Si recta ratione utatur, consilioque
Perfecto, missis maculis, vos plaudite clamo.
Accidit, ut vates, veluti vafer Aulicus, erret
Sæpius errorem, ut vitet graviora, minorem.
Neglige, quas criticus, verborum futilis auceps,
Leges edicit: nugas nescire decorum est.
Artis cujusdam tantum auxiliaris amantes
Partem aliquam plerique colunt vice totius; illi
Multa crepant de judicio, nihilominus istam
Stultitiam, sua quam sententia laudat, adorant.
Quixotus quondam, si vera est fabula, cuidam
Occurrens vati, criticum certamen inivit
Docta citans, graviterque tuens, tanquam arbiter
alter
Dennisius, Graii moderatus fræna theatri ;
Acriter id dein asseruit, stultum esse hebetemque,
Quisquis Aristotelis posset contemnere leges.
Quid?-talem comitem nactus felicitèr author,
Mox tragicum, quod composuit, proferre poema
Incipit, et critici scitari oracnla tanti.
Jam μυθον τα παθη, τ' ήθη πρόβλημα, λυσινque &
Cætera de genere hoc equiti describat hianti,
Quæ cuncta ad norman quadrarent, inter agen-
dum
Si tantum prudens certamen omitteret author.
"Quid vero certamen omittes?" excipit heros;
Sic veneranda Sophi suadent documenta. “Quid
[oportet,"
ergo,
Armigerumque, equitumque,cohors scenam intret,
Forsan, at ipsa capax non tantæ scena catervæ
"Edificave aliam-vel apertis utere campis."
Sic ubi supposito morosa superbia regnat
Judicio, criticæque tenent fastidia curæ
Vana locum, curto modulo æstimat omnia censor,
Atque modo perversus in artibus errat eodem,
Moribus ac multi, dum parte laborat in unâ.
Sunt, qui nil sapiant, salibus nisi quæque re-
dundet
Pagina, perpetuoque nitet distincta lepore,
Nil aptum soliti justumve requirere, latè
Si micet ingenii chaos, indiscretaque moles.
Nudas naturæ veneres, vivumque decorem
Fingere, qui nequeunt, quorundam exempla se-
cuti
[auri,
Pictorum, haud gemmis parcunt, haud sumptibus
Ut sese abscondat rutilis inscitia velis.
Vis veri ingenii, natura est cultior, id quod
Senserunt multi, sed jam scite exprimit unus,
Quod primo pulchrum intuitu, rectumque videtur
Et mentis menti simulachra repercutit. ipsi.
Haud secus ac lucem commendant suaviter um-
bræ,
Ingenio sic simplicitas superaddit honorem:
Nam fieri possit musa ingeniosior æquo,
Et pereant tumidæ nimio tibi sanguine venæ.
Nonnulli vero verborum in cortice ludunt,
Ornatusque libri solos muliebriter ardent.
Egregium ecce! stylum clamant! sed semper
Prætereunt malè, si quid inest rationis, inunctis.
Verba, velut frondes, nimio cum tegmine opacant
Ramos, torpescunt mentis sine germine. Prava
Rhetorice, vitri latè radiantis ad instar
Prismatici, rutilos diffudit ubique colores;
And if the means be just, the conduct true
Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due.
As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit,
T'avoid great errours, must the less commit.
Neglect the rules each verbal critic lays,
For not to know some trifles is a praise.
Most critics, fond of some subservient art,
Still make the whole depend upon a part,
They talk of principles, but notions prize,
And all to one lov'd folly sacrifice.
Once, on a time, la Mancha's knight, they say,
A certain bard encount'ring on the way,
Discours'd in terms as just, in looks as sage,
As e'er cou'd Dennis, of the Grecian stage;
Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools,
That durst depart from Aristotle's rules.
Our author happy in a judge so nice,
Produc'd his play, and begg'd the knight's advice;
Made him observe the subject, and the plot,
The manners, passions, unities, what not?
All which, exact to rule, were brought about,
Were but a combat in the lists left out. [knight!
"What! leave the combat out?" exclaims the
Yes, or we must renounce the Stagyrite.
"Not so, by heav'n !" (he answers in a rage)
"Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the
stage."
