 | The poems (1969) |  |
534
25 [Lines Addressed to a Fastidious Critic]
Yes, 'tis but Angelo's or Shakespeare's name:
The striking beauties are in each the same.
The s[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Were Horace dumb, who knows even Fresnoy's art
Might guide the muse in some [OMITTED] part;
Or searchful Vinci, who his precepts drew
For Tuscan pencils, form the poet too!
The striking beauties are in each the same.
The s[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Were Horace dumb, who knows even Fresnoy's art
535
Or searchful Vinci, who his precepts drew
For Tuscan pencils, form the poet too!
From these fair arts, [OMITTED]
Obtain some fair ef[OMITTED]
Nor fear to talk of numbers or of oil,
Though not quite formed like Addison or Boyle.
Defect[s] in each abound and more, you say,
Than sage de Piles instructs us how to weigh;
Defects which, glanced on those who finely feel,
All Thornhill's colours would in vain conceal,
Or all the golden lines, howe'er they flow,
Through each soft drama of unfruitful Rowe.
These too you sometimes praise, to censure loth,
But fix the name of mannerist on both.
And should my friend, who knew not Anna's age,
So nicely judge the canvas or the page?
Still should his thought, on some old model placed,
Reject the Briton with so nice a taste?
From each some forceful character demand,
[OMITTED] but peculiar to his happy hand?
Some sovereign mark of genius all his own,
[OMITTED]
Ah, where on Thames shall gentle Dodsley find
The verse contrived for so correct a mind?
Or how shall Hayman, trembling as you gaze,
Obtain one breath of such unwilling praise?
Go then, in all unsatisfied, complain
Of Time's mistake in Waller's desperate strain,
For ah, ‘untimely cam'st thou forth’, indeed,
With whom originals alone succeed!
Go as thou wilt, require the bliss denied,
To call back art and live ere Carlo died;
But oh, in song the public voice obey,
There let each author [OMITTED] his [OMITTED] day.
Abroad be candid, reason as you will,
And be at home a chaste Athenian still!
For each correct design the critic kind
Look back through age to Homer's godlike mind;
But Blackhall's self might doubt if all of art
Were self-produced in one exhaustless heart.
Obtain some fair ef[OMITTED]
Nor fear to talk of numbers or of oil,
Though not quite formed like Addison or Boyle.
Defect[s] in each abound and more, you say,
Than sage de Piles instructs us how to weigh;
536
All Thornhill's colours would in vain conceal,
Or all the golden lines, howe'er they flow,
Through each soft drama of unfruitful Rowe.
These too you sometimes praise, to censure loth,
But fix the name of mannerist on both.
And should my friend, who knew not Anna's age,
So nicely judge the canvas or the page?
Still should his thought, on some old model placed,
Reject the Briton with so nice a taste?
From each some forceful character demand,
[OMITTED] but peculiar to his happy hand?
Some sovereign mark of genius all his own,
[OMITTED]
Ah, where on Thames shall gentle Dodsley find
The verse contrived for so correct a mind?
Or how shall Hayman, trembling as you gaze,
Obtain one breath of such unwilling praise?
Go then, in all unsatisfied, complain
Of Time's mistake in Waller's desperate strain,
537
With whom originals alone succeed!
Go as thou wilt, require the bliss denied,
To call back art and live ere Carlo died;
But oh, in song the public voice obey,
There let each author [OMITTED] his [OMITTED] day.
Abroad be candid, reason as you will,
And be at home a chaste Athenian still!
For each correct design the critic kind
Look back through age to Homer's godlike mind;
But Blackhall's self might doubt if all of art
Were self-produced in one exhaustless heart.
| The poems (1969) | |