Nor painted Horror, Grief, or Rage, And tore the Leaf from Nature's Book. ODE ODE TO G EN Í ÚS. TH HOU Child of Nature, Genius ftrong, every And dipt him in that facred Rill, Whofe filver Streams flow mufical along, Where Phoebus' hallow'dMount refounds with raptur'd Song. II. Forfake not Thou the vocal Choir, Their Breafts revifit with thy genial Fire, Else vain the studied Sounds of mimic Art, Tickle the Ear, but come not nigh the Heart. Vain every Phrase in curious Order set, On each Side leaning on the [ftop-gap] Epithet. Vain the quick Rime ftill tinckling in the Close, While pure Defcription fhines in meafur'd Profe. Thou bear'ft a-loof, and look'ft with high Disdain, Upon the dull mechanic Train ; Whofe nervelefs Strains flag on in languid Tone, Lifelefs and lumpiíh as the Bag-pipe's drowzy Drone. III. No III. No longer now thy Altars blaze, In many a Wreath of richest Poefie. For when the Oak denies her Stay, The creeping Ivy winds her humble Way; No more fhe twifts her Branches round, Where then fhall exil'd Genius go? And boaft them of the Poet's Name, Whose fober Rimes in even Tenour flow; Who prey on Words, and all their Flowrets cull, Coldly correct, and regularly dull. Why fleep the Sons of Genius now? Why Wartons refts the Lyre unftrung? Great Pindar's delegated Wreath is hung; [Brow, Arife, and fnatch the Majefty of Song, From Dullness' fervile Tribe, and Arts unhallow'd ** Throng. By TASTE, is here meant the modern Affectation of it. TRANSLATION; A POEM. By the Rovd Dr Thomas Francklin. S UCH is our Pride, our Folly, or our Fate, late.' So Denham fung, who well the Labour knew ; 5 10 15 LINE 18. Cowley attacks, &c. Nothing can be more contemptible than the Tranflations and Imitations of Pindar done by Cowley, which yet have had their Admirers. O'er Tibur's Swan the Mufes wept in vain, 20 30 To Northern Climes th' unwilling Guests convey, 25. 35 LINE 20. See Horace's Epiftles, Satires, and Art of Poetry, done into English by S. Dunfter, D. D. Prebendary of Sarum. LINE 21, 22. See their Tranflations of Homer and Virgil. LINE 31. The modern Critic, &c. Les belles traductions (fays Boileau) font des preuves fans replique en faveur des anciens, qu'on leur donne les Racines pout interpretes, & ils fcauront plaire aujourdhui comme autrefois. Certain it is, that the Contempt, in which the Ancients are held by the illiterate Wits of the prefent Age, is in a great Measure owing to the Number of bad Translations. LINE 36. See Adams's Profe Translation of Sophocles. Concludes |