In all the flow'ry paths of Pindus stray, But shun that thorny, that unpleasing way; Nor, when each soft engaging muse is thine, Address the least attractive of the nine. 60 "Of thee more worthy were the task to raise A lasting column to thy country's praise, To sing the land, which yet alone can boast That liberty corrupted Rome has lost, Where science in the arms of peace is laid, 65 And plants her palm beneath the olive's shade. Such was the theme for which my lyre I strung, Such was the people whose exploits I sung; Brave, yet refined, for arms and arts renowned, With diff'rent bays by Mars and Phoebus crowned, 70 Dauntless opposers of tyrannic sway, But pleased, a mild AUGUSTUS to obey. "If these commands submissive thou receive, Immortal and unblamed thy name shall live; Envy to black Cocytus shall retire, 75 And howl with furies in tormenting fire; Approving time shall consecrate thy lays, And join the patriot's to the poet's praise." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: The Recommendatory poems addressed to Pope are without exception dull, insipid productions, which never rise above mediocrity, and sometimes fall below it. Only those are reprinted here which he himself prefixed to his works. The first seven appeared in the quarto of 1717, and the remaining two in the octavo of 1736.] [Footnote 2: Legally speaking, of Buckingham_shire_; for he would not take the title of Buckingham, under a fear that there was lurking somewhere or other a claim to that title amongst the connections of the Villiers family. He was a pompous grandee, who lived in uneasy splendour, and, as a writer, most extravagantly overrated: accordingly, he is now forgotten. Such was his vanity, and his ridiculous mania for allying himself with royalty, that he first of all had the presumption to court the Princess (afterwards Queen) Anne. Being rejected, he then offered himself to the illegitimate daughter of James II. by the daughter of Sir Charles Sedley. She was as ostentatious as himself, and accepted him.--DE QUINCEY. Pope commenced the interchange of praise with the Duke of Buckingham by celebrating him in the Essay on Criticism. The return verses of the Duke are little better than drivelling. His Essay on Satire and Essay on Poetry are his principal works, but though one was retouched by Dryden and the other by Pope, they are very second-rate performances. The Duke died in February, 1721, aged 72.] [Footnote 3: Anne, wife of Heneage, fifth Earl of Winchelsea, and daughter of Sir William Kingsmill. She died on Aug. 5, 1720.--CROKER.