174
THE GUARDIAN .
N° 30 .
How deftly to mine oáten reed, ſo ſweet, Wont they upon the green to ſhift their feet ? And weary'd in the dance, how would they yearn Some well deviſed tale from me to learn ?
For many ſongs and tales of mirth had I, 1
To chace the ling’ring ſun a-down the sky.
O now ! if ever, bring
- The laurel green, the ſmellingeglantine,
And tender branches from the mantling vine,
The dewy cowslip that in meadow grows, The fountain violet, and garden roſe : Your hamlet ſtraw, and every public way, And conſecrate to mirth Albino’s day.
Myſelf will laviſh all my little ſtore : And deal about the goblet flowing o'er : Old Moulin there ſhall harp, your Mico sing,
And cuddy dance the round amidſt the ring, And Hobbinol his antic gambols play ".'
The reaſon why ſuch changes from the an cients ſhould be introduced is very obvious ;
namely, that poetry being imitation, and that
imitation being the beſt which deceives the moſt eaſily , it follows that we muſt take up the cuf toms which are moſt familiar or univerſally
known, fince no man can be deceived or delight ed with the imitation of what he is ignorant of. It is eaſy to be obſerved that theſe rules are drawn from what our countrymen Spencer and
Philips have performed in this way. I ſhall not preſume to ſay any more of them, than that both have copied and improved the beauties of the an cients, whoſe manner of thinking I would above
- Philips's Fir :t Paftoral, 1. 31 , &c. Third Part, I. 106, & c.
1
