; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to ftrike, VARIATIONS. After 208. in the MS. Who, if two Wits on rival themes conteft, 205 210 Alluding to Mr. P.'s and Tickell's Tranflation of the first Book of the Iliad. VER, 208. And so obliging, that he ne'er oblig'd;] He was one of those obliging perfons who are the humble Servants of all Mankind. Mr. Pope therefore did wifely, he foon returned his fhare in him to the common stock. VER. 212. And wonder with a foolish face of praife-] When men, out of flattery, extol what they are confcious they do not understand, as is fometimes the cafe of men of education, the fear of praifing in the wrong place is likely enough to give a foolish turn to the air of an embarraffed countenance. VER. 213. Who but must laugh, if fuch a man there be?] While a Character is unapplied, all the various parts of it will be confidered together; and if the affemblage of them be as in ; 216 What tho' my Name ftood rubric on the walls, Or plaister'd pofts, with claps, in capitals? Or fmoaking forth, a hundred hawkers load, On wings of winds came flying all abroad? I fought no homage from the Race that write I kept, like Afian Monarchs, from their fight Poems I heeded (now be-rym'd fo long) No more than thou, greatGEORGE! a birth-day song. I ne'er with wits or witlings pafs'd my days, To spread about the itch of verse and praise; NOTES. 221 coherent as in this before us, it cannot fail of being the object of a malignant pleasantry. VER. 214. Who would not weep, if ATTICUS were he !] But when we come to know it belongs to Atticus, i. e. to one whofe more obvious qualities had before gained our love or esteem; then friendship, in fpite of ridicule, will make a feparation our old impreffions get the better of our new, or, at leaft, fuffer themselves to be no further impaired than by the admiffion of a mixture of pity and concern. lbid. ATTICUS] It was a great falfhood, which some of the Libels reported, that this Character was written after the Gentleman's death; which fee refuted in the Teftimonies prefixed to the Dunciad. But the occafion of writing it was fuch as he would not make public out of regard to his memory and all that could further be done was to omit the name, in the Edidition of his Works. P. VER. 216. claps, in capitals?] The bills of Quack-Doctors and Quack Bookfellers being ufually pafted together on the fame pofts. VER. 218. On wings of winds came flying all abroad?] Hopkins, in the civth Pfalm. P. Of all thy blameless life the fole return 259 My Verfe, and QUEENSB'RY weeping o'er thy urn! fo Oh let me live my own, and die so too! (To live and die is all I have to do:) Maintain a Poet's dignity and ease, And see what friends, and read what books I please: Above a Patron, tho' I condescend Sometimes to call a Minifter my friend. I was not born for Courts or great affairs; my head, Nor know, if Dennis be alive or dead. 265 270 Why am I afk'd what next shall see the light? Heav'ns! was I born for nothing but to write? a VARIATIONS. After 270. in the MS. Friendships from youth I fought, and feek them still: By not making the World his School he means, he did not form his fyftem of morality, on the principles or practife of men in business. NOTES. VER. 265. tho' I condefcend &c.] He thought it, and he juftly thought it, a condefcenfion in an honest Man to accept the friendship of any one, how high foever, whofe conduct in life was governed only on principles of policy: for of what minifters he speaks, may be feen by the character he gives, in the next line, of the Courts they belong to. Has Life no joys for me? or (to be grave) Have I no friend to ferve, no foul to fave? 274 "I found him clofe with Swift-Indeed? no doubt (Cries prating Balbus) fomething will come out. 'Tis all in vain, deny it as I will. "No, fuch a Genius never can lie ftill And then for mine obligingly mistakes The first Lampoon Sir Will, or Bubo makes. 280 VARIATIONS. After 282. in the MS. P. What if I fing Auguftus, great and good? P. Be nice no more, but, with a mouth profound, P. Why write at all? A. Yes, filence if you keep, NOTES. VER. 271. Why am I afk'd &c.] This is intended as a reproof of thofe impertinent complaints, which were perpetually made to him by those who called themselves his friends, for not entertaining the Town as often as it wanted amufement.-A French writer fays well on this occafion-Dès qu'on eft auteur, * D Curft be the verfe, how well foe'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe, NOTES. il femble qu'on foit aux gages d'un tas de fainéans, pour leur fournir de quoi amufer leur oifiveté. VER. 273or, to be grave, &c.] This important truth, concerning the Soul, was always fo present with him, that, in his more ferious hours, he used to say, That he was certain of its immortality, that he seemed to feel it, as it were, within him by intuition. VER. 282. When ev'ry Coxcomb knows me by my Style?] The discovery of a concealed author by his Style, not only requires a perfect intimacy with his writings, but great skill in the nature of compofition. But, in the practice of these Critics, knowing an author by his ftyle, is like judging of a man's whole perfon from the view of one of his moles. When Mr. Pope wrote the Advertisement to the first Edition of the new Dunciad, intimating, that "it was by a different "hand from the other, and found in detached pieces, incor❝rect, and unfinished," I objected to him the affectation of ufing fo unpromising an attempt to mislead his Reader. He replied, that I thought too highly of the public tafte; that, most commonly, it was formed on that of half a dozen people in fashion, who took the lead, and who sometimes have obtruded on the Town the dulleft performances, for works of Wit: while, at the fame time, fome true effort of genius, without name or recommendation, hath paffed by the public eye unobferved or neglected: That he once before made the trial I now objected to, with fuccefs, in the Essay on Man: which was at firft given (as he told me) to Dr. Younge, to Dr. Defaguliers, to Lord Bolingbroke, to Lord Pagett, and, in fhort, to every body but to him who was capable of writing it. However, to make him amends, this fame Public, when let into the secret, would, for fome time after, fuffer no poem, with a moral title, to pass for any one's but his. So the Essay on human Life, the Efay on Reafon, and many others of a worse tendency, were very liberally bestowed upon him. This, and a great deal more he added on the fame occafion, and affured me, that his new Dunciad would be full as well un |