Refpondit, referam: Quia me veftigia terrent Omnia te adverfum fpectantia, nulla retrorfum. Bellua multorum eft capitum. nam quid fequar, aut quem? Pars hominum gestit 'conducere publica: funt qui Cruftis et pomis viduas venentur avaras, Excipiantque fenes, quos in vivaria mittant : f Multis occulto crefcit res fenore. verum Efto, aliis alios rebus ftudiifque teneri: Iidem eadem poffunt horam durare probantes? NOTES. VER. 117. Full many a Beaft goes in, but none come out.] This Expreffion is ufed for the joke's fake; but it hurts his moral; which is, that they come out brafts. He fhould here have stuck to the terms of his Original, veftigia omnia te adverfum fpectantia. VER. 118. Adieu to Virtue, &.] These two lines are intended for the Moral of a Fable which needed no explaining; fo that they impair the grace of it; at beft, as here applied, inferior to his Original. For Horace speaks of the common people, Popuus Romanus, to whom one of fop's Fables was properly addreffed but this is too fimple a method of conveying Truth to the well-dreffed Rabble of St. James's. VER. 126. Their Country's Wealth ou mightier Mifers drain,] The undertakers for advancing Loans to the Public, on the Funds. They have been commonly accused of making it a job. But in fo corrupt times, the fault is not always to be imputed to a Miniftry: it having been found, on trial, that the wifest and most virtuous citizen of this or any other Age, with every requifite talent in fuch matters, and fupported by "Because I fee, by all the tracks about, "Full many a Beast goes in, but none come out." Adieu to Virtue, if you're once a Slave: Send her to Court, you fend her to her grave. Well, if a King's a Lion, at the least с 120 Just half the land would buy, and half be fold: 125 Their Country's Wealth our mightier Mifers drain, Or crofs, to plunder Provinces, the Main; The reft, fome farm the Poor-box, fome the Pews; Some keep Affemblies, and would keep the Stews; Some with fat Bucks on childlefs Dotards fawn; Some win rich Widows by their Chine and Brawn ; 131 While with the filent growth of ten per cent, In dirt and darknefs, hundreds ftink content. e Of all these ways, if each 'pursues his own, Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone: 135 But fhew me one who has it in his pow'r To act confiftent with himself an hour. NOTES. all the weight an honeft administration could afford him, was, they fay, unable to abolish this inveterate mystery of iniquity. * Nullus in orbe finus Baiis praelucet amoenis, Si dixit dives; lacus et mare fentit amorem m "Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo? Quid "pauper? ride: mutat ̊coenacula, lectos, P Balnea, tonfores; conducto navigio aeque Naufeat, ac locuples, quem ducit priva triremis, NOTES. VER. 143. Now let fom whimfy, &c.] This is very fpirited, but much inferior to the elegance of the Original, "Cui fi vitiofa Libido "Fecerit aufpicium;" which alluding to the religious manners of that time, no modern imitation can come up to. Sir Job fail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and still, "No place on earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich " hill!" Up ftarts a Palace, lo, th' obedient bafe 140 Slopes at its foot, the woods its fides embrace, The filver Thames reflects its marble face. Now let fome whimfy, or that 'Dev'l within Which guides all those who know not what they mean, 66 But give the Knight (or give his Lady) fpleen; Away, away! take all fcaffolds down, 146 "For Snug's the word: My dear! we'll live in "Town." your k At am'rous Flavio is the stocken thrown? That very night he longs to lie alone. 'The Fool, whofe Wife elopes fome thrice a quarter, For matrimonial folace dies a martyr. m 150 Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch, Transform themselves so strangely as the Rich? Well, but the "Poor--The Poor have the fame itch; They change their weekly Barber, weekly News, 155 Prefer a new Japanner to their shoes, Р Lord. 160 'You laugh, half Beau, half Sloven if I stand, My wig all powder, and all fnuff my band; Rides, quid, 'mea cum pugnat fententia fecum; Quod petiit, fpernit; repetit quod nuper omifit; Adfummam, fapiens uno 'minor eft Jove, dives, *Liber, honoratus," pulcher, 'rex denique regum; Praecipue fanus, nifi cum pituita molesta est, NOTES. VER. 182. when plunder'd] i. e. By the Public; which has rarely her revenge on her plunderers; and when she has, more rarely knows how to use it. |