m Unworthy he, the voice of fame to hear, That sweetest music to an honest ear, (For 'faith, Lord Fanny! you are in the wrong, The world's good word is better than a song,) 100 Who has not learn'd, " fresh sturgeon and ham-pie When luxury has lick'd up all thy pelf, 105 Cursed by thy neighbours, thy trustees, thyself, 66 110 Right," cries his Lordship, " for a rogue in need To have a taste, is insolence indeed: In me 'tis noble, suits my birth and state, Oh impudence of wealth! with all thy store, Make keys, build bridges, or repair Whitehall : Or to thy country let that heap be lent, As M*** o's was, but not at five per cent. t 115 120 Who thinks that fortune cannot change her mind, Prepares a dreadful jest for all mankind. u And who stands safest? tell me, is it he NOTES. 125 L stopped short by that Lord, who said: "He was so very great a man, that I forgot he had that vice."-Warton. Ver. 122. five per cent.] Among the papers of the Orford collection, is a curious note to Sir Robert Walpole, when Secretary at War, from the Duke of Marlborough, in which he says, he has a hundred thousand pounds he does not know how to dispose of, and desires Walpole to put it out for him. From Mr. Coxe.-Bowles. V Quò magis his credas: puer hunc ego parvus Ofellum Integris opibus novi non latiùs usum, W y Quàm nunc accisis. Videas, metato in agello, Sæviat atque novos moveat Fortuna tumultus ! Quantum hinc imminuet? quanto aut ego parciùs, aut vos, с O pueri, nituistis, ut huc novus incola venit? NOTES. Ver. 129. Thus BETHEL spoke,] This speech of Ofellus continues in the original to the end of this Satire. Pope has taken all that follows out of the mouth of Bethel, and speaks entirely in his own person. It is impossible not to be pleased with the picture of his way of life, and the account he gives of his own table, in lines that express common and familiar objects with dignity and elegance.-Warton. Ver. 133. In South-Sea days not happier, &c.] Mr. Pope had SouthSea stock, which he did not sell out. It was valued at between twenty and thirty thousand pounds when it fell.-Warburton. Ver. 134. than if now excised;] Pope naturally joined the violent cry against the Excise, with the party in opposition to Sir R. Walpole. Pulteney exclaimed upon another occasion: "There is another thing impending! a monstrous project! such a project as has struck terror into the minds of most gentlemen of this House, and into the minds of all men without doors, who have any regard to the happiness, or to the constitution, of their country. I mean THAT MONSTER, THE EXCISE! that PLAN OF ARBITRARY POWER, which is expected to be laid before the House in the present Parliament." Coxe's Memoirs, chap. 41.-Bowles. Ver. 136. Than in five acres] at Twickenham for his life. hence the expressions : He had a lease of his house and gardens The lease was purchased of a Mrs. Vernon; can it concern one, Whether the name belong to Pope, or Vernon ?-Bowles. V Thus BETHEL spoke, who always speaks his thought, And always thinks the very thing he ought: 130 And as I love, would imitate the man. In South-Sea days not happier, when surmised W 135 In forest planted by a father's hand, Content with little, I can piddle here X On brocoli and mutton round the year; But ancient friends (though poor, or out of play) 140 'Tis true, no turbots dignify my boards, But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords ; Thence comes your mutton, and these chicks my a own; From yon old walnut-tree a shower shall fall; 145 And grapes, long lingering on my only wall, And figs from standard and espalier join; Then cheerful healths, (your mistress shall have The devil is in you if you cannot dine; place,) And, what's more rare, a poet shall say grace. 150 Fortune not much of humbling me can boast; Though double tax'd, how little have I lost? My life's amusements have been just the same, My lands are sold, my father's house is gone; 155 NOTES. Ver. 152. double tax'd,] An additional tax was laid on the estates of Papists and nonjurors. Ver. 154. standing armies came.] A constant topic of declamation against the Court, at this time.-Warton. d Nam propriæ telluris herum natura, neque illum, Postremò expellet certè vivacior hæres. b Nunc ager Umbreni sub nomine, nuper Ofelli Dictus erat: nulli proprius; sed cedit in usum Nunc mihi, nunc alii. Quocirca vivite fortes, Fortiaque adversis opponite pectora rebus. NOTES. Ver. 160. Welcome the coming,] From Homer, Od. b. 15, v. 74. χρὴ ξεῖνον παρεόντα φιλεῖν, ἐθέλοντα δὲ πέμπειν. Theocritus has finely touched this subject in the sixteenth Idyllium.— Warton. Ver. 165. Well, if the use be mine, &c.] In a letter to this Mr. Bethel, of March 20, 1743, he says: My Landlady, Mrs. Vernon, being dead, this garden and house are offered me in sale; and, I believe, (together with the cottages on each side my grass plot next the Thames,) will come at about a thousand pounds. If I thought any very particular friend would be pleased to live in it after my death, (for, as it is, it serves all my purposes as well, during life,) I would purchase it; and more particularly could I hope two things; that the friend who should like it, was so much younger and healthier than myself, as to have a prospect of its continuing his, some years longer than I can of its continuing mine. But most of those I love are travelling out of the world, not into it; and unless I have such a view given me, I have no vanity nor pleasure that does not stop short of the grave."-So that we see (what some who call themselves his friends would not believe) his thoughts in prose and verse were the same.-Warburton. Ver. 171, 172. Or in pure equity, (the case not clear,) The Chancery takes your rents for twenty year ;] A Protestant miser's money in Chancery, and a Catholic miser's person in Purgatory, are never to be got out, till the law and the church have been well paid for their redemption.-Warburton. Ver. 175. Shades, that to BACON could retreat afford,] Gorhambury, near St. Alban's, a fine and venerable old mansion.-Warton. And yours, my friends? through whose free opening gate None comes too early, none departs too late; For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, 160 66 'Pray Heaven it last! (cries SWIFT) as you go on; Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life." d e Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one, The Chancery takes your rents for twenty year; g At best, it falls to some ungracious son, 165 170 Who cries: "My father's damn'd, and all's my own." h Shades, that to BACON could retreat afford, Become the portion of a booby lord; 175 And Hemsley, once proud Buckingham's delight, Let lands and houses have what lords they will, Let us be fix'd, and our own masters still. 180 |
