of Rubens makes fome Defects in his Figures pafs unregarded.

There is another Kind of Machinery continued throughout all the Poem, which nothing can excufe, in any Country whatever; 'tis an injudicious Mixture of the Heathen Gods with our Religion. Gama in a Storm addreffes his Prayers to Chrift, but 'tis Venus who comes to his Relief; the Heroes are Chriftians, and the Poet Heathen. The main Design which the Portuguese are fuppos'd to have, (next to the promoting of their Trade) is to propagate Chriftianity; yet Jupiter, Bacchus, and Venus, have in their hands, all the Management of the Voyage. So incongruous a Machinery, cafts a Blemish upon the whole Poem; yet fhows at the fame time, how prevailing are its Beauties, fince the Portuguese like it with all its Faults.

Camouens hath a great deal of true
Wit, and not a little Share of falfe; his
Imagination hurries him into
great Abfur-

dities.

I remember, that after Velafco de Gama hath related his Adventures to the King of Melinda, now, fays he, O King, judge if Ulyffes, and Eneas, have travell'd fo far, and undergone so many Hard

Ships.

fhips. As if that barbarous African, was acquainted with Homer and Virgil.

His Poem, in my Opinion, is full of numberless Faults and Beauties, thick fown near one another; and almost in every Page, there is what to laugh at and what to be delighted with. Among his moft lucky Thoughts, I must take notice of two, for the Likeneis which they bear to two most celebrated Paffages of Waller and Sir John Denham.

Waller fays, in his Epiftle to Zelinda;

Thy matchless Form will Credit bring,
To all the Wonders I can fing.

Camouens fays, in fpeaking of the Voyages of the Argonauts, and of Uhfes, that the Undertaking of the Portuguese fhall give Credit to all thofe Fables, in furpafling them.

Sir John Denham, in his Poem on Coopers-Hill, fays to the Thames;

O could I flow like thee, and make thy Stream
My great Example, as it is my Theme ;
Tho' deep, yet clear; tho' gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without Rage, without d'erflowing full.

Camouens addreffes the Nymphs of Tagus in the like manner; "O Nymphs, if ever I fung of you, infpire me now ' with

"with new and ftrong Lays; let my "Stile flow like your Waves; let it be "deep and clear, as your Waters, &c."

It is not to be inferr'd from thence, that Waller and Sir John Denham have imitated Camouens; we must only conclude, that Wit is of the Growth of every Country. It is very unjuft, and very common, to call Plagiarism what is but Refemblance.

TASSO.

TORQUATO T

ORQUATO Taffo began his JeruSalem, when Camouens was finishing his Lufiada. He us'd to fay, that the only Rival he fear'd in Europe was Camouens. His Fear (if fincere) was very ill-grounded; for he was as far fuperior to him, as that Portuguese excell'd the Poets of his own Country.

No Man in the World was ever born with a greater Genius, and more qualify'd for Epick Poetry. His Talents which gain'd him fo great a Reputation, were the Cause of his Misfortunes. His Life prov'd a Chain of Miferies and Woes. Banifh'd from his own Country, he was reduc'd to the grievous Neceffity of having a Patron. He fuffer'd Want, Exile, and Prifon; and which is more intolerable, he was opprefs'd by Calumny.

Even

Even his poetical Glory, that chimerical Comfort in real Calamities, was contefted. The Number of his Enemies eclips'd for a long while his Reputation: And at laft when his Merit began to overcome Envy, when he was ready to receive the Honour of Triumph in Rome, which Petrarch had formerly enjoy'd (though with lefs Merit) and which was at that time as glorious as it is now ridiculous; he died the very Day before the defign'd Solemnity.

Nothing difcovers more plainly the high Senfe which Rome entertain'd of his Merit, than the Infcription on his Tomb.

The Pope, who order'd him a magnificent Funeral, as if it were to attone for the Misfortunes of his Life, propos'd a Reward for the beft Epitaph which should be written in his Honour.

Many were brought to him, all full of the juft Praises of Taffo. The Judges appointed to chufe the Epitaph, were divided in their Opinions; when a young Man came to them with this Infcription,

Torquati Taffi ofa.

The Judges immediately agreed in gi ving the Preference to it; being perfua

ded,

'ded, that the Name of Taffo was his greatest Encomium.

Time, which undermines the Reputation of indifferent Authors, hath ftamp'd the Character of Immortality upon his Works. His Poem is fung now-a-days in many Parts of Italy, as the Poems of Homer were in Greece; and if the Poets, his Succeffors, have degenerated from him, if Italy is now over-grown with pitiful Sonnets and Conceits; ftill the Tafte of the Nation form'd after his Poems remains in its full force: He is admir'd by the Readers, though not imitated by the Writers. Thus in France, Corneille, Racine, Boileau, la Fontaine, Moliere, will claim for ever the publick Admiration, in defiance to a fucceeding Set of Writers, who have introduc'd a new-fangl'd Stile, kept up and cherifh'd among themselves, but defpis'd by the Nation.

The Jerufalem Liberata is in fome Parts an Imitation of the Iliad. The Subject of Tao is nobler than that of Homer, in as much as all Europe, rifing up in Arms for the Recovery of the Land which is confecrated by the Birth and Blood of their God, ftrikes the Mind with a more awful Idea, than Greece fighting againft Troy, for Helena.

As