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125

How will our fathers rise up in a rage,
And fwear, all shame is loft in George's age!
You'd think (x) no fools difgrac'd the former reign,
Did not fome grave examples yet remain,
Who fcorn a lad fhould teach his father skill,
And, having once been wrong, will be so still. 130
He, who to feem more deep than you or I,
Extols old bards, (y) or Merlin's Prophecy,
Mistake him not; he envies, not admires,
And to debase the fons, exalts the fires.
(≈) Had ancient times confpir'd to difallow
What then was new, what had been ancient now?
Or what remain'd, fo worthy to be read
By learned critics, of the mighty dead?

135

(a) In days of eafe, when now the weary sword Was fheath'd, and Luxury with Charles restor'd; In ev'ry tatte of foreign courts improv'd,

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All, by the king's example, liv'd and lov'd."

141

Vel quia nil [x] rectum, nifi quod placuit fibi, ducunt;
Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, et quæ
Imberbi didicere, fenes perdenda fateri.

Jam [y] Saliare Numa carmen qui laudat, et illud,
Quod mecum ignorat, folus vult fcire videri;
Ingeniis non ille favet plauditque fepultis,
Noftra fed impugnat, nos-noftraque lividus odit.
[x] Quod fi tam Græcis novitas invifa fuiffet,
Quam nobis; quid nunc effet vetus? aut quid ha-

beret,

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Quod legeret tereretque viritim publicus ufus? [a] Ut primum pofitis nugari Gracia bellis

NOTES.

Ver. 142. A verfe of the Lord Lanfdown.

Then

169
Then peers grew proud in (b) horfemanship t'excel;
Newmarket's glory rofe, as Britain's rell;
The foldier breath'd the gallantries of France, 145
And ev'ry flow'ry courtier writ romance.
Then (c) marble, foften'd into life, grew warm,
And yielding metal flow'd to human form:
Rely on (d) animated canvass stole

The fleepy eye, that spoke the melting foul. 150
No wonder then, when all was love and fport,
The willing Mufes were debauch'd at court:
On (e) each enervate ftring they taught the note
To pant, or tremble thro' an eunuch's throat.

But (f) Britain, changeful as a child at play, Now calls in princes, and now turns away. 156 Now Whig, now Tory, what we lov'd we hate; Now all for pleasure, now for church and state;

Cœpit, et in vitium fortuna labier æqua; Nunc athletarum ftudiis, nunc arfit [b] equorum [c] Marmoris aut eboris fabros aut æris amavit; Sufpendit [d] picta vultum mentemque tabella; Nunc [e] tibicinibus, nunc eft gavifa tragœdis: [f] Sub nutrice puella velut fi luderet infans,

NOTES.

Ver. 143. In horsemanship t' excel,------And ev'ry flow'ry courtier writ romance.] The Duke of Newcastle's book of horfemanship; the romance of Partheniffa, by the Earl of Orrery, and most of the French romances translated by perfons of quality.

Ver. 153. On each enervate string, etc.] The fiege of Rhodes by Sir William Davenant, the first opera sung in England.

Ver. 158. Now all for pleasure, now for church and flate The first half of Charles the Second's reign was paffed in an abandoned diffoluteness of manners; the other half, in factious difputes about Popish plots and French prerogative. VOL. II.

K

New

Now for prerogative, and now for laws;
Effects unhappy! from a noble cause.

160

(g) Time was, a fober Englishman would knock His fervants up, and rife by five o'clock, Inftruct his family in ev'ry rule,

And fend his wife to church, his fon to school,

Quod cupide petiit, mature plena reliquit.
Quid placet, aut odio eft, quod non mutabile credas?
Hoc paces habuere bone, ventique fecundi.

[g] Romæ dulce diu fuit, et folemne reclufa Mane domo vigilare, clienti promere jura;

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NOTES.

