3 1 t But a poet of that time has no better fuccefs in the management of this metaphor, than the Hiftorian. LOVE makes fo many hearts the prize Of the bright CARLISLE'S conqu❜ring eyes ; And the vex'd Sailors curfe the rain, For which poor Shepherds pray'd in vain. Waller's Poems, p. 25. The Sentiment ftands thus. She regards the "captive hearts of others no more than those others the tears of leffer beauties." Thus, with much difficulty,we get to tears. And when we have them the allufion to loft clouds is fo ftrain'd, (befides that he makes his showers both ufelefs and injurious) that one readily perceives the poet's thought was diftorted by imitation. X, The charge of Plagiarism is so disreputable to a great writer that one is not furpriz'd to find him anxious to avoid the imputation of it. Yet this very anxiety serves fometimes, to fix it upon "him." Mr. Dryden, in the Preface to his tranflation of Frefnoy's Art of painting, makes the following observation on Virgil. "He pretends fometimes to "trip, but 'tis only to make you think him in dan "ger 66 ger of a fall when he is most fecure. Like a skill"ful dancer on the Rope (if You will pardon the "meanness of the fimilitude) who flips willingly "and makes a feeming ftumble, that You may think “him in great hazard of breaking his neck; while at the fame time he is only giving You a proof of "his dexterity. My late Lord Rofcommon was of"ten pleas'd with this reflection, &c." p. 50. His apology for the use of this fimile, and his concluding with Lord Rofcommon's fatisfaction at his remark, betray, I think, an anxiety to pass for original, under the consciousness of being but an imitator. So that if we were to meet with a paffage, very like this, in a celebrated antient, we could hardly doubt of it's being copied by Mr. Dryden. What think you then of this obfervation in one of Pliny's Letters, "Ut quasdam artes, ità eloquentiam nihil 66 magis quàm ancipitia commendant. Vides qui fune "in fumma nituntur, quantos foleant excitare cla"mores, cùm jam jamque cafuri videntur." L.ix. Ep. 26. PRIOR, one may observe, has acted more naturally in his Alma, and by fo doing, tho' the resemblance be full as great, one is not so certain of his being an Imitator. The verfes are, of BUTLER. He perfect Dancer climbs the Rope, Straight Straight gath❜ring all his active strength C. 11. Tho' the two laft lines feem taken from the application of this fimilitude in Pliny, "Sunt enim ma“ximè mirabilia, quæ maximè inexpectata, et ma“ ximè periculosa.” XI. Writers are, fometimes, follicitous to conceal themselves: At others, they are fond to proclaim their Imitation. "It is when they have a mind to "fhew their dexterity in contending with a great "original." You remember these lines of Milton in his Comus, Wifdom's felf Oft feeks to fweet retired Solitude, Where with her beft nurse, contemplation, Were all too ruffled, and fometimes impair'd. On which Dr. Warburton has the following note. "Mr. Pope has imitated this thought and (as was "always his way when he imitated) improved it." Bear me, fome Gods! oh, quickly bear me hence To wholefome Solitude, the nurse of Sense; Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings, And the free Soul looks down to pity Kings. Mr. "Mr. Pope has not only improved the harmony, but the fenfe. In Milton, Contemplation is called the "Nurse; in Pope, more properly Solitude: In Mil"ton, Wisdom is said to prune her wings; in Pope, Contemplation is faid to do it, and with much great er propriety, as fhe is of a foaring nature, and on "that account is called by Milton himself, the Che"rub Contemplation.” One fees that Mr. Pope's view was to furpass his original; "which, it is faid, was always his way "when he imitated." The meaning is, when he purposely and profeffedly bent himself to Imitation; for then his fine genius taught him to feize every beauty, and his wonderful judgment, to avoid ev'ry defect or impropriety, in his author. And this diftintion is very material to our paffing a right judgment on the merit of Imitators. It is commonly faid, that their imitations fall short of their originals, And they will do fo, whatever the Genius of the Imitator be, if they are formed only on a general resemblance of the thought imitated. For an Inventor comprehends his own idea more distinctly and fully, and of course expreffes his purpose better, than a cafual Imitator. But the cafe is different, when a good writer ftudies the paffages from which he borrows. For then he not only copies, but improves on the first idea; and thus there will frequently (as in in the cafe of Pope) be greater merit in the Copyift, than the original. XII. We fometimes catch an Imitation lurking "in a licentious Paraphrafe." The ground of Sufpicion picion lies in the very complacency with which a writer expatiates on a borrow'd fentiment. He is ufually more referv'd in adorning one of his own. 1. AURELIUS VICTOR obferves of Fabricius, quòd difficiliùs ab honeftate, quàm Sol à fuo curfu, "averti poffet." TASSO flourishes a little on this thought; Prima dal corfo diftornar la Luna E le ftelle potrà, che dal diritto Mr. Waller rifes upon the Italian, "where her love was due, So faft, fo faithful, loyal, and fo true, C. x. S. 24. That a bold hand as foon might hope to force The rowling lights of heav'n, as change her On the Death of Lady RICH. courfe." But Mr. COWLEY, knowing what authority he had for the general fentiment, gives the reins to his fancy and wantons upon it without measure. Virtue was thy life's centre, and from thence The gentle vigorous influence To all the wide and fair circumference: In all their contrarietie. Each |