If fatire or heroic strains fhe writes,

Her hero pleases, and her fatire bites.

From her no harfh unartful numbers fall,

She wears all dreffes, and fhe charms in all.
How might we fear our English poetry,

That long has flourish'd, shou'd decay with thee;
Did not the Muses other hope appear,
Harmonious Congreve, and forbid our fear:
Congreve! whofe fancy's unexhausted store
Has given already much, and promis'd more.
Congreve shall still preserve thy fame alive,
And Dryden's Muse shall in his friend furvive.

I'm tir'd with rhiming, and wou'd fain give o'er,
But justice still demands one labour more:
The noble Montague remains unnam'd,

For wit, for humour, and for judgment fam'd;
To Dorfet he directs his artful Muse,

In numbers fuch as Dorfet's felf might ufe.
How negligently graceful he unreins

His verfe, and writes in loose familiar ftrains;
How Naffau's godlike acts adorn his lines,

And all the hero in full glory fhines!

We fee his army fet in juft array,

And Boyn's dy'd waves run purple to the fea,

Nor Simais chok'd with men, and arms, and blood; Nor rapid Xanthus' celebrated flood,

Shall longer be the poet's highest themes,

Tho' gods and heroes fought promifcuous in their ftreams,

But now, to Naffau's fecret councils rais'd,
He aids the hero, whom before he prais'd.

I've done at length; and now, dear friend, receive
The last poor present that my Muse can give.
I leave the arts of poetry and verse

To them that practise 'em with more fuccefs.
Of greater truths I'll now prepare to tell,
And fo at once, dear friend and Mufe, farewel,

LETTERA

LETTERA SCRITTA D'ITALIA

AL MOLTO ONORABILE

CARLO Conte HALIFAX

Dal Signore GIUSEPPE ADDISON l'Anno MDCCI. In Verfi Inglesi.

E TRADOTTA IN VERSI TOSCANI.*

Salve magna parens frugum Saturnia tellus,
Magna virum! tibi res antique laudis et artis
Aggredior, fanctos aufus recludere fontes.

ENTRE, Signor, l'ombre villefche attragonvi,

MENTR

E di Britannia dagli ufici toltovi

Non piu, ch' a fuci ingrati figli piaccia

Per lor vantaggio, voftro ozio immolate;

Me in efteri regni il fato invia

Entro genti feconde in carmi eterni,

By the Abbot Anton. Maria Salvini Greek profeffor a Florence.

A

LETTER from ITALY,

To the Right Honourable

CHARLES Lord HALIFAX.

In the Year MDCCI.

Salve magna parens frugum Saturnia tellus,
Magna virúm! tibi res antiquæ laudis & artis
Aggredior, fanetos aufus recludere fontes.

WHILE

Virg. Geor. 2.

HILE you, my Lord, the rural shades
admire,

And from Britannia's public posts retire,
Nor longer, her ungrateful fons to please,
For their advantage facrifice your eafe;
Me into foreign realms my fate conveys,
Through nations fruitful of immortal lays,