Clarorum apparent. nec fermones ego mallem

Repentes per humum 124 quam res componere geftas,
Terrarumque 125 fitus & flumina dicere, & arces
Montibus impofitas, & 126 barbara regna, tuifque
Aufpiciis totum 7 confecta duella per orbem,
Claußraque cuftodem pacis cohibentia Janum,
Et 128 formidatam Parthis, te principe, Romam :
Si quantum cuperem, poffem quoque. fed neque
parvum

129 Carmen majeftas recipit tua; nec meus audet
Rem tentare pudor, quam vires ferre 'recufent.
Sedulitas aurem 130 ftulte, quem diligit, urget;
Praecipue cum fe numeris commendat & arte.
Difcit enim citius, meminitque libertius illud
Qod quis 131 deridet, quam quod probat & venerctur.
Nil moror 132 officium, quod me gravat': ac neque ficto

NOTES.

VER. 405. And I'm not us'd to Panegyric ftrains;) Archbifhop Tillotson hath faid,,,That fatire and invective were the ,, easiest kind of wit, because almost any degree of it will ferve to abuse and find fault. For wit (fays he) is a keen inftru,, mert, and every one can cut and gafh with it. But to carve » a beautiful image and polifh it, requires great art and dex,, terity. To praife any thing well, is an argument of much more wit than to abufe; a little wit, and a great deal of ill- nature, will furnish a man for fatire, but the greatest inftance of wit is to commend well.,, Thus far this candid Prelate. And I, in my turn, might as well fay, that Satire was he most difficult, and Panegyric the moft eafy thing in nature;

E'er fwell'd on marble; as in verfe have fhin'd
(In polith'd verfe) the Manners and the Mind.
Oh! could I mount on the Mæonjan wing,
Your 124 Arms, your Actions, your Repofe to fing! 395
What 125 feas you travers'd, and what fields you fought!
Your Country's Peace, how oft, how dearly bought!
How 126 barb'rous rage fubfided at your word,

And Nations wonder'd while they drop'd the fword! How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 409 127 Peace ftole her wing, and wrapt the world in fleep! 'Till earth's extremes your mediation own,

And 128 Alia's Tyrants tremble at your Throne
But 129 Verfe, alas! your Majefty difdains;
And I'm not us'd to Panegyric trains:
The Zeal of 130 Fools offends at any time,
But most of all, the Zeal of Fools in thyme.
Befides, a fate attends on all I write,
That when I aim at praife, they fay 131 I bite.
A vile 32 Encomium doubly ridicules:

410

NOTES.

for that any barber - furgeon can curl and fhave, and give cofmetic - washes for the fkin; but it requires the abilities of an Anatomist to diffect and lay open the whole interior of the human frame. But the truth is, thefe fimilitudes prove nothing, but the good fancy, or the ill judgment of the ufer. The one is just as easy to do ill, and as difficult to do well as the other. In our Author's Effay on the Characters of Men, the Encomium on Lord Cobham, and the fatire on Lord Wharton, are the equal efforts of the fame great genius. There is one advantage indeed in Satire over Panegyric, which every body has taken notice of, that it is more readily received; but this does not fhew that it is more eafly written.

In 133 pejus vultu proponi cereus ufquam,

Nec prave factis decorari verfibus opto:
Ne 134 rubeam pingui donatus munere, & una
Cum 135 fcriptore ineo capfa porrectus aperta,
Deferar in vicum vendentem thus & odores.

Et piper, & quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis.

There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools.
If true, a 133 weful likeness; and if lyes,
"Praise undeferv'd is scandal in disguise :

Well may he 134 blush, who gives it, or receives;
And when I flatter, let my dirty leaves 415
(Like 135 Journals, Odes, and fuch forgotten things
As Eufden, Philips, Settle, writ of Kings)
Cloath fpice, line trunks, or flutt'ring in a row,
Befringe the rails of Bedlam and Soho.