Now Whig, now Tory, what we lov'd we hate;
Now all for Pleasure, now for Church and State
Now for Prerogative, and now for Laws;
Effects unhappy! from a Noble Cause.

;

160

"Time was, a fober Englishman would knock His fervants up, and rife by five o'clock, Inftruct his Family in ev'ry rule,

And fend his Wife to church, his Son to school.
Tof worship like his Fathers, was his care; 165
To teach their frugal Virtues to his Heir;
To prove, that Luxury could never hold;
And place, on good Security, his Gold.
Now times are chang'd, and one1 Poetic Itch
Has feiz'd the Court and City, poor and rich:170
Sons, Sires, and Grandfires, all will wear the bays,
Our Wives read Milton, and our Daughters Plays,

NOTES.

"freely to and I will always do fo, having no reafon to lay myself under any restraint. I fear, I hope nothing from your Country: all that I wifh for, is to fee you one day here. · { am entertaining myself with this pleafant hope. If it is but 66 a dream, let me enjoy it : don't undeceive me: let me believe "I fhall have the pleasure to see you in London, drawing-up the "ftrong fpirit of this unaccountable Nation. You will tranflate "their thoughts better when you live amongst them. You will "fee a Nation fond of their Liberty, learned, witty, defpifing "Life and Death, a nation of Philofophers. Not but that "there are fome fools in England. Every Country has its "madmen. It may be, French folly is pleafanter than English

Ipfe ego, qui nullos me affirmo fcribere verfus,

i

Invenior Parthis mendacior; et prius orto

Sole vigil, calamum et chartas et fcrinia pofco.

*Navem agere ignarus navis timet: abrotonum aegro Non audet,nifi qui didicit,dare: quod medicorum est,

Promittunt' medici: tractant fabrilia fabri:

m Scribimus indocti doctique poemata paffim.

NOTES.

"madness, but by-English wisdom and English honefty is "above yours." MS. Eng. Let. Oct. 15, 1726.

VER. 180. to fhew our Wit.] The force of this confifts in the ambiguity.-To fhew how constant we are to our refolutions or, to fhew what fine verfes we can make.

VER. 181. He ferv'd etc.] To the fimple elegance of the original, the Poet has here added great spirit and vivacity, without departing from the fidelity of a translation.

VER. 182. Ward] A famous Empiric, whofe Pill and Drop had feveral furprizing effects, and were one of the principal fubjects of writing and converfation at this time.

P.

Ibid. Ward try'd on Puppies, and the Poor, his Drop ;] It was the Poet's purpofe to do Mr. Ward honour in affigning to him

To Theatres, and to Rehearsals throng,
And all our Grace at table is a Song.
I, who so oft renounce the Mufes, lye,
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 show our Wit. 180

* He ferv'd a 'Prenticeship, who fets up shop; Ward try'd on Puppies, and the Poor, his Drop; Ev'n'Radcliff's Doctors travel firft to France, Nor dare to practise till they've learn'd to dance. 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,

m

All rhyme, and fcrawl, and fcribble, to a man.

NOTES.

that medical Aphorism of regular practice,

SCRIBL.

periculum faciamus in corpore vili. VER. 183. Ev'n Radcliff's Doctors travel first to France, Nor dare to practife till they've learn'd to dance.] By no means an infinuation as if these travelling Doctors had mifpent their time. Radcliff had fent them on a medicinal miffion, to examine the produce of each Country, and fee in what it might be made fubfervient to the art of healing. The native commodity of France is DANCING. Mercurialis gives the Gymnastics, of which this is part, a neceffary place amongst the non-naturals (by which term the Phyficians mean air, exercise, diet, etc. as if the natural way of living in health was by phyfic) and the

V

a Hic error tamen et levis haec infania, quantas

Virtutes habeat, fic collige: vatis ° avarus

Non temere eft animus: P verfus amat, hoc ftudet

Si das hoc, parvis quoque rebus magna juvari;

▾ Os tenerum pueri balbumque poeta figurat:

NOTES.

dignity and eminence of this part of the Gymnastics is learnedly and elaborately explained in that curious Differtation on dancing, in the 13th chap. of the 2a Vol. of the Life of King David.

SCRIBL.

VER. 201. Of little ufe, etc.] There is a poignancy in the following verses, 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 reliéta parmula) in the battle of Philippi. It is manifeft he alludes to

191

Yet, Sir," reflect, the mischief is not great; These Madmen never hurt the Church or State: Sometimes the Folly benefits mankind; And rarely Av'rice taints the tuneful mind. Allow him but his P plaything of a Pen, He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men: Flight of Cashiers, 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 metre, Enjoys his Garden and his book in quiet; And then --- a perfect Hermit in his 'diet.

Of little ufe the Man you may fuppofe, Who fays in verse what others fay in profe; Yet let me show, a Poet's of fome weight, And (tho' no Soldier) useful to the State.

200

What will a Child learn fooner than a fong?205 What better teach a Foreigner the tongue?

NOTES.

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 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.

P.