h page instructs, each Sentiment prevails,
All shines alike, he rallies, but ne'er rails:
With courtly ease conceals a Master's art,
And least-expected steals upon the heart.
Yet _Cassius_[31] felt the fury of his rage,
(_Cassius_, the _We----d_ of a former age)
And sad _Alpinus_, ignorantly read,
Who murder'd _Memnon_, tho' for ages dead.

Then _Persius_ came: whose line tho' roughly wrought,
His Sense o'erpaid the stricture of his thought.
Here in clear light the _Stoic_-doctrine shines,
Truth all subdues, or Patience all resigns.
A Mind supreme![32] impartial, yet severe:
Pure in each Act, in each Recess sincere!
Yet _rich ill_ Poets urg'd the _Stoic_'s Frown,
And bade him strike at _Dulness_ and a _Crown_[33].

The Vice and Luxury _Petronius_ drew,
In _Nero_ meet: th' imperial point of view:
The Roman _Wilmot_, that could Vice chastize,
Pleas'd the mad King he serv'd, to satirize.

The next[34] in Satire felt a nobler rage,
What honest Heart could bear _Domitian_'s age?
See his strong Sense, and Numbers masculine!
His Soul is kindled, and he kindles mine:
Scornful of Vice, and fearless of Offence,
He flows a Torrent of impetuous Sense.

Lo! Savage Tyrants Who blasphem'd their God
Turn Suppliants now, and gaze at _Julian_'s Rod.[35]

_Lucian_, severe, but in a gay disguise,
Attacks old Faith, or sports in learned Lyes;[36]
Sets Heroes and Philosophers at odds;
And scourges Mortals, and dethrones the Gods.

Then all was Night--But _Satire_ rose once more
Where _Medici_ and _Leo_ Arts restore.
_Tassone_ shone fantastic, but sublime:
And He, who form'd the _Macaronique_-Rhime:

Then _Westward_ too by slow degrees confest,
Where boundless _Rabelais_ made the World his Jest;
_Marot_ had Nature, _Regnier_ Force and Flame,
But swallow'd all in _Boileau_'s matchless Fame!
Extensive Soul! who rang'd all learning o'er,
Present and past--and yet found room for more.
Full of new Sense, exact in every Page,
Unbounded, and yet sober in thy Rage.
Strange Fate! _Thy solid_ Sterling _of two lines,_
_Drawn to our_ Tinsel, _thro' whole Pages shines!_[37]

In _Albion_ then, with equal lustre bright,
Great _Dryden_ rose, and steer'd by Nature's light.
Two glimmering Orbs he just observ'd from far,
The Ocean wide, and dubious either Star,
_Donne_ teem'd with Wit, but all was maim'd and bruis'd,
The pe