The stage can ne'er so vast a throng contain,
"Then build a new, or act it on a plain."
Thus critics of less judgment than caprice,
Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice,
Form short ideas, and offend in arts
(As most in manners) by a love to parts.
Some to conceit alone their taste confine,
And glitt'ring thoughts struck out at ev'ry line;
Pleas'd with a work, where nothing's just or fit,
One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit.
Poets like painters, thus unskill'd to trace
The naked nature, and the living grace,
With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part,
And hide with ornaments their want of art.
True 7 wit is nature to advantage dress'd, ◄
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd;
Something, whose truth convinc'd at sight we
find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.
As shades more sweetly recommend the light,
So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit:
For works may have more wit than does them
good,
As bodies perish through excess of blepd.
Non tibi naturæ licet amplius ora tueri,
At malè discretis scintillant omnia flammis :
Sed contra veluti jubar immutabile solis,
Quicquid contrectat facundia, lustrat et auget,
Nil variat, sed cuncta oculo splendoris inaurat.
Eloquium mentis nostræ quasi vestis habenda est,
Quæ si sit satis apta, decentior inde videtur;
Scommata magnificis ornata procacia verbis
Indutos referunt regalia syrmata faunos ;
Diversis etenim diversa vocabula rebus
Appingi fas est, aulæ velut aulica vestis,
Alteraque agricolis, atque altera congruit urbi.
Quidam scriptores, antiquis vocibus usi,
Gloriolam affectant, veterum æmula turba
Si mentem spectes juvenentur more recentûm.
Tantula nugamenta styloque operosa vetusto,
Docti derident soli placitura popello.
Hi nihilo magè felices quam comicus iste
Fungoso, ostentat absurdo pepla tumore,
Qualia nescio quis gestavit nobilis olim ;
Atque modo veteres doctos imitantur eodem,
Ac hominein veteri in tunicâ dum simia ludit.
Verba, velut mores, a justis legibus errant,
Si nimium antiquæ fuerint, nimiumve novatæ ;
Tu cave ne tentes insueta vocabula primus,
Nec vetera abjicias postremus nomiaa rerum.
Lævis an asper eat versus plerique requirunt
Censores, solosque sonos damnantve probantve;
Mille licet veneres formosam Pierin ornent,
Stultitiâ vox argutâ celebrabitur una:
Qui juga Parnassi non ut mala corda repurgent,
Ausibus ut placeant, visunt: sic sæpe profanos
Impulit ad resonum pietas aurita sacellum.
His solum criticis semper par syllabi cordi est, Vasto etsi usque omnis pateat vocalia hiatu; Expletivaque sæpe suas quoque suppetias dent, Ac versum unum oneret levium heu! decas en! pigra vocum ;
Dum non mutato resonant malè cymbala planctu, Atque augur miser usque scio, quid deinde sequatur.
Quacunque aspirat clementior aura Favoni,
Mex (nullus dubito) graciles vibrantur aristæ,
Rivulus ut molli serpet per lævia lapsu,
Lector, non temere expectes, post murmura,
[ipsa
Tum demum qua latè extremum ad distichou
Magnificum sine mente nihil, sententia splendet,
The face of nature we no more survey,
All glares alike, without distinction gay;
But true expression, like th' unchanging Sun,
Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon,
It gilds all objects, but it alters none.
Expression is the dress of thought, and still
Appears more decent as more suitable;
A vile conceit in pompous words express'd,
Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd;
For different styles with diff'rent subjects sort,
As sev'ral garbs, with country, town, and court.
Some by old words to fame have made pretence,
Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense;
Such labour'd nothings in so strange a style,
Amaze th' unlearn'd, and make the learned smile.
Unlucky, as Fungoso in the play9;
These sparks with awkward vanity display
What the fine gentleman wore yesterday;
And but so mimic ancient wits at best,
As apes our grandsires in their doubtlets drest.
In words, as fashions, the same 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 aside.
But most by numbers judge a poet's song1o, And smooth, or rough, with them, is right or
In the bright Muse tho' thousand charms conspire,
Her voice is all these tuneful fools admire;
Who haunt Parnassus but to please the ear,
Not mend their minds, as some to church re
Not for the doctrine, but the music there.
These equal syllables alone require,
Though 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 same unvary'd chimes,
With sure returns of still expected rhymes.
