Rofcommon. Habitual Innocence adorns her thoughts;
But your Neglect muft answer for her Faults.
Immodeft Words admit of no Defence;
For want of Decency is want of Senfe.
What mod'rate Fop wou'd rake the Park or Stews,
Who among Troops of faultlefs Nymphs may choo-
fe?
Variety of fuch is to be found;
Take then a fubject, proper to expound;
But moral, great, and worth a Poet's Voice,
For Men of fenfe defpife a trivial Choice:
And fuch Applaufe, it must expect to meet,
As would fome Painter bufy in a Street,
To copy Bulls and Bears, and ev'ry Sign
That calls the staring Sots to nasty Wine.
Yet 'tis not all to have a Subject good,
It must delight us, when 'tis understood.
He that brings fulfom Objects to my View,
(As many Old have done, and many New)
With nauseous Images my fancy fills,
And all goes down like Oximel of Squills.
Inftruct the lift'ning World how Maro fings
Of useful Subjects, and of lofty Things.
Thofe will fuch true, fuch bright Ideas raife,
As merit Gratitude as well as Praife:
But foul Defcriptions are offensive still,
Either for being like, or being ill.
For who, without a Qualm, hath ever look'd
On holy Garbage, tho' by Homer cook'd?
Whose railing Heroes, and whose wounded Gods,
Make fome fufpect, He fnores, as well as nods.
But I offend Virgil begins to frown,
And Horace looks with Indignation down:
My blufhing Mufe with confcious Fear retires,
And whom they like, implicitly admires.
On fure foundations let your Fabrick rise,
And with attractive Majefty fürprife.
Not by affected, meretricious Arts,
But ftrict harmonious Symmetry of Parts,
Which through the Whole infenfibly muft pafs,
With vital Heat to animate the Mass.
A pure, an active, an aufpicious Flame,
And bright as Heav'n, from whence the Bleffing
came;
that envy'd
But few, oh few Souls, preordain'd by Fate,
The Race of Gods, have reach'd
Height.
No Rebel-Titan's facrilegious Crimê,
By heaping Hills on Hills can thither climb.
The grizly Ferry-man of Hell deny'd
Aeneas Entrance, 'till he knew his Guide;
How justly then will impious Mortals fall,
Whofe Pride wou'd foar to Heav'n without a
Call?
Pride (of all others the most dang'rous Fault,)
Proceeds from want of Senfe, or want of Thought.
The Men, who labour and digeft things moft,
Will be much apter to defpond, than boaft.
For if your Author be profoundly good,
"Twill coft you dear, before he's understood.
How many Ages fince has Virgil writ?
How few are they who understand him yet?
Approach his Altars with religious Fear,
No vulgar Deity inhabits there:
Heav'n Thakes not more at Jove's imperial Nod,
Than Poets fhou'd before their Mantuan God.
Hail mighty Maro! may that facred Name
Kindle my Breaft with thy celestial Flame!
Sublime Ideas, and apt Words infufe,
The Mufe inftruct my Voice, and thou infpire the
Mufe!
What I have inftanc'd only in the best,
Is, in proportion, true of all the reft.
Take pains, the genuine Meaning to explore;
There fweat, there ftrain, tug the laborious Oar:
Beisp. Samml. 3. B.
Search
Romfcomon, Search ev'ry Comment that your Care can find,
Some here, fome there, may hit the Poet's
Mind;
Yet be not blindly guided by the Throng;
The Multitude is always in the Wrong.
When Things appear unnatural or hard,
Confult your Author, with himself compar'd.
Who knows what Bleffing Phoebus may bestow,
And future Ages to your Labour owe?
Such Secrets are not eafily found out,
But once difcover'd, leave no room for doubt.
Truth ftamps Conviction in your ravifh'd Breaft,
And Peace and Joy attend the glorious Guest.
John Philip s.
Von dem oben (B. L. S. 449.) vorgekommenen Schäferz dichter Ambrose Philips ist der, vornehmlich in der Lehrgate tung berühmte, englische Dichter John Philips zu unters Scheiden, der von 1676 bis 1708 lebte. Auch von ihm hat man nur wenige Gedichte, unter welchen die komische Paros die der Miltonschen Schreibart, The Splendid Shilling, und das Lehrgedicht, The Cyder, oder von der Bereitung des Aepfelmoftes, die berühmtesten sind. Dieß lestre ist Nachahmung des Virgilischen Gedichts vom Landbau, und hat, außer dem poetischen Verdienste, auch noch den Vorzug völ liger Wahrheit und Richtigkeit der darin ertheilten Anweiz fungen. Der auch unter uns berühmte Botanißt und Garz tenkenner Miller åußerte darüber gegen Dr. Johnson vas Urtheil, es gebe manche Bücher in Profe über die nämliche Materie, die nicht so viel Wahres enthielten, als dieses Gedicht, welches sich auch durch die geschickte Anlegung des Plans, und durch eine wirklich Virgilische Verflechtung des Augenehmen und Gefühlvollen mit dem Nüßlichen und Uns terrichtenden empfiehlt. Von minder vortheilhafter Wirz kung ist, der, den Englåndern sonst in, Lehrgedichten nie gewöhnliche, Gebrauch reimløser Verse, den auch Dr. Johns son tadelt, weil diese Versart zu sehr an den feierlichen Gang des Heldengedichts erinnert, und leicht den poetischen Ausdruck über die hier weit engern Gränzen hinaus führt.-S. auch Dusch's Briefe, I. 9.
CYDER. (B. II.)
A thousand accidents the farmer's hopes
Subvert, or check; uncertain all his toil,
'Till lufty autumn's luke warm days allay'd
With gentle colds, infenfibly confirm
His ripening labours: autumn to the fruits
Earth's various lap produces, vigour gives
Equal, intenerating milky grain,
I 2
John Berries, and fky-dy'd Plumbs, and what in coat
Philips. Rough, or foft rind, or bearded hufk, or fhell;
Fat Olives, and Pifacio's fragrant nut,
And the Pine's tafteful Apple: autumn paints
Aufonian hills with Grapes,
hills with Grapes, whilft English
- plains
Blush with pomaceous harvefts, breathing iweets.
O let me now, when the kind early dew
Unlocks th' embofom'd odors, walk among
The well-rang'd files of trees, whofe full ag'd
ftore
Diffufe Ambrofial fteams, than Myrrh, or Nard
More grateful, or perfuming flow'ry Bean!
Soft whifp'ring airs, and the lark's matin fong
Then woo to mufing, and becalm the mind
Perplex'd with irksome thoughts.
Thrice happy
time,
Beft portion of the various year, in which
Nature rejoiceth, fmiling on her works
Lovely, to full perfection wrought! but ah,
Short are our joys, and neighb'ring griefs di-
fturb
Our pleasant hours. Inclement winter dwells
Contiguous; forthwith frofty blafts deface
The blithfome year: trees of their fhrivel'd fruits
Are widow'd, dreary ftorms o'er all prevail.
Now, now's the time; ere hafty funs forbid
To work, difburden thou thy fapless wood
Of its rich progeny; the turgid fruit
Abounds with mellow liquor; now exhort
Thy hinds to exercise the pointed steel
On the hard rock, and give a wheely form
To the expected grinder: now prepare
Materials for thy mill, a sturdy post
Cylindric, to fupport the grinder's weight
Exceffive, and a flexile fallow' entrench'd,
Rounding, capacious of the juicy hord.
Nor muft thou not be mindful of thy prefs
Long ere the vintage; but with timely care
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