THE

SECOND EPISTLE

OF THE

SECOND BOOK

OF

H OR A CE.

Ludentis fpeciem dabit, et torquebitur. Hor.

EPISTO L A

II.

F

LORE, bono claroque fidelis amice Neroni,
Si quis forte velit puerum tibi vendere

natum
Tibure vel Gabiis, et tecum sic agat:

“ Hic et Candidus, et talos a vertice pulcher ad imos, “ Fiet eritque tuus nummorum millibus octo ; " Verna ministeriis ad nutus aptus heriles; " Litterulis Graecis imbutus, idoneus arti “ Cuilibet: argilla quidvis imitaberis uda :

Quin etiam canet indoctum, fed dulce bibenti. “ Multa fidem promissa levant, ubi plenius aequo “ Laudat venales, qui vult extrudere, merces. " Res urget me nulla: meo sum pauper in aere, “ Nemo hoc mangonum faceret tibi: non te

“ mere a me

NOT E s.

VER. 4. This Lad, Sir, is of Blois :) A Town in Beauce, where the French tongue is spoken in great purity,

VER. 15. But, sir, to you, with what would I not pari?].

DE

E P I S T L E II. EAR Colnel, COBHAM's and your coun

try's Friend! You love a Verse, take such as I can send. A Frenchman comes, presents you with his Boy, Bows and begins---" This Lad, Sir, is of Blois : “ Observe his shape how clean! his locks how “ curl'd!

5 My only son, I'd have him see the world : “ His French is pure ; his voice too --- you

" shall hear. “ Sir, he's your slave, for twenty pound a year. “ Mere wax as yet, you fashion him with ease, “ Your Barber, Cook, Upholst'rer, what you

“ please : “ A perfect genius at an Op'ra-song--“ To say too much, might do my « Take him with all his virtues, on my word; “ His whole ambition was to serve a Lord; " But, Sir, to you, with what would I not part? 15 “ Tho' faith, I fear, 'twill break his Mother's

“ heart. “ Once (and but once) I caught him in a lye, “ And then, unwhipp'd, he had the grace to cry: “ The fault he has I fairly shall reveal, “ (Could you o'erlook but that) it is, to steal.” 20

N O T E s. The numbers well express the unwillingness of parting with .what one can but ill spare.

IO

honour wrong.

Quivis ferret idem: semel hic ceffavit, et (ut fit) “ In scalis latuit metuens pendentis habenae: “ Des nummos, excepta nihil te fi fuga laedit.”

* Ille ferat pretium, poenae securus, opinor. Prudens emisti vitiosum: dicta tibi eft lex. Infequeris tamen hunc, et lite moraris iniqua.

Dixi me pigrum proficiscenti tibi, dixi Talibus officiis

prope mancum: ne mea faevus Jurgares ad te quod epistola nulla veniret. Quid tum profeci, mecum facientia jura Si tamen attentas? quereris super hoc etiam, quod Exspectata tibi non mittam carmina mendax.

Luculli miles collecta viatica multis Aerumnis, laflus dum noctu stertit, ad affem Perdiderat: poft hoc vehemens lupus, et sibi et

hosti Iratus pariter, jejunis dentibus acer, Praesidium regale loco dejecit, ut aiunt,

NOTES

Ver. 24. I think Sir Godfrey] An eminent Justice of Peace, who decided much in the manner of Sancho Pancha. P. Sir Godfrey Kneller.

VER. 33. In Anna's Wars, &c.] Many parts of this story are well told ; but, on the whole, it is much inferior to the Original

26

d

* If, after this, you took the graceless lad,
Could you complain, my Friend, he prov'd so bad?
Faith, in such case, if you should prosecute,
I think Sir Godfrey should decide the suit ;
Who sent the Thief that stole the Cash, away,
And punish'd him that put it in his

way. Consider then, and judge me in this light; I told

you

when I went, I could not write; You said the same; and are you discontent With Laws, to which you gave your own assent? Nay worse, to ask for Verse at such a time!

31 D'ye think me good for nothing but to rhyme?

'In Anna's Wars, a Soldier poor and old
Had dearly earn'd a little purse of gold:
Tir'd with a tedious march, one luckless night,
He slept, poor dog! and lost it, to a doit.
This put the man in such a desp’rate mind,
Between revenge, and grief, and hunger join'd
Against the foe, himself, and all mankind,
He leap'd the trenches, scald a Castle-wall, 40
Tore down a Standard, took the Fort and all.

36

NOTE s.
VER. 37. This put the man, &c.] Much below the Original,

4. Poft hoc vehemens lupus, et sibi et hosti
“ Iratus pariter, jejunis dentibus acer.”
The last words are particularly elegant and humorous.