59
"Soft, soft my friend, go ask some brib'd Review,
"And then to Fame's third Heav'n the Bard pursue.
"Oh, if another Judge, of spotless name,
"Could try his merits and award his fame;
"Could Flaccus wake from Death's unbroken sleep,
"The Judge would laugh—the Modern Bard would weep."
Thus train'd in doctrines of th' exploded school,
I judg'd of modern song by ancient rule.
If Horace told me, that the verse should flow
Concise and clear, I thought it must be so.
If he advis'd, to choose each theme with care,
As genius prompts, or as our strength will bear;
The man, who scarce a birthday ode could frame,
Yet dar'd an epic, was, I thought, to blame.
"And then to Fame's third Heav'n the Bard pursue.
"Oh, if another Judge, of spotless name,
"Could try his merits and award his fame;
"Could Flaccus wake from Death's unbroken sleep,
"The Judge would laugh—the Modern Bard would weep."
Thus train'd in doctrines of th' exploded school,
I judg'd of modern song by ancient rule.
If Horace told me, that the verse should flow
Concise and clear, I thought it must be so.
If he advis'd, to choose each theme with care,
As genius prompts, or as our strength will bear;
The man, who scarce a birthday ode could frame,
Yet dar'd an epic, was, I thought, to blame.
