Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/16

Or in soft elegies our pity move,
And show the youth in all the flames of love;
Or sing the shepherd's woes in humble strains,
And the low humours of contending swains;
These faithful rules shall guide the bard along
In every measure, argument, and song.

Be sure, (whatever you propose to write,)
Let the chief motive be your own delight,
And well-weigh'd choice; ---A task injoin'd refuse,
Unless a monarch should command your muse.
(If we may hope those golden times to see,
When bards become the care of majesty.)
Free and spontaneous the smooth numbers glide,
Where choice determines, and our wills preside;
But, at command, we toil with fruitless pain,
And drag th' involuntary load in vain.

Nor, at its birth, indulge your warm desire,
On the first glimm'ring of the sacred fire;
Defer the mighty task, and weigh your pow'r;
And every part in every view explore;