Nay hints, 'tis by connivance of the Court,

164

That Spain robs on, and Dunkirk's still a Port.
Not more amazement feiz'd on Circe's guests,
To see themselves fall endlong into beasts,
Than mine, to find a subject stay'd and wife
Already half turn'd traytor by furprize.
I felt th' infection flide from him to me,

As in the pox, fome give it to get free;
And quick to fwallow me, methought I saw
One of our Giant Statutes ope its jaw.

170

175

In that nice moment, as another Lye Stood juft a-tilt, the Minifter came by. To him he flies, and bows, and bows again, Then, close as Umbra, joins the dirty train. Not Fannius' felf more impudently near, When half his nofe is in his Prince's ear. I quak'd at heart; and still afraid, to see All the Court fill'd with ftranger things than he, Ran out as fast, as one that pays his bail And dreads more actions, hurries from a jail.

Bear me, fome God! oh quickly bear me hence

To wholfome Solitude, the nurse of sense:

NOTES.

the found, but in the fenfe of thefe two words.

185

VER. 184. Bear me,] These four lines are wonderfully sub

But he is gone, thanks to his needy want,
And the Prerogative of my Crown; fcant
His thanks were ended, when I (which did see
All theCourt fill'd with more strange things than he)
Ran from thence with fuch, or more haft than one
Who fears more actions, doth haft from prison.
At home in wholesome folitariness

My piteous foul began the wretchedness
Of fuiters at court to mourn, and a trance

Like his, who dreamt he saw hell, did advance
It felf o'er me: fuch men as he saw there

I faw at court, and worse and more. Low fear
Becomes the guilty, not th' accufer: Then,
Shall I, none's flave, of high-born or rais'd men
Fear frowns; and my mistress truth, betray thee
For th' huffing, bragart, puft nobility?
No, no, thou which fince yesterday haft been,
Almost about the whole world, haft thou feen,
O fun, in all thy journey, vanity,

Such as fwells the bladder of our court? I

NOTES.

lime. His impatience in this region of vice, is like that of Virgil, in the region of heat. They both call out as if they were half ftifled by the fulphury air of the place,

O qui me gelidis

O quickly bear me hence.

Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings,
And the free foul looks down to pity Kings!
There fober thought purfu'd th' amufing theme,
Till Fancy colour'd it, and form'd a Dream.
A Vision hermits can to Hell tranfport,

190

And forc'd ev❜n me to see the damn'd at Court.
Not Dante dreaming all th' infernal state,
Beheld fuch scenes of envy, fin, and hate.
Base Fear becomes the guilty, not the free;
Suits Tyrants, Plunderers, but fuits not me:
Shall I, the Terror of this finful town,
Care, if a liv'ry'd Lord or fmile or frown?
Who cannot flatter, and deteft who can,
Tremble before a noble Serving-man?

195

O my fair mistress, Truth! fhall I quit thee 200
For huffing, braggart, puft Nobility?
Thou, who fince yesterday hast roll'd o'er all
The bufy, idle blockheads of the ball,

Haft thou, oh Sun! beheld an emptier fort,

Than fuch as fwell this bladder of a court? 205

NOTES.

VER. 188. There fober thought] These two lines are remarkable for the delicacy and propriety of the expreffion.

VER. 194. Bafe Fear] Thefe four admirable lines become the high office he had affumed, and fo nobly fuftained.

Think he which made your Waxen garden, and Transported it from Italy, to stand

With us at London, flouts our Courtiers; for

Just fuch gay painted things, which no fap, nor
Taft have in them, ours are; and natural

Some of the stocks are; their fruits bastard all.
'Tis ten a Clock and paft; all whom the mues,
Baloun, or tennis, diet, or the stews

Had all the morning held, now the second Time made ready, that day, in flocks are found In the Prefence, and I (God pardon me)

As fresh and sweet their Apparels be, as be Their fields they fold to buy them. For a king Those hose are, cry the flatterers: and bring Them next week to the theatre to fell.

Wants reach all states: me feems they do as well

NOTES.

A fhow of the Italian Gardens in Waxwork, in the time of King James the First. P.

That is, of wood.

VER. 206. Court in wax!] A famous fhow of the Court of France, in Wax-work. P.

VER. 213. At Fig's, at White's,] White's was a noted gam

Now

pox on those who fhew a Court in wax! It ought to bring all courtiers on their backs :

210

Such painted puppets! fuch a varnish'd race
Of hollow gew-gaws, only drefs and face!
Such waxen nofes, ftately staring things
No wonder fome folks bow, and think them Kings.
See! where the British youth, engag'd no more
At Fig's, at White's, with felons, or a whore,
Pay their last duty to the Court, and come
All fresh and fragrant, to the drawing-room; 215
In hues as gay, and odours as divine,

As the fair fields they fold to look fo fine.
"That's velvet for a King!" the flatt'rer fwears;
'Tis true, for ten days hence 'twill be King Lear's.
Our Court may justly to our stage give rules, 220
That helps it both to fools-coats and to fools.
And why not players ftrut in courtiers cloaths?
For these are actors too, as well as thofe :

Wants reach all states; they beg but better drest, And all is fplendid poverty at best.

NOTES.

225

ing-houfe: Fig's, a Prize fighter's Academy, where the young Nobility receiv'd inftruction in thofe days: It was alfo cuftomary for the nobility and gentry to vifit the condemned criminals in Newgate. P.

VER. 220. our ftage give rules,] Alluding to the Chamberlain's Authority.

* U