k T. Attamen et justum poteras et scribere fortem; Scipiadam ut sapiens Lucilius. H. Haud mihi deero, Cum res ipsa feret: 'nisi dextro tempore, Flacci m T. Quantò rectius hoc, quàm tristi lædere versu Pantolabum scurram, Nomentanumque nepotem! "Cùm sibi quisque timet, quanquam est intactus, et odit. H. Quid faciam? saltat Milonius, ut semel icto NOTES. full of just criticism, and whose letter to Fr. Rinuccini on this subject may be seen in Martinelli's Letters, p. 255. London, 1758. Warton. Ver. 28. falling horse?] The horse on which his Majesty charged at the battle of Oudenard; when the Pretender, and the princes of the blood of France, fled before him.-Warburton. Ver. 39. Abuse the City's best good men in metre,] The best good man, a city phrase for the richest. Metre-not used here purely to help the verse, but to show what it is a citizen esteems the greatest aggravation of the offence.-Warburton. Ver. 42. What should ail 'em?] Horace hints at one reason, that each fears his own turn may be next; his imitator gives another, and with more art, a reason which insinuates, that his very lenity, in using feigned names, increases the number of his enemies, who suspect they may be included under that cover.-Warburton. Ver. 45. Each mortal] These words, indeed, open the sense of Horace; but the quid faciam is better, as it leaves it to the reader to discover, what is one of Horace's greatest beauties, his secret and delicate transitions and connexions, to which those who do not carefully attend, lose half the pleasure of reading him.-Warton. Ver. 46. Darty his ham-pie ;] This lover of ham-pie owned the fidelity of the Poet's pencil, and said he had done justice to his taste; but that, if, instead of ham-pie, he had given him sweet-pie, he never could have pardoned him.-Warburton. Lyttelton, in his Dialogues of the Dead, has introduced Darteneuf, in a pleasant discourse betwixt him and Apicius, bitterly lamenting his ill fortune in having lived before turtle feasts were known in England. The story of the ham-pie was confirmed by Mr. Dodsley, who knew Darteneuf, and as he candidly owned, had waited on him at dinner.-Warton. Ver. 50. Like in all else] This parallel is not happy and exact. To show the variety of human passions and pursuits, Castor and Pollux were F. Then all your Muse's softer art display, P. Alas! few verses touch their nicer ear; It is to history he trusts for praise. m F. Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still, P. What should ail 'em? F. A hundred smart in Timon and in Balaam: The fewer still you name, you wound the more; Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score. 30 35 40 P. Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny 45 Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie; Ridotta sips and dances, till she see The doubling lustres dance as fast as she; PF loves the Senate, Hockley-hole his brother, Like in all else as one egg to another. 50 १ I love to pour out all myself, as plain As downright SHIPPEN, or as old Montaigne : NOTES. unlike, even though they came from one and the same egg. This is far more extraordinary and marvellous than that two common brothers should have different inclinations. And afterwards, ver. 51, 66 "I love to pour out all myself, as plain As downright SHIPPEN, or as old MONTAIGNE." My chief pleasure is to write satires like Lucilius," says Horace. My chief pleasure," says Pope, "is-what? to speak my mind freely and openly." There should have been an instance of some employment, and not a virtuous habit.-Warburton. A poet, like Lucilius, ought to have been named, not a politician. In the original, Horace calls Lucilius, senis; not because he was an old man, but because he was of an ancient equestrian family, and was great uncle of Pompey the Great. Lucilius, among other inaccuracies of style, sometimes strangely disjoined words, as in cere comminuit brum, for cerebrum. -Bowles. Ver. 52. As downright SHIPPEN,] The noblest testimony to the character Lucilî ritu, nostrûm melioris utroque. Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim Credebat libris; neque, si malè gesserat, usquam r Vita senis. Sequor hunc, Lucanus an Appulus, an ceps: [Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus, S NOTES. of Shippen, was given by Sir Robert Walpole, when he declared, which he repeatedly did, "that he would not say who was corrupted, but he would say who WAS NOT CORRUPTIBLE; that man was Shippen." Coxe's Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole. 66 He was born 1672, and was educated at Stockport school. He was first elected Member of Parliament in 1707 for Bramber in Sussex; and in 1714 he was elected for Newton in Lancashire, which place he represented till his death. His paternal estate was not more than 400l. per annum; but he obtained a large fortune, 70,000 pounds, by his wife, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Richard Stote, Knight, of Northumberland, by whom he left no children: his mode of living was simple and frugal. He kept up a constant correspondence with Atterbury, during his exile; and William Morrice mentions him in one of his letters, as a person who continued fixed to his principles, or, as he expresses himself, as honest as He seems to have had no country residence, except a hired house on Richmond Hill, but made excursions in summer to his wife's relations in Northumberland. His usual place of abode was London, in the latter period of his life, in Norfolk-street, and his house was the rendezvous for persons of rank, learning, and abilities; his manner was pleasing and dignified, and his conversation was replete with vivacity and wit. ever. 66 Shippen and Sir Robert Walpole had always a personal regard for each other. He was frequently heard to say, Robin and I are two honest men. He is for King George, and I for King James; but those men with long cravats (meaning Sandys, Sir John Rushout, Gibbon, and others) only desire places, either under King George or King James. 