OETS may boast, as safely vain,

Their works shall with the world remain :
Both bound together, live or die;
The verses, and the prophesy.

The beauties which adorn'd that age,
The shining subjects of his rage,
Hoping they should immortal prove,
Rewarded with success his love.

This was the gen'rõus poet's Tcope, 512
And all an English pen can hope;
To make the fair approve his flame,
That can so far extend their fame.

Verse, thus design'd, has no ill fate,
If it arrive but at the date
Of fading beauty if it

-- prove
But as long-liv'd as present love.

ON A MISCELLANY OF POEMS.

TO BERNARD

LINTOTT.

BY MR. GAY.

Ipfa varietate tentamus efficere ut alia aliis ; quædam fortasse omnibus placeant.

PLIN. EPIST.

A

S when some skilful cook, to please each guest,

Would in one mixture comprehend a feast,
With due proportion and judicious care,
He fills his dish with diff'rent forts of fare;
Fishes and fowls deliciously unite,
To feat at once the taste, the smell, and fight :
So, Bernard ! muft a Miscellany be,
Compounded of all kinds of poetry;
The Muses olio, which all tastes may fit,
And treat each reader with his darling wit.

Wouldt thou for miscellanies raise thy fame,
And bravely rival Jacob's mighty name,
Let all the Muses in the piece conspire:
The Lyrick Bard must ftrike th' harmonious lyre ;
Heroick strains must here and there be found,
* And nervous sense be sung in lofty sound,

Let

Let Elegy in moving numbers flow,
And fill fome pages with melodious woe:
Let not your am'rous songs too num'rous prove,
Nor glut thy reader with abundant love..
Satire must interfere, whose pointed rage
May lahh tlie madness of a vicious age :
Satire, the Muse that never fails to hit ;
For if there's scandal, to be sure there's wit.
Tire not our patience with Pindarick lays ;
Thofe swell the piece, but very rarely please:
Let hort-breath'd Epigram it's force confine,
And strike at follies in a single line.
Translations thould throughout the work be fotvn,
And Homer's godlike Muse be niade our own :
Horace in useful numbers should be fung,
And Virgil's thoughts adorn the British tongue.
Let Ovid tell Corinna's hard disdain,
And at her door in melting notes complain :
His tender accents pitying virgins move,
And charm the fiftning ear with tales of love.
Let ev'ry claffick in the volume shine,
And each contribute to thy great design:
Thro' various subjects let the reader range,
And raise his fancy with a grateful change.
Variety's the fource of joy below, ..
From whence itill fresh-revolving pleasures fow.
In books and love the mind one end pursues,
And only change th’expiring flame renews.

Where Buckingham will condescend to give,
That honour'd piece to distant times mui live:
When noble Sheffield Arikes the trembling strings,
The little loves rejoice; and clap their wings

Anacreon lives !' they cry;- th' harmonious swain • Retunes the lyre, and tries his wonted 'frain: • 'Tis he-out loft Anacreon bives again !" ;

}

But

But when th' illustrious poet foars above
The sportive revels of the god of love,
Like Maro's Muse he takes a loftier flight,
And tow'rs beyond the wond'ring Cupid's fight.

If thou wouldst have thy volume stand the test,
And of all others be reputed best,
Lét Congreve teach the liftning groves to mourn,
As when he wept o'er fair Pastora's urn.

Let Prior's Muse with softning accents move,
Soft as the strains of constant Emma's love ;
Or let his fancy chuse some jovial theme,
As when he told Hans Carvel's jealous dream :
Prior th’admiring reader entertains
With Chaucer's humour and with Spencer's strains.

Waller in Granville lives: when Mira fings,
With Waller's hand he strikes the founding strings ;
With sprightly turns his noble genius shines,
And manly sense adorns his easy lines.

On Addison's sweet lays attention waits,
And filence guards the place while he repeats:
His Mufe alike on ev'ry subje& charms,
Whether she paints the god of love or arms :
In him pathetick Ovid fings again,
And Homer's Iliad shines in his Campaign.
Whenever Garth shall raise his sprightly song,
Sense flows in eafy numbers from his tongue;
Great Phoebus in his learned fon we fee,
Alike in phyfick as in poetry.

When Pope's harmonious Muse with pleasure roves
Amidst the plains, the murm'ring streams and groves,
Attentive Echo, pleas'd to hear his fongs,
Thro' the glad fhade each warbling note prolongs ;,
His various numbers charm our ravish'd ears,
His steady judgment far outshoots his years,
And early in the youth the god appears.

}

3 O

From

From these successful bards collect thy strains,
And praise with profit shall reward thy pains :
Then, while calves-leather binding bears the fway,
And Meep-skin to it's sleeker gloss gives way;
While neat old Elzivir is reckon'd better
Than Pirate Hill's brown sheets and scurvy letter ;
While print-admirers careful Aldus chufe,
Before John Morphew, or the weekly news;
So long shall live thy praise in books of fame,
And Tonson yield to Lintott's lofty name.