When wide around she saw the World submit, 65
And own her Sons supreme in Arts and Wit;
Then Pope and Dryden brought in triumph home,
The Pride of Greece, and Ornament of Rome;
To the great task each bold translator came,
With Virgil's Judgment, and with Homer's Flame.
Here the pleas'd Mantuan swan was taught to soar,
Where scarce the Roman eagles tower'd before:
And Greece no more was Homer's native earth,
Tho' her sey'n rival cities claim'd his birth;
On her sev'n cities he look'd down with scorn, 75
And own'd with pride he was in Britain born."
VOLTAIRE AU ROI DE PRUSSE.
Vous y cherchez le vrai, vous y goutez le beau ;
Quelques traits échappés d'une utile morale,
Dans leurs piquans ecrits brillent par intervalle;
Mais Pope approfondit ce qu'ils ont effleuré ;
D'un esprit plus hardi, d'un pas plus assuré,
Il porta le flambeau dans l'abime de l'etre,
Et l'homme avec lui seul apprit à se connoitre.
L'Art quelquefois frivole, et quelquefois divin,
L'Art des vers est dans Pope utile au genre humain.
Ar Stowe in Buckinghamshire, the seat of Earl Temple, is a building called The Temple of British Worthies, designed by Kent. One of the niches has a bust of Pope with the following inscription:
Who uniting the correctness of judgment to the fire of Genius, by the melody and power of his numbers,
gave sweetness to sense, and grace to philosophy.
He employed the pointed brilliancy of wit to chastise the vices, and the eloquence of poetry to exalt the virtues of human nature; and being without a rival in his own age,
imitated and translated, with a spirit equal to the originals, the best poets of Antiquity.
To move the springs of nature as we please, To think with spirit, but to write with ease: With living words to warm the conscious heart, Or please the soul with nicer charms of art, For this the Grecian soar'd in Epic strains, And softer Maro left the Mantuan plains: Melodious Spenser felt the lover's fire, And awful Milton strung his heav'nly lyre. 'Tis yours, like these, with curious toil to trace The pow'rs of language, harmony, and grace; How nature's self with living lustre shines; How judgment strengthens, and how art refines;
How to grow bold with conscious sense of fame,
And force a pleasure which we dare not blame:
To charm us more thro' negligence than pains, 15
And give ev'n life and action to the strains :
Led by some law, whose pow'rful impulse guides
Each happy stroke, and in the soul presides:
Some fairer image of perfection given
T'inspire mankind, itself deriv'd from heav'n.
O ever worthy, ever crown'd with praise;
Blest in thy life, and blest in all thy lays!
Add that the Sisters ev'ry thought refine:
Or ev❜n thy life be faultless as thy line;
Yet
still with fiercer rage pursues,
envy
Obscures the virtue, and defames the muse.
A soul like thine, in pains, in grief resign'd,
Views with vain scorn the malice of mankind :
Not critics, but their planets, prove unjust:
And are they blam'd who sin because they must? 30
Yet sure not so must all peruse thy lays;
I cannot rival—and yet dare to praise.
A thousand charms at once my thoughts engage,
Sappho's soft sweetness, Pindar's warmer rage,
Statius' free vigour, Virgil's studious care,
And Homer's force, and Ovid's easier air.
So seems some Picture, where exact design, And curious pains, and strength and sweetness join : Where the free thought its pleasing grace bestows, And each warm stroke with living colour glows; 40 Soft without weakness, without labour fair; Wrought up at once with happiness and care!
How blest the man that from the world removes To joys that MORDAUNT, or his POPE approves;
Whose taste exact each author can explore,
And live the present and past ages o'er:
Who free from pride, from penitence, or strife,
Move calmly forward to the verge of life:
Such be my days and such my fortunes be,
To live by reason, and to write by thee!
Nor deem this verse, tho' humble, thy disgrace;
All are not born the glory of their race:
Yet all are born t' adore the great man's name,
And trace his footsteps in the paths to fame.
The Muse who now this early homage pays,
First learn'd from thee to animate her lays:
A Muse as yet unhonour'd, but unstain'd,
Who prais'd no vices, no preferment gain'd:
Unbiass'd, or to censure or commend,
Who knows no envy, and who grieves no friend;
Perhaps too fond to make those virtues known,
And fix her fame immortal on thy own.
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