F. I'd write no more.

P. Not write? but then I think,

• And for my foul I cannot fleep a wink. I nod in company, I wake at night,

Fools rush into my head, and fo I write.

F. You could not do a worse thing for your life. 15 Why, if the nights feem tedious-take a wife: f Or rather truly, if your point be rest, Lettuce and cowflip wine; Probatum eft. But talk with Celfus, Celfus will advife

Hartshorn, or fomething that shall close your eyes. 20 8 Or, if you needs must write, write CÆSAR's Praise, You'll gain at least a Knighthood, or the Bays.

Tranfnanto Tiberim, fomno quibus eft opus alto;
Irriguumve mero fub noctem corpus habento..

& Aut, fi tantus amor fcribendi te rapit, aude CÆSARIS invicti res dicere, 1 multa laborum Praemia laturus..

NOTE S..

VER. 7. Tim'rous by nature, of the Rich in awe,] The delicacy of this does not fo much lie in the ironical application of it to himself, as in its ferioufly characterifing the Perfon for whofe advice he applies.

VER. 11. Not write? etc.] He has omitted the most humorous part of the answer.

Peream male, fi non

Optimum erat,

and has loft the grace, by not imitating the concisenefs, of

verum nequeo dormire.

much above

For concifenefs, when it is clear (as in this place) gives the highest grace to elegance of expreffion-But what follows is as the Original, as this falls short of it.

P. What? like Sir Richard, rumbling, rough, and

. fierce,

With ARMS, and GEORGE, and BRUNSWICK Crowd the

Rend with tremendous found your ears afunder, 25
With Gun, Drum,: Trumpet, Blunderbufs, and
Thunder?

Or nobly wild, with Budgel's fire and force,
Paint Angels trembling round his falling horse?

F. Then all your Mufe's fofter art display,
Let Carolina fmooth the tuneful lay,
Lull with AMELIA's liquid name the Nine,
And fweetly flow thro' all the Royal Line.

P. Alas! few verfes touch their nicer ear;
They scarce can bear their Laureate twice a year;

H. Cupidum, pater optime, vires

i

Deficient: neque enim quivis horrentia pilis

Agmina, nec fracta pereuntes cufpide Gallos,

Aut labentis equo defcribat vulnera Parthi.

30

T. Attamen et juftum poteras et scribere fortem, Scipiadam ut fapiens Lucilius.

H. Haud mihi deero,

Cum res ipfa feret: nifi dextro tempore, Flacci.

NOTE S.

VER. 23. What? like Sir Richard, etc.] Mr. Molyneux, a great Mathematician and Philosopher, had a high opinion of Sir Richard Blackmore's poetic vein. All our English poets, except Milton, (fays he, in a letter to Mr Locke) have been mere ballad-makers in comparijon of bim. And Mr. Locke, in anfwer to this obfervation, replies, I find with pleasure, a ftrange harmony throughout, between your thoughts and mine. Juft fo a Roman Lawyer, and a Greek Hiftorian, thought of the poetry of Cicero. But thefe being judg--ments made by men out of their own profeffion, are little regarded. And Pope and Juvenal will make Blackmore and Tully pafs for Poetafters to the world's end.

VER. 28. falling Horfe?] The horfe on which his Majesty charged at the battle of Oudenard; when the Pretender, and the Princes of the blood of France, fed before him.

And justly CESAR fcorns the Poet's lays,
It is to Hiftory he trufts for Praise.

F. Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still,
Than ridicule all Tafte, blafpheme Quadrille,
Abufe the City's beft good men in metre,
And laugh at Peers that put their truft in Peter.
"Ev'n thofe you touch not, hate you.

35

P. What should ail them? F. A hundred fmart in Timon and in Balaam : The fewer ftill you name, you wound the more; Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score.

40

P. Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny 45 Scarfdale his Bottle, Darty his Ham-pye; Ridotta fips and dances, till fhe fee

The doubling Luftres dance as fast as she;

› F— loves the Senate, Hockleyhole his brother, Like in all elfe, as one Egg to another.

m

50

Verba per attentam non ibunt Cæfaris aurem :
Cui male fi palpere, recalcitrat undique tutus.
T. Quanto rectius hoc, quam trifti lædere verfu
Pantolabum fcurram, Nomentanumve nepotem ?
"Cum fibiquifque timet, quanquam eft intactus, et odit.
H. • Quid faciam ? faltat Milonius, ut femel ico
Acceffit fervor capiti, numerufque lucernis,

P Caftor gaudet equis; ovo prognatus eodem,
Pugnis. quot capitum vivunt, totidem ftudiorum

NOTE S.

