Anonymous

“ THE REFORMATION.
. . . . . . nunc ego mitibus
Mutare quæro tristia.
Hor. Car. lib. i. ode 16.
ARGUMENT.
Happy Change of Times—Courtesy of modern Readers—Ancient Edict repealed—Subsequent Increase of Poets—Fate of Codrus bewailed—Reputation of Poets dependent on the Age in which they live.
GONE are those unblest times, when niggard Fame
Allow'd to few the Poet's sacred name;
When Genius, trembling with unmanly fear,
Claim'd not the wreath, which he deserv'd to wear,
Till nine long years [1] had lent their tedious aid,
To touch the forms his magic hand pourtray'd ”

“ L'Art. Poet. ch. iv.
↑ The account of these unfortunate poets is found in opening page of Juvenal, and is thus most effectually forced upon the notice of every reader. He who has seen only the first fourteen lines of that unmerciful satirist, knows their unhappy fate. One seems to have laboured most abundantly for fame. ”

“ Tl en est chez le duc, il en est chez le prince.
L'ouvrage le plus plat a, chez les courtisans,
De tout temps rencontré de zélés partisans;
Et pour finir enfin par un trait de satire,
Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire. ”