Examen Poeticum : BEING THE THIRD PART OF Miscellany Poems .

Containing Variety of NEW TRANSLATIONS OF THE Ancient Poets .

Together with many ORIGINAL COPIES , BY THE Most Eminent Hands .

LONDON : Printed by R. E for Jacob Tonson , at the Judges Head in Chancery-Lane , near Fleetstreet . M DC XCIII .

THE THIRD PART OF Miscellany Poems .

THese Miscellany Poems , are by many Titles yours . The first they claim from your accepttance of my Promise to present them to you ; before some of them were yet in being . The rest are deriv'd from your own Merit , the exactness of your Judgment in Poetry , and the candour of your Nature ; easie to forgive some trivial faults when they come accompanied , with countervailing Beauties . But after all , though these are your equitable claims to a Dedication from other Poets , yet I must acknowledge a Bribe in the case , which is your particular liking of my Verses . 'T is a vanity common to all Writers , to over-value their own productions ; and 't is better for me to own this failing in my self , than the World to do it for me . For what other Reason have I spent my Life in so unprofitable a Study ? Why am I grown Old , in seeking so barren a Reward as Fame ? The same Parts and Application , which have made me a Poet , might have rais'd me to any Honours of the Gown , which are often given to Men of as little Learning and less Honesty than mv self . No Government has ever been , or ever can be , wherein Time-servers and Blockheads will not be uppermost . The Persons are only chang'd , but the same juglings in State , the same Hypocrisie in Religion , the same Self-Interest , and Mis-mannagement , will remain for ever . Blood and Mony will be lavish'd in all Ages , only for the Preferment of new Faces , with old Consciences . There is too often a Jaundise in the Eyesof Great Men ; they see not those whom they raise , in the same Colours with other Men. All whom they affect , look Golden to them ; when the Gilding is only in their own distemper'd Sight . These Considerations , have given me a kind of Contempt for those who have risen by unworthy ways . I am not asham'd to be Little , when I see them so Infamously Great . Neither , do I know , why the Name of Poet should be Dishonourable to me ; if I am truly one , as I hope I am ; for I will never do any thing , that shall dishonour it . The Notions of Morality are known to all Men : None can pretend Ignorance of those Idea's which are In-born in Mankind : and if I see one thing , and practise the contrary , I must be Disingenuous , not to acknowledge a clear Truth , and Base to Act against the light of my own Conscience . For the Reputation of my Honesty , no Man can question it , who has any of his own : For that of my Poetry , it shall either stand by its own Merit ; or sall for want of it . Ill Writers are usually the sharpest Censors : For they ( as the best Poet , and the best Patron said ) , when in the full perfection of decay , turn Vinegar , and come again in Play . Thus the corruption of a Poet , is the Generation of a Critick : I mean of a Critick in the general acceptation of this Age : For formerly they were quite another Species of Men. They were Defendors of Poets , and Commentators on their Works : to Illustrate obscure Beauties ; to place some passages in a better light , to redeem others from malicious Interpretations : to help out an Author's Modesty , who is not ostentatious of his Wit ; and , in short , to shield him from the Ill-Nature of those Fellows , who were then call'd Zoili , and Momi , and now take upon themselves the Venerable Name of Censors . But neither Zoilus , nor he who endeavour'd to defame Virgil , were ever Adopted into the Name of Criticks by the Ancients : what their Reputation was then , we know ; and their Successours in this Age deserve no better . Are our Auxiliary Forces turn'd our Enemies ? Are they , who , at best , are but Wits of the Second Order , and whose only Credit amongst Readers , is what they obtain'd by being subvervient to the Fame of Writers , are these become Rebels of Slaves , and Usurpers of Subjects ; or to speak in the most Honourable Terms of them , are them from our Seconds , become Principals against us ? Does the Ivy undermine the Oke , which supports its weakness ? What labour wou'd it cost them to put in a better Line , than the worst of those which they expunge in a True Poet ? Petronius , the greatest Wit perhaps of all the Romans , yet when his Envy prevail'd upon his Judgment , to fall on Lucan , he fell himself in his attempt : He perform'd worse in his Essay of the Civil War , than the Authour of the Pharsalia : and avoiding his Errours , has made greater of his own . Julius Scaliger , wou'd needs turn down Homer , and Abdicate him , after the possession of Three Thousand Years : Has he succeeded in his Attempt ? He has indeed shown us some of those Imperfections in him , which are incident to Humane Kind : But who had not rather be that Homer than this Scaliger ? You see the same Hypercritick , when he endeavours to mend the beginning of Claudian , ( a faulty Poet , and Living in a Barbarous Age ; ) yet how short he comes of him , and substitutes such Verses of his own , as deserve the Ferula . What a Censure has he made of Lucan , that he rather seems to Bark than Sing ? Wou'd any but a Dog , have made so snarling a Comparison ? One wou'd have thought , he had Learn'd Latin , as late as they tell us he did Greek . Yet he came off , with a pace tuâ , by your good leave , Lucan ; he call'd him not by those outrageous Names , of Fool , Booby , and Blockhead : He had somewhat more of good Manners , than his Successours , as he had much more Knowledge . We have two sorts of those Gentlemen , in our Nation : Some of them proceeding with a seeming moderation and pretence of Respect , to the Dramatick Writers of the last Age , only scorn and vilifie the present Poets , to set up their Predecessours . But this is only in appearance ; for their real design is nothing less , than to do Honour to any Man , besides themselves . Horace took notice , of such Men in his Age : Non Ingeniis favet ille , Sepultis ; nostra sed impugnat ; nos nostraque lividus odit . 'T is not with an ultimate intention to pay Reverence to the Manes of Shakespear , Fletcher , and Ben Johnson , that they commend their Writings , but to throw Dirt on the Writers of this Age : Their Declaration is one thing , and their Practice is another . By a seeming veneration to our Fathers , they wou'd thrust out us their Lawful Issue , and Govern us themselves , under a specious pretence of Reformation . If they could compass their intent , what wou'd Wit and Learning get by such a change ? If we are bad Poets , they are worse ; and when any of their woful pieces come abroad , the difference is so great betwixt them and good Writers , that there need no Criticisms on our part to decide it . When they describe the Writers of this Age , they draw such monstrous figures of them , as resemble none of us : Our pretended Pictures are so unlike , that 't is evident we never sate to them : They are all Grotesque ; the products of their wild Imaginations , things out of Nature , so far from being Copy'd from us , that they resemble nothing that ever was , or ever can be . But there is another sort of Insects , more venomous than the former . Those who manifestly aim at the destruction of our Poetical Church and State . Who allow nothing to their Country-Men , either of this or of the former Age. These attack the Living by raking up the Ashes of the Dead . Well knowing that if they can subvert their Original Title to the Stage , we who claim under them , must fall of course . Peace be to the Venerable Shades of Shakespear , and Ben Johnson : None of the Living will presume to have any competition with them : as they were our Predecessours , so they were our Masters . We Trayl our Plays under them : but , ( as at the Funerals of a Turkish Emperour , ) our Ensigns are furl'd , or dragg'd upon the ground , in Honour to the Dead ; so we may lawfully advance our own , afterwards , to show that we succeed : If less in Dignity , yet on the same Foot and Title , which we think too , we can maintain , against the Insolence of our own Janizaries . If I am the Man , as I have Reason to believe , who am seemingly Courted , and secretly Undermin'd : I think I shall be able to defend my'self , when I am openly Attacqu'd . And to shew besides , that the Greek Writers only gave us the Rudiments of a Stage , which they never finish'd . That many of the Tragedies in the former Age amongst us , were without Comparison beyond those of Sophocles and Euripides . But at present , I have neither the leisure nor the means for such an Undertaking . 'T is ill going to Law for an Estate , with him who is in possession of it , and enjoys the present Profits , to feed his Cause . But the quantum mutatus may be remember'd in due time . In the mean while I leave the World to judge , who gave the Provocation .

This , my Lord , is , I confess , a long digression , from Miscellany Poems to Modern Tragedies : But I have the ordinary Excuse of an Injur'd Man , who will be telling his Tale unseasonably to his Betters . Though at the same time , I am certain you are so good a Friend , as to take a Concern in all things which belong to one who so truly Honours you . And besides , being your self a Critick of the Genuine sort , who have Read the best Authours , in their own Languages , who perfectly distinguish of their several Merits , and in general prefer them to the Moderns , yet , I know , you judge for the English Tragedies , against the Greek and Latin , as well as against the French , Italian and Spanish , of these latter Ages . Indeed there is a vast difference , betwixt arguing like Perault , in behalf of the French Poets , against Homer and Virgil , and betwixt giving the English Poets their undoubted due , of excelling AEschylus , Euripides , and Sophocles . For if we or our greater Fathers , have not yet brought the Drama to an absolute Perfection , yet at least we have carried it much farther than those Ancient Greeks ; who beginning from a Chorus , cou'd never totally exclude it , as we have done , who find it an unprofitable incumbrance , without any necessity of Entertaining it amongst us ; and without the possibility of establishing it here , unless it were supported by a Publick Charge . Neither can we accept of those Lay-Bishops , as some call them , who under pretence of reforming the Stage , wou'd intrude themselves upon us , as our Superiours , being indeed incompetent Judges of what is Manners , what Religion , and least of all , what is Poetry and Good Sense . I can tell them in behalf of all my Fellows , that when they come to Exercise a Jurisdiction over us , they shall have the Stage to themselves , as they have the Lawrel . As little can I grant , that the French Dramatick Writers , excel the English : Our Authours as far surpass them in Genius , as our Souldiers Excel theirs in Courage : 'T is true , in Conduct they surpass us either way : Yet that proceeds not so much from their greaterKnowledge , as from the difference of Tasts in the two Nations . They content themselves with a thin Design , without Episodes , and manag'd by few Persons . Our Audience will not be pleas'd , but with variety of Accidents , an Underplot , and many Actours . They follow the Ancients too servilely , in the Mechanick Rules , and we assume too much License to our selves , in keeping them only in view , at too great a distance . But if our Audience had their Tasts , our Poets could more easily comply with them , than the French Writers cou'd come up to the Sublimity of our Thoughts , or to the difficult variety of our Designs . However it be , I dare establish it for a Rule of Practice on the Stage , that we are bound to please those , whom we pretend to Entertain : And that at any price , Religion and Good Manners only excepted . And I care not much , if I give this handle , to our bad Illiterate Poetasters , for the defence of their SCRIPTIONS as they call them . There is a sort of Merit in delighting the Spectatours ; which is a Name more proper for them , than that of Auditours : Or else Horace is in the wrong , when he commends Lucilius for it . But these common places I mean to Treat at greater leisure : In the mean time , submitting that little I have said , to your Lordship's Approbation , or your Censure , and chusing rather to Entertain you this way , as you are a Judge of Writing , than to oppress your Modesty , with other Commendations , which though they are your due , yet wou'd not be equally receiv'd , in this Satirical , and Censorious Age. That which cannot without Injury be deny'd to you , is the easiness of your Conversation , far from Affectation or Pride : not denying even to Enemies , their just Praises . And this , if I wou'd dwell on any Theme of this Nature , is no vulgar Commendation to your Lordship . Without Flattery , my Lord , you have it in your Nature , to be a Patron and Encourager of Good Poets , but your Fortune has not yet put into your Hands the opportunity of expressing it . What you will be hereafter , may be more than guess'd , by what you are at present . You maintain the Character of a Nobleman , without that Haughtiness which generally attends too many of the Nobility , and when you Converse with Gentlemen , you forget not that you have been of their Order . You are Marryed to the Daughter of a King , who , amongst her other high Perfections , has deriv'd from him a Charming Behaviour , a winning Goodness , and a Majestick Person . The Muses and the Graces are the Ornaments of your Family . While the Muse Sings , the Grace accompanies her Voice : even the Servants of the Muses have sometimes had the Happiness to hear her ; and to receive their Inspirations from her .

