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CLAREMONT:

Addreffed to the Right Honourable the Earl of CLARE, afterwards Duke of NEWCASTLE.

"Dryadum fylvas, faltufque fequamur

"Intactos, tua, Macenas, haud mollia juffa." VIrg.

THE

PREFACE.

HEY that have seen those two excellent poems of Cooper's-hill and Windfor-foreft; the one by Sir J. Denham, the other by Mr. Pope; will fhew a great deal of candour if they approve of this. It was written upon giving the name of Claremont to a villa, now belonging to the earl of Clare. The fituation is fo agreeable and furprizing, that it inclines one to think fome place of this nature put Ovid at firft upon the ftory of Narciffus and Echo.. It is probable he had obferved fome fpring arifing amongst woods and rocks, where chos were heard; and fome flower bending over the ftream, and by confequence reflected from it. After reading the story in. the third book of the Metamor.

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phofis, it is obvious to object (as an ingenious friend has already done) that the renewing the charms of a nymph, of which Ovid had difpoffeffed her,

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is too great a violation of poetical authority. I dare fay the gentleman who is meant, would have been well pleafed to have found no faults. There are not many authors one can fay the fame of: experience fhews us every day that there are writers who cannot bear a brother should fucceed, and the only refuge from their indignation is by being inconfiderable; upon which reflection, this thing ought to have a pretence to their favour.

They who would be more informed of what relates to the ancient Britons, and the Druids their priests, may confult Pliny, Ovid, and the other claffic authors that have mentioned them.

CLAREMONT.

WHAT frenzy has of late poffefs'd the brain!

Though few can write, yet fewer can refrain.

So rank our foil, our bards rife in such store,
Their rich retaining patrons scarce are more.
The last indulge the fault the first commit;
And take off ftill the offal of their wit.

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So fhameless, fo abandon'd, are their ways;

They poach Parnaffus, and lay fnares for praise.

None

None ever can without admirers live,
Who have a penfion or a place to give.
Great minifters ne'er fail of great deferts;

The herald gives them blood; the poet, parts.
Senfe is of course annex'd to wealth and power;
No Mufe is proof against a golden fhower.
Let but his lordfhip write fome poor lampoon,
He's Horác'd up in doggrel like his own:
Or, if to rant in tragic rage he yields,

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Falfe Fame cries-Athens; honeft Truth-Moorfields. Thus fool'd, he flounces on through floods of ink; Flags with full-fail; and rifes but to fink.

Some venal pens fo proftitute the bays, Their panegyrics lafh; their fatires praise. So naufeously, and fo unlike, they paint, N's an Adonis; Mr, a faint. Metius with those fam'd heroes is compar'd, That led in triumph Porus and Tallard.

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But fuch a fhamelefs Mufe muft laughter move,
That aims to make Salmonius vie with Jove.

To form great works, puts Fate itself to pain;
v'n Nature labours for a mighty man,
And, to perpetuate her Hero's fame,
She ftrains no lefs a Poet next to frame.
Rare as the Hero's, is the Poet's rage;

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Churchills and Drydens rife but once an age.

With earthquakes towering Pindar's birth begun ;
And an eclipfe produc'd Alcmena's son.

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The fire of Gods o'er Phoebus caft a fhade;

But, with a hero, well the world repaid.

No

No bard for bribes fhould prostitute his vein;
Nor dare to flatter where he should arraign.
To grant big Thrafo valour, Phormio fenfe,
Should indignation give, at least offence.

I hate fuch mercenaries, and would try
From this reproach to rescue poetry.
Apollo's fons should scorn the servile art,

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And to court-preachers leave the fulsome part.

What then-You'll fay, Muft no true sterling pafs,
Because impure allays fome coin debase ?
Yes, praife, if justly offer'd, I'll allow;

And, when I meet with merit, fcribble too.
The man who's honest, open, and a friend,
Glad to oblige, uneasy to offend;

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Forgiving others, to himself fevere;

Though earnest, easy; civil, yet fincere ;

Who feldom but through great good-nature errs;

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Detefting fraud as much as flatterers;

'Tis he my Mufe's homage should receive;

If I could write, or Holles could forgive.
But pardon, learned youth, that I decline
A name fo lov'd by me, fo lately thine.
When Pelham you refign'd, what could repair
A lofs fo great, unless Newcastle's heir?
Hydafpes, that the Afian plains divides,
From his bright urn in pureft crystal glides;

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But, when new-gathering ftreams enlarge his courfe, 65
He's Indus nam'd, and rolls with mightier force;
In fabled floods of gold his current flows,

And wealth on nations, as he runs, beflows.

Direct me, Clare, to name fome nobler Muse, That for her theme thy late recess may choose ; Such bright defcriptions fhall the fubject dress, Such vary'd scenes, fuch pleafing images,

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That fwains fhall leave their lawns, and nymphs their bowers,

And quit Arcadia for a feat like yours.

But fay, who fhall attempt th' adventurous part
Where Nature borrows drefs from Vanbrugh's art?
If, by Apollo taught, he touch the lyre,
Stones mount in columns, palaces aspire,
And rocks are animated with his fire.
'Tis he can paint in verfe thofe rifing hills,
Their gentle vallies, and their filver rills;
Clofe groyes, and opening glades with verdure spread,
Flowers fighing fweets, and fhrubs that balsam bleed;
With gay variety the profpect crown'd,

And all the bright Horizon fmiling round.
Whilft I attempt to tell how ancient Fame
Records from whence the Villa took its name.

In times of old, when British nymphs were known

To love no foreign fashions like their own;

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When dress was monftrous, and fig-leaves the mode, 90 And quality put on no paint but woad;

Of Spanish red unheard was then the name

(For cheeks were only taught to blush by shame); No beauty, to increase her crowd of flaves,

Rofe out of wash, as Venus out of waves;

Not

yet lead-comb was on the toilet plac'd; Not yet broad eye-brows were reduc'd by pafte;

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No

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