176 A P P E N D I X. 



and elegant Expreffion, of which he himfelf was fo great 

 Mafter in his Odes. Amongft the Antients, Zeuxis was moft 

 famous for his colouring; amongft the Moderns, Titian and 

 Correggio. Of the two antient Epic Poets, who have fo far 

 excelled all the moderns,, the Invention and Defign were the 

 particular talents of Homer. Virgil muft yield to him in 

 both ; for the defign of the Latin was borrowed from the 

 Grecian : But the " Diclio Virgiliana," the Expreflion of 

 Virgil, his Colouring, was incomparably the better ; and in 

 that I have always endeavoured to copy him. Moft of the 

 pedants, I know, maintain the contrary, and will have Homer 

 excel even in this part. But of all people, as they are the 

 moft ill-mannered, fo they are the worft judges, even of 

 words which are their province; they feldom know more 

 than the grammatical conftruclion, unlefs they are born with 

 a poetical genius, which is a rare portion amongft them : Yet 

 fome, I know, may ftand excepted, and fuch I honour. 

 Virgil is fo exact in every word, that none can be changed but 

 for a worfe ; nor any one removed from its place, but the 

 harmony will be altered. He pretends fometimes to trip; but 

 it is only to make you think him in danger of a fall, when 

 he is moft fecure. Like a fkilful dancer on the ropes (if you 

 will pardon the meannefs of the fimilitude) who flips willingly 

 and makes a feeming ftumble, that you may think him in 

 great hazard of breaking his neck, while at the fame time he 

 is only giving you a proof of liis .dexterity. My late Lord 

 Rofcommon was often pleafed with this reflection, and with 

 the examples of it in this admirable Author. 



I have not leifure -to run through the whole comparifon of 

 lights and fhadows with tropes and figures; yet I cannot but 

 take notice of metaphors, which, like them, have power to 



leflen 



