VIDA's ART OF POETRY.

To the Right Honourable PHILIP, Earl STANHOPE, Viscount MAHON, and Baron ELVASTON, this Tranflation is dedicated, by his Lordship's humble Servant and Chaplain,

CHRISTOPHER PITT.

BOOK I.

G

IVE me, ye facred Mufes, to impart
The hidden fecrets of your tuneful art;
Give me your awful mysteries to fing,
Unlock, and open wide, your facred fpring;
While from his infancy the Bard I lead,
And fet him on your mountain's lofty head;
Direct his course, and point him out the road
To fing in epic ftrains an hero or a God.

What youth, whofe generous bofom pants for praise,
Will dare with me to beat thofe arduous ways?
O'er high Parnaffus' painful fteeps to go,

And leave the groveling multitude below:
Where the glad Mufes fing, and form the choir,
While bright Apollo ftrikes the filver lyre,
Approach thou firft, great Francis, nor refuse
To pay due honours to the facred Mufe;
While Gallia waits for thy aufpicious reign,
'Till age compleats the monarch in the man ;
Meantime the Mufe may bring fome small relief,
To charm thy anguish, and suspend thy grief;

While guilty fortune's stern decrees detain

Thee and thy brother in the realms of Spain;
Far, far tranfported from your native place,
Your country's, father's, and your friend's embrace!
Such are the terms the cruel Fates impose

On your great father, ftruggling with his woes,
Such are their hard conditions :---They require
The fons, to purchase, and redeem the fire.

But yet, brave youth, from grief, from tears abftain,
Fate may relent, and heaven grow mild again;
At laft perhaps the glorious day may come,
The day that brings our royal exile home;
When, to thy native realms in peace restor❜d,
The ravish'd crowds fhall hail their paffing lord;
When each transported city fhall rejoice,
And nations blefs thee with a public voice;

To the throng'd fanes the matrons fhall repair;
Abfolve their vows, and breathe their fouls in prayer.
Till then, let every Mufe engage thy love,
With me at large o'er high Parnassus rove,
Range every bower, and sport in every grove.
First then observe, that verfe is ne'er confin'd
To one fixt measure, or determin'd kind;
Though at its birth it fung the Gods alone,
And then religion claim'd it for her own;
In facred ftrains addrefs'd the deity,
And spoke a language worthy of the sky;
New themes fucceeding Bards began to chufe,
And in a wider field engag`d the Mofe;

The

The common bulk of subjects to rehearse
In all the rich varieties of verse.

Yet none of all with equal honours shine
(But those which celebrate the power divine);
To thofe exalted meafures, which declare
The deeds of heroes, and the fons of war.
From hence pofterity the name bestow'd
On this rich present of the Delphic God
Fame fays, Phæmonoe in this measure gave
Apollo's anfwers from the Pythian cave.

But ere you write, confult your ftrength, and chufe A theme proportion'd justly to your Muse.

For though in chief these precepts are bestow'd
On him who fings an hero or a God;

To other themes their general ufe extends,
And ferves in different views to different ends..
Whether the lofty Mufe with tragic rage
Would proudly stalk in buskins on the stage ;;
Or in foft elegies our pity move,

And fhew the youth in all the flames of love;
Or fing the fhepherd's woes in humble strains,
And the low humours of contending fwains:
These faithful rules fhall guide the Bard along;
In every measure, argument, and song..

Befure (whatever you propofe to write)
Let the chief motive be your own delight,

And well-weigh'd choice;- ---a task injoin'd refusey,
Unless a monarch fhould command your Mufe.
(If we may hope thofe golden times to fee,
When Bards become the care of majesty !)
X 2.

Free

Free and fpontaneous the smooth numbers glide,
Where choice determines, and our wills prefide;
But, at command, we toil with fruitless pain,
And drag th' involuntary load in vain.

Nor, at its birth, indulge your warm desire,
On the first glimmering of the facred fire;
Defer the mighty talk; and weigh your power
And every part in every view explore ;
And let the theme in different profpects roll
Deep in your thoughts, and grow into the foul.
But ere with fails unfurl'd you fly away,
And cleave the bofom of the boundless fea;
A fund of words and images prepare,

And lay the bright materials up with care,
Which, at due time, occafion may produce,
All rang'd in order for the Poet's ufe.
Some happy objects by meer chance are brought
From hidden caufes to the wandering thought;
Which if once loft, you labour long in vain
To catch th' ideal fugitives again.

Nor must I fail their conduct to extol,
Who, when they lay the bafis of the whole,
Explore the antients with a watchful eye,
Lay all their charms and elegancies by,
Then to their use the precious fpoils apply.
At first without the least restraint compose,
And mould the future poem into profe;
A full and proper feries to maintain,
And draw the just connection in a chain;

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By

By stated bounds your progrefs to control,
To join the parts, and regulate the whole.

And now 'tis time to fpread the opening fails
Wide to the wanton winds and flattering gales;
'Tis time we now prescribe the genuine laws
To raise the beauteous fabrick with applaufe;
But first fome method requifite appears
To form the boy, and mould his tender years.
In vain the Bard the sacred wreath pursues,
Unless train'd up and feafon'd to the Mufe.
Soon as the prattling innocent fhall reach
To the first use and rudiments of speech,
Ev'n then, by Helicon he ought to rove,
Ev'n then the tuneful Nine fhould win his love
By juft degrees.---But make his guide your choice
For his chafte phrase and elegance of voice;
That he at first fuccessfully may teach

The methods, laws, and discipline of speech ;
Left the young charge, mistaking right and wrong,
With vitious habits prejudice his tongue,
Habits, whofe fubtle feeds may mock your art,
And spread their roots and poison through his heart.
Whence none hall move me to approve the wretch,
Who wildly borne above the vulgar reach,
And big with vain pretences to impart
Vaft shows of learning, and a depth of art,
For fenfe th' impertinence of terms affords ;
An idle cant of formidable words;
The pride of pedants, the delight of fools;
The vile difgrace, and lumber of the fchools: