Love wakes those warm desires that prompt our

chace,

To follow and to fix each flying grace;

But earth-born graces sparingly impart

Yet if those charms too closely we define,
Content to copy nature line for line,

Our end is lost. Not such the Master's care, 75
Curious he culls the perfect from the fair;
Judge of his art, thro' beauty's realm he flies,
Selects, combines, improves, diversifies;
With nimble step pursues the fleeting throng,
And clasps each Venus as she glides along. 80

Illa tamen quæ pulchra decent; non omnia casus
Qualiacunque dabunt, etiamve simillima veris;
Nam quamcunque modo servili haud sufficit ipsam
Naturam exprimere ad vivum: sed ut arbiter artis, 50
Seliget ex illâ tantùm pulcherrima Pictor;

Quodque minus pulchrum, aut mendosum, corriget ipse

Marte suo, forma Veneres captando fugaces.

с

Yet some there are who indiscreetly stray, Where purblind practice only points the way:

Who every theoretick truth disdain,
And blunder on mechanically vain.

Some too there are, within whose languid breasts A lifeless heap of embryo knowledge rests, 86 When nor the pencil feels their drowsy art, Nor the skill'd hand explains the meaning heart. In chains of sloth such talents droop confin'd: 'Twas not by words Apelles charm'd mankind.

90

Hear then the Muse; tho' perfect beauty

towers

Above the reach of her descriptive powers,

d Utque manus grandi nil nomine practica dignum Assequitur, primum arcana quam deficit artis Lumen, et in præceps abitura ut cæca vagatur; Sic nihil ars operâ manuum privata supremum Exequitur, sed languet iners uti vincta lacertos; Dispositumque typum non linguâ pinxit Apelles.

Ergo licet totâ normam haud possimus in arte Ponere, (cum nequeant quæ sunt pulcherrima dici,)

55

60

c II. Of Theory and Prac

tice.

a II. De Speculatione et Praxi.

Yet will she strive some leading rules to draw

From sovereign nature's universal law;

Stretch her wide view o'er ancient Art's do

main,

Again establish Reason's legal reign,

95

Genius again correct with science sage,. And curb luxuriant fancy's headlong rage. "Right ever reigns its stated bounds between, "And taste, like morals, loves the golden

mean."

100

Some lofty theme let judgement first supply, Supremely fraught with grace and majesty; For fancy copious, free to every charm

That lines can circumscribe or colours warm ;

Nitimur hæc paucis, scrutati summa magistræ
Dogmata Naturæ, artisque exemplaria prima
Altius intuiti; sic mens habilisque facultas
Indolis excolitur, Geniumque Scientia complet;
Luxuriansque in monstra furor compescitur Arte.
"Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines,
"Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum."

65

f His positis, erit optandum thema, nobile, pulchrum,

Quodque venustatum, circa formam atque colorem, 70

• III. Of the Subject.

f III. De Argumento.

Still happier, if that artful theme dispensé 105 A poignant moral and instructive sensé.

Then let the virgin canvass smooth expand, To claim the sketch and tempt the Artist's hand: Then, bold INVENTION, all the powers diffuse, Of all thy sisters thou the noblest muse:

110

Thee every art, thee every grace inspires, Thee Phoebus fills with all his brightest fires. "Choose such judicious force of shade and light

As suits the theme, and satisfies the sight;

Sponte capax, amplam emeritæ mox præbeat Arti
Materiam, retegens aliquid salis et documenti.

i Tandem opus aggredior; primoq. occurrit in albo Disponenda typi, concepta potente Minervâ, Machina, quæ nostris INVENTIO dicitur oris, Illa quidem priùs ingenuis instructa sororum Artibus Aonidum, et Phoebi sublimior æstu. * Quærendasque inter posituras, luminis, umbræ,

75

* Invention the first part

of Painting.

IV. Disposition or economy of the whole.

i Inventio prima Picturæ pars.

k IV. Dispositio, sive operis totius œconomia.

116

Weigh part with part, and with prophetick eye
The future power of all thy tints descry;
And those, those only on the canvass place,
Whose hues are social, whose effect is grace.

'Vivid and faithful to the historick page, 119
Express the customs, manners, forms, and age;
Nor paint conspicuous on the foremost plain
Whate'er is false, impertinent, or vain ;
But like the Tragick Muse, thy lustre throw,
Where the chief action claims its warmest glow.
This rare, this arduous task no rules can teach,
No skill'd preceptor point, no practice reach; 126

Atque futurorum jam præsentire colorum

Par erit harmoniam, captando ab utrisque venustum. 80
"Sit thematis genuina ac viva expressio, juxtà
Textum antiquorum, propriis cum tempore formis.
Nec quod inane, nihil facit ad rem, sive videtur
Improprium, miniméque urgens, potiora tenebit
Ornamenta operis; Tragicæ sed lege sororis,
Summa ubi res agitur, vis summa requiritur Artis.
Ista labore gravi, studio, monitisque magistri

IV. The Subject to be treated faithfully.

m VI. Every foreign orna

ment to be rejected.

85

a V. Fidelitas Argumenti.

• VI. Inane rejiciendum.