Those Saryrical Authors did not spare Crowned Heads. They censured Pride, Envy, Avarice, Ambition, Lewdness, Calumny, and Superstition with a wonderful Courage, and an admirable Eloquence. The Au. thor takes occasion from thence to express his Efteem for the late Mr. Boileau, and admires him for his Bold. ness in attacking the Idleness of the Monks, the Softness of the Canons, the Oftentation of Bishops, and the Ambition of Clergymen.

ili 555

Le Moine fecoua le cilice & la haire: T » Le Chanoine indolent aprit à ne rien faire : 11" Le Prélat par la brigue aux honneurs parvenu, Ne sur plus qu'abuser d'un ample revenu, Et pour toutes vertus sit au dos d'un Carroffa A coté d'une mitre armorier fa croffe. L'Ambition par tout chassa l'Humilité: Dans la crasse du froc logea la Vanité.

22

Par tout les mains avares
Cherchent à me ravir crosses, mitres, tiares.
Et le Vice orgueilleux s'érige en Souverain,
Et va la mitre en tête, & la crosse à la main.

Poets are generally accounted great Flatterers : Our Author quotes several Passages out of Latin and French Poers to clear them from that Acculation. “ But (continues be) how can any one excuse “ those Prologues of Opera's

, those Odes approved “ by the Academy, in which Alexander and Cafar " are represented acting like Machines, according

to the blind Impression of a hot Blood; and the “ most eminent Virtues of the Ancients ascribed to " their Pations,

Paisions, to give a greater Lustre to the “King's Actions ?

Dian?

" I Answer, that neither the King, nor Poetry, can be answerable for the Extravagance of some Poets, whose Praises are neither nice nor just: Be

sides,

66 sides, Prose is ftill more

guilty of that Fault than “ Poetry. Did not the Orators and Civilians call the Emperors Sacred Majesty, a'id Divinity ? Did they

bestow upon Kings the Titles of Holy, and ** Immortal ? Sacra Majestas, Divinitas vestra. Divus, “ Immortalis. Will any Body say that the King, who “ deserves true Encomiums, is ignorant that those “ Words are authorized by Use? Does he think he

is more than a Man, because a Poer calls him Di. “ vine and Immortal ?

not

“ Tho' Lewis the XIV. is daily overwhelmed, if “ I may fay so, with a prodigious Number of Enor comiums, it plainly appears from the Esteem he “ always expressed for Boileau, that he only approves " those that are grounded upon Truth, since that “ excellent Poet did so agreeably reflect upon those “ Poers, who bestowed upon him infipid and extra

vagant Praises :

Ce n'est pas qu'aisément, comme un autre, à ton

[ chår Je ne pusse attacher Alexandre & Cæsar; Qu' aisément je ne puffe en quelque Ode insipide, T exalter aux dépens & de Mars & d'Alcide.

I know that notwithstanding the Raileries “ of Boileau -- many Poets continue to praise the

King by depressing those Heroes with whom they compare him: Which is the highest pitch of Impudence ; for, not to say that Truth suffers by it,

what Glory can it be to the King to be raised a. “bove a Heathen, who is only acted by his Paffi... “ ons? Others fancy they praise hiin well

, by shooting off satyrical Strokes against the Enemies of the “ State. But the King, far from relishing those “ foolish Praises, and approving those insipid Satyrs, « has often refused to hear the Encomiums which " he deserves, and done Justice to his Enemies, so “ far as to cause those Men to be punished, who in order to please him, made bold to blacken chem.

The

ز

· The Author informs as that he has composed a Satyr against the infipid Flarterers of Lewis the XIV. which has been presented to that Prince. That Satyr may be seen in this Preface : I shall only transcribe fome Lines our of ir.

Pour moi, j'ose avancer que ce ROI magnanime Trouveroit un Auteur digne de son eftime, Dont la pluine écriroir en language nouveau, Qu'il a tout fait trembler, hors le coeur de NASSAU. Oui, je suis convaincu que sans aucune peine, Ce Monarque entendroit louer le Prince EUGENE, MARLBOROUGH, d' AUVERQUERQUE, &

[tant d'autres Guerriers, Que l'Univers jaloux oppose à ses Lauriers.

