ich must needs have a bad Effect.
"_In nova fert animus muta_tas _discere for_mas.
Ovid.
"_Bella per AEmath_ios _plus quam Civilia Cam_pos.
Lucan.
But a modern Writer, and a much better Composer of _Latin_ Verses than
either _Ovid_ or _Lucan_, has with great Judgment taken care to follow
_Virgil_'s Example in this and many other Particulars. I mean
_Vanerius_. There are a great Number of Lines in his _Praedium
Rusticum_ which are worthy of _Virgil_ himself: I shall entertain you
with some of them.
In his Kitchen-Garden, the following Passage is a Description of all
the numerous Family of Colworts, or the Cabbage-kind.
"_Quid dicam quanta jactat se Brassica laude?
Sive volubilibus redit in se frondibus, Orbesque
Orbibus agglomerans, capitis sub mole laborat;
Tornato similes Ebori seu candida Flores
Ediderit, seu Coniacas imitata Cupressus,
Seque suas plicat in frondes, & acumen in album
Desinit, & tenui venit haud ingloria Mensae.
Sive hieme in media cum caetera frigore torpent
Loeta viret, Boreamque trucem, Caurosque malignos
Despiciens, vacuis ultro Dominatur in hortis._"
In his Description of the Farm-yard, he paints the following several
Sorts of Fowls in this Manner:
"_Se pictae cervicis_ Anas | _& Garulus_ Anser
_Tarda mole movent: | habitu_ Gallina _modesto
Progreditur: | Caudam_ Gallus _Cristasque rubentes
Erigit, | & motis sibi plaudit Laetior alis_."
And I cannot omit this most charming Verse which describes the
Courtship of a Pigeon.
"_Saepe solum verrens Penna pendente rotatur._"
"Oft with his trailing Wing the wanton Dove
Brushes the Ground, and wheels about his Love.
Such Verse as this must please in all Ages, and in all Countries,
where the Readers have any Taste and Delicacy of Ear. All the Beauties
of _Virgil_'s Poetry are in these Lines; and you may observe in the
four last mentioned,
1. How curiously the _Pause_ is varied.
In the first Line it is upon the first Syllable of the fourth Foot.
In the second Line it is upon the first Syllable of the third Foot.
In the third Line it is upon the first Syllable of the second Foot.
In the fourth Line it is upon the last Syllable of the first Foot.
2. Observe the _initial Alliteration_ in the first, second and third
Lines.
In the first, _Anas_ and _An
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