Sect. I. rather feems to imitate. In the whole, I agree with the Tatler, that we have no better Eclogues in our language. There is a fmall copy of the fame author published in the Tatler, No. 12, on the Danish winter; it is poetical painting, and I recommend it to your perufal. Dr. Garth's poem I have not feen, but believe I fhall be of that critic's opinion you mention at Will's, who fwore it was good for, though I am very cautious of fwearing after criticks, yet I think one may do it more fafely, when they commend, than when they blame. I agree with you in your cenfure of the ufe of fea terms in Mr. Dryden's Virgil; not only because Helenus was no great prophet in those matters, but becaufe no terms of art or cant words fuit with the majesty and dignity of ftyle, which epic poetry requires.-Cui mens divinior atque os magna fonaturum. —The tarpaulin phrafe can pleafe none but fuch qui aurem habent Batavam; they must not expect auribis Atticis probari, I find by you. (I think I have brought in two phrafes of Martial here very dexterously.) Though you fay you did not rightly take my meaning in the verfe I quoted from Juvenal, yet I will not explain it, becaufe, though it feems you are refolved to take me for a critic, I would by no means be thought a commentator. - And for another reason too, because I have quite forgot both the verfe and the appli cation. I hope it will be no offence to give not fo much of honefty. There is but you miftake me very much in thinking the freedom you kindly used with my love-verfes gave me the first opinion of your fincerity: I affure you it only did what every good-natured action of yours has done fince, confirmed me more in that opinion. The fable of the nightingale in Philips's Paftorals, is taken from Famianus Strada's Latin poem on the fame fubject, in his Prolifiones Academica; only the tomb he erects at the end, is added from Virgil's conclufion of the Culex. I cannot forbear giving you a paffage out of the Latin poem I mention, by which you will find the English poet is indebted to it. Alternat mira arte fides: dum torquet acutas, This poem was many years fince imitated by Crafhaw, out of whofe verfes the following are very remarkable : From this to that, from that to this he flies, I have (as I think I formerly told you) V Vidit quanta fub noɛte jaceret Nfra dies, rifitque fui ludibria trunci, no less than eight in the English. What you obferve, fure, cannot be an error-fphæricus, ftrictly speaking, either according to the Ptolemaic, or our Copernican fyftem; Tycho Brahe himfelf will be on the tranflator's fide. For Mr. Rowe here fays no more, than that he looked down on the rays of the fun, which Pompey might do, even thougli the body of the fun were above him. You cannot but have remarked what a journey Lucan here makes Cato take for the fake of his fine defcriptions. From Cyrene he travels by land, for no better reafon than this; Hæc eadem fuadebat biens, quæ clauferat æquor. The winter's effects on the fea, it feems, were more to be dreaded than all the ferpents, whirlwinds, fands, &c. by land, which immediately after he paints out in his fpeech to the foldiers: then he fetches a compafs a valt way round about, to the Nafamones and Jupiter Ammon's temple, purely to ridicule the oracles: and Labienus muft pardon me, if I do not believe him when he fays-fors obtulit, & fortuna via-either Labienus, or the map, is very much mistaken here. Thence he returns back to the Syrtes (which he might have taken firft in his way to Utica); and to to Leptis Minor, where our author leaves him; who feems to have made Cato fpeak his own mind, when he tells his army-Ire fat ef-no Katter whither. I am your, &c, то LETTER XXXIII. Nov. 24, 1710 Thefe celestial mistress that fhall be nameless - But I have compaflion on you, and would not for the world you should stay any longer among the Genii and Semidei Manes, you know where; for if once you get fo near the moon, Sappho will want your prefence in the clouds and inferior regions; not to mention the great lofs Drury-lane will fuftain, when Mr. Cis in the milky way. thoughts put me in mind of the priests you mention, who are a fort of Sortilegi in one fenfe, because in their lottery there are more blanks than prizes; the adventurers being at beft in an uncertainty, whereas the fetters up are fure of fomething. Priefts indeed in their character; as they reprefent God, are s2prefent the king; but you will own cred; and fo are conftables as they relows, and the devil of any likeness in a great many of them are very odd felthem. Yet I can affure you, I honour the good as much as I deteft the bad, and I think that in condemning thefe Ovid I have not fo good an opinion of we praife those. The tranflations from of the main characteristic of this author, as you; because I think they have little a graceful eafinefs. For let the fense be thor looks like himfelf in his air, habit, ever fo exactly rendered, unless an auand manner, it is a difguife, and not a tranflation. But as to the Pfalm, I think David is much more beholden to the tranflator than Ovid; and as he treated the Roman like a Jew, fo he has made the Jew fpeak like a Roman. TO make ufe of that freedom and familiarity of ftyle which we have taken up in our correspondence, and IT which is more properly talking upon paper, than writing; I will tell you without any preface, that I never took Tycho Brahe for one of the ancients, or in the leaft an acquaintance of Lucan's: nay, it is a mercy on this occafion, that I do not give you an account of his life and converfation; as how he lived