Where'er you find the cooling western breeze,
In the next line it whispers through the trees,
Ifcrystal streams with pleasing murmurs creep,
The reader's threat'ned, not in vain, with sleep.'
Then at the last, and only couplet fraught
With some unmeaning thing they call a thought,
Abolita et abrogata retinere, insolentiæ cu jusdam est, et frivolæ in parvis jactantiæ.
Opus est ut verba a vetustate repetita neque crebra sint, neque manifesta; quia nil est odiosius affectatione, nec utique ab ultimis repetita temporibus. Oratio cujus summa virtus est perspicuitas; quam sit vitiosa, si egeat interprete? Ergo ut novorum optima erunt maxime vetera, ita veterum maxime nova. Ibid..
9 Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour. 10 Quis populi sermo est? quis enim?' nisi
Segnis Hypermeter, audin? adest, et claudicat, | A needless Alexandrine ends the song, [along,
Anguis saucia terga trahentis, prorepentisque.
Hi proprias s upeant nugas, tu discere tentes,
Quæ tereti properant venâ, vel amabilè languent.
Istaque fac laudes, ubi vivida Denhamii vis
Walieria condita fluit dulcedine musæ.
Scribendi numerosa facultas provenit arte,
Ut soli incessu faciles fluitare videntur,
Plectro morigeros qui callent singere gressus.
Non solum asperitas teneras cave verberet aures,
Sed vox quæque expressa tuæ sit mentis imago.
Lenè edat Zephyrus suspiria blanda, politis
Lævius in numeris labatur læve fluentum;
At reboat, furit, æstuat æmula musa, sonoris
Littoribuscum rauca horrendum impingitur unda.
Quando est saxum Ajax vastâ vi volvere adortus,
Tarde incedat versus, multum perque laborem.
Non ita sive Camilla cito salis æquora rasit,
Sive levis levitèrque terit, neque flectit aristas.
Audin! Timothei cœlestia carmina, menti
Dulcibus alloquiis varios suadentia motus!
Audin! ut alternis Lybici Jovis inclyta proles
Nunc ardet famam, solos nunc spirat amores
Lumina nunc vivis radiantia volvere flammis,
Mox furtim suspiria, mox effundere fletum!
Dum Persa, Græcique pares sentire tumultus
Discunt, victricemque lyram rex orbis adorat.
Musica quid poterit corda ipsa fatentur, et audit
Timotheus nostras merita cum laude Drydenus.
Tu servare modum studeas benè cautus, et istos Queis aut nil placuisse potest, aut omnia, vites Exiguas naso maculas suspendere noli, Namque patent nullo stupor atquc superbia mentis
Clariùs indicio; neque mens est optima certè, Non secus ac stomachus, quæcunque recusat et odit
Omnia, difficilisque nihil tibi concoquit unquam.
Non tamen idcirco vegeti vis ulla leporis
Te tibi surripiat; mirari mentis ineptæ est,
Prudentis vero tantum optima quæque probare.
Majores res apparent per nubila visa,
Atque ita luminibus stupor ampliat omnia densis.
His Galli minus arrident, illisque poetæ
Nostrates, hodierni aliis, aliisque vetusti.
Sie fidei simile, ingenium sectæ arrogat uni
Quisque sua; solis patet illis janua cœli
Scilicet, inque malam rem cætera turba jubentur.
Frustra autem imunensis cupiunt imponere me-
Muneribus Divum, atque illius tela coarctant
Solis, hyberboreas etiam qui temperat auras,
Non solum australes genios fœcundat et auget.
Qui primis latè sua lumina sparsit ab annis,
Illustrat præsens, summumque accenderit ævum.
(Cuique vices variæ tamen; et jam sæcula sæ-
culis
Succedunt pejora, et jam meliora peractis)
Fro meritis musam laudare memento,nec unquam
Neglige quod novitas distinguit, quodve vetustas.
Sunt quinil propriumin medium proferresuërunt,
Judiciumque suum credunt popularibus auris;
Tum vulgi quò exempla trahunt retrahuntque
sequuntur,
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length Leave such to tune their own dull rhymes, and know
What's roundly smooth, or languishingly slow,
And praise the easy vigour of of a line
Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweet-
ness join.
