This barking of a star is a bad specimen of the music of the spheres. Dryden, from the fervour of his imagination, and the rapidity with which he composed, is frequently guilty of similar impropriety in his metaphorical language. Thus, in his version of Du Fresnoy, de Arte Graphica, he translates
Indolis ut vigor inde potens obstrictus hebescat,
“Neither would I extinguish the fire of a vein which is lively and abundant.”
The following passage in the second Georgic, as translated by Delille, is an example of vitious taste.
Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus ætas,
Parcendum teneris: et dum se lætus ad auras
Palmes agit, laxis per purum immissus habenis,
Ipsa acies nondum falce tentanda;—
Quand ses premiers bourgeons s’empresseront d’eclore,
Que l’acier rigoureux n’y touche point encore;