If not fo pleas'd, at (o) council board rejoice, To fee their judgments hang upon thy voice; From (p) morn to night, at fenate, rolls, and hall, Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all. But wherefore all this labour, all this strife? For (g) fame, for riches, for a noble wife? [fpir'd Shail (r) one whom nature, learning, birth con- To form, not to admire, but be admir'd, Sigh, while his Chloe blind to wit and worth Weds the rich dulness of some son of earth? Yet (1) time ennobles, or degrades each line; It brighten'd Craggs's, and may darken thine: And what is fame the meanest have their day, The greatest can but blaze, and pass away. Grac'd as thou art, (#) with all the power of words, So known, fo honour'd, at the House of Lords: Confpicuous fcene: another yet is nigh, (More filent far) where kings and poets lie; (a) Where Murray (long enough his country's pride)
Shall be no more than Tully, or than Hyde!
(-) Rack'd with feiatics, martyr'd with the ftone,
Will any mortal let himself alone? See Ward by batter'd beaux invited over, And defperate mifery lays hold on Dover, The cafe is eafier in the mind's disease ; There all men may be cur'd, whene'er they please. Would ye be (x) bleft defpife low joys, low dain whatever Cornbury difdains; [gains; Je virtuous, and be happy for your pains. (5) But art thou one whom new opinions fway, One who believes as Tindal leads the way, Who virtue and a church alike difowns,
Thanks that but words, and this but brick and ftones?
Fly (2) then, on all the wings of wild defire, Admire whate'er the maddest can admire : Is wealth thy paflion? Hence! from pole to pole, Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll, For Indian fpices, for Peruvian gold, Prevent the greedy, or outbid the bold: (4) Advance thy golden mountain to the skies; On the broad bafe of fifty thousand rise,
Gaude, quod fpectant oculi te (o) mille loquentem: Gravus (p) mane forum, et vespertinus pete tec
(Ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris Mutus et (indignum; quod fit pejoribus ortus)
Hic tibi fit potius, quam tu mirabilis illi. (Quicquid fub terra eft, in apricum proferet aetas Defodiet condetque nitentia. () cum bene notur; Porticus Agrippae, et via te confpexerit Appî; Ire tamen reftat, Numa (u) quo devenit et Ancus. () Si latus aut renes morbo tentantur acuto, Quare fugam morbi (*) vis recte vivere? quis non? Si virtus hoc una poteft dare, fortis omiflis Hoc age deliciis.
(y) virtutem verba putes, et Lucum ligna? (2) cave ne portus occupet alter; Ne Cibyratica, ne Bithyna negotia perdas : (4) Mille talenta rotundentur, totidem altera, por
Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair) Add fifty more, and bring it to a square. For, mark th' advantage; juft fo many score, Will gain a (6) wife with half as many more, Procure her beauty, make that beauty chafte, And then fuch (e) friends-as cannot fail to la.. A (4) man of wealth is dubb'd a man of worth, Venus fhall give him form, and Anstis birth. (Believe me, many a (e) German prince is worse, Who, proud of pedigree, is poor of purse) His wealth brave (f) Timon gloriously confounds; Afk'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds; Or if three ladies like a lucklefs play. Takes the whole house upon the poet's day. (g) Now, in fuch exigencies not to need, Upon my word, you must be rich indeed; A noble fuperfluity it craves,
Not for yourself, but for your fools and knaves; Something, which for your honour they may cheat, And which it much becomes you to forget. (b) If wealth alone then make and keep us bleft, Still, ftill be getting, never, never rest,
(i) But if to power and place your paffion lie, If in the pomp of life confift the joy; Then (4) hire a flave, or (if you will) a lord, To do the honours, and to give the word; Tell at your levec, as the crowds approach, To whom () to nod, whom take into your coach, Whom honour with your hand: to make remarks, Who () rules in Cornwall, or who rules in Berks:
"This may be troublesome, is near the chair: "That makes three members, this can choose a mayor."
Inftructed thus, you bow, embrace, protest, Adopt him, (n) fon, or coufin at the least, Then turn about, and (●) laugh at your own jeft.
