5

Decay of Parts, alas! we all must feel—
Why now, this moment, don't I fee you fteal?
'Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye
Said, "Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory ;"
And taught his Romans, in much better metre,
"To laugh at Fools who put their trust in Peter.”

But Horace, Sir, was delicate, was nice;
Bubo obferves, he lash'd no fort of Vice:
Horace would fay, Sir Billy fer'd the Crown,
Blunt could do Bus'nefs, H-ggins knew the Town;
In Sappho touch the Failings of the Sex,
In rev'rend Bishops note fome Small Neglects,
And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing,
Who cropt our Ears, and sent them to the King.
His fly, polite, infinuating style

15

Could pleafe at Court, and make AUGUSTUS fmile:

VARIATIONS.

P. Sir what I write, thould he correctly writ,
F. Correct! 'tis what no genius can admit.

Befides, you grow too moral for a Wit..

VER. 12. Bubo obferves,] Some guilty perfon very fond of making fuch an obfervation.

VER. 14. H-ggins] Formerly Jaylor of the Fleet prison, enriched himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled.

VER. 18. Who cropt our Ears,] Said to be executed by the Captain of a Spanish fhip on one Jenkins a Captain of an Englifh one. He cut off his ears, and bid him carry them to the King his mafter,

An artful Manager, that crept between

21

His Friend and Shame, and was a kind of Screen. But 'faith your very Friends will foon be fore; Patriots there are, who wish you'd jest no moreAnd where's the Glory! 'twill be only thought 25 The Great man never offer'd you a groat,

Go fee Sir ROBERT

P. See Sir ROBERT!-hum-

And never laugh-for all my life to come?
Seen him I have, but in his happier hour
Of Social Pleasure, ill-exchang'd for Pow'r;
Seen him, uncumber'd with the Venal tribe,
Smile without Art, and win without a Bribe.
Would he oblige me? let me only find,
He does not think me what he thinks mankind.

VER, 22. Screen.]

Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico

Tangit, et admiffus circum præcordia ludit Perf.

30

Ibid. Screen.] A metaphor peculiarly appropriated to a certain perfon in power.

VER. 24. Patriots there are, etc.] This appellation was gene rally given to those in oppofition to the Court. Though fome of them (which our author hints at) had views too mean and interested to deserve that name.

VER. 26. The Great man] A phrafe, by common use, appropriated to the first minister.

VER. 31. Seen him, uncumber'd] These two verses were origin ally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions.

VER. 34, what be thinks mankind.] This request seems somewhat abfurd: but nct more fo than the principle it refers tc That great Minifter, it seems, thought all mankind Rogues; and that every one had his price. It was usually given as a

36

Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt; The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

F. Why yes: with Scripture still you may be free; A Horse-laugh, if you please, at Honefty;

A Joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig
Who never chang'd his Principle, or Wig:
A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age,

Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage:

These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion ftill, And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will. If any ask you, "Who's the Man, so near "His Prince, that writes in Verfe, and has his ear?”

45

proof of his penetration, and extenfive knowledge of the world, Others perhaps would think it an instance of a narrow underftanding, that, from a few of Rochefaucault's maxims, and the corrupt practice of thofe he commonly conversed with, would thus boldly pronounce upon the character of his Species. It is certain, that a Keeper of Newgate, who fhould make the fame conclufion, would be heartily laughed at.

VER. 37. Why yes: with Scripture etc.] A fcribler, whose only chance for reputation is the falling in with the fashion, is apt to employ this infamous expedient for the preservation of his fleeting existence. But a true Genius could not do a foolisher thing, or fooner defeat his own aim. The sage Boileau ufed to fay on this occafion, "Une ouvrage fevere peut bien plaire 66 aux libertins; mais un ouvrage trop libre ne plaira jamais 66 aux perfonnes feveres."

VER. 39. A Joke on Jekyl] Sir Jofeph Jekyl, Mafter of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmat probity. He fometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here defcribed of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honefty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem.

Why, anfwer, LYTTELTON, and I'll engage.
The worthy Youth fhall ne'er be in a rage:
But were his Verfes vile, his Whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe.
Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honeft FLEURY,
But well may put fome Statesmen in a fury.
Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes;
Thefe you but anger, and you mend not those.

50

54

Laugh at your friends, and, if your Friends are fore,
So much the better, you may laugh the more,
To Vice and Folly to confine the jest,

Sets half the world, God knows, against the reft;
Did not the Sneer of more impartial men
At Senfe and Virtue, balance all agen.
Judicious Wits spread wide the Ridicule,
And charitably comfort Knave and Fool.
P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth:
Adieu Distinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth!

60

VER. 47. Why, anfwer, Lyttelton,] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberty.

VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey,] The one the wicked minister of Tiberius: the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minifter, without distinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. ver. 137.

Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minifter to Louis XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wifdom and honesty.

Come, harmless Characters that no one hit;
Come, Henley's Oratory, Ofborn's Wit!
The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,
The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y-ng!
The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence,

65

And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Senfe, 70
That First was H-vy's, F—'s next, and then
The S-te's, and then H-vy's once agen.
Ò come, that easy Ciceronian style,

So Latin, yet fo English all the while,

As, tho' the Pride of Middleton and Bland,

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All Boys may read, and Girls may underftand!

Then might I fing, without the least offence,
And all I fung fhould be the Nation's Senfe;
Or teach the melancholy Mufe to mourn,
Hang the fad Verfe on CAROLINA's Urn,
And hail her paffage to the Realms of Reft,
All Parts perform'd, and all her Children bleft!

80

VER. 66. Henley-Ofborn,] See them in their places in the Dunciad,

VER. 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to fome court fermons, and florid panegyrical speeches: particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an addrefs in the fame pretty ftyle; and was lastly served up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, published by its author.

VER. 78. Nation's Senfe ;] The cant of Politics at that time. VER. 80. Carolina.] Queen confort to King George II. She died in 1737. Her death gave occafion, as is obferved above, to many indifcreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whose last moments manifefted the utmost courage and refolution.