Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/116
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ESSAY on CRITICISM.
For wit and judgment ever are at strife,
Tho' meant each other's aid, like man and wife.
'Tis more to guide, than spur the Muse's ſteed;
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed;
The winged courser, like a gen'rous horse,
Shows molt true mettle when you check his course.
Those Rules of old discover'd, not devis'd,
Are nature still, but nature methodiz'd:
Nature, like Monarchy, is but restrain'd
By the same laws which first herself ordain'd.
Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites,
When to repress, and when indulge our flights!
High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd,
And pointed out those arduous paths they trod,
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urg'd the rest by equal steps to rise.
Just [1]precepts thus from great examples giv'n,
She drew from them what they deriv'd from heav'n.
Tho' meant each other's aid, like man and wife.
'Tis more to guide, than spur the Muse's ſteed;
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed;
The winged courser, like a gen'rous horse,
Shows molt true mettle when you check his course.
Those Rules of old discover'd, not devis'd,
Are nature still, but nature methodiz'd:
Nature, like Monarchy, is but restrain'd
By the same laws which first herself ordain'd.
Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites,
When to repress, and when indulge our flights!
High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd,
And pointed out those arduous paths they trod,
Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urg'd the rest by equal steps to rise.
Just [1]precepts thus from great examples giv'n,
She drew from them what they deriv'd from heav'n.
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