;

Yet fhould the Graces all thy figures place,
And breathe an air divine on ev'ry face;
Yet fhould the Mufes bid my numbers roll
Strong as their charms, and gentle as their foul
With Zeuxis' Helen thy Bridgewater vie,
And these be fung till Granville's Myra die:
Alas! how little from the grave we claim !
Thou but preferv'st a Face, and I a Name.

75

NOTES.

VER. 78. Thou but preferv'ft a Face, &c.] The last line of this Poem is unworthy Pope. The idea is trite, that notwithstanding all our accomplishments we must both die; and the antithefis, "that one preferves a face, and the other a name," puerile.

MARTHA BLOUNT,

From

Original Picture, in the Collection of Michael Blount Esq. at Maple Durham.

an

Published by Cadeli & Danes. Strand, and the other Proprietors, May 1, 1807.

EPISTLE

ΤΟ

MRS. BLOUNT,

WITH THE WORKS OF VOITURE.

IN

thefe gay thoughts the Loves and Graces fhine,
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 mistress and his friend did-share,
His time, the Muse, the witty, and the fair.
Thus wifely careless, innocently gay,
Chearful he play'd the trifle, Life, away;
Till fate fcarce felt his gentle breath supprest,
As fmiling Infants fport themselves to reft,

5

10

Ev'n

NOTES.

VER. 1. In thefe gay] The works of Voiture, after having been idolized in France, are now justly funk into neglect and oblivion.

WARTON.

VER. 13. As fmiling Infants, &c.] There is a beautiful paffage of this fort in Temple's Eflays:-" After all, life is like a froward child, that must be trifled with, and played with, till it falls afleep, and then the care is over."

Ev'n rival Wits did Voiture's death deplore,
15
And the gay mourn'd who never mourn'd before;
The trueft hearts for Voiture heav'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 life of graver mortals be
A long, exact, and ferious Comedy;
In ev'ry scene 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, a native Ease and Grace,
Tho' not too strictly bound to Time and Place:
Critics in Wit, or Life, are hard to please,
Few write to those, and none can live to these.

20

25

30

Too

NOTES.

VER. 19. The Smiles] Alluding to an elegant epitaph on Voiture:

"Etrufcæ Veneres, Camœnæ Iberæ,
Hermes Gallicus, et Latina Siren;
Rifus, Deliciæ, et Dicacitates,
Lufûs, Ingenium, Joci, Lepores :
Et quid quid unquam fuit elegantiarum,
Quo Vecturius hoc jacent fepulcro."

Many curious particulars of his life may be found in the enter taining Miscellanies of Vigneul Marville, vol. ii. p. 409.

Corneille was invited to read his Polyeucte at the Hotel de Rambouillet, where the wits of that time affembled, and where Voiture prefided. It was coldly received; and Voiture was fent to tell Corneille in gentle terms, that it was the opinion of his friends that Polyeucte would not fucceed. Such judges were the most fashionable wits of France! WARTON.

VER. 19. The Smiles and Loves, &c.] This is a poor conceit and unworthy of Pope; it is more like Cowley, Marvel, and Waller.