Of her beholds, in whose pure mind arose Th' ætherial fource from whence this current flows! Or fome refulgent ftar informs, and guides, E PIT A PH Upon ROBERT HUNTINGDON, of Stanton Harcourt, Efq. and ROBERT his Son. HIS peaceful tomb does now contain THI Father and fon, together laid; Whofe living virtues fhall remain, When they, and this, are quite decay'd. What man fhould be, to ripeness grown, What youth could promise, in the son. But death obdurate, both destroy'd The perfect fruit, and opening bud : First feiz'd thofe fweets we had enjoy'd, Then robb'd us of the coming good. TO MR. DRYDEN, ON HIS TRANSLATION OF PERSIUS. S when of old heroic ftory tells A of knights imprison'd long by magic spells, Till future time the deftin'd hero fend, By whom the dire enchantment is to end : Those fullen clouds, which have, for ages past, And, in their room, bright tracks of light are feen. The god of mufic, and poetic fires : Elfe, whence proceeds this great furprize of light! How dawns this day, forth from the womb of night! Our wonder now does our past folly show, Vainly contemning what we did not know: So, So, unbelievers impiously defpife The facred oracles, in myfteries. Perfius, before, in fmall efteem was had, As coin, which bears fome awful monarch's face, So ftubborn flints their inward heat conceal, Till art and force th' unwilling sparks reveal ;' But through your skill, from those fmall feeds of fire, Bright flames arife, which never can expire. THE ELEVENTH SATIRE THE OF JUVENAL. ARGUMENT. The defign of this Satire is to expofe and reprehend all manner of intemperance and debauchery; but more particularly that exorbitant luxury used by the Romans in their feafting. The Poet draws the occafion from an invitation, which he here makes to his Friend to dine with him; very artfully preparing him with what he was to expect from his treat, by beginning the Satire with a particular invective against the vanity and folly of fome perfons, who, having but mean fortunes in the world, attempted to live up to the height of men of great eftates and quality. He fhews us the miferable end of fuch spendthrifts and gluttons, with the manner and courfes which they took to bring themselves to it; advifing men to live within bounds, and to proportion their inclinations to the extent of their fortune. He gives his Friend a bill of fare of the entertainment he has provided for him; and from thence he takes occafion to reflect upon the temperance and frugality of the greatest men in former ages to which he opposes the riot and intemperance of the prefent; attributing to the latter a vifible remiffness in the care of heaven over the Roman ftate. He inftances fome lewd practices at feasts, and, by the bye, touches the nobility with making vice and and debauchery confift with their principal pleasures. He concludes with a repeated invitation to his Friend; advising him (in one partcular fomewhat freely) to a neglect of all cares and difquiets for the prefent, and a moderate use of pleasures for the future. F noble Atticus make splendid feasts, IF And with expensive food indulge his guests; But when poor Rutilus fpends all he's worth, And proves the common theme of all the town. A man in his full tide of youthful blood, But that one brutal reason why they live. |