True case in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.
"Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers
flows,
But when loud billows lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent
[throw,
When Ajax strives, some rock's vast weight to
The line too labours, and the words move slow,
Not So, when swift Camilla scours the plain,[main.
Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the
Hear how Timotheus'11 various lays surprise,
And bid alternate passions fall and rise;
While at each change the son of Lybian Jove,
Now burns with glory, and then melts with love.
Now fierce his eyes with sparkling fury glow!
Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow;
Persians and Greeks like turns of nature found,
And the world's victor stood subdu'd by sound!
The pow'r of music all our hearts allow,
And what Timotheus was, is Dryden now.
Avoid extremes, and shun the fault of such,
Who still are pleas'd too little, or too much.
At ev'ry trifle scorn to take offence,
That always shows great pride or little sense.
Those heads, as stomachs, are not sure the best,
Which nauseate all, and nothing can digest.
Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move;
For fools admire, but men of sense approve.
As things seem large which we through mists
descry,
Dulness is ever apt to magnify.
Some the French writers, some our own despise ;
The ancients only, or the moderns prize.
(Thus wit, like faith, by each man is apply'd
To one small sect, and all are damn'd beside ;)
Meanly they seek the blessing to confine,
And force that sun but on a part to shine,
Which not alone the southern wit sublimes,
But ripens spirits in cold northern climes;
Which from the first has shone on ages past,
Enlights the present, and shall warm the last.
(Though each may feel increases and decays
And see now clearer and now darker days.)
Regard not then if wit be old or new,
But blame the false, and value still the true.
Some ne'er advance a judgment of their own, But catch the spreading notion of the town; They reason and conclude by precedent, And own stale nonsense which they ne'er invent.
12 Alexander's feast, or the power of music; an ode by Mr. Dryden.
Tolluntque expositas latè per compita nugas. Turba alia authorum titulos et nomina discit Scriptor que ipsos, non scripta examinat.
Ho-Nor praise nor blame the writings, but the men.
Of all this servile herd, the worst is he
Who in proud dulness joins with quality,
A constant critic at the great man's board,
To fetch and carry nonsense for my lord.
What woeful stuff this madrigal wou'd be,
In some starv'd hackney sonneteer, or me?
But let a lord once own the happy lines,
How the wit brightens, how the style refines!
Before his sacred name flies ev'ry fault,
And each exalted stanza teems with thought!
Pessimus iste cluet, si quem serviliter ipsos
Visere magnates stupor ambitiosus adegit.
Qui critice ad mensam domino ancillatur inepto,
Futilis ardelio, semper referensque ferensque
Nuntia nugarum. Quam pinguia, quam male
[ullus
Carmina censentur, quæcunque ego fortè vel
Pangere Apollineæ tentat faber improbus artis !
At siquis vero, siquís vir magnus adoptet
Felicem musam, quantus nitor ecce! venusque
Ingenio accedunt! quam prodigialitèr acer
Fit stubito stylus! omnig enam venerabile nomen
Prætexit sacris culpam radiis, & ubique
Carmina culta nitent, & pagina pai turit omnis.
Stultula plebs doctos studiosa imitarier errat,
Ut docti nullos imitando sæpius ipsi ;
Qui, si forte unquam plebs rectum viderit, (illis
Tanto turba odio est) consultò lumina claudunt.
Talis schismaticus Christi, grege sæpe relicto,
Cœlos ingenii pro laude paciscitur ipsos.
Non desunt quibus incertum mutatur in horas
Judicium, sed semper eos sententia ducit
Ultima palantes. Illis miseranda camæna
More meretricis tractatur, nunc Dea certè,
Nunc audit vilis lupa : dum præpingue cerebrum,
Debilis & male munitæ stationis ad instar,
Jam recti, jam stultitiæ pro partibus astat.
Si causam rogites, aliquis tibi dicat eundo
Quisque dies teneræ præbet nova pabula menti,
Et sapimus magis atque magis. Nos docta pro-
pago
Scilicet et sapiens proavos contemnimus omnes,
Heu! pariter nostris temnenda nepotibus olim.
