*Reftat, ut his ego me ipfe regam folerque ele

mentis :

"Non poffis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus;

Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi:

Nec, quia defperes invicti membra Glyconis,
Nodofa corpus nolis prohibere cheragra.

X

Eft quadam prodire tenus, fi non datur ultra.

a

Laudis amore tumes? funt certa piacula, quae te

Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.

NOTES.

VER. 45. can no wants endure,] i. e. Can want nothing. Badly expreffed.

VER. 51. I'll do what Mead-] Mr. Pope highly efteemed and loved this worthy man, whofe unaffected humanity and benevolence have stifled much of that envy which his eminence in his profeffion would otherwife have drawn out. Speaking of his obligations to this great Phyfician and others of the Faculty, in a Letter to Mr. Allen, about a month before his death, he fays, "There is no end of my kind treatment from ' "the Faculty. They are in general the most amiable compa

Which done, the pooreft can no wants endure; 45 And which not done, the richest must be poor. Late as it is, I put myself to school,

And feel fome▾ comfort, not to be a fool.

W

w Weak tho' I am of limb, and short of fight,
Far from a Lynx, and not a Giant quite;
I'll do what Mead and Chefelden advise,

To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes.
Not to go back, is somewhat to advance,

50

And men must walk at least before they dance.

Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bofom move 55 With wretched Av'rice, or as wretched Love? Know, there areWords, and Spells, which can controll

2 Between the Fits this Fever of the foul:

a

Know, there are Rhymes, which a fresh and fresh apply'd

Will cure the arrant'ft Puppy of his Pride.

NOTES.

60

"nions, and the best friends, as well as the most learned Men "I know."

VER. 58. Between the fits-] The sense of

magnam morbi deponere partem

is here very happily expreffed. And

Ter pure lecto etc.

in the following line, as happily varied. But the whole paffage, which defcribes the ufe and efficacy of fatire, is admirably imitated.

d

Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinofus, amator: Nemo adeo ferus eft, ut non mitefcere poffit, Si modo culturae patientem commòdet aurem.

e

Virtus eft, vitium fugere; et fapientia prima,
Stultitia caruiffe. vides, quae maxima credis
Effe mala, exiguum cenfum, turpemque repulfam,
Quanto devites animi capitifque labore.

Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos,
Per mare pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes:
Ne cures1 ea, quae fiulte miraris et optas,
Difcere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis?'
Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax
Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui fpes,
Cui fit conditio dulcis fine pulvere palmae ?
"i Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum.

NOTES.

VER. 70. Scar'd at the Spectre of pale Poverty!] Tho' this has all the spirit, it has not all the imagery of the Original; where Horace makes Poverty purfue, and keep pace with the Mifer in his flight.

Per mare Pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes. But what follows,

Wilt thou do nothing, etc.

far furpaffes the Original.

c

Be furious, envious, flothful, mad, or drunk,

Slave to a Wife, or Vaffal to a Punk,

A Switz, a High-dutch, or a Low-dutch Bear; All that we ask is but a patient Ear.

f

"Tis the first Virtue, Vices to abhor;
And the firft Wisdom, to be Fool no more.
But to the world no bugbear is fo great,
As want of figure, and a small Eftate.
To either India fee the Merchant fly,

Scar'd at the spectre of pale Poverty!

See him, with pains of body, pangs of foul,

65

70

Burn through the Tropic, freeze beneath the Pole!
Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end,
Nothing, to make Philofophy thy friend?

To ftop thy foolish views, thy long defires,

75

And cafe thy heart of all that it admires? Here, Wisdom calls: ""Seek Virtue firft, be bold! "As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold."

NOTES.

VAR. 77. Here Wisdom calls: etc.] All from hence to 110, is a pretty clofe tranflation: but in general done with so mafterly a fpirit, that the Original, tho' one of the most finished paffages in Horace, looks only like the imitation of it.

VER. 78. As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold.] This perhaps is the most faulty line in the whole collection. The Original is, Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum.

which only fays, that as Silver is of lefs value than Gold, fo Gold

« k‹O cives, cives! quaerenda pecunia primum est;

Virtus poft nummos: haec 'Fanus fummus ab imo Prodocet: haec recinunt juvenes dictata fenefque,

m Laevo fufpenfi loculos tabulamque lacerto.

Eft animus tibi, funt mores, eft lingua fidefque:

Sed quadringentis fex feptem millia defint,

• Plebs eris. Pat pueri ludentes, Rex eris, aiunt,

NOTES.

is of less value than Virtue in which fimple inferiority, and not the proportion of it, is implied. For it was as contrary to the Author's purpose, as it is to common fenfe, to suppose, that Virtue was but just as much better than gold, as gold is better than filver. Yet Mr. Pope, too attentive to his conftant object, concifenefs, has, before he was aware, fallen into this abfurd meaning. However this, and many other inaccuracies in his works, had been corrected, had he lived; as many, that now firft appear in this Edition, were actually corrected a little before his death.

And here I cannot but do justice to one of his many good qualities, a very rare one indeed, and what none but a truly great genius can afford to indulge; I mean his extreme readinefs, and unfeigned pleasure, in acknowledging his mistakes : this, with an impatience to reform them, he poffeffed in a greater degree, and with lefs affectation than any Man I ever knew..