Page:A Dissertation on Reading the Classics and Forming a Just Style.djvu/254

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210
Mr. Prior.

Word, nor is there an Expression in all his Lines, that can be changed for any juster, or more forcible than itself. Mr. Prior enjoys, the freest and easiest Muse in the World, and perhaps is the only Man, who may rival Horace in an admirable Felicity of Expression, both in the sublime and familiar Way. Like our celebrated Cowley, he hath excelled in all Kinds of Poetry: In his Works we meet an Assembly of the Muses; since the Roman Swan expired, none hath taken bolder and happier Flights, or touched the Lyre with a more masterly Hand; and since Chaucer's Days none hath told a merry or he-

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