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EPISTLE VI.

TO MR. MURRAY.

Nor to admire, is all the Art I know,

“To make men happy, and to keep them so."

(Plain Truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flow'rs of speech, So take it in the very words of Creech.)

bThis Vault of Air, this congregated Ball, Self-center'd Sun, and Stars that rise and fall,

EPISTOLA VI.

NIL admirari, prope res est una, Numici, Solaque quae possit facere et servare beatum. bHunc solem, et stellas, et decedentia certis

NOTES.

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Ver. 3. dear MURRAY,] This piece is the most finished of all his imitations, and executed in the high manner the Italian Painters call con amore. By which they mean, the exertion of that principle, which puts the faculties on the stretch, and produces the supreme degree of excellence. For the Poet had all the warmth of affection for the great Lawyer to whom it is addressed; and, indeed, no man ever more deserved to have a Poet for his friend. In the obtaining of which, as neither Vanity, Party, nor Fear, had any share; so he supported his title to it by all the offices of true Friendship.

Ver. 4. Creech.] From whose translation of Horace the two first lines are taken.

Ver. 6. Stars that rise and fall,] The original is,

decedentia certis

Tempora momentis,

which words simply and literally signify the change of seasons. But this change being considered as an object of admiration, his imitator has judiciously expressed it in the more sublime figurative terms of

Stars that rise and fall;

by whose courses the seasons are marked and distinguished

There are, my Friend! whose philosophic eyes
Look thro' and trust the Ruler with his skies,
To him commit the hour, the day, the year,
And view this dreadful All without a fear.

Admire we then what dEarth's low entrails hold,
Arabian shores, or Indian seas infold;

All the mad trade of eFools and Slaves for Gold?
Or fPopularity? or Stars and Strings?
The Mob's applauses, or the gifts of Kings?
Say with what seyes we ought at Courts to gaze,
And pay the Great our homage of Amaze?

If weak the pleasure that from these can spring,
The fear to want them is as weak a thing:
Whether we dread, or whether we desire,
In either case, believe me, we admire;
Whether we ijoy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surpriz'd at better, or surpriz'd at worse:

Tempora momentis, sunt qui formidine nulla
Imbuti spectent. dquid censes, munera terrae?
Quid, maris extremos Arabas editantis et Indos?
Ludicra, quid, fplausus, et amica dona Quiritis?
Quo spectanda modo, quo sensu credis et ore?

hQui timet his adversa, fere miratur eodem Quo cupiens pacto: pavor est utrobique molestus: Improvisa simul species exterret utrumque:

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¡Gaudeat, an doleat; cupiat, metuatne; quid ad rem,

NOTES.

Ver. 8. trust the Ruler with his skies-To him commit the hour,] Our Author, in these imitations, has been all along careful to correct the loose morals, and absurd divinity of his Original.

Ver. 22. Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surpriz'd at better, or surpriz'd at worse.]

The elegance of this is superior to the Original. The curse is the same (says he) whether we joy or grieve. Why so? Because in either case, the man is surprized, hurried off, and led away captive.

(The

Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray

Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away;
For kVirtue's self may too much zeal be had;
The worst of Madmen is a Saint run mad.
Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the surprize,

And gaze on "Parian Charms with learned eyes:
Be struck with bright "Brocade, or Tyrian Dye,
Our Birth-day Nobles' splendid Livery.
If not so pleas'd, at oCouncil-board rejoice,
To see their Judgments hang upon thy Voice;

Si, quidquid vidit melius pejusve sua spe, Defixis oculis, animoque et corpore torpet? *Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui ; Ultra quam satis est, virtutem si petat ipsam. 1I nunc, argentum et marmor mvetus, aeraque et artes Suspice: cum gemmis "Tyrios mirare colores: Gaude, quod spectant oculite mille loquentem :

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NOTES,

(The good or bad to one extreme betray

Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away.)

This happy advantage, in the imitation, arises from the ambiguity of the word surprize.

Ver. 30. Procure a TASTE to double the surprize.] This is one of those superior touches that most ennoble a perfect piece. He speaks here of false taste, as appears by his directions how to get it, and how to use it when got. Procure a taste, says he. That is, of the Virtuosi; whose science you are to buy for that purpose; for true taste, which is from nature, comes itself. And how are you to use it? Not to cure you of that bane of life, admiration, but to raise and inflame it, by doubling your surprize. And this a false taste will always do, there being none so given to raptures as the Virtuoso Tribe; whereas, the Man of true Taste finds but few things to approve; and those he approves with moderation.

From morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.
But wherefore all this labour, all this strife?
For Fame, for Riches, for a noble Wife ?

Shall One whom Nature, Learning, Birth conspir'd To form, not to admire but be admir'd,

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Sigh, while his Chloe, blind to Wit and Worth,

Weds the rich Dulness of some Son of earth?
Yet Time ennobles, or degrades each Line;
It brighten❜d Craggs's, and may darken thine:
And what is Fame ? the Meanest have their day,
The Greatest can but blaze, and pass away.
Grac❜d as thou art, twith all the Pow'r of Words,
So known, so honour'd, at the House of Lords:
Conspicuous Scene! another yet is nigh,
(More silent far) where Kings and Poets lie;
"Where Murray (long enough his Country's pride)
Shall be no more than Tully, or than Hyde !

Gnavus pmane forum, et vespertinus pete tectum;
Ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris
Mutus et (indignum ; quod sit pejoribus ortus)
Hic tibi sit potius, quam tu mirabilis illi.
$Quicquid sub terra est, in apricum proferet aetas;
Defodiet, condetque nitentia. cum bene notum
Porticus Agrippae, et via te conspexerit Appî;
Ire tamen restat, Numa "quo devenit et Ancus.

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NOTES.

Ver. 53. TULLY, HYDE!] Equal to either, in the ministry of his prefession. In this indeed, the parallel fails: TULLY'S brightest talents were frequently tarnished by Vanity and Fear; and HYDE's most virtuous purposes perverted and defeated by superstitious notions Concerning the divine origin of Government, and the unlimited obedience of the people.

w Rack'd with Sciatics, martyr'd with the Stone, Will any mortal let himself alone?

See Ward by batter'd Beaus invited over,
And desp❜rate Misery lays hold on Dover,
The case is easier in the Mind's disease;
There all men may be cur'd whene'er they please.
Would ye be blest ? despise low Joys, low Gains;
Disdain whatever Cornbury disdains;

Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.

y But art thou one, whom new opinions sway,

One who believes as Tindal leads the way,

Who Virtue and a Church alike disowns,

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Thinks that but words, and this but brick and stones?
Flyz then, on all the wings of wild desire,
Admire whate'er the maddest can admire:

Is wealth thy passion? Hence! from Pole to Pole,
Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll, 70
For Indian spices, for Peruvian Gold,

Prevent the greedy, and out-bid the bold:
Advance thy golden Mountain to the skies;
On the broad base of fifty thousand rise,
Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair)
Add fifty more, and bring it to a square.

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wSi latus aut rens morbo tentantur acuto,
Quaere fugam morbi. xvis recte vivere ? quis non ?
Si virtus hoc una potest dare, fortis omissis
Hoc age deliciis.

y virtutem verba putes, et

Z

Lucum ligna ? cave ne portus occupet alter:
Ne Cibyratica, ne Bithyna negotia perdas :

Mille talenta rotundentur, totidem altera, porro et
Tertia succedant, et quae pars quadret acervum.

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