Mifcellaneous POEMS, &c.

By Mr. WY CHERLEY

Publish'd from

More Correct Copies.

An EPISTLE to Mr. DRYDEN, from the Copy
Corrected in the Year 1706.

N.B. The Variations of the Copy fince printed, are to
be found in the bottom of the Page.

S when great Kings with petty Princes joyn,

Α AS

1 They more their Conqueft than their Aid defign;
Thus, while to write with me you condescend,
'Tis more to vanquish, than affist

your Friend.

Then not by writing will I ftrive in vain.

More Sense to prove, or greater Praise to gain;
But fhew my Senfe by giving yours its Due,
And only feek for Praife by praifing you.

2 Whofe Wit, like Heav'n from whence it sprung, repays
To us in Glory what we give in Praise.

1 In Mr. Theobald's Edition it is thus:

As when great Kings with petty Princes joyn,
And club their Forces in the same Design,
They more a Conquest than an Aid intend;
Thus while, &c.

2 Since all who strive for Fame, or Glory, must

Be just to You to be themselves thought just.

Their Judgment thus, tho' not their Wit, may shew,

And gain Forgiveness of their Errors so.

Thus I my Fame acquire, tho' not my Due,

By yielding Honour to your Muse, and You.

Your clear, unerring, univerfal Sense,
Cheers like the Sun with gen'ral Influence:
New Wonders still profufely does display,
And drives the Darkness of the Mind away.
But your enlight'ning comprehensive Mind
1 Not to a fingle Sphere can be confin'd:
In Comic, Tragic, or Heroic Strain,
You your vaft Genius can alike maintain;
Their diff'rent Talents other Wits pursue,
But All fubmit in their own Kind to You
Whether you mourn, make love, applaud, or blame,
You ftill can charm us, and are still the same.
With the fame Art, in Joy or Grief engage
Your paffive Audience, and your active Stage,
With your feign'd Love, and true poetic Rage.

Others, in Spight of all their noisy Wit,
Find the Stage filenc'd by the louder Pit;
They make us laugh to fee their Actors cry,
In fome fad Farce, or merry Tragedy.
But never you our Paffion, or our Sense,
With Art against our Nature influence:
You make us Silence ev'n in Laughter keep,
And ev'n divert us, while you caufe to weep.
Your moving Scenes, at once, with various Art,
2 Harden the soft, and melt the hardest Heart:
With Love give Grief, with Horror can delight
And please the Mind, yet terrify the Sight.

But when the vulgar Vice employs your Pen,
How we despise our selves in other Men!
At once we grow more merry, yet more wife,
Pleas'd and inftructed with your Comedies.
You can our Follies without Fooling show,
And prove your Skill, by making others grow
Ridiculous, without becoming fo:

Your Senfe, your Humour, and fatyrick Rage,
At once can teach, delight, and lash the Age.

1 Hence the just Fame of your great Genius is

As general, as are its Faculties.

In Mr. Theobald's Edition,

Harden the soft, and soften th' hardest Heart.

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