•Romæ dulce diu fuit et folemne, reclufa Mane domo vigilare, clienti promere jura; Crefcere res poffet, minui damnofa libido. Mutavit mentem populus levis, het calet uno Scribendi ftudio: puerique patrefque feveri Fronde comas vincti cœnant, et carmina diâant. Ipfe ego, qui nullos me affirmo fcribere verfus, Inveniori Parthis mendacior; et prius orto Sole vigil, calamum et chartas et fcrinia pofco. k * Navem agere ignarus navis timet: abrotonum ægro Non audet, nifi qui didicit, dare : quod medicorum eft, 1 Promittunt medici: tractant fabrilia fabri: VER 181. He ferved, etc.] To the fimple elegance of the original, the Poet has here added great spirit and vivacky, without departing from the fidelity of a translation, * Time was, a fober Englishman would knock And fend his Wife to church, his Son to School. g And place, on good Security, his Gold. 165 Now times are chang'd, and one Poetic Itch And all our Grace at table is a Song. I, who so oft renounce the Mafes, *lye, And call for pen and ink to fhow our Wit. k * He serv'd a 'Prenticeship, who fets up fhop; Ward try'd on Puppies, and the Poor, his Drop; Ev'n' Radcliff's Doctors travel first to France, Nor dare to practife till they've learn'd to dance. 175 180 VER. 182. Ward] A famous Empiric, whose Pill and Drop had feveral furprizing Effects, and were one of the principal sub-~ Scribimus indocti doctique poemata paffim. "Hic error tamen et levis haec infania, quantas Virtutes habeat, fic collige: vatis avarus Non temere eft animus: verfus amat, hoc ftudet unum ; Detrimenta, fugas fervorum, incendia ridet; Non' fraudem focio, puerove incogitat ullam Pupillo; vivit filiquis, et pane fecundo'; Militiæ quanquam piger et malus, utilis urbi; Si das hoc, parvis quoque rebus magna juvari; VER. 201. Of little ufe, etc.] There is a poignancy in the following verfes, which the original did not aim at, nor affect. VER. 204. And (tho' no Soldier)] Horace had not acquitted himself much to his credit in this capacity (non bene reli&ta formula) in the battle of Philippi. It is manifeft he alludes to himself, in this whole account of a Poet's character; but with an intermixture of irony: Vivit filiquis et pane fecundo has a relation to his Epicurifm; Os tenerum pueri, is ridicule: The nobler Who builds a Bridge that never drove a pile? 185 (Should Ripley venture, all the world would smile) But those who cannot write, and those who can, All rhyme, and fcrawl, and fcribble, to a man. Yet, Sir," reflect, the mischief is not great; These Madmen never hurt the Church or State: 190 Sometimes the Folly benefits mankind, And rarely Av'rice taints the tuneful mind. Ne ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men: 9 Flight of Cashiers, or Mobs, he'll never mind; 195 And knows no loffes while the Mufe is kind. г S 200 To cheat a Friend, or Ward, he leaves to Peter; V What will a Child learn fooner than a fong? 205 What better teach a Foreigner the tongue ? office of a Poet follows: Torquet ab obfcoenis-Mox etiam pectus -Recte facta refert, etc. which the Imitator has apply'd where he thinks it more due than to himself. He hopes to be pardoned, if, as he is fincerely inclined to praise what deferves to be praised, he arraigns what deferves to be arraigned, in the 210, 211, and 212th Verses. VER. R. 213. Unhappy Dryden--In all Charles's days,—Roscommon only boafts unfpotted bays;] The fudden ftop after mentioning the name of Dryden has a great beauty. The Poet's tenderness for his mafter is expreffed in the fecond line by making his cafe general; and his honour for him, in the first line, by making his cafe particular, as the only one that deserved pity. VER. 226. the Ideot and the Poor.] A foundation for the maintenance of Idiots, and a Fund for affifting the Poor, by lending fmall fums of money on demand. VER. 229. Not but there are, etc] Nothing can be more truly humourous or witty than all that follows to ver. 240. Yet the noble fobriety of the original, or, at leaft, the appearance of fobriety, which is the fame thing here, is of a taste vaftly fuperior to it. |