Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

DRYDEN'S POEMS.

EPISTLES.

EPISTLE I.

TO MY HONOURED FRIEND SIR ROBERT HOWARD,1 ON HIS

EXCELLENT POEMS.

As there is music uninform'd by art

In those wild notes, which, with a merry heart,
The birds in unfrequented shades express,
Who, better taught at home, yet please us less:
So in your verse a native sweetness dwells,
Which shames composure, and its art excels.
Singing no more can your soft numbers grace,
Than paint adds charms unto a beauteous face.
Yet as, when mighty rivers gently creep,
Their even calmness does suppose them deep;
Such is your muse: no metaphor swell'd high
With dangerous boldness lifts her to the sky:
Those mounting fancies, when they fall again,
Show sand and dirt at bottom do remain.

1 'Sir Robert Howard:' brother to Dryden's wife.
VOL. II.
A

10

« EdellinenJatka »