I 10

Miscellaneous Poe m s.

Tho’ prais’d and punish’d for another’s % Rhymes,His own deserve as great Applause sometimes.

But once his Pegasus has born dead Weight, 'jjRid by some lumpish Ministers of State.

Here, rest my Muse, suspend my Lares a while,

A greater Enterprize attends thy Toil.

As some young Eagle that designs to ByA long unwonted journey thro’ the Sky,

Considers all the dangerous Way betose,

- Over what Lands and Seas she is to soar;

Doubts her own Strength so far, and justly fearsThat lofty Road of airy Travellers :

But yet incited by some fair Design,

That does her I lopes beyond her Fears incline,.

Prunes ev’ry Feather, views herself with Care,

At last rel'olv’d,' she cleaves the yielding Air.

Away she flies, so strong, so high, so fast,

She lesibns to us, and is fost at last.

So ( but too weak.for such a weighty Thing )

The Muse inspires a sharper Note to sing :

And why should. Truth offend, when only toldTo guide the Ignorant, and warm the Bold ?

On then, my Muse, advent’rously engageTo give Instructions that concern the Stage.

The Unities of Action, Time, and Place,which, if obferv’d; give Play s so great a Grace,Are, tho’ but -little practis’d, too well knownTo be taught here, were we pretend aloneProm nicef Faults to purge the present Age,

Less obvious Errors of the English Stage.

First then, Soliloquies had need be few,

E^treamly short, and spoke in Passion too jOur Lovers talking to themselves, for wantOf others, make the Pit their Confident : Nor

J A Cosy of Verses, called An Essay on Satire, for•which Mr. Dryden was both Applauded and Beaten,tho' not only Innocent, but Ignorant of the whole Matter -J| The Hind and Panther,