To W---le guilty of fome venial fin; 171 From him the next receives it, thick or thin, 175 The bleffed benefit, not there confin'd, F. This filthy fimile, this beaftly line Quite turns my ftomach-- 180 P. So does Flatt'ry mine; And all your courtly civet-cats can vent, Perfume to you, to me is excrement. But hear me further---Japhet, 'tis agreed Writ not, and Chartres fcarce could write or read, NOTES. 185 Ver. 161. The priest, &c.] Spoken not of any particular priest, but of many priests. Ver. 166. And how did, &c.] This feems to allude to a complaint made ver 71. of the proceding Dialogue. Ver. 185.Japhet--Chartres] See the epiftle to Lord Bathurst. Ver. 185. in the MS. VARIATIONS. I grant it, Sir; and further, 'tis agreed, Japhet writ not, and Chartres frarce could read. In all the courts of Pindus guiltless quite; But pens can forge, my friend, that cannot write; 195 Afk you what provocation I have had? The ftrong antipathy of good to bad. When truth or virtue an affront endures, Th' affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours. Mine, as a foe profefs'd to falfe pretence, Who think a Coxcomb's honour like his Sense; Mine, as a friend to ev'ry worthy mind; And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind. F. You're ftrangely proud. P. So proud, I am no flave So impudent, I own myself no knave: So odd, my country's ruin makes me grave. 201 : 206 Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, 210 The Mufe may give thee, but the Gods must guide: NOTES. Ver. 204. And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.} From Terence: "Homb fum: humani nihil a me alienum puto." Rev'rent 220 Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honeft zeal; 216 277 P NOTES. Not Ver. 219. And goad the prelate flumb'ring in his fall.] The good Eufebius, in his Evangelical Preparation, draws a long parallel between the Ox and the Chriftian Pricfihood. Hence the dignified clergy, out of mere humility, have ever fince called their thrones by the name of falls. To which a great prelate of Winchester, one W. Edinton, modeftly alluding, (who otherwise had been long fince forgotten), has rendered his name immortal by this ecclefiaftical aphorism, Canterbury is the higher rack, but Winchefter is the better manger. By which, however, it appears, that he was not one of those here condemned, who siumber in their stalls. Ver. 222. Cobwebs] Weak and flight fophiftry against virtue and honour. Thin colours over vice, as unable to hide the light of truth, as cobwebs to shade the sun. Ver. 228. When black ambition, &c.] The case of Cromwell in the civil war of England; and (ver. 229.) of Louis XIV. in his conquest of the Low Countries. VARIATIONS. After ver. 227. in the MS. Where's now the ftat that lighted Charles to rife? Not Waller's wreath can hide the nation's fear, Not fo when diadem'd with rays divine, 231 Touch'd with the flame that breaks from Virtue's fhrine, Her prieftels Mufe forbids the good to die, There, other tropies deck the truly brave, grave; And may defcend to Mordington from STAIR: (Such as an HoUGH's unfully'd mitre shine, 235 240 Or beam, good DIGBY, from a heart like thine.) Let Envy howl, while Heav'n's whole chorus fings, And bark at honour not conferr'd by kings; NOTES. Ver. 231. Nor Boileau turn the feather to a star.] See his ode on Namur; where (to use his own words) “Il a fait un Aftre de la Plume blanche que le Roy porte ordinairement a fon chapeau, et qui eft en effet une espece de Comete, fattale a nos ennemis." Ver. 237. Anftis] The chief herald at arms. It is the cuftom, at the funeral of great peers, to caft into the grave the broken ftaves and enfigns of honour. Ver 239. Stair: John Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, knight of the thiftle; ferved in all the wars under the Duke of Marlborough; and afterwards as ambaffador in France. Ver. 240, 241. Hough and Digby] Dr John Hough, Bishop of Worcester, and the Lord Digby. The one an afferter of the church of England, in oppofition to the false measures of King James II. The other as firmly attached to the cause of that King. Both acting out of principle, and equally men of honour and virtue. VARIATIONS. Hence, lying miracles! reduc'd fo low Let het Flatt'ry fick'ning fee the incenfe rife, Fr. Alas! alas! pray end what you began; NOTES. Ver. ult.] This was the laft poem of the kind printed bý our author, with a refolution to publish no more; but to enter thus in the most plain and folemn manner he could, a fort of PROTEST against that infuperable corruption and depravity of manners, which he had been fo unhappy as to live to fee. Could he have hoped to have amended any, he had continued thofe attacks; but bad men were grown io fameless, and fo powerful, that Ridicule was become as anfafe as it was ineffectual. The poem raised him, as he knew it would, fome enemies; but he had reason to be iatisfied with the approbation of good men, and the testimony of his own confcience. er/255. in the MS. VARIATIONS. Quit, quit, these themes, and write Effays on Man. ༞་ |