Cæleftes acies! atque in certamine cœlum !
Et quæ cæleftes pugna deceret agros !
Quantus in ætheriis tollit fe Lucifer armis !
Atque ipfo graditur vix Michaele minor !
Quantis, & quam funeftis concurritur iris,
Dum ferus hic ftellas protegit, ille rapit !
Dum vulfos montes, ceu tela reciproca, torquent ;
Et non mortali defuper igne pluunt;
Stat dubius cui fe parti concedat Olympus ;
Et metuit pugnæ non fupereffe fuæ.
At fimul in cælis MESSIE infignia fulgent,
Et currus animes, armaque digna DEO;
Horrendumque rotæ ftrident, & sæva rotarum
Erumpunt torvis fulgura luminibus ;
Et flammæ vibrant, & vera tonitura rauco:
Amiftis flammis infonuere polo :
Excidit attonitis mens omnis, & impetus omnis,
Et caffis dextris irrita tela cadunt.
At pœnas fugiunt, & (ceu foret Orcus afylum !)
Infernis certant condere fe tenebris.
Cedite Romani Scriptores, cedite Graii,
Et quos Fama recens, vel celebravit anus :: Hæc quicunque leget, tantùm ceciniffe putabit Mæonidem Ranas, Virgilium Culices..
PARADISE LOST.
WHEN I beheld the Poet blind, yet bold
In flender book His vaft design unfold:
Meffiah crown'd, God's reconcil'd decree,
Rebelling Angels, the Forbidden Tree,
Heav'n, Hell, Earth, Chaos, All! the argument
Held me a-while misdoubting His intent ;
That He would ruin (for I saw Him ftrong)
The Sacred Truths to fable, and old fong;
(So Sampfon grop'd the temple's pofts in fpight)
The world o'erwhelming to revenge His fight.
Yet as I read, foon growing less severe,
I lik'd His project, the fuccefs did fear;
Through that wide field how he his way should find,
O'er which lame faith leads understanding blind;
Left He perplex'd the things He would explain,
And what was easy, He should render vain.
Or, if a work fo infinite He spann'd,
Jealous I was that fome lefs skilful hand
(Such as difquiet always what is well,
And by ill imitating would excell)
Might hence prefume, the whole creation's day
To change in scenes, and shew it in a Play.
Pardon me, Mighty Poet! nor despise
My causeless, yet not impious, furmife.
But I am now convinc'd, and none will dare
Within Thy labors to pretend a share.
Thou haft not mifs'd one thought that could be fit ;
And all that was improper doft omit :
So that no room is here for writers left,
But to detect their ignorance, or theft.
That majesty which through Thy Work doth reign,
Draws the devout, deterring the profane:
And Things Divine Thou treat'ft of in such state,
As them preferves, and Thee inviolate.
At once delight and horror on us feife,
Thou fing'ft with fo much gravity and ease;
And above human flight doft foar aloft,
With plume fo ftrong, fo equal, and so soft!
The bird nam'd from that Paradise You fing
So never flags, but always keeps on wing.
Where could'ft Thou words of fuch a compass finds
Whence furnish fuch a vast expense of mind?
Juft Heav'n Thee, like Tirefias, to requite,
Rewards with prophefy Thy lofs of fight.
Well might'ft thou fcorn thy readers to allure
With tinkling rhyme, of Thy own fenfe fecure;
While the Town-Bays writes all the while and spells
And, like a pack-horse, tires without his bells,
Their fancies like our bushy-points appear
The poets tag them, we for fashion wear,
I too transported by the mode commend;
And while I mean to praife Thee, must offend.
Thy verfe created like Thy Theme fublime,
In number, weight, and measure, needs not rhyme.
- VERSE. THE measure is English Heroic Verse
without Rhyme, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin; Rkyme being no necessary adjunct, or true ornament of Poems or good verfe; in longer works efpecially : but the invention of a barbarous age, 10 fetoff wretched matter and lame metre : grac'd indeed fince by the ufe of fome famous modern Poets carried away by custom; but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many things otherwife, (and for the most part worse) than elfe they would have expreft them. Not without cause therefore fome (both Italian and Spanish) Poets of prime note have rejected Rhyme, both in longer and shorter works; as have also long fince our beft English Tragedies; as a thing of itself, to all judicious ears, trivial and of
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