Verse cheers their leisure, verse assists their work, 235
Verse prays for peace, or sings down Pope and Turk.
The silenc'd preacher yields to potent strain,
And feels that grace his pray'r besought in vain;
The blessing thrills thro' all the lab'ring throng,
And heav'n is won by violence of song.
3 Our rural ancestors, with little blest, Patient of labour, when the end was rest, Indulg'd the day that hous'd their annual grain, With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain: The joy their wives, their sons, and servants, share, Ease of their toil, and partners of their care:
The laugh, the jest, attendants on the bowl,
Smooth'd ev'ry brow, and open'd ev'ry soul:
With growing years the pleasing licence grew,
And 4 taunts alternate innocently flew.
Poscit opem chorus, et presentia numina sentit ;
Cœlestes implorat aquas docta prece blandus;
Avertit morbos, metuenda pericula pellit;
Impetrat et pacem, et locupletem frugibus annum.
2 Carmine Di superi placantur, carmine Manes.
3 Agricolæ prisci, fortes, parvoque beati,
Condita post frumenta, levantes tempore festo
Corpus et ipsum animum spe finis dura ferentem,
Cum sociis operum, pueris et conjuge fida,
Tellurem porco, Silvanum lacte piabant,
Floribus et vino Genium memorem brevis ævi.
Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem
4 Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit;
But times corrupt, and nature ill-inclin'd,
Produc'd the point that left a sting behind;
Till friend with friend, and families at strife,
Triumphant malice rag'd thro' private life.
Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took th' alarm, 255
Appeal'd to Law, and Justice lent her arm.
At length by wholesome 2 dread of statutes bound,
The poets learn'd to please, and not to wound:
Most warp'd to 3 Flatt'ry's side; but some, more nice,
Preserv'd the freedom, and forebore the vice.
Hence Satire rose, that just the medium hit,
And heals, with morals, what it hurts with wit.
4 We conquer'd France, but felt our captive's charms; Her arts victorious triumph'd o'er our arms;
Britain to soft refinements less a foe,
Wit grew polite, and 5 numbers learn'd to flow.
Libertasque recurrentes accepta per annos
Lusit amabiliter: 1 donec jam sævus apertam
In rabiem verti cœpit jocus, et per honestas
Ire domos impune minax. doluere cruento
Dente lacessiti: fuit intactis quoque cura
Conditione super communi: 2 quin etiam lex
Pœnaque lata, malo quæ nollet carmine quemquam
Describi. vertere modum, formidine fustis
Ad 3 bene dicendum, delectandumque redacti.
4 Græcia capta, ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio. sic horridus ille
Defluxit 5 numerus Saturnius, et grave virus
Munditiæ pepulere: sed in longum tamen avum
Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join
The varying verse, the full-resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine;
Tho' still some traces of our 2 rustic vein,
And splay-foot verse, remain'd, and will remain.
Late, very late, correctness grew our care,
When the tir'd nation 2 breath'd from Civil war.
Exact 3 Racine, and Corneille's noble fire
Show'd us that France had something to admire. 275
Not but the 4 tragic spirit was our own,
And full, in Shakespeare, fair, in Otway, shone;
But Otway fail'd to polish, or refine,
And 5 fluent Shakespeare scarce effac'd a line.
Ev'n copious Dryden wanted, or forgot,
The last, and greatest art, the art to blot.
Some doubt, if equal pains, or equal fire,
The humbler Muse of Comedy require.
But in known images of life I guess
The labour greater, as th' indulgence less..
Manserunt, hodieque manent, vestigia ruris.
Serus enim Græcis admovit acumina chartis;
Et post Punica bella, quietus quærere cœpit,
Quid 3 Sophocles, et Thespis, et Eschylus, utile ferrent:
Tentavit quoque rem si digne vertere posset;
Et placuit sibi, natura sublimis, et acer:
Nam+ spirat tragicum satis, et feliciter audet:
Sed, turpem putat inscite, mețuitque lituram.
Creditur, ex medio quia res arcessit, habere
Sudoris minimum, sed habet comœdia tanto
Observe how seldom ev'n the best succeed;
Tell me if 2 Congreve's fools are fools indeed?
What pert low dialogue has Farquhar writ!
How Van. want, grace, who never wanted wit!
The stage how 3 loosely does Astrea tread,
Who fairly puts all characters to bed!
And idle Cibber, how he breaks the laws,
To make poor Pinkey, 4 eat with vast applause!
But fill their s purse, our Poet's work is done,
A like to them by Pathos, or by Pun.
O you! whom 5 vanity's light bark conveys
On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise,
With what a shifting gale your course you ply,
For ever sunk too low, or borne too high!
Who pants for glory finds but short repose;
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
7 Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play,
The silly bard grows fat, or falls away.
Plus oneris, quanto veniæ minus., aspice, Plautus Quo pacto 2 partes tuetur amantis ephebi,
Ut patris attenti, leonis ut insidiosi;
Quantus sit Dossennus 3 edacibus in parasitis;
Quam 4 non astricto percurrat pulpita socco.
Gestits enim nummum in loculos demmittere; post hoc
Securus, cadat, an recto stet fabula talo.
Quem tulit ad scenam ventoso gloria curru, Exanimat lentus spectator, sedulus inflat:
Sic leve, sic parvum est, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit aut reficit. 7 valeat res ludicra, si me
1 There still remains, to mortify a wit,
The many-headed monster of the pit;
A senseless, worthless, and unhonour'd crowd,
Who, 2 to disturb their betters mighty proud,
Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are spoke,
Call for the Farce, 3 the Bear, or the Black-Joke.
What dear delights to Britons farce affords !
Ever the taste of mobs, but now 4 of lords!
(Taste! that eternal wanderer, which flies
From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.)
The play stands still; damn action, and discourse;
Back fly the scenes; and enter foot 5 and horse; 315
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn ;
Peers, heralds, bishops, ermine, gold, and lawn;
The champion too! and, to complete the jest,
Old Edward's armour beams on Cibber's breast.
Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.
Sæpe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam ;
Quod numero plures, virtute et honore minores,
Indocti, stolidique, et depugnare parati,
Si discordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt
Aut 3 ursum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula gaudet.
Verum equitis qucque jam migravit ab aure voluptas
Omnis, ad incertos oculos, et gaudia vana.
Quatuor aut plures aulæa premuntur in horas;
Dum fugiunt equitum turma, peditumque catervæ :
Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis;
Esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves;
Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus.
Volume 111.
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