Tertia fuccedant, et quae pars quadret acervum. Scilicet (6) uxorem cum dote, fidemque, et (c) micos,
Et genus, et formam, regina (d) Pecunia donat; Ac bene nummatum decorat Suadela, Venufque. Mancipiis locuples, eget aeris (e) Capadocum Rex: Ne fueris hic tu. (f) chlamydes Lucullus, ut aiunt, Si poffet centum fcenae praebere rogatus, Qui poffum tot? ait: tamen et quaeram, et quot habebo
Mittam: poft paulo fcribit, sibi millia quinque Effe domi chlamydum: partem, vel tolleret omnes, (g) Exilis domus eft, ubi non et multa fuperfunt, Et dominum fallunt, et profunt furibus. (b) ergo, Si res fola poteft facere et fervare beatum, Hoc primus repetas opus, hoc poftremus omittas. (i) Si fortunatum fpecies et gratia praeftat, (Mercemur fervum, qui dietet nomina, laevum Qui fodicet latus, et (1) cogat trans pondera dextram Porrigere: (m) Hic multum in Fabia valet, ille Velina :
Cui libet, is fafces dabit ; eripietque curule, Cui volet, importunus ebur: (n) Frater, Pater, adde:
Ut cuique et aetas, ita quemque () facetus adopts.
Or if your life be one continued treat, If (p) to live well means nothing but to eat; Up, up cries Gluttony, 'tis break of day, Go drive the deer, and drag the finny prey; With hounds and horns go hunt an appetite- So (7) Ruffel did, but could not eat at night; Cau'd happy dog! the beggar at his door, And envy'd thirst and hunger to the poor.
Or fhall we (r) every decency confound; Through taverns, ftews, and bagnios take our round; Go dine with Chartres, in each vice outdo, (3) K-1's lewd cargo, or Ty-y's crew; From Latian fyrens, French Circæan feasts, Return well travell'd, and transform'd to beafts; Or for a titled punk, or foreign flame, Renounce our () country, and degrade our name? If, after all, we must with (2) Wilmot own, The cordial drop of life is love alone, And Swift cry wifely, “ Vive la Bagatelle !" The man that loves and laughs, muft fure do well. (v) Adieu-if this advice appear the worst,
'en take the counfel which I gave you first: Or better precepts, if you can impart, Why do, I'll follow them with all my heart.
THE reflections of Horace, and the judgments paft in his epifle to Auguflus, feemed to feaionable to the prefent times, that I could not help applying them to the use of my own country. The author thought them confiderable enough to address them to his prince; whom he paints with all the great and good qualities of a monarch, upon whom the Romans depended for the increafe of an abfolute empire. But to make the poem entirely English, I was willing to add one or two of thofe which contribute to the happiness of a free people, and are more confiftent with the welfare of our neighbours.
This epifle will flow the learned world to have fallen into have two mistakes; one, that Auguftus was a patron of poets in general; whereas he
not only prohibited all but the Left writers to name him, but recommended that care even to the civil magiftrate: "Admonebat praetores, ne pate"rentur nomen fuum obfolefieri," &c. The other, that this piece was only a general difcourfe of poetry; whereas it was an apology for the poets, in order to render Augustus more their patron. Horace here pleads the caufe of his contemporaries, first against the tafte of the town, whofe humour it was to magnify the authors of the preceding age; fecondly, against the court and nobility, who encouraged only the writers for the theatre; and lastly, against the emperor himself, who had conceived them of little ufe to the government. He fhows by a view of the progrefs of learning, and the change of taste among the Romans) that the introduction of the polite arts of Greece had given the writers of his time great advantages over their predeceffors; that their morals were much improved, and the licence of thofe ancient poets reftrained; that fatire and comedy were become more just and useful; that whatever extravagances were left on the stage, were owing to the ill tafte of the nobility; that poets, under due regulations, were, in many respects, useful to the state; and concludes, that it was upon them the emperor himfelf must depend, for his fame with posterity.
race made his court to this great prince, by writWe may farther learn from this epiftle, that Hoing with a decent freedom towards him, with a just contempt of his low flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own character.
WHILE you, great patron of mankind! (a) fuftain
The balanc'd world, and open all the main; Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend; At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend; (6) How fhail the muse, from such a monarch steal An hour, and not defraud the public weal?
(c) Edward and Henry, now the boaft of fame, And virtuous Alfred, a more (d) facred name, After a life of generous toils endur'd, The Gaul fubdued, or property fecur'd, Ambition humbled, mighty cities ftorm'd, Or laws eftablish'd, and the world reform'd; (e) Clos'd their long glories with a figh, to find! Th' unwilling gratitude of bafe mankind!
Cum tot (a) fuftineas et tanta negotia folus, Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes, Legibus emendes ; in (6) publica commoda peccem, Si longo fermone morer tua tempora, Caefar.
(c) Romulus, et liber pater, et cuni Caftore Pollux,
Post ingentia facta, (d) Deorum in templa recepti, Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, afpera bella Componunt, agros adfignant, oppida condunt; () Ploravere fuis non refpondere favorem Speratum meritis. diram qui contudit Hydram,
All human virtue to its lateft breath,
(f) Finds envy never conquer'd but by death. The great Alcides, every labour past, Had fill this monster to subdue at last. (g) Sure fate of all, beneath whofe rifing ray, Each tar of meaner merit fades away! Opprefs'd we feel the beam directly beat, Thofe funs of glory please not till they fet. To thee, the world its prefent homage pays, The harvest early, () but mature the praise : Great friend of liberty! in kings a name : Above all Greek, above all Roman fame* : Whole word is truth, as facred and rever'd, () As heaven's own oracles from altars heard. Wonder of kings! like whom, to mortal eyes (4) None e'er has rifen, and none e'er fhall rife. Juft in one inftance, be it yet confeft Your people, Sir, are partial in the rest : Foes to all living worth except your own, And advocates for folly dead and gone. Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old; It is the ruft we value, not the gold. (Chaucer's wort ribaldry is learn'd by rote, And beaftly Skelton heads of houfes quote: One likes no language but the Faery Queen; A Scot will fight for Chrift's Kirk o' the Green; And each true Briton is to Ben so civil, (a) He fwears the mufes met him at the Devil. Though justly () Greece her eldest fon admires, Why should not we be wifer than our fires? In every public virtue we excel;
We build, we plant, (•) we sing, we dance as well; And learned Athens to our art must stoop, Could the behold us tumbling through a hoop.
If time improve our wits as well as wine, Say at what age a poet grows divine?
Notaque fatali portenta lahore fubegit, Comperie (f) invidiam fupremo fine domari, g Urit enim fulgore fuo, qui praegravat artes lafra fe pofitas: extinctus amabitur idem.
() Praefenti tibi maturos largimur honores, Jurandafque tuum per numen ponimus aras, (4) Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes. Sed tuus hoc populus fapiens et juftus in uno, fe noftris ducibus, te Graiis anteferendo, Caetera nequaquam fimili ratione modoque Aclimat; et, nifi quae terris femota fuifque Temporibus defuncta videt, faftidit et odit : (Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes Quas bis quinque viri fanxerunt, foedera regum, Vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis, Pontificum libros, annofa volumnia Vatum, () Dicitet Albano Mufas in monte locutas. Si, quia () Graiorum funt antiquiflima quaeque Seripta vel optima, Romani penfantur eadem Scriptures trutina; non eft quod multa loquamur: Nil intra cft oleam, nil extra eft in nuce duri. Venimus ad fummum fortunae : pingimus, atque (Plallimus,et (p) luctamur Achivis doctius unctis. Si (g) meliora dies, ut vina, poemata reddit; Scire velim, chattis pretium quotus arroget annus. Scriptor ab hinc atos centum qui decidit, inte Perfectos veterefque referri debet, an inter Viles atque novos? excludat jurgia finis.
Shall we, or fhall we not, account him fo, Who dy'd, perhaps, an hundred years ago? End all difpute; and fix the year precite When British bards begin t' immortalize? "Who lafts a (r) century can have no flaw; "I hold that wit a claffic, good in law."
Suppose he wants a year, will you compound? And fhall we deem him (s) ancient, right and found, Or damn to all eternity at once,
At ninety-nine, a modern and a dunce?
"We fhall not quarrel for a year or two; "By (t) courtesy of England, he may do." Then, by the rule that made the (#) horfe-tail bare,
I pluck out year by year, as hair by hair, And melt (v) down ancients like a heap of fnow: While you, to measure merits, look in (a) Stowe, And, eftimating authors by the year, Bestow a garland only on a (y) bier.
(*) Shakspeare (whom you and every play houfe bill
Style the divine, the matchlefs, what you will) For gain, not glory, wing'd his roving flight, And grew immortal in his own defpite. Ben, old and poor, as little feem'd to heed (a) The life to come, in every poet's creed. Who now reads (6) Cowley? if he pleases yet, His moral pieafes, not his pointed wit; Forgot his epic, nay Pindaric art.
But fill (6) I love the language of his heart.
"Yet furely, (d) furely, thefe were famous men! "What boy but hears the faying of old Ben? "In all (e) debates where critics bear a part, "Not one but nods, and talks of Jonfon's art, "Of Shakspeare's nature, and of Cowley's wit; "How Beaumont's judgment check'd what Fletch. "er writ;
"How Shadwell hafty, Wycherly was flow;
"Thefe, (ƒ) only thefe, fupport the crowded stage, "From eldest Heywood down to Cibber's age. All this may be; (g) the people's voice is odd, It is, and it is not, the voice of God. To (b) Gammer Gurton if it give the bays, And yet deny the Careless Hufband praise, Or fay our fathers never broke a rule; Why then, I fay, the public is a fool.
But let them own, that greater faults than we They had, and greater virtues, I'll agree. Spenter himself affects the (i) obfolete,
And Sydney's verfe halts ill on (4) Roman feet : Milton's ftrong pinion now not heaven can bound, Now ferpent-like, in (4) profe he fweeps the ground,
In quibbles, angel and archangel join,
And God the Father turns a school-divine. () Not that I'd lop the beauties from his book, Like (n) flashing Bentley with his defperate hook, Or damn all Shakspeare, like th' affected fool At court, who hates whate'er he (o) read at school. But for the wits of either Charles's days, The mob of gentlemen who wrote with cafe ; Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more, (Like twinkling flars the mifcellanies o'er) One fimile, that (p) folitary shines In the dry defert of a thousand lines,
Or (9) lengthen'd thought that gleams through many a page,
Has fanctify'd whole poems for an age. (I lose my patience, and I own it too, When works are cenfur'd, not as bad, but new; While, if our elders break all reafon's laws, These fools demand not pardon, but applause. (s) On Avon's bank, where flowers eternal blow, If I but afk if any weed can grow; One tragic fentence if I dare deride, Which Betterton's grave action dignify'd,
Hos edifcit, et hos arcto stipata theatro [poetas Spectat Roma potens; (f) habet hos numeratque Ad noftrum tempus, Livi fcriptoris ab aevo. (g) Interdum vulgus rectem videt: eft ubi peccat. Si b) veteres ita miratur laudat que poetas, Ut nihil anteferat, nihil illis comparet; errat: Si quaedam nimis (i) antique, fi pleraque (4) dure Dicere credit cos, (1) ignave multa fatetur ; Et fapit, et mecum facit, et Jove judicat aequo. () Non equidem infector, delendaque carmina Livi Effe reor, memini quae (n) plagofum (●) mihi parvo Orbilium dictare;
fed emendata videri Pulchraque, et exactis minimum diftantia, miror: Inter quae (p) verbum emicuit fi forte decorum, Si (q) verfus paulo concinnior unus et alter; Injufte totum ducit venditque poema.
