This judicious Critick gave the same Opinion of Mr. Cowley above 50 Years ago, which Mr. Pope has given of him lately in one of his Horatian Epistles.
"Abr. Cowley seu Coulejus poemata scripsit, &c. Quæ ad genium Virgiliani Carminis non accedunt: argutiis enim nimium indulget, ut Epigrammaticum potius quod interdum scribat, quam planum carmen: Ac præterea non ubique purus est: quanquam Angli illum omnes veterum Poetarum numeros implevisse sibi persuadeant.
Foreigners, I am apt to think, frequently judge with more Exactness of our Countrymen's Performances than the generality of the Natives. I think the Judgment of another learned Foreigner very sensible, when he says upon reading Virgilium Dryděni, "That if the Original had been no better than the Copy, Augustus would have done well to have committed it to the Flames." But the Author's own Words are worth perusing.
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"Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es!
Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras.
Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Cæsar,
Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret.
Vid. Fabric. Bib. Lat.