Parodies of Ballad Criticism | Page 9

ingenious Exercise so much practis'd by the Moderns, of tumbling thro' an Hoop.
The last Canto treats of the Champion's Sickness and Death, and whoever considers the Beauty, Regularity and majestic Simplicity of the Relation, cannot but be surpris'd at the Advances that may be made in Poetry by the Strength of an uncultivated Genius, and may see how far Nature can proceed without the Ornamental Helps and Assistances of Art. The Poet don't attribute his Sickness to a Debauch, to the Irregularity or Intemperance of his Life, but to an Exercise becoming an Hero; and tho' he dies quietly in his Bed, he may be said in some measure to die in the Bed of Honour. And to shew the great Affection the King had for him, he sends for his Physicians, and orders all the Care imaginable to be taken for the Conservation of his Life.
He being slender and tall, This cunning Doctor took A fine perspective Glass, with which, He did in Secret look.
It is a Wonder that the learned World shou'd differ so in their Opinions concerning the Invention and Antiquity of Optic Glasses, and that any one should contend for Metius of Alcmaer, or, as Dr. Plot does, for Fryar Bacon, when, if this Author had been consulted, Matters might have been so easily adjusted. Some great Men indeed wou'd prove from hence, our Knight was the Inventor of 'em, that his Valet might the more commodiously see to dress him; but if we consider there were no Beau's in that Age, or reflect more maturely on the Epithet here given to the Doctor, we may readily conclude, that the Honour of this Invention belongs more particularly to that ingenious Profession.
How lovely is the Account of the Departure of his Soul from his Body:
And so with Peace and Quietness He left the World below.
Placida[que] demum ibi morte quievit.
And up into the Fairy Land His Soul did fleeting go.
----At ?thereas repetit mens ignea sedes.
Whereas the Fairy Queen receiv'd With happy Mourning Cheer The Body of this valiant Knight, Whom she esteem'd so dear; For with her dancing Nymphs in Green She fetch'd him from his Bed, With Musick and with Melody, As soon as Life was fled.
----Et fotum gremio Dea tollit in Altos Idali? lucos----
So one of our Modern Poets;
Thither the Fairys and their Train resort, And leave their Revels, and their midnight Sport.
We find in all the most celebrated Poets some Goddess that takes upon her to be the peculiar Guardian of the Hero, which has been carry'd on very elegantly in this Author.
But agen;
For whom King Arthur and his Knights, Full forty Days did mourn, And in Remembrance of his name, Who was so strangely born, He built a Tomb of Marble grey, And Year by Year did come, To celebrate the Mournful Day, And Burial of Tom Thumb, Whose Fame lives here in England still, Among the Country sort, Of whom their Wives and Children small, Tell Tales of pleasant Sport.
So Ovid;
----Luctus monumenta manebunt Semper Adoni mei, repetita[que] mortis Imago Annua plangoris peragit simulamina Nostri.
Nor is this Conclusion unlike one of the best Latin Poems this Age has produc'd.
Tu Taffi ?ternum vives, tua munera Cambri Nunc etiam Celebrant, quoties[que] revolvitur Annus Te memorant, Patrium Gens tota tuetur Honorem, Et cingunt viridi redolentia tempora Porro.
And now, tho' I am very well satisfied with this Performance, yet, according to the usual Modesty of us Authors, I am oblig'd to tell the World, it will be a great Satisfaction to me, knowing my own Insufficiency, if I have given but some Hints of the Beauties of this Poem, which are capable of being improv'd by those of greater Learning and Abilities. And I am glad to find by a Letter I have receiv'd from one of the Literati in Holland, That the learned Huffius, a great Man of our Nation, is about the Translation of this Piece into LatinVerse, which he assures me will be done with a great deal of Judgment, in case he has enough of that Language to furnish out the Undertaking. I am very well Appris'd, That there has been publish'd Two Poems lately, Intituled, The Second and Third Parts of this Author; which treat of our little Hero's rising from the Dead in the Days of King Edgar: But I am inform'd by my Friend the Schoolmaster, and others, That they were compos'd by an Enthusiast in the last Century, and have been since Printed for the Establishment of the Doctrine of Monsieur Marion and his Followers, and the Resurrection of Dr. Ems.
I hope no Body will be offended at my asserting Things so positively, since 'tis the Priviledge of us Commentators, who understand the meaning of an Author Seventeen Hundred Years after he has wrote, much better than ever he cou'd