To truth, whose bold and unrefifted aim
Checks frail caprice, and fashion's fickle claim 15
To truth, whose charms deception's magic quell,
And bind coy Fancy in a stronger spell.

70

Ye brawny Prophets, that in robes fo rich, At distance due, poffefs the crifped nich; Ye rows of Patriarchs, that fublimely rear'd Diffuse a proud primeval length of beard: Ye Saints, who, clad in crimson's bright array, 75 More pride than humble poverty display: Ye Virgins meek, that wear the palmy crown Of patient faith, and yet fo fiercely frown ;

And in the next page: "However the mechanick and ornamental "arts may facrifice to fabion, the muft be entirely excluded from "the art of Painting: the Painter must never mistake this capri"cious changeling for the genuine offspring of nature; he must "diveft himself of all prejudices in favour of his age or country; "he must disregard all local and temporary ornaments, and look "only on those general babits, which are every where and always "the fame : he addreffes his works to the people of every country and every age, he calls upon pofterity to be his fpectators, and says "with Zeuxis, in 'æternitatem pingo." See also the conclufion of the fourth Difcourfe, p. 112.

"

V. 77. Ye Virgins meek, that wear the palmy crown

Of patient faith-].

See Revel. vii. 9, 14. "After this I beheld, and lo a great multi"tude-clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands"These are they which came out of great tribulation." In Par Loft, the Angels are represented "shaded with branching palm.” vi. 885. And in Milton's Verfes at a folemn Mufic, ver. 14.

With those just fpirits, that wear victorious palms.

80

86

Ye Angels, that from clouds of gold recline,
But boast no femblance to a race divine:
Ye tragic Tales of legendary lore,
That draw devotion's ready tear no more;
Ye Martyrdoms of unenlighten'd days,
Ye Miracles, that now no wonder raise :
Shapes, that with one broad glare the gazer ftrike,
Kings, Bishops, Nuns, Apostles, all alike!
Ye Colours, that th' unwary fight amaze,
And only dazzle in the noontide blaze!
No more the facred window's round difgrace,
But yield to Grecian groupes the fhining space. 90
Lo, from the canvas Beauty fhifts her throne,
Lo, Picture's powers a new formation own!
Behold, the prints upon the crystal plain,
With her own energy, th' expressive stain !
The mighty Master spreads his mimic toil 95
More wide, nor only blends the breathing oil;

See alfo his Epitaph. Damonis, ver. 214.

En etiam tibi virginei fervantur honores;
Ipfe caput nitidum cinctus rutilante corona,
Lætaque frondentis geftans umbracula palma
Æternum perages immortales hymenæos.

Which is nearer to the text of Scripture than the former.

V. 81. Ye tragic Tales of legendary lore,] Goldsmith's Hermit is "fkill'd in legendary lore." See note on Grave of Arthur, ver. 89.

and 137.

V.95. The mighty Mafter-] Dryden's Ode:

The mighty Mafter fmil'd to fee, &c.

But calls the lineaments of life compleat
From genial alchymy's creative heat;
Obedient forms to the bright fufion gives,
While in the warm enamel Nature lives.

100

REYNOLDS, 'tis thine, from the broad window's height,

To add new luftre to religious light:

Not of its pomp to ftrip this ancient shrine,
But bid that pomp with purer radiance shine:
With arts unknown before, to reconcile
The willing Graces to the Gothic pile.

V. 99. Obedient forms to the bright fufion gives,
While in the warm enamel Nature lives.]

Dryden's Epifle to Sir Godfrey Kneller:

So warm thy work, fo glows the generous frame,
Flesh looks lefs living in the lovely dame.

And again :

Such are thy pictures, Kneller; fuch thy fkill,

That Nature feems obedient to thy will,

Comes out, and meets thy pencil in the draught,

Lives there, and wants but words to speak her thought.
Vol. ii. p. 194.

V. 101. Reynolds-] In the first edition of this poem, in 1782, the text ftood " Artift, 'tis thine, &c." The only alteration in the poem, as it now appears, was in this fingle word; and that alteration was, I prefume, occafioned by Sir Joshua's letter to the author, which is inferted in the memoirs prefixed.

MONODY,

WRITTEN NEAR STRATFORD UPON AVON.

(Published in the Edition of 1777.)

AVON, thy rural views, thy pastures wild, The willows that o'erhang thy twilight edge, Their boughs entangling with th' embattled fedge;

Thy brink with watery foliage quaintly fring'd,

Stratford upon Avon.] The birth and burial place of Shakfpere.

V. 3. th' embattled fedge;] Mr. Headley refers to Par. Loft, vii. 321.

ftood the corny -up

Imbattled in her field.

reed

And obferves that the word occurs again in the Ode on the Approach of Summer;

Rufile the breezes, lightly borne

O'er deep-imbattled ears of corn.

The resemblance between fuch natural productions and a battalion of fpears is thus noticed by Virgil:

Forte fuit juxta tumulus, quo cornea fummo

Virgulta, et denfis haftilibus horrida myrtus. Æn. iii. 22. In a paffage quoted below, note to ver. 13. the word "spiky" is ufed fynonimoufly with " embattled."

V. 4. quaintly fring'd,]" Quaintly," curioufly, as it is used by Milton,

To nurse the faplings tall, and curl the grove

With ringlets quaint. Arcades, ver. 47.

The word is used several times by our Poet.

Thy surface with reflected verdure ting'd;
Soothe me with many a penfive pleasure mild.
But while I muse, that here the bard divine,
Whofe facred duft yon high-arch'd iles inclose,
Where the tall windows rife in stately rows
Above th' embowering shade,

Here firft, at Fancy's fairy-circled shrine,
Of daifies pied his infant offering made;
Here playful yet, in ftripling years unripe,
Fram'd of thy reeds a fhrill and artless pipe:
Sudden thy beauties, Avon, all are fled,
As at the waving of fome magic wand;
An holy trance my charmed fpirit wings,

5

10

15

V. 12. Of daifies pied his infant offering made;] "Pied,” with

a variety of colours. See L'Allegro, ver. 75, and note.

V. 13. Here playful yet, in ftripling years unripe,
Fram'd of thy reeds a fhrill and artless pipe :]

Mr. Headley quotes the following from the Ode on Approach of
Summer, where both the thought and expreffions are repeated:
Or o'er old Avon's magic edge

Whence Shakspere cull'd the fpiky fedge,
All playful yet, in years unripe

To frame a fbrill and fimple pipe. Ver. 93.

V. 17. An holy trance my charmed fpirit wings,] See that fublime ftanza in a poem which Milton "left unfinished, because he "was nothing satisfied with what was begun :"

See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels
That whirl'd the Prophet up at Chebar flood;
My spirit fome tranfporting Cherub feels,
To bear me where the tow'rs of Salem ftood,
Once glorious tow'rs, now funk in guiltless blood;