Admire the proud productions of their skill, Which VENICE, PARMA, and BOLOGNA fill: 730 And, rightly led by our preceptive lore,
Their style, their colouring, part by part, explore,
See RAFFAELLE there his forms celestial trace, Unrivall❜d Sovereign of the realms of Grace : See ANGELO, with energy divine,
Seize on the summit of correct design:
Learn how, at JULIO's birth, the Muses smil❜d,
And in their mystick caverns nurs'd the child;
How, by th' Aonian powers their smile bestow'd,
His pencil with poetick fervour glow'd;
When faintly verse Apollo's charms convey'd,
He oped the shrine, and all the God display'd:
Romani, Veneti, Parmenses, atque Bononi,
Partibus in cunctis pedetentìm, atque ordine recto,
Ut monitum suprà est, vos expendisse juvabit.
Hos apud invenit Raphael miracula summo
Ducta modo, Veneresque habuit quas nemo deinceps.
Quidquid erat formæ scivit Bonarotu potenter.
Julius à puero musarum eductus in antris,
Aonias reseravit opes, graphicâque poesi,
Quæ non visa prius, sed tantum audita poetis,
Ante oculos spectanda dabit sacraria Phœbi;
His triumphs more than mortal pomp adorns, With more than mortal rage his battle burns; His Heroes, happy heirs of fav'ring fame, 745 More from his art than from their actions claim.
Bright, beyond all the rest, CORREGGIO flings His ample lights, and round them gently brings The mingling shade. In all his works we view Grandeur of style, and chastity of hue.
Yet higher still great TITIAN dar'd to soar, He reach'd the loftiest heights of colouring's
His friendly tints in happiest mixture flow,
His shades and lights their just gradations know;
His were those dear delusions of the art, 755
That round, relieve, inspirit every part;
Quæque coronatis complevit bella triumphis
Heroum fortuna potens, casusque decoros,
Nobilius re ipsâ antiqua pinxisse videtur.
Clarior ante alios Corregius extitit, ampla
Luce superfusa, circum coëuntibus umbris,
Pingendique modo grandi, et tractando colore
Corpora. Amicitiamque, gradusque, dolosque colorum, Compagemque ita disposuit Titianus, ut inde
Hence deem'd divine, the world his merit own'd,
With riches loaded, and with honours crown'd.
From all their charms combin'd, with happy
Did ANNIBAL compose his wond'rous style: 760
O'er the fair fraud so close a veil is thrown,
That every borrowed grace becomes his own.
* If then to praise like their's your souls aspire,
Catch from their works a portion of their fire;
Revolve their labours all, for all will teach,-
Their finish'd picture, and their slightest sketch,
Yet more than these to Meditation's eyes 767
Great Nature's self redundantly supplies:
Her presence, best of models! is the source
Whence Genius draws augmented power and
force:
Divus sit dictus, magnis et honoribus auctus,
Fortunæque bonis: Quos sedulus Hannibal omnes 535
In propriam mentem, atque modum mirâ arte coëgit.
h Plurimus inde labor tabulas imitando juvabit
Egregias, operumque typos; sed plura docebit
Natura ante oculos præsens; nam firmat et auget
8 LXXI. Nature and Experience perfect Art.
h LXXI. Natura et Experientia Artem perficiunt.
Her precepts, best of teachers! give the powers, Whence art, by practice to perfection soars.
These useful rules from time and chance to
In Latian strains, the studious FRESNOY gave :
On Tiber's peaceful banks the Poet lay, 775
What time the pride of Bourbon urg'd his way,
Thro' hostile camps, and crimson fields of slain,
To vindicate his race and vanquish Spain;
High on the Alps he took his warrior stand,
And thence in ardent volley from his hand 780
His thunder darted: (so the Flatterer sings
In strains best suited to the ear of kings,)
And like ALCIDES, with vindictive tread,
Crush'd the Hispanian lion's gasping head.
Vim genii, ex illâque artem experientia complet.
Multa supersileo que commentaria dicent.
Нӕс ego, dum memoror subitura volubilis ævi
Cuncta vices, variisque olim peritura ruinis,
Pauca sophismata sum graphica immortalibus ausus
Credere pieriis, Romæ meditatus: ad Alpes,
Dum super insanas moles, inimicaque castra
Borbonidum decus et vindex Lodoicus avorum,
Fulminat ardenti dextrâ, patriæque resurgens
Gallicus Alcides premit Hispani ora leonis.
But mark the Proteus-policy of state:
Now, while his courtly numbers I translate,
The foes are friends, in social league they dare
On Britain to "let slip the Dogs of War."
Vain efforts all, which in disgrace shall end,
If Britain, truly to herself a friend,
Thro' all her realms bids civil discord cease,
And heals her Empire's wounds by arts of Peace. Rouse, then, fair Freedom! Fan that holy flame, From whence thy sons their dearest blessings claim; Still bid them feel that soprn of lawless sway, 795 Which Interest cannot blind, nor Power dismay : So shall the Throne, thou gav'st the BRUNSWICK line,
Long by that race adorn'd, thy dread Paladium shine.
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