66 By the accounts of those who had heard him in the House of Commons, his manner was highly energetic and spirited, as to sentiment and expression; but he generally spoke in a low tone of voice, with too great rapidity, and held his glove before his mouth. His speeches usually contained some pointed period, which peculiarly applied to the subject in debate, and which he uttered with great animation." Coxe's Memoirs of Sir R. Walpole, vol. iii. p. 206.-Bowles. Ver. 63. My head and heart thus flowing through my quill,] Inferior to the original: [" Ille In them, as certain to be loved as seen, r My head and heart thus flowing through my quill, 55 60 65 Like good Erasmus in an honest mean, In moderation placing all my glory, While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory. 'Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet: 70 NOTES. "Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim Credebat libris," &c. Persius alluded to this idea, when he said, 66 Vidi, vidi ipse, Libelle !" &c.-Warburton. Ver. 64. Verse-man or prose-man,] The original, ver. 35. Nam Venusinus arat, down to ver. 39, and to the words, incuteret violenta, which are improperly printed in a parenthesis, have been thought an awkward and a monkish interpolation, but were undoubtedly intended by Horace to represent the loose, incoherent, and verbose manner of Lucilius, who composed hastily and carelessly, ducentos ante cibum versus ; and who loaded his Satires with many useless and impertinent thoughts, very offensive to the chaste and correct taste of Horace.-Warton. Ver. 66. Like good Erasmus] The violence and haughtiness of Luther disgusted the mild and moderate Erasmus, and alienated him from pursuing the plan of reformation which at first he seemed to encourage and engage in. Luther represented him as an Arian and a time-server. "I thought," said Erasmus," Luther's marriage would have softened him a little. It is hard for a man of my moderation and of my years to be obliged to write against a savage beast and a furious wild boar." But great revolutions and great reformations are not effected by calm and sober reason, nor without such violence and enthusiasm as Luther possessed. When Voltaire was lamenting that Locke and Newton had few disciples in comparison of the numerous followers of Luther and Calvin, it was replied to him, "that without a Luther and Calvin, we should never have had a Locke or Newton."-Warton. Ver. 70. To run a muck,] The expression is from Dryden : [Front t Vaginâ tectus, quem cur destringere coner, Tutus ab infestis latronibus? "O pater et rex Jupiter, ut pereat positum rubigine telum, W Nec quisquam noceat cupido mihi pacis! at ille, X Cervius iratus leges minitatur et urnam; Canidia Albutî, quibus est inimica, venenum ; Grande malum Turius, si quid se judice certes; Ut, quo quisque valet, suspectos terreat, utque Imperet hoc Natura potens, sic collige mecum. Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit; unde, nisi intus Monstratum? a Scævæ vivacem crede nepoti Matrem; nil faciet sceleris pia dextera (mirum, Ut neque calce lupus quemquam, neque dente petit bos?) Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta. NOTES. "Frontless and satire-proof, he scours the streets, And runs an Indian muck at all he meets." And it alludes to a practice among the Malayans, who are great gamesters; which is, that when a man has lost all his property, he intoxicates himself with opium, works himself up to a fit of phrenzy, rushes into the streets, and attacks and murders all he meets.-Warton. Ver. 71. I only wear it in a land of Hectors, &c.] Superior to "tutus ab infestis latronibus," which only carries on the metaphor in Vaginâ tectus ;" 66 -ensis whereas the Imitation does more; for, along with the metaphor, it conveys the image of the subject, by presenting the reader with the several objects of satire.-Warburton. Ver. 73. Save but our army! &c.] "Une maladie nouvelle," says the admirable author de L'Esprit des Loir, " s'est répandue en Europe; elle a saisi nos princes, et leur fait entretenir un nombre desordonné de troupes. Elle a ses redoublemens, et elle devient nécessairement contagieuse. Car si tôt qu'un état augmente ce qu'il appelle ses troupes, les autres soudain augmentent les leurs, de façon qu'on ne gagne rien par là que la ruïne commune. Chaque monarque tient sur pied toutes les armées qu'il pourroit avoir, si ses peuples étoient en danger d'être exterminés; et ON NOMME PAIX, CET ÉTAT D'EFFORT DE TOUS CONTRE TOUS. Aussi l'Europe est elle si ruinée, que les particuliers, qui seroient dans la situation où sont les trois puissances de cette partie du monde les plus opulentes, n'auroient pas de quoi vivre. Nous sommes pauvres avec les richesses et le commerce de tout l'univers; et bientôt, à force d'avoir des soldats, nous n'aurons plus que des soldats, et nous serons comme des Tartares."-Warburton. |
