Summe munito, et multarum divite rerum. Clarus ob id factum, donis ornatur honeftis, Accipit et bis dena fuper feftertia nummûm. Forte fub hoc tempus caftellum evertere praetor Nefcio quod cupiens, hortari coepit eundem Verbis, quae timido quoque poffent addere mentem: 66 I, bone, quo virtus tua te vocat: i pede fausto, Grandia laturus meritorum praemia: quid ftas? Poft haec ille catus, quantumvis rufticus, Ibit, "Ibit eo, quo vis, qui zonam perdidit, inquit. Romae nutriri mihi contigit, atque doceri, Iratus Graiis quantum nocuiffet Achilles. NOTES. VER. 43 Gave him much praife, and some reward befide.] For the fake of a stroke of Satire, he has here weakened that circumftance, on which, the turn of the story depends. Horace avoided it, though the avaricious character of Lucullus was a tempting occafion to indulge his raillery. VER. 51. Let him take caftles who has ne'er a groat] This has neither the force nor the juftness of the Original. Horace makes his Soldier say, -Ibit, "Ibit eo, quo vis, qui zonam perdidit for it was not his poverty, but his lefs, that pushed him upon danger; many being fufficient to poverty, who cannot bear the fudden change of condition occafioned by loffes. What betray'd our Poet into this inaccuracy of expreffion was, it's fuiting better with the application. But, in a great Writer, we pardon nothing. And fuch fhould not forget, that the expreffion is not perfect, but when the ideas it conveys fit both the tale and the application: for then they reflect mutual light upon one another." Gave him much praise, and fome reward befide. Next pleas'd his Excellence a town to batter; (Its name I know not, and its no great matter) 45 "Go on, my Friend (he cry'd) see yonder walls! "Advance and conquer! go where glory calls! "More honours, more rewards, attend the brave." Don't you remember what reply he gave? D'ye think me, noble Gen'ral, fuch a fot? "Let him take caftles who has ne'er a groat."" 'Bred up at home, full early I begun, To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' fon. 50 NOTES. He was VER. 52. Bred up at home, &c.] The Reader may poffibly have a curiofity to know fomething more of Mr. Pope's education than what this verse tells him; and though much more would be too trifling to enter into a juft volume of his life, it may do no difhonour to one of these curfory notes. taught his letters very early by an Aunt; and from thence, to his eighth year, he took great delight in reading. He learned to write of himself, by copying after printed books, whofe characters he brought himfelf to imitate in great perfection. At eight, he was put under one Taverner, a Priest, who taught him the rudiments of the Latin and Greek tongues, together: From him, in a little time, he was fent to a private school at Twiford near Winchester. Here, he continued about a year; and was then removed to another, near Hydepark Corner. Under these two laft Mafters, he loft the little he had got under the Prieft. At twelve, he went with his Father into the Foreft; where he was, for a few months, under another Prieft; and with as little fuccefs as before. For, as Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae: Scilicet ut poffem curvo dignofcere rectum, Atque inter filvas Academi quaerere verum. Dura fed emovere loco me tempora grato; NOTES. he used to say, he never could learn any thing which he did not pursue with pleasure. And these miserable pedants had not the art of making his ftudies an amusement to him. Upon the remnants, therefore, of this fmall stock, so hardly picked up, fo eafily loft, and recovered (as we shall fee) with fo much labour, he at length thought fit to become his own mafter. And now the only method of ftudy he prescribed to himself was reading thofe claffic writers, who afforded him moft entertainment. So that while he was intent upon the fubject, with a strong appetite for Knowledge, and an equal paffion for Poetry, he infenfibly got Latin and Greek. And, what was extraordinary, his impatience of reftraint, in the ufual forms, did not hinder his fubjecting himself, now he was his own mafter, to all the drudgery and fatigue of perpetually recurring to his Grammar and Lexicon. By the time he was fifteen, he had acquired a very ready habit in the learned languages; when a Atrong fancy came into his head to remove to London to learn French and Italian. His Family (whofe only object was the prefervation of his miferably infirm body) regarded it as a very wild project. But he perfifted in it, and they gave way to town he came, and maftered those two languages with furprizing dispatch. The whole treasure of Parnaffus now lay open to him: and between this and his twentieth year, his conftant employment was reading the most confiderable Poets and Critics in the Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and English languages. But, all this, without much order; as chance threw them in his Befides, my Father taught me from a lad, The better art to know the good from bad: 55 (And little fure imported to remove, To hunt for Truth in Maudlin's learned grove.) 61 NOTE S. way, or the caprice of defultory reading directed his choice. This being one continued indulgence of his curiofity or amufement, made him always fpeak of these four or five years as the most pleasurable part of his life. He pe Yet his true understanding would not allow him to continue long eafy under fo defective an education. For a vast memory and an accurate judgment, which remedied many of its inconveniences, made him but the more fenfible of them all. So that, at twenty, when the impetuofity of his fpirits began to permit his genius to be put under restraint, he went over all the parts of his education a-new, from the very be ginning; and in a regular, and more artful manner. netrated into the general grounds and reafons of speech; he learnt to diftinguith the feveral species of ftyle, he studied the peculiar genius and character of each language; he reduced his natural talent for Poetry to a fcience; and mastered those parts of Philofophy which would most contribute to enrich his vein. And all this, with fuch continued attention, labour, and severity, that he used to say, he had been seven years (that is, from twenty to twenty-feven) in unlearning all he had been acquiring for twice that time. VER. 53. To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' fon.] This circumstance has a happier application in the imitation than in the original; and properly introduces the 68th verfe. Civilifque rudem belli tulit aeftus in arma, Caefaris Augufti non refponfura lacertis. Unde fimul primum me dimifere Philippi, Decifis humilem pennis, inopemque paterni Ut verfus facerem: fed, quod non defit, habentem, Ni melius dormire putem, quam fcribere versus? * Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes; NOTES. VER. 65. He fuck to poverty with peace of mind.] There was fomething very fingular in the Oeconomy of Mr. POFE'S Father. He was a Merchant, and lived in London. At the Revolution he left off trade, and converted his effects into money, amounting to between fifteen and twenty thousand pounds; with which he retired into the country. As he was a Papift, he could not purchase, nor put his money to intereft on real fecurity; and as he adhered to the interests of King James, he made a point of confcience not to lend it to the new Government: fo he kept it in his cheft; and lived upon the Principal; till, by that time his fon came to the fucceffion, it was almoft all fairly fpent. |