Who pants for glory finds but short repose, 300
A breath revives him, or a breath o’erthrows.
2 Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play,
The filly bard grows fat, or falls away.

a There still remains, to mortify a Wit, The many-headed Monster of the Pit :

305 A senseless, worthless, and unhonour'd croud; Who, to disturb their betters mighty proud, Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are spoke, Call for the Farce, the Bear, or the Black-joke, . What dear delight to Britons Farce affords ! 310 Ever the taste of Mobs, but now d of Lords ; (Taite, that eternal wanderer, which flies From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.) The Play stands ftill ; damn a&ion and discourse, Back fly che scenes, and enter foote and horse ; 315 Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn, Peers, Heralds, Bishops, Ermin, Gold and Lawn : The Champion tool and, to complete the jest, Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breast,

Ibid. Old Edvard's Armour, ete. ] Deseriptive poetry is the Icwest work of a Genius. Therefore when Mr. Pope em. ploys himself in it, he never fails, as here, to ennoble it with some stroke or other.

h

k

f Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus ; feu
Diversum confufa genus panthera camelo,
Sive 8 elephas albus vulgi converteret ora.
Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipfis,
Ut fibi praebentem mimo spectacula plura :
Scriptores autem narrare putaret a fello
Fabellam furdo. nam quae ' pervincere voces
Evaluerc sonum, referunt quem noftra theatra ?

Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tuscum.
Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi spectantur, et artes.
1 Divitiaeque peregrinae : quilnim oblitus actor
Cum ftetit in scena, concurrit dextera laevae.
Dixit adhuc aliquid ? nil fane. Quid placet ergo?
r Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.
Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipse recusem,
Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne;
Ille

per extentum funem mihi posse videtur Ire poeta ;

mcum qui pectus inaniier angit.

VER. 328. Orcas' formy steep.] The farthest Northern Promontory of Scotland, opposite to the Orcades.

With f laughter fure Democritus had dy'd, 320 Had he beheld an Audience gape

so wide. Let Bear or 8 Elephant be e'er fo white, The people, sure, the people are the fight! Ah luckless h Poet! stretch thy lungs and roar, That Bear or Elephant shall heed thee more; 325 While all its i throats the gallery extends, And all the Thunder of the Pit ascends! Loud as the Wolves, on k Orcas' storniy steep, Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep. Such is the shout, the long-applauding note, 330 At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's 'petticoat; Or when from Court a birth-day suit bestow'd, Sinks the m lost Actor in the tawdry load. Booth enters-hark! the Universal peal ! “ But has he spoken ?" Not a fyllable. What shook the stage, and made the people stare ? Cato's long wig, flow'r'd gown, and lacquer'd chair. Yet left

you think I railly more than teach, Or praise malignly Arts I cannot reach, Let me for once presume t'instruct the times, 34 To know the Poet from the man of rhymes : 'Tis he, ° who gives my breast a thousand pains, Can make me feel each Passion that he feigns ;

335

Irritat, mulcet, falfis terroribus implet,

Ut magus ; et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.

P Verum age, et his, qui se lectori credere malunt,

Quam /pectatoris faftidia ferre fuperbi,

Curam impende brevem : fi 9 munus Apolline dignum

Vis complere libris; et vatibus addere calcar,

Ut studio majore petant Helicona virentem.

* Multa quidem nobis facimus mala faepe poetae, (Ut vineta egomet caedam mea) cum tibi librum * Solicito damus, aut feso: cum laedimur, +

unum

Si quis amicorum est ausus reprendere versum :

Cum loca jam recitata revolvimus irrevocati :

Cum w lamentamur non apparere labores

Noftros, et tenui deducta poemata filo;

VER. 354. a Library] Munus Apolline igrum. The Palatine Library then building by Augustus.

Inrage, compose, with more than magic Art,
With Pity, and with Terror, tear my heart ; 345
And snatch me, oʻer the earth, or thro' the air,
To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where.

p But not this part of the Poetic state
Alone, deserves the favour of the Great :
Think of those Authors, Sir, who would rely 350
More on a Reader's sense, than Gazer's eye.
Or who shall wander where the Muses sing?
Who climb their mountain, or who taste their spring?
How shall we fill 9 a Library with Wit,
When Merlin's Cave is half unfurnish'd yet? 355
My Liege ! why Writers little claim your thought,
I guess ; and, with their leave, will tell the fault :
Wer Poets are (upon a Poet's word)
Of all mankind, the creatures most absurd :
The s season, when to come, and when to go, 360
To fing, or cease to sing, we never know;
And if we will recite nine hours in ten,
You lose your patience, just like other men.
Then too we hurt ourselves when to defend
A single verse, we quarrel with a friend ; 365
Repeat u unak'd; lament, the w Wit's too fine
For vulgar eyes, and point out ev'ry line,
But most, when straining with too weak a wing,
We needs will write Epiftles to the King;

VER.355. Merlin's Cave) A Building in the RoyalGardens of Richmond, where is a small, but choice Collection of Books,