Quondam per nostros dum turba scholastica fines
Regnavit, si cui quam plurima clausula semper
In promptu, ille inter doctissimus audiit omnes;
Religiosa fides simul ac sacra omnia nasci
Sunt visa in litem: sapuit sat nemo refelli
Ut se sit passus. Jam gens insulsa Scotista,
Intactique abaci Thomista pace fruentes
Inter araneolos pandunt sua retira fratres.
Ipsa fides igitur cum sit variata, quid ergo,
Quid mirum ingenium quoque si varia induat ora?
Naturæ verique relictis finibus amens
Sæpius insanire parat popularitèr anthor,
Expectatque sibi vitalem hoc nomine famam,
Suppetit usque suus plebi quia risus ineptæ.
Hic solitus propriâ metirier omnia normâ,
Solos, qui secam sunt mente et partibus iisdem
Approbat, ac vanos virtuti reddit honores,
Cui tantum sibi sic larvata superbia plaudit.
Partium in ingenio studium quoque regnat ut
Seditioque auget privatas publica rixas.
Drydeno obstabant odium atque superbia nuper
Et stupor omnigenæ latitans sub imagine formæ,
Nunc criticus, nunc bellus homo, inox deinde sa-
cerdos ;
Attamen ingenium, joca cum siluêre, superstes Vivit adhuc, namque olim utcunque sepulta profundis
Pulchrior emerget tenebris tamen inclyta virtus. Milbourni, rursus si fas foret ora tueri, [merus Blackmorique novi reducem insequerentur; Ho
The vulgar thus through imitation err,
As oft the learn'd by being singular;
So much they scorn the crowd, that if the throng
By chance go right, they purposely go wrong:
So Schismatics the plain believers quit,
And are but damn'd for having too much wit.
Some blame at morning what they praise at
night;
But always think the last opinion right.
A muse by these is like a mistress us'd,
This hour she's idoliz'd, the next abus'd;
While their weak heads like towns unfortify'd
'Twixt sense and nonsense daily change their side.
Ask them the cause, they're wiser still they say;
And still to morrow's wiser than to day.
We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons no doubt will think us so.
Once school-divines this zealous isle o'erspread;
Who knew most sentences, were deepest read;
Faith, gospel, all, seem'd made to be disputed,
And none had sense enough to be confuted:
Scotists and Thomists now in peace remain,
Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Duck-lane.
If faith itself has diff'rent dresses worn,
What wonder modes in wit should take their turn?
Oft leaving what is natural and fit,
The current folly proves the ready wit;
And authors think their reputation safe,
Which lives as long as fools are pleas'd to laugh.
Some valuing those of their own side or mind,
Still make themselves the measure of mankind;
Fondly we think we honour merit then,
When we but praise ourselves in other men.
Parties in wit attend on those of state,
And public faction doubles private hate.
Pride, malice, folly, against Dryden rose,
In various shapes of parsons, critics, beaus;
But sense surviv'd when merry jests were past;
For rising merit will buoy up at last.
Might he return and bless once more our eyes,
New Blackmores and new Milbournes must arise;
Nay, shou'd great Homer lift his awful head,
Zoilus again wou'd start up from the dead.
Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue,
But like the shadow proves the substance true;
Ipse etiam erigeret vultus si forte verendos
Zoilus ex orco gressus revocaret. Ubique
Virtuti malus, umbra velut nigra, livor adhæret,
Sed verum ex vanâ corpus cognoscitur umbrâ.
Ingenium, solis jam deficientis ad instar
Invisum, oppositi tenebras tantum arguit orbis,
Dum claro intemerata manent sua lumina divo.
Sol prodit cum primum, atque intolerabile fulget
Attrahit obscuros flammâ magnete vapores;
Mox vero pingunt etiam invida nubila callem
Multa caloratum, & crescentia nubila spargunt
Uberiùs, geminoque die viridaria donant.
Tu primus meritis plaudas nihil ipse meretur Qui serus laudator adest. Brevis, heu! brevis ævi
Participes nostri vates celebrantur, et æquum est
Angustamquam primum assuescant degere vitam.
Aurea nimirum jainjudum evanuit ætas,
Cum vates patriarchæ extabant mille per an-
Jam spes deperiit, nobis vita altera, famæ, [nos:
Nostraque marcescit sexagenaria laurus!
