Afterwards,
More old than Jove, whom thou at first didst breed.
And,
And now the Prey of Fowls in Field he lies.
Nor must Ben. Johnson be forgotten;
Thy Praise or Dispraise is
to me alike;
One doth not stroke me, nor
the other strike.
Again,
Curst be his Muse, that could
lye dumb, or hid
To so true Worth, though thou
thy self forbid.
In this Train of Voters for Monosyllables, the inimitable Cowley marches next, whom we must not refuse to hear;
Yet I must on; what Sound
is’t strikes mine Ear?
Sure I Fames Trumpet
hear.
And a little after,
Come my best Friends, my Books,
and lead me on;
’Tis time
that I were gone.
Welcome, great Stagirite,
and teach me now
All I was born
to know.
And commending Cicero, he says,
Thou art the best of Orators;
only he
Who best can praise thee,
next must be.
And of Virgil thus,
Who brought green Poesy to
her perfect Age,
And made that
Art, which was a Rage.
And in the beginning of the next Ode, he wou’d not certainly have apply’d himself to WIT in the harsh Cadence of Monosyllables, had he thought them so very harsh;
Tell me, O tell, what kind
of thing is Wit,
Thou who Master
art of it.
Again,
In a true Piece of Wit all
things must be
Yet all things
there agree.
But did he believe such Concord to be inconsistent with the use of Monosyllables, he had surely banished them from these two Lines; and were I to fetch Testimonies out of his Writings, I might pick a Jury of Twelve out of every Page.
And now comes Mr. Waller, and what does he with his Monosyllables, but,
Give us new Rules, and set our Harp in Tune.
And that honourable Peer whom be commends, the Lord Roscommon thus keeps him in Countenance;
Be what you will, so you be still the same.
And again,
In her full Flight, and when she shou’d be curb’d.
Soon after,
Use is the Judge, the Law, and Rule of Speech,
And by and by,
We weep and laugh, as we see
others do,
He only makes me sad who shews
the way:
But if you act them ill, I
sleep or laugh.
The next I shall mention is my Lord Orrery, who, as Mr. Anthony Wood says, was a great Poet, Statesman, Soldier, and great every thing which merits the Name of Great and Good. In his Poem to Mrs. Philips, he writes thus;
For they imperfect Trophies
to you raise,
You deserve Wonder, and they
pay but Praise;
A Praise which is as short
of your great due.
As all which yet have writ
come short of you.