Our conquest we by stratagem should make;
Our triumph had been founded in our flight.
'Tis ours by craft and by surprise to gain;
'Tis theirs to meet in arms, and battle in the plain."


By this new structure of his lines he has avoided difficulties; nor
am I sure that he has lost any of the power of pleasing, but he no
longer imitates Spencer. Some of his poems are written without
regularity of measures; for, when he commenced poet, he had not
recovered from our Pindaric infatuation; but he probably lived to be
convinced that the essence of verse is order and consonance. His
numbers are such as mere diligence may attain; they seldom offend
the ear, and seldom soothe it; they commonly want airiness,
lightness, and facility. What is smooth is not soft. His verses
always roll, but they seldom flow.

A survey of the life and writings of Prior may exemplify a sentence
which he doubtless understood well when he read Horace at his
uncle's, "The vessel long retains the scent which it first
receives." In his private relaxation he revived the tavern, and in
his amorous pedantry he exhibited the college. But on higher
occasions and nobler subjects, when habit was overpowered by the
necessity of reflection, he wanted not wisdom as a statesman, or
elegance as a poet.



CONGREVE