THE

PREFACE.

WH

HEN I first thought of writing upon this occafion, I found the ideas fo great and numerous, that I judged them more proper for the warmth of an ode, than for any other fort of poetry: I therefore set HORACE before me for a pattern, and particularly his famous ode, the fourth of the fourth book,

Qualem miniftrum fulminis alitem, &c.

which he wrote in praise of DRUSUs after his expedition into GERMANY, and of AUGUSTUS upon his happy choice of that general, And in the following poem, tho' I have endeavoured to imitate all the great strokes of that ode, I have taken the liberty to go off from it, and to add variously, as the fubject and my own imagination carry'd me. As to the style, the choice I made of following the ode in Latin, determin'd me in English to the ftanza; and herein it was impoffible not to have a mind to follow our great countryman SPENCER; which I have done (as well at least as I could) in the manner of my expreffion, and the turn of my number:

having only added one verfe to his ftanza, which I thought made the number more harmonious; and avoided fuch of his words, as I found too obsolete. I have however retained some few of them,to make the colouring look more like SPENCER'S. Beheft, command; band, army; prowess, strength; I weet, I know; Iween, I think; whilom, heretofore; and. two or three more of that kind, which I hope the ladies will pardon me, and not judge my MUSE less handsome, though for once she appears in a farthingale. I have alfo in SPENCER'S manner,. ufed Caefar for the Emperor, Boya for Bavaria, Bavar for that prince, Ifter for Danube, Iberia for Spain, &c.

That noble part of the ode which I just now. mentioned,

Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio
Factata Tufcis aequoribus, &c.

where HORACE praises the Romans, as being defcended from Aeneas, I have turned to the honour of the BRITISH nation, defcended from BRUTE, likewife a TROJAN. That this BRUTE, fourth: or fifth from Aeneas, fettled in ENGLAND, and. built LONDON, which he called Troja Nova, or. Troynovante, is a story which (I think) owes its original if not to GEOFFRY of Monmouth, at least. to the Monkish writers, yet is not rejected by our great CAMDEN, and is told by MILTON, as if (at. leaft) he was pleased with it; though poffibly he.

does not believe it: however it carries a poetical authority, which is fufficient for our purpose. It is as certain that BRUTE came into ENGLAND, as that Aeneas went into ITALY; and upon the fuppofition of these facts, VIRGIL wrote the best poem that the world ever read, and SPENCER paid Queen ELIZABETH the greatest compliment.

I need not obviate one piece of criticism, that I bring my heroe

From burning Troy, and Xanthus red with blood:

whereas he was not born, when that city was deftroyed. VIRGIL, in the cafe of his own AENEAS relating to DIDO, will ftand as a fufficient proof, that a man in his poetical capacity is not accountable for a little fault in chronology.

My two great examples, HORACE and SPENCER, in many things resemble each other: both have a height of imagination, and a majesty of expression in describing the fublime; and both know to temper those talents, and fweeten the defcription, fo as to make it lovely as well as pompous: both have equally that agreeable manner of mixing morality with their story, and that curiofa felicitas in the choice of their diction, which every writer aims at, and fo very few have reached: both are particularly fine in their images, and knowing in their numbers. Leaving therefore our two masters

to the confideration and study of those who defign to excel in poetry, I only beg leave to add, that it is long fince I have (or at least ought to have) quitted PARNASSUS, and all the flow'ry roads on that fide the country; though I thought myfelf indif penfably obliged, upon the prefent occafion, to take a little journey into those parts.

AN ODE,

HUMBLY INSCRIBED TO THE

QUE E

I.

WHEN great Auguftus govern'd ancient Rome,

N.

And fent his conqu❜ring bands to foreign wars;
Abroad when dreaded, and belov'd at home;
He saw his fame increasing with his years;
Horace, great bard (fo fate ordain'd) arose;
And bold, as were his countrymen in fight,
Snatch'd their fair actions from degrading profe,
And fet their battles in eternal light:

High as their trumpets tune his lyre he ftrung;
And with his prince's arms he moraliz'd his fong.

II.

When bright Eliza rul'd Britannia's state,
Widely diftributing her high commands;
And boldly wife, and fortunately great,
Freed the glad nations from tyrannick bands;
An equal genius was in Spenfer found:
To the high theme he match'd his noble lays:
He travell'd England o'er on fairy ground,
In myftic notes to fing his monarch's praise:
Reciting wond'rous truths in pleasing dreams,
He deck'd Eliza's head with Gloriana's beams.
VOL. II.
B