From you, blest Pair! Religion deigns to claim Her sacred honours; at her awful name

16

High o'er the stars you take your soaring flight,
And rove the regions of supernal light;
Attend to lays that flow from tongues divine,
Undazzled gaze where charms seraphick shine;
Trace beauty's beam to its eternal spring,
And pure to man the fire celestial bring.

20

Then round this globe on joint pursuit ye stray, Time's ample annals studiously survey ; And from the eddies of Oblivion's stream Propitious snatch each memorable theme.

Thus to each form, in heaven, and earth, and

sea,

That wins with grace, or awes with dignity,

Ambæ quippe sacros ad religionis honores Sydereos superant ignes, aulamque tonantis Ingressæ, Divûm aspectu, alloquioque fruuntur ; Oraque magna Deûm, et dicta observata reportant, Cœlestemque suorum operum mortalibus ignem.

Inde per hunc Orbem studiis coëuntibus errant, Carpentes quæ digna sui, revolutaque lustrant Tempora, quærendis consortibus argumentis. Denique quæcunq; in cœlo, terrâque, marique Longius in tempus durare, ut pulchra merentur,

25

15

To each exalted deed, which dares to claim
The glorious meed of an immortal fame,
That meed ye grant. Hence, to remotest age,
The Hero's soul darts from the Poet's page; 30
Hence, from the canvas, still, with wonted

state,

He lives, he breathes, he braves the frown of

Fate.

Such powers, such praises, heaven-born Pair, belong

To magick colouring, and creative song.

But here I pause, nor ask Pieria's train, 35
Nor Phoebus self to elevate the strain:

Vain is the flow'ry verse, when reasoning sage
And sober precept fill the studied page;

Nobilitate suâ, claroque insignia casu,

Dives et ampla manet Pictores atque Poetas
Materies; inde alta şonant per sæcula mundo
Nomina, magnanimis Heroibus inde superstes
Gloria, perpetuoque operum miracula restant:
Tantus inest divis honor artibus atque potestas.
Non mihi Pieridum chorus hic, nec Apollo vo-
candus,

Majus ut eloquium numeris, aut gratia fandi
Dogmaticis illustret opus rationibus horrens :

*

Enough if there the fluent numbers please, With native clearness, and instructive ease. 40

Nor shall my rules the Artist's hand confine, Whom practice gives to strike the free design; Or banish Fancy from her fairy plains,

45

Or fetter Genius in didactick chains:
No, 'tis their liberal purpose to convey
That scientifick skill which wins its way
On docile nature, and transmits to youth,
Talents to reach, and taste to relish truth;
While inborn Genius from their aid receives
Each supplemental art that practice gives. 50

a

'Tis Paintings first chief business to explore, What lovelier forms in Nature's boundless store

Cum nitidâ tantum et facili digesta loquelâ,
Ornari præcepta negent, contenta doceri.

30

Nec mihi mens animusve fuit constringere nodos 3 Artificum manibus, quos tantùm dirigit usus; Indolis ut vigor inde potens obstrictus hebescat, Normarum numero immani, Geniumq; moretur: Sed rerum ut pollens ars cognitione, gradatim Naturæ sese insinuet, verique capace

Transeat in Genium; Geniusq; usu induat artem. "Præcipua imprimis artisque potissima pars est,

35

I. Of the Beautiful.

b. I. De Pulchro.

Are best to art and ancient taste allied,

56

For ancient taste those forms has best applied.
Till this be learn'd, how all things disagree!
How all one wretched, blind barbarity!
The fool to native ignorance confin'd,
No beauty beaming on his clouded mind;
Untaught to relish, yet too proud to learn,
He scorns the grace his dulness can't discern.
Hence reason to caprice resigns the stage, 6i
And hence that maxim of the antient Sage,
"Of all vain fools with coxcomb talents curst,
"Bad Painters and bad Poets are the worst.'

When first the orient rays of beauty move 65 The conscious soul, they light the lamp of love;

Nôsse quid in rebus natura creârit ad artem
Pulchrius, idque modum juxta, mentemque vetustam:
Quâ sine barbaries cæca et temeraria pulchrum **
Negligit, insultans ignotæ audacior arti,

Ut curare nequit, quæ non modo noverit esse ;
Illud apud veteres fuit unde notabile dictum,
"Nil Pictore malo securius atque Poetâ."
Cognita amas, et amata cupis, sequerisq; cu-

pita;
Passibus assequeris tandem quæ fervidus urges:

45

Love wakes those warm desires that prompt

our chace,

To follow and to fix each flying grace:
But earth-born graces sparingly impart

The symmetry supreme of perfect art:

70

For tho' our casual glance may sometimes meet With charms that strike the soul, and seem complete,

Yet if those charms too closely we define,
Content to copy nature line for line,

Our end is lost. Not such the Master's care,

76

Curious he culls the perfect from the fair; Judge of his art, thro' beauty's realm he flies, Selects, combines, improves, diversifies; With nimble step pursues the fleeting throng, And clasps each Venus as she glides along. 80

Illa tamen quæ pulchra decent; non omnia casus Qualiacumque dabunt, etiamve simillima veris : Nam quamcumque modo servili haud sufficit ipsam Naturam exprimere ad vivum: sed ut arbiter artis, se Seliget ex illâ tantùm pulcherrima Pictor;

Quodque minus pulchrum, aut mendosum, corriget ipse

Marte suo, formæ Veneres captando fugaces.