A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age, Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage: These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion still, And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will. If any afk you, "Who's the Man, fo near 45 "His Prince, that writes in Verfe, and has his ear?" Why, anfwer, LYTTELTON, and I'll engage The worthy Youth fhall 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 honeft FLEURY, But well may put fome Statefmen in a fury. Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes; These you but anger, and you mend not thofe NOTES. probity. He fometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here defcribed of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honesty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem. P. VER. 43. Thefe nothing hurts;] i. e. offends. VER. 47. Why, anfwer, Lyttelton,] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writ ings and fpeeches in the fpirit of Liberty. P. VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfy,] The one the wicked minifter of Tiberius; the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minifter, without diftinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. 137. P. Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minifter to Louis XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wifdom and hos nesty. P. Laugh at your friends, and, if your Friends are fore, 60 P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth: Adieu Distinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth! Come, harmless Characters that no one hit; 65 Come, Henley's Oratory, Ofborn's Wit! The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue, The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y--ng! The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence, And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Senfe, 70 That First was H--vy's, F---'s next, and then The S---te's, and then H---vy's once agen. NOTES, VER. 56. So much the better, you may laugh the more.] Their. forenefs being a clear indication of their wanting the frequent repetition of this difcipline. VER. 66. Henley--Ofborn,] See them in their places in the Dunciad. P. VER. 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to fome court fermons, and florid panegyrical speeches; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an address in VOL. IV. X O come, that easy Ciceronian style, So Latin, yet fo English all the while, As, tho' the Pride of Middleton and Bland, 75 Hang the fad Verse on CAROLINA's Urn, 80 NOTES. the fame pretty style, and was laftly served up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, published by its author. P. VER. 69. The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence,] Our moral Bard was no great Adept in Theology, nor did he enter into the depths of Pulpit Eloquence. Which (and it is much to be lamented) rendered his judgment of things, on certain occafions, but flight and fuperficial. It is plain he here gibeth at this master-stroke of Pulpit Eloquence. But Mafter Doctor Thomas Playfere might have taught him better. This eminent court-divine in his Spittal-fermon preached in the year 1595, layeth open the whole fecret of this matter. "The voice of a preacher (faith he, himselfe a powerfull preacher) ought to be the voice of a Crier, which should not pipe to make "the people dance, but mourne to make them weep. Hence "it is, that in the oulde law none that was blinde, or had anie ❝ blemishe in his eye, might serve at the Aulter; because for "that impedimente in his eye he could not well fhew his in"warde forrowing by his outwarde weeping. And when they "offered up their first borne, who was ordinarily in every fa"mily their Priefte, or their Preacher, they offered also with him a paire of turtle-doves, or two younge pigeons. That "paire of turtle-doves did fignify a paire of mournfull eyes; "those two younge pigeons did fignifie likewife two weeping eyes: And at that offering they prayed for their first-borne, And hail her paffage to the Realms of Reft, 131 No Gazetteer more innocent than I -- And let, a God's-name, ev'ry Fool and Knave 85 Be grac'd thro' Life, and flatter'd in his Grave. F. Why fo? if Satire knows its Time and Place, You still may lash the greatest---in Disgrace: NOTES. "that afterwards he might have fuch eyes himfelfe. For in"deed, as Austin witneffeth, THERE IS MORE GOOD TO BE "DONE with fighing than with speaking, with weeping than with "with words. Plus gemitibus quam fermonibus, plus fletu 66 quam affatu." VER. 75. As, tho' the Pride of Middleton] i. e. though so able a judge as Dr. Middleton himself should approve the Latinity, I fay it is bad and barbarous. VER. 76. All Boys may read, and Girls may understand!] i. e. full of school-book phrafes and Anglicifms. VER. 78. Nation's Senfe;] The cant of Politics at that time. VER. 80. Carolina] Queen confort to King George II. She died in 1737. Her death gave occafion, as is observed above, to many indifcreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whose last moments manifefted the utmost courage and refolution. P. How highly our Poet thought of that truly great personage may be seen by one of his letters to Mr. Allen, written at that time; in which, amongst others, equally refpectful, are the following words: "The Queen fhewed, by the confeffion of "all about her, the utmost firmnefs and temper to her laft "moments, and through the course of great torments. What "character hiftorians will allow her, I do not know; but all <her domestic fervants, and thofe nearest her, give her the " beft teftimony, that of fincere tears." VER. 84. No Gazetteer mere innocent than I.] The Gazet For Merit will by turns forfake them all; 91 Would you know when? exactly when they fall. 95 Receive, and place for ever near a King! There, where no Paffion, Pride, or Shame transport, - NOTES. teer is one of the low appendices to the Secretary of State's office, to write the government's news-paper, published by Authority. Sir Richard Steel had once this poft. And he defcribes the condition of it very well, in the Apology for himself and his writings: "My next appearance as a writer was in the "quality of the lowest minister of state, to wit, in the Office of "Gazetteer; where I worked faithfully, according to order, "without ever erring against the rule obferved by all minifters, "to keep that paper very innocent and very infipid. It was "to the reproaches I heard every Gazette day against the wri❝ter of it, that I owe the fortitude of being remarkably neg"ligent of what people say which I do not deferve." VER. 92. Immortal S-k, and grave De-re!] A title given that Lord by King James II. He was of the Bedchamber to King William; he was fo to King George I. he was so to King George II. This Lord was very fkilful in all the forms of the Houfe, in which he difcharged himfelf with great gravity. P. VER. 97. There, where no Paffion, etc.] The excellent writer De l'Esprit des Loix gives the following character of the Spirit of Courts, and the Principle of Monarchies: "Qu'on |