Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/97

When with persuasive strokes they plead a cause,
And bridle vice, and vindicate the laws;
Or on the dreadful verge of death defend,
And snatch from fate a poor devoted friend.
Ev'n the rough hinds delight in such a strain,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
When the glad harvest waves with golden grain;
And thirsty meadows drink the pearly rain;
On the proud vine her purple gems appear;
The smiling fields rejoyce, and hail the pregnant year.
First from necessity the figure sprung
For things, that would not suit our scanty tongue,
When no true names were offer'd to the view,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
Those they transferr'd that border'd on the true;
Thence by degrees the noble license grew.
The bards those daring liberties embrac'd,
Thro' want at first, thro' luxury at last:
They now to alien things, at will, confirm
The borrow'd honours of a foreign term.
So man, at first, the rattling storm to fly,
And the bleak horrors of the wintry sky,
Rais'd up a roof of osiers o'er his head,
And clos'd with homely clay the slender shed.

Now,