Delusive, she, Paulo's free stroke supplies,
Revives the face, and points the' enlightening eyes.
"Tis thought, each science, but in part, can boast
A length of toils for human life at most:
(So vast is art!) if this remark prove true,
"Tis dangerous sure to think at once of two;
And hard to judge if greater praise there be
To please in painting, or in poetry;
Yet Painting lives less injur'd or confin'd,
True to the' idea of the master's mind:
In every nation are her beauties known,
In every age the language is her own:
Nor time nor change diminish from her fame;
Her charms are universal, and the same.
O, could such blessings wait the poet's lays,
New beauties still, and still eternal praise!
Ev'n though the muses every strain inspire,
Exalt his voice, and animate his lyre:

Ev'n though their art each image should combine
In one clear light, one harmony divine :"

Yet ah, how soon the casual bliss decays,
How great the pains, how transient is the praise!
Language, frail flower, is in a moment lost,
(That only product human wit can boast)
Now gay in youth, its early honours rise,
Now hated, curs'd, it fades away, and dies,

Yet verse first rose to soften humankind,
To mend their manners, and exalt their mind.
See, savage beasts stand listening to the lay,
And men more furious, and more wild than they;
Ev'n shapeless trees a second birth receive,
Rocks move to form, and statues seem to live.
Immortal Homer felt the sacred rage,

And pious Orpheus taught a barbarous age;

Succeeding painters thence deriv'd their light,
And durst no more, than those vouchsaf'd to write.
At last to' adorn the gentler arts, appears
Illustrious Xeuxis from a length of years.
Parrhasius' hand with softening strokes express'd
The nervous motions, and the folded vest:
Pregnant of life his rounded figures rise,
With strong relievo swelling on the eyes,
Evenor bold, with fair Apelles came,

And happy Nicias crown'd with deathless fame.
At length from Greece, of impious arms afraid,
Painting withdrew, and sought the' Italian shade;
What time each science met its due regard,
And patrons took a pleasure, to reward.
But ah, how soon must glorious times decay,
One transient joy, just known, and snatch'd away!
By the same foes, which Painting shun'd before,
Ev'n here he bleeds, and arts expire once more.
Ease, lust, and pleasures, shake a feeble state,
Gothic invasions, and domestic hate;

Time's slow decays, what these ev'n spare, consume,
And Rome lies buried in the depths of Rome !
Long slumber'd Painting in a stupid trance

Of heavy zeal, and monkish ignorance:
(When faith itself for mere dispute was giv'n,
Subtile was wise, and wranglers went to heav'n.)
Till glorious Cimabue* restor❜d her crown,
And dip'd the pencil, studious of renown.
Masaccio taught the finish'd piece to live,
And added every grace of perspective.

Giovanni Cimabue, born at Florence in the year 1240; he was the first person who revived painting after its unfortunate extirpation.

Exact correctness Titian's hand bestow'd,
And Vinci's stroke with living labour glow'd.
Next Julio rose, who every language knew,
Liv'd o'er each age, and look'd all nature through.
In happy Paulo strength and art conspire,
The graces please us, and the muses fire.

Each nobler secret others boast alone,
By curious toil Caracci made his own:
Raphael's nice judgment, Angelos' design,
Correggio's warmth, and Guido's pleasing line.
Thrice glorious times, when every science charms,
When rapture lifts us, and religion warms!
Vocal to heaven the swelling organs blow,
A shriller consort aids the notes below;
Above, around, the pictur'd saints appear,
And listening seraphs smile and bend to hear.
Thence Painting, by some happy genius led,
O'er the cold north in slow approaches spread.
Ev'n Britain's isle, that blush'd with hostile gore,
Receiv'd her laws, unknown to yield before;
Relenting now, her savage heroes stand,
And melt at every stroke from Rubens' hand.
Still in his right the graceful Jervas sways,
Sacred to beauty, and the fair one's praise,
Whose breathing paint another life supplies,
And calls new wonders forth from Mordaunt's eyes.
And Thornhill, generous as his art, design'd
At once to profit and to please mankind.

Thy dome, O Paul's! which heavenly views adorn, Shall guide the hands of painters yet unborn; Each melting stroke shall foreign eyes engage, And shine unrivall'd through a future age.

Hail, happy artists! in eternal lays

The kindred muses shall record your praise;

Whose heavenly aid inspir'd you first to rise,
And fix'd your fame immortal in the skies:
There sure to last, till Nature's self expires,
Increasing still, and crown'd with clearer fires;
High rais'd above the blasts of public breath,
The voice of hatred, and the rage of death.

Ah, thus for ever may my numbers shine,
Bold as your thoughts, but easy as your line!
Then might the muse to distant ages live,
Contract new beauty, and new praise receive;
Fresh strength, and light, ev'n time itself bestow,
Soften each line, and bid the thought to glow;
(Fame's second life) whose lasting glory fears
Nor change, nor envy, nor devouring years.

Then should these strains to Pembroke's hand be borne

Whom native graces, gentle arts adorn,
Honour unshaken, piety resign'd,

A love of learning, and a generous mind.
Yet, if by chance, enamour'd of his praise,
Some nobler bard shall rise in future days,
(When from his Wilton-walls the strokes decay,
And all Art's fair creation dies away :
Of solid statues, faithless to their trust,
In silence sink, to mix with vulgar dust;)
Ages to come shall Pembroke's fame adore,
Dear to the Muse, till Homer be no more.

1. The origin and use of Satire. The excellency of Epic Satire above others, as adding example to precept, and animating by fable and sensible images. Epic Satire compared with Epic Poem, and wherein they differ: Of their extent. action, unities, episodes, and the nature of their morals. Of parody; of the style, figures, and wit proper to this sort of poem, and the superior talents requisite to excel in it.

II. The characters of the several authors of Satire. 1. The an. cients; Homer, Simonides, Archilochus, Aristophanes, Menippus, Ennius, Lucilius, Varro, Horace, Persius, Petronius, Ju venal, Lucian, the emperor Julian. 2. The moderns: Tassone, Coccaius, Rabelais, Regnier, Boileau, Dryden, Garth, Pope.

III. From the practice of all the best writers and men, in every age and nation, the moral justice of Satire in general, and of this sort in particular, is vindicated. The necessity of it shown in this age more especially, and why bad writers are at present the most proper objects of Satire. The true causes of bad writers. Characters of several sorts of them now abound. ing; envious critics, furious pedants, secret libellers, obscene poetesses, advocates for corruption, scoffers at religion, writers for deism, deistical and Arian clergymen.

Application of the whole discourse to the Dunciad; concluding with an address to the author of it.

To' exalt the soul, or make the heart sincere,
To arm our lives with honesty severe,

To shake the wretch beyond the reach of law,
Deter the young, and touch the bold with awe,
VOL. XXIX.

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