_Scriberis Vario fortis, et hostium
Victor_, Maeonii carminis alite. HOR. Lib. i. Ode vi. 1.

Varius, a _swan of Homer's wing_,
Shall brave Agrippa's conquests sing.

That Varius should be called "A bird of Homeric song," appears so harsh
to modern ears, that an emendation of the text has been proposed: but
surely the learning of the ancients had been long ago obliterated, had
every man thought himself at liberty to corrupt the lines which he did
not understand. If we imagine that Varius had been by any of his
contemporaries celebrated under the appellation of _Musarum ales_, "the
swan of the Muses," the language of Horace becomes graceful and
familiar; and that such a compliment was at least possible, we know from
the transformation feigned by Horace of himself.

The most elegant compliment that was paid to Addison, is of this obscure
and perishable kind;

When panting Virtue her last efforts made,
You brought your Clio to the virgin's aid.

These lines must please as long as they are understood; but can be
understood only by those that have observed Addison's signatures in the
Spectator.

The nicety of these minute allusions I shall exemplify by another
instance, which I take this occasion to mention, because, as I am told,
the commentators have omitted it. Tibullus addressed Cynthia in this
manner: