Plus oneris, quanto veniae minus. 89 afpice, Plautus Quo pacto 9° partes tutetur amantis ephebi, Ut patris attenti, lenonis ut infidiofi : Quantus fit Doffennus 9 edacibus in parafitis : Quam 92 non aftricto percurrat pulpita focco. Geftit enim 93 nummum in loculos demittere; poft hoc Securus, cadat an recto ftet fabula talo. Quem tulit ad fcenam 94 ventofo gloria curru, Exanimat lentus fpectator, fedulus inflat: Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, ac reficit: 95 valeat res ludicra, fi me Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum. 95 Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam Quod numero plures, virtute & honore minores NOTES. VER. 290. Aftraa,) A Name taken by Mrs. Behn, Authorefs of feveral obfcene Plays, c. P. Ibid. The stage how loosely does Aftran tread,) The fine metaphor of non aftritto, greatly improved by the happy ambiguity of the word loosely. VER. 296. O you! whom Vanity's light bark conveys,) The metaphor is fine, but inferior to the Original, in many respects, ventofo gloria surtu, has a happy air of ridicule heightened by its allufion to the Ro But in known Images of life, I guess The labour greater, as th' indulgence lefs 89. 285 290 Tell me if 90 Congreve's Fools are Fools indeed? O you! whom 94 Vanity's light bark conveys 95 There still remains, to mortify a Wit, The many-headed Monster of the Pit : NOTES. 295 300 305 man Triumph. It has a great beauty too, taken in a more ferious light, as reprefenting the Poet a Slave to Fame or Glory, Quem tulit ad scenam Gloria. as was the cuftom in their triumphs. In other respects the imitation has the preference. It is more just. For a Poet makes his firft entrance on the ftage not, immediately, to Triumph, but to try his Fortune. However, Who pants for Glory, &c. is much fuperior to the Original. Indocti, ftolidique, & 7 depugnare parati Si difcordet eques, media inter carmina pofcunt Quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas; NOTES. VER. 313. From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.) From Plays to Operas, and from Operas to Pantomimes. VER. 319. Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breaft.) The Coronation of Henry VIII. and Queen Anne Boleyn, in which the Playhouses vied with each other to reprefent all the pomp of a Coronation. In this noble contention, the Armour of one of the Kings of England was borrowed from the Tower, to dress the Champion. P. 310 A fenfeless, worthless, and unhonour'd croud; 320 Ah lucklefs 103 Poet! ftretch thy lungs and roar, And all the Thunder of the. Pit afcends! Loud as the Wolves, on 5 Orcas' ftormy fteep, NOTES. Ibid. Old Edward's Armour, &c.) Defcriptive poetry is the lowest work of a Genius. Therefore when Mr. Pope employs himself in it, he never fails, as here, to enoble it with some moral ftroke or other. VER. 328. Orcas' ftormy steep.) The farthest Northern Promontory of Scotland, oppofite to the Orcades. P. 1 Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi spectantur, et artes. 106 Divitiaeque peregrinae: quibus 107 oblitus actor Cum ftetit in fcena, concurrit dextera laevae. Quid placet ergo? Dixit adhuc aliquid? nil fane. Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno. Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipfe recufem, Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne; Ille per extentum funem mihi poffe videtur Ire poeta; 19 mcum qui pectus inaniter angit, Ut magus; & modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis. Verum age, & his, qui fe lectori credere malunt, Quam fpectatoris faftidia ferre fuperbi, Curam impende brevem: fi munus Apolline dignum Vis complere libris; & vatibus addere calcar, Ut ftudio majore petant Helicona virentem. NOTES. VER. 347. To Thebes, to Athens, &c.) i. e. is equally knowing in the manners of the most different people; and has the fkill to employ thofe manners with decorum. |