And, to omit innumerable other Instances of this Nature, I will add only his Ode on Avarice:
[305] Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, Nec sitim pellit, nisi causa morbi Fugerit venis, & aquosus albo Corpore languor.
'Tis great this Passion to controul, For 'tis the Dropsy of the Soul: Unless you purge each sickly Vein, 'Twill thirst, and drink, and thirst again. Oldsw.
These moral Odes are often interspers'd with Encomiums on a Country Life, on moderate Circumstances, and the like; which always afford Matter for entertaining Descriptions:
[306] Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum Splendet in mensa tenui salinum; Nec leves somnos timor, aut cupido Sordidus, aufert.
Blest he with little, on whose thrifty Board That Salt still shines, that call'd his Father Lord; No vexing Fears his Breast can seize, No sordid Lust will break his Ease. Creech.
Upon the whole, then, we see, that the Ode may be either Sublime, or of the lower Strain; jocose or serious; mournful or exulting; even satirical sometimes, epigrammatical never. It may consist of Wit, but not of that Turn which is the peculiar Characteristic of Epigram. They that have a Mind to know the various Classes of Odes, with their uncouth Titles, into which they are by some Writers distinguish'd; may consult Vossius, Scaliger, and others. This to me is an Enquiry not more superfluous than disagreeable; since any Thing, we find, may be the Subject of them, if they are but dress'd up in their own peculiar Manner.
From whence the Pleasure arises with which this Kind of Poetry affects us, may be known from what we have before discours'd of the Pleasure of Poetry in general, when we examin'd how it address'd itself to the Passions, the common Principles of human Nature, and human Happiness. I would only now observe, that what we said of Poetry in general, is applicable to the Lyric more particularly: Besides the Advantages of a florid and figurative Style, it commands that Sweetness and Variety of Numbers; that Diversity of Thought; that Elegance of Conciseness; that Energy of Expression; that Quickness of Transition, and Liberty of Excursion; that lively Ardour, and noble Sublimity, which can never fail to raise in the Soul all those agreeable Sensations, we before describ'd.
It is not my Design to give an historical Account of the ancient Writers in this Kind of Poetry: Vossius reckons up several among the Greeks of both Sexes; we have nothing but Fragments of all of them remaining, except the Poems of Pindar and Anacreon. The former I have already spoke of; those of the latter are so few, and the peculiar Nature of them so well known, that tho' they deserve much Praise, they need no farther Explication. Among the Romans, we have none of any Note, except Horace; but he, alone, indeed, is equal to many; and we may venture to affirm, that his Odes exceed any Collection of Poems the learned World has yet been bless'd with.
To come now to later Times; it must be own'd, the Moderns are excell'd by the Ancients in no Kind of Writing more than this; they succeed best, when they make use of their Language; for many of the Moderns are very good Masters of it. Casimire is often very happy this Way; but often harsh, turgid, and pompously empty; of which the present Solemnity reminds me of one Instance. The Poet is speaking in Praise of a Peace lately made; and after he had begun well enough,