EPILOGUE TO THE SATIRES. Written in M DCC XXXVIII. FR. T DIALOGUE UE II. IS all a Libel-Paxton (Sir) will fay. And for that very cause I print to day. In rev'rence to the Sins of Thirty nine ! 5 Vice with fuch Giant ftrides comes on amain, Invention ftrives to be before in vain ; Feign what I will, and paint it e'er so strong, NOTES. VER. 1. Paxton] Late follicitor to the Treasury. VER. 8. Feign what I will, etc.] The Poet has here introduced an oblique apology for himself with great art. You attack perfonal characters, fay his enemies. No, replies he, fo far from that, I paint from my invention; and to prevent a likenefs, I exaggerate every feature. But alas! the growth of vice F. Yet none but you by Name the guilty lash; Ev'n Guthry faves half Newgate by a Dash. Spare then the Perfon, and expose the Vice. II P. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice? Come on then, Satire! gen'ral, unconfin'd, Spread thy broad wing, and fowze on all the kind. Ye Statesmen, Priests, of one Religion all ! Ye Tradesmen, vile, in Army, Court, or Hall! Ye Rev'rendAtheists. F.Scandal! name them, Who? P. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do. Who ftarv'd a Sifter, who forfwore a Debt, I never nam'd; the Town's enquiring yet. 20 The pois'ning Dame -- F. You mean -- F. You mean -- P. I don't. F. You do, P. See, now I keep the Secret, and not you! NOTES. is fo monftrous quick, that it rifes up to a refemblance before I can get from the prefs. VER. 11. Ev'n Guthry] The Ordinary of Newgate, who publishes the memoirs of the Malefactors, and is often prevailed upon to be fo tender of their reputation, as to fet down no more than the initials of their name. P. VER. 13. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice?] The liveliness of the reply may excuse the bad reasoning; otherwise the dice, tho' they rhime to vice, can never stand for it, which his argument requires they fhould do. For the dice are only the inftruments of fraud; but the question is not, whether the inftrument, but whether the act committed by it, should be expofed, instead of the perfon. The bribing Statesman—F. Hold, too high you go. P. The brib'd Elector-F. There you stoop too low. P. I fain would please you, if I knew with what; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not? Must great Offenders, once efcap'd the Crown, Like Royal Harts, be never more run down? Admit your Law to spare the Knight requires, 30 As Beafts of Nature may we hunt the Squires? NOTES. VER. 26. Ifain would pleafe you, if I knew with what; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not?] I have observed, that our author has invented, and introduced into his writings, a new fpecies of the fublime, by heightening it with wit. There is a fpecies of elegance in his works (of which these lines are an inftance) almoft as peculiar to him, which he has produced by employing the fimplest and tritest phrases to prevent stiffness, and yet, by a fupreme effort of his art, giving them the dignity of the choiceft. Quintilian was fo fenfible of the luftre which this throws upon true eloquence under a masterly direction, and of the prejudices against it from the difficulty of fucceeding in it; that he fays, Utinam et verba in ufu quotidiano pofita minus timeremus. VER. 28. Muft great Offenders, etc.] The cafe is archly put. Those who escape public juftice being the particular property of the Satirift. VER. 29. like Royal Harts, etc.] Alluding to the old Laws of the game, when our Kings spent all the time they could fpare from human flaughter, in Woods and Forefts. VER.31. As Beafts of Nature may we hunt the Squires ?] The expreffion is rough, like the subject, but no reflection: For if beafts of Nature, then not beafts of their own making; a fault too frequently objected to country Squires. However, the Latin is nobler, Ferac naturae, Things uncivilized, and free. Ferat, Suppose I cenfure-you know what I mean- F. A Dean, Sir? no: his Fortune is not made, You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade. 35 P. If not the Tradefman who fet up to day, Much less the 'Prentice who to morrow may. Down, down, proud Satire! tho' a Realm be spoil'd, Arraign no mightier Thief than wretched Wild; Or, if a Court or Country's made a job, Go drench a Pick-pocket, and join the Mob. But, Sir, I beg you (for the Love of Vice!) The matter's weighty, pray confider twice; Have you less pity for the needy Cheat, 40 The poor and friendless Villain, than the Great? 45 Alas! the fmall Difcredit of a Bribe' Scarce hurts the Lawyer, but undoes the Scribe, NOTES. as the Critics fay, being from the Hebrew, Pere, Afinus filveftris. SCRIBL. VER. 32. You know what I mean,] Confidering the subject, it is not eafy to know what he means. VER. 35. You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade] For, as the reasonable De la Bruyere observes, "Qui ne fait être un "ERASME, doit penfer à être Evêque." SCRIBL. VER. 39. wretched Wild,] Jonathan Wild, a famous Thief, and Thief-Impeacher, who was at laft caught in his own train and hanged. P. VER. 42. for the love of Vice] We must confider the Poet * Y Then better sure it Charity becomes To tax Directors, who (thank God) have Plums; May pinch ev'n there-why lay it on a King. 50 P. Must Satire, then, nor rife nor fall? Speak out, and bid me blame no Rogues at all. F. Yes, ftrike that Wild, I'll justify the blow. P. Strike? why the man was hang'd ten years ago: Who now that obsolete Example fears? Ev'n Peter trembles only for his Ears. 56 F. What always Peter? Peter thinks you mad, You make men defp'rate if they once are bad: NOTES. as here directing his difcourfe to a follower of the new system of Politics, That private vices are public benefits. SCRIBL. VER. 51. why lay it on a King.] He is ferious in the foregoing fubjects of fatire; but ironical here, and only alludes to the common practice of Minifters, in laying their own mifcarriages on their mafters. VER. 55. Strike? why the man was hang’d ten years ago :] The line is exquifitely beautiful. The high humour of it, in the unexpected turn, is but it's fecond praife. It finely carries on the argument, which exposes the falfe rules and measures of fatire, his Court Friend would inculcate for his practice, Ver. 28. infinuates, that he is to avoid the proper object of fatire, great offenders, who have escaped public juftice; and this, that he is to seize, in their stead, the little rogues, who have submitted to it. VER. 57. Ev'n Peter trembles only for his ears,] Peter had, the year before this, narrowly efcaped the Pillory for forgery: and got off with a fevere rebuke only from the bench. P. |