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ling, I could never arrive at any excellence; in swimming, fencing, vaulting, and leaping, to none at all. My hands are so clumsy, that I cannot read what I write myself. I cannot handsomely fold up a letter; nor could I ever make a pen, nor carve at table, nor carry a hawk.". This is delivered with such an air, says old Pasquier, that it pleases me as much as if it had been spoken of some other person.

What passages in Horace are more agreeable than

Me pinguem & nitidum bene curatâ cute vises-
Lusum it Mæcenas, dormitum ego Virgiliusque-
Namque pila lippis inimicum & ludere crudis-
Me primis urbis belli placuisse domique;
Corporis exigui, præcanum, solibus aptum,
Irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem.

Above all, the pleasing detail he gives of his way of life, the descriptions of his mule, his dinner,

* "My conversation (says Dryden, very entertainingly, of himself) is slow and dull, my humour saturnine and reserved. In short, I am none of those who endeavour to break jests in company, or make repartees.”

Preface to his Indian Emperor.

dinner, his supper, his furniture, his amusements, his walks, his time of bathing and sleeping, &c. from the 105th line to the end of the 6th satire of the first book.

What Addison says in jest, and with his usual humour, is true in fact: "I have observed that a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure, 'till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition, married or a bachelor." I will add, at the hazard of its being reckoned a trifling and minute remark, that many of our English poets have been in their persons remarkably handsome; such were SPENSER, MILTON, COWLEY, BUTLER, WALLER, WYCHERLEY, ROWE, ADDISON, CONGREVE, GARTH, GAY. VIRGIL and VIDA are said, by LIL. GYRALDUS, to have had a plain rustic look; and OVID and CARDINAL BEMBO, to be slender and active; as also was TIBULLUS. The portraits of DANTE, PETRARCH, and BOCCACCIO, are thus given, in the curious and entertaining history of their lives by JANNOT. MANETTUs, a celebrated writer of the fifteenth century, but not published till 1746, at Florence. DANTE,

he

he says, was of a becoming and middle stature, had a long face, very large eyes, an aquiline nose, broad cheeks, an under-lip that projected a little, a dark complexion, a beard and hair long, black, and curling. In the form of PETRARCH, there was a happy mixture of majesty and grace. He had so much agility and dexterity, that no one could gain the mastery over him. He enjoyed a firm state of health to his ⚫old age. Of BOCCACCIÓ he says, he was of a full and large habit of body, of a tall stature, a round face, an aspect chearful and pleasant; so facetious and well-bred, that a certain elegance and urbanity appeared in every word he uttered. P. 81.

9. Why did I write? What sin, to me unknown, Dipt me in ink; my parents, or my own?

As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,

I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.
I left no calling for this idle trade,

No duty broke, no father disobey'd.*

BOILEAU says, in his fifth epistle, verse 110, that his father left him a decent patrimony, and made him study the law:

* Ver. 125.

Mais

Mais bien-tot amoureux d'un plus noble métier,
Fils, frere, oncle, cousin, beau-frere de Greffier,
Pouvant charger mon bras d'une utile liasse,
J'allay loin du Palais errer sur de Parnasse.
La famille en pâlit, & vit en frémissant,
Dans la Poudre du Greffe un poete naissant.
On vit avec horreur une muse effrenée
Dormir chez un Greffier la grasse matinée.*

10. But why then publish? Granville, the polite,
And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write;
Well-natur'd Garth + inflam'd with early praise;
And Congreve lov'd, and Swift endur'd my lays :
The courtly Talbot, Somers, Sheffield read;
Even mitred Rochester would nod the head;

And St. John's self (great Dryden's friends before)
With open arms receiv'd one poet more.‡

To the three first names, that encouraged his earliest writings, he has added other friends, whose acquaintance

* He was a great sleeper; got up late, and always was accustomed to sleep after dinner: as also was PÓPE.

Every word and epithet here used, is characteristical, and peculiarly appropriated to the temper and manner of each of the persons here mentioned; the elegance of Lansdown, the open free benevolence of Garth, the warmth of Congreve, the difficulty of pleasing Swift, the very gesture that Atterbury used when he was pleased, and the animated air and spirit of Bolingbroke.

* Ver. 135.

quaintance with him did not commence till he was a poet of established reputation. From the many commendations which Walsh, and Garth, and Granville, bestowed on his Pastorals, it may fairly be concluded, how much the public taste has been improved, and with how many good compositions our language has been enriched since that time. When Gray published his exquisite Ode on Eton College, his first publication, little notice was taken of it; but I suppose no critic can be found, that will not place it far above POPE's Pastorals.

11. From these the world will judge of men and books; Not from the Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cooks.†

* Sweet BARD! who shun'st the noise of folly;
Most musical, most melancholy!

Thee oft, the lonely woods among,

I woo to hear thy even-song;

And think thy thrilling strains have power

To raise MUSEUS from his bower;

Or bid the tender SPENSER come

From his lov'd haunt, sweet Fancy's tomb !

+ Ver. 145.

Such

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