A friend of Mr. Hughes’s ſoon after the publication of this poem, complimented him upon the choice of his ſubject, and for the moral ſentiments contained in it. ‘I am ſure (ſays he) virtue is moſt for the intereſt of mankind; and thoſe poets have ever obtained the moſt honour in the world, who have made that the end and deſign of their works. A wanton Sappho, or Anacreon, among the ancients, never had the ſame applauſe, as a Pindar, or Alexis; nor in the judgment of Horace did they deſerve it. In the opinion of all poſterity, a lewd and debauch’d Ovid, did juſtly ſubmit to the worth of a Virgil; and, in future ages, a Dryden will never be compared to Milton. In all times, and in all places of the world, the moral poets have been ever the greateſt; and as much ſuperior to others in wit, as in virtue. Nor does this ſeem difficult to be accounted for, ſince the dignity of their ſubjects naturally raiſed their ideas, and gave a grandeur to their ſentiments.’
The Houſe of Naſſau, a Pindaric Ode (printed in 1702) was occaſioned by the death of king William. ‘In Pindaric and Lyric Poetry (ſays Mr. Duncomb) our author’s genius ſhines in its full luſtre. Tho’ he enjoyed all that fire of imagination, and divine enthuſiaſm, for which ſome of the ancient poets are ſo deſervedly admired, yet did his fancy never run away with his reaſon, but was always guided by ſuperior judgment; and the muſic of his verſe is exquiſite.’
The Tranſlation of the third Ode of the third Book of Horace, and the Paraphraſe of the twenty-ſecond Ode, of the firſt book, were both written when he was very young; and the latter of them was his firſt poetical Eſſay, which appeared in print. Mr. Hughes, in a private letter ſent to one of his friends, gives it as his opinion, that the Odes of
