Page:An Essay on Translated Verse - Roscommon (1684).djvu/41

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Base Fugitives to that Asylum fly,
And sacred Laws with Insolence Defy.
Not thus our Heroes of the former Days,
Deserv'd, and Gain'd their never fading Bayes;
For I mistake, or far the greatest Part,
Of what some call Neglect was study'd Art.
When Virgil, seems to Trifle in a Line,
'Tis like a Warning-Piece, which gives the Sign
To Wake your Fancy, and prepare your Sight,
To reach the noble Height of some unusual Flight.
I lose my Patience, when, with Sawcy Pride,
By untun'd Ears I hear His Numbers try'd.
Reverse of Nature! shall such Copies, then
Arrain th' Originals of Maro's Pen!
And the rude Notions of Pedantick Schools
Blaspheme the sacred Founder of Our Rules!

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