to the English Heroick of five Feet,. and to the French Alexandrine of Six.. But the Ear muft prefide, and direct: the Judgment to the choice of Numbers: Without the nicety of this, the Harmony of Pindarique Verse can never be compleat; the Cadency of one Line must be a Rule to that of the next; and the Sound of the former must flide gently into that which follows; without leaping from one Extream into another. It must be done like the Shadowings of a Picture, which fall by de-. grees into a darker Colour. I fhall be glad, if I have fo explain'd my felf as to be understood; but if I have not, quod nequeo dicere & fentio tautùm, must be my Excufe. There remains much more to be faid on this Subject; but, to avoid Envy, I will be filent. What I have faid is the general Opinion of the best Judges, and in a manner has been forc'd from me, by feeing a noble fort of Poetry fo happily reftor'd by one Man, and fo grofly copied, by almost all the reft: A mufical Ear, and a great Genius, if another Mr. Cowley cou'd arife, in another Age may bring it to Perfection. In the mean time, Fungar vice cotis acutum Reddere quæ ferrum valet, expers ipfa fecandi. I hope it will not be expected from me, that I fhou'd fay any thing of my Fellow-undertakers in this Mifcellany. Some of them are too nearly related to me, to be commended without Sufpicion of Partiality: Others I am fure need it not; and the reft I have not perus'd. To conclude, I am fenfible that I have written this too haftily and too loofly; I fear I have been tedious, and which is worse, it comes out from the firft Draught, and uncorrected. This I grant is no Excufe; for it may be reasonably urg'd, why did he not write with more leifure, or, if he had it not, (which was certainly my cafe) why did he attempt to write on fo nice a Subject? The Objection is unanswerable, but, in part of Recompence, let me affure the Reader, that in hafty Productions, he is fure to meet with an Author's prefent Senfe, which cooler Thoughts wou'd poffibly have dif guis'd. There is undoubtedly more of Spirit, though not of Judgment, in these uncorrect Effays, and confequently though my Hazard be the greater, yet the Reader's Pleasure is not the lefs. JOHN DRYDEN. THE M AC Flecknoe. By Mr. Dryden. Pager The Story of Lucretia, out of Ovid de? Faftis, Book II. English'd by Mr. Creech P. $3 On Mr. Dryden's Religio Laici. By the To Mr. Dryden, on his Religio Laici. The Twenty fecond Ode of the firft Book of 2 Horace. By the Earl of Rofcomon. SP.66 The eighth Ode of the fecond Book of Ho.? p. 67 Horace and Lydia, the ninth Ode. Eng. A Dialogue between Horace and Lydia. The third Elegy of the first Boak of Proper. Out of Petronius Arbiter. Foela eft An Elegy, by the Wife of St. Alexias (a Nobleman of Rome) complaining en his abfence he having left her on his Wedding Night unenjoy'd out of a Pious Zeal to go vifit the Chriftian Churches. Written in Latin by Fran. Remond, a Fefuit. Amaryllis, or the third Idyllium of The-p. 82. Pharmaceurria; or, the Inchantress. Tran-7 flated from Theocritus by Mr. William >p. 86 Bowles, of King's College in Cambridge. The Cyclops. Theocritus Idyll. 11th Eng. Floriana, a Paftoral upon the Death of her Grace the Dutchefs of Southampton. By P. 99 Tears of Amynta, for the Death of Damon p. 102 SP. |