Sir Godfrey Kneller,
Principal Painter to His MAJESTY.
By Mr. DRYDEN.
NCE I beheld the fairest of her
(And ftill the fweet Idea charms my
True, he was dumb; for Nature
gaz'd fo long,
Pleas'd with her Work, that the forgot her Tongue:
But, fmiling, faid, She ftill shall gain the Prize;
I only have transferr'd it to her Eyes.
Such are thy Pictures, Kneller: Such thy Skill,
That Nature feems obedient to thy Will:
Comes out, and meets thy Pencil in the Draught:
Lives there, and wants but words to speak her thought.
At least thy. Pictures look a Voice; and we
Imagine Sounds, deceiv'd to that degree,
We think 'tis fomewhat more than just to fee.
Shadows are bur Privations of the Light,
Yet when we walk, they fhoot before the Sight;
With us approach, retire, arife, and fall;
Nothing themselves, and yet expreffing all.
Such are thy Pieces; imitating Life
So near, they almoft conquer in the ftrife;
VOL, IV.
And from their animated Canvafs came,
Demanding Souls; and loofen'd from the Frame.
Prometheus, were he here, wou'd cast away
His Adam, and refufe a Soul to Clay :
And either wou'd thy Noble Work inspire;
Or think it warm enough, without his Fire.
But vulgar Hands may vulgar Likeness raise,
This is the leaft Attendant on thy Praise :
From hence the Rudiments of Art began;
A Coal, or Chalk, firft imitated Man:
Perhaps, the Shadow, taken on a Wall,
Gave Out-lines to the rude Original:
E'er Canvass yet was ftrain'd: before the Grace
Of blended Colours found their use and place:
Or Cypress Tablets firft receiv'd a Face.
By flow degrees, the Godlike Art advanc'd;
As Man grew polish'd, Picture was inhanc'd;
Greece added Pofture, Shade, and Perspective;
And then the Mimick Piece began to Live.
Yet Perfpective was lame; no diftance true;
But all came forward in one common View :
No point of Light was known, no bounds of Art;
When Light was there, it knew not to depart:
But glaring on remoter Objects play'd:
Not languifh'd, and infenfibly decay'd.
Rome rais'd not Art, but barely kept alive;
And with Old Greece, unequally did ftrive:
'Till Goths and Vandals, a rude Northern Race,
Did all the matchlefs Monuments deface.
Then all the Mufes in one ruin lye;
And Rhime began t' enervate Poetry.
Thus in a ftupid Military State,
The Pen and Pencil find an equal Fate.
Flat Faces, such as wou'd disgrace a Skreen,
Such as in Bantam's Embaffy were seen,
Unrais'd, unrounded, were the rude delight
Of Brutal Nations, only born to Fight.
Long time the Sifter Arts, in Iron sleep,
A heavy Sabbath did fupinely keep ;
At length in Raphael's Age, at once they rife;
Stretch all their Limbs, and open all their Eyes.
Thence rofe the Roman, and the Lombard Line:
One colour'd beft, and one did beft defign.
Raphael's, like Homer's, was the nobler Part;
But Titian's Painting, look'd like Virgil's Art.
Thy Genius gives thee both; where true design,
Foftures unforc'd, and lively Colours join.
Likeness is ever there; but ftill the best,
Like proper Thoughts in lofty Language drest.
Where Light to Shades defcending, plays, not frives;
Dies by degrees, and by degrees revives.
Of various Parts a perfect Whole is wrought:
Thy Pictures think, and we Divine their Thought.
* Shakespear, thy Gift, I place before my Sight;
With awe, I ask his Blessing ere I write;
With Reverence look on his Majestick Face;
Proud to be lefs; but of his Godlike Race.
His Soul infpires me, while thy Praise I write,
And I like Tencer, under Ajax Fight;
Bids thee, thro' me, be bold; with dauntless Breaft
Contemn the bad, and Emulate the best.
Like his, thy Criticks in th' Attempt are loft:
When moft they rail, know then, they envy most.
In vain they fnarl a-loof; a noisie Crowd,
Like Womens Anger, impotent and loud.
While they their barren Industry deplore,
Pafs on fecure; and mind the Goal before:
Old as she is, my Muse shall march behind;
Bear off the Blaft, and intercept the Wind.
Our Arts are Sifters; tho' not Twins in Birth;
For Hymns were fung in Eden's happy Earth:
But oh, the Painter Muse, tho' laft in place,
Has feiz'd the Bleffing firft, like Jacob's Race.
Shakespear's Picture drawn by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and given to the Author.
|