[craffe (r) Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia Compofitum, illepideve putetur, fed quia nuper ; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem et praemia pofci. (s) Rede necne crocum florefque perambulet
Fabula, fi dubitem; clamant periiffe pudorem Cuncti pene patres: ea cum reprehendere coner, Quae () gravis Acsopus, quae do&tus Rofcius egit.
Or well-mouth'd Booth with emphafis proclaims (Though but, perhaps, a mufter-roll of names) How will our fathers rife up in a rage, And swear, all shame is loft in George's age! You'd think () 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. He, who to feem more deep than you or 1, Extols old bards, (v) or Merlin's prophecy, Mistake him not; he envies, not admires, And, to debase the fons, exalts the fires. (x) 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?
(y) In days of cafe, when now the weary fword Was fheath'd, and luxury with Charles reftor'd; in every taste of foreign courts improv'd,
All, by the king's example, liv'd and lov'd.” Then peers grew proud (z) in horfemanship t excel,
Newmarket's glory rofe, as Britain's fell; The foldier breath'd the gallantries of France, And every flowery courtier writ romance. Then (4) marble, foften'd into life, grew warm, And yielding metal flow'd to human form : Lely on (6) animated canvas stole
The fleepy eye, that spoke the melting soul. No wonder then, when all was love and fport, The willing mufes were debauch'd at court: On () each enervate ftring they taught the note To pant, or tremble through an eunuch's throat. But (d) Britain, changeful as a child at play, Now calls in princes, and now turns away. Now Whig, now Tory, what we lov'd we hate; Now all for pleasure, now for church or state; Now for prerogative, and now for laws; Effects unhappy! from a noble cause.
Vel quia nil (✔) rectum, nifi quod placuit fibi, du
Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, et quae Imberbi didicere, fenes perdenda fateri. Jam (a) Saliare Numae 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 Graecis novitas invisa fuisset, Quam nobis; quid nunc effet vetus? aut quid haberet,
Quod legeret tereretque viritim publicus ufus? (y) Ut primum pofitis nugari Graecia bellis Coepit, et in vitium fortuna labier aequa; Nunc athletarum ftudiis, nunc arfit (2) equorum : (a) Marmoris aut cboris fabros aut aeris amavit ; Suspendit (6) picta vultum mentem:que tabella; Nun (c) tibicinibus, nunc eft gavifa tragoedis:
(d) Sub nutrice puella velut fi luderet infans, Quod cupide petiit, mature plena reliquit. Quid placet, aut odio eft, quod non mutabile credas? Hoc paces habuere bonae, ventique fecundit
Time was, à fober Englishman would knock Hy fervants up, and rife by five o'clock, Intruct his family in every rule,
And fend his wife to church, his fon to school. Tof) worship like his fathers, was his care; To teach their frugal virtues to his heir; To prove that luxury could never hold; And place, on good (g) fecurity, his gold. Now times are chang'd, and one (b) poetic itch Has feiz'd the court and city, poor and rich: 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.
1, who fo oft renounce the mufes, (i) lie, Not's felf e'er tells more fibs than I; When fick of mufe, our 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 fhow our wit.
() He ferv'd a 'prenticeship, who fets up fhop; Ward try'd on puppies, and the poor, his drop; Ev'a (1) Radcliffe's doctors travel fiift to France, Nor dare to practife till they've learn'd to dance. Who builds a bridge that never drove a pile ? (Should Ripley venture, all the world would fmile) But () those who cannot write, and those who can, All rhyme, and fcrawl, and fcribble, to a man.
Yet, Sir, () reflect, the mifchief is not great; Thefe madmen never hurt the church or state: Sometimes the folly benefits mankind; And rarely (o) avarice taints the tuneful mind. Allow him but his (p) plaything of a pen, He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men : (Flight of cathiers, or mobs, he'll never mind; And knows no loffes while the mufe is kind. To() cheat a friend, or Ward, he leaves to Peter; The good man heaps up nothing but mere mètre, Enjoys his garden and his book in quiet; And then-a perfect hermit in his () diet.
