Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 2.djvu/181

Rh And sometimes it issued in absurdities, of which perhaps he was not conscious: Then we upon our orb's last verge shall go,
 * And see the ocean leaning on the sky;

From thence our rolling neighbours we shall know,
 * And on the lunar world securely pry.

These lines have no meaning; but may we not say, in imitation of Cowley on another book, 'Tis so like sense 'twill serve the turn as well? This endeavour after the grand and the new produced many sentiments either great or bulky, and many images either just or splendid: I am as free as Nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the nobler savage ran. —'Tis but because the Living death ne'er knew, They fear to prove it as a thing's that's new: Let me th' experiment before you try, I'll shew you first how easy 'tis to die.

—There with a forest of their darts he strove, And stood like Capaneus defying Jove, With his broad sword the boldest beating down, While Fate grew pale lest he should win the town, Rh