VER. 39. Abufe the City's beft good men in metre,] The best good Man, a City phrafe for the richeft. Metre-not used here, purely to help the verfe, but to fhew what it is a citizen efteems the greatest aggravation of the offence.

VER. 41. what should ail them?] Horace hints at one reason, that each fears his own turn may be next; his imitator gives another, and with more art, a reason which infinuates that his very lenity, in ufing feigned names, increafes the number of his Enemies.

VER. 50. Like in all elfe, as one Egg to another.] This has neither the justnefs nor elegance of,

ovo prognatus eodem.

I love to pour out all myself, as plain

As downright SHIPPEN, or as old Montagne :
In them, as certain to be lov'd as feen,

The Soul food forth, nor kept a thought within;
In me what fpots (for fpots I have) appear,
Will prove at least the Medium must be clear.
In this impartial glafs, my Mufe intends
Fair to expofe myfelf, my foes, my friends;
Publish the prefent age; but where my text
Is Vice too high, referve it for the next:
My foes fhall with my life a longer date,
And ev'ry friend the lefs lament my fate.

Millia.

me pedibus delectat claudere verba, Lucili ritu, noftrûm melioris utroque.

Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim

Credebat libris; neque, fi male gefferat, ufquam
Decurrens alio, neque fi bene: quo fit, ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti defcripta tabella

55

бо

NOTE S.

For though it may appear odd, that thofe who come from the fame Egg fhould have tempers and purfuits directly contrary; yet there is nothing ftrange, that two Brothers, alike in all things elfe, should have different amufements.

VER. 52. As downright Shippen, or as old Montagne:] They had this, indeed, in common, to ufe great liberties of speech, and to profefs faying what they thought. Montagne had many qualities, that had gained him the love and efteem of his Readers: The other had one, which always gained him the favourable attention of his Hearers. For, as a celebrated Roman Orator obferves, "Maledicit "INERUDITUS apertius et faepius, cum periculo etiam fuo. Affert ❝et ifta res OPINIONEM, quia libentiffime homines audiunt ea quae dicere ipfi noluiffent."

VER. 56. the Medium must be clear.] Alluding to a fountain of fimpid water, through which the contents of the bottom are difcoThis thought affifted him in the easy and happy change of the metaphor in the following line.

vered.

My head and heart thus flowing thro' my quill,

• Verseman or Profeman, term me which you will,
Papist or Proteftant, or both between,
Like good Erafmus in an honest mean,
In moderation placing all my glory,

While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.

Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet

To run a-muck, and tilt at all I meet ;'

65

70

Vita fenis. fequor hunc, Lucanus an Appulus, anceps:
[Nam Venufinus arat finem fub utrumque colonus,
Miffus ad hoc, pulfis (vetus eft ut fama) Sabellis,
Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hoftis;
Sive quod Appula gens, feu quod Lucania bellum
Incuteret violenta] fed hic ftylus haud petit ultro
Quemquam animantem, et me veluti cuftodiet enfis
Vagina tectus, quem cur deftringere coner,

S

NOTE S.

VER. 63. My bead and heart thus flowing thro' my quill,] Inferior to the Original:

Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim

Credebat libris, etc.

Perfius alluded to this idea when he said,
Vidi, vidi ipfe, Libelle! etc.

VER. 64. Verseman or Profeman, term me which you will, Papift or Proteftant, etc.] The original thought (which is very flat, and fo ill and aukwardly expreffed, as to be taken for a monkish Addition) is here admirably imitated, in a lively character of himfelf, and his Writings.

VER. 69. Satire's my weapon,] In thefe Words, our Author has happily explained the true Character of Horace's ironical Apology, which is to this purpose: Nature, fays he, has given all Creatures the means of offence and defence: The wolf has teeth, the bull has horns, and I have a talent for fatire. And, at the fame time that he vindicates his claim to this his natural weapon, Satire, he fhews its moral ufe; it was to oppofe the noxious qualities which nature had given Cervius for infarming, Canidia for poisoning, and Turius for paffing fentence. The turn of this ludicrous argumentation is fine and delicate; and we find his Imitator saw the whole force of it.