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Plus oneris, quanto veniae minus. 89 afpice, Plautus

Quo pacto 9° partes tutetur amantis ephebi,

Ut patris attenti, lenonis ut infidiofi :

Quantus fit Doffennus 9 edacibus in parafitis :

Quam 92 non aftricto percurrat pulpita focco.

Geftit enim 93 nummum in loculos demittere; poft hoc Securus, cadat an recto ftet fabula talo.

Quem tulit ad fcenam 94 ventofo gloria curru, Exanimat lentus fpectator, fedulus inflat:

Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, ac reficit: 95 valeat res ludicra, fi me

Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum. 95 Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam Quod numero plures, virtute & honore minores

NOTES.

VER. 290. Aftraa,) A Name taken by Mrs. Behn, Authorefs of feveral obfcene Plays, c.

P.

Ibid. The stage how loosely does Aftran tread,) The fine metaphor of non aftritto, greatly improved by the happy ambiguity of the word loosely.

VER. 296. O you! whom Vanity's light bark conveys,) The metaphor is fine, but inferior to the Original, in many respects, ventofo gloria surtu,

has a happy air of ridicule heightened by its allufion to the Ro

But in known Images of life, I guess

The labour greater, as th' indulgence lefs 89.
Obferve how feldom ev'n the best fucceed:

285

290

Tell me if 90 Congreve's Fools are Fools indeed?
What pert, low Dialogue has Farqu'ar writ!
How Van wants grace, who never wanted wit!
The ftage how 9 loofely does Aftræa tread,
Who fairly puts all Characters to bed!
And idle Cibber, how he breaks the laws,
To make poor Pinky 92 eat with vaft applaufe!
But fill their 93 purfe, our Poet's work is done,
Alike to them, by Pathos or by Pun.

O you! whom 94 Vanity's light bark conveys
On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise,
With what a shifting gale your courfe you ply,
For ever funk too low, or born too high!
Who pants for glory finds but short repofe,
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
95 Farewell the ftage! if just as thrives the play,
The filly bard grows fat, or falls away.

95 There still remains, to mortify a Wit, The many-headed Monster of the Pit :

NOTES.

295

300

305

man Triumph. It has a great beauty too, taken in a more ferious light, as reprefenting the Poet a Slave to Fame or Glory, Quem tulit ad scenam Gloria.

as was the cuftom in their triumphs. In other respects the imitation has the preference. It is more just. For a Poet makes his firft entrance on the ftage not, immediately, to Triumph, but to try his Fortune. However,

Who pants for Glory, &c. is much fuperior to the Original.

Indocti, ftolidique, & 7 depugnare parati

Si difcordet eques, media inter carmina pofcunt
Aut 98 urfum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula gaudet.
Verum 99 equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas
Omnis, ad incertos oculos, & gaudia vana.

Quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas;
Dum fugiunt equitum turinae, peditumque cateryae:
Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis;
Eff.da feltinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves;
Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus.
101 Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus; feu
Diverfum confufa genus panthera camelo,
Sive 2 elephas albus vulgi converteret ora.
Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipfis,
Ut fibi praebentem mimo fpectacula plura :
`Scriptores autem 103 narrare putaret afello
Fabellam furdo. nam quae 104 pervincere voces
Evaluere fonum, referunt quem noftra theatra?
105 Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tufcum.

NOTES.

VER. 313. From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.) From Plays to Operas, and from Operas to Pantomimes.

VER. 319. Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breaft.) The Coronation of Henry VIII. and Queen Anne Boleyn, in which the Playhouses vied with each other to reprefent all the pomp of a Coronation. In this noble contention, the Armour of one of the Kings of England was borrowed from the Tower, to dress the Champion.

P.

310

A fenfeless, worthless, and unhonour'd croud;
Who, 97 to disturb their betters mighty proud,
Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are fpoke,
Call for the Farce, 98 the Bear, or the Black-joke. ̈
What dear delight to Britons Farce affords!
Ever the taste of Mobs, but now 99 of Lords;
(Tafte, that eternal wanderer, which flies
From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.)
The Play ftands ftill; damn action and difcourfe,
Back fly the fcencs, and enter foot 100 and horse; 315
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn,
Peers, Heralds, Bifhops, Ermin, Gold and Lawn;
The Champion too! and to complete the jeft,
Old Edward's Armour, beams on Cibber's breaft.
With 101 laughter fure Democritus had dy'd,
Had he beheld an Audience gape fo wide.
Let Bear or 102 Elephant be e'er fo white,
The people, fure, the people are the fight!

320

Ah lucklefs 103 Poet! ftretch thy lungs and roar,
That Bear or Elephant fhall heed thee more; 325
While all its 104 throats the Gallery extends,

And all the Thunder of the. Pit afcends!

Loud as the Wolves, on 5 Orcas' ftormy fteep,
Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep.
Such is the fhout, the long-applauding note, 330

NOTES.

Ibid. Old Edward's Armour, &c.) Defcriptive poetry is the lowest work of a Genius. Therefore when Mr. Pope employs himself in it, he never fails, as here, to enoble it with some moral ftroke or other.

VER. 328. Orcas' ftormy steep.) The farthest Northern Promontory of Scotland, oppofite to the Orcades.

P.

1

Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi spectantur, et artes.

106 Divitiaeque peregrinae: quibus 107 oblitus actor Cum ftetit in fcena, concurrit dextera laevae. Quid placet ergo?

Dixit adhuc aliquid? nil fane.

Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.

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Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipfe recufem,

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Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne;

Ille per extentum funem mihi poffe videtur

Ire poeta; 19 mcum qui pectus inaniter angit,
Irritat, mulcet, fallis terroribus implet,,

Ut magus; & modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.

Verum age, & his, qui fe lectori credere malunt, Quam fpectatoris faftidia ferre fuperbi,

Curam impende brevem: fi munus Apolline dignum Vis complere libris; & vatibus addere calcar,

Ut ftudio majore petant Helicona virentem.

NOTES.

VER. 347. To Thebes, to Athens, &c.) i. e. is equally knowing in the manners of the most different people; and has the fkill to employ thofe manners with decorum.

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