Aspicimus nati patriæ dispendia linguæ,
Et vestris Chauceri olim gestanda Drydeno est.
Sic ubi parturuit mens dives imagine multâ
Pictori, calamoque interprete cœpit acuti
Concilium cerebri narrare coloribus aptis,
Protinus ad nutum novus emicat orbis, et ipsa
Evolvit manui sese natura disertæ ;
Dulcia cum molles coeunt in fœdera fuci
Tandem maturi, liquidamque decentèr obum-
Admistis lucem tenebris, et euntibus annis [brant
Quando opus ad summum perductum est cul-
men, & audent
E vivå formæ extantes spirare tabellâ :
Perfidus heu! pulchram color ævo prodidit artem, Egregiusque decor jam nunc fruit omnis, et urbes,
Et fluvii, pictique homines, terræque fuerunt; Heu! dos ingenii, veluti quodcunque furore Cæco prosequimur, nihil unquam muneris adfert, Quod redimat comitem invidiam! juvenilibus an
Nil nisi inane sophos jactamus, et ista voluptas
Vana, brevis, momento evanuit alitis horæ !
Flos veluti veris peperit quem prima juventus,
Ille viret, periitque virens sine false caducus.
Quid verò ingenium est quæso ? Quid ut illius
Tantum insudemus? nonne est tibi perfida conjux
Quam dominus vestis, vicinia tota potita est;
Quo placuisse magis nobis fors obtigit, inde
Nata magis cura est. Quid enim? crescentibus
Musæ muneribus populi spes crescit avari. [almæ
Laus ipsa acquiri est operosa, et lubrica labi ;
Quin quosdam irritare necesse est; omnibus autem
Nequaquam fecisse satis datur ; ingeniumque
Expallet vitium, devitat conscia virtus,
Stulti omnes oderê, scelesti perdere gaudent.
Quando adeo infestam sese ignorantia præstet,
Absit, ut ingenium bello doctrina lacessat!
Præmia proposuit meritis olim æqua vetustas,
Et sua laus etiam conatos magna secuta est;
Quanquam etenim fortis dux solus ovabat, at
Militibus crines pulchræ impediere corollæ. [ipsis
At tunc qui bifidi superarunt improba montis
Culmina, certatim socios detrudere tentant ;
Scriptorem, quid enim! dum quemque philau-
tia ducit
For envy'd wit, like Sol eclips'd, makes known Th' opposing body's grossness, not its own. When first the Sun too powerful beams displays It draws up vapours which obscure the rays; But ev'n those clouds at last adorn its way, Reflect new glories and augment the day.
Be thou the first true merit to befriend, His praise is lost who stays till all commend. Short is the date, alas! of modern rhymes, And 'tis but just to let them live betimes. No longer now that golden age appears, When patriarch-wits surviv'd a thousand years; Now length of fame (our second life) is lost, And bare threescore is all ev'n that can boast; Our sons their fathers' failing language see, And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be. So when the faithful pencil has design'd Some bright idea of the master's mind, Where a new world leaps out at his command, And ready Nature waits upon his hand; When the ripe colours soften and unite, And sweet!y melt into just shade and light, When mellowing years their full perfection give And each bold figure just begins to live, The treach'rous colours the fair art betray, And all the bright creation fades away,
Unhappy wit, like most mistaken things, Atones not for the envy which it brings. In youth alone its empty praise we boast, But soon the short-liv'd vanity is lost! Like some fair flow'r the early spring supplies, That gaily blooms, but ev'n in blooming dies. What is this wit which most our cares employ The owner's wife that other men enjoy ; Still most our trouble, when the most admir'd; The more we give, the more is still requir'd: The fame with pains we gain, but lose with ease, Sure some to vex, but never all to please; 'Tis what the vicious fear, the virtuous shun, By fools 'tis hated, and by knaves undone !
Ah, let not learning too commence its foe!
If wit so much from ign'rance undergo,
Of old, those met rewards who cou'd excel,
And such were prais'd who but endeavour'd well;
Though triumphs were to gen'rals only due,
Crowns were reserv'd to grace the soldier too.
Now they who reach Parnassus' lofty crown
Employ their pains to spurn some other down-
And while self-love each jealous writer rules,
Contending wits become the sport of fools
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