The following diftich, in my opinion, is an admirable Epigram, having all the neceffary qualities of one, especially Point and Brevity. On a company of bad DANCERS to good Mufick. So Orpheus fiddled, and fo danc'd the brutes. This puts me in mind of another Epigram upon a bad fiddler, which I fhall venture to infert merely for the humour of it, and not for any real excellence it contains. To a bad FIDDLER. Old Orpheus play'd fo well, he mov'd Old Nick ; One of Martial's Epigrams, wherein he agreeably rallies the foolish vanity of a man who hired people to make verfes for him, and published them as his own, has been thus tranflated into English. Paul fo fond of the name of a poet is grown, With gold he buys verses and calls them his own. Another Epigram of the fame Latin poet is very prettily imitated in the following Tetraftic. On an ugly WOMAN. Whilft in the dark on thy foft hand I hung, We have a good Epigram by Mr. Coruley, on Prometheus il painted; to understand which, we must remember his ftory. Prometheus is feign'd by the ancient poets to have formed men of clay, and to have put life into them by fire stolen from heaven, for which crime Jupiter caus'd him to be chain'd to a rock, where a vulture was fet to gnaw his liver, which grew again as fast as it was devoured. On this fiction the Epigram is founded. PROMETHEUS drawn by a bad Painter. If once again his liver thus fhould grow. The flames he once ftole from thee grant him now. Some bad writer having taken the liberty to cenfure Mr. Prior, the poet very wittily lash'd his impertinence in this Epigram. While fafter than his coftive brain indites, But perhaps there are none of Mr. Prior's little pieces that have more humour and pleasantry than the following. A reasonable AFFLICTION. Helen was just flipt into bed: Her eye-brows on the toilet lay: As fees belonging to her prey. With her own hand the mouse-trap baited. Depends our human joy, or forrow: Alas! no eye brows for to-morrow. Mr. Weftley has given us a pretty Epigram alluding to a well-known text of fcripture, on the fetting up a monument in Westminster Abbey, to the memory of the ingenious Mr. Butler, author of Hudibras. While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, See him when ftarv'd to death, and turn'd to duft, The poet's fate is here in emblem shown; He afk'd for Bread, and he receiv'd a Stone. As thefe Compofitions are fhort, many of them have the reputation of being written extempore, though they are the effect of confideration and ftudy; the following Epigram, however, has that additional merit; for which reafon, and for it's uncommon Thought, we shall prefent it to the Reader. An EPIGRAM on an EPIGRAM. But how can't make it out? fays Hugh. Quoth Ralph, I tell thee, friend; Make it at top both wide and fit To hold a budget full of wit, And point it at the End. We shall close this chapter with an Epigram written on She became a fine laurel to deck the God's hair. TH ********** CHA P. IX. Of the EPITAPH. HESE Compofitions generally contain fome Elogium of the virtues and good qualities of the deceafed, and have a turn of ferioufnefs and gravity adapted to the nature of the fubject. Their elegance confifts in a nervous and expreffive brevity; and fometimes, as we have elsewhere obferved, they are clofed with an epigrammatic point. In thefe compofitions, no mere Epithet (properly fo called) should be admitted; for here illuftration would impair the strength, and render the sentiment too diffuse and languid. Words that are fynonymous are alfo to be rejected. Tho' the true characteristic of the Epitaph is seriousness and gravity, yet we find many that are jocofe and ludicrous; fome likewife have true metre and rhyme, while others are between profe and verfe, without any certain measure, tho' the words are truly poetical; and the beauty of this laft fort is generally heighten'd by an apt and judicious Antithefis. We fhall give examples of each. There are in the Spectator feveral old Greek Epitaphs very beautifully tranflated into English verfe, one of which I fhall take the liberty of transcribing. It is written on Orpheus, a celebrated antient poet and musician, whose ftory is well known. He is faid to have been the fon of Apollo and Calliope, one of the Nine Muses, the Goddess meant in the last line of the Epitaph. On ORPHEUS. No longer, Orpheus, fhall thy facred ftrains For thou art gone; the Mufes mourn'd thy fall If thus a Goddefs could not fave her own. The ingenious tranflator obferves, that if we take the fable for truth, as it was believed to be in the age when this was written, the turn appears to have piety to the gods, and a refigning fpirit in the application ; but, if we confider the Point with refpect to our prefent knowledge, it will be less esteem'd; though the author himself, because he believ'd it, may ftill be more valued than any one who should now write with a point of the fame nature. The following Epitaph on Sir Philip Sidney's fifter, the Countess of Pembroke, faid to be written by the famous Ben Johnson, is remarkable for the noble thought with which it concludes. On MARY Countess Dowager of PEMBROKE. Take another Epitaph of Ben Johnson's, on a beautiful and virtuous lady, which has been deservedly admired by very good judges.. Underneath this ftone doth lie As much virtue as could die; Mr. Pope has drawn the character of Mr. Gay, in an Epitaph now to be feen on his monument in Weftminfler-. Abbey, which he has closed with such a beautiful turn, that I cannot help looking upon it as a mafter-piece in its kind, as indeed are most of the productions of that furprising genius. On Mr. GA Y. Of manners gentle, of affections mild; With native humour temp'ring virtuous rage, And uncorrupted, ev'n among the Great: There is fomething fo tender and moving, and fuch a ftrain of paternal and filial affection in Mr. Pope's Epitaph. on Dr. Atterbury, that we fhall give it a place among these examples, tho' the Critics, perhaps, will object to its being a true Epitaph. |