Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/110

Then can we fear with groundless diffidence
A want of words that shall express our sense?

But if compell'd by want, you may produce
And bring an antiquated word in use;
A word earst well receiv'd, in days of Yore,
A word our old forefathers us'd before:
O'er ages past, the daring bard may climb,
Nathless, and maugre the dark walks of time.
Well pleas'd the reader's wonder to engage,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
He brings our grandsires habit on the stage,
And garbs that whilom grac'd an uncouth age.
Yet must not such appear in ev'ry place;
When rang'd too thick, the poem they disgrace.
Since of new words such numbers you command,
Deal out the old ones with a sparing hand.
^[1] When e'er your images can lay no claim
To a fixt term, and want a certain name;
To paint one thing, the licens'd bard affords
A pompous circle, and a crowd of words.

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1. The Periphrasis.