Note 2 — THE DRURIAD, &c.
Reading edition
Such is the celestial phrase of Henry James Pye, Esq. “O’er June’s ambrosial flow’rs.”—This gentleman in his ardent devotion to the Muses seems totally to have forgotten the Graces; else, why the pompous repetition of the same turgid compound epithets that encumber without adorning his odes? We acknowledge that Poet Laureates are placed in a dangerous situation; like the pictures hung up in the Forum, they are exposed to the indiscriminate criticism of the multitude. Cibber, smarting under the lash of Pope, says “a lick at the Laureate” has ever been the fashion. I am sorry to observe, that the present bard cannot claim an exemption. I would recommend to his observation the following lines of Pope, speaking of Blackmore:
What, like Sir Richard, rumbling rough and hoarse, With arms, and George, and Brunswick, crowd the verse; Burst, with tremendous din, your ears asunder, With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder.