at last he turned, and lifting up his hand in the posture of a suppliant: Godlike Pindar, said he, spare my life, and possess my horse with these arms, beside the ransom, which my friends will give, when they hear I am alive, and your prisoner. Dog, said Pindar, let your ransom stay with your friends; but your carcase shall be left for the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field. With that, he raised his sword, and with a mighty stroke cleft the wretched modern in twain, the sword pursuing the blow; and one half, lay panting on the ground to be trod in pieces by the horses feet; the other half, was born by the frighted steed through the field. This Venus[1] took, washed it seven times in ambrosia, then struck it thrice with a sprig of amaranth; upon which, the leather grew round and soft, and the leaves turned into feathers, and being gilded before, continued gilded still; so it became a dove, and she harnessed it to her chariot.*
******Hiatus valde de-
******flendus in MS.
Day being far spent, and the numerous forces of the moderns half inclining to a retreat, there issued
- ↑ I do not approve the author's judgment in this, for I think Cowley's Pindaricks are much preferable to his Mistress.
It may however be considered, that Cowley's Pindaricks were but copies, of which Pindar was the original; before Pindar therefore his Pindaricks might fall; and his Mistress be preserved as properly his own. - ↑ As the account of the Battle of the Books, is an allegorical representation of sir William Temple's essay, in which the ancients are opposed to the moderns, the account of Bentley and Wotton is called an episode, and their intrusion represented as an under action.
forth
