Page:Modern Parnassus - Leigh Hunt (1814).djvu/72

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

52

So may all Bards abjure the fabled nine,
And duteous bend before thy unhewn shrine.
Had Maro felt thy pow'r, his labour'd strain
Would flow in thoughts more common, phrase more plain.
Dido in homelier speech would mourn her fate,
And homelier numbers Troy's last woes relate.

    by some cotemporaries of M. Boileau, who speaks of the circumstance with his usual prejudice against innovation.

    Au contraire, cet autre, abject dans son langage,
    Fait parler ses Bergers, comme on parle au village.
    Ses vers plats et grossiers, dépouillés d'agrément,
    Toujours baisent la terre, et rampent tristement.
    On dirait que Ronsard sur ses pipeaux rustiques
    Vient encor fredonner sea Idylles gothiques,
    Et changer, sans respect de l'oreille et du son,
    Lycidas en Pierrot, et Phyllis en Thoinon.
    L'Art. Poet. chan. ii. 

    }}