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b Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinofus, amator,

d

Nemo adeo ferus eft, ut non mitescere poffit,
Si modo culturae patientem commodet aurem.

e Virtus eft, vitium fugere; et fapientia prima,
Stultitia caruiffe. vides, quae f maxima credis
Effe mala, exiguum cenfum, turpemque repulfam,
Quanto devites animi, capitisque labore.

Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos,
Per & mare pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes:
Ne cures ea, quae ftulte miraris et optas,

Difcere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis?
Quis circum

pagos et circum compita pugnax

Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui fpes,
Cui fit conditio dulcis fine pulvere palmae?

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VER. 70. Scar'd at the fpectre of pale Poverty!] Tho' this has all the spirit, it has not all the imagery of the Original; where Horace makes Poverty pursue, and keep pace with the Miser in his flight.

Per mare Pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes. But what follows,

Wilt thou do nothing, etc.

far furpaffes the Original.

Beb furious, envious, flothful, mad, or drunk, • Slave to a Wife, or Vaffal to a Punk,

A Switz, a High-dutch, or a Low-dutch & Bear;
All that we ask is but a patient Ear.

e "Tis the first Virtue, Vices to abhor;
And the first Wisdom, to be Fool no more.
But to the world no f bugbear is fo great,
As want of figure, and a small Estate.
To either India fee the Merchant fly,
Scar'd at the spectre of pale Poverty!

See him, with pains of body, pangs of foul,

65

70

Burn through the Tropic, freeze beneath the Pole!
Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end,
Nothing, to make Philofophy thy friend?
To stop thy foolish views, thy long defires,
And cafe thy heart of all that it admires?
Here, Wisdom calls: "Seek Virtue first, be bold!
"As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold."

NOTES.

75

VER. 77. Here Wifdem calls: etc.] All from hence to 110, is a pretty clofe tranflation: but in general done with so mafterly a fpirit, that the Original, tho' one of the most finished paffages in Horace, looks only like the imitation of it.

VER. 78. As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold.] This perhaps is the moft faulty line in the whole collection. The Original is, Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum.

which only fays, that as Silver is of lefs value than Gold, fo Gold

❝k O cives, cives! quaerenda pecunia primum eft;

Virtus poft nummos: haec1 Janus fummus ab imo

Prodocet haec recinunt juvenes dictata senesque,

Laevo fufpenfi loculos tabulamque lacerto.

Eft" animus tibi, funt mores, eft lingua, fidesque:

Sed quadringentis fex feptem millia defint,

• Plebs eris. at pueri ludentes, Rex eris, aiunt,

NOTES.

is of lefs value than Virtue in which fimple inferiority, and not the proportion of it, is implied. For it was as contrary to the Author's purpofe, as it is to common sense, to suppose, that Virtue was but juft as much better than gold, as gold is better than filver. Yet Mr. Pope, too attentive to his constant object, concifenefs, has, before he was aware, fallen into this meaning. However this, and many other inaccuracies in his works, had been corrected had he lived; as many, that now firft appear in this Edition, were actually corrected a little before his death.

And here I cannot but do juftice to one of his many good qualities, a very rare one indeed, and what none but a truly great genius can attend to indulge; I mean his extreme readi nefs, and unfeigned pleafure, in acknowledging his mistakes: this, with an impatience to reform them, he poffeffed in a greater degree, and with lefs affectation than any Man I ever knew.

80

There, London's voice: "Get Money,Money still!
"And then let Virtue follow, if the will."
This, this the faving doctrine, preach'd to all,
From low St. James's up to high St. Paul;

1

m

From him whose " quills ftand quiver'd at his ear, To him who notches fticks at Westminster.

Barnard in " fpirit, sense, and truth abounds; 85 Pray then, what wants he?" Fourscore thousand pounds;

A Penfion, or fuch Harness for a flave

As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have.
Barnard, thou art a Cit, with all thy worth;
But Bug and D *1, Their Honours, and fo forth. 90
Yet ev'ry P child another fong will fing,
"Virtue, brave boys! 'tis Virtue makes a King."

NOTES.

VER. 82. From low St. James's up to high St. Paul,] i. e. This is a doctrine in which both Whigs and Tories agree.

VER. 83. From him whofe quills ftand quiver'd at his ear,] They who do not take the delicacy of this fatire, may think the figure of flanding quiver'd, extremely hard and quaint; but it has an exquifite beauty, infinuating that the pen of a Scrivener is as ready as the quill of a porcupine, and as fatal as the shafts of a Parthian.-Quiver'd at his ear, which defcribes the pofition it is ufually found in, alludes to the cuftom of the American canibals, who make use of their hair (tied in a knot on the top of their heads) for a quiver for their poifon'd arrows.

VER. 84. notches flicks] Exchequer Tallies.

VER. 85. Barnard in fpirit, fenfe, and truth abounds,] Sir John Barnard. It was the Poet's purpose to fay, that this great man (who does fo much honour to his Country) had a fine ge

Si recte facies. Hic murus abeneus esto,

Nil confcire fibi, nulla pallescere culpa.

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Rofcia, dic fodes, melior lex, an puerorum est

Naenia, quae regnum recte facientibus offert,

S

Et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis?

t

* Ifne tibi melius fuadet, qui, "Rem facias; rem,

"Si poffis, recte; fi non, quocunque modo rem." Ut propius fpectes lacrymofa poemata Pupi!

W

An, qui fortunae te refponfare fuperbae

Liberum et erectum, * praefens hortatur et aptat ?

NOTES.

nius, improved and put in ufe by a true understanding; and both, under the guidance of an integrity fuperior to all the temptations of intereft, honours, or any meaner paffion. Many events, fince the paying this tribute to his virtue, have fhewn how much, and how particularly it was due to him.

VER. 95. Be this thy Screen, and this thy Wall of Brass ;] Hic murus abeneus efto.

Dacier laughs at an able Critic, who was fcandalized, that the antient Scholiafts had not explained what Horace meant by a wall of brafs; for, fays Dacier, "Chacun fe fait des difficultez

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