And justly CESAR scorns the Poet's lays,
It is to History he trusts for Praise.

F. "Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still,
Than ridicule all Taste, blaspheme Quadrille,
Abuse the City's best good men in metre,

And laugh at Peers that put their trust in Peter. 40 "Ev'n those you touch not hate you.

P. What should ail 'em?

F. A hundred smart in Timon and in Balaam : The fewer still you name, you wound the more; Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score.

P. Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny 45
Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his Ham-pie;
Ridotta sips and dances, till she see

The doubling Lustres dance as fast as she;
PF--- loves the Senate, Hockley-hole his brother,
Like in all else, as one egg to another,

50

NOTES.

Pollux were unlike, even though they came from one and the same egg. This is far more extraordinary and marvellous than that two common brothers should have different inclinations. And afterward, ver. 51,

"I love to pour out all myself, as plain

As downright SHIPPEN, or as old MONTAIGNE."

'My chief pleasure is to write Satires like Lucilius," says Horace. "My chief pleasure," says Pope, "is-what? to speak my mind freely and openly." There should have been an instance of some employment, and not a virtuous habit.

Pope would not have been pleased with this censure of the politics of Shippen, who was an able speaker, which the commentator has subjoined to this passage. A poet, like Lucilius, ought to have been named, not a politician. In the original, Horace calls Lucilius, senis; not because he was an old man,

Millia. me pedibus delectat claudere verba,
Lucilî ritu, nostrum melioris utroque.

Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim

Credebat libris; neque, si male gesserat, usquam Decurrens alio, neque si bene: quo fit, ut omnis Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella

Vita senis. sequor hunc, 'Lucanus an Appulus, an

ceps:

[Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus, Missus ad hoc, pulsis (vetus est ut fama) Sabellis, Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hostis; Sive quod Appula gens, seu quod Lucania bellum

NOTES.

but because he was of an ancient equestrian family, and was great-uncle of Pompey the Great. Lucilius, among other inaccuracies of style, sometimes strangely disjoined words, as in cere comminuit brum, for cerebrum.

Ver. 63. My head and heart thus flowing through my quill,] Inferior to the Original:

"Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim
Credebat libris," &c.

Persius alluded to this idea, when he said,

"Vidi, vidi ipse, Libelle !" &c.

W.

Ver. 64. Verse-man or Prose-man,] The original, Ver. 35, Nam Venusinus arat, down to Ver. 39, and to the words, incuteret violenta, which are improperly printed in a parenthesis, have been thought an awkward and a monkish interpolation, but were undoubtedly intended by Horace to represent the loose, incoherent, and verbose manner of Lucilius, who composed hastily and carelessly, ducentos ante cibum versus; and who loaded his Satires with many useless and impertinent thoughts; very offensive to the chaste and correct taste of Horace.

I love to pour out all myself, as plain
As downright SHIPPEN, or as old Montaigne:
In them, as certain to be lov'd as seen,
The soul stood forth, nor kept a thought within;
In me what spots (for spots I have) appear,
Will prove at least the Medium must be clear.
In this impartial glass, my Muse intends
Fair to expose myself, my foes, my friends;
Publish the present age; but where my text
Is Vice too high, reserve it for the next :
My foes shall wish my life a longer date,
And ev'ry friend the less lament my fate.

55

60

My head and heart thus flowing through my quill,
Verse-man or Prose-man, term me what you will,
Papist or Protestant, or both between,

Like good Erasmus in an honest Mean,
In moderation placing all my glory,

While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.

65

NOTES.

Ver. 66. Like good Erasmus] The violence and haughtiness of Luther disgusted the mild and moderate Erasmus, and alienated him from pursuing the plan of reformation which at first he seemed to encourage and engage in. Luther represented him as an Arian and a time-server. "I thought," said Erasmus, "Luther's marriage would have softened him a little. It is hard for a man of my moderation and of my years to be obliged to write against a savage beast and a furious wild boar." But great revolutions and great reformations are not effected by calm and sober reason, nor without such violence and enthusiasm as Luther possessed. When Voltaire was lamenting that Locke and Newton had few disciples in comparison of the numerous followers of Luther and Calvin, it was replied to him, that, without a Luther and Calvin, we should never have had a Locke or Newton."

66

Incuteret violenta.] 'sed hic stylus haud petit ultro
Quemquam animantem, et me veluti custodiet ensis
Vagina tectus; quem cur distringere coner,
Tutus ab infestis latronibus? "O pater et rex
Jupiter, ut pereat positum rubigine telum,
Nec quisquam noceat "cupido mihi pacis! at ille,
Qui me commorit, (melius non tangere, clamo,)
* Flebit, et insignis tota cantabitur urbe.

Cervius iratus leges minitatur et urnam; Canidia Albutî, quibus est inimica, venenum;

NOTES.

Ver. 70. To run a muck,] The expression is from Dryden: "Frontless and satire-proof, he scours the streets, And runs an Indian muck at all he meets."

And it alludes to a practice among the Malayans, who are great gamesters; which is, that when a man has lost all his property, he intoxicates himself with opium, works himself up to a fit of frenzy, rushes into the streets, and attacks and murders all he

meets.

Ver. 71. I only wear it in a land of Hectors, &c.] Superior to "tutus ab infestis latronibus,"

which only carries on the metaphor in

Vagina tectus;"

-ensis

whereas the imitation does more; for, along with the metaphor, it conveys the image of the subject, by presenting the reader with the several objects of satire. W.

Ver. 73. Save but our Army! &c.] "Une maladie nouvelle," says the admirable Author de L'esprit des Loix, "s'est répandue en Europe; elle a saisi nos Princes, et leur fait entretenir un nombre desordonné de Troupes. Elle a ses redoublemens, et elle devient necessairement contagieuse. Car si tot qu'un Etat augmente ce qu'il appelle ses Troupes, les autres soudain augmentent les leurs, de façon qu'on ne gagne rien par-là que la Ruïne commune. Chaque Monarque tient sur pied toutes les Armées qu'il pourroit avoir, si ses Peuples etoient en danger

'Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet; I only wear it in a land of Hectors, Thieves, Supercargoes, Sharpers, and Directors. "Save but our Army! and let Jove incrust Swords, pikes, and guns, with everlasting rust! "Peace is my dear delight-not FLEURY's more: But touch me, and no Minister so sore. Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time *Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, Sacred to Ridicule his whole life long, And the sad burden of some merry song.

Slander or Poison dread from Delia's rage,

Hard words or hanging, if your Judge be Page.
From furious Sappho scarce a milder fate,
P--x'd by her love, or libell'd by her hate.

70

76

80

NOTES.

d'être exterminés ; et ON NOMME PAIX, CET ETAT D'EFFORT DE TOUS CONTRE TOUS. Aussi l'Europe est-elle si ruinée, qui les particuliers, qui seroient dans la situation où sont les trois Puissances de cette partie du monde les plus opulentes, n'auroient pas de quoi vivre. Nous sommes pauvres avec les richesses et le commerce de tout l'univers; et bientôt, à force d'avoir des soldats, nous n'aurons plus que des soldats, et nous serons comme des Tartares." W.

Ver. 78. Slides into verse,] Closely copied from Boileau :

"Et malheur a tout nom qui, propre à la censure,

Peut entrer dans un vers sans rompre la mesure."

Ver. 81-84. Slander--libell'd by her hate.] There seems to be more spirit here than in the original: but it is hard to pronounce with certainty for though one may be confident there is more force in the 83d and 84th lines than in

"Canidia Albuti, quibus est inimica, venenum;"

yet there might be something, for aught we know, in the cha