Verba, velut frondes, nimio cum tegmine opacant
Ramos, torpefcunt mentis fine germine. Prava
Rhetorice, vitri latè radiantis ad instar
Prismatici, rutilos diffundit ubique colores;
Non tibi naturæ licet amplius ora tueri,
At malè difcretis fcintillant omnia flammis :
Sed contra veluti jubar immutabile folis,
Quicquid contrectat facundia, lustrat et auget,
Nil variat, fed cuncta oculo fplendoris inaurat.
Elòquium mentis noftræ quafi veftis habenda est,
Quæ fi fit fatis apta, decentior inde videtur
Scommata magnificis ornata procacia verbis
Indutos referunt regalia fyrmata faunos;
Diverfis etenim diverfa vocabula rebus.
Tantula nugamenta ftyloque operosa vetusto,
Docti derident foli placitura popello.
Hi nihilo magè felices quam comicus iste
FUNGOSO, oftentant abfurdo pepla tumore,
Qualia nefcio quis geftavit nobilis olim;
And but fo mimic ancient wits at best,
As apes our grandfires in their doublets drest.
In words, as fashions, the fame rule will hold;
Alike fantastic, if too new, or old;
Be not the first by whom the new are try'd,
Nor yet the last to lay the old afide.
* But most by numbers judge a poet's fong,
And fmoth, or rough, with them, is right or wrong;
In the bright muse tho' thousand charms conspire,
Her voice is all thefe tuneful fools admire;
Who haunt Parnaffus but to please the ear,
Not mend their minds, as fome to church repair,
Not for the doctrine, but the music there.
These equal fyllables alone require,
Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire;
While expletives their feeble aid do join,
And ten low words oft creep in one dull line;
While they ring round the fame unvary'd chimes,
With fure returns of ftill-expected rhymes.
Where'er you find, the cooling western breeze,
In the next line, it whispers thro' the trees,
* Quis populi fermo eft? quis enim? nifi carmine molli
Nunc demum numero fluere ut per læve feveros
Effugit junctura ungues; fcit tendere verfum,
Nec fecus ac fi oculo rubricam dirigat uno.
Fugiemus crebras vocalium concurfiones, quæ vastam atque hiantem orationem reddunt.
Cic. ad Herenn. lib. 4.
If
Atque modo veteres doctos imitantur eodem,
Ac hominem veteri in tunicâ dum fimia ludit.
Verba, velut mores, a juftis legibus errant,
Si nimium antiquæ fuerint, nimiumve novata;
Tu cave ne tentes infueta vocabula primus,
Nec vetera abjicias poftremus nomina rerum.
Lævis an afper eat verfus plerique requirunt Cenfores, folofque fonos damnantve probantve; Mille licet veneres formofam Pierin ornent, Stultitiâ vox argutâ celabrabitur una:
Qui juga Parnaffi non ut mala corda repurgent,
Auribus ut placeant, vifunt: fic fæpe profanos
Impulit ad refonum pietas aurita facellum.
His folum criticis femper par fyllaba cordi est,
Vaftâ etfi ufque omnis pateat vocalis hiatu ;
Expletivaque fæpe fuas quoque fuppetias dent,
Ac verfum unum oneret levium heu! decas en! pigra vocum;
Dum non mutato resonant malé cymbala planctu,
Atque augur mifer ufque fcio, quid deinde fequatur.
Quacunque afpirat clementior aura Favoní,
Mox (nullus dubito) graciles vibrantur arifte
If crystal streams, with pleasing murmurs creep,
The reader's threat'ned, not in vain, with fleep.
Then at the laft, and only couplet fraught
With fome unmeaning thing they call a thought,
A needlefs Alexandrine ends the fong,
That like a wounded fnake, drags its flow length along.
Leave fuch to tune their own dull rhymes, and know
What's roundly smooth, or languishingly flow,
And praise the eafy vigour of a line
Where Denham's ftrength, and Waller's sweetness join.
True case in writing comes from art not chance,
As thofe move eafieft who have learn'd to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The found must seem an echo to the sense.
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth ftream in smoother numbers flows, 370
But when loud billows lafh the founding fhore,
The hoarfe rough verse should like the torrent roar.
When Ajax strives, some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labours, and the words move flow,
Not fo, when swift Camilla fcours the plain,
Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main. Hear how*Timotheus various lays furprize,
And bid alternate paffions fall and rise!
* Alexander's feaft, or the power of mufic; an ode by Mr. Dryden.
Rivulus ut molli ferpit per lævia lapfu,
Lector, non temerè expectes, post murmura, fomnos.
Tum demum qua latè extremum ad distichon, ipfa
Magnificum fine mente nihil, SENTENTIA splendet, 375
Segnis Hypermeter, audin? adeft, et claudicat, inftar
Anguis faucia terga trahentis, prorepentisque.
Hi proprias ftupeant nugas, tu difcere tentes,
Quæ tereti properant venâ, vel amabilè languent.
Iftaque fac laudes, ubi vivida Denhamii vis
Walleriæ condita fluit dulcedine mufæ.
Scribendi numerofa facultas provenit arte,
Ut foli inceffu faciles fluitare videntur,
Plectro morigeros qui callent fingere greffus.
Non folum afperitas teneras cave verberet aures,
Sed vox quæque expreffa tuæ fit mentis imago.
Lenè edat Zephyrus fufpiria blanda, politis
Lævius in numeris labatur læve fluentum;
At reboat, furit, æftuat æmula mufa, fonoris
Littoribus cum rauca horrendum impingitur unda:
Quando eft faxum Ajax vaftâ vi volvere adortus,
Tardè incedat verfus, multum perque laborem.
Non ita five Camilla cito falis æquora rafit,
Sive levis levitèrque terit, neque flectit aristas.
Audin! Timothei cœleftia carmina, menti
Dulcibus alloquiis varios fuadentia motus!
|