Ver. 160. Effects unhappy! from a noble cause,] i. e. the love of Liberty---Mr Voltaire, while in England, in a letter, dated October 15, 1726, writes thus to a friend in Paris. "I had a mind at first to print our poor Henry at my own expences in London; but the lofs of my money is a "fad ftop to my defign. I question if I shall try the way of fubfcriptions by the favour of the court. I am weary of courts. All that is king, or belongs to a king, frights my republican philofophy. I wont drink the leaft draught of flavery in the land of liberty. I have written freely to and I will always do fo, having no reafon to lay my"felf under any reftraint. I fear, I hope nothing from your country: all that I wish for, is to fee you one day here. I am entertaining myself with this pleasant hope. If it is but a dream, let me enjoy it: do not undeceive me: let me believe I shall have the pleasure to see you in London, drawing up the ftrong spirit of this unaccountable nation. You will tranflate their thoughts better when you live amongst them. You will fee a nation fond of their liberty, learned, witty, defpifing life and death, a nation of philofophers. Not but that there are fome fools in England. Every country has its madmen. It may be, French folly is plea "fanter than English madness, but by English wildom

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"and English honesty is above yours."

T.

To (b) worship like his fathers, was his care; 165
To teach their frugal virtues to his heir;
'To prove, that luxury could never hold;
And place, on good (2) fecurity, his gold.
Now times are chang'd, and one (k) poetic itch
Has feiz'd the court and city, poor and rich: 170
Sons, fires, and grandfires, all will wear the bays,
Our wives read Milton, and our daughters plays,
To theatres, and to rehearsals throng,
And all our grace at table is a fong.
I, who fo oft renounce the Mufes, (1) lie,
Not's felf e'er tells more fibbs than I;
When fick of Mufe, or follies we deplore,
And promise our best friends to rhyme no more;
We wake next morning in a raging fit,
And call for pen and ink to show our wit.

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180 (m) He ferv'd a 'prenticeship, who fets up fhop; Ward try'd on puppies, and the poor, his drop; K 2 Ev'n

Scriptos [b] nominibus rectis expendere numos;
[i] Majores audire, minori dicere, per quæ
Crefcere res poffet, minui damnofa libido.
Mutavit mentem populus levis, [k] et calet uno
Scribendi ftudio: puerique patrefque feveri
Fronde comas vincti cœnant, et carmina dictant.
Ipfe ego, qui nullos me affirmo fcribere verfus,
Invenior [1] Parthis mendacior; et prius orto
Sole vigil, calamum et chartas et fcrinia posco.
[m] Navem agere ignarus navis timet: abrotonum

ægro

NOTES.

Ver. 182. Ward] A famous Empiric, whofe pill and drop had feveral furprifing effects, and were one of the principal fubjects of writing and converfation at this time,

Ev'n (7) Radcliff's doctors travel firft to France, Nor dare to practise, till they've learn'd to dance, Who builds a bridge that never drove a pile? 185 (Should Ripley venture, all the world would smile) But (o) those who cannot write, and those who can, All rhyme, and fcrawl, and fcribble, to a man.

Yet, Sir, (p) reflect, the mifchief is not great; These madmen never hurt the church or ftate: 190 Sometimes the folly benefits mankind;

And rarely (9) av'rice taints the tuneful mind.
Allow him but his (r) plaything of a pen,
He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men:

(s) Flight of cashiers, or mobs, he'll never mind;
And knows no loffes while the Mufe is kind. 196
To (1) cheat a friend, or ward, he leaves to Peter;
The good man heaps up nothing but mere metre,
Enjoys his garden and his book in quiet;
And then---a perfect hermit in his (u) diet.

200

Non audet, nifi qui didicit, dare: quod medicorum eft,
Promittunt [n] medici: tractant fabrilia fabri:
[o] Scribimus indocti doctique poemata paffim.
[p] Hic error tamenet levis hæc infania, quantas
Virtutes habeat, fic collige: vatis [q] avarus
Non temere eft animus: [r] verfus amat, hoc ftudet
unum;

Detrimenta, [s] fugas fervorum, incendia ridet;
Non (t) fraudem focio, puerove incogitat ullam
Pupillo; vivit filiquis, et pane fecundo [u];

NOTES.

Ibid. Ward try'd on puppies, and the poor, his drop:] It was the poet's purpofe to do Mr Ward honour in affigning to him that medical aphorifin of regular practice,

Periculum faciamus in corpore vili.

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