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Can there be wanting, to defend Her caufe,
Lights of the Church, or Guardians of the Laws?
Could penfion'd Boileau lash in honest strain 111
Flatt'rers and Bigots ev'n in Louis' reign?
Could Laureate Dryden Pimp and Fry'r engage,
Yet neither Charles nor James be in a rage?
And I not 'ftrip the gilding off a Knave,
Unplac'd, unpenfion'd, no man's heir, or flave?
I will, or perish in the gen'rous cause:
Hear this, and tremble! you, who'scape the Laws.

NOTES.

115

to Translation. He always used Mr. Pope civilly; and would often exprefs his concern that his religion rendered him incapable of a place. At the fame time, he never spoke one word of a penfion. For this offer, he was folely indebted to the Whig-Minifters. In the beginning of George I. Lord Hallifax, of his own motion, fent for Mr. Pope, and told him, it had often given him concern that fo great a Poet had never been distinguished; that he was glad it was now in his pow er to ferve him; and, if he cared to accept of it, he should have a pension not clogged with any engagements. Mr. Pope thanked him, and defired time to confider of it. After three months (having heard nothing further from that Lord) he wrote him a Letter to repeat his Thanks; in which he took occafion to mention the affair of the penfion with much Indifference. So the thing dropt till Mr. Craggs came into the Ministry. The affair of the penfion was then refumed. And this Minister, in a very frank and friendly manner, told Mr. Pope, that three hundred pounds a year were then at his fervice: he had the management of the fecret-service money, and could pay him fuch a penfion, without its being known, or

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Scilicet & UNI AEQUUS VIRTUTI ATQUE ELUS

AMICIS.

* Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in fecreta remôrant

Virtus Scipiadae et mitis fapientia Laeli,

Nugari cum illo, et difcincti ludere, donec

Decoqueretur olus, foliti.

Quidquid fum ego, quamviș

Infra Lucilî cenfum, ingeniumque; tamen me

Cum magnis vixiffe invita fatebitur ufque

Invidia; et fragili quaerens illidere dentem,
Offendet folido:

NOTES.

ever coming to account. But now Mr. Pope declined the offer without hesitation only, in return for fo friendly a Propofal, he told the Secretary, that if at any time he wanted Money, he would draw upon him for 100 or 200L Which liberty, however, he did not take. Mr. Craggs more than once preffed him on this head; and urged to him the conveniency of a Chariot; which Mr. Pope was fenfible enough of: But the Precarioufnefs of that fupply made him very prudently decline the thoughts of an Equipage; which it was much better never to fet up, than not properly to fupport.

VER. 129. And HE, whofe lightning, &c.] Charles Mordaunt Earl of Peterborow, who in the year 1705 took Barcelona, and in the winter following, with only 280 horse and goo foot, enterprised and accomplished the Conquest of Va lentia, P.

Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave

Shall walk the world, in credit, to his

grave. 120

"TO VIRTUE ONLY and HER FRIENDS A FRIEND, The World befide may murmur, or commend. Know, all the distant din that world can keep, Rolls o'er my Grotto, and but fooths my sleep. There, my retreat the best Companions grace, 125 Chiefs out of war, and Statesmen out of place. There ST. JOHN mingles with my friendly bowl The Feast of Reason and the Flow of foul: And HE, whofe lightning pierc'd th' Iberian Lines,

Now forms my Quincunx, and now ranks

my

Vines,

Or tames the Genius of the stubborn plain,
Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain.

Envy muft own, I live among the Great,

130

No Pimp of pleasure, and no Spy of state, 134

NOTES.

VER. 133. Envy must own, &c.] Horace makes the point of Honour to confift fimply in his living familiarly with the Great;

"Cum magnis vixisse invita fatebitur ufque

"Invidia."

Our Poet, more nobly, in his living with them on the foot of an honeft man.He prided himself in this fuperiority, as appears from the following words, in a Letter to Dr. Swift.

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* nifi quid tu, docte Trebati,

Diffentis.

T. 'Equidem nihil hinc diffingere poffum. Sed tamen ut monitus caveas, ne forte negotî Incutiat tibi quid fanctarum infcitia legum :

m Si mala condiderit in quem quis carmina,

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H. Efto, fiquis" mala. fed bona fi quis

NOTES.

"To have pleafed great men, according to Horace, is a Praife; "but not to have flattered them, and yet not have displeased "them, is a greater." Let. VII. Jan. 12, 1723.

VER. 146. A man was hang'd, &c.] Si mala condiderit— A great French Lawyer explains this matter very truly. "L'Ariftocratie eft le Gouvernement qui profcrit le plus les "Ouvrages fatiriques. Les Magiftrats y font de petits Sou"verains, qui ne font pas affez grands pour mepriser les in"jures. Si dans la Monarchie quelque trait va contre le "Monarque, il eft fi haut que le trait n'arrive point jusqu'à "lui; un Seigneur Aristocratique en eft percé de part en part. Auffi les Decemvirs, qui formoient une Ariftocratie, "punirent-ils de mort les ecrits fatiriques." De L'Esprit des Loix, L. xii. c. 13.

VER. 150. 151. Eibels and Satires! lawless things indeed!

With eyes

140

that pry not, tongue that ne'er repeats, Fond to spread friendships, but to cover heats; To help who want, to forward who excel; This all who know me, know; who love me, tell; And who unknown defame me, let them be Scriblers or Peers, alike are Mob to me. This is my Plea, on this I reft my caufe--* What faith my Council, learned in the laws? F. 'Your Plea is good; but still I say, beware! Laws are explain'd by Men---so have a care. It stands on record, that in Richard's times 145 A man was hang'd for very honest rhymes. " Confult the Statute: quart. I think, it is, Edwardi fext. or prim. et quint. Eliz. See Libels, Satires-here you have it---read.

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P. "Libels and Satires! lawless things indeed! 150 But grave Epistles, bringing Vice to light, Such as a King might read, a Bishop write,

NOTES.

But grave Epistles, &c.] The legal objection is here more justly and decently taken off than in the Original. Horace evades the force of it with a quibble,

"Efto, fiquis mala, fed bona fi quis—"

But the Imitator's grave Epiftles fhew the fatire to be a serious reproof, and therefore justifiable; which the integer ipfe of the Original does not: for however this might plead in mitigation of the offence, nothing but their being grave Epiftles could justify the attack.

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