Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 3.djvu/37

Rh recur for instruction or delight; many from which the poet may learn to write, and the philosopher to reason.

If Prior's poetry be generally considered, his praise will be that of correctness and industry, rather than of compass of comprehension, or activity of fancy. He never made any effort of invention: his greater pieces are only tissues of common thoughts; and his smaller, which consist of light images or single conceits, are not always his own. I have traced him among the French Epigrammatists, and have been informed that he poached for prey among obscure authors. The Thief and Cordelier is, I suppose, generally considered as an original production; with how much justice this Epigram may tell, which was written by Georgius Sabinus, a poet now little known or read, though once the friend of Luther and Melancthon:

Quidam sacrificus furem camitatus euntem
 * Huc ubi dat sontes carnificina neci,

Ne sis mœstus, ait; summi conviva Tonantis
 * Jam cum cœlitibus (si modo credis) eris.

Rh