Page:Marmor Norfolciense.djvu/31

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[ 7 ]

And, yet more ſtrange! his Veins a Horſe ſhall drain,
Nor ſhall the paſſive Coward once complain.

I make not the leaſt Doubt, but that this learned Perſon has given us, as an Antiquary, a true and uncontrovertible Repreſentation of the Writer’s Meaning, and am ſure he can confirm it by innumerable Quotations from the Authors of the middle Age, ſhould he be publickly called upon by any Man of eminent Rank in the Republic of Letters; nor will he deny the World that Satisfaction, provided the Animadverter proceeds with that Sobriety and Modeſty, with which it becomes every learned Man to treat a Subject of ſuch Importance.

Yet with all proper Deference to a Name ſo juſtly celebrated, I will take the Freedom of obſerving that ſhe has ſucceeded better as a Scholar than a Poet; having fallen below the Strength, the Conciſeneſs, and at the ſame Time below the Perſpicuity of his Author. I ſhall not point out the particular Paſſages in

which