There where the Poplar and the stately Pine Meet in a Shade, and closely twine, To form the Bow'r with thick entangled Bows, And where the limpid Stream in curling Murmurs flows. _Oldsworth._
_Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa Perfusus liquidis urget odoribus, Grato, Pyrrha, sub antro? Cui flavam religas comam, Simplex munditiis?_
Beneath the rosy Bow'r, _Chloë_, what am'rous Boy Sweet as the dewy Flow'r Now tastes your Lips, (Delusive Joy!) Now leaning on your Breast, Urges to be supremely blest? For whom do you prepare (Neat Negligence of Dress!) The Tresses of your golden Hair? _&c._ [29] _Vivet extento Proculeius ævo, Notus in fratres animi paterni; Illum aget, penna metuente solvi, Fama superstes._
When Fame of _Proculeius_ sings, She mounts on everlasting Wings; His free and gen'rous Actions prove A Father's in a Brother's Love. _Oldsworth._ [30] _Brachia, & vultum, teretesque suras, Integer laudo; fuge suspicari, Cujus octavum trepidavit ætas Claudere lustrum._
Her Face, her Neck, her Breast, her Arms, I praise, not taken with her Charms; Suspicious Thoughts remove; Let almost forty feeble Years Secure thy Mind from jealous Fears, And tell that _Horace_ is too old for Love. _Oldsworth_.
I shall omit any more Examples; tho' what I have hitherto laid before you, I dare say, have brought their own Reward with them, as they are true Specimens of poetic Elegance, and abundantly illustrate what I had to say upon this Head. To alledge all that relate to it, would be only to transcribe the greatest Part of the best Poets. And as the Beauty of the poetic Style chiefly consists in its own Peculiarities, those that would thoroughly understand it, must endeavour, with Diligence and Application, to make it familiar to them.
Nor is the Style of Poetry distinct from Oratory in _Greek_ and _Latin_ only; the same Difference runs thro' all Tongues, both modern and ancient, _English_ as well as foreign. To this is owing that Difficulty, which the Learners of a new Language complain of much more in reading the Poets, than the Prose Writers. The Reason why the former use such a Variety of Style so remote from that of the latter, seems to be owing to this; that as Poetry requires a peculiar Way of Thinking, it affects, likewise, a peculiar Manner of Writing and Speaking, that so it may be set off at as great a Distance from Prose as possible. Besides, as it is confined within the strict Rules of Measure, it is but just to allow it a greater Liberty of Diction, and so compensate, in some Degree, that Inconvenience with this Advantage.