print,

And when it comes, the court fee nothing in't.

NOTES.

Ver. 1. Not twice a twelvemonth, &c.] These two lines are from Horace; and the only lines that are fo in the whole poem; being meant to give a handle to that which follows in the character of an impertinent cenfurer.

'Tis all from Horace; etc.

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 2. in the MS.

You don't, I hope, pretend to quit the trade,
Because you think your reputation made:
Like good ** of whom so much was said,
That when his name was up, he lay abed.
Come, come, refresh us with a livelier fong,
Or like you'll lie abed too long.
P. Sir, what I write, fhould be correctly writ,
F. Correct! 'tis what no genius can admit.
Befides, you grow too moral for a wit.
O 2

You

5

You grow correct, that once with rapture writ,
And are, beiides, too moral for a wit.
Decay of parts, alas! we all must feel---
Why now, this moment, don't I fee you fteal?
'Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye
Said, "Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory;"
And taught his Romans, in much better metre,
"To laugh at fools who put their truft in Peter." IQ
But Horace, Sir, was delicate, was nice;
Bubo obferves, he lafh'd no fort of vice:
Horace would fay, Sir Billy ferv'd the Crown,
Blunt could do bus'nefs, H-ggins knew the town;
In Sappho touch the failings of the fex,
In rev'rend bishops note fome fmall neglects,
And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing,
Who cropt our ears, and fent them to the king.
His fly, polite, infinuating ftyle

15

Could please at court, and make AUGUSTUS fmile: An artful manager, that crept between

His friend and thame, and was a kind of fcreen.

NOTES.

21

Ver. 12. Bubo obferves,] Some guilty perfon very fond of making fuch an obfervation.

Ver. 14. H-ggins] Formerly jailor of the Fleet-prifon, enriched himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled.

Ver. 18. Who cropt our ears] Said to be executed by the captain of a Spanifh fhip on one Jenkins a captain of an English one. He cut of his ears, and bid him carry them to the King his malter.

Ver. 22. Screen.]

66 Umne vater vitium ridenti Flaccus amico

Tangit, et admiffus circum præcordia ludit." PERS. Ibid. Screen.] A metaphor peculiarly appropriated to a certain perion in power.

But

But 'faith your very friends will foon be fore; Patriots there are, who wish you'd jeft no more--And where's the glory? 'twill be only thought 25 The Great Man never offer'd you a groat.

Go fee Sir ROBERT----

P. See Sir ROBERT !---hum--And never laugh---for all my life to come? Seen him I have, but in his happier hour Of focial pleasure, ill-exchang'd for pow'r;

O 3

NOTES.

39

Seen

Ver. 24. Patriots there are, etc.] This appellation was generally given to thofe in oppofition to the court. Though fome of them (which our author hints at) had views too mean and interefted to deferve that name.

Ver. 26. The great man] A phrafe, by common use, appropriated to the first minister.

Ver. 29. Seen him I have, etc.] This and other strokes of commendation in the following poem, as well as his regard to him on all occafions, were in acknowledgment of a certain fervice the minifter had done a prielt at Mr Pope's folicitation. Our poet, when he was about feventeen, had a very il fever in the country, which, it was feared, would end fatally. In this condition, he wrote to Southcot, a prieft of his acquaintance, then in town, to take his last leave of him. Southcot with great affection and folicitude applied to Dr Radcliffe for his advice. And not content with that, he rode down poft, to Mr Pope, who was then an hundred miles from London, with the Doctor's directions; which had the defired effect. A long time after this, Southcot, who had an intereft in the court of France, writing to a common acquaintance in England, informed him that there' was a good abbey near Avignon, which he had credit enough to get, were it not from an apprehenfion that his promotion would give umbrage to the English court, to which he (Southcot) by his intrigues in the Pretender's fervice, was become very obnoxious. The perfon to whom this was written happening to acquaint Mr Pope with the cafe, he immediately wrote to Sir Robert Walpole about it, begged

Seen him, uncumber'd with the venal tribe,
Smile without art, and win without a bribe.
Would he oblige me? let me only find,

He does not think me what he thinks mankind.
Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt; 35
The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

F. Why yes with fcripture ftill you may be free; A horse-laugh, if you please, at honefly; A joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig Who never chang'd his principle, or wig: A patriot is a fool in ev'ry age,

40

Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the stage: Thefe nothing hurts; they keep their fashion ftill, And wear their strange old virtue, as they will,

NOTES.

that this embargo might be taken off; and acquainted him with the grounds of folicitation: That he was indebted to Southcot for his life, and he must difcharge his obligation, either here or in purgatory. The minifter received the application favourably, and with much good nature wrote to his brother, then in France, to remove this obstruction. In confequence of which Southcot got the abbey. Mr Pope ever after retained a grateful fenfe of his civility.

Ver. 31. Seen him uncumber'd] Thefe two verses were originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first edi

tions.

Ver. 37. Why yes; with feripture fill you may be free ;] Thus the man commonly called Mother Ofborne, who was in the minifter's pay, and wrote journals; for one paper in behalf of Sir Robert, had frequently two againft J. C.

Ver. 39. A joke on Jekyl;] Sir Joseph Jekyl, master of the rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He fometimes voted against the court, which drew upon him the laugh here defcribed of ONE who beftowed it equally upon religion and honesty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem.

If any

aik

you,

Who's the man, so near

45

"His prince, that writes in verfe, and has his ear?"
Why, anfwer, LYTTLETON, and I'll engage
The worthy youth shall ne'er be in a rage:
But were his verfes vile, his whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe. 50
Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honest FLEURY,
But well may put some statesmen in a fury,
Laugh then at any, but at fools or foes;
Thefe you but anger, and you mend not those.
Laugh at your friends, and, if your friends are fore,
So much the better, you may laugh the more. 56
To vice and folly to confine the jest,
Sets half the world, God knows, against the reft;
Did not the fneer of more impartial men
At Senfe and Virtue, balance all agen.
Judicious wits fpread wide the ridicule,
And charitably comfort knave and fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the prejudice of youth:
Adieu distinction, fatire, warmth, and truth!

NOTES.

Ver. 47. Why, anfwer, Lyttleton.] George Lyttleton, fecretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and fpeeches in the fpirit of Liberty.

Ver. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey,] The one the wicked minifter of Tiberius; the other of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually beftowed thefe and other odious names on the Minister, without distinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. ii. ver. 137.

Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal, and minifter to Louis XV. It was a patriot fashion, at that time, to cry up his wifdɔm and honesty.

Ver. 56. So much the better, you may laugh the more.] Their forenes being a clear indication of their wanting the frequent repetition of this difcipline.

04

Come