I will not give my self the liberty of going farther ; for'tis so sweet to wander in a pleasing way , that I shou'd never arrive at my Journeys end . To keep my self from being belated in my Letter , and tiring your Attention , I must return to the place where I was setting out . I humbly Dedicate to your Lordship , my own Labours in this Miscellany : At the same time , not arrogating to my self the Priviledge , of Inscribing to you , the Works of others who are join'd with me , in this undertaking ; over which I can pretend no right . Your Lady and You have done me the favour to hear me Read my Translations of Ovid : And you both seem'd not to be displeas'd with them . Whether it be the partiality of an Old Man to his Youngest Child , I know not : But they appear to me the best of all my Endeavours in this kind . Perhaps this Poet , is more easie to be Translated , than some others , whom I have lately attempted : Perhaps too , he was more according to my Genius . He is certainly more palatable to the Reader , than any of the Roman Wits , though some of them are more lofty , some more Instructive , and others more Correct . He had Learning enough to make him equal to the best . But as his Verse came easily , he wanted the toyl of Application to amend it . He is often luxuriant , both in his Fancy and Expressions ; and as it has lately been observ'd , not always Natural . If Wit be pleasantry , he has it to excess : but if it be propriety , Lucretius , Horace , and above all Virgil are his Superiours . I have said so much of him already , in my Preface to his Heroical Epistles , that there remains little to be added in this place . For my own part , I have endeavour'd to Copy his Character what I cou'd in this Translation , even perhaps , farther than I shou'd have done ; to his very Faults . Mr. Chapman in his Translation of Homer , professes to have done it somewhat paraphrastically ; and that on set purpose ; his Opinion being , that a good Poet is to be Translated in that manner . I remember not the Reason which he gives for it : But I suppose it is , for fear of omitting any of his Excellencies : sure I am , that if it be a Fault , 't is much more pardonable , than that of those , who run into the other extream , of a litteral , and close Translation , where the Poet is confin'd so streightly to his Author's Words , that he wants elbow-room , to express his Elegancies . He leaves him obscure ; he leaves him Prose , where he sound him Verse . And no better than thus has Ovid been serv'd by the so much admir'd Sandys . This is at least the Idea which I have remaining of his Translation ; for I never Read him since I was a Boy . They who take him upon Content , from the Praises which their Fathers gave him ; may inform their Judgment by Reading him again : And see , ( if they understand the Original ) what is become of Ovid's Poetry , in his Version ; whether it be not all , or the greatest part of it evaporated . But this proceeded from the wrong Judgment of the Age in which he Liv'd : They neither knew good Verse , nor lov'd it ; they were Scholars 't is true , but they were Pedants . And for a just Reward of their Pedantick pains , all their Translations want to be Translated , into English .

