Repose to fing! What' feas you travers'd, and what fields you fought! 396 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, h 1 Peace ftole her wing, and wrapt the world in fleep; 'Till earth's extremes your mediation own, k 401 And Afia's Tyrants tremble at your Throne--- NOTES. 405 "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 abufe; a little wit, and a Sedulitas autem 'flulte, quem diligit, urget; Praecipue cum fe numeris commendat et arte. Difcit enim citius, meminitque libentius illud m Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat et veneratur. Nil moror" officium, quod me gravat: ac neque ficto о In pejus vultu proponi cereus ufquam, Nec prave P factis decorari verfibus opto: Ne ' rubeam pingui donatus munere, et una Cum fcriptore meo capfa porrectus aperta, q Deferar in vicum vendentem thus et odores, Et piper, et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis. NOTE S. great deal of ill-nature, will furnish a man for fatire, but "the greatest instance 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 moft eafy of all performances; for that any barber-furgeon can curl and fhave, and give cosmetic washes for the skin; but it requires the abilities of an Anatomist to diffect and lay open the interior of the human frame. But the truth is, these fimilitudes prove nothing, but the good fancy, or the ill judg ment of the ufer. The one is just as easy to do ill, and as 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 410 That when I aim at praise, they fay " I bite. NOTES. difficult to do well, as the other. In our Author's Essay on the Characters of Men, the Encomium on Lord Cobham, and the Satire on Lord Wharton, are the equal efforts of the same 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. |