(Romae dulce diu fuit et folemne, recltifa Mane domo vigilare, clienti promere jura; Scriptos) nominibus rectis expendere nummos; (g) Majores audire, minori dicere, per quae Crefcere res poffet, minui damnofa libido. Mutavit mentem populus levis, (b) et calet úno Scribendi ftudio: puerique patrefque feveri Fronde comas vinci coenant, ét carmina dictant. Ipfe ego, qui nullos me affirmo fcribete verfus, Invenior (1) Parthis mendacior; et prius orto Sole vigil, calamum et chartas et fcrinia pofco. (4) Navem agere ignarus navis tiniet: abrotonum [eft, Non audet, nifi qui didicet, dare: quod medicorum Promittunt (1) medici: tractant fabrilia fabri : (m) Scribimus indocti doctique poemata paffim. (*) Hic error tamen et levis haec infania, quantas Virtutes habeat, fic collige : vatis (6) avarus Non temere eft animus: (p) verfus amat, hoc fta
Detrimenta, (q) fugas fér vorum, incendia ridet; Non frauden focio, puerove incogitat ullam Fu, illo! vivit filiquis, et pane fecundo (-) ;
Of little use the man you may fuppofe, Who fays in verfe what others fay in profe: Yet let me fhow, a poet's of fome weight, And (1) though no foldier) ufeful to the ftate. () What will a child learn fooner than a fong? What better teach a foreigner the tongue ? What's long or fhort, each accent where to place, And speak in public with fome fort of grace. fcarce can think him fuch a worthless thing, Unless he praise some monfter of a king: Or virtue, or religion turn to fport, To pleafe a lewd, or unbelieving court. Unhappy Dryden!-In all Charles's days, Kofcommon only boasts unspotted bays; And in our own (excufe fome courtly stains) No whiter page than Addifon remains; He, (w) from the tafte obfcene reclaims our youth; And fets the paffions on the fide of truth, Forms the foft bofom with the gentlest art, And pours each human virtue in the heart. Let Ireland tell, how wit upheld her caufe, Her trade fupported, and fupplied her laws; And leave on Swift this grateful verfe engrav'd, "The rights a court attack'd, a poet fav'd." Behold the hand that wrought a nation's cure, Wretch'd to () relieve the idiot and the poor, Proud vice to brand, or injur'd worth adorn, And (y) ftretch the ray to ages yet unborn. Not but there are, who merit other palms; Hopkins and Sternhold glad the heart with pfalms: The () boys and girls whom charity maintains, Implore your help in these pathetic frains: How could devotion (b) touch the country pews, Unless the gods bestow'd a proper muse? Verse cheers their leifure, verfe affifts their work, Verse prays for peace, of fings down (¿) Pope and Turk.
The' filenc'd preacher yields to potent strain, And feels that grace his prayer befought in vain ; The blefling thrills through all the labouring throng. And (d) heaven is won by violence of fong.
Our (e) rural ancestors, with little bleft, Patient of labour when the end was reft, Indulg'd the day that hous'd their annual grain, With feafts, and offerings, and a thankful strain ?
(†) Militiae quanquam piger et malus, utilis urbi; Si das hoc, parvis quoque rebus magna juvari; (a) Os tenerum pueri balbumque poeta figurat: Torquet (w) ab obscoenis jam nunc fermonibus
Mox etiam pectus praeceptis format amicis, Afperitatis, et invidiae corrector, et irae; Recte facta refert; (j) orientia tempora notis Inftruit exemplis ; (x) inopem folatur et aegrum. Caftis cum (*) pueris ignara puella mariti Difceret unde (6) preces, vatem ni Mufa dedisset ? Pofcit opem chorus, et praefentia nomina fentit; Coeleftes implorat aquas, docta prece blandus; Avertit morbos, (6) metuenda pericula pellit; Impetrat et pacem, et locupletem frugibus annum. (4) Carmine Dî fuperi placantur, carmine Manes. (e) Agricolae prifci, fortes, parvoque beati, Condita poft fraimenta, levantes tempore fekto
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