If I Flatter not my self , or if my Friends have not Flatter'd me , I have given my Author's Sense , for the most part truly : for to mistake sometimes , is incident to all Men : And not to follow the Dutch Commentatours alwaies , may be forgiven to a Man , who thinks them , in the general , heavy gross-witted Fellows ; fit only to gloss on their own dull Poets . But I leave a farther Satire on their Wit , till I have a better opportunity , to shew how much I Love and Honour them . I have like wise attempted to restore Ovid to his Native sweetness , easiness , and smoothness ; and to give my Poetry a kind of Cadence , and , as we call it , a run of Verse , as like the Original , as the English can come up to the Latin ; As he seldom uses any Synalephas , so I have endeavour'd to avoid them , as often as I cou'd : I have likewise given him his own turns , both on the Words and on the Thought : Which I cannot say are inimitable , because I have Copyed them : and so may others , if they use the same diligence : But certainly they are wonderfully Graceful in this Poet. Since I have Nam'd the Synalepha , which is the cutting off one Vowel , immediately before another , I will give an Example of it , from Chapman's Homer which lyes before me ; for the benefit of those who understand not the Latine Prosodia . 'T is in the first Line of the Argument to the First Iliad . Apollo 's Priest to th' Argive Fleet doth bring , &c.

There we see he makes it not the Argive , but th' Argive , to shun the shock of the two Vowels , immediately following each other . But in his Second Argument , in the same Page , he gives a bad Example of the quite contrary kind : Alpha the Pray'r of Chryses Sings : The Army's Plague , the Strife of Kings .

In these word the Armies , the ending with a Vowel , and Armies beginning with another Vowel , without cutting off the first , which by it had been th' Armies , there remains a most horrible ill-sounding-gap betwixt those Words . I cannot say , that I have every way observ'd the Rule of this Synalepha , in my Translation ; but wheresoever I have not , 't is a fault in sound : The French and Italians have made it an inviolable Precept in their versification ; thereinfollowing the severe Example of the Latin Poets . Our Countrymen have not yet Reform'd their Poetry so far ; but content themselves with following the Licentious Practice of the Greeks ; who though they sometimes use Synalepha's , yet make no difficulty very often , to sound one Vowel upon another ; as Homer does , in the very first line of Alpha. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 'T is true , indeed , that in the second line , in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Synalepha in revenge is twice observ'd . But it becomes us , for the sake of Euphony , rather Musas colere severiores , with the Romans ; than to give into the looseness of the Grecians .

I have tir'd my self , and have been summon'd by the Press to send away this Dedication ; otherwise I had expos'd some other faults , which are daily committed by our English Poets ; which , with care and observation , might be amended . For after all , our Language is both Copious , Significant , and Majestical ; and might be reduc'd into a more harmonious sound . But for want of Publick Encouragement , in this Iron Age , we are so far from making any progress in the improvement of our Tongue , that in few years , we shall Speak and Write as Barbarously as our Neighbours .

