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Improve the common and the plainest things.
A Satyr that comes staring from the Woods,
Must not at first speak like an Orator;
But, though his language should not be refin'd,
⟨It⟩ must not be Obscene, and Impudent,
The better Sort abhors scurrility,
And often censures, what the Rabble likes.
Unpolish'd Verses pass with many Men,
And Rome is too Indulgent in that Point;
But then, to write at a loose rambling rate,
In hope the World will wink at all our faults,
Is such a rash, ill-grounded confidence,
As men may pardon, but will never praise.
Consider well the Greek Originals,
Read them by day, and think of them by night;
But Plautus was admir'd in former time.
With too much patience (not to call it worse)
A Satyr that comes staring from the Woods,
Must not at first speak like an Orator;
But, though his language should not be refin'd,
⟨It⟩ must not be Obscene, and Impudent,
The better Sort abhors scurrility,
And often censures, what the Rabble likes.
Unpolish'd Verses pass with many Men,
And Rome is too Indulgent in that Point;
But then, to write at a loose rambling rate,
In hope the World will wink at all our faults,
Is such a rash, ill-grounded confidence,
As men may pardon, but will never praise.
Consider well the Greek Originals,
Read them by day, and think of them by night;
But Plautus was admir'd in former time.
With too much patience (not to call it worse)
His
