I that had lov'd-
Curl'd powder'd locks, a fine and gaudy gown.

Mr. CREECH. I remember, says Cynthio, Juvenal rallies Creticus, that was otherwise a brave, rough fellow, very handsomely, on this kind of garment.

Sed quid
Non facient alii cum tu multitia sumas,
Cretice ? et hanc vestem populo mirante perores
In Proculas et Pollineas.-

Juv, Sat. 2.
dcer et indomitus Libertatisque magister,
Cretice, pelluces

Ibid.
-Nor, vain Metellus, shall
From Rome's tribunal thy harangues prevail
'Gainst harlotry, while thou art clad so thin,
That through thy cobweb robe we see thy skin,
As thou declaim'st-

Mr. TATE.
Canst thou restore old manners, or retrench

Rome's pride, who com’st transparent to the bench? Idem. . But pray what is the meaning that this transparent lady holds up her train in her left hand? for I find your women on medals do nothing without a meaning. Besides, I suppose there is a moral precept at least couched under the figure she holds in her other hand. She draws back her garment, says Philander, that it may not encumber her in her march. For she is always drawn in a posture of walking, it being as natural for Hope to press forward to her proper objects, as for Fear to fly from them.

Ut cunis in vacuo leporem cum Gallicus arvo
Vidit, et hic prædam pedibus petit, ille salutem :
Alter inhæsuro similis, jam jaunque tenere
Sperat, et extento stringit vestigia rostro;
Alter in ambiguo est an sit comprensus, et ipsis
Morsibus eripitur, tangentiaque ora relinquit :
Sic deus et virgo est : hic spe celer, illa timore.

De Apol. et Daph. Ov. Met. lib. d.

As when th' impatient greyhound slipt from far,
Bounds o'er the glebe to catch the fearful hare,
She in her speed does all her safety lay:
And he with double speed pursues the prey;

Ridet ager

O'erruns her at the sitting turn, and licks
His chaps in vain, and blows upon the flix:
She 'scapes, and for the neighb'ring covert strives,
And, gaining shelter, doubts if yet she lives :-
Such was the god, and such the flying fair,
She, urg’d by fear, her feet did swiftly move,
But he more swiftly, who was urg'd by love.

Mr. DRYDEN. This beautiful similitude is, I think, the prettiest emblein in the world of Hope and Fear in extremity. A flower or blossom that you see in the right hand is a proper ornament for Hope, since they are these that we term, in poetical language, the hopes of the year.

Vere nodo, tunc herba nitens, et roboris erpers
Turget et insolida est, et spe

delectat agrestes.
Onmia tum fiorent, florumque coloribus almus

Ov. Mgr. lib. 15.
The green stem grows in stature and in size,
But only feeds with hope the farmer's eyes;
Then laughs the childish year with flow'rets crown'd,

And lavishly perfumes the fields around. Mr. Dryden. The same poet in his De Fastis, speaking of the vine in flower, expresses it,

In
spe
vitis erat

Ov. de Fast, lib. 5. The next on the list is a lady of a contrary character*, and therefore in a quite different posture. As Security is free from all pursuits, she is represented leaning carelessly on a pillar. Horace has drawn a pretty metaphor from this posture.

Nullum me à labore reclinat otium.

No ease doth lay me down from pain. Mr. CREECH. She rests herself on a pillar, for the same reason as the poets often compare an obstinate resolution or a great firmness of mind to a rock that is not to be moved by all the assaults of winds or waves.

Mente quatit solidá, neque Auster
Dur inquietæ turbidus Adriæ, 8c.

Hor.
The man resolv'd, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise,
Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries;

The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,
And the stern brow and the harsh voice defies,

And with superior greatness smiles.
Not the rough whirlwind that deforms
Adria's black gulf-&c.

Mr. CREECH.

I am apt to think it was on devices of this nature that Horace had his eye in his Ode to Fortune. It is certain he alludes to a pillar that figured out Security, or something very like it; and, till any body finds out another that will stand better in its place, I think we may content ourselves with this before us.

Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ
Urbesque gentesque et Latium feror,
Regumque matres barbarorum, et

Purpurei metuunt tyranni :
Injurioso nè pede proruas
Stantem coluinnam; neu populus frequens
Ad arma cessantes, ad arma
Concitet imperiumque frangat.

AD Fortun. Hor. lib. 1. od. 35.
To thee their vows rough Germans pay,
To thee the wand'ring Scythians bend,
Thee mighty Rome proclaims a friend:

And for their tyrant sons

The barb'rous mothers pray
To thee, the greatest guardian of their thrones.

They bend, they vow, and still they fear,
Lest
you

should kick their column down,
And cloud the glory of their crown;
They fear that

you

would raise The lazy crowd to war, And break their empire, or confine their praise. Mr. CREECH. I must however be so fair as to let you know that Peace and Felicity have their pillars in several medals, as well as Security, so that if you do not like one of them, you may take the other.

The next figure is that of Chastity*, who was worshipped as a goddess, and had her temple:

deinde ad superos Astrea recessit
Hac comité, dtque duæ pariter fugere sorores.

De Pudicitia. Júv. Sat. 6.
At length uneasy Justice upwards flew,
And both the sisters to the stars withdrew. Àr. DRYDÉN.
Templa pudicitiæ quid opus statuisse puellis,

Si cuivis nuptæ quidlibet esse licet? TIB. lib.2.
Since wives whate'er they please unblam'd can be,
Why rear we useless fanes to Chastity ?

How her posture and dress become her, you may see in the following verses.

Ergo sedens velat vultus, obnubit ocellos,
Ista verecundi signa F'udoris erant.

ALCIAT.
She sits, her visage veil'd, her eyes conceal'd,

By marks like these was Chastity reveald.
Ite procul vittæ tenues, insigne Pudoris,
Quæque tegit medios instita longa pedes. Ov. de Art. Amanda

frontem limbo vėlata pudicum. CLAUD. de Theod. Cons,
Hence! ye smooth fillets on the forehead bound,
Whose bands the brows of Chastity surround,
And her coy robe that lengthens to the ground. Mr. Cảeech.

She is represented in the habit of a Roman matron.

Matronæ præter faciem nil cerniere possis,
Cætera, ni Catia est; demissâ veste tegentis.' Hor. Sat. 2. lib. 1.

Besides, a matron's face is seen alone;
But Kate's, that female bully of the town;
For all the rest is cover'd with a

gown.

That, ni Catia est, says Cynthio, is a beauty unknown to most of our English satirists. Horace knew how to stab with address, and to give a thrust where he

was least expected. Boileau has nicely imitated him in this, as well as his other beauties. But our English libellers are for hewing a man downright, and for letting him see at a distance that he is to look for no mercy. I own to you, says Eugenius, I have often admired this piece of art in the two satirists you mention, and have been surprised to meet with a man in a satire that I never in the least expected to find there. They have a particular way of hiding their ill-nature, and introduce a criminal rather to illustrate a precept or passage, than out of any seeming design to abuse him. Our English poets on the contrary show a kind of malice prepense in their satires, and instead of bringing in the person to give light to any part of the poem, let you see they writ the whole poem on purpose to abuse the person. But we must not leave the ladies thus. Pray what kind of head-dress is that of Piety?

As Chastity *, says Philander, appears in the habit of a Roman matron, in whom that virtue was supposed to reign in its perfection, Piety wears the dress of the vestal virgins, who were the greatest and most shining examples of it. Vittata Sacerdos is, you know, an expression among the Latin poets. I do not question but you have seen, in the Duke of Florence's gallery, a beautiful antique figure of a woman standing before an altar, which some of the antiquaries call a Piety, and others a vestal virgin. The woman, altar, and fire burning on it, are seen in marble exactly as in this coin, and bring to my mind a part of a speech that Religion makes in Phædrus’s fables.

Sed ne ignis noster facinori præluceat,
Per
quem

verendos excolit Pietas deos.

Fab. 10. lib. 4.

It is to this goddess that Statius addresses himself in the following lines.