Notwithstanding my haste , I cannot forbear to tell your Lordship , that there are two fragments of Homer Translated in this Miscellany ; one by Mr. Congreve ( whom I cannot mention without the Honour which is due to his Excellent Parts , and that entire Affection which I bear him ; ) and the other by my self . Both the Subjects are pathetical ; and I am sure my Friend has added to the Tenderness which he found in the Original ; and , without Flattery , surpass'd his Author . Yet I must needs say this in reference to Homer , that he is much more capable of exciting the Manly Passions , than those of Grief and Pity . To cause Admiration , is indeed the proper and adequate design of an Epick Poem : And in that he has Excell'd even Virgil. Yet , without presuming to Arraign our Master , I may venture to affirm , that he is somewhat too Talkative , and more than somewhat too digressive . This is so manifest , that it cannot be deny'd , in that little parcel which I have Translated , perhaps too literally : There Andromache in the midst of her Concernment , and Fright for Hector , runs off her Biass , to tell him a Story of her Pedigree , and of the lamentable Death of her Father , her Mother , and her Seven Brothers . The Devil was in Hector , if he knew not all this matter , as well as she who told it him ; for she had been his Bed-fellow for many Years together : And if he knew it , then it must be confess'd , that Homer in this long digression , has rather given us his own Character , than that of the Fair Lady whom he Paints . His Dear Friends the Commentators , who never fail him at a pinch , will needs excuse him , by making the present Sorrow of Andromache , to occasion the remembrance of all the past : But others think that she had enough to do with that Grief which now oppress'd her , without running for assistance to her Family . Virgil , I am confident , wou'd have omitted such a work of supererrogation . But Virgil had the Gift of expressing much in little , and sometimes in silence : For though he yielded much to Homer in Invention , he more Excell'd him in his Admirable Judgment . He drew the Passion of Dido for Eneas , in the most lively and most natural Colours that are imaginable : Homer was ambitious enough of moving pity ; for he has attempted twice on the same subject of Hector's death : First , when Priam , and Hecuba beheld his Corps , which was drag'd after the Chariot of Achilles ; and then in the Lamentation which was made over him , when his Body was redeem'd by Priam ; and the same Persons again bewail his death with a Chorus of others to help the cry . But if this last excite Compassion in you , as I doubt not but it will , you are more oblig'd to the Translatour than the Poet. For Homer , as I observ'd before , can move rage better than he can pity : He stirs up the irascible appetite , as our Philosophers call it , he provokes to Murther , and the destruction of God's Images ; he forms and equips those ungodly Man killers , whom we Poets , when we flatter them , call Heroes ; a race of Men who can never enjoy quiet in themselves , 'till they have taken it from all the World . This is Homer's Commendation , and such as it is , the Lovers of Peace , or at least of more moderate Heroism , will never Envy him . But let Homer and Virgil contend for the Prize of Honour , betwixt themselves , I am satisfied they will never have a third Concurrent . I wish Mr. Congreve had the leisure to Translate him , and the World the good Nature and Justice , to Encourage him in that Noble Design , of which he is more capable than any Man I know . The Earl of Mulgrave , and Mr. Waller , two the best Judges of our Age , have assur'd me , that they cou'd never Read over the Translation of Chapman , without incredible Pleasure , and extreme Transport . This Admiration of theirs , must needs proceed from the Author himself : For the Translator has thrown him down as low , as harsh Numbers , improper English , and a monstrous length of Verse cou'd carry him . What then wou'd he appear in the Harmonious Version , of one of the best Writers , Living in a much better Age than was the last ? I mean for versification , and the Art of Numbers ; for in the Drama we have not arriv'd to the pitch of Shakespear and Ben Johnson . But here , my Lord , I am forc'd to break off abruptly , without endeavouring at a Compliment in the close . This Miscellany , is without dispute one of the best of the kind , which has hitherto been extant in our Tongue . At least , as Sir Samuel Tuke has said before me , a Modest Man may praise what 's not his own . My Fellows have no need of any Protection , but I humbly recommend my part of it , as much as it deserves , to your Patronage and Acceptance , and all the rest to your Forgiveness .

If I should go on with the Design of an Annual Miscellany , after I have procur'd some Stock to proceed upon , I will give Publick Notice of it . And I hope the Gentlemen who approve of this Design , will promote it , by sending such Copies as they judge will be acceptable .