So God-like Poets do past things rehearse,
Not change, but heighten Nature with their Verse.
With shame me thinks great Italie must see
Her Conqu'rors call'd to life again by thee;
Call'd by such powerfull Arts, that ancient Rome
May blush •o less to see her Wit orecome.
Some men their Fancies like their Faiths derive;
And count all ill but that which Rome does give;
The marks of Old and Catholick would find;
To the same Chair would Truth and Fiction bind.
Thou in these beaten paths disdain'st to tread,
And scorn'st to live by robbing of the Dead.
Since Time does all things change, thou think'st not fit
This latter Age should see all new, but Wit.
Thy Fancie, like a Flame, her way does make,
And leaves bright tracks for following Pens to take.
Sure 'twas this noble boldness of the Muse
Did thy desire, to seek new Worlds, infuse;
And ne'r did Heaven so much a Voyage bless,
If thou canst Plant but there with like success.
Not change, but heighten Nature with their Verse.
With shame me thinks great Italie must see
Her Conqu'rors call'd to life again by thee;
Call'd by such powerfull Arts, that ancient Rome
May blush •o less to see her Wit orecome.
Some men their Fancies like their Faiths derive;
And count all ill but that which Rome does give;
The marks of Old and Catholick would find;
To the same Chair would Truth and Fiction bind.
Thou in these beaten paths disdain'st to tread,
And scorn'st to live by robbing of the Dead.
Since Time does all things change, thou think'st not fit
This latter Age should see all new, but Wit.
Thy Fancie, like a Flame, her way does make,
And leaves bright tracks for following Pens to take.
Sure 'twas this noble boldness of the Muse
Did thy desire, to seek new Worlds, infuse;
And ne'r did Heaven so much a Voyage bless,
If thou canst Plant but there with like success.
GON.
