To W---le guilty of fome venial fin;
What's that to you who ne'er was out nor in?
The priest whofe flattery bedropt the crown,
How hurt he you? he only ftain'd the gown. 165
And how did, pray, the florid youth offend,
Whofe fpeech you took, and gave it to a friend?
P. 'Faith it imports not much from whom it came ;
Whoever borrow'd, could not be to blame,
Since the whole houfe did afterwards the fame.
Let courtly wits to wits afford supply,
As hog to hog in huts of Weftphaly;
If one, thro' Nature's bounty or his Lord's,
Has what the frugal dirty foil affords,

171

From him the next receives it, thick or thin, 175
As pure a mefs almoft as it came in;

The bleffed benefit, not there confin'd,
Drops to the third, who nuzzles clofe behind;
From tail to mouth, they feed and they caroufe:
The laft full fairly gives it to the Houfe.

F. This filthy fimile, this beaftly line

Quite turns my ftomach--

180

P. So does Flatt'ry mine; And all your courtly civet-cats can vent, Perfume to you, to me is excrement. But hear me further---Japhet, 'tis agreed Writ not, and Chartres fcarce could write or read,

NOTES.

185

Ver. 161. The priest, &c.] Spoken not of any particular priest, but of many priests.

Ver. 166. And how did, &c.] This feems to allude to a complaint made ver 71. of the proceding Dialogue.

Ver. 185.Japhet--Chartres] See the epiftle to Lord Bathurst.

Ver. 185. in the MS.

VARIATIONS.

I grant it, Sir; and further, 'tis agreed,

Japhet writ not, and Chartres frarce could read.

In all the courts of Pindus guiltless quite;

But pens can forge, my friend, that cannot write;
And muft no egg in Japhet's face be thrown,
Because the deed he forg'd was not my own? 190
Muft never patriot then declame at gin,
Unless, good man! he has been fairly in!
No zealous paftor blame a failing spouse,
Without a staring reason on his brows?
And each blafphemer quite efcape the rod,
Because the infult's not on man, but God?

195

Afk you what provocation I have had? The ftrong antipathy of good to bad. When truth or virtue an affront endures, Th' affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours. Mine, as a foe profefs'd to falfe pretence, Who think a Coxcomb's honour like his Sense; Mine, as a friend to ev'ry worthy mind; And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind. F. You're ftrangely proud.

P. So proud, I am no flave

So impudent, I own myself no knave:

So odd, my country's ruin makes me grave.
Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to see
Men not afraid of God, afraid of me :

201

:

206

Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, 210
Yet touch'd and sham'd by ridicule alone.
O facred weapon! left for Truth's defence,
Sole dread of Folly, Vice, and Infolence!
To all but heav'n-directed hands deny'd,

The Mufe may give thee, but the Gods must guide:

NOTES.

Ver. 204. And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.} From Terence: "Homb fum: humani nihil a me alienum puto."

Rev'rent

220

Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honeft zeal; 216
To roufe the watchmen of the public weal,
To Virtue's work provoke the tardy hall,
And goad the prelate flumb'ring in his stall.
Ye tinfel infects! whom a Court maintains,
That counts your beauties only by your stains,
Spin all your Cobwebs o'er the eye of day!
The Mufe's wing shall brush you all away:
All his Grace preaches, all his Lordship fings,
All that make faints of Queens, and gods of Kings.
All, all but Truth, drops dead-born from the prefs,
Like the last Gazette, or the laft Address.

277
When black Ambition ftains a public cause,
A Monarch's fword when mad Vain-glory draws,
VOL. II.

P

NOTES.

Not

Ver. 219. And goad the prelate flumb'ring in his fall.] The good Eufebius, in his Evangelical Preparation, draws a long parallel between the Ox and the Chriftian Pricfihood. Hence the dignified clergy, out of mere humility, have ever fince called their thrones by the name of falls. To which a great prelate of Winchester, one W. Edinton, modeftly alluding, (who otherwise had been long fince forgotten), has rendered his name immortal by this ecclefiaftical aphorism, Canterbury is the higher rack, but Winchefter is the better manger. By which, however, it appears, that he was not one of those here condemned, who siumber in their stalls.

Ver. 222. Cobwebs] Weak and flight fophiftry against virtue and honour. Thin colours over vice, as unable to hide the light of truth, as cobwebs to shade the sun.

Ver. 228. When black ambition, &c.] The case of Cromwell in the civil war of England; and (ver. 229.) of Louis XIV. in his conquest of the Low Countries.

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 227. in the MS.

Where's now the ftat that lighted Charles to rife?
--With that which followed Julius to the skies.
Angels, that watch'd the royal onk fo well,
How chanc'd ye nod, when lucklefs Sorel fell

Not Waller's wreath can hide the nation's fear,
Nor Boileau turn the feather to a star.

Not fo when diadem'd with rays divine,

231

Touch'd with the flame that breaks from Virtue's fhrine,

Her prieftels Mufe forbids the good to die,
And opes the Temple of Eternity.

There, other tropies deck the truly brave,
Than fuch as Anftis cafts into the
Far other ftars than * and *** wear,

grave;

And may defcend to Mordington from STAIR: (Such as an HoUGH's unfully'd mitre shine,

235

240

Or beam, good DIGBY, from a heart like thine.) Let Envy howl, while Heav'n's whole chorus fings, And bark at honour not conferr'd by kings;

NOTES.

Ver. 231. Nor Boileau turn the feather to a star.] See his ode on Namur; where (to use his own words) “Il a fait un Aftre de la Plume blanche que le Roy porte ordinairement a fon chapeau, et qui eft en effet une espece de Comete, fattale a nos ennemis."

Ver. 237. Anftis] The chief herald at arms. It is the cuftom, at the funeral of great peers, to caft into the grave the broken ftaves and enfigns of honour.

Ver 239. Stair: John Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, knight of the thiftle; ferved in all the wars under the Duke of Marlborough; and afterwards as ambaffador in France.

Ver. 240, 241. Hough and Digby] Dr John Hough, Bishop of Worcester, and the Lord Digby. The one an afferter of the church of England, in oppofition to the false measures of King James II. The other as firmly attached to the cause of that King. Both acting out of principle, and equally men of honour and virtue.

VARIATIONS.

Hence, lying miracles! reduc'd fo low
As to the Rega! touch, and Papal toe;
Hence haughty Edgar's title to the main,
Britain's to France, and thine to India, Spain!

Let

het Flatt'ry fick'ning fee the incenfe rife,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the fkies: 245
Truth guards the poet, fanctifies the line,
And makes immortal, Verfe as mean as mine,
Yes, the last pen for freedom let me draw,
When Truth ftands trembling on the edge of Law,
Here, laft of Britons! let your names be read, 250
Are none, none Hiving? let me praife the dead,
And for that cause which made your fathers fhine,
Fall by the votes of their degen'rate line.

Fr. Alas! alas! pray end what you began;
And write next winter more Ejays on Man: 255

NOTES.

Ver. ult.] This was the laft poem of the kind printed bý our author, with a refolution to publish no more; but to enter thus in the most plain and folemn manner he could, a fort of PROTEST against that infuperable corruption and depravity of manners, which he had been fo unhappy as to live to fee. Could he have hoped to have amended any, he had continued thofe attacks; but bad men were grown io fameless, and fo powerful, that Ridicule was become as anfafe as it was ineffectual. The poem raised him, as he knew it would, fome enemies; but he had reason to be iatisfied with the approbation of good men, and the testimony of his own confcience.

er/255. in the MS.

VARIATIONS.

Quit, quit, these themes, and write Effays on Man.

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