the earl of Marr; which he prophesies will be crushed by
the duke of Argyle.
An Epistle from a Lady in England, to a gentleman at Avignon. Of this
piece five editions were sold; it is written in the manner of a Lady to
a Gentleman, whose principles obliged him to be an exile with the Royal
Wanderer. The great propension of the Jacobites to place confidence in
imaginary means; and to construe all extraordinary appearances, into
ominous signs of the restoration of their king is very well touched.
Was it for this the sun's whole lustre fail'd,
And sudden midnight o'er the Moon prevail'd!
For this did Heav'n display to mortal eyes
Aerial knights, and combats in the skies!
Was it for this Northumbrian streams look'd red!
And Thames driv'n backwards shew'd his secret bed!
False Auguries! th'insulting victors scorn!
Ev'n our own prodigies against us turn!
O portents constru'd, on our side in vain!
Let never Tory trust eclipse again!
Run clear, ye fountains! be at peace, ye skies;
And Thames, henceforth to thy green borders rise!
An Ode, occasioned by his excellency the earl of Stanhope's Voyage to
France.
A Prologue to the University of Oxford.
Thoughts occasioned by the sight of an original
picture of King Charles the 1st, taken at the time of
his Trial.
A Fragment of a Poem, on Hunting.
A Description of the Phoenix, from Claudian.
To a Lady; with the Description of the Phoenix.
Part of the Fourth Book of Lucan translated.
The First Book of Homer's Iliad.
Kensington-Gardens.
Several Epistles and Odes.
This translation was published much about the same time with Mr. Pope's.
But it will not bear a comparison; and Mr. Tickell cannot receive a
greater injury, than to have his verses placed in contradistinction to
Pope's. Mr. Melmoth, in his Letters, published under the name of Fitz
Osborne, has produced some parallel passages, little to the advantage of
Mr. Tickell, who if he fell greatly short of the elegance and beauty of
Pope, has yet much exceeded Mr. Congreve, in what he has attempted of
Homer.
In the life of Addison, some farther particulars concerning this
translation are related; and Sir Richard Steele, in his dedication of
the Drummer to Mr. Congreve, gives it as his opinion, that Addison was
himself the author.
These translations, published at the same time, were certainly meant as
rivals to one another. We cannot convey a more adequate idea of this,
than
|