And either would thy nobler work inspire,
Or think it warm enough without his fire.
But vulgar hands may vulgar likeness raise ;
This is the least attendant on thy praise:
From hence the rudiments of Art began;
A coal, or chalk, first imitated man:
Perhaps the shadow, taken on a wall,
Gave outlines to the rude original,
Ere canvas yet was stain'd, before the grace
Of blended colours found their use and place,
cypress tablets first receiv'd a face.
By slow degrees the godlike art advanc'd;
As man grew polish'd, picture was inhanc'd.
Greece added posture, shade, and perspective,
And then the mimic-piece began to live.
Yet perspective was lame, no distance 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 languish'd, and insensibly decay'd.
Rome rais'd not Art, but barely kept alive,
And with old Greece unequally did strive,
Till Goths and Vandals, a rude northern race,
Did all the matchless monuments deface:
Then all the Muses in one ruin lie,
And rhyme began t' enervate poetry.
Thus, in a stupid military state,
The pen and pensil find an equal fate:
Flat faces, such as would disgrace a screen,
Such as in Bantam's embassy were seen,
Unrais'd, unrounded, were the rude delight
Of brutal nations only born to fight,
Long time the Sister Arts, in iron sleep,
A heavy sabbath did supinely keep;
At length, in Raphael's age, at once they rise,
Stretch all their limbs, and open all their eyes.
Thence rose the Roman and the Lombard line; One colour'd best, and one did best design. 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, Postures unforc'd, and lively colours join, Likeness is ever there; but still the best,
Like proper thoughts in lofty language drest,
Where light, to shades descending, plays, not strives,
Dies by degrees, and by degrees revives.
Of various parts a perfect whole is wrought:
Thy pictures think, and we divine their thought.
Shakespeare, thy gift, I place before my sight;
With awe I ask his blessing ere I write ;
With rev'rence look on his majestic face,
Proud to be less, but of his godlike race.
His soul inspires me while thy praise I write,
And I, like Teucer, under Ajax fight:
Bids thee, thro' me, be bold; with dauntless breast
Contemn the bad, and emulate the best.
Like his, thy critics in th' attempt are lost';
When most they rail, know, then they envy most.
In vain they snarl aloof; a noisy crowd.
Like women's anger, impotent and loud.
While they their barren industry deplore,
Pass on secure, and mind the goal before.
Old as she is, my Muse shall march behind.
Bear off the blast, and intercept the wind.
Our arts are sisters, tho' not twins in birth,
For hymns were sung in Eden's happy earth:
But, oh! the Painter-muse, tho' last in place,
Has seiz'd the blessing first, like Jacob's race.
Apelles' art an Alexander found,
And Raphael did with Leo's gold abound,
But Homer was with barren laurel crown'd.
Thou hadst thy Charles a while, and so had I;
But pass we that unpleasing image by.
Rich in thyself, and of thyself divine,
All pilgrims come and offer at thy shrine.
A graceful truth thy pencil can command;
The fair themselves go mended from thy hand.
Likeness appears in every lineament;
But likeness in thy work is eloquent.
Tho' Nature there her true resemblance bears,
A nobler beauty in thy piece appears.
So warm thy work, so glows the gen'rous frame,
Flesh looks less living in the lovely dame.
Thou paint'st as we describe, improving still,
When on wild Nature we ingraft our skill,
But not creating beauties at our will.
But poets are confin'd in narrower space,
To speak the language of their native place:
The painter widely stretches his command;
Thy pencil speaks the tongue of ev'ry land.
From hence, my friend! all climates are your own, Nor can you forfeit, for you hold of none.
All nations, all immunities, will give
To make you their's where'er you please to live,
And not sev'n cities, but the world, would strive.
Sure some propitious planet then did smile,
When first you were conducted to this isle:
Our Genius brought you here t' enlarge our fame,
For your good stars are ev'ry where the same.
Thy matchless hand, of ev'ry region free,
Adopts our climate, not our climate thee.
Great Rome and Venice early did impart
To thee th' examples of their wondrous art.
Those masters then, but seen, not understood,
With gen'rous emulation fir'd thy blood;
For what in Nature's dawn the child admir'd,
The youth endeavour'd, and the man acquir'd.
If yet thou hast not reach'd their high degree,
Tis only wanting to this age, not thee.
Volume III.
Thy genius, bounded by the times, like mine,
Drudges on petty draughts, nor dare design 135
A more exalted work, and more divine.
For what a song or senseless opera
Is to the living labour of a play;
Or what a play to Virgil's work would be,
Such is a single piece to History.
But we, who life bestow, ourselves must live;
Kings cannot reign unless their subjects give;
And they who pay the taxes bear the rule:
Thus thou, sometimes, art forc'd to draw a fool:
But so his follies in thy posture sink,
The senseless ideot seems at last to think.
Good Heav'n! that sots and knaves should be so vain
To wish their vile resemblance may remain !
And stand recorded, at their own request,
To future days a libel or a jest!
Else should we see your noble pencil trace
Our unities of action, time, and place;
A whole compos'd of parts, and those the best,
With ev'ry various character exprest;
Heroes at large, and at a nearer view;
Less, and at distance, an ignobler crew;
While all the figures in one action join,
As tending to complete the main design.
More cannot be by mortal Art exprest,
But venerable Age shall add the rest :
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