An expression from Horace, which Prior probably got at second hand from Dryden, occurs in Book 1 of Solomon,' in the line: Their Station changing with th'inverted Year. The original of the words 'inverted Year' is in the First Satire of the First Book:2 Inversum contristat Aquarius annum. Dryden seems to have been the first to appropriate it, in his Aurengzebe, Act 2, Scene 1, and Prior, Thomson, and Cowper followed in his footsteps. In this poem there is another instance of Prior's aptitude for poaching, for which Johnson condemned him. In Book 33 there is the following injunction: But hence, Ye Worldly, and Prophane, retire: To Notions not by Vulgar Ear receiv'd. This is plainly an imitation of the opening lines of Cowley's translation of Horace's First Ode of the Third Book: Hence ye profane, I hate ye all, Both the great vulgar and the small. The rest of this passage from Solomon is written in the same strain as Horace's Ode, though with a greater pessimism, so that it is evident that Prior had the content of the Ode in mind, as well as the phraseology of Cowley's translation. Prior's chief prose writings, besides various prefaces and dedications to his poems, consist of an Essay upon Learning, an Essay upon Opinion, one contribution to the 1 Writings 1. 267. 2 L. 36. 3 Writings 1. 322. auræ 993 1 2 Examiner, and his Dialogues of the Dead. His letters have already been considered in the discussion of Horace's influence upon his daily life. Where his prefaces mention Horace, it is to appeal to his authority as a literary critic. The Essay upon Learning and the paper for the Examiner have no reference to Horace. The Essay upon Opinion alludes frequently to his philosophical teachings. 'I don't pretend to Examine the Nature and Essence of this Mind of Ours,' he writes, "This "Divinæ particula as a Divine or a Philosopher, but as a stander by to take a little notice of some of its Motions, the feats of Activity it plays, and the sudden Escapes and Changes it often makes.' He points out how 'the same Man at different times alters his Opinion of the same Things,' and follows Horace in his description, in the Ars Poetica, of the four ages of man. In questioning the influence of the different passions upon opinion, he begins to enumerate them according to Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. 'Anger is a short Frenzy,' he says, without explaining whether he is quoting Burton, or Horace's® Ira furor brevis est. The opinion of the Party Man he condemns unconditionally: "Fænum habet in cornu," and every body is obliged to yield or run from him.' And finally he sums up: "The Bounds of Virtue and Vice Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum10 1 No. 6. 2 Writings 2. 190. 3 S. 2. 2. 79. 4 Writings 2. 191. 5 A. P. 161-174. 6 E. 1. 2. 62. 7 Writings 2. 202. 8 S. 1. 4. 34. 9 Writings 2. 203. 10 S. 1. 1. 107. are in many cases pretty difficult to find; how nicely must one Distinguish between Patience and Pusillanimity, between Courage and foolhardiness, and so of the rest.' The Dialogues of the Dead are full of classical allusions, only a few of which are to Horace. In the Dialogue between Charles the Emperour and Clenard the Grammarian, Clenard, regardless of anachronism,1 asks, 'What does his [Prior's] Master Horace say, and no body can say it better?2 Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines nequit consistere rectum;' 4 and blames such heroes as Charles, who never mind this rule, and 'always over shoot the mark.' And Clenard is presently again alluding implicitly to a remark of Horace's when he says: Not to go to old Stories how many of you Heroes dyed unknown before Agamemnon, because none of their Contemporaries writ their Story.' In the Dialogue between Mr. John Lock and Seigneur de Montaigne, Locke accuses Montaigne of plagiarism, and asserts that his noble ideas are taken from Plato, his fine stories from Plutarch, his expression from Tully and Seneca, and his right quotation from Horace and Virgil. Montaigne's defence is reminiscent of Horace:5 'Let me be compared to a Bee, who takes something from every Flower and Shrub, and by that various labour collects one of the greatest Ingredients of Humane health, and the very Emblem of Plenty.' And in the Dialogue between the Vicar of Bray and Sir Thomas Moor, when More asks: 'How is it that scarse enjoying the present 1 Writings 2. 211. 2 S. 1. 1. 106-107. 3 Writings 2. 216: O. 4. 9. 25-28. 4 Ibid. 2. 239. 5 O. 4. 2. 27-32. 6 Writings 2. 254. we turn our thought forward into a Futurity which the Will of Heaven in equal Wisdom and Pitty conceals from Us,' Prior has added in his manuscript the favorite lines of which the above is a paraphrase:1 Prudens futuri temporis exitum 'Does not And again he makes Sir Thomas More ask: 10. 3. 29. 29-30-added by Waller in his notes. 2 Writings 2. 255-256. 3 O. 3. 3. 1-4. JOHN GAY, 1685-1732 John Gay's writings, like those of his contemporaries, are full of classical allusion. His expressions-his phrases and epithets are frequently classical, and yet they are not definite and characteristic, so that it is often difficult to place them in any one particular source. He talks of the ‘horn of plenty,' of the 'winged hours,' of the 'winter's rage,' and the 'scorching dog-star,' and of the 'wrinkled nose,' which is probably Persius's 'crispante naso," but which suggests to the mind several classical phrases regarding that feature, to the ancients so expressive of feeling. He loves to address the Muses; but also Apollo and Orpheus, Bacchus, the Nereids, the Tritons, all come in for their share. His chief models are Virgil and Theocritus-these classic poets taught him to avoid the artificiality of Ambrose Philips, whom he imitated; Ovid—often directly, often through the medium of Chaucer and Ariosto; and sometimes, more especially in his earlier writings, Horace. It is as if he had set out in life taking these classical writers consciously as his models, and, during the years in which he drifted from one hope of preferment to another, his indolent nature retained the tincture of his earlier classical studies, but the definite outline faded, and the close connection between his writings and his models was lost, new influences, of the Italian opera and of the Italian poets, usurping their place. There is clear evidence of his interest in Horace in his first published poem, Wine, in Rural Sports, in Trivia, and in some of his Epistolary Verses; but then the in 1 Sat. 3. 87. |