Pope.

Unter seinen Gedichten haben mehrere die epistolische Form; selbst sein Essay on Man, der aber, so wie die Moral Epiftles, in die Klaffe der Lehrgedichte gehören. Auch hat er die erste, sechste und siebente horazische Episteln des ers ken, und die beiden ersten des zweiten Buchs in englischen Versen sehr glücklich nachgeahmt, und an seine Freunde ges richtet. Außerdem findet man unter den Werken dieses Dichters noch acht originale poetische Briefe, von welchen der folgende an Miß Blount, bei Uebersendung der Werke des damals mehr als jest geschäßten und gelesenen, französischen Dichters Voiture, gerichtet ist. In der Charakterisirung deffelben spielt Pope auf eine lateinische, dem Martial nachgeahmte, Grabschrift an:

1

Etrufcae Veneres, Camoenae Iberae,
'Hermes Gallicus, et Latina Siren,
Rifus, Deliciae, et Dicacitates,
Lufus, Ingenium, Joci, Lepores,
Et quicquid fuit elegantiarum,

Quo Keturius, hoc jacent fepulcro.

Man hat indeß bald eingesehen, wie viel falscher Geschmack und mühsam gesuchter Wiß in Voiture's Schriften herrscht; und das Gute in ihnen über das freilich weit häufigere FehTerhafte vergessen. Pope's Brief felbst ist, wie Dr. Warton (Essay, Vol. II. p. 395.) urtheilt, voller Munterkeit und Galanterie. Die Anhänglichkeit unsers Dichters an diese Dame endigte erst mit seinem Leben. Ihre Ziererei und üble Laune machten ihm indeß manche unruhige und mißvergnügte Stunden. Als sie ihn in seiner leßten Kraukheit besuchte, und ihre Gesellschaft ihn wieder aufs neue zu beleben schien, ließ die veraltete Sprdde sich doch nicht überreden, da zu bleiben, und eine Nacht zu Twickenham zuzubringen, weil sie fürchtete, dadurch ins Gerede zu kommen. Sie veranlaßte einen unglücklichen Bruch zwischen ihm und feinem alten Freunde Allen.

Dope.

pope.

TO MISS BLOUNT,

with the Works of VOITURE; 1730.

In thefe gay thoughts the Loves and Graces

Thine,

And all the writer lives in ev'ry line;
His eafy art may happy nature feem;
Trifles themselves are elegant in him.
Sure to charm all was his peculiar fate,
Who 'without flatt'ry pleas'd the fair and great;
Still with efteem no lefs convers'd than read;
With wit well-natur'd, and with books well-bred:
His heart his miftrefs and his friend did 1hare,
His time the Muse, the witty, and the fair.
Thus wifely careless, innocently gay,
Cheerful he play'd the trifle life away,
Till Fate fcarce felt his gentle breath fuppreft,
As fmiling infants fport themselves to rest.
Ev'n rival wits did Voiture's death deplore,
And the gay mourn'd, who never mourn'd before.
The trueft hearts for Voiture breath'd with fighs;
Voiture was wept by all the brightest eyes:
The Smiles and Loves had dy'd in Voiture's death,
But that for ever in his lines they breathe.

Let the strict live of graver morals be

A long, exact, and serious comedy;

In

every fcene fome moral let it teach.

And, if it can, at once both please and preach:
Let mine an innocent gay farce appear,
And more diverting ftill than regular;
Have humour, wit, and native eafe and grace,
Tho' not too ftrictly bound to time and place.
Critics in wit or life are hard to pleale;
Few write to those, and none can live to these.

Too

Too much your fex is by the forms confin'd,
Severe to all, but most to womankind;

Custom, grown blind with age, must be your guide;
Your pleature is a vice, but not your pride;
By nature yielding, ftubborn but for fame,
Made flaves by honour, and made fools by fhame.
Marriage may all thofe petty tyrants chafe,
But fets up one, a greater, in their place:
Well might you with for change by those accurft;
But the laft tyrant ever proves the worst.
Still in constraint your fuff'ring sex remains,
Or bound in formal or in real chains:
Whole years neglected for fome months ador'd,
The fawning fervant turns a haughty lord.
Ah! quit not the free innocence of life
For the dull glory of a, virtuous wife;
Nor let falfe fhews nor empty titles please:
Aim not at joy, but reft content with ease.

The gods, to curfe Pamela with her pray'rs,
Gave the gilt coach and dappled Flanders mares,
The fhining robes, rich jewels, beds of state,
And, to complete her blefs, a fool for mate.
She glares in balls, front boxes, and the ring,
A vain, unquiet, glitt'ring, wretched, thing!
Pride, pomp, and ftate, but reach her outward
part;

She fighs, and is no duchefs at her heart.

you

But, Madam, if the Fates withstand, and
Are deftin'd Hymen's willing victim too,
Truft not too much your now refistless charms,
Thofe age or fickness, foon or late, difarms:
Good humour only teaches charms to laft,
Still makes new conquefts, and maintains the past.
Love rais'd on beauty will like that decay,
Our hearts may bear its flender chain a day,
As flow'ry bands in wantonnefs are worn,
A morning's pleasure, and at ev'ning torn;
This binds in ties more eafy, yet more ftrong,
The willing heart, and only holds it long.

Pope.

pope.

Thus Voiture's early care *) ftill shone the
fame,

And Montaufier was only changed in name:
By this ev'n now they live, ev'n now they charm,
Their wit ftill fparkling, and their flames ftill warm.

Now crown'd with myrtle on th' Elyfian coaft,
Amid thofe lovers joys his gentle ghoft;
Pleas'd while with fmiles his happy lines you view,
And finds a fairer Rambouillet in you.

The brighteft eyes of France infpir'd his Mufe;
The brighteft eyes of Britain now peruse;
And dead, as living, 'tis our author's pride
Still to charm thofe who charm the world befide
*) Mademoiselle Paulet.

Gay.

S. B. I. S. 33. 414. Man findet zwölf voetische Episteln unter seinen vermischten Gedichten, die stellenweise viel Verdienst haben, ob sie gleich im Ganzen etwas zu kalt und einförmig find. Folgende ist eine der besten.

TO BERNARD LINTOTT.

On a Mifcellany of Poems.

Ipfa varietate tentamus efficere, vt alia aliis, quaedam fortaffe omnibus placeant.

PLIN. Epift

As when fome fkilful cook, to please each
guest,

Would in one mixture comprehend a Feaft,
With due proportion and judicious care
He fills his difh with diff'rent forts of fare,
Fifhes and fowls delicioufly unite,...
To feaft at once the taste, the fmell, and fight;

So, Bernard! muft a Mifcellany be
Compounded of all kinds of poetry;
The Mufe's olio, which all taftes may fit,
And treat each reader with his darling wit."

Wouldst thou for Mifcellanies raife thy fame,
And bravely rival Jacob's mighty name,
Let all the Mufes in the piece confpire;
The lyric Bard muft ftrike th' harmonious lyre;
Heroic ftrains muft here and there be found,
And nervous fenfe be fung in lofty found:
Let Elegy in moving numbers flow,
And fill fome pages with melodious woe;
Let not your am'rous fongs too num'rous prove,
Nor glut thy reader with abundant love;

Satire