EPISTLE ΤΟ MRS. BLOUNT, WITH THE WORKS OF VOITURE. thefe IN gay thoughts the Loves and Graces fhine, And all the Writer lives in ev'ry line; His easy Art may happy Nature seem, 5 10 NOTES. Ev'n VER. 1. In thefe gay] The works of Voiture, after having been idolized in France, are now juftly funk into neglect and oblivion. WARTON. VER. 13. As fmiling Infants, &c.] There is a beautiful paffage of this fort in Temple's Effays:-" After all, life is like a froward child, that must be trifled with, and played with, till it falls asleep, and then the care is over." Ev'n rival Wits did Voiture's death deplore, Let the ftrict life of graver mortals be And, if it can, at once both please and preach. And more diverting ftill than regular, Have Humour, Wit, a native Eafe and Grace, NOTES. 15 20 25 30 Too VER. 19. The Smiles] Alluding to an elegant epitaph on Voiture: "Etrufcæ Veneres, Camoenæ Iberæ, Hermes Gallicus, et Latina Siren; Rifus, Delicia, et Dicacitates, Many curious particulars of his life may be found in the enter taining Mifcellanies of Vigneul Marville, vol. ii. p. 409. Corneille was invited to read his Polyeucte at the Hotel de Rambouillet, where the wits of that time affembled, and where Voiture prefided. It was coldly received; and Voiture was fent to tell Corneille in gentle terms, that it was the opinion of his friends that Polyeucte would not fucceed. Such judges were the most fashionable wits of France! WARTON. VER. 19. The Smiles and Loves, &c.] This is a poor conceit and unworthy of Pope; it is more like Cowley, Marvel, and Waller. Too much your Sex is by their forms confin'd, Severe to all, but most to Womankind; 35 Custom, grown blind with Age, must be your guide; Well might you wish for change by those accurst, Whole years neglected, for fome months ador'd, For the dull glory of a virtuous Wife; The Gods, to curfe Pamela with her pray'rs, 40 45 51 She glares in Balls, front Boxes, and the Ring, But, Madam, if the fates withstand, and I 56 you Truft Trust not too much your now refistless charms, 60 65 Thus Voiture's early care still fhone the same, And Monthaufier was only chang'd in name: By this, ev'n now they live, ev'n now they charm, Their Wit still sparkling, and their flames still warm. Now crown'd with Myrtle, on th' Elysian coaft, Amid those Lovers, joys his gentle Ghost : 70 Pleas'd, while with fmiles his happy lines you view, And finds a fairer Ramboüillet in you. 76 The NOTES. VER. 69. Thus Voiture's early care] Mademoifelle Paulet. Pope. VER. 76. And finds a fairer Our author's attachment to this lady ended but with his life. Yet it is faid, fhe gave him many hours of uneafinefs and difquiet. She occafioned an unhappy breach betwixt him and his old friend Allen, because he would not lend his coach to carry her to a mass-house at Bath during his mayoralty. The characteristical difference betwixt Voiture and Balfac is well expressed by Boileau, in two letters written under their names, from the Elyfian Fields to the Duc de Vivonne, in p. 155, of vol. iii. of his works. And Boileau, speaking often of ab furd The brightest eyes of France infpir'd his Mufe; And dead, as living, 'tis our Author's pride Still to charm those who charm the world befide. NOTES. furd readers and critics, loved to relate, that one of his relations, to whom he had prefented his works, faid to him, "Pray, Coufin, how came you to infert any other perfon's writings among your own? I find in your works two letters, one from Balsac, and the other from Voiture." Defcartes, who, as well as Leibnitz, was an elegant scholar, wrote a judicious cenfure of Balfac, in admira. ble Latin. Balfac was, however, fuperior to Voiture. But he was affectedly turgid, pompous, and bloated, on all fubjects and on all occafions alike. Yet was he the first that gave form and harmony to the French profe, which was ftill improved by the provincial letters of Pascal. WARTON. |