fome years like an inchanted knight in a certain illand, with a tale of a king of Denmark's LETTER Your, &c. XXXIV. From the fame to the fame. Dec. 17, 1710. feems that my late mention of Cramoved your curiofity. I therefore fend fhaw, and my quotation from him, has place among my other books of this you the whole author, who has held a having read him twice or thrice, I find nature for fome years; in which time him one of those whofe works may just deferve reading. I take this poet to have writ like a gentleman, that is, at leifure hours, and more to keep out of idleness, than to establish a reputation: fo that no thing thing regular or just can be expected from him. All that regards defign, form, fable (which is the foul of poetry), all that concerns exactnefs, or confent of parts (which is the body), will probably be wanting; only pretty conceptions, fine metaphors, glittering expreflions, and fomething of a neat cast of verfe (which are properly the drefs, gems, or loofe ornaments of poetry), may be found in these verses. This is indeed the cafe of most other poetical writers of mifcellanies; nor can it well be otherwife, fince no man can be a true poet, who writes for diverfion only. Thefe authors fhould be confidered as verfifiers and witty men, rather than as poets; and under this head will only fall the thoughts, the expreffion, and the numbers. These are only the pleafing part of poetry, which may be judged of at a view, and comprehended all at once. And (to exprefs myfelf like a painter) their colouring entertains the fight, but the lines and life of the picture are not to be infpected too narrowly. Pe- This author formed himself upon trarch, or rather upon Marino. thoughts, one may obferve, in the main, are pretty; but oftentimes far-fetched, and too often trained and ftiffened to make them appear the greater. For men are never fo apt to think a thing great, as when it is odd or wonderful; and inconfiderate authors would rather be admired than understood. This ambition of furprising a reader, is the true natural caufe of all fuftian or bombaft in poetry. To confirm what I have faid, you need but look into his first poem of the Weeper, where the 2d, 4th, 6th, 14th, 21ft stanzas are as fublimely dull, as the 7th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 17th, 20th, and 23d ftanzas of the fame copy are soft and pleasing and if these last want any thing, it is an easier and more unaffected expreffion. The remaining thoughts in that poem might have been spared, being either but repetitions, or very trivial and mean. And by this example in the first, one may guess at all the reft; to be like this, a mixture of tender gentle thoughts and fuitable expreflions, of forced and inextricable conceits, and of needlefs fillers-up to the reft. From all which it is plain, this author writ faft, and fet down what came uppermoft. A reader may skim off the froth, and use the clear underneath; but if he goes too deep will meet with a mouthful of dregs; either the top or bottom of him are good for little, but what he did in his own, natu ral, middle-way, is best. To speak of his numbers, is a little difficult, they are fo various and irregular, and moftly Pindaric: it is evident his heroic verfe (the best example of which is his Mufic's Duel) is carelessly made up; but one may imagine from what it now is, that had he taken more care it had been mufical and pleafing enough, not extremely majestic, but fweet: and, the time confidered of his writing, he was (even as uncorrect as he is) none of the worft verfificators. I will juft obferve, that the best pieces of this author are a Paraphrafe on Pfal. xxiii. On Leffius, Epitaph on Mr. Afhton, Wishes to his fuppofed Mistress, and the Dies Ira. LETTER XXXV. RESUME my old liberty of throwing As the fooling and toying with a mif trefs is a proof of fondnefs, not difrespect, fo is raillery with a friend. I know there are prudes in friendship, who expect distance, awe, and adoration, but I know you are not of them; and I for my part am no idol-worshipper, though a Papift. If I were to addrefs Jupiter himfelf in a heathen way, I fancy I fhold be apt to take hold of his knee, in a familiar manner, if not of his bear d like Dionyfius; I was juft going to fay, of his buttons; but I think Jupi.er wore none (however I won't be rofitive to fo nice a critic as you, but his robe might be fubnected with a fibu'a). I know Neftra dies, rifitque fui ludibria trunci, no less than eight in the English. What you obferve, fure, cannot be an error-fphæricus, ftrictly speaking, either according to the Ptolemaic, or our Copernican fyftem; Tycho Brahe himfelf will be on the tranflator's fide. For Mr. Rowe here fays no more, than that he looked down on the rays of the fun, which Pompey might do, even though the body of the fun were above him. miftrefs that fhall among t you kn of pleature XXXVI. Nov. 12, 1711. the entertainment of your day after I had fent you and I am but this morning hither. The news you tell me sany difficulties you found in your from Bath, gives me fuch a kind as we ufually take in accompanying our friends in their mixed adFeatures; for, methinks, I fee you labearing through all your inconveniencies of the rough roads, the hard faddle, the trotting horfe, and what not? What an agreeable furprife would it have been to deed, and me, to have met you by pure accident (which I was within an ace of doing), You cannot but have remarked wh a journey Lucan here makes Cato t for the fake of his fine defcript From Cyrene he travels by land, better reafon than this; 4 Hæc