T. f Ter un&ti Tranfnanto Tiberim, fomno quibus eft opus alto; Irriguumve mero fub noctem corpus habento. * Aut, fi tantus amor fcribendi te rapit, aude CÆSARIS invicti res dicere, h multa laborum Praemia laturus. H. Cupidum, pater optime, vires Deficiunt: neque enim quivis horrentia pilis. Agmina, nec fracta pereuntes cufpide Gallos, Aut labentis equo defcribat vulnera Parthi. T. Attamen et juftum poteras et fcribere fortem, Scipiadam ut fapiens Lucilius. For concifenefs, when it is clear (as in this place) gives the highest grace to elegance of expreffion.---But what follows is as much above the Original, as this falls fhort of it. VER 23. What? like Sir Richard, &c.] Mr. Molyneux, a great Mathematician and Philosopher, had a high opinion of Sir Richard Blackmore's poetic vein. All our English poets, except Milton (fays he, in a letter to Mr. Locke) have been mere I nod in company, I wake at night, Fools rush into my head, and fo I write. F. You could not do a worse thing for your life. 15 Hartshorn, or something that fhall close your eyes. 20 and fierce. i With ARMS, and GEORGE and BRUNSWICK crowd the verse, Rend with tremendous found your ears afunder, 25 With Gun, Drum, Trumpet, Blunderbufs, and Thunder? 30 Or nobly wild, with Budgel's fire and force, Paint Angels trembling round his falling Horse? F. Then all your Muse's fofter art display, Let CAROLINA fmooth the tuneful lay, ballad-makers in comparison of him. And Mr. Locke, in answer to this obfervation, replies, I find with pleasure, a ftrange bar. mony throughout, between your Thoughts and mine. Juft so a Roman lawyer, and a Greek Historian, thought of the poetry of Cicero. But these being judgments made by men out of their own profeffion, are little regarded. And Pope and Juvenal will make Blackmore and Tully pafs for Poetafters to the world's end. VER, 28, falling Horse ?] The horse on which his Majesty H. Haud mihi deero, Cum res ipfa feret: nifi dextro tempore, Flacci T. m H. Quid faciam ? faltat Milonius, ut femel icto P Castor gaudet equis; ovo prognatus eodem, charged at the battle of Oudenard; when the Pretender, and the Princes of the blood of France, fled before him. VER. 39. Abufe the City's beft good men in metre] The best good Man, a City phrase for the richeft. Metre---not used here, purely to help the verse, but to fhew what it is a citizen efteems the greatest aggravation of the offence. VER. 41. What should_ail them?] Horace hints at one rea fon, that each fears bis own turn may be next; his imitator gives another, and with more art, a reason which infinuates, that his very lenity, în using feigned names, increases the number of his Enemies. VER. 50. Like in all elfe, as one Egg to another.] This has neither the juftness nor elegance of ovo prognatus eodem. Lull with AMELIA's liquid name the Nine, P. Alas! few verses touch their nicer ear; It is to Hiftory he trusts for Praise. F. m Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it ftill, Than ridicule all Taite, blafpheme Quadrille, Abuse the City's best good men in metre, And laugh at Peers that put their truft in Peter. "Ev'n thofe you touch not, hate you. 35 40 P. What should ail them? F. A hundred fmart in Timon and in Balaam : The fewer ftill you name, you wound the more: Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score. P. Each mortal has his pleafure: none deny 45 The doubling Luftres dance as faft as fhe; I love to pour out all myself, as plain 59 For tho' it may appear odd, that those who come from the fame Egg fhould have tempers and pursuits directly contrary; yet there is nothing ftrange, that two Brothers, alike in all things elfe, should have different amusements. VER. 52. As downright Shippen, or as old Montagne :] They had this, indeed, in common, to ufe great liberties of fpeech, and to profess saying what they thought. Montagne had many Lucilì ritu, noftrûm melioris utroque. Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim Credebat libris ; neque, fi male gefferat, ufquam Vita fenis. fequor hunc, anceps: Lucanus an Appulus, [Nam Venufinus arat finem fub utrumque colonus, S qualities, that had gained him the love and esteem of his Readers: The other had one, which always gained him the favourable attention of his Hearers, For as a celebrated Roman Orator obferves. "Maledicit INERUDITUS apertius Affert et ifta res et faepius, cum periculo etiam fuo. OPINIONEM, quia libentiffime homines audiunt ea quae "dicere ipfi noluiffent." " VER. 56. the medium must be clear.] Allufion to a fountain of limpid water, thro' which the contents of the bottom are difcovered. This thought affifted him in the easy and happy change of the metaphor in the following line. VER. 63. My head and beart thus flowing thro' my quill,] Inferior to the Original: Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim Credebat libris, etc. |