I shall put off the remaining Part of this Extract to some other Time, that I may insert here a Letrer written by a Learned Critick to the Author of this Book, and Printed at the End of his Preface. I have read thar Letter with great Satisfaction ; and I think it will be very acceptable to all those, who ar loyé critical Remarks upon the ancient Authors. ist

со е

D. FRANCISCO G. bus }

S. P. D.
RICHARDUS BENTLEIUS.

Iteras tuas IX. Novembris datas nudius terti"L

“ us accepi, quibus fignificas, te Anacreonti " in metra Gallica vertendo dare operam, & de du“ obus locis fententiam meam fcire cupere. De pri

ore illo num. XIII. quæris, utrum ne Atris Cybeles. amore in furorem agi dicendus sit, an potius ira Cybeles, quod is alio amorem verterat. Neutrum. ex his verum : quippe locus iste mendo laborat, & in hunc modum corrigendus :

" Quæ fic accipienda funt, Sunt qui dicunt, formo? "Sem Cybeben in aniisse, inclamantem in montibus pul

cherrimum Attin. Ipfa, vides, Cybebe, five Cybele, “ amore Attidis percussa insanit, ut ex Phrygum Hi

storia rem diserte narrat Diodorus Siculus, Lib. III.

Cybebe ergo hic puella est, nondum scilicet inter “ Deos relata : neque xetas est alma; fed, ut ipar“ fim, formofa: neque viuí Indus est gallus, spado; « sed mollibus femineisque fere membris præ pul * chritudine, ut in illo Ausonii :

Dum dubitat Natura, marem faceretne puellam,

Factus es, ô pulcher, pene puella, puer. " Pene puella est ipsum illud iuatnaus. Hanc noo “ ftram emendationem & verborum feries constru“ctioque, & Diodori, quem consulas, locus plane

efiagitat. Jam illa quæ sequuntur, vide modo “ Antithefin, oi uer négoriv, sunt qui dicunt. oine, " Alii vero, fubaudiendum dicunt ; unde necessario,

ut vides, Nominativos illos mióves & Meunpótes “ in Accusativos immutari oporter. Tu igitur in Ver“ fione tua, fi ad Anacreontis elegantiam adspiras, foc locum adumbrabis.

Alii

* Vulgo Co@vta.

Vulgo tróves.
| Vulgo Meunvotes Cowol

“ Alii dicunt, formosam Cybeben in montibus pul“ cbrum Attin invocantem, insaniise.

“ Alii dicunt, cos qui Clari aquam bibunt, furentes “ clamare.

“ Nifi hoc modo oppositionem expresseris, perit magna pars venuftatis.

« Ceterum in loco altero, num. XLV. ubi quæris « de iftis verbis,

"Έλαβε βίλεμένον Αρης.
Υπεμειδίασε Κύπεις.
'O di Agris drasevdikas,

Bapu, cnoiv, degv autó'. :

“Ο δ' "Έρως, έχ' αυτό, φησί. “ Utrum id velint, Amorem suum jaculum in ma

nus modo Marti dedisse, an in Martem contorfiffe & “ eum vulneraffe. Neutra ex his sententia, sed alia “ inter utrumque media vera eft. Quippe Cupido “ non contorsit jaculum, sed manu tantum capiendum “ tradidit. At repente jaculum, ex vivo fcilicet

igne & æthereo fulgure constans, in Martis corpus “ fe fponte insinuavit, & reconditum laruit. Inde eft “ illud dvasevážas, gemitum & fufpirium ducens, ob “ vulnus scilicet : & i esu auti, tolle, quifo: quippe “ in intima corporis penetraverat : $X$ 'vero auto

tecum ferva, ait Cupido irridens, qui folus potuit extrahere, sed noluit.

“ Hæc cútogedrasi & ex tempore tibi exaravi, quibus utere tuo arbitratu. Multa quidem in aliis

Anacreontis locis emendatione indigent ; non pauca “ etiam sunt spuria, quæ a genuinis dignoscere paucorum erit hominum, &c. Cantabrigiæ, die XX. Nov. 16 M DCC XỊ.

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