eadem fuadebat biems, quæ claufer 'The winter's effects on the fea were more to be dreaded than pents, whirlwinds, fands, & which immediately after he his fpeech to the foldiers: t a compafs a vaft way r the Nafamones and I temple, purely to rid and Labienus must p not believe him whe lit, & fortuna via the map, is very Thence he retu (which he mig way to Utica) where our aut to have mad when he tel matter whit To taken whic per, out Bra leaf it i no CO lil if ambatt graceful man have known it happen let you on an eafier pad, and relieved the ver if the tail of his and to have carried you off triumphantly, wal laugh at that than and rural repaft, at our caftle in the foJa to hang oct bend, wandering knight with a night's lodging her; till ther elect reft? But thefe are only the pleafing and then they will have imaginations of a difappointed lover, who s relped for the mer. I mult fuffer in a melancholy abfence yet mes the iniquity of a conte- thefe two months. In the mean time, I Are you; feveral muices of my take up with the mufes for want of your metimes take an imperanent liber- better company; the mufes, que nobif went foon rifes, and is a ght agam Thofe aërial ladies juft difcover enough with my judgment, but then my judg- cum pernoctant, peregrinantur, rufticantur. boer my mouth: anil and value no to me of their beauties to urge my pur man to much, as his n we fight I fuit, and draw me on in a wandering have been playing I cannot maze of thought, ftill in hopes (and only bed before a man I love; and in hopes) of attaining thofe favours from with tone, when nature them, which they confer on their more prompts, or toly yaca is more a fe- happy admirers. We grafp fome more y cung I know), is beautiful idea in our own brain, than our bar a kavitha way of making endeavours to exprefs it can fet to the a matk of one own To conclude, view of others; and ftill do but labour merre in c. it ever I am first tranfient glance we had of it, goes and thote mat se moga at; fo am gay colouring which fancy gave at the we, it is lont You take juft off in the execution, like thofe various another court choke that are not figures in the gilded clouds, which, your friends, are ard; and to thofe while we gaze long upon, to feparate the laper chi waen ved I meet, there whole faints before the eye, and decays goera erat, as they common L Mr I am highly pleafed with the know aver Bue without laughter ledge you give me of Mr. Wycherley's compliment on the prefent temper, which feems fo favoura that is to fay, my paftorals, for one of them, and my effay for the other? I would lay out all my poetry in love; an original for a lady, and a tranflation for a waiting-maid! Alas! what have I to do with Jane Gray, as long as Mifs Molly, Mifs Betty, or Mifs Patty are in this world? Shall I write of beauties murdered long ago, when there are those at this inftant that murder me? I will e'en compofe my own tragedy, and the poet fhall appear in his own person to move compaffion: it will be far more effectual than Bays's entering with a rope about his neck, and the world will own there never was a more miferable object brought upon the stage. Now you that are a critic, pray inform me, in what manner I may connect the foregoing part of this letter with that which is to follow, according to the rules? I would willingly return Mr. Gay my thanks for the favour of his poem, and in particular for his kind mention of me; I hoped, when I heard a new comedy had met with fuccefs upon the ftage, that it had been his, to which I really with no lefs; and (had it been any way in my power) should have been very glad to have contributed to its introduction into the world. His verfes to Lintot have put a whim into my head, which you are like to be troubled with in the oppofite page: take it as you find it, the production of half an hour the other morning. I defign very foon to put a task of a more ferious nature upon you, in reviewing a piece of mine that may better deferve criticism; and by that time you have done with it, I hope to tell you in person with how much fidelity I am your, &c. e not writ to you fo foon as I t, let my writing now atone for ay; as it will infallibly do, when know what a facrifice I make you ais time, and that every moment my yes are employed upon this paper, they are taken off from two of the fineft faces in the universe. But indeed it is fome confolation to me to reflect, that while I but write this period, I escape fome hundred fatal darts from thofe unerring eyes, and about a thoufand deaths or better. Now you, that delight in dying, would not once have dreamt of an abfent friend in these circumftances; you that are fo nice an admirer of beauty, or (as a critic would fay after Terence) fo elegant a fpectator of forms; you must have a fober difh of coffee, and a folitary candle at your fide, to write an epiftle lucubratory to your friend; whereas I can do it as well with two pair of radiant lights, that outfhine the golden god of day and filver goddess of night, and all the refulgent eyes of the firmament.-You fancy now that Sappho's eyes are two of thefe my tapers, but it is no fuch matter; thefe are eyes that have more perfuafion in one glance than all Sappho's oratory and gefture together, let her put her body into what moving postures the pleases. Indeed, indeed, my friend, you never could have found fo improper a time to tempt me with intereft or ambition; let me but have the reputation of these in my keeping, and as for my own, let the devil, or let Dennis, take it for ever.— How gladly would I give all I am worth, K |